Do You Like It Spicy?

I glanced toward the battlefield. 'Position's perfect. How's the fight looking?' Even from dozens of meters away, I could spot Yeonhee instantly. Our party had pushed forward quite a bit from our starting position. It's common sense to hold your assigned spot when a raid begins, but as time passes, things always fall apart. And with our party's overwhelming strength, it was only natural we'd end up taking the lead.

Even so, we were still a fair distance from the Lizardman Champion. 'The fight's winding down, but that just means more people are getting reckless.'

Greed is a luxury only the strong can afford.

Splash—

"Kuaaaaagh!!"

"S-Save me!! Hurry—"

Shunk—

Glug glug glug—

A hunter who'd been hammering the Champion's thick legs with his shield was suddenly snatched by the creature's sticky webbed foot and dragged into the swamp. Once you're pulled under like that, unless you have some special ability, surviving alone is nearly impossible.

Yeonhee frowned deeply, then squeezed her eyes shut. It seemed she still couldn't stay calm watching people die. I hoped she'd stay that way. It was my personal wish.

'I've been gone for about fifteen minutes. They're progressing fast.'

The Ent Champion had been on a different level, with average clear times around thirty minutes. This one required constant disruption of its regeneration with small attacks, plus multiple hunters packing heavy destructive skills to take it down smoothly.

"Seolchang!"

And our party had exactly that kind of hunter on temporary loan. I spotted No Hayun activating the same skill she'd once tried on me. The name sounded lame, but that one technique had elevated her to the ranks of the strongest in the future.

Since there was no chance to use her close-range Ice Sword right now, she was focusing entirely on the long-range Seolchang.

Shweeeeee—!

The ice spear flew at a speed barely trackable by the eye and slammed into the Champion's left arm—the same arm that had just sent a hunter to the afterlife.

Crackle— Crunch—?!

Crack— Craaaack—!

Spear after spear struck the arm, spreading the freezing effect. The Champion could no longer control its left limb properly.

"Focus fire on the left arm!!"

The quicker hunters nearby were already hammering the frozen limb with everything they had.

Craaaack— BOOM—!

Finally, the Champion's left arm exploded from the elbow down, painting the swamp with its own blood.

The Lizardmen summoned alongside their leader desperately tried to block the attacks raining down on their boss.

Swoosh—!!

They bit and clung to the hunters with all their might. But their numbers had already been greatly reduced, and most importantly, Yeonhee's Lizard unit—expertly navigating the swamp—had already broken through their interference. They were now latched onto the Champion's legs.

Shake shake—

"Kroaaak—!!"

The Champion tried to shake off the Lizard unit, but after over ten minutes of battle, its stamina was nearly spent.

Stagger—

It began to teeter outward from the swamp before finally collapsing.

THUD—!!

"We did it!! Fuck yeah!!"

"Wait your turn! Our guild has priority!"

"Priority my ass!!"

It was a well-known fact that landing the final blow granted a positive correction to contribution points. So it was understandable why hunters swarmed like a pack of wild dogs to snatch ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the last hit.

While the battlefield grew chaotic, I was in an excellent mood.

'Feels good to glide again after so long.'

I'd already activated my Gliding Cloak, leaped from the hill, and was soaring in stealth. I canceled the cloak's effect directly above the Champion's head and dropped toward the ground at perfect timing.

Whooooosh—

"Chueheek— Krk—?"

The fallen Champion noticed me descending from the sky. One of its eyes had been blown clean out, and its massive body was covered in countless wounds. There wasn't a single spot not bleeding. It looked almost pitiful.

Riiiiip—

Even then, its instincts were alive. It opened its maw wide, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠revealing rows of vicious, interlocking teeth.

'I probably won't taste very good. Do you like it spicy?'

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whirl—

I hurled five Skeleton Bombs straight into its mouth, then reactivated the cloak to brake my descent sharply.

Bang—

Swoosh— Grab—

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

The Champion, thankfully, swallowed every last bomb.

"Krk?!"

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!

The Skeleton Bombs detonated inside, completely obliterating its upper body.

"Uwaaaaagh—!!"

