Chapter 127
Chapter 127
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 127
Chapter Title: Merrillium Mine's Gems
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Chapter 127
'Merrillium Mine's Gems'.
It was a Mission Gate where you couldn't guess what lay inside, but fortunately, there was at least some hint this time.
After entering the cave—narrow enough that two people standing side by side would fill it—Jeong-hyeon asked the healer Lee Deok-jin.
He was the only Level 5 in the party and said he had entered the Level 6 Merrillium Mine a few times before.
"What monsters usually appear in the Merrillium Mine?"
"Uh... Since it's a cave, all sorts of insect-type monsters show up, but the important ones are the Cave Orcs and Cave Mantises."
It was possible to roughly infer the monsters that appeared because the Merrillium Mine was one of the standard Level 6 Gates.
They had come down to a Level 5 Gate, so he wasn't sure if the monsters were restricted in combat power to some extent, but complacency was forbidden.
The information matched what he remembered, so Jeong-hyeon nodded.
Neither Cave Orcs nor Mantises were much of a threat to him.
Orcs were a bit concerning because they traveled in packs, but if the cave stayed this narrow, they wouldn't be able to make full use of their numbers.
'The disadvantage for us is visibility.'
The lack of light and the resulting poor visibility was quite annoying.
No matter how superhuman Jeong-hyeon's senses were, he was still human and inevitably relied on sight.
If Jeong-hyeon felt this way, the other hunters must have it worse.
Especially for Lee Yeon-su, who had a Level 4 C-Rank archery trait—her combat power was greatly affected by whether she had clear visibility or not.
Therefore, the best choice for tackling a cave Gate was to bring a fire-type mage.
With a fire mage, you could supplement the lack of light and effectively counter cave monsters weak to fire.
'Especially, bright light sources actually weaken cave monsters.'
Those with degenerated eyes might not be affected much, but ones specialized for dim light would shrink back from overly bright illumination.
But if there was no fire mage in the party, the rear-line healers, mages, or archers would light Gate lanterns.
This time as well, the healer Lee Deok-jin and mage Kim Jeong-geun took out the lanterns from their belts.
They would be limited in combat, but being able to visually spot approaching monsters was advantage enough.
And Jeong-hyeon lit his own lantern too.
"?
The only difference was that his lantern was a mace.
Flames suddenly erupted from Jeong-hyeon's mace, startling the surrounding hunters who looked at him in surprise.
"W-What is that?"
Won-ho's flustered question.
The others hadn't voiced it, but they looked equally shocked.
Jeong-hyeon grinned and replied.
"You all heard the non-disclosure clause, right? Everything that happens here is a secret."
"What do you mean... No, how?"
Secret or not, they had to know what was happening to keep it secret.
But Jeong-hyeon didn't seem inclined to explain how he lit the mace on fire.
In the end, after racking their brains, they reached one conclusion.
He must be a hunter who specialized in Mission Gates, so it was probably an artifact effect.
Artifacts weren't common for them, but they'd heard the effects varied widely, so a fire-enchanted mace wasn't impossible.
'Wow, Onyx really has insane magic conductivity.'
Of course, Jeong-hyeon had simply used his Magic Enchantment trait.
Since the contract included a non-disclosure clause, he had no intention of half-hiding his abilities.
If he was going to use a skill anyway, better to show it from the start so people wouldn't be as surprised later.
And he was once again impressed by the Onyx material's magic conduction performance.
With normal gear, even Jeong-hyeon couldn't maintain Magic Enchantment throughout an entire hunt.
But with Onyx, which had virtually no mana loss, it was a different story.
Once enchanted, it lasted a very long time without additional mana consumption.
If the effect started to fade, they could just take a break then.
At that moment, the Gate they had entered shimmered and then completely vanished.
Now, they couldn't leave even if they wanted to.
Not until the mission was cleared.
It was the clearest proof that this was a Mission Gate.
'It's been a while since I've done a Mission Gate.'
"Alright, let's go see what the 'gem' is."
Leaving the still-awkward expressions behind, Jeong-hyeon took the lead.
His steps were quick, and his mace flickered far ahead.
Only then did the others hurriedly follow.
***
Jeong-hyeon, who wasn't even a tank but was leading, suddenly stopped.
Worried he might be ambushed, the tank Joo Woo-young—who had stuck close behind, scanning the surroundings—asked.
"What's up?"
"Something's coming from ahead."
Something was approaching from beyond the lantern light's reach?
The party members strained their ears at Jeong-hyeon's words, but they heard nothing in particular.
But to Jeong-hyeon, it was an unforgettable sound.
"It's nothing much. Do you like cockroaches, by any chance?"
"Pardon? Cockroaches?"
"Pretty big ones."
What was this sudden talk of cockroaches?
As the party members looked baffled and shook their heads,
Fwoosh—splat!
Jeong-hyeon enchanted his Onyx dagger with fire magic and threw it.
The party had to be shocked twice.
'When did he even draw and throw it?'
First, at the blinding speed of the dagger throw—even B- and C-Rank hunters like them hadn't properly sensed it.
'It wasn't an artifact effect?'
Second, at the fact that the fire magic, which they thought was limited to the mace via artifact, was casually applied to the dagger too.
The second one especially shattered common sense as hunters.
'At that level, his dagger skills alone would be A-Rank... So what the hell is his Magic Enchantment?'
It probably wasn't an artifact anymore, so only one possibility remained.
Having two traits at once.
