Kim Young-cheol's Party

A different breed entirely from the orc great warriors I fought on Floor 49. In truth, it was only natural that Floor 100's orc great warriors outclassed those of Floor 49. Monsters on the upper floors standing above those below was an obvious truth of the Tower.

What startled Jin-soo was that their strength blew straight past a mere difference in floor. These things aren't Floor 100 level. They belonged on a floor far higher than this.

So they weren't handing out four Demon Spirit Divine Pills for nothing. Forty orc great warriors beyond even a Floor 100 standard — that was why the reward came so fat. There's always a hidden dungeon like this. One impossible to clear at the level of the players on that floor. An antlion pit that lures Players in and hunts them.

Because of that danger, more than a few parties found a hidden dungeon and deliberately walked on by. A generous reward meant nothing next to one's own life.

Jin-soo cast Aggravation, the option skill bound to his ring, together with Decay, a dark-affinity healer skill. The wound where the Shadow Archer's arrow was buried split wide with a wet rip and began to rot.

"Graaaagh!"

The orc great warrior howled, pain and rage tangled together, and charged him. Jin-soo's blade took the wounded orc's head in a clean stroke. A Shadow Assassin drove a dagger into another orc's nape, and together with his summons Jin-soo began to whittle their numbers down.

Jin-soo tested his curse skills.

"Graaaagh!"

"Grrk! Grrk!"

The cursed orc ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠great warriors moved wrong, their bodies hitching out of rhythm. Pretty useful. This dungeon held nothing but orc great warriors, which meant there was no orc shaman to lift a curse or purify Decay. Stacking curse upon Decay, Jin-soo turned his assassin skills loose on them.

His body blurred, then vanished altogether. A boom shook the air.

"Graaagh!"

The orc that had been swinging at him whipped its head around, searching. In that instant Jin-soo triggered an ambush skill and punched straight through its neck. This one's pretty useful too.

One by one he tested the skills he had newly forged through Skill Synthesis, and one by one the orc great warriors fell. The last of them crashed to the ground.

Lucky. For any other party, it was the sort of high-risk dungeon that could have wiped them out on the spot. For Jin-soo it was a sweet one — a fat reward, and only a single species of monster, which helped his blessings grow.

"Take these. Eat them right away."

He held out two Demon Spirit Divine Pills to Shin Sua.

"Huh? No, it's fine. You eat them, Jin-soo."

"I already took some."

"Wouldn't more be better?"

"Past two, they stop working anyway. So eat."

"Okay. Thanks."

Shin Sua swallowed one of the pills he had given her.

"Whoa!"

Her mouth fell open. Feels incredible, doesn't it. Mana circuits that had been a narrow trail suddenly becoming a highway — the sensation was a clarity beyond imagination. Face bright, she took a second pill.

"Huh? The second one's way weaker."

Disappointment washed over her.

"From the third on, there's no effect at all."

"Ah. I see."

"Let's head out."

The pills were down. Now it was time to leave, hunt, and search for the next hidden dungeon.

Once they were clear of it, Jin-soo and Shin Sua cut through monsters with ease, Leo's help making the work light. We're moving faster than usual. Far more of them than normal were swarming in at the sound of Leo's roar — the aftershock of the Maw Ant colony Jin-soo had summoned being mistaken for an Out-of-Spec Monster.

If this keeps up, I could pull the schedule forward by a day.

He was deep in the hunt when a signal came from the Shadow Archer. Players were approaching. Must be people out hunting. Stubborn contrarians existed everywhere. They had probably come out brimming with confidence, or figuring they could simply run if things turned bad. This time that'll actually pay off for them. Let's wrap this up. Hunt the monsters as usual, dismiss the Shadow Summons, and that would be that.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Huh?

Then something he hadn't expected happened. Fast. The players closing in, by the Shadow Archer's report, were moving at a tremendous speed. Jin-soo opened his inventory and swapped his warrior gear for mage equipment.

"Those are summons?"

"I've never seen summons that look like that."

"They're insanely strong."

Before he could finish the monsters, let alone dismiss anything, a full party arrived and started running their mouths. Kim Young-cheol's party. The newcomers were faces he knew — Korean Players gathered under Kim Young-cheol, a group he had briefly joined forces with on the Tower's 200th Floor.

"Hey! Mind if I ask which guild you're with?"

Kim Young-cheol called over to him. This is going to be a pain. The party was reasonably skilled. The problem was Kim Young-cheol himself: an extrovert with an enormous habit of sticking his nose into everything, and a too-much-talker streak to match. They don't look like they should be at this level. Why show up now? They had arrived before he could even clear the monsters, and if he measured it against when he had met them before his Regression, they shouldn't have been anywhere near the Starting City's level yet. I never even ran into them inside the Starting City to begin with. In his memory, Kim Young-cheol's party belonged to the Daehan Guild. Had they been staying in the Starting City, he would have crossed paths with them without fail.

"Busy hunting? You're not answering."

"Ask him once the hunt's over."

"Guess I should."

They did not look ready to leave.

"Oh, you're done! Which guild are you with? Are you Korean, by any chance?"

The moment the last monster fell, Kim Young-cheol was talking again.

"Unaffiliated."

Kim Young-cheol's eyes lit up.

