The Ent Forest (1)
The rune of thorns I gave to the Ironclad Beetle had proven reasonably effective, so for the time being it made sense to keep supplying him with them.
Whoosh—
Ents move slowly, so they should actually be easier to deal with. And now that I’ve learned the flame bullet skill… honestly, the order of things getting switched around might end up working in our favor.
I was even starting to think that following Yeonhee’s chosen dungeon order wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
As soon as the hidden area in the Flame Monkey dungeon becomes accessible, I’ll head straight there.
Whoosh—
And then there was the new dilemma that had cropped up today.
What should I choose for my class change? Well, I’ve already made up my mind.
If Yeonhee kept focusing on summoning tank-type Lizardmen to build up our forces, it only made sense for me to reinforce our lacking firepower. Of course, I couldn’t neglect investing in vitality if I wanted to protect her, but switching to the Bomber class would clearly lead to a completely different style of combat from what we’d been doing so far.
For now, I should milk the Skeleton Soldier’s experience bonus as much as possible. Maybe I’ll change classes once we start tackling higher-ranked dungeons? I can hold off until we reach the Swamp or Hobgoblin dungeons.
The Ent Forest we were heading to next could be handled with our current strength, so I couldn’t ignore efficiency.
I’ll decide when we’re about to leave the low-grade dungeons behind.
Whoosh—
The next day.
The moment I was summoned from the Dark Space, the distinctly alien environment made me scan my surroundings in a hurry.
“Ugh… The air here really is just like they said… Blegh—”
Yeonhee kept dry-heaving as she pulled an Ent Forest-exclusive mask from her inventory and put it on. The mask was crafted from ground-up byproducts resembling Ent bark and offered resistance to the toxic substances released within forests claimed by Ents. Their breath also carried a mild paralyzing effect; breathing it in continuously would eventually leave you unable to move.
Ents moved slowly, but they possessed a strong collective consciousness. Killing even one would automatically mark you with the brand of the dead, forcing you to endure endless pursuit until you left the dungeon.
Hoo— This feels way more nerve-wracking than the Flame Monkeys…
The other teams near the entrance seemed to feel the same. No one was stepping forward easily. A hazy mist that obscured vision hung thickly in every direction. Even the Ents’ sluggish thorn-vine attacks would be surprisingly difficult to dodge in this environment.
“L-let’s go, Ilwol.”
I nodded.
Step, step.
It’s still quite a distance to get there…
Dungeons known worldwide as Ent Forests numbered in the hundreds despite repeatedly appearing and disappearing. Their internal layouts varied wildly, yet I could roughly guess our position because environments containing hidden areas tended to share similar characteristics. Like the lake situated on a ridge in the Big Bore dungeon.
There’s one at the Ents’ graveyard in the center of the forest, and another underground beneath where the Ent Champion has taken root at the far edge of the dungeon.
My first target was the graveyard. Naturally, I would guide us there slowly.
Once we moved a short distance from the entrance, Yeonhee immediately summoned the Ironclad Beetle and a Slime. Calling only these two allowed her mana recovery to outpace consumption, letting her maintain full mana reserves. Of course, that was thanks to the artifact.
The Slime wrapped itself familiarly around her arm the instant it appeared, while the Ironclad Beetle scuttled diligently across the ground to keep up with us.
About twenty minutes later, by my estimate—
Hwoooooooo—
An unpleasant wind that seemed to weave between the trees brushed past my ears. I tapped Yeonhee’s hand to signal her.
(Two of them?)
I nodded.
In this dungeon you occasionally encountered Slimes and zombies, but it was mostly Ents. The toxic mist they exhaled thoroughly repelled other species.
I gripped a full handful of the ten Low-grade Flame Bullets I had prepared in advance and slowly approached.
Swish, swish.
They’ve noticed me.
The jumbled vines scattered across the ground suddenly shot skyward.
Yikes! Even if I can dodge them with my senses, it’ll be tough for the others.
Whiiiish—!
Low-grade Flame Bullet
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
I fed them the flame bullets first. The dark-brown tree trunks, easily over five meters tall, suddenly lifted and began frantically shaking their burning bodies. At the same time, they swung their thorn-studded vines at us like whips.
Whirrrrrrr—!!
“Lizard!! Kobold!!”
But the two summoned Lizardmen and the Kobold gave up on dodging the incoming thorn vines. They simply took the hits, grabbed the vines with bare hands, and began a contest of strength.
The remaining Ent seemed to have its aggro drawn by the Ironclad Beetle and kept slamming its vines down on him.
Chrrrr—
Yet every time it struck, the vine’s bark exploded from the reflected damage of the Thorn Rune.
I used Reckless Charge on the one engaged in the strength contest, slamming into its burning trunk with everything I had.
