The Dungeon Explorer (2)

How much is the efficiency going to climb?

Jin-soo caught himself looking forward to it—how many ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hidden dungeons the demilich and the orc shaman would actually turn up. It was not long before he could see the results of sending them to their new assignment.

Can this be right?

The demilich and the orc shaman had been filing reports without pause. Most of them came from sites presumed to be open dungeons, but a fair number were something else entirely.

I'll know once I check.

With Shin Sua and Cheon Museong beside him, Jin-soo moved to the newly reported locations and cleared a great many open dungeons, along with a smaller number of hidden ones.

To think they'd find this many hidden dungeons.

In truth, the vast majority were open dungeons. All the hidden dungeons the demilich and the orc shaman had located, put together, came to only six.

Even that much is tremendous.

Hidden dungeons were never easy to find in the first place. Drawing on the experience and memories from before his regression, Jin-soo had already cleared a great many of them—but the only places he could locate with perfect certainty were the hidden dungeons he had cleared in that previous life.

Most of the time, it's a bust.

He had deliberately sought out spots where a hidden dungeon seemed likely. Nearly all of them came up empty, and he had counted it a windfall merely to stumble onto one by rare luck.

This is effectively the same as more than five hundred players setting the hunt aside and combing the entire hunting ground around the clock, turning over every inch of it in search of hidden dungeons.

A single demilich could command one hundred and thirty-two undead monsters. A single orc shaman could command the same number; only the fact that its minions were living monsters set it apart.

Their Army Summons are the same skill level. Of course the numbers match.

Between two demiliches and two orc shamans, the summons that could be committed to the search came to a staggering five hundred and twenty-eight. The combat strength of the undead the demiliches called forth, and of the monsters the orc shamans dominated, was nothing remarkable—but that was no hindrance at all when the work was searching for hidden dungeons.

Run them properly, and I can search most of the hunting grounds.

For an ordinary player, it would have been impossible. The undead a demilich summoned, however, neither ate nor drank, and they never slept at night. The ordinary monsters under an orc shaman's control might starve or drop dead from exhaustion—but then it was only a matter of replacing them with fresh ones, brimming with life and stamina.

Let's give it a try.

If it went well, he might even sweep up most of the hidden dungeons waiting on the floors of the Tower still ahead.

If I had my way, I'd turn over every hunting ground on the Tower's 200th Floor.

Regrettably, the 200th Floor was far too vast for that.

It's as enormous as Earth's Eurasian continent—or the Americas.

What was more, the Tower only grew larger the higher one climbed.

I'll just sweep the main hunting grounds where achievements can still be farmed.

Even that much was sure to pay handsomely.

Even while they cleared open dungeons and hidden dungeons, Jin-soo's party kept steadily hunting field monsters and stacking achievements.

I used to think he found hidden dungeons easily enough. Lately, it's on an entirely different plane.

Shin Sua had gone through a great many changes since meeting Jin-soo. She had changed class from warrior to healer, and she was now finding and clearing hidden dungeons she could barely have glimpsed in her old party.

The rewards were just as abundant. Elixirs she would have been lucky merely to lay eyes on in her former party, she now swallowed as casually as a meal, and expensive skill books and equipment came to her free of charge. Meeting Jin-soo had changed her life as a player.

Until now, she had believed she was being treated far better than her own ability deserved. That was why she worked so hard—to repay his kindness, and to keep from being cast aside.

Quite apart from that, she had grown accustomed, without quite realizing it, to Jin-soo easily discovering large numbers of hidden dungeons, clearing them, and walking away with lavish rewards. For Shin Sua herself those rewards were more than she deserved, yet she had come to think that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for Jin-soo—who possessed knowledge and power she could never hope to approach—they were simply his to take.

Their recent pace, however, was astonishing even to Shin Sua, who trusted and believed in his extraordinariness more deeply than anyone.

Normally, clearing even two or three hidden dungeons in a month is incredible.

Right now, Jin-soo's party was clearing one roughly every two or three days. And even that was the slowed pace.

At the start, they were clearing two or three hidden dungeons a day.

Elixirs had poured out in abundance, and they had laid hands on heaps of useful items besides. Ironically, Jin-soo sold nearly all of it at the auction house on the grounds that it was of no particular use—everything except the elixirs and a few class-change tomes and skill books.

He was already incredible. Now he's even more so.

Even living through it herself, Shin Sua found the present speed of their clears, and the sheer volume of the rewards, hard to believe with her own two eyes.

What would have become of me if I'd never met Jin-soo?

She probably could not have imagined a life like this at all. Had someone told her that people lived this way, she would never have believed them.

Still—the Sun-Moon Divine Pellet really is that precious.

The change her body had undergone when she took the Ilwol Sindan, the Sun-Moon Divine Pellet, had brought pain so fierce she thought she might die. The stench rising off her had put her through no small misery as well. The effect, though, was unmistakable.

Since then, my body has changed completely.

She felt as light as if she had been born anew, and her skin had cleared. Her physical abilities had grown freer—and so had the flow of her mana.

If it works on a principle similar to the Demon Spirit Divine Pill, taking another should still have an effect. I hope one turns up.

She wanted it less for her own sake than for Jin-soo's. He, who would not touch other elixirs, had eaten the Sun-Moon Divine Pellet.

