Chapter 199
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 199
Chapter Title: Mountain Giant Dragon Settlement
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[Trial conditions have been met.]
[Would you like to end the trial and proceed to the next area?]
[Teleportation will begin automatically in 1 hour.]
The trial came to an end with the defeat of the Mountain Giant Dragon. As a reward, I received a whopping 1,017 Bonus Stats. It was a clear indicator of just how monstrous that thing had been.
'Honestly, I got lucky.'
Even when considering overall combat prowess, rewards in the Selection Process tended to scale with an enemy's HP and sheer size.
The beast had nearly reached Fire Dragon class in terms of bulk, and my compensation matched that.
In truth, its physical and magical defenses had been no better than bare flesh.
'Even with gear like this, I couldn't take down a Destruction Dragon, let alone a Fire Dragon.'
Once trials hit the mid-game, enemy attack power ramped up, and elemental damage got brutal. Just pumping base stats wasn't enough—you had to invest in resistances and the like too.
And in the late game, enemies gained their own defenses and resistances, so you needed speed, penetration, and defense ignore to make your damage stick.
'Otherwise, even pure damage output won't land more than 1%.'
In other words, even with my Intellect nearing 20,000, without penetration, defense ignore, or any speed buffs, I'd start struggling in mid-trial with specs like these.
That meant hustling to solidify base stats and foundations early on, then farming secondary aspects right before mid-game kicked in.
Plus, the death toll was finally slowing down, signaling it was time to shift from stat farming to the next grind.
"Dickhead! Dickhead!"
Shin Seo-yeon came sprinting over, carrying Ri Eun-jeong on her back.
"How the hell did you pull that off?! That was straight-up insane!"
Shin Seo-yeon made a huge fuss upon arrival.
She was so shocked she kept repeating herself like a drunk reliving the same story on loop.
"Bought some top-tier gear and handled it?"
"Yeah."
"Damn, that's some next-level bullshit. But as epic as that is, isn't it a waste to blow it here? You could save it for way later."
That was one way to look at it, but nah—this was exactly the right time to use it. As time passed and monster and item levels climbed, this weapon's value would diminish.
Put simply, it had a shelf life. Use it early or lose out.
'I'll face some restrictions because of it.'
Shin Seo-yeon had racked up penalties over a hundred times herself. Once more wouldn't kill me.
Besides, after mentioning the double penalty last time, the Administration wouldn't slap both the Letter Envelope and Primordial Flame with restrictions at once.
You might wonder why the Administration handled things so sloppily, but the Selection Process was mostly hands-off.
They didn't intervene unless you shattered the rules with some massive upheaval.
Sure, this was transcendent-grade mischief on both fronts, pretty large-scale... but I hadn't blown up the world or anything. Just took down the Mountain Giant Dragon as intended. No biggie.
"Whoa, is that the weapon you can buy in that final rest area?"
Shin Seo-yeon's eyes sparkled at the sight of my weapon. She dumped Ri Eun-jeong on the ground and strode right up.
Thud.
"Ugh..."
"Hey, lemme hold that thing."
"Why?"
"Just once! Let me swing it! I wanna try it out!"
It was an endgame boss weapon, after all.
Shin Seo-yeon's antics could escalate fast, and with the Jewel of Annihilation already spent, things could get risky. I brushed her off vaguely.
"Don't be like that. Go buy your own and open the box."
"Huh, maybe I will?"
Not like she had the cash, of course.
"Where's the merchant, anyway?"
"Over there... Huh?"
No one was where the merchant had been standing. We'd been far from the battle zone, nowhere near the fallout, yet he was gone.
'No way.'
I hurried over. Only footprints remained where the shopkeeper had stood. Simple enough.
"What's up? What's going on?"
"...Nothing. Looks like I'll get summoned again later."
In short, the Administration had whisked away the shopkeeper. Bummer. Should've bought more random boxes.
'Nah, they'd have just confiscated them on sight.'
Might've burned cash pointlessly. Good call skipping it.
"C'mon, just let me hold it once!"
"Hold up. That's not the point right now."
"Oh, what's your excuse this time?!"
I dashed to Drakalcon's corpse.
Its tough scales had kept the body mostly intact. We'd peeled some off and carved into the meat, but it was still in decent shape, thankfully.
I wreathed my sword in flames and sliced into Drakalcon's body.
Sizzle.
Last time, urgency had kept me from harvesting properly, but now? No interruptions, and I could effortlessly cut through scales and muscle.
"Hey! What're you doing inside that stinky carcass?!"
Burrowing deeper, I suddenly stopped.
A wall of fat and muscle crumbled away, revealing an empty cavity with something hanging plainly inside. The ruby-red gem's nature was obvious.
[Dragon's Heart]
Or Dragon Heart, as it's also known. One of the three items every mage desperately craved dangled before me.
