97.8% Success Rate? Let's Hunt the Swamp
I surveyed my fully equipped skeleton soldiers.
They looked pretty cool. Not a single one of the once weak-looking skeleton soldiers remained.
Who would look down on them?
Hansik had both magical crossbows reloaded and strapped to his hands, ready to fire.
The wind and flames swirled around the crossbow ends as if they were alive.
The second one wore a red-shelled spear, silver armor, and a shield.
He reminded me of a knight.
“Is that all there is?”
I put on the remaining robe.
The robe had a bit of defense and 10% MP recovery, but it felt heavy on my shoulders.
“Good. The moment the sun rises, we head for Changnyeong Upo Wetland Gate. While there’s still time, you will learn combat data suited to your equipped gear.”
Click.
Our reflection in the dusty full-length mirror of the workshop looked rather stylish.
I looked like a dark sorcerer with the black robe and eye necklaces, and on either side stood sturdy knights and archers.
Most of all, the skeleton beast belly-up with panting looked ready to bite anyone who got too close.
Kim Cheolgeun, the boss who had returned in time, clapped when he saw our transformed look.
“As expected. Gear is gear.”
“It’s all thanks to you, boss.”
“We’re planning to raid the gate, so be careful. The monster that has killed the most hunters in this world is sheer complacency and arrogance. Remember that. I don’t want to lose a regular customer.”
“Thank you, boss.”
He was such a nice person.
I took in every word of encouragement and advice from Kim Cheolgeun.
“Then, boss, I’ll come again next time.”
“Good luck.”
I could have stayed in Busan a bit longer with a honey jar and straw, but not today.
“Departure time.”
I took a commemorative selfie with my companions in front of the bustling streets of Oryukdo Gate, then left the gate.
Everyone who saw us equipped like this thought we were just a regular hunter party and paid little attention.
Hodu stood out, of course, but since he was mixed in with the party members, they just assumed he was a summoned beast and no one cared.
[Exiting Oryukdo Gate.]
Pipip—Uuuuung….
A cute Bentley was waiting with its pristine white body.
A low, resonant Bentley sound.
I sat in the driver’s seat, Hodu in the passenger seat. Hansik and the second one began collecting combat data on their laptops in the back seat.
Hansik, like him, had equipped the crossbows like a hunter BJ Demon Hunter and was watching the video at 2.5x speed.
The second one was watching a BJ Spartan video with an item set in the 300 movie concept.
[Arrival at Changnyeong Upo Wetland in 2 hours and 45 minutes.]
* * *
“No one here?”
The scenery of Changnyeong looked like a scene from an apocalypse movie.
Since it had been hit by a gate break once, the roads around were full of potholes.
Because of the toxic monsters that had been released into the world during the monster break, the soil and trees had all lost their color and were wilting.
It felt like a dead land where every life had been extinguished.
The weather was gloomy too, so I wondered if we had already entered the gate or not.
Spooky.
[Destination reached.]
The gate opened above the dark swamp, shimmering.
On a rough sign made from chopped trees, ‘Upo Wetland Gate’ was crudely written.
We had found the destination properly.
Unlike the bustling Oryukdo Gate, infrastructure here was completely lacking.
There wasn’t even a parking lot, and from some point the road became unpaved.
Of course, no public toilets, and not even a single convenience store.
It was so doubtful that anyone had ever lived here.
“Bentley, sorry for parking in such a shabby place.”
A camping car parked quite nicely in a good spot appeared.
I parked right next to it.
“Is anyone here?”
I felt a little uneasy.
After all, these days PK stories were everywhere in the Hunter List.
Even if a murder occurred inside the gate, once it was cleared all evidence disappeared.
Anyone raiding this place would be stronger than me a hundred times.
It was scary.
What if there was a madman?
“Rest while you can.”
I lined up the three summoned beasts and took out the newly bought body cam to attach it to my body.
This was a kind of black box.
It was essential for any gate where anything could happen.
I had set it so that if something went wrong, the footage would be sent to Test’s smartphone.
“Summon.”
Oculus closed his eyes tightly, and his eyeballs were summoned in the air.
I closed both eyes and focused solely on Oculus’s eyes, entering them into the gate first.
[Upo Wetland Gate]
The first thing I saw was a withered mud floor where not even a single blade of grass grew.
All vegetation was withered and rotting old trees.
And a faint purple mist veiled the view.
“Ah… the atmosphere is pretty bad.”
