Chapter 237 Dilemma
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Translator: JayM
Chapter: 237
Chapter Title: Dilemma
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Jeong Yoo-shin and his party members ran across the plateau.
Footprints were imprinted on the damp earth, and wild grass brushed against their legs.
Boom!!! Boom!!! Boom!!!
The giant Iron Golems also ran behind them.
Jeong Yoo-shin turned his head and glanced at Armin.
The boy was hanging on the back of the Iron Golem with only his face peeking out.
Except for his pale face, he seemed quite alright.
"Two Mountain Trolls ahead!!! Three Stone Wolves!!!"
Karin shouted.
Rumble!!! Rumble!!!
The sound of the trolls' footsteps shook the ground.
"Prepare for battle! Kenneth, on the right!!!"
"Leave it to me."
Kenneth immediately raised his iron bow and planted it on the ground.
Thud!!!
The iron bow was deeply embedded in the ground.
Creeeeak.
The sound of the bowstring being drawn.
"Armin, block the troll on the left!!!"
"Yes!!!"
"Karin, let's go!"
"Got it!"
Paaaaaaaaaa!!!
Kenneth's arrow flew and embedded itself in the head of the right troll.
Instant death.
The troll running from the left was blocked by an Iron Golem.
Kra-boooom!!!
The troll and the Iron Golem locked hands and entered a power struggle.
In the meantime…
Jeong Yoo-shin and Karin charged toward the Stone Wolves.
"Grrrrr!!!"
A huge gray wolf rushed at Jeong Yoo-shin.
Sharp teeth glinted in the wolf's drooling mouth.
‘It's coming.’
Click.
He took out the crossbow fixed to his thigh, loaded it, and aimed.
The running wolf jumped high. It opened its mouth wide to bite his neck.
‘Take a deep breath.
One.
Two.
Three.’
He pulled the trigger.
Thwack!!!
The fired bolt embedded itself between the wolf's eyes.
"Keng!!!"
The rushing wolf let out a death rattle.
Jeong Yoo-shin dodged the flying wolf.
The next one came around from the side and tried to bite his leg with its sharp teeth.
Jeong Yoo-shin floated the crossbow in the air, held his broken greatsword with both hands, and swung.
From top to bottom.
Whoooosh!!!
Screeeeech!!!
The greatsword, coming straight down, tore through the thick wolf hide and shattered its neck bone.
The headless wolf corpse collapsed, and the wolf's head rolled down the slope.
He raised his head and looked at Karin.
It seemed like she had also taken care of a wolf in an instant.
What was left was one troll.
The Iron Golem and the Mountain Troll were still locked in a power struggle.
Surprisingly, the Iron Golem wasn’t being pushed back at all.
Now was their chance while the troll's attention was diverted.
Jeong Yoo-shin ran toward the troll's leg.
He ducked low and swung his greatsword horizontally.
The greatsword cut through the troll's ankle.
Splaaaaaaat!!!
A fountain of blood gushed out.
For a moment, the troll lost its balance and staggered.
"Skar!"
Karin's voice echoed from behind.
Jeong Yoo-shin immediately bent his waist. Karin stepped on Jeong Yoo-shin's back and jumped high.
She swung her dagger and plunged it into the troll's eye.
"Guooooook!!!"
The troll screamed and flailed its hands.
Karin dodged like an eel and landed on the ground.
Paaaaaaaaaa!!!!
Kenneth's next arrow tore through the air and pierced the troll's other eye.
Baaam!!!
With a dull sound, the troll's head snapped up.
"Guk!!!"
The troll, which had been staggering for a moment, spread its arms and fell backward.
Kuuuuung!!!
Armin's jaw dropped.
Contrary to his expectations, the battle ended in an instant.
He had thought that it would take a long time because the Stone Wolves, which were notoriously tough among monsters, had joined in.
But the barbarian and Karin-nim had taken care of them in an instant and created an opening to deal with the troll.
Kenneth hadn't missed that flaw and had landed his arrow.
Honestly, he had never seen a party with such good coordination.
"Armin!"
Jeong Yoo-shin shouted.
"Yes?"
"Don't lose focus. How much of the troll's blood do you need?"
"About 10 bottles will do!"
"Come down quickly and get it!"
"I understand!"
Armin got down from the Iron Golem and stood on the troll's Achilles tendon.
Blood was still flowing out of the wound.
Armin took out his backpack and collected the blood.
"Do you need that wolf?"
"Yes! But I only need their hide!"
Jeong Yoo-shin looked at Karin.
"Time to skin it?"
Karin shook her head.
"No time."
[Eternal Ark]
Jeong Yoo-shin summoned the golden coffin and put the wolf corpse inside.
