Chapter 73
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: The Scramble (2)
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The Lindworm comes out once a week to eat.
It usually stays in the outer regions where the Hulgaryongs live before returning to its cave, but this was far from a usual situation.
“Without the Cockatrices and Firelight Rats, trying to define its territory would be meaningless.”
Ju Seo-hye was right.
And it had been just over five days since we entered the dungeon.
If the timing was right, we might soon find a hungry Lindworm.
I wondered which would happen first: the beast emerging from its cave, or us killing all the Hulgaryongs outside of it.
Once it came out, it would realize that the Hulgaryongs, its meal, were gone.
All we had to do was capture a decent number of Hulgaryongs and herd them into one place.
The beast, irritable with hunger, would surely come.
“Certainly not a bad method.”
“We can use more grenades if we need to.”
“You have more?”
“About thirty? Why? Upset your guild doesn't provide them for you?”
“Why you...! Do you think the Raon Guild is anything like Aria? A B-rank Hunter like you, if you came to Raon... Mmph!”
Jeong Ho-il, who had shouted out in anger, quickly clamped his mouth shut.
*Too bad, I was enjoying that.*
Then again, if he’d kept going, he would’ve just been shooting himself in the foot.
If he fell for my taunt here, he’d be admitting that Han Jong-ho, an A-rank Hunter leading a team, wasn’t receiving proper support from his guild.
“Then it’s settled. This meeting is now concluded.”
Hey! I’m the leader here!
That petty bastard!
His subtle attempt to take over the meeting was starting to get on my nerves.
At Han Jong-ho’s words, the Hunters filed out of the tent.
Just as I was about to leave, Han Jong-ho called out to me.
I turned slightly, fixing him with a defiant stare.
“Ahem, so, our alliance will hold until after the Lindworm is killed, correct?”
“Were we ever really allies?”
*That damn leader complex of his.*
*You think I don't see you eyeing my position?*
“I told you, I’m not interested in being the leader. Once the Lindworm is dead, I’m ditching this leader gig. The stress is killing me.”
“So I can take that as a yes until then.”
“Of course.”
I waved a hand and left the tent.
Even in a dungeon, night was still night.
The clouds parted, revealing a bright, full moon.
The goal of this dungeon wasn't to clear it.
‘The moment the Lindworm dies.’
That’s when the scramble begins.
* * *
Early the next morning.
I washed my face with a large-sized water candy.
Rubbing my eyes, I absentmindedly checked my status window.
Opening and closing the status window at every opportunity was a habit most Hunters shared.
[Soter]
Divine Name: * * * * *
Level: 2
Attribute: Darkness
Ranking: 15392
Dimension: Tower of Trials
Accumulated Contribution: 703,540P
Followers: 2
Traits: [Blessing of the God Soter] [Sword of the Executioner]
I’d invested all the contribution points I’d given to Min Sung-taek and Kang Hyun-seung, plus what I’d earned from the Zero-Sum Game.
‘Do I need around a million to level up?’
This was truly a thankless job.
The hunt for Hulgaryongs within the dungeon continued.
After several days of determined hunting, their numbers had visibly dwindled.
“Do you think this will really draw it out?”
“More importantly, this isn’t a pretty sight.”
As the Hulgaryong population decreased, another operation began.
Operation Grand Feast!
‘Whoever came up with it, they sure picked a great name.’
Oh, right. I was the one who named it.
The Lindworm, upon leaving its cave, would surely be bewildered by the strangely diminished number of Hulgaryongs.
We dug a large pit and threw in Hulgaryongs that were injured just enough not to die.
There was no need to hide it; it was an obvious trap to anyone who saw it.
Without the Cockatrice, the beast’s ego was soaring.
With food already scarce, there was no way it would refuse a meal served up on a platter.
“The beast is out of its cave. It’s on the move.”
Jeong Ho-il, who had been overtly standing next to me as a guard, reported.
“They say the dungeon’s clear condition has changed.”
