The Cursed Skeleton Knight's Staff (2)

"Leo."

Jin-soo called the name and ran a hand over Leo's head.

"Nyaaaang!"

At his signal, Leo unleashed a mighty roar.

A thunder of footsteps answered him, and an enormous host of monsters came pouring out all at once.

"Graaaah!"

"Kuwaaargh!"

They bellowed in rage and charged with ferocious momentum. And then—

Crunch. Slice. Crack.

The very monsters that had rushed in so fiercely began to be pulverized in real time.

"The gap in strength is way too wide."

"Yeah. It really is."

Jin-soo had to agree with Shin Sua. The numbers were one thing, but the difference in combat power was extreme. A single stroke of a Skeleton Knight's blade cut down three or four monsters at once, and a sweep of a shield snapped bone and pulped muscle where they stood.

There's no way to gauge their strength like this. He frowned. In a sense, though, it was only natural. The level gap was simply too severe.

The Cursed Skeleton Knight Staff is a level 2,492 item. Whether or not each individual unit's combat power ran on the low side, sweeping aside monsters on the level of Floor 100 was the obvious result. And the headcount is absurd on top of that.

Even when Leo's roar drew the monsters in, they only came by the hundreds. The Skeleton Knights numbered a full 249. With levels that overwhelming and numbers that weren't far behind, it would have been stranger if this one-sided slaughter hadn't happened.

I'll have to run a proper test next time.

Even so, watching the Skeleton Knights massacre their way through gave him a rough measure of their strength. Exactly the level of an ordinary level 2,492 monster. Nothing more, nothing less.

Even that much isn't bad. To the ordinary monsters of the Tower's lower floors, they were nothing short of a calamity. Even a boss could be taken down easily on level alone.

Aside from the Bone Dragons and the Shadow Summons, aren't these the strongest I've got?

Even the Dragon Tooth Soldiers forged from Bone Dragon teeth didn't look likely to beat the Skeleton Knights. Their grade was higher, true enough, being made from Bone Dragon teeth, but the level gap was extreme. And in the end, numbers were king. Dragon Tooth Soldiers made from Bone Dragon teeth numbered a mere twenty-one, while the Skeleton Knights were more than ten times that—249.

But will the summons hold even if I do this?

Jin-soo slipped the Cursed Skeleton Knight Staff into his inventory. I thought they might get unsummoned. They didn't. Even with the staff stored away, the Skeleton Knights kept fighting.

This time he flipped his status window over to the holy line.

Crackle!

In that instant the Skeleton Knights were unsummoned where they stood.

That won't work. Is it because switching to the holy window deactivates the inventory skill? It wasn't a major problem. I just need to turn the inventory skill into a shared skill. He couldn't do it right now, of course. But once the blessings grew and the number of Skill Sharing slots increased, the fix would be simple.

Jin-soo switched his status window back to the dark affinity, drew the Cursed Skeleton Knight Staff from his inventory, and summoned the Skeleton Knights once more.

The cooldown's short, and having two stacks is nice. With two stacks, he could resummon them the moment they were wiped out.

As expected, the gap is still huge. Death Lord Garamikan had so much to spare that he could burn an item of this caliber just to spite someone he found displeasing. I can't catch up right away, but... No matter how he flew or crawled on the lower floors, matching the strongest being at the very top of the Tower was nearly impossible.

It won't take that long.

Even so, Jin-soo was confident. I've only just reached Floor 100. Countless floors still waited above him, and he was growing stronger at a rapid pace with every one he climbed. It was only a guess, but he had a feeling that by the time he reached the middle floors, he might already surpass Death Lord Garamikan. Turning that guess into reality meant he couldn't afford to rest for even a moment.

With more summons, I can push the hunting speed higher. Then he could claim the achievements and titles Floor 100 had to offer even faster. Clear Floor 100 as quickly as possible.

Jin-soo threw himself into the hunt, working without pause toward that goal.