That could only be Re-Awakening.
Meanwhile, Jeong-hyeon's dagger, flying like an arrow, pierced its target dead-on.
Crack—
"Tch, these guys are always annoying because they swarm."
After that, Jeong-hyeon threw three more daggers.
Only then did he dust off his hands and walk forward to retrieve them.
Four cockroaches lay sprawled on the ground, each with a dagger deeply embedded in their heads.
"I thought I'd never see these again..."
They were the ones he had hunted to death in the old 'Kukaroch Sewer'.
Fortunately, they weren't appearing in as massive numbers as back then.
Their appearance was a bit unique too—less viscous fluid and darker coloration compared to the sewer ones.
"In cave-type Gates, you can pretty much count on cockroaches being fixed spawns. But it seems you've seen them before?"
Deok-jin asked.
Hunters from outside usually freaked out at the sight of cockroaches.
Retriever-sized cockroaches swarming floor, walls, and ceiling—if you weren't used to it, you couldn't even respond properly.
But he'd sensed them from this distance and nailed them with thrown daggers. Not ordinary skill.
As someone who ran a Mission Gate specialist office, it was expected, though.
"Well... I hunted them to exhaustion once before."
He still got occasional calls from Dae-hoon, his old team leader.
There was an opening—want to hunt together?
Nice guy, but obviously a pass.
Jeong-hyeon glanced at the cockroach heads, clicked his tongue, and retrieved the last dagger.
Maybe because they were wild rather than in a manmade sewer, there was almost no fluid.
He hadn't brought tools anyway, so collection was impossible, but it felt like a waste somehow.
"By the way, if I may ask... have you Re-Awakened?"
Kim Jeong-geun asked, shining his lantern ahead.
He was probably curious.
In the short time, Jeong-hyeon had shown near-certain proof of Re-Awakening, and Re-Awakened hunters were rare to begin with.
Jeong-hyeon paused, looked back at Jeong-geun's question, then ambiguously nodded.
"Something like that."
If you wanted to nitpick, it was more like re-re-re-re-re-Re-Awakening.
But Re-Awakening was included, so it wasn't a lie.
Only then did the others nod with enlightened expressions.
"Ooh, a Re-Awakener... As expected... That explains the Mission Gate specialist business."
"First Re-Awakened hunter I've ever seen."
Among hunters, Re-Awakened were practically mythical creatures.
Not just the low odds—even if revealed, guilds regardless of rank would scramble to recruit them, so ordinary hunters rarely encountered them.
To these hired hunters, Re-Awakening was like winning the lottery.
Before entering the Gate, they thought clearing a Mission Gate with their power alone was impossible.
But learning Jeong-hyeon was a Re-Awakener sparked a strange sense of expectation.
"So, your rank is...?"
"Let's leave it there. Not important."
"Ah, yes sir."
Joo Woo-young immediately shut up at Jeong-hyeon's sharp reply.
Maybe too excited at meeting a Re-Awakener.
A tank guarding the front had no business looking back.
Especially in a Mission Gate.
Showing off extraordinary feats too suddenly wouldn't help combat, so he'd played along with the conversation, but this was enough.
"There's a cavern ahead. Could be enemies, so stay sharp."
"Yes."
This much was just an appetizer.
Cockroaches were Level 4 monsters at best.
And individually weaker than that.
According to Vice Guild data, the main monsters here would be Cave Orcs and Cave Mantises, so one of them was likely in the cavern ahead.
Jeong-hyeon's prediction was spot on.
"Kuik!"
"Cave Orcs!"
Even without Jeong-hyeon's sharp senses, the piercing orc cries echoed from afar.
The Vice Guild members recognized the familiar Cave Orc sound too.
'His instincts are sharper than expected?'
They hadn't made much noise themselves.
After Jeong-hyeon's warning of possible enemies ahead, they'd even minimized footsteps.
Yet the orcs had detected the approaching hunters and started charging.
Cave Orcs, evolved for lightless caves, had abnormally developed hearing and touch compared to surface orcs.
"Be careful. Cave Orcs are totally different from outside orcs."
"I've studied up a bit."
Won-ho adjusted his battle axe, stepped forward, and warned Jeong-hyeon.
He was trying to look out for Jeong-hyeon, new to mine Gates.
Jeong-hyeon knew Cave Orc info to some extent, so he understood the warning.
'Let's see what he's got.'
Jeong-hyeon drew Black.
To avoid drawing attention, he enchanted it with neutral magic.
Woo-young and Won-ho had pretty much blocked the narrow cave path, but that was no obstacle for Jeong-hyeon.
"Daggers incoming."
After a short heads-up, Jeong-hyeon swung his arm.
At the same time, Black slipped between the two vanguards in a magical arc and vanished into the cave darkness.
"Wow..."
Wind mage Kim Jeong-geun murmured in admiration.
In such situations, even magic struggled to attack without friendly fire.
About a second later.
Jeong-hyeon grimaced.
'Missed—no, it dodged.'
His senses picked up four orcs.
How did it dodge a soundless dagger in this tight space? But it definitely missed.
Seeing Jeong-hyeon's expression, Deok-jin knew the Throwing Skill had failed.
"Cave Orcs don't take projectile attacks easily. Wait until they get closer."
Jeong-hyeon ignored him, stowed the returning Black, and said.
"It's fine."
Then he drew three more daggers and added.
"You gotta kill orcs to satisfy them."
Attacks not landing?
Then make them land.