Quest: The Dungeon Tree Sapling's Plea 2
Dungeon Tree Sapling's Request 2
📍 Objective: The second Monster Wave will begin soon. Repel the invading monsters and protect the Dungeon Tree sapling.
🎁 Reward: 3 crops of your choice, Dungeon Tree growth
“……Even just a little Royal Jelly wiped on does this?”
Han Ji-woo shot a dumbfounded look at the Ironclad Pumpkin Queen Bee.
The queen bee, which had produced concentrated Royal Jelly, waddled through the air toward the apple tree. Despite its plump body, it beat its ridiculously tiny wings furiously to create swirling air currents ahead—essentially generating a miniature typhoon with each flap. Riding that typhoon, it diligently flew to the apple tree, then perched on a thick branch and began regurgitating something from its mouth, smearing it around with chideok-chideok sounds.
Upon closer inspection, the thing was building a nest.
Don’t they usually build hives underground or something?
That was Han Ji-woo’s common knowledge, but this one casually started constructing its home right there on the branch. Not dangling like a typical beehive, but settled atop the limb like a bird’s nest.
“Eh, whatever. Do your thing. Earth logic isn’t absolute here anyway.”
Either way, bees building a hive meant they were forming a colony. Good news for Han Ji-woo.
Bees would handle pollination automatically, letting them flit around sucking nectar and transferring pollen from stamens to pistils. That would lighten Pao’s workload tremendously, and the flowers and crops would thrive like crazy.
And that wasn’t all.
“Plus, I’ll get to taste some honey.”
His mouth watered at the thought of honeycomb brimming with sweet honey.
But that was for later.
Until Second Monster Wave: 1:00:00
Right now, he needed to prepare for the impending Monster Wave.
But he wasn’t too worried.
Compared to the first wave, Han Ji-woo had grown astonishingly. And with Pao, Lucy, and chubby Seibier at his side, they could handle even a mid-grade monster horde.
“First wave was low-grade monsters, so the difficulty won’t spike beyond mid-grade at worst.”
Still, just in case, Han Ji-woo decided to make full preparations before the wave hit.
* * *
The Dungeon Shop between floors 10 and 11 of the dungeon.
The 20 survivors there armed themselves with gear bought from Han Ji-woo.
The Red Dragon Bone Armor went first to the melee dealers, with leftovers distributed to those with the lowest base stats. The Black Dragon eggshell armors crafted earlier by Osgeelro Haiban had solid stats too, so the rest equipped those.
It raised their collective survival odds.
However, Andra Marshall didn’t get any dragon bone armor. His past trollish antics had burned too much trust.
So the relatively low-stat Andra had to settle for eggshell armor. He accepted it without protest, meekly complying.
The others just thought it was still hard to read the guy.
“Once everyone’s geared up, let’s head down.”
Mitchell Hoff scanned the group as he spoke.
Their hearts grew heavy at the thought of plunging back into dungeon hell.
Truth be told, they wanted to linger in the safe shop longer. But Han Ji-woo hadn’t shared any of his provisions here. They had to ration their inventory food, and that wouldn’t last forever.
So they descended the stairs to the next floor in unison.
At the bottom awaited a ruined village, ravaged by some attack. Every building around was burned or collapsed—nothing intact. The barren air amplified the ominous vibe.
“Ugh, I hate places like this.”
Jonathan Yombi shivered, hugging his shoulders.
Someone patted his back reassuringly from behind. Turning, he saw Red—the red-haired, mute mystery boy.
He looked young, but that was just a guess; no one knew his real age or name.
“You’re not scared?”
Red nodded.
“Impressive, man. Any second now, something’s gonna burst out from those ruins… Kyaaak! There it is!”
No sooner had Jonathan’s motormouth finished than monsters poured from the wrecked buildings.
Bipedal mid-grade monsters with lizard heads, long tails, and green scales covering their bodies. Lizardmen.
They hissed threats—shiiik, shiik, shik-shik—wielding long tridents.
“Eugh, disgusting.”
Josh McConnell, who particularly loathed reptiles, wrinkled his nose.
“Lizardmen. First time we’ve seen these.”
Irene Luker’s calm voice prompted Pierre Rasbon to check his Monster Encyclopedia skill.
“Mid-grade monsters, for starters. And…”
As Pierre spoke, Lizardmen swarmed from everywhere, encircling them.
Then, the quest began.
Lizardmen's Ruins
📍 Objective: Exterminate the Lizardmen occupying the ruins.
🎁 Reward: Food crates, new stat to support each individual's skill
- Remaining Monsters: 113
Yui Ishihara shot forward like lightning.