Armin, who had been fidgeting at the troll's heel, wiped his forehead and stood up.
"Armin, did you get all the blood?"
"Yes!"
"Let's go."
Jeong Yoo-shin and the party members ran again.
He heard the sound of battle from beyond the faint fog, but he ignored it. They still had a lot of ground to cover. There was no need to get involved there.
After advancing for a few hours, they arrived at a shelter.
It looked like the small brick building he had seen before. There were no other explorers inside.
The party members rested for a little while and then ran again before finally standing in front of the 16th-floor transfer stone.
The transfer stone was in the middle of the plateau.
Jeong Yoo-shin looked back.
For the 17th floor, the slope would get a little steeper, and strong monsters would also appear.
The party members' faces were a little tired from the long, fast-paced travel. Armin's expression was especially a sight to behold, as if he was about to throw up at any moment.
Well, he had been hanging on the body of a giant Iron Golem and moving around, so it was understandable that he would get motion sick.
"Should we rest for a bit?"
The party members shook their heads.
"I’m still fine. Let's camp at the next shelter."
"Still good!"
"It's manageable."
Jeong Yoo-shin placed his hand on the transfer stone.
Hwoooong.
A red portal and a blue portal were created.
Jeong Yoo-shin looked at the blue portal for a moment. If he took just one step there, he could immediately return to the city.
If he took the red portal, he would go to the 17th floor and have to start the long journey all over again.
He wanted to take the blue portal right away, run to Labyrinth City, and grab the dwarf blacksmiths by the collar and shake them, but he held back.
The incompetent ones couldn't even lift this sword.
And the quite skilled explorers had intuitively noticed the strangeness of the black iron greatsword and had backed off.
'It's not bad.'
Jeong Yoo-shin looked at the broken black iron greatsword.
It was hard and heavy.
Moreover, he could swing it with all his strength, so it had a good feel to it. He had half-severed the ankle of a tough-as-nails Mountain Troll with it.
Jeong Yoo-shin was the first to step into the red portal.
A flash of light filled his vision and he felt a floating sensation.
And then he landed on the ground.
He immediately got into a stance and looked around.
As expected, it was an endless plateau.
It didn't look that much different from the 16th-floor Mountain area.
Just a little steeper.
Then, a nearby cave caught his eye.
'Lucky.'
Most of the shelters on the 17th floor were caves.
His party members came out of the red portal and looked around.
"Huh?! There's a cave over there!"
Karin opened the map, looked down, and then nodded.
"That's right. It's a shelter. And we've landed close to the transfer stone. We might be able to reach the 18th floor sooner than we thought."
"Let's go. We'll have to camp there for the night."
Jeong Yoo-shin led the party members and headed for the cave.
As they got closer to the cave, he smelled blood and a terrible stench.
The other party members also seemed to have smelled it, as they each gripped their weapons.
Jeong Yoo-shin raised his hand and gave a hand signal.
'I'll go and check it out.'
'I'll go with you.'
Karin gestured.
Jeong Yoo-shin nodded and cautiously advanced toward the cave.
It would be a mistake to think that monsters wouldn't attack just because it was a shelter.
Jeong Yoo-shin and Karin took positions at both ends of the cave and peeked their heads out.
It was dark inside, so he couldn't see well.
They made eye contact and nodded.
They had to go in a little deeper.
Jeong Yoo-shin and Karin cautiously stepped toward the inside of the cave.
The smell of blood and the foul, rancid odor grew stronger.
It wasn't a smell of blood that one person could shed.
Was it a monster?
After going in a little further, they reached a dead end.
At the end of the path, a large hollow was visible.
Jeong Yoo-shin stood at the entrance of the hollow and looked inside.
A few torches were on the floor in the center of the hollow, so they had no difficulty in seeing what was inside.
Jeong Yoo-shin and Karin's eyes widened as they looked around.
"...!"
A horrific scene unfolded before their eyes.
The corpses of explorers with their arms and legs torn off and their faces crushed were scattered here and there.
Women and men.
Their races were also varied.
The cave walls and floor were full of scorched marks, as if attack magic had been used.
"Tsk."
Jeong Yoo-shin, who was observing the hollow, clicked his tongue.
As expected, he was right.
In the center of the hollow, a huge monster was sitting there, with its back to them, chewing on something.
Craaaack!!!
"Chomp... chomp..."
The foul smell became even stronger.
Jeong Yoo-shin's brow furrowed.
'That thing.'
He had seen it in a book.
The most troublesome monster that appeared in the Mountain area.
It was a thing that had been nicknamed the 'intermediate-rank party crusher' among explorers.
