The Necromancer Villain in the Game Novel
Fafnir stepped into the underground dungeon beneath the Tike Temple.
This was the first time anyone had entered the Tike Temple underground dungeon.
Fafnir had become the first discoverer of the Tike Temple underground dungeon.
Players could register this information in the Explorers Guild.
Handicraft stat increased by 1.
Luck stat increased by 1.
The first-discovery buff was now active.
While hunting in this dungeon, players would receive double experience points for one week.
The highest-grade item obtainable upon clearing this dungeon would definitely drop.
This area is excessively high in monster levels compared to the current player level!
Tike Temple Underground Dungeon.
Once they crossed the entrance, the atmosphere immediately changed.
The air was humid and stuffy, thick with the earthy scent that made anyone wrinkle their face.
There was no sound, yet that very silence made it even more terrifying.
‘This is it.’
Fafnir waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness before entering.
After walking a short distance, a vast underground hall appeared.
The owners of the dungeon were gathered there in large numbers.
Big Dark Giant Mantis.
Frantically Mad Dark Giant Mantis.
Fire-Adapted Dark Giant Mantis.
They were giants over three meters tall and more than twice as long as those enormous mantis creatures!
In the original novel, Flush hunted these monsters to level up.
He spent three entire books just trying to succeed on his first hunt!
‘Three books full of tears.’
From the very start of the hunt, Flush rolled his body again and again, learning the weaknesses of those Giant Mantises.
‘Let me see if his strategy actually works.’
Fafnir tossed a stone to lure one of the Giant Mantises.
The sight of a five-meter-long black mantis staggering toward him was like something straight out of a horror movie.
Shhiss!
The Giant Mantis raised its front legs.
At that exact moment, Fafnir tore open the prepared magic scroll.
Flash!
An instant blinding flash of light.
The Giant Mantis, swinging its legs, was pushed back by the light.
Crrrrr, Kwoong!
The small truck-sized creature couldn’t even steady its body. That was its fatal weakness; it had lived its entire life in darkness and was utterly vulnerable to light.
Shieee!
The Giant Mantis recognized Fafnir as an enemy.
The mantis, barely steadying itself, tried to cover its body with its front legs.
Flash!
Fafnir tore open another scroll without hesitation. These cheap skill scrolls cost only ten to thirteen coppers each anyway.
The Dark Giant Mantis acquired the Flash debuff.
The Dark Giant Mantis triggered a rejection response.
The Dark Giant Mantis skin weakened.
The Dark Giant Mantis defense was drastically reduced.
The Dark Giant Mantis all-attribute resistance dropped sharply.
Bubbles rose from the mantis’s carapace, and steam rose from its entire body along with heat.
After living its whole life in darkness, its resistance to light—especially sharp flashes and sunlight—was extremely low.
‘Not just damage, but defense and resistance are also weakened.’
These Giant Mantises were exactly the type that would suffer a huge loss if anyone casually guessed their weakness was fire.
Fafnir used Burn End and swung his sword.
Slice, slice! Both front legs of the Giant Mantis were cleanly severed like cutting through a head.
Shiee!
The Giant Mantis struggled to resist with its other legs, but every time it tried, Fafnir tore open another Flash scroll.
After neutralizing its scythe-like front legs, legs, and body with precise control,
Fafnir stabbed his sword into the mantis’s soft belly.
Even if its head was cut off, the Giant Mantis would keep moving for a while.
But slicing open its belly destroyed its health and body structure itself.
……Shieee……
Finally, the Giant Mantis’s movements stopped.
Experience points obtained.
Level up!
Defeated an overwhelmingly strong monster.
Additional experience points obtained.
Skill mastery for One-Point Attack increased.
33 silver obtained.
Obtained the Dark Giant Mantis’s Future.
Eh? Level up from one monster?
Fafnir’s expression showed genuine shock.
‘Its experience was around seventy percent, but gaining over thirty percent from one monster… is this really correct?’
Thinking back, all these monsters were in the late 180s level.
Considering the outer monsters were over level 200, they were weak, but still nearly 100 levels above Fafnir.
Plus, there was the first-discovery buff and the additional experience from defeating an overwhelmingly strong enemy.
‘I guess I have to thank that Flush guy. He rolled around for three days and nights, worrying, and only thanks to his absurd luck finally figured out the weakness. Now I’m using it for free and growing like this.’
Fafnir smiled smugly.
‘It’s unfortunate for Flush, but we’re enemies, so this much is inevitable.’
Of course, from Flush’s perspective, it would be incredibly unjust.
Someone else using the hard-earned knowledge he gained by rolling around and worrying.
But what could he do?
There was no way Flush, who only appeared six months later, could stop Fafnir now.
Shieeik!
Other Dark Giant Mantises were gathering, drawn by the scent.
Seeing several of the creatures in the dark cave, the scene was truly something only seen in horror movies.
But to Fafnir, it looked like pure gold.
‘I guess I’ll have to hunt like crazy for a while.’
A golden pig all to myself!
Fafnir grinned as he used the Flash scroll.
***
Hunting in the underground dungeon was always thrilling.
There was only Fafnir playing, and no healer or mage, so proper hunting was never on the schedule.