Kwaaaaaang—!!
—!!!
Though the creatures couldn’t produce actual sounds, I could tell the unique resonant vibration unique to Ents was spreading throughout the forest.
The one I had rammed collided with the other, and flames began spreading widely across both of their bodies. From then on, we only needed to defend ourselves and knock the vines aside.
Of course, when I said “defend,” that only applied to me. The other summons, their vision obscured, were simply getting pummeled.
Well, the first fight went smoothly… And these flame bullets really do seem like an excellent skill the more I use them. If I didn’t have them, I would’ve had to bring a ton of one-time-use firebombs. That would’ve cost even more money to prepare.
Hwooooong— Whoosh—
The creatures, already slow, were now on fire. Their attacks had lost all purpose and were simply smashing wildly at everything around them.
Acid spray probably won’t be very effective either. Looks like it’s going to be a grind.
Thud— Thud—
Thump! Thump!
Yeonhee fired a few arrows as well, but she didn’t seem to be having much fun.
“As expected, my attacks don’t deal much damage!”
That said, we couldn’t afford to buy expensive ignition fluid to coat her arrowheads either.
Fwoooosh— Hwooooo—
Leaving defense to the other summons, I stuck close to the burning Ents and smashed their cores repeatedly with my stone hammer.
Crack! Crunch! Snap! Snap!
Die! Just die already!!
And a short while later—
Thud—!!
Ent defeated!
A small amount of experience has been gained.
Low-grade magic stone acquired.
The magic stone has been moved to the Summoner’s inventory.
Trait Thievery has activated.
Randomly stealing an Ent skill.
Skill Contaminated Breath acquired.
Contaminated Breath
Releases contaminated breath with poison and paralysis effects in a 30-meter radius centered on the caster.
The longer the exposure, the stronger the effect.
Can choose to apply only poison or only paralysis.
Well, just as I expected.
I hadn’t known you could choose between poison and paralysis, but everything else was common knowledge among hunters.
Swish—
Yikes!
I dodged a blind thorn-vine attack, then charged at the remaining Ent, slamming into it before hammering it several times with my stone hammer.
Thud!!
—!!
After a few more strikes, it collapsed and died.
Having grown stronger after clearing a similar-difficulty Flame Monkey dungeon, dealing with them felt much easier than before.
Ent defeated!
“Yay!! Hurry, hurry!!”
Yeonhee let out a cheer, then seemed to remember we needed to leave quickly. She rushed over to the fallen Ent and snapped off one of its thorns.
Each individual Ent had slightly different thorn components, so even taking just one was enough to serve as proof of subjugation.
I pulled a thorn from the one I had defeated, stuffed it into my pocket, and immediately broke into a run.
Hwoooooooo—!!
A short while later, a vibration powerful enough to shake the entire forest erupted. The same tremors rose not only from our direction but from various places throughout the dungeon. The other hunters who had entered with us must have succeeded in their hunts around the same time.
“The wisdom of our predecessors truly is remarkable!”
Becoming the sole target in an Ent Forest made survival extremely difficult. That was why entering together after waiting for other teams at the starting point helped disperse the attention.
“Huff— huff— Still, they’ll probably catch up pretty fast, right?”
I nodded repeatedly.
If we were only going to hunt once and head home, we could simply return to the exit without worry. But for us, this was only the beginning. The more Ents we killed, the more monsters would pursue us. If we dawdled, we would eventually be surrounded to the point where escape became impossible.
Hwooooo—
The number of times I sensed them exhaling through my sensory waves was increasing.
It does make finding them easier, so that’s convenient.
“Clack!!”
“Where? Ah!!”
Before we knew it, another one had appeared from the direction we were fleeing and blocked our path.
I threw three of the flame bullets I had saved up, then charged in together with the Lizardmen. We knocked it down with a group tackle and beat it senseless.
Who do you think you are, coming at us alone?
With multiple people piling onto an opponent I could handle by myself, taking it down was over in an instant.
Thud—
I quickly pulled out its thorn, left the area, and raised my stats.
They said strength gains become restricted after class change… so I should raise strength as much as possible before then.
Skills: Bash, Stealth, Dagger Throw, Acid Spray, Basic Transformation, Reckless Charge, Low-grade Flame Bullet, Contaminated Breath
Equipment: Kobold’s Crude Stone Hammer, Big Bore Leather Armor
After raising agility and magic power as well, I held up my battered stone hammer and showed it to Yeonhee.
“Ah! Ttungi! Do you have any more stone hammers for Ilwol?”
The Kobold, who had caused trouble before, nodded with an innocent expression as if he had forgotten all about it.
(Hey, Ttungi. Hand over every stone hammer you’ve got.)
Uuu…