As soon as someone spotted the Lindworm, the dungeon’s status window updated.
[Cockatrice’s Farm]
Grade: A+
Terrain: Mountain
Recommended Party Size: 80
Objective: Lindworm
Jeong Ho-il was able to grasp the situation so quickly because of the ‘Community.’
Hunters like those in Aria Guild, who served different gods, couldn’t communicate with each other, but the Raon Guild was mainly composed of Hunters who served the god Lux.
Though not all of them did.
When someone made a report, a follower of Lux would post it in the Community.
Since communication devices didn’t work in dungeons, the Community was the next best thing for Hunters without communication skills.
*Thump, thump.*
The ground trembled as the Lindworm charged.
It was the size of an ancient dinosaur, with green skin and sharp bones protruding from its spine.
The Hunters moved to their designated positions and hid.
The Lindworm glanced around before descending into the shallow pit where the Hulgaryongs were gathered.
It knew we were hiding.
Yet, it nonchalantly enjoyed its meal, as if daring us to come at it.
Anyone could see this was our chance.
I had buried all the remaining mana grenades beneath the Lindworm’s feet.
Positioned at the best vantage point, I pulled the pin from a grenade and hurled it toward the Lindworm.
*BOOOOM!*
A chain reaction of explosions erupted, flipping the pit over along with the Hulgaryong carcasses.
That many mana grenades would only be enough to give it a scratch.
This was the signal.
“Prepare for battle!”
Han Jong-ho, in the throes of his leader complex, signaled the start by casting an attack spell at the Lindworm.
Aria Guild and Raon Guild do not get along. However, their animosity and their skill were two entirely different matters.
No one was foolish enough to fight amongst themselves during a boss battle.
That would be the path to self-destruction, a mutual suicide pact.
‘There shouldn’t be a problem taking down the Lindworm.’
A few remaining mana grenades went off a moment later.
‘Have fun.’
While everyone was focused on the Lindworm, I quietly slipped away.
—Do you know how raid tickets are distributed?
—You just have to kill the boss, right?
—Correct. So, what happens if there are two bosses?
—Are you talking about the Cockatrice and the Lindworm?
—I’m talking about a situation where there are two Lindworms left in the dungeon.
—Wow, you really get into the weeds. It’s giving me a headache. What are the chances of that, anyway?
—Low, but it doesn’t hurt to know. According to Kim Kang-woo’s report, you seem to have good luck with dungeons.
—Isn’t it bad luck, not good?
—Let’s just say it doesn’t matter which.
If the beasts were twins, there was said to be a crucial distinguishing feature.
For monsters, being a twin was like a mutation.
—A normal Lindworm has gray eyes, but a twin’s are closer to red than gray.
—Hey, how am I supposed to know with a description like that? Are they gray or red? Pick one!
—You’ll know it when you see it.
At the time, I thought it was a ridiculous answer.
But I really did know it when I saw it.
‘So? What happens if the ticket dungeon boss is a twin?’
‘What was one simply becomes two.’
It had been agreed that the six tickets dropped by the boss would be taken by the six people designated before entering the dungeon.
But that was only the story for when a single boss was killed.
Before entering the Sky Garden with Eun-young, I’d received a request from Choi Soo-hyun.
—Heard you got nominated by Park Si-woo for the ticket dungeon, right?
—That’s how it turned out. Why?
—Get me one, too.
—You know it’s one per person, right?
—There’s no way Raon Guild and Aria Guild will enter a dungeon together and share nicely. Hey, just swipe one for me.
From the very beginning, Choi Soo-hyun knew this dungeon would turn into a chaotic mess.
‘Even without checking its eyes, I knew from the start there were two of them.’
Now that the number of Hulgaryongs had decreased, finding the other Lindworm using mana detection was a piece of cake.
After confirming its location, I quickly changed direction.
“Where did he go?”
“Where do you think? Behind you.”
Judging by his attire, he was a Raon Guild Hunter.
For him to have stubbornly followed only me amidst the chaos of the Lindworm battle, he must have been assigned to me from the start, regardless of the boss fight.