"What the hell was that?!"

"Is it a villain?! A villain?!"

"Kuuuugh— What kind of destructive power is that?! Who the hell was it?"

"Who crushed that monster's head in one hit?"

"Some bastard just stole the kill when our guild had clear priority?! Are you insane?! Who the fuck was that?!"

'It was me, dumbass.'

Even considering the explosion happened inside its mouth, the destructive power of bombs made from Lizardman bones was truly impressive.

Among the dizzying messages, what caught my eye was that I hadn't received the mid-grade rune. That meant someone had higher contribution than me.

'Of course. I can't expect to claim the best reward just because I landed the final blow.'

While the hunters were still panicking over the massive explosion that had blown away the Champion's upper body in one go, I landed in stealth and began searching the corpse.

'Rune, rune... Ah, here they are.'

Five glowing runes were embedded in the body. I pulled out the two mid-grade runes and the one low-grade rune that clearly felt like mine.

The two mid-grade runes in my hand twitched and trembled in one direction.

To anyone else, they were nothing more than rocks. Even if you became the owner, you couldn't relax. There were hyenas everywhere waiting for the exact moment someone picked up a rune.

'Did I really go through that bullshit for a whole day or two?'

More than a dozen filthy memories flashed through my mind.

'I'll quietly take only what's ours. The rest of you can fight over the scraps.'

At first glance, targeting the top contributors might seem illogical. But even those who worked hardest could be exhausted, and there were always people hiding their power, waiting for someone else to pick up the rune.

Still, I couldn't just sit around waiting for the trash to leave without picking anything up. At night, the dungeon's mana density thickened, and the monsters who lived here benefited far more than the hunters. That was why we always headed for the exit around lunchtime.

"Fuck! I spent hours on this and some dogshit bastard—!"

'Looks like a fight's about to break out.'

Whenever people gathered, some kind of trouble was bound to happen. Even something as trivial as "I was in line first" could become justification for violence.

I stored the low-grade rune I'd earned with the last hit in my inventory, then casually walked through the crowd holding the other two and headed toward Yeonhee.

'Better to stay in stealth as long as possible.'

Whoooosh— BOOM!

I tossed a bomb into the empty space behind the Lizardmen and detonated it. All eyes instantly turned that way.

Shhh—

I released Stealth at that moment and quickly ran toward my party members, who were carefully scanning ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠their surroundings as they approached.

"Oh? There he is!"

"Skeleton, where have you been?"

Helen and Jin-gyeong greeted me first. Then Yeonhee waved at me and said,

"Ilwol, over here... over here..."

Her timid little hand waving back and forth was incredibly cute. And so was No Hayun standing awkwardly beside her.

'Hmm?'

"Uhh... ahem—"

When our eyes met, Hayun quickly looked away.

'Ah, this one? She's quick on the uptake.'

I knew she'd already seen the stones in my hand.

Clack—

When I opened my palm, the two runes twitched, then floated into the air and drifted toward Yeonhee and No Hayun.

'As expected, true masters don't blame their tools.'

They'd started at the very back of the fight, yet they still held the top two spots in contribution.

"Whoa! You brought the runes? That's amazing!"

"Shh— Shhh— Jin-gyeong, you're too loud. Anyway, our job here is done, right? Let's get out quickly. The air doesn't feel right."

Helen was still E-grade, but thanks to her age, she was quick to read the room. It was far better for my mental health to travel with someone like her than with an insanely strong but slightly unhinged hunter.

Yeonhee fiddled with the rune I'd given her before placing it back in my hand.

'Not bad at all.'

I put the rune straight into my inventory without hesitation and clacked my teeth in joy.

"Hehe— You like it? I like it too—"

Sensing my satisfaction, her expression brightened instantly.

'I need to funnel the Mana runes to Yeonhee, but that dungeon only appears after reaching D-grade...'

I briefly thought of our next target—the Dungeon of Nargul.

'We'll reach it sooner than expected. I thought it might take until April... but things are going so smoothly it's actually making me nervous.'

While I was lost in thought, a warm light enveloped our party. Everyone except No Hayun was enjoying the joy of leveling up.