“Yui! Get the Lizardmen intel from Pierre first, then…”
Mitchell tried to stop her in alarm, but she’d already smashed her fist into a nearby Lizardman’s face.
-Instant Death
Incredibly, the Lizardman’s skull exploded from one punch, killing it instantly. Mitchell’s caution—born of no prior mid-grade encounters—felt awkward now.
Meanwhile, a few Lizardmen suddenly butchered their allies on one side.
Puk! Pergeruk!
“It works! Mid-grade monsters can be tamed too!”
Kim Jung-min shouted excitedly. His tamed Lizardmen mercilessly stabbed their kin.
On the opposite flank, four Lizardmen under Andra’s hypnosis turned on their own.
Watching, Josh cast his skill on the controlled ones.
Fast and Slow!
“Gotta make our allies count!”
The speed-boosted Lizardmen moved with unprecedented agility, slaughtering comrades even faster.
“Ugh, let’s kill ’em quick! They’re too gross to look at.”
Jonathan, fed up, unleashed Wind Cutter. Blades of wind sliced Lizardmen throats like paper.
The mid-grade monsters fell like harvested rice in autumn.
Not much of a threat after all—the Onelli twins joined in. Punches and kicks from the duo left Lizardmen reeling.
More Lizardmen swarmed the heroes crushing their foes.
Then—
Whiiiish!
Kwaaaang!
A massive fireball detonated in a clustered group.
Hwaruruk!
Shiiik!Shiik!
Two Lizardmen died on impact from the shockwave; burned ones writhed on the ground.
Mitchell, who’d gifted them the flames, lobbed another at a new pack while thinking,
It’s not just the gear making us this strong.
The two days and nights battling in Ferrofero’s subspace had boosted everyone’s base stats hugely.
Lion's Roar!
Kraaaaaang!
As the ruins stained red with Lizardmen blood, Seol Ara’s Lion’s Roar erupted. Strengthened on the way to floor 11, it shattered their minds, leaving them defenseless and debuffing all stats by 30%.
Already pushovers post-meal, they were now utterly helpless.
The dungeon warriors butchered them mercilessly.
One Shot!
Kwaaaaaang!
The ground quaked violently. Red’s wide-area One Shot had landed.
Upgraded like the rest, it now stacked his attack power up to 15x while charging.
Already high from his body enhancement skill, that multiplied power one-shot an entire nearby pack.
In just over 10 minutes of the 27 heroes rampaging like gods, no living Lizardmen remained in the ruins.
“……We’re seriously way stronger now, right?”
Jonathan muttered in disbelief.
“Waaah, that was so cool.”
“Everyone was amazing.”
Lisa Simpson and Irene burst into admiring smiles.
“Who knew two days straight fighting in that cat’s subspace would pay off this big… These things are definitely all dead? Feels too easy—hope they don’t come back to life or something.”
Josh prodded a Lizardman corpse with his foot.
He wasn’t alone in his doubts. Several others tensed, expecting a twist.
Then—
Lizardmen's Ruins
🎁 Reward: Food crates, new stat to support each individual's skill
The clear message dispelled their anxiety.
“New stat to support each individual’s skill?”
Someone read the reward aloud.
Then, everyone gained their new stat.
“Huh? I got Mana stat.”
“Same here.”
“Me too.”
Jonathan, Mitchell, and other elemental ranged attackers spoke up.
“I got Strength.”
“Us too.”
“One more for Strength.”
Yui and the Onelli twins—body enhancement users.
So Mana boosted ranged attacks; Strength powered physical ones.
“I got Dexterity. Says it adds stat bonuses to crafted gear. Higher value means bigger bonuses.”
Irene’s report.
Kim Jung-min shot his hand up next.
“I got Affinity! Higher levels make taming monsters or animals easier, more numerous, and last longer. Whoa, this is great!”
“Priest might not get something clear-cut.”
Pierre’s remark drew a kind smile and nod from Dennis Cobitt.
“As you guessed. My Holy Power’s enhanced—beyond healing or blessing you all, I can now curse monsters with divine wrath. And you, Brother Pierre?”
“Mine’s Knowledge. Monster info’s more detailed now… and it lists ways to summon specific ones.”
Pierre’s cool tone downplayed it, but summoning monsters basically made him a summoner. He could now aid battles directly or indirectly—his presence skyrocketed.
“What about Ara-unnie?”
At Lisa’s question, all eyes turned to Seol Ara.
Checking her status window, she replied,
“I… got Luck?”
“Luck?”
“Yeah. Boosts the odds of better outcomes from actions.”
Most figured Luck was nice but not standout.
Except two.
She snagged the best one.
Pierre.
And
Gotta kill Ara first later.
Andra.