Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: The Way the Villain Lives
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4. That Bastard
Judging that Ellie had passed out due to stamina depletion and poisoning, but there was no immediate need to wake her, Sung-hoon moved her to a spot a little ways off and brought A-yeon to the side of the Moonwolf.
'This woman has her first life too.'
Both Il-woo and A-yeon were on their first lives.
He had formed an irreconcilable grudge with Il-woo. From the moment he'd taken one of his lives, further conversation or compromise was impossible. But A-yeon was unaware of his existence. Il-woo had been the one to poison her and betray her in the first place, while he had been left behind, lagging as the sole straggler in the party. So, if they met again, she might see him as just another victim.
'That's fortunate.'
"Krraaaaaargh!"
Its body seemed 1.5 times larger than before awakening, with sharp fangs and an emanating aura that exuded overwhelming pressure—enough to terrify an ordinary person into paralysis. Unfortunately for it, the beast wasn't in perfect condition. One arm had already been severed by Dong-cheol's efforts, and one leg was still mangled beyond repair.
Even so, as a boss that had completed its evolution, it somehow felt weaker than Il-woo. A Moonwolf with drastically reduced health and missing a limb could be dispatched in the blink of an eye. In the end, despite its newfound strength, the Moonwolf met a pathetic end at the hands of Sung-hoon, who didn't hesitate to use magic liberally.
Now, all he had to do was touch the moonstone to complete the mission. However, Sung-hoon smeared the fallen Moonwolf's blood on his palm and rubbed it directly onto the moonstone. Then, something astonishing began to happen.
Grrrrrrrrrind!
The moonstone, towering at least 5 meters high, slowly began to split in two. And what appeared in the space behind it was nothing like the treasure Il-woo had anticipated. Stone sarcophagi made of rock were stacked neatly on both sides, numbering around fifty.
"There's no treasure in here. What an idiot."
In truth, when Sung-hoon had first investigated the Moon Viewing Cave while learning Low Linguistics, even he had made the same mistake as Il-woo. Desperate to seize this opportunity, he had orchestrated a party wipe, sacrificing three members as offerings to awaken the Moonwolf. Barely defeating it and reaching this point, he could only stare dumbly at the sarcophagi, with no sign of the expected treasure.
What lay inside the sarcophagi were none other than werewolves in a coma-like state.
At first, he had been utterly bewildered. Wondering if he'd missed something, he searched high and low, but found nothing besides the fifty werewolves. Settling for what he could get, he harvested valuable parts like hearts and fangs before leaving. Later, after mastering Mid Linguistics and returning to the Moon Viewing Cave, he realized his mistake.
With Low Linguistics, it translated to [You can obtain a treasure that will revive the tribe], but with Mid Linguistics, it read [You can obtain comrades that will revive the tribe].
Looking back, it made sense. What use would monsters have for treasure anyway? A treasure to revive the tribe could very well mean powerful comrades.
He had initially dismissed it as a waste of time, but soon realized what a massive opportunity the Moon Viewing Cave's hidden reward was for him.
"4,000 guild each for a werewolf heart, 1,000 guild per canine tooth."
The official purchase price for werewolf body parts at general stores.
Normally, clearing the Moon Viewing Cave on Massacre difficulty by killing all 100 werewolves yielded byproducts worth about 600,000 guild. Add the clear reward, and it totaled a million guild—a fortune. The problem was that it required party play. Unless you were in a tiny group, profits were inevitably shared, making the cave a decent earner but not a jackpot.
And that's when Sung-hoon realized the sleeping werewolves here were the true 'treasure.' Fifty werewolves, completely defenseless and immobile.
It was no different from 300,000 guild lying around. All at once.
An enormous sum equivalent to the reward for clearing a C-grade mission on Massacre difficulty through legitimate means. And even more appealing since he could monopolize it alone.
"Grrrrr."
Having left a sarcophagus open while lost in thought, one of the sleeping werewolves began to stir with a groan. Without hesitation, Sung-hoon swung his sword, claiming its life, then smirked as he began processing it.
After some time had passed and he'd dealt with all the werewolves, Sung-hoon opened his skill window to check the most recently acquired skills.
"Skill window."
Surprisingly, the proficiency of Mid Swordsmanship, which he'd only recently acquired, had already risen two levels.
Skill proficiency could be raised in three ways.
The first was simple grind. Repeating the same actions was extremely inefficient, but since skills still grew steadily, plenty of people grinded at training grounds.
The second was full-power execution. Not just pouring strength into it, but perfectly applying the body's movements and key points described in the skill while concentrating the mind, which rapidly increased proficiency.
However, ordinary people couldn't execute it many times before tiring out, so it wasn't commonly used.
And the third was hunting.
Hunting monsters rapidly boosted skill proficiency. In system terms, processing fifty werewolves with a sword meant his Mid Swordsmanship proficiency skyrocketed the moment he did.
"Making money and raising skill proficiency fast. The perfect cherry on top."
The hidden space in the Moon Viewing Cave was practically a bonus stage for Sung-hoon. Moreover, the belongings dropped by those who met their true deaths were being put to very good use by him.
It was dirty work—betraying people and using them as sacrifices—but without it, reinforcing his swordsmanship was nearly impossible. He hadn't started with few skills, but as time passed, he acquired more and more.
'Eating combat rations every day is getting boring. Maybe learn cooking?'
'Should pick up dagger throwing too.'
'Trap Disarmament doesn't pick locks? Then Lockpicking.'
'Need to deepen Appraisal and Linguistics skills too.'
Excluding niche skills, he learned every practical one without discrimination, burning through guild like crazy. Fortunately, finding this great dungeon allowed him to raise most skills to low level recently, and his main skills to mid or specialized.
Of course, from now on, the money earned here wouldn't cover reinforcement costs, so it was time to pull back.
Sung-hoon pulled an antidote from his inventory and fed it to Ellie, then shook her shoulder.
"Ellie. Ellie, wake up."
"Ugh..."
"Are you conscious? Don't push yourself—get up slowly."
Ellie, trying to rise with a dazed look like she'd just woken from sleep, winced at the pain from her side and lifted her clothes. They were stained red, but fortunately, the wound had healed considerably.
"I already used a potion to finish the treatment. No issues with movement?"
"Yes. It stings a bit, but I'm fine. More importantly, what happened?"
Of course, waking to find her comrades gone and the battle over would be disorienting. As he pondered where to start explaining, Ellie seemed to remember something and stammered,
"C-come to think of it, before I passed out... I think I saw Il-woo..."
"Yeah. Sad story, but Il-woo betrayed us."
"What?!"
"Actually, I had learned Low Trap Disarmament. I advanced slowly with it to get here... but that bastard Il-woo suddenly swung his knife at you. I saw the betrayal."
"W-what about Dong-cheol and A-yeon unnie?"
Sung-hoon hardened his expression briefly, then bowed his head slightly and shook it sadly. It was easy acting—not hard at all. A slightly sorrowful look and pursed lips were enough for people to fill in the blanks.
"By the time I rushed in, it was too late. I barely managed to take him down using the Moonwolf."
"Why would he betray us?! What for?"
"Seems like it was because of what's back there. No idea why it opened, though."
"Wait. I think we should read the writing on that moonstone."
Having learned Linguistics herself, Ellie slowly scanned the moonstone. Soon, she nodded as if realizing something.