Chapter 38: Dungeon Clear
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 38: Dungeon Clear
The scouting party waiting outside frowned when their scout didn't return even after three minutes.
"Why isn't he back?"
"Did he get taken out?"
"Taken out? He has a Level 4 Stealth Skill. If there were too many zombies, he would've slipped out before getting surrounded."
"Is it empty?"
"...Empty? No matter how small a police station is, it's still a Demonic Lair."
"Then why the fuck isn't he back, you asshole?"
"How should I know, dumbass?"
Protocol dictated that they should abandon him, head back, and bring the main force.
But if they returned like this, they would face a torrent of abuse for failing their duties as scouts.
What could they even say when they got back?
"What are we going to tell them? 'The guy with the Level 4 Stealth Skill went into the police station, and even though his skill duration should've run out, he didn't come back. We think he's dead, but we got too scared to check, so we ran back.' Do you think the Captain will say, 'Oh, is that so? Good job,' and pat us on the back?"
"Fuck. Then what do we do?"
"We go in and save him, you son of a bitch. If that Level 4 Stealth guy dies, we're dead too. He's the Captain's brother."
"Ah, fucking hell."
Either way, they were dead.
Knowing the Captain's personality, even if he didn't slaughter all his subordinates, it wouldn't be surprising if he executed one or two of them on some flimsy pretext depending on his mood.
A one-in-three chance.
They didn't want to gamble their lives on a 33% probability.
Risking their lives in the police station ahead at least gave them a plausible excuse compared to running away.
The three of them walked toward the police station.
After luring the zombies in front of it a few at a time and taking them out in an alley, the path inside was surprisingly easy.
"He died here with a Level 4 Stealth Skill? There's nothing even here."
"Shut up and get inside."
"Be careful. The inside is a Demonic Lair."
Tense, the three stepped inside, but they felt a sense of unease as they saw zombies collapsed all over the place.
"What the fuck? Why are the zombies dead?"
"Did he kill them?"
"Are you kidding? He has nothing going for him except his Level 4 Stealth. He'd be lucky to kill even one zombie in a one-on-one fight."
"Then why are they dead?"
"How should I know? Did someone else get here first?"
"Ah, fuck. We're screwed."
Either way, the situation inside the police station was not a good sign for the scouts.
Having participated in the operation themselves, they knew better than anyone how much effort their faction had poured into raiding this police station.
They had scraped together all their supplies and invested every resource.
They had practically emptied their base to come out here, and it had taken them four days just to arrive.
It was a distance that would take less than thirty minutes on foot under normal circumstances, but with zombies scattered everywhere, they had to fight their way through, scout the surroundings, and rest. That was why it took so long.
If they returned empty-handed now, claiming the police station had already been looted, the loss would be too devastating—regardless of how furious the Captain would be.
"What do we do?"
"I don't know. Let's just find the stealth guy quickly and get out of here. The Captain will figure something out."
At least they felt a slight sense of relief.
They had entered worrying about a potential zombie horde, but since the zombies were already dead, it meant there was no immediate danger.
Still, they kept their guard up just in case, but driven by the urgency of having already exceeded their allotted scouting time, they split up and began searching the first floor.
A brief moment passed.
The three who had split up, telling each other to call out if anything happened, met back in the hallway—now down to two.
"What? Where did Sang-cheol go?"
"Huh?"
"Didn't he go that way?"
"Ah, that motherfucker. He probably found some food in the breakroom."
"Dumbass. He's going to get beaten up again for hoarding."
Annoyed, the two headed toward the open breakroom door.
It didn't even cross their minds that another one of them might have been taken out. It had been completely silent, after all.
Peering through the crack of the breakroom door, they saw a few bags of snacks scattered on the floor.
Their suspicion turned into certainty.
The back of the figure kneeling and bending over next to the snacks was highly familiar.
Without a second thought, they walked through the open door, not even stopping to wonder why he was hunched over in such a ravenous posture.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
The one in front tapped the hunched figure on the shoulder.
Thud.
The corpse, which had barely been holding its posture, slumped sideways.
Only then did he realize something was terribly wrong. He whipped around, but...
"...Fuck."
All he saw was his remaining companion, clutching his throat as blood sprayed like a fountain, writhing in agony.
He frantically scanned his surroundings, but there was nothing in sight.
"What... What happened to you?!"
This wasn't a zombie.
His instincts screamed a warning, but it was entirely useless. Knowing that crucial fact changed nothing.
He had only two choices: run, or save his dying companion.
Either way, he had to head for the open door. Driven by the primal urge to survive, he lunged toward the exit.
But his foot caught on something, and he pitched forward, crashing to the floor.
It wasn't the body of his fallen comrade.
