Descent into the Second Floor
Fafnir entered the second floor of the Catacombs alone and began a solo exploration.>
His experience gain rate rose by twenty percent.>
All stats and skills dealt twenty percent more damage.>
The first-discoverer buff was active.>
Darkness thickened around him.>
The entrance to the second floor of the Catacombs.>
As Fafnir descended the stairs, his body felt slightly lighter accompanied by a system message.>
The surroundings had grown completely static by now.>
At least some skeleton sounds would have been nice.>
But even that was absent—complete silence.>
“Hmph….”>
Fafnir took a deep breath and threw his torch straight into the center.>
In that instant, the walls around him moved.>
“As expected!”>
– Black Bats attacked him.>
– HP decreased.>
– His sturdy armor blocked the follow-up attack.>
A battle with the bats erupted in the blink of an eye.>
Flap! Flap!>
Black bats revealed themselves on all the walls and ceiling.>
“One, protect me!”>
One appeared in response to Fafnir’s shout and blocked the staircase landing.>
While One held the line, Fafnir retreated behind the landing and thought.>
“As I predicted, the monsters on this floor match those on the first.”>
Even if it was a hidden dungeon, it was just an extension of the previous floor.>
Considering typical dungeon designs in RPG games, the monsters that appear are often the same.>
This was easily something he had anticipated.>
“The story dungeon isn’t particularly important, so it makes sense.”>
The only difference was that these were enhanced Black Bats.>
“Then how do I deal with these guys?”>
A normal party would use a mage’s or archer’s or priest’s area-of-effect skills to take them out.>
Fafnir was no different.>
If Hilde blocked the path, he would just shoot Dark Energy Bolts at them.>
It was incredibly troublesome, but with control he could pull it off.>
But right now he didn’t even have Hilde.>
Screech!>
Crack! Crack!>
A swarm of Black Bats rushed toward One and Fafnir.>
If One couldn’t hold on for long, it would be Fafnir’s turn next.>
Of course Fafnir wasn’t panicked at all.>
He had expected this from the start.>
“That’s why I came prepared.”>
Whoosh! Fafnir tossed a leather pouch.>
In the next instant, the mixture of black pepper and chili powder exploded into a cloud of dust.>
Crunch! Crunch!>
– Black Bats’ evasion rate dropped by thirty-five percent.>
– Black Bats’ movement speed increased by twenty percent.>
Bats had much sharper ears, eyes, and nose than humans.>
When those senses took a direct hit from this “dust terror,” it felt like being hit by real tear gas.>
But that wasn’t the end.>
“The real show starts now.”>
Fafnir equipped the pre-prepared carpentry equipment.> >
“Aim well…”>
After the clinking sound, a single cool water jet shot out with a splash!>
The effect was impressive.>
– Damage dealt to Black Bats.>
– Experience gained.>
“One shot?”>
No matter how much the bats focused on attack power and speed, one shot was absurd.>
Before he could think, the bat swarm rushed in.>
Hungry, nimble, venomous—every monster was there!>
“This is terrifying.”>
Fafnir kept spraying the water gun nonstop.>
Whoosh! The flying jets hit every single bat perfectly.>
“If this were an FPS, I’d have a point there.”>
Memories of childhood water-gun fights and solo one-shotting in his first shooter game flashed through his mind.>
He rolled to dodge the bats and fired the water gun again and again!>
– Experience gained.>
– Experience gained.>
– Normal – Magic – Rare – Unique – Epic – Legendary – Hyper – God.>
By the time the bamboo tube was almost empty, the last bat was cut down by One’s sword and the battle at the entrance ended.>
On the empty stage left after the fight, Fafnir wiped his hands and thought.>
“I’m glad I brought the water gun.”>
A custom holy-water pistol made from bamboo tubes!>
It wasn’t very effective against boss monsters, but it was perfect for skeletons, bats, and all normal monsters.>
“Still, it’s too early to relax.”>
This early on, he could only imagine what monsters awaited inside.>
“It looks like this will be a tough expedition.”>
Unfortunately, his gut feeling was spot on.>
[Tough Skeleton Fighter]>
[Fierce Skeleton Mage]>
[Black Bat Commander]>
Elite monsters led by the Black Bats appeared one after another!>
Even with Hilde, this monster combination would have been impossible to handle.>
But that wasn’t all.>
Even while fighting monsters, traps hidden in the darkness, dead ends, and mazes blocked Fafnir’s path.>
“I didn’t realize it would be this hard.”>
An extreme difficulty level never seen in the same level range.>
However…>
“High difficulty means high rewards.”>
Fafnir had overcome far worse obstacles than this one.>
And right now his body was in even better shape than when he was Kim Ganghan, and he had a “cheat weapon” in hand!>
“Go, One!”>
Fafnir sent One forward and raised the bamboo water gun.>
Shu shu shu shuk!>
Every time the holy water poured out, monsters melted away in clumps.>
How much time had passed?>
– Experience gained.>
– Experience gained.>
– Level up!>
Fafnir snapped out of it upon seeing the level-up message and looked around.>
“Almost there.”>
Now he could even hear screams and whispers from the surroundings.>
He was close to the boss room.>
“If this continues, it should be smooth all the way.”>
The effect of the holy-water gun was beyond imagination.>
Weak monsters melted away in an instant, and even slightly larger ones were reduced to half health.>
Thanks to that, Fafnir had been hunting almost for free.>
The problem was the cost of the holy water.>
Each bottle cost around ten thousand won, so without the first-discoverer buff the value was terrible.>
