Chapter 102
Chapter 102
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: Chapter 21 Grave Robber (2)
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Thinking about what I had to do from now on made me sigh with annoyance.
It was possible only because regular field mobs were no longer a threat to me.
'Let's get this over with quick.'
Having made up my mind, I left the entrance to the underground behind and moved to a new spot.
My first destination was where the Meseo was located.
I hunted the evolved monsters there and collected the Meseo.
Not just one, but all the Meseo in the nearby polluted areas.
Then I started dashing through the forest where the snow hadn't fully melted yet.
Meseo left behind without any evolved monsters made for the perfect bait to draw field mob aggro.
"Kieeeek!"
"Kyaaak! Kyaak!"
Sure enough, every time I passed by, over a dozen monsters chased after me.
After awakening to Silver rank, my body had become far more refined and sturdy.
I could shake them off even without using Mana Operation.
That meant I had to carefully control my speed while herding them.
I busily ran through the forest, gathering the monsters.
After doing this solo for a few minutes.
I leaped onto a tree branch and extended my hand toward the writhing mass of monsters that had gathered.
Pzzzzzt-!
The attribute mana concentrated at my fingertips began to decompose, sending waves of scorching heat rippling through the air.
Soon, a brilliant red flame bloomed from my hand.
The blaze, now roughly the size of my chest, shot straight toward the monsters.
Four more fireballs of the same size followed in quick succession.
In the end, a crimson inferno erupted in the snow-covered mountains, swallowing the monsters whole.
'Basic fire elemental magic: Fireball.'
I could still vividly recall the day I added this spell to my status window.
It was also the first day I'd successfully decomposed lightning attribute mana into the four elements.
Decomposing elements meant I could use higher attributes even more efficiently.
'The mana density is different.'
With the mana needed to manifest one lightning bolt, I could create three or four Fireballs.
Using less mana for more spells.
That was the advantage of high-grade mana.
As the monsters' screams intensified amid the flames, the mana flowing into me increased accordingly.
Of course, not all the monsters died in one go.
So I had to walk into the sea of fire and finish them off myself.
Any normal person would have suffered severe burns.
But my attribute mana was lightning, hotter than the sun.
As I wrapped my attribute mana around my body, blue sparks crackled to life.
The way they writhed wildly made it look like they were devouring the surrounding flames.
In fact, the heat from the inferno around me had noticeably diminished.
It was possible thanks to the properties of attribute mana.
'Lower attribute mana can't override higher attribute mana.'
The hierarchy of attribute mana was an absolute truth of nature.
'Just like regular flames can't burn in lava and get consumed instead.'
Mana grades were like an immutable pecking order.
Thanks to that, I strolled unscathed into the heart of the blaze.
For several minutes, I stabbed with my spear amid the roaring flames or unleashed slashing winds with wind attribute.
I cleanly finished off even the few surviving monsters.
'As expected, trash mobs are easiest to handle with magic.'
At this pace, I could wrap it up in a couple of hours.
With light footsteps, I began the next round of herding.
Sometimes it was just regular field mobs, other times an evolved monster lurking nearby would join in.
But there were no truly dangerous moments.
Ever since I'd gained proper control over my mana, my combat prowess had skyrocketed.
After about an hour of this monotonous grind.
"Hm?"
Five red dots appeared on my map, which had been filled with black dots.
It meant players had shown up—a most unwelcome development for me.
'No need to share the hunting ground.'
After a brief moment of thought, I approached while leading three evolved monsters.
My plan was to scare them off just enough to make them retreat.
But when I arrived at their location, I changed my mind.
"3 o'clock, break through at 3 o'clock! Push that way!"
"Hoo."
Perched on a tree branch, I focused my gaze on the players below.
* * *
"Push, push!"
"What the hell are you doing?! You gotta hold it!"
"You think I'm just standing around?!"
As usual when dealing with mobs coming in groups of five or six, tense and frantic voices rang out repeatedly.
At the center of the chaos, Yang Tae-ho was flabbergasted.
'He said he was confident, but it was all bullshit!'
Some party members had to bail due to circumstances, but he claimed they could handle it just fine without them.
Bragging about plenty of experience in 2-star polluted zones.
Everything the player who called himself Phoenix had said with that smug look was pure crap.
'Even so, this is too much!'
Sure, losing members created gaps, but the rest had to cover them.
They weren't, so monsters were breaking through to the backline.
Mobs slipping between the rearguard players and the frontline tank, running wild inside their formation.
"Fuck this shit!"
It was a real danger for the tank gripping his shield with both hands.
Yang Tae-ho urgently drew the hand axe from his belt.
He swung it down at the monster charging toward his back.
"Kieeeek!"
The ambiguous monkey-chimpanzee thing retreated, axe buried in its shoulder, spraying black blood.
If the DPS could just finish it off properly right now, he'd have nothing to worry about.
Unfortunately, everyone was busy fending off the monsters surrounding them.
In the end, Yang Tae-ho had to block the incoming front-rush with his shield while soloing the ones lunging from behind.
'Shouldn't have gotten greedy.'
His income this month had been too low, so he'd let greed get the better of him.
Phoenix had offered 20% of the loot.
Without a fixed party, Yang Tae-ho usually bounced around as a mercenary and got about 10%.
With larger groups, it was even less.
So he couldn't pass up double his usual cut.
'Should've been more careful.'
He'd figured fewer people but experienced ones would be fine.