When he raised his head, a strange man was standing there.
The man gave him a thumbs-up.
"Wow. This Level 4 Stealth Skill is fucking amazing. I'd give it a five-star review."
Since when had he been standing there?
He hadn't sensed a thing.
But this feeling was familiar.
Level 4 Stealth.
He recalled how their companion used to show off, standing right next to them without giving off a single trace of his presence.
Why was a stranger using it now?
The fallen man suddenly realized the reason.
Behind the door, the original owner of the skill lay slumped, eyes closed, discarded like trash.
"...Fuck."
They were utterly screwed.
The man's final words were quite passionate.
*
"Wow, this is crazy good."
The effects of the Stealth Skill were absurdly powerful.
This was his first time using an active mode—a skill—in this real-life zombie apocalypse, and it opened up a whole new world, much like when he first saw the attack trajectories.
He had walked right past them, yet they hadn't perceived him at all.
Of course, they would have noticed if he stood directly in front of their faces, but the moment he slipped even slightly out of their field of vision, he felt as if he had merged with the darkness, becoming a literal shadow.
It even concealed his presence when he attacked, allowing him to fully enjoy the thrill of being an assassin.
Thanks to that, he hadn't even needed to use his pistol to easily dispatch all four of them.
"I need to stay on my toes."
He realized he might need to revise his assumption that no one could defeat him in his current state due to his overwhelming stats.
Even if an opponent had stealth, he could still see the trajectory of incoming attacks, and his superior stats provided a fundamental advantage, meaning he wouldn't easily fall. However, these special abilities introduced enough variables to potentially bridge a significant stat gap.
Fortunately, his Hunting Cheat Mode possessed the power to prey upon such modes.
In future conflicts with other humans, the value of Predation would likely rise even further.
"Let's head back for now."
He had killed all four members of the scouting party.
If he lingered any longer, their main force would come looking for them.
If a mere scouting party had someone with a Level 4 Stealth Skill, the main force might be slightly stronger than he had anticipated.
Waiting around relying solely on his gun carried too much risk.
He had farmed until his pockets were bursting, so that was enough for today.
Leaving the police station, he headed back home.
His mana recovered during the journey back.
"I should probably raise my Mana to 2."
His current Mana was 1.
With mana recovering at a rate of 1 every 10 minutes, he couldn't even use [Cat Step] if his maximum capacity didn't reach 2.
Just now, he had only been able to use it once because his mana temporarily increased due to the Predator Effect triggered by killing a user.
He had set out early in the morning, and by the time he returned, the sun was nearly setting.
Whirrr—
The automatic steel door slid open as he approached.
As the door parted, Kim Ji-hee welcomed him.
"You're back? Are you okay?"
"Do I look okay?"
"...No. Should I heal you?"
"I'm fine."
"Whew."
He probably didn't look very presentable.
He was drenched in blood from head to toe.
Even looking closely, it would be hard to tell whether it was his blood, someone else's, or a zombie's.
But he was perfectly fine.
Today, he had successfully completed his farming run and returned safely.
Not only had he cleared the police station dungeon—which went far beyond his original plan of mere exploration—but he had also wiped out the scouting party of a rival faction, acquiring a highly useful skill in the process.
Most importantly, he hadn't finished checking all his rewards yet.
What he had seen earlier was only the completion reward for the Dungeon Quest.
He hadn't even looked at the Event Quest rewards.
`[Obtained 2 Points]`
`[Obtained 300 Coins]`
`[Obtained Expandable Police Baton (★★)]`
He had intentionally waited to claim these until now, fearing he might lose track of them in the chaos.
An Expandable Police Baton with an excellent grip clattered to the floor.
Visually, it didn't look much different from the one held by the Level 2 Zombie he had seen earlier, but this was a quest reward.
`[Expandable Police Baton (★★)]`
`- Durability (★★) (100 / 100)`
`- Damage to humans and zombies +3`
`- When swung, momentarily increases the user's Strength by ★.`
"As expected."
It was a rare item.
A weapon with quite high attack power.
While a "+3 damage" modifier couldn't be directly quantified in real life like in a game, one would immediately feel the difference upon using it.
Furthermore, it had a passive option that temporarily boosted his Strength by 1 level whenever he swung it.
This meant he could strike with significantly more force.
The only downside was that blunt weapons weren't really his style.
But that was fine.
"Should I make dinner?"
"Yeah. Here, a present."
"...Is this for me?"
"Carry it with you whenever you go outside."
"Thank you."
Seeing her look at him with a deeply touched expression after checking the item's options made him feel that giving it to her instead of tossing it into Room 202 had been well worth it.
"But shouldn't you use it? It looks really good."
"I have my dagger. Besides, the club I've got right here is more than enough."