"You are Korean. Unaffiliated — that's a relief. Any interest in joining the Daehan Guild? It's a better guild than you'd think. And your skill's wasted staying here. Want to come with us to another city? Just say the word and I'll push hard for you. Ah, but that bastard Hanul can't even scout talent like this. I'll have to give him some advice soon about what a Starting City officer is actually supposed to do. So — have you thought about it? Or haven't you decided yet?"

Jin-soo had offered a single sentence. What came back was considerably longer.

"I have no intention of joining a guild."

"That's a real shame. But why are just the two of you going around? Don't you need more party members? Well, your summons are so strong you probably aren't looking. Still, thinking ahead, you'd do well to recruit early. If not that, at least build connections in advance. Otherwise you'll regret it later. I got cocky on Floor 50, trusting my own skill, and then..."

He answered his own questions and never once stopped moving his mouth. When he launched into the episode he had lived through on Floor 50, a hollow laugh escaped Jin-soo on its own. Same as ever. The time and place of their meeting had changed, but this Kim Young-cheol and the one he had met before the Regression were not different in the slightest.

"We were in the middle of a hunt. We'll be on our way."

Jin-soo ignored the rambling and simply walked.

"Huh? I've still got so much to tell you."

Flustered, Kim Young-cheol reached to catch him — and one of his own cut in.

"Hey! Quit yapping. We don't have time either. We need to hunt that pack of insect-type Out-of-Spec Monsters and grab the achievement before someone else does."

"Ah, right. You haven't seen any insect-type monsters around here, have you?"

"No. If I had, I wouldn't be hunting here."

Kim Young-cheol's expression stiffened a fraction. He smoothed it at once and put on a bright face.

"I see! Hahaha! Then let's meet again! Next time I'll tell you everything I didn't get to today!"

With that, the party left in a hurry.

They heard an Out-of-Spec Monster had shown up and flooded into the Starting City to claim the achievement. This kind of information sharing was exactly the advantage of the guild system. With a mage's skills or items, anyone on the same floor of the Tower could trade word with people far away, without limit. He said "before someone else gets them." So it isn't just one or two parties that came running. A golden chance at an Impossible Feat, if things went well — of course they were charging in with their eyes rolled back. At the very least they'd walk away with a decent achievement and reward. Find the insect-type pack and succeed in putting it down, and it was profit no matter what.

There was just one problem.

There is no insect-type Out-of-Spec Monster.

He hadn't expected the aftermath of summoning the Maw Ant colony to pull in players from other cities as well. Maybe it was inevitable. I should be more careful. Kim Young-cheol's party was a nuisance, but they didn't cross the line, and they kept a certain courtesy. Not every party was like that. There were those already rushing in, delighted at the news that the Chabel Guild had been wiped out — and each of them had enough strength to annihilate that guild and still have power to spare.

I need to grow my blessings, and fast. Quite a lot of time had passed since his base stats had stagnated at 922. At least the growth rate keeps climbing. Right now, the rate at which his stats, attack, defense, and the rest increased stood at 52.2 percent. How high does that rate have to go before the stats themselves rise? A high growth rate was good, but higher base stats produced a far greater synergy. I need the blessings that fix job level and synthesis level to show up soon. He also had to raise the fixed levels of his existing job skills and common skills. The more he thought about it, the more impatient he grew. In the end, the only answer is growing the blessings. Time to go wring the Undead Hidden Dungeon dry.

He forced the rising impatience back down. I can't go right away anyway. There were still plenty of achievements to earn and hidden dungeons to clear nearby. I'll ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just pick up the pace on hunting and on clearing them. With Leo's help, two days would be enough. We rested plenty over the last three days anyway. Cutting the remaining four days down to two wasn't pushing it all that hard.

"Sua, let's..."

He told her he wanted to compress the remaining four days into two.

"I'm good with that. Let's do it. We rested plenty over the last three days anyway."

"Then let's go."

Jin-soo put the spurs to their pace.

Jin-soo and Shin Sua returned to their lodgings late at night. Good thing meals are served around the clock. He was exhausted, and starving besides. They had snacked on what they had brought along, but they hadn't had a proper meal.

"Let's eat quick and go in and rest."

"Yeah."

They loaded trays and started dinner.

"Well, would you look at them eat."

"Right? What were they running around doing, eating dinner at this hour?"

The hulking man and the puppy-faced woman who had once urged them to join a party came over and ran their mouths. Jin-soo frowned. Tired and hungry, being picked a fight with in the middle of a meal was bound to grate.

"Oh? Look at that face. Keep it up and I'll hit you — I swear I will!"

"Cocky little bastard. A senior's looking out for you and you pull a face ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like that? No damn manners, you little shit."

At the blatant provocation, his expression hardened. There was a reason people said even a dog wasn't bothered while it ate. I was going to let it go. The two of them had casually crossed the line.

"If you don't want to end up crippled, stop there and get lost."

It was his final warning. Not that he expected them to hear it, apologize, and withdraw with any grace. He said it with the other Daehan Guild players around them in mind. They might all be cut from the same cloth, but a proper pretext still mattered.

"This little shit, for real! Do we look that easy to you?!"

"Today I'm fixing that arrogant attitude of yours!"

The hulking man and the puppy-faced woman swung their fists straight at Jin-soo.