I Became a Swamp-Limited Lu Bu

The sound of wet, squelching mud filled the air. "Whoa... that thing is seriously a monster, right?"

"How is it so big...? It feels way beyond a regular lizardman. Isn't that basically a variant? Sis, I don't think I could beat that thing..."

"Yeah... even if the two of us team up, we'd barely scratch..."

Lee Yeong-cheol looked genuinely shocked, his mouth hanging open. Helen and Jin-gyeong seemed stunned for entirely different reasons. Lizardman No. 1, now the center of their attention, wore what could only be described as a satisfied smirk and flexed his chest muscles with a proud ripple.

Yeonhee kept summoning more lizardmen until she had four in total. Thanks to the crystal's effect, she could maintain four lizardmen without draining any mana. Of course, that count included Lime and me for defense, along with Ran.

"This is insane..."

I hadn't even shown my full power yet, but if they were this surprised already, I needed to be more careful.

"L-let's get moving..."

Yeonhee called out coolly for us to depart. Lee Yeong-cheol wore a complicated expression before taking the lead once more. 'Surprised because I'm tougher than you expected?'

His head was probably spinning right now, frantically running calculations. But no matter what, he would still try to put us in danger somehow. He wasn't the kind of guy who would postpone satisfying his twisted desires just because the situation had grown more complicated than anticipated.

We trudged through the damp ground that sucked at our feet for about twenty minutes before finally approaching our first real battle.

'Thirteen lizardmen... We ran into a pretty big group right from the start.'

Shortly after I spotted them, Jin-gyeong raised her arm and clenched her fist.

Gulp—

They usually traveled in groups of about ten, but the first fight was always nerve-wracking. Yeonhee looked just as tense. 'Normally I'd be sneaking in with stealth right about now, but today I'll hang back and observe.'

The first strike belonged to the lizardman squad.

Churrup!! Shaha! Chyaha!

No. 1 let out a thunderous battle cry in their signature hissing tongue and charged forward. Deonni, Yeong-cheol, and I followed right behind. Once we tore open their formation, Helen and Jin-gyeong would pour in the damage.

'Shall we begin?'

Whiiiiiing— Boom! Boom! Boomboom!!

Kyeeeeeeeek—!!

Blood erupted skyward from the side of a lizardman's head after taking a direct hit from the bomb. Grrrrrk— The creatures didn't die instantly, but they shuddered violently as if electrocuted before toppling over like fallen logs.

'Even with a clean hit, it doesn't kill in one shot. Still, it's enough to incapacitate them for a moment. Makes sense—I couldn't one-shot hobgoblins either. The performance has improved a bit, but I shouldn't get greedy.'

However, the 0.05-second paralysis effect seemed more useful than I'd expected. For the briefest instant, it stripped away their will to fight... or rather, made them forget their combat instincts entirely.

"Uwaaaah!! W-what the?! That was a real bomb?!"

Jin-gyeong was reacting like a studio audience member on a morning variety show—there was just so much that shocked her. Even though Yeonhee had already given them advance information about me and the lizardman squad, she was still losing her mind. And there was one more person who couldn't hide his astonishment at my bomb attack.

Lee Yeong-cheol.

"Huuu... This... today is really..."

He let out a long sigh, his eyes now carrying a completely different atmosphere from when we'd first met as he glared at me. 'Yikes...'

Setting that aside, Yeong-cheol's abilities were outstanding.

"Hup! Hah!"

Krrrk— KWAANG!

It was clear he'd spent serious time pondering how to use a shield—a defensive weapon—offensively as well. His movements showed the intense thought he'd put into it. He focused roughly eighty percent on defense and twenty on offense, striking once or twice when an opening appeared before quickly retreating back into a defensive stance.

"Shield Charge!!"

KWAANG!

He primarily shoved away any lizardmen trying to reach our damage dealers, spinning gracefully to prevent our party from being surrounded while maintaining the fight. His movement and decision-making were flawlessly efficient for this level range.

'I have to admit it. This guy is overflowing with talent.'

If we were only talking about potential, he might even rival Yu Dali. Of course, that was only if he managed to stay alive.

"No. 7! No. 8!"

