Chapter 205
Translator: penny
Chapter: 205
Chapter Title: Weakened Death Knights
After that, five Demi Drakes on the fifth floor.
Two Grand Mantises on the sixth floor.
They were all monsters that could hold their own anywhere, but they couldn't even put up a fight in front of Jeong-hyeon and his party.
Especially the Grand Mantises, unable to use magic and without harpoons embedded—they were nothing more than giant praying mantises to Jeong-hyeon.
"This level of stuff is what you clear at level 5 before moving on, right?"
"?"
Having finished the hunt, he let slip what wasn't quite a slip of the tongue, but...
"You're absolutely right, Hunter Han Jeong-hyeon! Of course! Long live Han Jeong-hyeon!"
Thanks to Seung-jun, who had practically turned into a fanatic ever since the Fire Golem core sharing, it got brushed off just like that.
'Why do only these giant monsters keep showing up!'
Meanwhile, Ji-myeong hadn't been faring much better on the previous two floors.
He had solo-killed a Demi Drake and severed a Grand Mantis's foreleg, putting on a performance more than overflowing for a swordsmanship trait.
But no matter how you sliced it, comparing himself to Jeong-hyeon only made him look more pathetic.
And on top of that, he'd even received significant help like magic enchantment in the process.
But could it be that even the heavens don't turn a blind eye to just one person?
Finally, on the seventh floor, Ji-myeong met his match.
"Death Knights!"
How thrilled was he? Upon spotting the undead monsters known as Death Knights, Ji-myeong nearly rushed over and hugged them without thinking.
At last, enemies he could face with his sword—neither giant monsters nor boss monsters.
For a hunter with a swordsmanship trait, they were practically the stuff of dreams.
Five of them, to be exact.
Of course, that didn't mean they were pushovers by any stretch.
Death Knights were so elite among the undead that it was hard to name anything superior.
Just looking at them dripped an ominous aura, and their jet-black armor couldn't even be scratched by ordinary attacks.
And their skill?
Even A-rank swordsmanship traits were said to struggle against them.
On top of that, getting slashed by a Death Knight's blade inflicted a curse that even healing traits struggled to cure.
Finally, meeting their gaze induced an instinctive fear that cramped the body and prevented one from performing at full potential.
That's why, though they didn't appear in gates often, they were a nightmare for hunters everywhere.
But in that moment, Ji-myeong's entire body surged with ecstasy.
Compared to the foes from the previous floors, he could handle two or three of those at once!
That's why his swordsmanship had reached level 7!
'But didn't Ji-hee take them all out with one spell?'
Of course, Jeong-hyeon—harboring his own memories(?) of them—just watched them impassively.
In any case, they had to take out all of them to open the path to the next gate, so as he roughly tallied them up inside and was about to assign...
"The numbers are a bit high, but..."
"I'll do it!"
"?"
Suddenly, Ji-myeong shot his hand up.
"I'll take one—no, two of them."
"Two?"
Jeong-hyeon tilted his head.
There were five enemies.
Four vanguards on their side.
There was no real need for Ji-myeong to push himself like that.
But his eyes were already blazing fiercely.
"I really want to take on two!"
Jeong-hyeon himself flinched slightly at the intensity in those eyes.
'What got into him all of a sudden?'
"Well... if you insist, Ji-myeong Hunter, take two. Chief Cha, think you can handle two as well? I might need to support from the rear."
"Of course."
"Seung-jun Hunter, focus your support on those two."
"Yes, as you command! Han Jeong-hyeon Hunter!"
"Won-ho hyung, don't overdo it—focus on defense. It's still dangerous."
"Okay."
Jeong-hyeon laid out the basic battle framework.
That was the end of the brief prep.
Truth be told, there wasn't even time for more if they wanted it.
Tss-tss-
The Death Knights were already advancing, giving no more openings.
"This time, watch me closely!"
Just as he had boldly declared at first, Ji-myeong stepped forward, drawing his sword with bravado.
Soloing two Death Knights would be the ultimate proof of his prowess.
He hadn't been able to show it before due to bad matchups, but this time would be different.
'What am I supposed to be watching?'
It wasn't like there was a bet on the line or anything.
Meanwhile, as Jeong-hyeon tilted his head, unable to grasp Ji-myeong's mindset...
Something utterly unexpected happened.
The hollow darkness within the Death Knights' eerie helmets.
Five pairs of those shadows seemed to focus on Jeong-hyeon, only for the knights to hesitate noticeably.
'Hm?'
Undead reacting like that? Of all things.
And then, an alert window popped up before Jeong-hyeon's eyes.
[Buff trait, 「Dullahan's Curse」(A), strongly resists mental attacks directed at the user.
'Death Knight's Threat' has no effect on the user.]
At the same time, the energy that had tried to bind Jeong-hyeon's body flinched and then vanished completely.
'This activates here?'
The combat power drop from the fear felt when facing Death Knights.
It didn't seem as overpowered as 'Siren's Song,' but it was still a clear system debuff.
In that light, 「Dullahan's Curse」 activating made perfect sense.
But the alert window didn't end there.
[Buff trait, 「Dullahan's Curse」(A), detects knight-type undead weaker than itself.
Negative effects from detected undead are completely nullified.
Detected undead are intimidated by 「Dullahan's Curse」(A) and weakened.]
'Crazy armor.'
He already knew the Cursed Armor blocked mental attacks.
So nullifying the Death Knights' debuff was easy enough to understand.
But weakening the enemy monsters in turn?
Even if it only applied to Death Knights, it didn't matter.
Hunters would be lining up for it.
Provided they could equip the Cursed Armor, of course.
