The world has turned into a game, but no matter where you’re attacked, you don’t take the same damage everywhere. Even if you’re wearing chain mail with 100 defense, a 50 damage attack hitting an unprotected neck is bound to go through.
As you become a higher-ranked hunter, more people tend to prefer full-body armor for this very reason.
However, if your health stat is high, the chance of avoiding instant death increases, so tankers always prioritize health.
And Lee Young-chul is a pure tanker. Even if a dagger is deeply embedded in his neck, unless it is definitely finished off, there’s a chance he could take a potion and revive like a zombie.
“Hey, you trash, eat this too.”
[Acid Spray]
Swoosh–
“Gaaah!! Hiiiick!! It’s hot, hot!”
While people are lost in thought, someone can get startled even with the slightest tap on their shoulder. Especially this guy, who was just preparing to slice off a person’s leg, must have been startled and panicked by the sudden attack!
Clang–
Thus, it’s understandable that he dropped the great sword he was holding and couldn’t even manage a meager counterattack.
Swipe–
He grabbed the fallen sword.
When you acquire the equipment of a person who isn’t dead yet, you can’t even utilize 10% of that equipment’s performance.
– This weapon is bound to another. Performance drops by more than 90% when used.
Hmm–?
SDVIMVFoanVzY1YwSVhjamMzUkt1VTlqT1VnZ3BzMGxqMk4vUE5sUWVqNk1xeWZpdCtYZ2oyQkNnVVhBVzBmQw
“Oh, that’s why it looks familiar. I used this for a bit back when.”
It was a sword from that blacksmith I remember using back in my E-rank days.
A weapon crafted by collecting the mana stones from monsters you’ve hunted and transforming them into metal through alchemy by a blacksmith class.
This sword was quite popular among many hunters due to its cost-effectiveness, but generally, what are called mass-produced items are made from low to low-rank mana stones.
=====
Mass-Produced Iron Sword
– A mass-produced iron sword crafted at Kim Jae-sik’s blacksmith. It has decent sharpness.
– Considered a sword that low-rank hunters could use and throw away easily.
– Attack +2 (-19)
– Durability 23/55
=====
Whoosh— bang—
After swinging it a few times, the old sensations began to flicker back.
“Gaaah– Guhh–”
Sizzle— dragging—
As expected from a tanker position, Lee Young-chul is trying to crawl away like a lizard even with the dagger stuck in his neck.
“Oh dear, he’s crawled that much already.”
I wanted to ask what emotions that guy was feeling.
Step— step— skiddaddle—
He started walking then briefly jumped, slashing his sword diagonally.
Swoosh!!
“Ahhh!! Hiii!! My leg!! It hurts!! It hurts!!”
In an instant, Lee Young-chul’s leg was severed below the knee. He excitedly threw away his leg armor, tsk tsk— that was something you should never do in a dungeon.
And maybe thanks to Irmana’s blessing and the Rune of Giants, he felt no resistance at all while being cut off.
“Mom… Mom, save me… Gahh—”
“Mom, my foot, get a grip.”
With a guy like him, I could understand if they’d cut ties with their parents.
Lee Young-chul cried out, but the recognition disruption item he set up made it hard not just to see but even hear. So unless someone was determined to find us, it would be hard to discover our group.
Turning my body toward Yeon-hee, I walked a few steps but felt it was a bit lacking, so I turned back.
Lee Young-chul’s face melting grotesquely due to the acidic liquid.
But I felt no sympathy whatsoever.
I pounded his writhing face with my fist again.
Smack!! Puh-puh-pow!!
“Ahh! Please, save me!”
Should I rip out his tongue?
“You won’t feel even a thousandth of the pain of the people you killed, but take some more.”
In fact, it was more of a reprisal for trying to do something bad to Yeon-hee than for the victims.
After a good pounding, I turned back and lined up our party members who were still plopped on the ground.
“The effect’s short-lived, but they’re still in this state.”
I suppose time felt short through his standards. With this kind of performance, they must have gotten it from a pretty famous faction. Hmm—
Anyway, all three still couldn’t move but were staring at me with glazed eyes when Yeon-hee called out my name with a lisp.
“Y-Yi-wha…”
I couldn’t tell why, but all three had watery eyes, staring intently at me.
“Well, Yeon-hee is fine, but why are you two…”
I hesitated while looking at Yi-young and Helen’s duo.
“I thought about letting them finish it, but looking at their eyes, I think it’s better for me to take care of it. With Yeon-hee like this, she’ll have a bit more tension in the dungeon.”
[Skeleton Bomb]
I took out one of the bombs I had stored and approached the guy again.
Whoa!!
He babbled some nonsense as he looked at me, but I didn’t even listen.
“I don’t care if everything else goes up in smoke, just drop the chain mail. At the very least, you owe the world a good deed before you leave.”
With a praying heart, I shoved the bomb into his mouth.