After summoning up to the eighth lizardman, Yeonhee received Acceleration from Ran and began participating more aggressively in the attack. But rather than drawing her bow with the same ferocity as before, she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠kept some distance and carefully observed the battlefield, focusing on how to operate her summons more efficiently.

"No. 2! Just throw Ddakkak far away! No. 4! Don't advance—stick close to the nearest enemy!"

She was starting to show the qualities of a proper commander now.

Whiiiuuung— KWAaaaang!! Krheeeek!...

Of course, I had no intention of stagnating either. 'Don't stop thinking...'

Out of the thirteen, four had taken heavy damage from my bombs. The rest were still fresh, so I tossed bombs at them one by one while observing how our allies moved.

'Yeong-cheol is strong, just as I expected. Helen and Jin-gyeong... how about you two?'

"Tsk! These bastards are fast as hell!!"

"If we drag this out, we'll only fall further behind!"

The lizardmen were likely enjoying at least a twenty percent boost to their base stats in this near-perfect environment. Meanwhile, we were operating at a ten percent penalty. That created a thirty percent gap by simple calculation alone. No wonder their swings felt like lightning.

Slash—!

"Aack! You damn mutt!!"

And their movements felt like the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wind itself.

Whoosh—

"Damn it! Did it dodge?!"

Just like back in the goblin dungeon, these two always seemed to struggle. It left a bitter taste in my mouth. Still, after a fierce struggle that left them both panting heavily...

"Narae Slash!"

Kehk—!

With Helen's aerial double-slash skill as the finishing blow, they finally took down two of the creatures. They probably would have struggled more in a pure one-on-one, but because they'd practiced coordinating together before, their combo play overcame the difficulty. I also had to respect Jin-gyeong's tenacity for diligently stealing silver even in the middle of that chaotic fight.

"Push them back!!"

Yeonhee's delicate voice tickled my ear. Now that we'd excluded the lizardmen heavily weakened by my bombs, our summons outnumbered the enemy by about one and a half times.

'Time to stop using bombs and start wrapping this up.'

Tadadadak— Thud!

At Yeonhee's command, all the summons charged forward at once, slamming into the lizardmen. I followed up by stabbing my daggers into their vital points while they were down.

Stab stab stab stab!!

The lizardmen's hot blood soaked my skull thoroughly. The moment I killed the third one, the message I'd been waiting for most since entering this dungeon appeared.

'Okay, got one.'

'She gave them two blessings? And what the hell is a Divine-Demonic War? Did you guys actually live in a world like that?'

I thought nothing could surprise me anymore, but this was genuinely fascinating. I wondered what the other blessing was.

Krrrrk—

'Huh?! My bones...?'

My bones swelled slightly, interrupting my train of thought.

'...Are you kidding me?! The buff was this strong?!'

It felt like I'd leveled up more than ten times in an instant. Whoosh! Shrrrrk—

I lightly swung my blade up, down, left, and right. My movements had become noticeably more fluid, and both speed and power had increased dramatically.

'Heh...'

I nodded my head vigorously and shouted internally.

'This is amazing!! It's like winning the lottery!!'

Of course, the buff would disappear once we left the swamp, but just being able to act like an absolute monster inside this one dungeon was an incredible advantage. If I decided to settle down here as one of its permanent residents, I could become the strongest being in this place. The combat power boost was that significant.

I looked at my status window and felt a surge of satisfaction once again.

'Hehehe... It's times like these when it's great to be a skeleton who doesn't need to control his facial expressions.'

With my stats raised this much, there was no way I could stay still. Starting with the nearest lizardman, I landed a series of lethal strikes with my dagger.

Stab!!

Sluuuuurp— Krheeeik—!!

"Whoa... what the hell is that skeleton...? Isn't that the same one she summoned last time? How is it so fast?"

"Sis... there's no place left for us... sob sob..."

'Oops. Did I get a little too excited?'

Not only Helen and Jin-gyeong, but even Yeong-cheol stood there stunned, their eyes frantically trying to follow my movements. Shrrrrrk—

Only then did I slow down and come to a smooth stop, sliding across the ground. I even made my shoulders heave a little, as if I were slightly tired.