Chapter 12. Mace (2)
“Incredible……”
Philip stared blankly at the scene before him, his face a mask of utter bewilderment.
The goblins were reduced to a gruesome pulp, twitching feebly on the ground like lumps of meat, while Jeonghyeon stood tall amid the carnage, drenched in their blood.
“Kiek……!”
This had all happened while he was dealing with just a single mutant goblin.
Thud! Crunch!
Philip finished off the last goblin and hurried over to Jeonghyeon.
“Are you hurt anywhere, sir?”
“Huh? From something like this?”
Jeonghyeon brushed himself off as if it were nothing.
“As I thought, you’re no ordinary porter, are you?”
“……I’ll tell you later.”
“……Yes, sir.”
Philip’s expression had been darkening for a while now.
But Jeonghyeon knew the reason better than anyone, so he didn’t bother adding anything.
Overwhelming talent.
In its presence, any ordinary person felt infinitesimally small. Even someone like Philip, who had put in real effort as a hunter, would feel that sense of deprivation multiplied several times over.
Well, he’s just a guy I picked up this once.
Gaining a companion meant committing to the end together. Jeonghyeon had lost far too many allies in the past to casually make new ones again.
“Attribute.”
Ignoring Philip’s expression, Jeonghyeon opened his status window.
Attribute: Iron Mace
Features: A cleanly forged mace, designed for maximum power transfer. Exceptionally sturdy—perfect for smashing heads against foes of similar strength!
Rank: C
Attribute Liberation: 51%
Maybe because it was a mutant goblin chieftain after all, the attribute liberation gauge filled up generously compared to the number of kills.
“Shall we head straight for the boss monster now?”
“Not yet. There’s something we need to do first.”
With a grim expression, Jeonghyeon pulled the Blood Dissector from his inventory and spoke in deadly earnest.
“We might leave, but not before making a killing.”
Slice. Slice.
His knife work was as elegant as ever, and the mutant goblins coughed up mana stones that seemed at least C- rank as their reward.
“Mana stones this pure…… It’s my first time seeing any.”
“Take one. For yourself.”
“Pardon? For me? No, sir! Just watching and learning is already……”
“Take it. You earned your share.”
When Jeonghyeon thrust a mana stone at him, Philip reluctantly accepted the gesture.
“Got room in your inventory?”
“It’s not porter-sized, so capacity’s limited, but I can squeeze in a few stones!”
“Good. That’ll do. Let’s go.”
Jeonghyeon confirmed Philip’s face brighten just a touch as he gathered the stones, then headed onward.
Damn kid. Be grateful for your luck.
The old Jeonghyeon would’ve claimed them all without question. Whether regression had broadened his mercy or seeing this stubbornly honest fool reminded him of his past self, who knew—but good was good, right? He nodded to himself.
“Let’s move!”
“Yes, sir!”
***
They roamed and hunted through the dungeon for quite some time.
Over an hour in, they’d torn through the interior, but only mutant goblins and dracos kept showing up.
“When the hell does the boss appear? Did we miss it?!”
Excitement had fueled the early fights, but now that he’d analyzed their patterns perfectly, it was all rote boredom.
“The boss should be showing up soon……”
Philip’s mutter reached Jeonghyeon’s slightly bored ears.
“Soon? You been here before?”
No way. Dungeons of similar rank shared monster types, but once cleared, they never reappeared. The system didn’t work like that anyway.
Yet Philip spoke as if he had a map.
“Ah! Well, with Mind Dragon Uldran’s blessing, I can kinda read mana structures.”
“You had a skill like that? Why didn’t you say so? We wasted time sweeping trash mobs. Hand over the mana stones.”
“No, sir! I’ve never been here either—I didn’t know!”
Aha. Got it.
Uldran was a steadfast dragon. Blunt, in other words—dense as a brick.
As the patron god of Afraksas’s lava dwarf smiths, he never forgot direct experiences, but anything indirect? Hopelessly clueless.
Philip truly hadn’t known; no need to press.
“Useful skill. Hone it well. In D-rank dungeons from now on, the layout’ll light up like a map. How’s it now?”
“Yes……! Not exact positions, but it feels like the boss is coming up soon!”
“That’s enough. Lead the way.”
“Pardon?”
“I said lead.”