And the final alert window lifted the corners of Jeong-hyeon's mouth sky-high, even right before battle.
[Hidden achievement, 'What Rank Are You?' achieved. Acquired 5 coins.]
Unintended coins were always welcome.
"Why are you grinning like that all of a sudden?"
Of course, only Jeong-hyeon could see these alerts, so to the rest of the party, it looked like he was calmly issuing orders one moment and giggling to himself the next.
"It's just that the idea of unlimited power without a downside doesn't make sense. I haven't heard of any trait like that yet, but thinking back to what I saw in New York, it's probably a side effect of the trait activation that lowers intelligence—"
"Ahem. It's nothing like that."
Jeong-hyeon snapped out of it only after Ye-rin and Hwi-gon chimed in.
"Seems like my armor is weakening them."
"What do you mean?"
"This was made from Dullahan armor. So..."
Even after Jeong-hyeon's explanation, the two still looked baffled.
If they grasped it instantly, that would be the weird part.
But the intense reaction came from elsewhere.
"W-what do you mean? The enemies are weakened?"
Ji-myeong, who had been gearing up for a fierce clash with the Death Knights to prove himself, asked in disbelief.
Weakened?
Death Knights?
Suddenly why?
"Well, like I said, this was made from Dullahan armor, so..."
It wasn't his fault, but seeing Ji-myeong's utterly crestfallen expression, Jeong-hyeon carefully explained again.
"My god..."
But the reason didn't matter to Ji-myeong.
The Death Knights were weakened.
And the cause was none other than Jeong-hyeon.
Tss-tss-
At that moment, the Death Knights—thoroughly cowed by the Cursed Armor—began to move.
The Death Knights stepping forward should have evoked sheer dominance, conjuring images of death and despair—
"Huh?"
But right now, they didn't match the name at all.
"They really are weakened, huh?"
"Yeah. Something's... off."
Normally, Death Knights glided toward foes with undead-exclusive speed.
In sword combat, it wasn't just about swinging the blade—reading the opponent's steps was key, making their movement a real pain.
But these Death Knights were gliding, sure—yet something felt off.
Hesitate—hesitate—
They slipped forward haltingly, as if they really didn't want to approach.
Confirming it, Jeong-hyeon grinned.
"Anyway, weakened enemies just means it's better for us, right? No holding back."
Talk about unexpected luck.
They just had to seize it.
And hearing Jeong-hyeon, Ji-myeong...
"Uwaaaaaah!"
Let out a roar of disbelief at the reality and charged ahead.
'I'll kill them all! I'll take them all down myself!'
Might as well go all in.
He'd solo all five Death Knights—at least to save some face!
***
Creak-
The now-familiar sound of the stone door opening.
The door to the eighth floor appeared before Jeong-hyeon and the hunters.
It could be called a smooth clearing pace, but somehow two out of the six didn't look thrilled.
One of them was Jeong-hyeon.
'I should have leveled up to 6 sooner...'
From what the other hunters said, this gate was a level 6 mission-type, and its difficulty was on the high end even for that.
Objectively speaking, a gate spawning Royal Erkes, Fire Golems, and Death Knights like field mobs couldn't be easy.
So what about Jeong-hyeon, who hunted them like common goblins?
Of course, no one would complain about their power exceeding expectations.
He wasn't the type to fear future consequences either.
So why the sour face?
'Level 5 gates and level 6 gates have a massive by-product price gap!'
Up to level 5 gates, even C-rank—and very rarely D-rank—hunters could hunt them.
But from level 6, only proper high-rankers, B-rank and above, were allowed in.
The number of gates generated differed sharply too, so by-product values soared accordingly.
Level 6 gate by-products were prime materials for top-tier gear.
And hunters using such gear were loaded enough to buy at any price.
Sure, Jeong-hyeon had a personal connection with Doil of Supreme Forge, so he could craft the best gear...
'But cash... sigh. This is why being dumb hurts the body.'
Still, his eyes were drawn to the immense value of level 6 by-products.
Meanwhile, the other unhappy face.
Ji-myeong.
'Why won't things go my way...'
He had resolved to truly show his skills on the sixth floor with the Death Knights.
And he had fought brilliantly.
Even Jeong-hyeon was honestly a bit shocked watching Ji-myeong face a proper matchup.
Like fully demonstrating the prowess of someone beyond their level limit.
Yet Ji-myeong's expression was glum for another reason.
'They weren't real Death Knights!'
Ji-myeong had faced Death Knights before.
Back when it was early level 6, he'd hit a wall against one.
He'd challenged it solo to test his swordsmanship, only to get pushed back and switch to party hunting.
Since then, he'd honed himself to solo them, gaining confidence even without hitting level 7.
But.
Clang-
-Grind...
The Death Knight he actually clashed with was nothing like the one from before.
Its swordplay seemed to ignore defense yet left no openings—now gone, it got stiffly pushed back bit by bit whenever they exchanged blows.
As if truly terrified of that Dullahan armor or whatever.
'I can never catch a break!'
In rage, Ji-myeong swung wildly and ended up taking down three Death Knights.
Only then did the party notice his unnatural fervor, offering awkward consolation after the fight.
- Three Death Knights? That's insane.
- Level 7 really is on another level!
But that didn't matter.
- That was impressive. Three Death Knights is tough even for me...
At Jeong-hyeon's sincere(?) consolation, Ji-myeong just...
'Whatever happens, happens.'
Gave up entirely.
In any case, the monsters awaiting them on the eighth floor were...
"Kuaaaah!"
"Red Drakes."
"Red Drakes, huh."
Three Red Drakes.