“No choice. I have to squeeze every drop here.”>
That was when Fafnir, about to enter the next room, took a deep breath.>
“This is….”>
A snail was right in front of him.>
The problem was its size.>
The snail carrying a black shell on its back was the size of a small car.>
[Spiny Mutant Large Dark Snail]>
“Insane.”>
Snails usually appear in humid, dark places, so seeing one here wasn’t strange.>
“What kind of hell did you crawl out of to be dumped here?”>
The “spiny” descriptor was a problem too.>
The shell and body were hard, and it reflected damage on contact.>
This was the worst matchup possible for a melee fighter.>
“If only I could sprinkle salt on it.”>
Salt was the extreme poison for snails!>
But he didn’t have any salt now.>
Even if he did, he couldn’t block the black aura around the snail’s body.>
“I guess I have no choice but to go the long way.”>
After a moment of thought, a method came to Fafnir’s mind.>
“It will cost a lot, but it’s better than fighting it bare-handed.”>
Since there was no magic, this was something he had to endure.>
Fafnir finished simulating and summoned his skeleton pets.>
[Name: Large Dark Snail]>
– Type: Undead>
– Attribute: Darkness>
– Type: Melee>
– Level: 50>
– Danger (vs same level): ★★★>
[Patterns]>
– Acid Spit: Aimed shot. Extremely high damage.>
– Crouch: Defense pattern. Most physical attacks are nullified or reduced.>
– Dark Mana Release: Releases dark mana around it.>
– Baby Snail Summon: Summons baby snails.>
[Caution: Most physical attacks are blocked by the shell. Magic or attribute attacks are effective. Environmental factors too.]>
“Hoo…”>
Just looking at the info, the odds of winning head-on were less than one in ten!>
That was why Fafnir used a different approach.>
“Now!”>
Following his instruction, the skeleton pets tossed the pouches.>
Boom! Bang!>
A cloud of dust rose around the Dark Snail.>
Black pepper, chili powder, and dust!>
It wasn’t just waiting for a hit.>
Sploosh.>
A jet of dark-green acid shot from the Dark Snail’s mouth.>
Extreme corrosive acid that melted anything it touched!>
“Whoa!”>
Fafnir quickly used the skeleton pets as shields and dodged.>
After repeating this a few times, the Dark Snail’s damp skin began to dry out.>
“Perfect.”>
Of course, this alone wouldn’t catch the thing.>
It had mana layered over salt to block that.>
However…>
Clink, clink! A bamboo tube rolled in front of the Dark Snail.>
What oozed from it was nothing but clear water!>
Squeak.>
The Dark Snail desperately headed that way.>
After losing a lot of fluid and being stuck with salt and pepper dust, this water was like finding an oasis in the desert.>
The Dark Snail swallowed it in one gulp.>
“As expected.”>
Fafnir nodded.>
In the next instant.>
Squeeeek! Squeak!>
Light shone inside the Dark Snail’s body.>
Of course it did.>
The bamboo tube inside was full of the special holy water.>
“Make it hurt from the outside instead.”>
To the pained Dark Snail, Fafnir sent the next tube.>
He didn’t even need to hit it precisely.>
It would roll right up to it on its own and eat the tube.>
After rolling five tubes, Fafnir raised his torch.>
“It’s time.”>
Fafnir retreated to the entrance and threw the torch in.>
What followed was obvious.>
Fafnir fled without looking back.>
A moment later.>
BOOM!>
A terrifying explosion filled the entire room where the Dark Snail had been.>
– Experience gained.>
– Extreme damage dealt in an instant.>
– Defeated a powerful enemy in a single attack.>
– Utilized environmental factors instead of direct attack to defeat one or more Named monsters.>
– Achieved new achievement “One-Shot Kill.”>
– Acquired new title “Beginner Strategist.”>
– Strength stat +1.>
– Agility stat +1.>
– Dexterity stat +3.>
– Level up!>
Tremendous notifications flashed one after another and disappeared.>
Fafnir slowly scanned the room.>
“Cough! Wheeze!”>
The inside was a mess.>
Pillars were all collapsed, walls, ceiling, and floor were broken, and the inner treasure chests and silver coins were revealed.>
The worst part was the state of the Dark Snail.>
The entire body seemed to have exploded, with broken shells and dried slime everywhere in the room.>
“……I’m glad it worked.”>
The Dark Snail’s defense was top-tier.>
They had no idea what it could do, so feeding it holy water and inflating its body from inside had been a perfect plan.>
“If I just pick up the items…”>
But there was one small problem.>
“Ugh…”>
Among the disgusting-smelling slime, some of the items dropped by the Dark Snail were visible.>
“……Hey, One.”>
Clink clink! One, who had been guarding from afar, came over.>
Kneeling as if ordered to pick it up.>
“Pick it up.”>
“……”>
Dirty work was left to the skeleton pets, and he got to enjoy the loot alone—this was one of the advantages of being a Necromancer!>
– Acquired Large Dark Snail Shell (Rare).>
– Acquired Karshuk’s Venom Ring (Rare).>
– Acquired 3 pages of Tongga’s Curse Recipe.>
– Acquired 5 pages of Tongga’s Curse Recipe.>
– Acquired 21 silver.>
[Status Window]>
“Oh…”>
A Rare ring with these options would sell for over two million won in the market!>
He didn’t even have an accessory slot to fill anyway.>
“I got lucky.”>
The only downside was the fifty-level limit, but that was still an enormous gain.>
“I’m glad I didn’t bother recruiting party members.”>
A smile appeared on Fafnir’s lips.>
“This means I’m pretty lucky too, huh?”>
It was a reasonable thought.>
Finding a Rare accessory in a hidden dungeon was something to be proud of.>
“……Damn it.”>
Thirty minutes later.>
Fafnir glared at the version of himself from thirty minutes ago.>
At the same time he realized why Flush had avoided this place.