Jin-soo and Shin Sua made a circuit of Floor 100 like a touring act, gathering achievements and titles and clearing hidden dungeons and ordinary ones alike. In the end they secured every title on the floor sooner than expected, and cleared the hidden dungeons they had set their sights on.

"All set?"

"Yeah. Let's challenge it right now."

Shin Sua answered his question with a calm face.

"Then let's go."

"Okay."

Jin-soo and Shin Sua selected Yes.

A brilliant wash of light flared and wrapped around ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠both of them.

A barren wasteland without a single blade of grass opened before their eyes. Across that dry earth swarmed countless undead—skeletons, zombies, ghouls, dullahans, phantoms, wraiths, specters, death wizards, and more.

"Kiiiiek!"

"Uwoooorgh!"

The moment the undead spotted them, they shrieked and charged like mad things. There was nowhere to hide and nowhere to run. The only answer was a head-on fight.

Before the regression, this was a real ordeal. Undead in numbers too great to count surged in from every side like a wave. The last time he had laid eyes on this sight, the curses had come pouring out of him. Not now.

Shadow Summons, Army Summons, Dragon Tooth Soldiers, and Skeleton Knights took the field in a rush of shadow and steel.

"Kuwooooh!"

"Kyaaaaah!"

Two Bone Dragons roared and unleashed their breath. Twin beams lanced forward, black and white in stark contrast, and scoured the undead ahead of them clean off the earth. Then the dragons that had breathed charged.

Crunch. Crack. Crush.

They trampled the undead underfoot. Just running is a disaster in itself. The two Bone Dragons slaughtered without discrimination—stomping, lashing with their tails, piercing with their wings, tearing with their jaws.

The Shadow Summons joined the fight in the same breath. Two variant lycanthropes bared fangs and claws and ran wild, while the Army Summons forged from players drew their weapons and swept the undead away. Thirty Dragon Tooth Soldiers in all, made from Bone Dragon teeth and White Drake teeth, fell on the horde with terrifying force.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The 249 newly joined Skeleton Knights smashed through the undead without hesitation and pressed forward.

"Guuurgh!"

"Kweeeek!"

The undead resisted desperately. It did them no good. The gap in stats was simply too extreme, and even their greatest weapons—undying flesh, and an aggression that never spared their own bodies—failed to land. Jin-soo's Army Summons were themselves a kind of undead, born of necromancy. His Shadow Summons and Dragon Tooth Soldiers shared those same traits: immortality, and attacks that did not spare the body that made them.

When both sides wielded the same weapons, it was only natural that the stronger side won outright.

The Stone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Golem doesn't even get a chance to shine.

Shin Sua's expression soured. Jin-soo's summons were putting on such an overwhelming display that the undead were already shattered before her Stone Golem could arrive.

"Let's just keep the buffs rolling."

"Yeah, got it."

They worked busily at their buffs. With so many summons, even that was a job in itself.

While the buffs cycled, the undead kept vanishing—and for every one destroyed, another was refilled.

I am absolutely not killing you. Before the battle, Jin-soo had ordered his summons never to attack the Demilich, gatekeeper and boss monster both. Just keep refilling the undead. Nice and steady.

He looked toward the Demilich, waiting at the tail of that vast undead host, and his eyes were full of expectation. He's the gatekeeper, and the strongest boss on Floor 100. Of course he'll hold out longer than the Black Mana Orb in the Undead Hidden Dungeon. Jin-soo didn't doubt for a moment that the Demilich would outlast that orb.

Before the regression, catching that thing was pure hell. He had forced his way through the wave with everything he had and barely managed to smash the Demilich's skull. This time was different. He had no intention whatsoever of smashing that skull.

There's no time limit. We can take it slow.