But what could I do? This was the hunting ground I had chosen.
More than anything, the success rate was 97.8%, right?
I trusted my skeleton soldiers.
“It’s quiet.”
Like ordinary gates, the entrance had no monsters.
Monsters were said to increase the farther they were from the gate.
“No. There are.”
Oculus’s eyes with detection option peeked over the swamp surface and detected something.
‘Hydra.’ The creature was about 50 meters from the entrance.
It would be good to start the battle right away.
Adrenaline flowed quickly, and cold sweat ran down my back.
Because the Hydra was incredibly scary-looking.
It was a far more serious visual than any disgusting centipede, snake, or centipede.
But I had no intention of stopping now.
If I had pulled out the knife, I had to chop it up.
This time, Oculus’s eyes rose high and widened the view.
Half was swamp, half was withered mud.
With altitude raised over 200 meters, the terrain was barely visible through the purple mist.
“One Hydra in the 5 o’clock direction 50 meters from the entrance in the swamp. Perfect practice opponent.”
My heart was pounding with tension, but as a lord I couldn’t show weakness in front of my subordinates.
I said firmly,
“Let’s go.”
Hodu took the lead.
Hodu sniffed the ground and headed toward the gate floating above the swamp.
Perhaps because the camping car owner had laid down logs between the swamp and the ground.
They didn’t look sturdy. When I stepped on them, several dragons scattered.
That’s how we entered the gate.
[Upo Wetland Gate]
“Uwp.”
The stench I had heard before pierced my nose.
It was similar to the smell of highway rest areas during holiday toilet breaks.
The faint purple mist seemed to carry that stench.
I was sensitive to smells…
I covered my nose with the reversed robe.
It was much better.
“Let’s start.”
Oculus’s eyes floated above the Hydra’s head 50 meters away.
Pew—
Hansik shot an arrow at the creature, and the second one charged forward with the shield raised.
“Kyaaaak!”
The Hydra that emerged from the swamp spat poison at the approaching second one.
Repeatedly.
Quite fast attack speed.
Green poison dripping on the shield made a sizzling sound and created purple smoke.
It looked similar to the Hydra in classic game StarCraft, and the attack method was similar—body upright and spitting poison.
When the creature fully appeared, Hodu who had been hiding behind the second one’s shield jumped out with barking.
Very fast speed. The Hydra’s poison was fired at such Hodu, but the Hodu who had learned the pattern dodged most of it.
Hodu leaped high and flew toward the Hydra’s nape, but the Hydra disappeared into the swamp.
“As expected, it’s difficult.”
Hodu who lost his way in the air fell into the swamp.
[Skeleton soldier dies and adjacent skeleton soldier transfers stats.]
Hodu took damage in the swamp.
I re-summoned Hodu.
“Hodu, be careful! Don’t fall into the swamp.”
The Hydra was swimming in the swamp, and Oculus’s eyes chased the movement without missing.
Then suddenly it peeked out from about 10 meters away and began spitting huge amounts of poison at lightning speed.
But Hansik’s arrow, having foreseen it, hit the creature’s head precisely.
Hodu rushed in fiercely and pushed the creature back into the swamp.
[Skeleton soldier dies and adjacent skeleton soldier transfers stats.]
Hodu took damage again.
“Summon. Hodu, I told you. If you fall into the swamp, you die, right?”
Did it say intelligence drops 50% when it becomes a dog?
Was that the reason? Or was it tactics?
I hoped for the latter.
“Kungkung.”
When things didn’t go as planned, Hansik signaled the skeleton soldiers with sign language.
With the short sign language I had learned, what I understood was ‘pull them out of the swamp.’
Truly, a gate that lived up to its reputation of being a mad raid— the Hydra was not easy prey despite being trash mobs.
The creature laughed savagely and was ready to run away the moment the tactic changed.
But the tactic changed.
At the end of a moment of silence, the Hydra peeked out of the swamp to catch its breath.
Then this time it sprayed a wide range of poison without warning.
The second one hit by it began thrashing.
Roll roll.
It rubbed its whole body on the ground in pain.
Hodu ran to the second one and started licking.
“Kiyaaak!”
The Hydra’s hideous mouth tore left and right.
A smiling laugh. And it spat poison at Hodu too.
Hodu, soaked in the poison, rolled on the ground with keeking.
“Hansik, do something.”
Hansik retreated and shot an arrow.
Pishoot pishoot.
