“Keruk-!”
The Orc Warrior’s magic surged up, piercing through the Lizardman’s abdomen, as he vigorously thrust his spear into the sky.
Buuuuuk—
“Grrrr—”
Thud—
Lizardman 1 met his end, exactly split in half.
“Uwoooooo!!”
As the spear-wielding Orc Warrior threw his head back and roared, the now 300 Orcs surrounding us in a crescent shape joined in the noise.
“Ahh—my ears hurt!”
Ha-yoon glared at the Orcs in annoyance.
‘Hmm— the other Orcs must have dashed off to pursue.’
The remaining 600 Orcs seemed to have gone after other Hunters.
We had managed to defeat about 15% of the entire Orc force and hold 30% captive, but the safety of the Hunters who had fled was shrouded in mist.
“Tsk… Even if I wanted to read my options calmly, this is too quick, isn’t it?”
“Kal-hulan keeps fighting!”
The spear-wielding Orc expressed his intent to continue fighting, and the other Orcs didn’t seem to have any objections.
‘This guy seems to be the strongest among the Orc Warriors, huh?’
Honestly, I wasn’t too fond of ranking things like D-class Lieutenant or C-class lower-tier, but his strength appeared to be top-tier even among D-class.
“1—”
No matter how often you can resummon, it’s hard to stay calm when you witness your beloved summon being brutally killed right in front of you.
Yeon-hee squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before sending out the next.
Uwoooo!!
The Orc Warrior and his fellow Dotti charged forward with a powerful roar.
How long could a non-warrior like Dotti hold out against an Orc Warrior? I was quite curious myself.
Swish—!
The Orc Warrior made a swift strike.
‘… That guy, at least block once like 1 did, huh…’
But contrary to my expectations, Dotti was cleanly severed in one stroke.
Thud—
Dotti’s head rolled and stopped right in front of my feet.
‘Don’t look at me with those eyes. If you wanna blame someone, blame that guy who chose you, 1.’
Whether Yeon-hee immediately resummoned Dotti or not, the severed head soon turned into smoke and vanished.
‘This isn’t good…’
I wanted to buy some time to craft bombs and prepare for my job change, but with everyone dying the moment we stepped out, there was no time to do anything.
As I nervously fiddled with the bombs while glancing at the Orc Warrior, Ha-yoon spoke up.
“If it’s okay, should we go out first? You need time to make that bomb, right?”
Nodding—
I quickly nodded in agreement, and Yeon-hee responded with understanding.
(Il-wol, do you have a few bombs?)
At Yeon-hee’s question, I held up nine fingers.
“Seems tough. Honestly… I thought they’d hold out for a bit.”
It was no surprise that her expectations had been surpassed.
‘How can you know without experiencing it?’
We had been sweeping through E-class with overwhelming strength like a breeze. So, it would make sense she thought we could handle some D-class.
Churup…
Resummoned 1 looked a little downcast as it gazed at me.
It was clear this guy didn’t have much time left to evolve, and if it had been in an evolved state, it might have lasted a bit longer, but the timing was off.
Step—
Guitar 2 from Ha-yoon’s party stepped forward.
To be honest, these were hunters that didn’t quite deserve to be called Guitar 123, but to catch my eye, they had to at least be on par with Ha-yoon or Yu Dal-ri for me to remember them.
“I have no name to tell you! Come at me!”
“I’ll kill the humans!”
Unlike when they first showed up, the spear-wielding Orc was palpably calm now.
Hmph—!
The Orc Warrior exhaled sharply at the sight of Guitar 2 brandishing a beautifully painted blue kite shield and a hefty mace.
‘This looks like a Paladin type. Guess I can expect some things. Then for the options…’
Paladins usually have supportive skills to recover the party’s health, temporarily stun enemies, or preemptively cancel spells from Sorcerers, making them versatile with great sustainability.
In a nutshell, they can defend, heal, and incapacitate opponents all at once.
‘Ideal…’
Of course, this is something that only holds true if they grow strong enough to survive to the late game, but the basic traits remain unchanged.
I could finally catch my breath and examine my job change options.
When the Orcs initially flooded out, I couldn’t let my guard down because of the Red-haired Elf, so I was only now getting a look.
Reflecting on my first job change, I had some worries.
‘Last time I changed, my head spun for a while, and I felt something akin to motion sickness. This time, I might even lose consciousness. Even if I’m in a hurry, I need to proceed calmly.’
I had received a total of four choices.
I first looked at the topmost option that was prominently displayed.
– Based on the path and all abilities and potentials of Skeleton Bombardier Il-wol, the following choices are presented.
‘Does that mean all my past actions will be reflected in the options… It’s rational, but it feels eerie…’
What kind of system could generate this?
It had turned into a topic that even the boring old scholars no longer researched, yet it made me wonder all over again.
Regardless, the first presented option was exactly what I had anticipated; it had a familiar feel to it.
