The atmosphere of the guys in robes who were talking about something looked quite flustered. They probably didn’t expect us to hold out this long, and they must be debating whether to join the fray or not.
“That’s not good…”
However, as Yeon-hee’s level rose, she summoned both her existing summons and two Skeleton Soldiers, causing the tide to turn dramatically in our favor.
Before entering the dungeon, managing all our summons at once would have been daunting, but with the addition of an artifact that boosted magic power by +200, I began to command nine summoned creatures with ease.
Of course, I was so focused on maintaining multiple summons that I couldn’t move anymore and just stood still, but the artifact’s effect filled me with immense satisfaction.
Craack!!
The noticeably diminished zombie horde had fewer than ten remaining, and as the guys watching us began to hesitate and move back…
[Stealth]
I was already sprinting toward the robed figures in a stealthy state.
“How dare those bugs!”
25m, 15m, 10m…
I threw ten fireballs into the air with a delay to hit them, and when I got close enough to reach out, I sprayed acidic liquid onto the faces of the ones just getting up.
Puhahhh!!
As the acidic liquid soaked their faces and my fireballs detonated upon contact…
Boom!! Bang!!
– Gyaaaaaah!!
– Ughh!! My face!!
[Slam]
In response to the sudden attack, I smashed the forehead of one guy who was clutching his face in agony with a stone hammer.
Craack!
Cough -!
The guy who got hit let out a final scream and crumpled to the ground like a deflated balloon.
Then, a message I had never seen before popped up.
– You have eliminated a nefarious group threatening the safety of this world for the first time!
– Experience points have increased significantly!
– The achievement [Summoner’s Ally] is now activated.
– Random stats will increase.
“…What?”
[Skeleton Soldier Il-wol – Lv.22]
Strength: 69 Agility: 73 Health: 58
Intelligence: 24 Magic Power: 70 Resistance: 1
Sense: 24 Recovery: 6 (+1)
“Huh… Is this real?”
Seeing that my recovery stat had gone up by 1, I momentarily felt dazed and suddenly remembered to flip over the inside of the robe of the dead guy. I confirmed a long blue single-eyed pattern inside.
“Hmm – I don’t quite understand, but killing those who follow the Blue-eyed deity helps Yeon-hee, huh?”
Why, I wonder? What do these guys have to do with Yeon-hee?
“I guess I’ll find out if I ask.”
Turning to the last remaining guy, I saw him desperately trying to put out the flames still burning on his face while pouring a potion over it.
*Clap, Clap, Clap—*
“Ahh! P-please spare my life!! I have a family!”
“Why did you attack us in the first place?”
Yeon-hee seemed to have figured out how things were going and began interrogating the guy whose jaw was burned, revealing red flesh.
“W-we were just ordered to collect ancient artifacts, from above—”
“Artifacts?”
But just as the guy struggled to speak, his face suddenly twisted grotesquely as his skull began to shift, and moments later, it exploded.
Boom!
Kyaaaaaah!
Yeon-hee happened to be right next to him when his face burst, witnessing the whole thing in real-time.
“Heh, heek—”
She quickly tried to brush off the flesh that splattered on her face, looking like she was about to cry.
“Did they implant something in him? Or…?”
– You have eliminated a nefarious group threatening the safety of this world!
– Experience points have slightly increased!
– The achievement [Summoner’s Ally] is now activated.
– Random stats will increase.
Sense: 25 (+1)
– Your level has increased. Choose three stats to raise.
=====
[Skeleton Soldier Il-wol – Lv.23]
Strength: 57 Agility: 59 (+3) Health: 57 (+3)
Intelligence: 24 Magic Power: 58 Resistance: 1
Sense: 28 (+3) Recovery: 6
=====
I invested my stat points into Agility, Health, and Sense before getting lost in thought.
“…The Blue-eyed Organization is now my enemy.”
I didn’t ponder why my stats increased from killing them or how it was possible. I just needed to understand that killing the Blue-eyed followers would make me stronger and help Yeon-hee.
As I eliminated the enemies, Yeon-hee also gained experience, and a blue light flickered around her momentarily.
“Wow! I leveled up again after that! Were they really that strong!?”
*Clap, Clap!*
“Were they really that strong? But how could we get so much experience from them?”
“It’s certain that the information about the [Summoner’s Ally] achievement doesn’t get shared with Yeon-hee.”
She tilted her head as she rummaged through the robes of the dead.
“What? How can there be nothing? You guys are the worst!!”
Blaming the dead while stealing their belongings seemed like a questionable character but I was equally disappointed.
Soon, everything, including their robes, vanished in an instant.
“Seriously, these guys are worthless and unlucky.”
When hunters die, they usually drop at least one rune…
“Il-wol, should we move to another spot for now?”
Nod—
As the sun rose high, Yeon-hee moved to a place where she could eat comfortably.
“Ugh! Eating with this mask is seriously inconvenient!!”
Nom—
Choosing a moderately open area, Yeon-hee started shoving small rice balls she had rolled up under her mask into her mouth.
“I think I’m starting to understand why people avoid the Ent Forest.”
Nod Nod—
While Ents have clear weaknesses and are easier to deal with than monsters of the same level, the environment itself makes it a dungeon hunters tend to avoid.
Without additional gains like from the Big Boar, it ends up being a place hunters with high resistance awakenings mainly use.
“I want to run the Fire Monkey Dungeon a few more times, but when will it reopen…?”
Nom—
While eating, Yeon-hee occasionally struck up a conversation with me, and I stayed alert while listening closely to her.
“Should I just summon the last summons now? Once the routine’s broken, I feel like I might as well.”
She still had one summoning scroll left as a reward for leveling up after killing the two Blue-eyed Organization members.
“No, if I summon it while we’re fighting like earlier, it could serve as a card to catch the enemy off guard.”
*Clap, Clap, Clap!!*
“I wanted to say to keep one or two for that purpose, anyway.”
“Yeah, I’ve used a lot today, so let’s hold off a bit… but having it makes me fidgety, hehe.”
“Is this the curse of the gacha?”
Anyway, we were satisfied with just a quick snack before moving on again.
“But since it’s the first day, do you think we can go all the way? The Ent Forest seems tight on space, so it doesn’t seem like it will take long.”
After hearing her words, I gestured to her to signal to go. I intended to head that way anyway, so it wouldn’t be a problem.
An hour later.
We dealt with a few Ents chasing us, but we reached our destination smoothly and found other adventurers waiting for the champion to respawn.
– Woah… Is that a summoner over there…?
– A Lizardman and a Skeleton Soldier? This could be a tough fight.
– With that kind of power, he could handle more than two people by himself…
– Is he going solo without a team?
– No need to share loot; it’s a sweet deal…
I could hear people whispering, most of which were friendly glances toward us.
– It looks like today will be smoother, thanks to him.
– Seriously… We’ll save on potion costs.
It seemed they believed that if a champion-level Ent spawned, we would fight alongside them without a doubt.
“My goal isn’t that thing, but I’ll think about it when the time comes.”
We settled into a spot a bit further away and, a few minutes later, began to see trees gradually sprouting in a slightly sloped circular area.
Monsters in the dungeon evolve to become mutants or champion-class by killing hunters, but most respawn like this at regular intervals.
Since this one respawns every three hours, about 20 hunters had already set up nearby.
“Well, I suppose they could handle it without us.”
I gave Yeon-hee a pat on the shoulder and pointed to where the Ent would respawn, making an X mark.
(Huh? Aren’t we fighting that one?)
Nod Nod—
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