Rattle rattle—
Lee Young-chul’s entire body shook like a trembling aspen.
Even from below, I could smell the stench strong enough that even I, with my dull sense of smell, could catch it.
Taking a step back, I lightly swung my iron sword against the bomb lodged in the guy’s head.
Boom—!!
Dudududud—
“Wow, that was strong.”
With the swing, the iron sword exploded into smoke and vanished.
– You have defeated a powerful enemy!
– Experience points have drastically increased!
– Your level has increased. Please choose three stats to raise.
– Your level has increased. Please choose three stats to raise.
– You have obtained the Rune of Vitality (Low-Rank).
– You have obtained the Rune of Vitality (Low-Rank).
– You have obtained the Rune of Magic (Low-Rank).
– You have obtained the Rune of Thorns (Normal).
– You have obtained the Rune of Vitality (Normal).
– You have obtained the Rune of Swiftness (Normal).
“Whoa! This guy was a golden goblin?! How many runes is this?”
This guy dropped a staggering six runes, and I tried to recall who the villains were again.
Considering that it evaporated, he must have been carrying at least 7 or 8 runes.
“You’re pretty annoying, aren’t you?”
Now, above the collarbone area, Lee Young-chul had completely vanished. As I realized again the sheer power of the skeleton bomb that burst his neck, I looked at the chain mail with a praying heart.
“Since I’ve been good, please don’t explode!! Aaaaah!!”
3, 2, 1…
“………..? Ohh!! It worked!!”
This guy was practically a godsend for me.
Forget about the blasted iron sword; the iron chain mail is worth thousands of dollars at the very least, even if it’s the lowest grade.
=====
Iron Chain Mail (Grade 5)
– Chain mail made from the iron of the steel blacksmith.
– Defense +51
– Durability 112/150
=====
I got armor with almost 39 better defense and nearly double the durability compared to the previous Big Boar ladder armor.
“Hehehe— What’s this? Is there anything else?”
As I watched the other equipment Lee Young-chul was wearing disappear, the sounds of people beginning to stir could be heard.
– Argh, my head…
– Hey, are you okay?
– Yes, I’m fine…
Helen still seemed a bit tongue-tied, but they could communicate enough now.
“It seems we will have to stay right here until the recognition disruption item wears off. It’ll probably be tough to go deep today.”
With Lee Young-chul’s corpse behind me, I moved towards the girls.
“Grrk—”
Seeing me, Yeon-hee’s emotions might have sparked back as she curled up her lips, then tightly closed them.
Kneeling down between Helen and Yeon-hee, I gently held Yeon-hee’s hand.
Grrk— hic—
As I held her hand, it seemed her pent-up feelings erupted. Yeon-hee started crying, causing Helen and Jin-kyeong to sniffle.
“Oh my, it’s not like I’ve been a hunter for just a day or two, but this is quite…”
I well understood that they must have gone through immense fear during that short moment. Many people quit being hunters due to such experiences…
Of course, it wasn’t the first time. We had been ambushed by three men in a goblin dungeon before. But the situation now was vastly different from then.
A betrayal from someone they chose.
Would Yeon-hee ever be able to trust someone with her back again when forming a party in the future?
Five minutes later.
“My summoned creature even holds my hand, it’s really nice being a summoner…”
“I’m a bit envious of that, sister.”
“Ah… th-this…?”
They stumbled but stood up, trying hard to brighten the conversation.
“What should we do about Lee Young-chul?”
“Isn’t it fine to just leave him? He’ll get eaten anyway.”
“How about we show this and tell the truth?”
Yeon-hee, who got up slightly earlier than the Helen duo, spoke while showing four small sticks engraved with recognition disruption magic.
“Right, it’s necessary to make it known that this guy was such a scumbag.”
“Sigh… it’ll be tiring if that family comes looking for him. Wouldn’t it be easier to say he was just killed by monsters?”
“Hmm…”
“I’ll throw my support behind Jin-kyeong’s opinion.”
There’s no need to complicate matters by revealing things unnecessarily. If we say he was simply killed by the monsters, it’s usually accepted even when the body is missing. Such incidents aren’t rare in dungeons.
Since it’s a different dungeon from where Jeong Hyo-chan was present, there’s little chance of our lie getting caught.
“Then, let’s go with that.”
In the end, we decided to match the story that we were dragged in by sudden lizardmen attacks.
“What should we do then? Ordinarily, we’re under minimum personnel limit, so we should be returning immediately.”
……
“Yeon-hee, I think as long as we don’t go deeper from here, we can find enough battles. The summoned creatures are just that strong. How about it? Are you up for more?”
Seeing them quickly recover from the chaos we just faced, it seems being a hunter is just that. And there’s probably a desire to explore the Lizard Swamp a bit more, which they hadn’t encountered with their current level.
Without much hesitation, Yeon-hee agreed to Helen’s opinion and we decided to continue the hunt while moving toward the entrance.
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