The Betrayers (1)
*Ding.*
[Ogre defeated.]
[170,5629 EXP and 89 gold distributed according to contribution.]
Yeong-sik grinned at the messages floating before his eyes. A thrilling shiver raced through his entire body. He'd jumped a whopping 9 levels in one go, from 45 to 54—an explosive surge.
Considering how levels got exponentially harder to gain the higher you climbed, this was even more insane than the time he'd cleared out those trolls and shot up 4 levels at once.
'Nice.'
That electric thrill coursed down his spine. The strategy he'd used this time exploited the low intelligence of monsters without anti-air capabilities: wear them down with drones first, then finish them off. It had worked perfectly.
The drone had kited the ogre for a full 3 hours, draining its stamina. Midway through, a clump of mud the ogre hurled nearly smashed the drone—which had cost a cool 1,000 gold to build—but it barely escaped with just a busted propeller.
'If this method works...'
No matter how high-level or powerful the monster, targeting their dumb wits with a solid plan made anything catchable.
'Gotta keep leveling up my Manufacture skill too.'
Yeong-sik mulled over what the drone had pulled off. Both the troll kiting hunt and wearing down the ogre had only been possible thanks to it. Even with Security Level 7 unlocked, at his current low level, facing trolls head-on or an ogre straight-up was suicide.
The drone was a game-changer, turning the impossible into reality. If a human had played bait instead of something that could zip through the air freely at high speed, they'd have been monster chow in minutes.
'Good call building it.'
Yeong-sik popped open the drone's chassis and cleared the mud jammed in the propeller. It was finicky work, but with Structure Analysis giving him perfect knowledge of its internals, it was a breeze.
Repair Lv 1
'Hm?'
Yeong-sik tilted his head at the sudden window. A skill description followed.
Repair Lv 1
Repairs mechanical devices using metal materials. More severe damage takes longer.
Simple enough. Yeong-sik's eyes lit up as he tested Repair on the drone.
*Whirr...*
A few metal parts vanished from his inventory, and the propeller spun back to life. The damage wasn't bad, so it fixed in seconds.
'Handy in a pinch.'
He could've analyzed and fixed it manually with Structure Analysis, but the skill saved tons of time.
"Wait."
A thought flashed through Yeong-sik's mind. He placed a hand on his own body and activated Repair.
*Whirr!*
Blue light flowed into him, erasing the minor scratches and fatigue from the ogre fight.
'As expected.'
Yeong-sik smirked, confirming it worked on himself. But his expression hardened as he checked his inventory.
'It guzzles materials.'
Just for those scratches and tiredness, it'd burned through 20 metal parts. A real injury? Who knows how much it'd take.
"Ugh... Better hold off on using it on myself unless it's urgent."
Not something to spam casually. Still, having a self-heal outside of healer magic was a win. Yeong-sik turned to his party members, satisfied.
Gil-su and A-ra stared at the ogre corpse in disbelief, checking their status windows.
"Haa. Looks like beating a high-level monster doesn't bump the level cap."
Gil-su's bitter face showed his unchanged level 45 limit.
A-ra gave him a sympathetic look. "They say it's not impossible to raise the cap, though. Don't worry so much, old man."
"Haha, thanks for that."
Gil-su smiled lightly and picked up the dropped gauntlets. "Speaking of, is this the 'Ogre Gauntlets' we got?"
"Lemme see, old man."
Yeong-sik approached with interest. First rare item drop from a monster since arriving in this world.
Ogre Gauntlets (Rank: B)
Gauntlets infused with an ogre's power.
Options: Strength +8, Intelligence -3, Ogre's Roar skill usable.
Ogre's Roar
Let out a mighty roar forward, reducing Agility stat of targets in range by 3.
'Pretty solid.'
Yeong-sik's eyes sparkled at the description. The -3 Intelligence was a drawback, but +8 Strength more than covered it.
'Skill's decent too.'
Area Agility debuff? Strong utility. Synergized great with A-ra's ice magic for stacking slows.
And for Yeong-sik, who didn't need Intelligence much, it was tempting.
'But...'
After a moment's thought, he handed the gauntlets to Gil-su. "You should use these, old man."
"M-me?"
"Yeah. Fits your job perfectly, and my Blade makes gauntlets awkward without mods."
He raised his left hand; the blade extended from the back, so gauntlets wouldn't fit without tweaks.
"Well, if you say so..."
Gil-su, clearly eyeing them, gulped and took the gauntlets. Yeong-sik chuckled inwardly.
The real reason? Gil-su's low level cap. Far below Yeong-sik or A-ra's. He wanted to bridge that gap with gear.
'Can't say it outright.'
No way he'd blurt "Let's gear past your cap handicap" to a guy already brooding over it.
Gil-su equipped them immediately. His arms bulged with power.
"Hah!"
*Boom!*
He stomped, thrusting Radiant Shield forward. Mana surged out, unleashing a shockwave.
*Crack!*
The skill scaled with Strength; the struck rock wall shuddered, crumbling dust.
"...Impressive."
Gil-su muttered in awe. Rare items granted power beyond levels. His gear: one A-rank, one B-rank. Top-tier even for same-level hidden classes.
"Thanks, Yeong-sik."
He bowed, knowing the consideration for his cap.
"Haha. Keep tanking strong."
With that gear, Gil-su punched like a level 55+. No issue clearing remaining monsters.
'Not heading to the Northern Borderline anyway.'
Bae Han-seong had warned against it pre-split. Guild raids barely survived there; a trio was suicide.
'Need more ogres.'
Inside the Northern Borderline—dungeons aside—few monsters topped level 60 in open fields. High-cap summoners teamed with guilds there for 60-70 gains.
But ogres were outliers: rare level 70 elites inside the borderline. Normally borderline-only.
Having an easy hunt method? Waste not to exploit it.
"That drone's more impressive than I thought."
"I legit thought you were nuts suggesting ogres, but this method? Never saw it coming."
A-ra eyed the drone in Yeong-sik's hand, amazed. He nodded.
"Didn't expect it'd work this well either."
"Hmm. So what's next? Keep farming trolls?"
Trolls could hit 60 easy; not a bad plan.
"Nah."
Yeong-sik shook his head. "Now that we know this works, time for bigger prey."
A thick smile played on his lips.
The next day after the first ogre. Yeong-sik scoured troll habitats with the drone, hunting more.
Ogres were rare, but their trail of destruction made them trackable.
Same play: drain stamina, lure to canyon, ambush. The exhausted ogre crumpled under the assault.
A week of ogre hunting. Yeong-sik and A-ra blasted to level 68 in that short span.
Three-man team soloing what needed five, splitting EXP two ways? Absurd speed.
"Ogres are getting comfy now."
A-ra glanced at the fallen ogre. Higher levels meant higher damage; hunts stabilized.
Yeong-sik, stat-wise near 90, could 1v1 without tiring them. Faster clears.
"Mm... But ogres are getting scarce."
Constant hunting whittled their numbers. Hours for one now. Regretful.
'Time to switch spots.'
Trolls gave no EXP; ogres down to one a day. Time to move, spend savings on skill ups.
*Whirr...*
Then, the communication orb in Yeong-sik's pocket glowed. He lifted it.
"Yeong-sik."
Bae Han-seong's voice came through, tense and stiff.
"You need to come back. Now."
It'd been less than a month since splitting for solo hunts.
"Something wrong?"
Yeong-sik's face hardened at the tone.
"Yes. Big problem."
"Did the kingdom cops already track our guild?"
"No. They haven't found us yet."
"Then what..."
"The betrayers... they've found our location."