Chapter 38
Chapter 38
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Chapter 9 Capitalism (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
My hands were busy and my mind was in chaos, but fortunately, the second battle ended without any major injuries.
The only mishap was getting bitten on the thigh by accident.
The fights, the purification—it had all been a blur, but this was still pretty good by any measure.
I downed a potion to recover from my injuries and attribute mana, then pressed forward again.
Before I knew it, thirty minutes had passed since the mission started.
The plants were getting shorter and shorter until, at some point, they were barely poking their heads above the water.
I'd cleared the thorny lotus leaf thicket.
Unlike before, my field of view opened up wide.
Sparse patches of nameless grass grew amid the sticky mud and bottomless swamps stretching out ahead.
Water mist hung thick in the air, so I couldn't see too far.
Still, the open sightlines felt refreshing.
'I have no idea what's beyond those grass clumps.'
Without mana detection, the mental strain would've been intense.
It was an unwelcome field in every way.
The fishy stench was grating, and the footing was unreliable.
'If others came here, they'd struggle.'
This wasn't a good spot for group combat.
'Parties have more hands than me, which is an advantage.'
I clicked my tongue while sorting through the guidebook's info on the enemies.
Mana within detection range was starting to converge.
This time, I could clearly see the water surface splitting as the monsters moved.
"Tch."
The situation I'd feared was unfolding.
'Seventeen, eighteen.'
The number of monsters kept climbing.
This one might cost me some serious losses.
'Attribute mana's at about half.'
If I rationed it right, I could handle this fight.
Maybe they trusted their numbers, but the monsters didn't drag things out.
I swung my longsword, cleaving the first one leaping from the water in half.
Then I dodged sideways, evading the ones charging in right after.
"Hup!"
In that instant, my foot slipped on something squishy.
Splash—the sound rang out as my foot sank into the water.
The dirt I'd stepped on crumbled away, revealing what lay buried beneath.
I couldn't help glancing at it, but there was no time to inspect closely.
Four more were swimming toward me, slicing through the water.
I smashed the head of the first arrival with the spear from the tutorial.
As I pulled my foot from the water's edge, three more burst from the swamp on my right.
They shot up to shoulder height in a flash.
I dropped into a low stance and channeled mana into the longsword in my right hand.
Swinging it overhead, I poured mana into my left leg.
By a hair's breadth, the ones lunging from the left bit into my thigh and calf.
"Kuh."
As the three bisected midair spilled black blood.
I was already slitting the throat of the monster clinging to my thigh with the dagger in my left hand.
Next came the one on my left calf.
Gripping the dagger in reverse, I pierced its skull in one thrust.
But it was too early to relax.
Even now, the number of monsters caught in mana detection was rising.
More were charging than the ones I'd killed.
"These annoying bastards!"
Taken one by one, they weren't that powerful.
I could crush them barehanded.
But when those puny things surpassed thirty, it got tough.
To deal with the ones exploiting my openings, I had no choice but to use attribute mana.
Not enough to incinerate them outright, but plenty to stiffen them up.
It bought me a brief breather to clean up the crocodile monsters.
"Hoo, haa."
The wounds were numerous, but nothing life-threatening.
Still, the stamina drain was worse than in the level 2 mission. I had to keep moving nonstop.
I stood straight, heaving my ragged breaths.
The musty stench of black blood mixed with the fishy odor, turning my stomach.
Around where I'd stood, monster corpses floated—easily over thirty at a glance.
I'd known the rough count from mana detection.
But seeing the dead ones piled up with my own eyes was demoralizing.
'They say even experts can't beat a gang-up.'
I'd handled over thirty solo, and my attribute mana hit bottom again.
I chugged a potion the moment the fight ended.
Poured plenty on the bite wounds too.
The injuries began healing, but my expression stayed grim.
'I need proper attack skills or AOE.'
Or form a party.
'If my physical stats keep stagnating, soloing to level 4 is impossible.'
I clicked my tongue, brushing back my hair—black blood trickled down.
I moved to a spot with fewer corpses and roughly washed my face and hair.
Then I headed to where I'd escaped the lotus thicket.
Crouching low, I groped around and soon found what I wanted.
The thing I'd stepped on during the third fight.
"It really is..."
No mistake.
Gritting my teeth, I flipped it over with my dagger—half-buried in mud.
White bone gleamed inside the rotting flesh, ending in a broken nail.