I had anticipated this, which was why I headed away from the Lindworm’s location in the first place.
“If you’re going to tail someone, you should do a better job.”
“Wait…”
“You know how this goes. You get caught, you die. Right?”
He should have been prepared for that much.
Using Angervadil, I slit the man’s throat without hesitation.
‘Ugh, what a life.’
When I met Lachesis, I thought it was all over.
Doing this crap again, a wave of disillusionment washed over me.
What’s done is done.
‘Still, maybe…’
It was a story of a very slim possibility.
After hiding the man’s body in a thicket, I ran toward the other Lindworm’s location.
What was in front of me was more important right now.
“Grrr, grr.”
“Found you.”
The beast was conveniently outside its cave.
[The aura of the god Soter blesses you.]
[Tier 3 protection has been activated.]
“First strike wins! This is it!”
I dropped from the tree and charged straight at the Lindworm.
* * *
“Cough…”
I spat a mouthful of blood onto the dirt floor.
The hand gripping my sword trembled.
‘I thought I was going to die.’
I was feeling impatient, and there was a skill I wanted to test out. I used it, but my body was a wreck.
[The dungeon has been cleared.]
As soon as I killed the Lindworm, a notification announcing the dungeon’s clearance appeared.
[Kang Han-gyeol (Soter)]
-Master of the ‘Tower of Trials’ dimension.
Title: Proxy (10%)
Strength: A (6%)
Stamina: B+ (71%)
Mana: A (30%)
Healing Power: B- (5%)
Contribution: 6,950
Skills: <Line>, [Wind Fang], [Moonlight Slash], [Mana Detection], [Meteor Slash], [First Light of the Sun Wheel], [Sun-Piercing Sword Style], [Falling Blossom Sword]
Talents: [Blessing of the God Soter], [Sword of the Executioner]
‘Whatever else.’
I had absolutely no desire to lose to the Transcendent Yoo Ji-han.
But where the hell did he learn the Sun-Piercing Sword Style?
I had a guess that I might have been the one to teach him, but even that wasn’t certain.
There was too little information to go on, having only seen the first and second forms.
‘Well, it’s not like I learned it through a formal master either…’
It was all a mystery.
By now, the other Hunters must have realized there was a second Lindworm.
They must have felt something was off when the dungeon didn’t clear even after they took care of their target.
I downed the elixir I’d received from Park Si-woo.
“Ugh, this tastes awful.”
I could now understand, just a little, how that bastard Yoo Ji-han felt when he complained about how bad the potions in the Tower tasted.
Was it my fault the potions tasted bad?
Things that are good for you are always bitter.
Ah, but this one was exceptionally foul.
[Ticket distribution will now begin.]
[Kang Han-gyeol - Possesses 3]
[Lee Chae-ra - Possesses 1]
[Jeong Ho-il - Possesses 1]
[Han Seong-cheol - Possesses 1]
Tickets were acquired sequentially based on contribution to the boss fight.
Once acquired, they could be freely transferred.
And was transferring all you could do?
‘Of course, you can take them by force too.’
Currently, the ones without tickets were Ju Seo-hye and the man called Team Leader Han, Han Jong-ho.
With me holding three tickets and Aria Guild’s Han Seong-cheol holding one, his position was probably awkward too.
‘Now then. How will they play this?’
It went without saying, but I had no intention of yielding.
At that moment.
[Han Jong-ho - Possesses 1]
Han Seong-cheol’s name vanished, and Han Jong-ho’s appeared.
There was no way Han Seong-cheol, a former member of the Black Holdings Guild, would have meekly handed over his ticket to the Raon Guild.
I threw the empty elixir bottle to the ground and lifted my head.
“I had a feeling you two would team up, but I never thought you’d actually betray him.”
“You’re a fine one to talk about greed. Don’t you know that biting off more than you can chew will just make you sick?”
Ju Seo-hye and a few other Hunters emerged from beneath the trees.