The Mountain Ogre.
Skin tougher than a troll's.
Strength that could crush a huge rock in one punch.
It had both regeneration and magic resistance, was highly intelligent, knew how to use the surrounding terrain, and was a monster that knew how to attack the weak points of a party first.
Jeong Yoo-shin held his breath and observed closely.
The ogre fumbled on the ground again and then lifted something.
A person.
It was a female mage in a robe, and surprisingly, she was still alive. Although her arms and legs were grotesquely bent and she was shedding tears.
She was so scared that she couldn't even make a sound and was just gasping.
'The thing that the ogre was chewing on a moment ago must have been a person.'
Jeong Yoo-shin lowered his gaze again and calmly observed his surroundings.
Looking closely…
Those who looked like corpses were all alive.
Of course, they were half-dead and twitching, but their eyes and heads were facing the ogre.
They were watching, terrified, as they were eaten one by one.
One man, unable to bear it, screamed.
"Haaaaaaa!!!"
The ogre let out a bizarre sound.
"Kukuku!!!"
Was that a laugh?
This labyrinth was so full of malice that it was hard to watch.
The female mage's eyes, which had been wandering in the air, turned to the entrance.
She immediately saw where Jeong Yoo-shin was and shouted.
"H-Help...!"
"He...lp... Kuhik!"
The ogre laughed, mimicking the female mage's slurred words.
How vicious.
The ogre seemed to be more interested in its meal, as it still had its back to them.
Jeong Yoo-shin turned his head and gestured.
'Let's go.'
Whatever they decided to do, he had to at least meet his other party members first and talk to them.
He couldn't just charge in headfirst out of a sense of justice.
Karin nodded.
"A... ah!"
The voice of the despairing female mage echoed from behind them.
On the way back out of the cave, they ran into Armin and Kenneth.
"S-Skar-nim!"
"Quiet!"
Jeong Yoo-shin immediately covered Armin's mouth.
"Mph?!"
"There's a Mountain Ogre inside the cave."
Kenneth's face darkened.
"Skar, the hideous thing is rising."
Jeong Yoo-shin tasted a bitter taste in his mouth.
Just a little more and it would be the 18th floor.
Jeong Yoo-shin briefly explained the situation.
That about five or six people were being eaten alive by the ogre inside.
Armin's expression turned pale once again.
Jeong Yoo-shin opened his mouth.
"Should we stay here in the middle for a bit?"
"T-The ogre has a good sense of smell. It might have already smelled us!"
Jeong Yoo-shin listened quietly.
There was no sound from inside the cave. A sense of unease welled up.
It was even more so because it was an intelligent monster. Because he didn't know what it would do.
"I'll go and check again. Get ready for battle. Come running when I call your name. And Armin, you stick close to Kenneth."
"I-I understand!"
Jeong Yoo-shin once again advanced toward the inside of the cave.
The end of the cave.
He looked closely inside the large hollow, but…
The ogre was nowhere to be seen.
There were only the explorers, who were a bloody mess and panting.
'Where is it?'
Jeong Yoo-shin observed the hollow carefully and then slowly stepped inside.
One step.
Two steps.
At that moment…
He heard the sound of something cutting through the air from the side.
Whoooooosh!!!
A roar that tore through the air.
Jeong Yoo-shin immediately rolled forward.
Kra-booooooooom!!!
The ground exploded. Jeong Yoo-shin's body was caught in the aftershock and flew away.
Jeong Yoo-shin, who had been rolling on the ground, shot up and turned his head.
"Shit!"
The ogre was standing right next to the entrance while holding a huge wooden club.
"Skar!!!"
Karin shouted.
"S...kar."
The ogre repeated the slurred pronunciation and looked down at Jeong Yoo-shin.
The female mage he had seen a moment ago was still in the ogre's hand.
To have this much power with just one swing.
It was a force that could have shattered a decent-sized house with that club.
Outside the cave, the hideous thing was already rising.
It meant that this fight was unavoidable.
Jeong Yoo-shin looked up at the over 4-meter-tall ogre and held the broken greatsword with both hands.
"Alright. Let's do this."
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T/N - Action time! Ogre’s about to have a bad time. But really now, did the MC just go inside the cave when he saw that the ogre had disappeared? After he just heard of how intelligent it was and how sharp its sense of smell was? 🤦♂️
Also, I wasn’t able to say it in the last chapter, but the MC’s party is pretty powerful right now, probably the most powerful one he’d had so far. A summoner that can summon either warriors or tanks as needed, an archer that can one shot a fucking troll, and Karin and the MC. The only thing missing is a magic user (Armin doesn’t count as he just summons stuff).