But for Fafnir, he had Flash scrolls, Skeleton Bone, and Penelope.
Of course, it was never easy or free lunch.
Every single time he fought, Fafnir risked his life.
Originally, the Giant Mantises were level 180 monsters.
They kept spraying flash to weaken them, then had to slice the weak point—belly—without taking any damage. No summon could do that.
‘It’s been a long time since I felt this eerie.’
Memories of Kim Ganghan, who slaughtered high-level monsters in the real world, kept surfacing every day.
Thanks to that, he leveled up by nine, reaching level 94, and obtained hundreds of mantis corpses and nearly ten pieces of equipment.
‘Good. Let’s hunt again this time?’
Fafnir lured the Giant Mantises using Skeleton Bone.
He drove them into a narrow pit-like terrain, bathed their entire bodies in the Flash light, severed limbs, and hunted with expert precision!
But right then.
‘Whoa! You caught it that easily!’
‘He must be a really strong human!’
Voices came from behind nearby rocks.
‘That voice…… those characters from the original novel, right?’
Fafnir pretended not to know and sent 1, 2, and 3 to flank them.
A moment later, the Skeleton Bones attacked the rocks in unison.
Aaaah!
We messed up!
Surprisingly, what emerged were fairies the size of apples.
‘Earth fairies?’
We are the earth…… Huh.
You knew us?
The boy and girl forms with butterfly wings on their backs.
Exactly as in the original novel.
‘Just happened to see you. But what were you guys doing here?’
The fairies explained.
‘We were gathering food. Mushrooms and small bugs were scarce, so we had to get one more each.’
‘Since those mantis guys came in, we can’t freely roam anymore.’
Originally, the temple underground was the habitat of the Earth fairies.
But the Dark Giant Mantises that fled here during the surface survival struggle brought the era of torment to the fairies.
‘While we were suffering like that, we saw you.’
‘You wiped out those Giant Mantises in one breath…… You’re amazing!’
The Earth fairies’ eyes sparkled as they looked at Fafnir.
‘Could you help us a little?’
The Earth fairies attempted a request.
Quest ‘Fairy Escort’ accepted? (Y/N)
No answer came from Fafnir, so the Earth fairies gazed at him with bright eyes.
But Fafnir’s lack of response was because of other thoughts.
‘In the original, the quest content was a bit different……’
In the original novel, the quest Flush received was none other than revenge against the Earth fairies.
An Earth fairy that had lost its territory, queen, and companions, and survived alone, requested to kill all the Giant Mantises.
‘As reward, Flush obtained a unique item from the Fairy Treasure Trove and clues to legendary items.’
Clues to legendary items appearing in the original novel volume 20!
Yet it was the wrong timing, and only thanks to Flush’s luck that shot through the sky did he obtain it.
Now, since the fairies were still alive, he couldn’t get it.
‘Well, fine.’
Fafnir nodded.
‘After all, I need to hunt too.’
‘Thank you!’
‘There’s a delicious blue mushroom over there. If you can protect the two fairies gathering it for us, that would be great.’
Quest: Fairy Escort
Grade: Magic
Goal
Protect two fairies while the Earth fairies gather blue mushrooms.
Description: The two fairies gathering mushrooms have been troubled lately by the increased number of Giant Mantises. Please help these two fairies gather mushrooms.
Reward: Experience points, Fairy favorability +1, Mana Affinity +1
‘A mana-using quest.’
For Fafnir the necromancer, mana affinity had nothing special.
‘Still, it’s crazy how much luck that Flush guy has.’
Every quest he received gave the necessary stat, and when he rolled, appropriate items kept coming out.
How could this not be cheating?
This way!
The fairies took Fafnir to a certain spot in the cave.
Inside the corner of the cave, blue mushrooms covered the walls and floor.
The next moment, Fafnir’s eyes widened.
‘Wait a second, these are……!’
Among the mushrooms were yellow and blue ores embedded.
Fafnir, who had been standing there in a daze for a moment, slowly picked up the ore.
Rare Gold Ore acquired.
Rare Sapphire Ore acquired.
……
‘The saying that gold rolls at one’s feet.’
It was a common phrase meaning the place was full of riches.
He never imagined such a place with actual gold rolling at feet would exist.
‘The blue ore is sapphire.’
The fairies gathering the mushrooms looked back at Fafnir.
‘Are you okay? Is something wrong?’
‘You like these shiny pebbles? I know a few more places. If needed, I can show you. But you’ll have to listen to our request a bit more.’
The fairies had a quite different standard for humans and rare things.
Instead of mounds of gold and treasures, they valued sweet honey, night dew, or beautiful song.
‘No, nothing. Then while guarding, I’ll wait until it’s done and tell you.’
‘Got it!’
The fairies began gathering mushrooms again, laughing.
Meanwhile, Fafnir sent the Skeleton Bones and moved.
‘While I’m hunting the mantises, they’ll gather those.’
Anyway, once time passed, Flush would sweep them all or lose the gems before that.
For those gems, it would be better to collect them now and let the world have them.
‘My luck is definitely not at the bottom yet.’
He got experience from hunting mantises, picked up gems and ores for money, bought favorability from fairies, and obtained clues!
This was the perfect example of a one-stone-three-bird strategy.