The bloated, waterlogged meat decaying—this was unmistakably a human hand.
"Haa..."
I stared at the rotting hand, then let out a heavy sigh and looked skyward.
Two blue moons still hung there stubbornly.
'No player has reached a mission zone without barriers before me.'
So this hand's owner wasn't a player.
Probably someone native to this world, not Earth.
Recalling the gold coins from the level 2 mission crystallized my drifting hypothesis.
'This world has civilization and people.'
No doubt, no counterarguments—a perfect certainty.
Taking a deep breath, I stripped off my torn shirt, scratched by thorns everywhere.
Tore it in half and wrapped the rotting hand.
"Ugh..."
The squishy, slimy feel made my skin crawl.
Enough time had passed for rigor mortis to fade.
Touching a dead person's hand was creepy enough.
But it feeling no different from butcher-shop stew meat? Chilling.
Even so, I wrapped it up tight and pulled a bag from storage.
I'd packed spare clothes and shoes for mission's end.
Stuffed the whole bag back into storage.
Simple reason for taking this gruesome thing.
'Verify it properly.'
I wanted to confirm if this was truly a 'human' hand.
But dissecting it solo was too specialized.
'Talk to Uncle Jong-hoon first.'
If that's no good, request forensics from the NIS.
After bagging the hand, I didn't leave.
Instead, I pulled out the tutorial spear and wrapped my remaining clothes around it.
Soaked it in oil from storage and lit it—torch made.
Then the real search began.
I crawled on the ground, checking every crushed dirt mark.
That's how I spotted a cluster of monster footprints in one spot.
Following them revealed something off.
"Shoes..."
Unlike the webbed claw marks.
Oval with a protruding front—like a shoe toe.
Monster prints were so dense only patches remained, but they looked human.
Kneeling by the prints, lost in thought for a moment.
I stood and shook the flame off the spear.
Monster mana was closing in from behind again.
'Clear the mission first, check later.'
Drew longsword and dagger—the swamp surface rippled far off.
'About ninety left.'
Seven gathering nearby. A long night ahead.
* * *
I found traces of the medium about three hours after entering the mission zone.
By then, I'd killed over eighty monsters and gained more than two thousand extra mana.
After each fight, I'd move, and monsters spotting me would trickle in.
I'd hunt them and relocate.
A hardened pattern over hours.
But after the fifth fight, no more came.
'...Why not?'
Nearby monsters all dead?
I waited a bit longer, then decided to move.
Thirty minutes in.
Monster mana started faintly from afar.
Prepared for another roundup hunt and advanced.
Then, deep in detection range, a massive mana surged.
"What..."
Startled, I froze in place.
This mana hadn't come from outside range.
It popped up inside, out of nowhere.
Focusing on its position, I got why quick.
'Underwater.'
The swamps hiding croc monsters weren't deep.
'Maybe 50-60cm max.'
Deepest 1-2m.
But this one was way below, dozens of meters down.
Mana detection forms a sphere centered on me.
Radius 300m fore, aft, up, down, left, right—only mana inside that sphere.
So narrower up/down at edges.
That's why it appeared suddenly inside range.
I scrutinized its massive mana—nothing like the ones I'd hunted.
Roughly gauging its size.
Compared to Han Chang-sik's blazing mana.
'Half?'
Around 400-500 mana.
'Some kind of boss mob.'
Looks like level 3 adds boss raids.
'No regular monster's exceeded 100 mana so far.'
That thought hit when I spotted something odd by the boss.
'What’s that?'
Normal mana in detection flickered like flames.
Ordinary people, players, monsters, plants—all lifeforms.
But this by the boss spun round and round.
'Vortex...?'
Focusing sharpened the sense.
Vortex mana beside presumed monster's huge one.
Linked together.
'No.'
The vortex was sucking it in.
Mana flowing from monster to vortex.
Realizing what that meant was easy.
'Absorption?'
Monster absorbing mana like a player?
Alarms rang silently in my head.
'What the hell is that thing doing.'
My face had hardened stiff.
I hurried toward the two manas.
Then nearby monsters acted differently.
They should've charged me by pattern.
But they stayed put, stock-still.
'Why?'
This wasn't normal.
Unease, alertness, anxiety.
Highest tension since entering.
Yet nearing the weird mana, my heartbeat slowed.
Like holding breath to stay hidden.
Then the huge mana moved suddenly—I jolted.
Damn system