“Uh… Well, let’s wrap this up. That skeleton seems to be reaching its limits.”
“Huh? Ah! Yes, yes!… But can skeletons even get tired?”
Thud—
“Please just let it slide, Helen.”
Glance—
I notice Lee Young-chul constantly glancing at Yeon-hee with a noticeably subdued atmosphere. His skill in sneakily observing her was top-notch; if you weren’t paying attention, you wouldn’t even notice.
“He’s obsessively checking on Yeon-hee’s condition. It’s true that her magic power is depleting.”
Yeon-hee wanted to keep some magic power in reserve for emergencies, and she was dismissing summoned creatures in line with the decreasing number of enemies. But with the increasing encounters against Lizardmen, her magic power was dwindling regardless.
– Your level has increased!
=====
[Skeleton Bombardier Il-wol – Lv.29]
Strength: 80(+20) Agility: 97(+23)
Health: 91(+20) Wisdom: 71(+3)
Magic Power: 110(+20) Resistance: 7
Sense: 34 Recovery: 43(+23)
=====
“Alright, invest in wisdom, agility, and recovery… Not investing in agility makes me uneasy, you know.”
Compared to the fluid movements of my hunter days, this felt as clumsy as ever, yet my movements were gradually improving.
“Definitely feeling the strength; my speed has shot up. I’m quite satisfied with my job change to Bombardier… but I can’t help feeling a bit regretful in moments like these. Human greed is endless, huh?”
Of course, I’m not even human anymore.
Anyway, after safely concluding our first battle through my (excessive?) efforts, we began sharing loot as promised in the team chat beforehand.
“Are you sure all of that fits, Yeon-hee?”
“Yes, yes… The summoned creatures each have their own space, so…”
“Wow… that’s just too much. You even have an inventory, Yeon-hee! Should I just jump off the rooftop with my eyes closed? Maybe if I crack my head open, I’ll go for a second awakening too.”
“Ah… um, I’m not so sure…”
After dismissing all the Lizard Squad, Yeon-hee had already requested to transfer the leftover materials, like skins, to herself. Since other than the skins, there wasn’t much use for the Lizardmen’s byproducts, the other members readily agreed.
I cleverly tucked away everything except the Lizardman’s claw that marks the trophy into my space, while people who were doing personal upkeep sat around chatting. Of course, the topic of discussion was undoubtedly about our summoned creatures.
“What on earth are they talking about…?”
I focused all my hearing and, despite being a little distance away, I could clearly hear their conversation.
“Ah… so it turns out everyone but me was familiar with each other. That explains the friendliness.”
“No, we just kind of matched up by chance once, so it feels weird to even call it knowing each other.”
“But does the Summoner always stay alone like that?”
“Well, she has her summoned creatures next to her.”
“Ah… right now, it seems only the skeleton is visible.”
“Now that I think about it, other summoned creatures are often invisible, but that skeleton is always around. It’s incredibly strong, so what even is that?”
As Jin-kyeong looked at Il-wol with newfound amazement, Lee Young-chul nodded along while thinking to himself.
“It really is strong. I was shocked. The last movement I saw felt like some elite hunter I happened to catch a glimpse of.”
However, contrary to that thought, he didn’t lose his composure.
“Since he used a summoned creature of that caliber at once, his magic power must have greatly depleted. It doesn’t seem like he has any high-grade accessories or artifacts, so it would take a long time for his magic power to recover… It might be more beneficial to work ahead by timing it right instead of waiting to return.”
Shudder—
Lee Young-chul was trying to calm his growing excitement while picturing a goblin in his mind.
“Just hang in there… The best feast since my awakening is about to start, and I can’t mess this up!”
Yesterday evening, as soon as he got home and logged online, he had seen a post from the Hunter site about a team that included Lee Yeon-hee.
“This is a sign to take action.”
The reason for the abilities he gained. The purpose of becoming an Awakened One. It felt like he had been given a mission.
He glanced at Yeon-hee, who was diligently working alongside the skeleton.
“Ahh! I can’t hold it in any longer! Those purple eyes are a masterpiece!! I absolutely must preserve those eyes separately!!”
Seeing Lee Yeon-hee, the first-class Summoner he randomly stumbled upon on YouTube, the moment he saw her eyes, Lee Young-chul was sure. This woman was the most extraordinary among the women he had encountered.
And she was right there, breathing the same air as him.
“I have to stay calm… Getting excited won’t benefit anything.”
Even when he was fighting the Lizardmen earlier, he hadn’t used 100% of his ability. About 80%. He thought he should only show skills matching his title, and it had worked out well—at least for everyone except Il-wol.