Dragon Hearts were quirky—you couldn't harvest them until five days after death. They slowly absorbed nutrients from the corpse and shrank.
Even this colossal Mountain Giant Dragon's heart had dwindled to fist-sized. That's why they only dropped from ancient dragons.
You could get them from juveniles too, but after five days, they'd shrink to smaller than a fingernail, worthless.
'Never thought I'd score one of these. Nice bonus.'
Usually, the magic effect percentage varied by the dragon's size and magic prowess. This one must've invested heavily in spells—without that, it'd be around 10% at best.
'Snagging something from mid-to-late trial farms right now.'
Lucky break. Should let me snowball faster.
"Hey, what're you doing in that reeking spot? I wanna try that thing out already!"
"Yeah, coming out now."
Right on cue, notifications appeared.
[Time limit expired. Copied [Primordial Flame] has vanished.]
[Time limit expired. Effects of copied [Jewel of Annihilation] have vanished.]
Crackle. Poof.
As stated, the Godslayer crumbled to dust and vanished.
"Eek! What the—?! What did you do?! My pretty baby's turning to powder!"
Shin Seo-yeon wailed like a kid. No idea when my weapon became her pretty baby, but at least the dangerous toy was gone for good.
"Min-jun!"
Once things settled and quieted down, the group rode over on dracos toward us.
The Saintess was safe. Han So-hee, Lee Se-ra, Joo Ah-hyun, Kim Yu-rim—all accounted for.
And Kumbra, the half-sister who looked just like Kuvara, was fine too.
Flinch.
She startled at the sight of me and hid behind Han So-hee, looking downright terrified. Curiosity flickered in her eyes, but fear dominated.
"Min-jun, you're safe! Thank goodness!"
"Glad you're okay too, Ha-na."
The Saintess hugged me tight, enveloping me in a pleasant fragrance and soft warmth.
Now this was it. The perfect healing reward after all that grind. Made me want to nap right there.
"Ah, Ha-na. Could you heal Eun-jeong a bit?"
"Sure!"
Her eyes snapped open the instant healing hit. Ri Eun-jeong bolted upright.
"You okay?"
"Th-the Mountain Giant Dragon?!"
"Dead."
"How...?"
"How d'you think? Our Dickhead one-shot it."
Ri Eun-jeong looked dazed, still piecing things together. Then her gaze landed on the Spear of Dragon Slaying in her hand, and memories flooded back—her eyes trembled.
"Sorry. I..."
"Don't sweat it. Someone had to take it down. You gave it your all for that one shot. Good work."
"But I... couldn't even help..."
"Help? You pinned one of its legs and crippled its mobility. We pooled our strength, survived. That's what counts, right?"
"......"
She wasn't snapping out of it. Time for a little cheat.
"C'mon, time to head out. Clean up those party stares one last time before we go."
"Ah..."
Only then did Ri Eun-jeong leap up and dash off.
The corpse was such a mess we'd already handled cleanup with Shin Seo-yeon—graves and all.
Couldn't find every body, though.
Of the 11 graves, seven were just for show.
"...Everyone left before me again."
Ri Eun-jeong slumped before a grave. The Saintess held the group back.
"Best give her some alone time, even if brief."
"Sounds good."
"Mm."
After a short moment of silence, my crew headed off with Shin Seo-yeon to peel more Drakalcon scales.
I watched Ri Eun-jeong's back a moment longer, then approached and slipped a bracelet into her hand.
"Here."
"This is..."
"Your comrades' effects."
Four Songs of the Wind Saddle picked up during body recovery. Couldn't find the rest. She clutched them tight.
[Ri Eun-jeong's affinity toward you has greatly increased.]
"Thanks."
"No problem."
"Thanks for not dyin' before me."
"......"
"If it's okay... could I stick by your side?"
One of humanity's top 100 heroes—the War God herself—was asking me to take her along.
My answer was set.
"Looking forward to it."
"Me too."
[Remaining Time: 11min 21sec]
'Alright, trial's done. Time to tally up.'
Dragon's Heart.
1,017 Bonus Stats.
Ancient Blacklight Mushroom.
49 Magic Stones.
Drakalcon Scales.
Songs of the Wind Saddle.
Probably more, but this was the haul from the trial.
I dumped all 1,017 Bonus Stats into Strength.
Honestly, I hesitated a tad before allocating. With these stats, I could've pivoted from all-Strength to something balanced right now.
But offense is the best defense, right?
'The way I took down the Mountain Giant Dragon today.'
The way I'd handle a Destruction Dragon. Burst it down in one overwhelming salvo.
Of course, making that work meant farming like crazy—speed, defense ignore, penetration, all of it.
Way more tedious than just stacking stats.
But I'd pull it off. Success meant crossing to the Otherworld with everyone following me.
"Everyone ready to go?"
Nods.
"Then let's head back. Time to claim our trial rewards from the goddess."