“B-but if we get ambushed suddenly……”
“Leading cuts our path short. I’ll handle ambushes…… Or you wanna bail? Should I solo it and burn your dream epic weapon in one go?”
Philip jumped at the threat of wasting his precious epic, then grinned slyly.
“Truth is, I’ve always dreamed of taking point.”
“That’s the spirit.”
Philip switched stances swiftly and took the lead.
Following Jeonghyeon’s order to avoid needless fights, he stuck to side paths skirting monsters.
About ten minutes in, Philip reacted.
“I feel it……! Mana pulsing through the whole structure! This has to be the boss room!”
Fake sky or not, it was still a mana construct—prime territory for Mind Dragon Uldran to analyze.
“Good. We’re warmed up—let’s wrap this quick and grab dinner.”
“Yes, sir!”
Jeonghyeon charged into the dungeon depths the moment Philip finished.
***
“Kuuuwaaah!!”
“Ugh, shut it.”
True to a low-rank dungeon boss, it revealed itself head-on—no mind games, no traps, just brute force.
“What’s that look like to you?”
“Uh…… Not a goblin or draco.”
“Right?”
The boss looming before them was a minotaur, its bull face crowned by three massive pairs of horns.
A grin spread across Jeonghyeon’s face.
“A minotaur, huh……”
No need to dig through memories. This was the first boss he’d faced after awakening in his past life.
Monstrous strength, hide too tough for blades. It had every quality to piss off a swordsman like him.
But this time, he wielded a mace to pulverize it hide and all.
“Tonight’s dinner: prime beef.”
“Pardon?”
“I’ll tenderize it nice and firm for you!”
Jeonghyeon charged without another word.
“Krawr!!”
The dim-witted minotaur stamped the ground with its long legs and lowered its head for a ram.
The dungeon shook with earth-shattering booms.
Philip watched tensely, vowing not to miss a single exchange this time.
BOOM!!!
A dull thud echoed massively. The mace struck the minotaur’s skull dead-on, overwhelming raw power trumping matchup disadvantages.
“Use your head—your actual brain, not the battering one.”
The minotaur spewed blood from its mouth.
“Kuwaak!!”
Stunned by the force, the giant bull-man staggered back.
“Krwok! Kahak!”
It spat out shattered teeth from that single blow, then charged again.
“Yes! That’s a minotaur!”
In his past life, such assaults had nearly killed him—but now, he welcomed them.
Yet contrary to expectations, it halted mid-charge, reared up, raised a fist high, and smashed the ground.
Fitting for a boss, huh?
Maces relied on rotational torque; without dwarf-level strength, upward swings lost half their power.
Knowing this, Jeonghyeon rolled inside the minotaur’s guard as the strike missed.
“But hey, you a bull or a cow down there?”
“?!”
He swung the mace upward with full force—straight to the groin.
Downward blocks halved power, but every male’s weak spot was fair game.
CRUNCH!!
The deafening impact made Philip, who’d sworn to watch every detail, squeeze his eyes shut.
“Ugh……! Even I felt that……”
“KRAAAAWRRRR!!!”
The minotaur collapsed to its knees, howling madly.
“Now we’re eye-to-eye.”
Jeonghyeon stared into its lowered gaze and smashed the mace into its cheekbone with everything he had.
Pure physical force, no mana or skills.
Half its face caved in from that alone.
“Kuw…… Kuwa!!”
Even mangling its speech, it bellowed. Jeonghyeon silenced it for good.
Thud-crash!
Its horn, tough enough to deflect anti-air fire, shattered—impaling its own skull as it died.
“If you’re gonna toughen up, do your whole body, idiot.”
Jeonghyeon stepped back, breathing raggedly.
The massive corpse hit the floor with a boom!
“Hoo…… Hah.”
Overwhelming power gap or not, repeated full-force swings left his arms trembling.
Need to build my physical stats more. Shaking from this much?
Even now plotting ahead, he turned and raised a hand to Philip.
“Hey! Philip! Time for beef—let’s go!”
Philip’s face had gone from bewilderment to outright horror. Unlike usual, Jeonghyeon turned fully to reassure him.
“Don’t take it too hard. Truth is, I……”
“Behind you! Watch your back!!!”
“Huh?”
Convinced he’d never raise such a cliché death flag, Jeonghyeon turned—and a wall-like minotaur fist rocketed toward his face at blinding speed.
Crack!!
“Sir Jeonghyeon!!”