Chapter 37
Chapter 37
Jongwon frowned beside him. He had watched Hyunseok since childhood. Hyunseok called Jongwon a mad dog, but sometimes Jongwon referred to Hyunseok as a psycho.
A mad dog is always wild anyway, but when someone usually calm starts getting angry, it’s terrifying.
“And the scariest part is that he makes you not even notice he’s angry.”
The dungeon’s layout was similar to the one in Easy Mode. Twisting corridors led to large empty spaces, where monsters were either alone or in groups. Unlike Easy Mode, trolls appeared here.
Hyunseok led the Inha Guild members toward the center of what seemed to be the first main area. Guild members from the previous guild followed him, pretending to be friendly, making small talk. They introduced their guild as Pyeongchang.
The first room contained orcs.
“Looks like the difficulty ramps up as you go further.”
Orcs had also appeared in Easy Mode. Seeing Easy Mode monsters appear in a Normal Mode dungeon meant one of two things: either these orcs were abnormally strong, or the dungeon’s difficulty increased progressively. However, the orcs didn’t seem particularly powerful. Three of them huddled in a corner and, upon spotting Hyunseok’s group, charged forward rapidly.
The notice about monsters becoming violent seemed accurate; their charging resembled raging bulls.
“Krrok!”
One orc let out a guttural roar but completely ignored Hyunseok, instead attacking the Pyeongchang guild members behind him. The aggression had increased, but in a measured way.
“W-why are they…?”
The Pyeongchang members initially panicked but gradually began fighting the orcs. Even for upper-tier Slayers, handling three orcs at once wasn’t easy. Only Hyunseok and Jongwon could manage such a fight with ease. Those with a Strength stat over 100 could take down orcs effortlessly.
But Hyunseok didn’t help.
“Let’s move to the next room.”
“O-oppa?” Minseo looked up at him. The situation was already strange enough, with orcs bypassing Inha Guild and only attacking Pyeongchang.
“Oh… oppa’s angry.”
Hyunseok rarely showed anger, but when he did, it was unstoppable. The scariest part, as Jongwon thought, was that Hyunseok’s anger wasn’t obvious. He only revealed it openly to close friends; strangers rarely noticed.
The sound of combat seemed to attract more orcs. From the four directions, north, south, east, and west, three orcs came charging from each side, twelve in total, snorting furiously. Their aggression had clearly intensified. The Pyeongchang members panicked and grabbed Hyunseok.
“W-wait a moment!”
Hyunseok ignored them and kept walking.
“Please! Help us here!”
These weren’t weak guild members; they were at least mid-tier. But facing fifteen orcs at once was impossible. Minseo tugged on Hyunseok’s sleeve.
“Oppa, won’t you help them?”
If he ignored them, the Pyeongchang guild would die. As Easy Mode monsters, the orcs weren’t powerful enough to kill in one hit, but over time, survival was unlikely.
Hyunseok ignored the pleas and walked on. Screams erupted behind him, pleas for mercy, promises never to misbehave again. Most of them, faced with the fear of death, cried and begged as they trailed behind him, tears and snot flowing.
When their H/P dropped below 50%, their screams intensified, begging for their lives and promising to do anything. Below 30%, PvP usually stopped for safety, 30% or lower meant life-threatening danger. Yet they were trapped by the orcs, unable to flee, willing to surrender all rewards just to survive.
Finally, Hyunseok turned around.
“Minseo, remember the contract you made with your teacher?”
“Y-yes.”
“We’ll make sure to get their agreement later.”
“Okay.”
Looking at the dungeon, more rooms would appear. Like it or not, all rewards would go to Inha. With the party system active, achievement rewards wouldn’t be split.
Jongwon whistled, relieved.
In front of the terrified, pleading Pyeongchang members, Hyunseok appeared.
❋ ❋ ❋
The official Strength stat number one, Ha Jongwon. Publicly, his Strength stat was reported as 98. He deliberately understated it. His actual Strength stat was 114. Considering Hyunseok’s stats had reached 100 when forcibly shifted to Easy Mode, this was remarkable growth.
The gap between 99 and 100 points was immense. Hyunseok had predicted correctly: surpassing 100 doubled all combat-related stats except H/P.
The extreme Strength stat had side effects: one-hit damage increased massively, but movement slowed. Essentially, the punch he imagined mentally moved faster than his body could physically deliver it. It felt like swinging a very heavy iron bar.
Due to the imbalance, the Strength’s full potential wasn’t realized. Ha Jongwon’s 114 Strength was impressive, able to one-shot orcs and twin-head orcs, but still far weaker than Hyunseok, whose total stats exceeded 300. Hyunseok could kill an orc with a light touch; a one-shot kill barely described his ability.
The Pyeongchang members felt simultaneously rescued and humiliated, witnessing a Platinum Slayer in action.
Even trolls and twin-head trolls, usually terrifying, seemed trivial next to him.
[Dungeon Cleared.]
[Achievement recognized as easy.]
[Bonus Stats +3 granted.]
[Contribution: 99% by Hyunseok and 4 others. XP distributed according to contribution.]
[Contributions below 20% receive no stats.]
[Party system grants 20% bonus XP.]
Additional notifications for Hyunseok:
[Level and XP system limited due to exceeding Normal Mode stat cap.]
[50% penalty applied for exceeding Normal Mode stat cap.]
Pyeongchang received no rewards, as the party system applied only to contributions within the dungeon. Whether this system applies outside the dungeon remained unknown.
❋ ❋ ❋
Lee Myunghoon was satisfied. Collaborating with Hyunseok meant more achievement rewards, the primary benefit being bonus stats. Achievements were difficult to earn, making their rewards sweet.
Myunghoon’s class was Hidden Trapper, newly acquired in Normal Mode. He had been a Combat Slayer in Easy Mode. Classes weren’t strictly assigned by stats. Myunghoon wasn’t the only one with Trapper; other Slayers were gradually acquiring it. In Normal Mode, the value of a Trapper class was increasing.
Dungeons mostly appeared in remote mountains rather than large cities. Monsters also tended to spawn in unpopulated areas. Normal Mode dungeons, so far, were not excessively difficult. Upper-tier Slayers could form teams to clear them carefully.
The difference from Easy Mode was minimal: only trolls and twin-head trolls appeared.
Myunghoon chewed his index fingernail while sitting cross-legged.
“But Normal Mode’s end can’t be this easy. The harder dungeons are probably just ones we haven’t found yet.”
Even with lots of healing, higher-tier search skills would eventually emerge. Myunghoon considered the current “easy” dungeons the limit of what Trappers could locate.
Having already achieved four achievements with Hyunseok, he understood the system: efficiency, speed, and team size activated the achievement system.
(End of Chapter 37)
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— Translated by Prime Works —