None of them hit the Hydra.
The Hydra’s mockery spread.
Fear spread.
“Kihyaaaak!”
The Hydra, confident of victory, emerged from the swamp area.
The creature thrust out its long tongue and quickly rushed toward the second one and Hodu rolling on the ground.
It clearly wanted to swallow them.
But at that moment.
Bang!
Hodu suddenly leaped like a miracle and bit into the Hydra’s torso.
[‘Rabies’ effect activated, bleeding effect on enemy.]
[‘Rabies’ effect activated, bleeding effect on enemy.]
This time Hansik’s accurate multi-shot attack began.
Hansik, having learned the Hydra’s pattern, predicted its next action and landed a perfectly accurate attack.
Yes.
All of it was a smokescreen to make the creature come out of the swamp.
“Kyaaaak!”
While thrashing to tear Hodu off, the Hydra’s body began to have small wounds from the arrow attacks.
The second one wasn’t idle either.
The second one charged into the Hydra with the shield and pierced the body scales with the long spear.
Thud—
It was said to be like catching an elephant with a needle?
Of course it didn’t go deep.
It couldn’t pierce the Hydra’s fat and muscles.
But these were skeleton soldiers.
They didn’t give up.
[Skeleton soldier dies and adjacent skeleton soldier transfers stats.]
Hodu who was biting the creature’s torso was crushed in its grip,
[Skeleton soldier dies and adjacent skeleton soldier transfers stats.]
The second one who had been stabbing the creature’s body several times with the shield and spear with the spear also died,
“Summon.”
It was that simple when summoned.
“Kiyaaak!”
“Kungkung!”
Even when killed, the skeleton soldiers kept coming.
Finally the Hydra got angry.
The creature realized that poison didn’t work on them and began direct attacks with fists and tail.
Hodu endured the damage and bit the creature’s wrist stubbornly.
But one-shot kill.
[‘Rabies’ effect activated, bleeding effect on enemy.]
[Skeleton soldier dies and adjacent skeleton soldier transfers stats.]
And the second one also pushed the Hydra away with all his might with the shield and stabbed it again in the belly with the spear.
[Skeleton soldier dies and adjacent skeleton soldier transfers stats.]
Then a problem arose.
MP consumed per summon was 50, and the remaining MP was only 72.
One summon and it was over.
Last chance.
“97.8% correct?”
My whole body was instantly soaked in sweat.
The Hydra’s monstrous size and the toxic breath pressed down on the whole body.
The Hydra over 2 meters tall crawled on the ground like a snake toward Hansik, and Hansik calmly attacked the creature’s body at tremendous speed.
All hits, but no critical hits.
My heart pounded.
‘Hansik… can really do it, right?’
Well, let’s try until the end.
Last summon.
“Summon.”
The second one leaped out like the last hope and blocked in front of me with the shield.
His body stood firmly behind the shield.
He didn’t attack. Only defense.
The creature was trying to protect me in this crisis.
His eyes peeking over the shield stared intently at the Hydra.
Hansik, who had received a total of 6 stat transfers, continued to land effective hits while perfectly dodging the Hydra’s attacks.
He moved like a machine, perfectly grasping the enemy’s pattern.
This was a battle unfolding right in front of my nose.
I wanted to run through the gate immediately, but I held back.
Hansik in transfer 6-stack mode was doing his best to land accurate effective hits on the creature.
The Hydra’s large body now had countless wounds, and blood dripped from the skin.
On the other hand, Hansik had dodged all the creature’s attacks.
There was no fear, no hesitation in Hansik’s movements.
He was expressing with his whole body that this situation was not a 0.02% failure rate.
All of it had been a feint…
“Yeah. Stay calm. I have to believe in my summoned beast… Hansik is not an ordinary skeleton soldier either…”
BOOM—
But a shock that felt like something was breaking unfolded in front of my eyes.
Hansik, who had embedded an arrow in both of the Hydra’s eyes, had no time to respond to its lightning-fast tail attack and took the hit.
Impossible… calculation error?
[Skeleton soldier dies and adjacent skeleton soldier transfers stats.]
‘Run…’
“Kiyaaak!”
The Hydra hit in the eye thrashed in pain.
That bastard got angry. It was scary enough already.
All that was left now was to run.
But the second one who was protecting me threw away the shield and disappeared…
“Huuuuh.”
At that moment, a shocking message popped up that made my pounding heart stop.
[Skill level has increased.]