Back then I should have just put it in his mouth without a word. This time, that's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠exactly what I'll do.

In her heart, Shin Sua swore fiercely that she would not repeat her last failure. And before long, the moment to keep that vow arrived.

"Oh?"

Jin-soo's eyes went round. At last they had found the hidden dungeon he had been waiting for—one that offered the Sun-Moon Divine Pellet as its reward.

The difficulty ought to be a notch higher.

With dragonkin on the field, the difficulty itself was certain to differ from the other hidden dungeons. The terrain was poor as well. The interior was neither plain nor forest, but a swamp with water rising to the waist.

"Dragons to hunt... Truly, I can scarcely contain my anticipation."

Cheon Museong's eagerness had less to do with the reward than with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the simple fact that he would be fighting dragonkin.

It's finally here.

Shin Sua burned with resolve, swearing to herself that this time she would yield the mission's Sun-Moon Divine Pellets to Jin-soo, no matter what.

"Let's clear it as fast as we can."

With the Sun-Moon Divine Pellet on offer, Jin-soo's own will caught fire.

"Grrrrngh!"

One by one, the dragonkin lurking inside the dungeon showed themselves.

As expected. Their caliber is low.

What emerged were crocodile-men, humanoid crocodiles; snake-men in the shape of serpents given human form; and packs of lizard-men.

Still, there are a lot of them.

Even a rough count put them past a thousand.

It was only because he was Jin-soo that he thought their level low. Crocodile-men armored in hard scales, and snake-men carrying deadly venom, were troublesome opponents even for upper-tier players on the Tower's 200th Floor. Lizard-men were monsters that appeared from the Tower's lower floors, but having spawned in a hidden dungeon on the 200th, their levels were certain to be high. What truly mattered was the swamp itself, and a headcount that reached a thousand.

No matter how skilled a party might be, fighting that many dragonkin in an environment like this made victory hard to guarantee—even if they staked their lives on the fight.

Then let's begin.

For Jin-soo's party, none of that meant much.

Jin-soo drew up his mana and cast his offensive magic.

With a splintering crack, the swamp froze solid in an instant, binding the dragonkin where they stood. A booming roar followed as the ice storm broke over them, and jagged spears of ice erupted to punch clean through their bodies.

"Kyaaaak!"

"Shaaaa!"

The dragonkin that had appeared so imposingly crumpled and fell in moments.

Cheon Museong struck the frozen swamp at a run and charged straight into them. His enormous shield came down with a thunderous crash and smashed their sturdy bodies flat. A sword sheathed in pure-white sword-ki followed, and with a wet, shearing bite it split the scales and bones for which dragonkin were famed, scattering red blood in every direction.

From her perch on the stone golem's shoulder, Shin Sua diligently refreshed her protective skills and blessings, and used what neutral skills she had—those with even a little offensive power—to hinder the dragonkin's movements or strike them outright.

The horde of a thousand dwindled fast.

"Kyaaaak!"

Unable to match them in raw force, the snake-men resisted fiercely, scattering potent venom in every direction.

"Hup—!"

Cheon Museong halted his breath at once, cutting off the poisonous miasma spreading through the air.

"Shaaaak!"

Even with his protective ki and guardian skills unleashed at full strength, the snake-men hurled themselves at him as if intent on self-destruction, turning their own bodies into weapons and spraying deadly venom. A vicious hiss filled the air. Hemmed in on every side by snake-men charging like suicide attackers, Cheon Museong felt his clothes melt away as a trace of the venom seeped into his skin.

That was not the end of it. Once a poisonous fog choked the air all around him, no matter how firmly he held his breath and maintained his protective ki and guardian skills, he could not stop the venom dissolved in the air from being absorbed—if only in small amounts—through his skin.

The damage was not great, however. A small measure of poisonous qi could be forced back out through his internal energy.

Once the battle ends, I'll circulate my energy and expel it. Have these wretches no sense of camaraderie at all?

Cheon Museong clicked his tongue inwardly.

Absurdly, the venom the snake-men scattered was inflicting massive damage on their own allies—the crocodile-men and the lizard-men. It hissed and ate wherever it landed.

"Kieeeek!"

"Kak! Kak-kak!"

Screams burst from the crocodile-men and lizard-men on every side. To Cheon Museong it was merely a minor nuisance, but the venom the snake-men exhaled melted their allies' scales, invaded their airways, and granted them tremendous pain.

"Purify! Detoxify!"

With Shin Sua's cry, the poisonous miasma hanging in the air around Cheon Museong vanished. The venom that had invaded his body was cleanly wiped out, and the stinging sensation disappeared with it.

No need to waste time expelling the poison myself, then.

A faint smile rose to Cheon Museong's lips.

With Shin Sua's help, the fight grew easier as well. He no longer had to hold his breath, nor spend internal energy to keep the poison inside him from spreading.

Her use of skills is excellent.

Cleverly, Shin Sua purified only the poison in the immediate vicinity of Cheon Museong and Jin-soo, and she kept doing it.

The result was wretched. The venom the snake-men had scattered did not harm Jin-soo's party—the ones who ought to have been their enemies. Instead it became a miserable team-kill, dealing fatal damage only to the crocodile-men and lizard-men, the ones who ought to have been their allies.