The early stages had gone smoothly, no issues.
They'd even handled two evolved monsters at once pretty well.
He'd even let his guard down a bit.
But when dozens of smaller regular monsters swarmed in, their coordination fell apart.
'This is gonna end bad.'
Injuries were piling up, draining stamina fast.
On top of that, the unfamiliar hunting pace was wearing them down mentally.
Yang Tae-ho felt his mouth go dry.
Was it the sense of life-or-death peril?
His wife's face flickered in his mind—the one stubbornly refusing hospital care to save money.
He gritted his teeth.
'Can't die pointlessly like this.'
Time to do something to escape the crisis.
First, grasp the situation accurately.
In Yang Tae-ho's eyes, the party's state was dire.
He was holding the line to his limit and passing mobs back, but the DPS weren't killing fast enough.
Worse, the blood and monster cries were drawing even more.
The fight was dragging on too long.
'This ain't sustainable.'
Swallowing hard against the rising dread from deep in his chest, Yang Tae-ho scanned the surroundings.
Phoenix and the others looked grim too.
He wasn't the only one feeling the crisis.
Yang Tae-ho instinctively knew it was time to break open an escape route.
So he used his remaining attribute mana.
'Rock series.'
The rock attribute he'd gotten from a low-grade attribute stone he'd barely scraped together to buy.
It was saving his life today.
"3 o'clock, break through at 3 o'clock! Push that way!"
The others quickly got his intent.
They abandoned the blocked left flank in an instant, focusing fire on the monsters at the party's right—3 o'clock—to carve a path.
But in the end, Yang Tae-ho's plan to blast open a retreat and flee failed.
They'd dragged the fight out too long already.
"Kweek!"
An evolved monster appeared, its bulk at least five or six times that of a regular field mob.
They were already struggling with dozens of regulars—now an evolved one too!
"Of all the damn...!"
"No way!"
"Break through faster!"
Everyone paled.
But no matter how hard they swung their weapons, they couldn't outpace the evolved monster's charge.
Before they knew it, the thing was upon them, raising all six of its arms at once.
A long shadow loomed over the party.
It felt just like the shadow of death, despair etching onto their faces.
At that moment, Yang Tae-ho—mid-breach on the escape route—wedged himself between the evolved monster and the party, raising his shield.
He planned to block that swing.
If the party got bowled over like pins in this situation, it was game over.
He had to hold the line, keep the formation intact.
That was a tank's duty in any party.
Gritting his teeth, Yang Tae-ho thrust his shield forward.
He even squeezed out attribute mana, bracing for exhaustion from mana depletion.
Thick rock began rising around his shield.
It grew like it was alive.
He layered regular mana on top to boost interference.
All preparations complete, he tensed every muscle.
Boom-!
"Grk!"
The evolved monster's swing smashed into Yang Tae-ho.
Its power was insane—the rock protruding from his shield cracked with a sharp snap.
It didn't stop there; his body was shoved backward.
But he didn't collapse.
He skidded back, carving a long groove in the dirt, but he held.
Just that his body felt utterly drained of strength.
He'd scraped together every last drop of mana, plunging into exhaustion.
Even so, Yang Tae-ho squeezed out a yell with all he had left.
"What're you waiting for?! Move your asses!"
It was aimed at the party members who hadn't advanced despite his successful block.
"Go for the neck now!"
He roared and glanced back—then froze.
"Kyaaaak!"
No one was behind him where they should be. Just monsters.
While he'd stepped back to cover the rear, the others should've held the front against the mobs.
Instead, they'd ditched him—the guy who'd taken the hottest spot—and ran.
Monsters filled the void they'd left.
Through the swarming horde, he glimpsed the party members' retreating backs, now far off.
Yang Tae-ho stared blankly for a moment, then his face flushed crimson with rage.
"You fucking bastards!!"
His furious bellow echoed through the noisy forest.
「The party leader has expelled you.」
At the same time, a system message popped up, and a monster leaped from the ground toward his back.
He reflexively groped for his waist, but his backup hand axe was gone.
He'd used it on the mob that broke into the formation earlier and hadn't recovered it.
From behind, a small monster drooling saliva lunged.
From the front, the evolved monster reared up again to crush him.
Trapped in a desperate pinch, Yang Tae-ho went pale.
Once more, his wife's face surfaced—the one avoiding even the hospital vicinity over money.
But this time, there was nothing he could do.
Mana depleted, backup weapon spent.
His only option left was death.
Right on cue, the evolved monster's arm began its downward swing.
Yang Tae-ho blankly watched the surreal scene.
At his feet, the shadow of his stillborn daughter flickered—whom he'd never even held.
Like she'd come to claim the father who couldn't protect her.
With that thought, Yang Tae-ho unwittingly raised his shield over his head.
No real purpose behind it.
Whatever he did now, he couldn't change the future of being pulverized by that hand.
He lacked the power to defy the approaching death.
Yang Tae-ho squeezed his eyes shut, shield held high.
"...Huh?"
But no matter how long he waited, the end never came.
No bite from the rear monster, no crush from the evolved one.
Yang Tae-ho, rigid with shield overhead, cracked his eyes open warily.
The first thing he saw was a monster collapsed at his feet, its neck half-severed.
"Guhk, kek...!"
On top of that, desperate gasping breaths—like someone about to keel over.
What the hell was going on? He lowered his shield, and the evolved monster's body toppled sideways before him.