Il-wol had already evaluated Lee Young-chul’s capabilities, taking into account that he was regulating his power. Obviously, he never imagined that the skeleton would be a being of such high intelligence.
“Helen and Song Jin-kyeong are pretty standard E-ranks. Jin-kyeong seems to have a bit more potential, but even if she manages to make it to D-rank, it’s only going to end in pain. Before that, they had better cherish the moment I’ll provide joy and then cut off the pain. Just hang tight! Hehehe!”
The problem lies with the summoned creatures. Even if Lee Young-chul had reached a decent D-rank level, it would be tough to overpower all the summoned creatures.
“There’s no need to deal with the summoned creatures directly. Let’s wait for the aftermath. Seeing how they’ve dismissed all but the skeleton, it’s clear that maintaining summoned creatures consumes significant magic power. After the next battle, the skeleton might be dismissed as well.”
And he had a trump card.
Plant-based sleep powder.
He had brought a special sleep powder extracted from a plant that, while categorized as sleep powder, had terrifying effects close to paralysis.
“Time is short, but the effects are immediate. Remembering how I had to beg that arrogant dude from the nature faction for this just makes me mad, but whatever, I got it. Once I knock them out, I can just cut off Helen and Jin-kyeong’s legs…”
Anyway, after about two more battles of this scale, he could start his operations.
Lee Young-chul was busy crafting his little storyline, completely unaware of the dark eyes observing him intently.
“What’s he smiling about so creepily? Disgusting brat.”
“Hey Il-wol, if we’re all set, shall we head out?”
Nod—
Listening to their conversation, I couldn’t help but think about how I’d roll my actions if I were Lee Young-chul.
“The summoned creatures are stronger than expected -> Avoid combat with the summoned creatures -> Only summoned more during battles -> Dismissed most summoned creatures afterward -> Maintaining summoned creatures requires a lot of magic power, or there’s an absolute lack of it -> Let’s aim for the timing when the magic power is at its lowest -> Strike faster than usual this time.”
I wonder if his thoughts flowed along these lines?
“Hmm… I think he’d observe at least once more… maybe after the second or third fight.”
I nodded and set off again. Having killed the Lizardmen, we should encounter them much more frequently now.
Twenty minutes later.
“Why haven’t they shown up?”
“Can we venture a bit further from the entrance? It seems like the monsters aren’t showing up.”
“This spot might be tough. Let’s push a bit further.”
Helen agreed to Lee Young-chul’s inquiry, and we decided to expand our search radius from the entrance.
And twenty minutes later, we found ourselves facing nine Lizardmen.
Shift!
The difference this time was that they noticed us first and were charging over. Of course, I knew this, but since their numbers weren’t too daunting, I didn’t feel the need to raise Lee Young-chul’s wariness.
“I am a little tired. Should I just kill them all…?”
But killing people outright would indeed cause problems for Yeon-hee, so that was not an option. Plus, Yeon-hee needed to understand: there was no one to trust in a dungeon.
“Damn it!! I had no sense of their presence! When did they come?”
‘A long time ago, Sister.’
In my mind, I imagined scolding Helen, who was hastily adjusting her sword.
Yeon-hee looked at the Lizardmen, seemingly contemplating, and summoned four Lizardmen and a Dotti.
“Young-chul, Helen, and Jin-kyeong are being matched up one by one, huh?”
It appeared she was curious to see just how much the Lizardmen of the swamp and our summoned creatures compared.
“We definitely have the upper hand, but…”
Squawk!!
Clang!!
As expected, the summoned creatures were showing formidable superiority in one-on-one matches. Even the weakest of the summoned Lizardmen, the 4th unit, was swiftly overpowering its opponent, indicating that our summoned creatures had significantly leveled up.
On the other hand, the Lizardmen in this swamp weren’t the ones deeply rooted, so they were likely all newly resurrected and their abilities would be closer to base stats.
Whoosh—
Rrrr—
And both Jin-kyeong and Helen managed to handle their opponents more easily than before, while Lee Young-chul was already smashing one Lizardman’s skull with his shield.
Though the battle began as a team effort, it was essentially a series of individual combats.
Hah— phew… this is exhausting…
Gulp, gulp—
The most trouble was, unsurprisingly, for the Jin-kyeong-Helen duo.
It seemed Yeon-hee wasn’t the only one worried about them, as they gave a thumbs up indicating they were okay in response to her concerned gaze.
“Since the levels have risen, they’ll be a bit better, right?”
Their bodies were glowing faintly, signaling that the next battle might be with slightly less difficulty.
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