=====
Skeleton Bombardier
– Follows the path of the Skeleton Bombardier as it proceeds.
• Enters the path of the Destruction Bombslinger.
• Steps into the path of the Immortal Great Sorcerer.
• Strays momentarily from the path of the Death Knight.
• Completely veers off the path of the Shadow Lord.
• Completely veers off the path of the King of the Undead.
– Can produce time bombs. (Current maximum setting time is 30 minutes.)
– Can designate the explosion range of bombs. (The more you narrow the explosion range, the greater the destructive power.)
– Storage capacity for bombs +50.
– Bomb crafting time – 20 seconds.
– Wisdom +80.
– Magic Power +50.
– Recovery +10.
Special Ability: Damage +75% upon successfully hitting an enemy attack.
=====
…
At level 40, the message was so long that I had some rough idea, but reading it directly revealed that this was on a completely different level from the descriptions presented at the first job change.
The most notable part was undoubtedly the phrasing of the ‘path.’
‘At first glance, it doesn’t make much sense…’
There were a whopping five paths, and if I chose the Skeleton Bombardier, the subsequent path would be…
‘Destruction Bombslinger…’
The very name sent chills down my spine. Destruction implies obliteration and annihilation.
‘Annihilation…’
I could picture a crazed bombslinger, blowing up every living being except for myself while laughing maniacally. I didn’t know how many job changes it would take to reach that level.
‘But this feels incredibly powerful on the surface.’
The additional abilities were also satisfying. I had wished for time bombs, and it seemed that request was reflected here. The current bomb crafting time, which took about 1 minute and 30 seconds, would be reduced by 20 seconds.
The storage capacity for bombs would nearly double, and I could focus explosions on a single point through range adjustment.
‘The special abilities and stats also increased by more than twofold from my first job change. This is insane.’
When I was a Hunter, my methods for increasing stats included leveling up, crafting equipment, acquiring artifacts, and sometimes stat increases from realizations that came sporadically or class advancements.
Class advancement felt completely different from changing jobs as I was now. There had never been rapid stat growth, and there was certainly no option to choose. It was merely a matter of how quietly I could brave the predefined road laid before me.
‘With this, I could say the system I’m applying is a higher version than current Hunters.’
Thus, I needed to be all the more cautious. With all this information, a wrong choice would be entirely my mistake.
If I choose ‘Destruction Bombslinger,’ it means I’d completely deviate from the paths of ‘Shadow Lord’ and ‘King of the Undead.’ ‘Completely veering off’ means I could never switch back to those routes.
‘Agh! Is this saying that someone with choice paralysis should just die?!’
I knew this was quite a whiny complaint.
I had no way to discern why this opportunity had come to me, but no one would be foolish enough to change a winning lottery ticket out of fear of the future.
‘The abilities sound good, but the fact that I’d completely divert from the path feels a bit unsettling. Hmmm— but for now, let’s check the next option… Skeleton Flame…’
Fwooosh—!!
“Ugh… Khah—”
…Wait, it’s already over? I feel like it hasn’t even been two minutes yet?
Contrary to expectations, Guitar 2 didn’t last too long and quickly gave up in the duel after being pounded heavily with spears. Even so, they hadn’t lost a single limb, so they fought better than 1 or Dotti.
– Uoooooo!!
– Humans have no honor!! Bugs! They’re bugs!
– Run for your lives!
“Chiiik…”
Guitar 2, the sandbag, trembled at the mad jeers of the 300 Orcs he had never faced before as panic set in.
‘Those kinds of things can mentally tire a person out surprisingly.’
“Dammit…”
“Are you okay, bro?”
“Don’t take your eyes off that guy’s right foot. He always steps with his right foot when he attacks.”
“Y-yeah… Phew—haah—”
Guitar 3 seemed to have lost all will to fight after seeing the beaten-up Guitar 2 return like a ragdoll. At least while being battered by the Orc, he managed to pass on valuable information for the next fighter.
Shudder…
Guitar 3 trembled, unable to stabilize himself. To be honest, it was an understandable situation.
A duel that was clearly unwinnable. No, it was fundamentally just a fight to buy time.
Thanks to the Paladin-type fighting primarily with shields, he managed to hold on as such, but pure warriors like Guitar 3 could easily lose their heads in a single blow, just like Dotti.
“Can’t do it? Just say you can’t if you can’t. Did someone threaten you with a knife to go out?”
Ha-yoon coldly cut off at Guitar 3, who looked at her pitifully. While it was truth, speaking like that would probably weaken the resolve of the listener even before they fought.
‘After all, we’re on the same team. Can’t she say something a bit nicer? She’s so cold.’
“Ugh… I-I’ll try it anyway.”
Guitar 3 stumbled out, holding his two-handed sword, and closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again.
‘Somehow, this feels nerve-racking…’
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