The lack of a time limit on the gatekeeper subjugation missions of Floor 50 and Floor 100 was a whip, of sorts. These are missions you can't clear just by running away. You had to eliminate the gatekeepers—the Stone Golem and the Demilich—or you could not clear them. By contrast, the clear conditions for Floor 49 and Floor 99 are survival. There was no gatekeeper you were forced to hunt.

The time limits on Floor 49 and Floor 99 are probably there to raise the players' survival rate. If all you had to do was endure, your odds of living shot up. Had those floors carried no time limit, the survival rate might have dropped to zero. That was why the limit had been put in.

Players generally prefer it when there's a time limit. A limit made clearing easier. Jin-soo was the opposite. He liked it better without one. He could hunt massive numbers of monsters at his leisure and grow his blessings.

But this time the blessings are growing awfully slow. Is it because so many of these monsters overlap with the Undead Hidden Dungeon? It was a little disappointing, but he held on to hope. In the Undead Hidden Dungeon, only zombies, skeletons, and ghouls showed up. Here, the varieties of undead ran far wider. They'll definitely go up.

Hope and faith bright in his eyes, Jin-soo looked at the Demilich, who was pouring out black mana in a murderous, ominous tide.

Hang in there. I'm counting on you.

He cheered for the Demilich with all his heart.

"Gwuuuurgh!"

"Kuweeeek!"

As if to repay that faith, the Demilich cut back the share of low-grade undead—zombies, skeletons, ghouls—and sharply raised the share of mid- and high-grade ones: dullahans, phantoms, wraiths, specters, death wizards.

Thanks. Thank you. Watching the Demilich summon with everything it had, Jin-soo had never found it more reliable.

The battle rolled on without pause. Breath scorched the field. Bone cracked. Flesh burst.

The titles stacked up, one after another.

At the same time, the blessings grew at a steady pace. His level had been climbing without stop since the battle began. Even so, results like these could not satisfy him.

Why is it so slow? Relative to the time he had invested, the blessings weren't growing all that fast. Ever since my stats hit 1,022, their growth definitely slammed on the brakes. Proof that the experience required for the blessings to grow had increased.

Then I'll just overwhelm it with volume.

Jin-soo settled his mind. And to prepare for a long fight, he pitched a large tent.

"Sua, let's eat dinner and rest a bit."

"Sounds good. How about pork belly?"

"Perfect."

The Tower sold meat from beasts much like pigs, and pork belly was among it. Jin-soo lit a fire and took out a grill.

"Nyaong!"

"Kaaak!"

The moment the two of them started on dinner, Leo and Kkami made their gluttony known.

"These two eat all day and still come back for more."

"They're not some ordinary cat and crow. They're magic beasts, you know."

"Ugh. Fine—here, eat."

Jin-soo pulled monster meat from his inventory and handed it over.

"Nyang! Nyaang! Nyang! Nyang!"

"Kaak! Kak! Kak!"

Leo and Kkami protested furiously.

"They want it grilled, don't they?"

"Haa. Yeah."

At Shin Sua's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠question, Jin-soo let out a long sigh and produced a second grill.

"I shouldn't have roasted it for them back then." He regretted the night he had camped out while hunting and given Leo and Kkami fire-roasted monster meat. It was already too late.

"What's done is done."

"I know. But they eat raw meat just fine. They only pull this when we're the ones grilling."

"Fair enough."

Jin-soo and Shin Sua talked quietly as the meat cooked.

"Here. Eat up."

He set the grilled meat in front of Leo and Kkami, and the two of them dug in at once, chomping and pecking with single-minded fervor.

"Let's eat too."

"Yeah."

Watching them, Jin-soo and Shin Sua started in on the pork belly themselves.

"Kuuuurgh!"

While Jin-soo, Shin Sua, Leo, and Kkami were in the middle of a full-blown mukbang, grilling meat over the fire, the Demilich witnessed the scene, let out a wretched scream, and wrung black mana dry to summon undead with desperate effort. But no matter how hard it summoned, it could not put a dent in the party's feast.