Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Iron Knights
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Kang Jin-hyuk was heading toward the deepest part of the dungeon, indulging in luxury to the point where he wondered if this was really okay.
Whenever a monster suddenly popped out, Lucia stepped up and took care of it, leaving Kang Jin-hyuk with nothing to do but suck on his fingers from the back.
“Maybe I should fight a little too? At least to rack up some experience…”
“You can do that plenty inside the temple until you’re sick of it, so save your stamina.”
Lucia swiftly handled the additional monsters swarming in and opened a new jar of candy she’d received to replenish her sugar.
Once she got paid, she carried out her duties diligently.
That was her ironclad rule as a platinum-grade adventurer.
“Won’t your teeth rot if you eat candy like that?”
“Only humans have that problem. Not me.”
“Still, what about bad breath… or other issues?”
“I purify my body with magic every day. You think something like that would happen?”
Only then did Kang Jin-hyuk realize he’d never once smelled any body odor from Lucia.
Even though he’d never seen her wash her face, her skin was always pristine—all thanks to magic.
‘Is she clean… or dirty…?’
She used magic to purify herself instead of brushing her teeth or washing her face.
He couldn’t decide how to feel about that, and it gave him a headache.
“You’re thinking something useless again, aren’t you?”
When Lucia noticed and asked, Kang Jin-hyuk shook his head as fast as if his spinal cord had reacted without consulting his brain.
“No, I was just thinking about how to get through the temple.”
“Get through? Just push forward until you feel strong enough, then crawl out without going deeper.”
“Why? Is there something more dangerous inside?”
“Rumor has it there’s something that demands a weird trial.”
“You haven’t seen it yourself?”
“The mage we went with was the only one who entered deeper.”
They hadn’t all gone together because no one knew what kind of ridiculous-stat monster might appear, so only the mage had ventured into the temple’s interior.
“Did that mage pass the trial?”
“Since he came back with the mana core he wanted, I guess he did.”
“Did you hear anything about what the trial was?”
“He said he absolutely couldn’t tell. Probably a non-disclosure condition.”
Lucia had started the story as a warning to be careful, but it only piqued Kang Jin-hyuk’s curiosity instead.
‘A trial that grants what you desire…’
With his limited time left and needing to grow stronger rapidly, it felt all the more tempting.
Lucia saw Kang Jin-hyuk silently pursing his lips, his eyes gleaming.
“Sigh.”
She let out a pitiful sigh and continued clearing the monsters blocking their path.
What should have been a long journey passed quickly.
Thanks to Lucia handling the monsters so swiftly, Kang Jin-hyuk soon reached the temple.
A massive wall loomed ahead as if marking the end, but at its center stood a single door engraved with a dragon motif.
“This is the temple?”
“Yeah. You can tell at a glance.”
“The only giveaway is that dragon picture.”
From the outside, it didn’t feel like a temple at all.
The fake temple on the second floor had actually felt more antique and mystical.
“This is as far as I go with you.”
Lucia slung her bow over her back and stepped away.
Though it had been planned from the start, Kang Jin-hyuk felt a twinge of regret.
But with her presence spiking the monsters’ stats, there was no helping it.
Thanks to her care, his condition was at its peak, and he had plenty of consumable items prepared.
Kang Jin-hyuk confidently pulled out the key from the dwarf.
He approached the massive door blocking the way and inserted the key into the lock.
Even before he turned it, the engraved image on the door glowed brightly, exuding an extraordinary aura.
“Whew.”
Kang Jin-hyuk took a deep breath, then turned the key to open the door.
With a grand rumble, the doors parted left and right, revealing only pitch-black darkness without a single ray of light.
As Kang Jin-hyuk took one step forward, lights flicked on as if triggered by a sensor.
“Less like a temple and more like a maze.”
The only difference from the first floor was that the walls looked a bit more ornate.
Disappointed after expecting something flashier, Kang Jin-hyuk stepped inside.
The open door slammed shut behind him with a thud.
“Jeez… It’s not like we’re in a horror movie.”
Calming his startled heart, Kang Jin-hyuk drew his baseball bat.
In a situation where enemies could appear anytime, he couldn’t let his guard down for even a moment from here on.
As he advanced slowly, footsteps echoed from around the corner.
Clank, clank—the metallic sounds grew closer, heading straight for Kang Jin-hyuk.
“Some guy in full armor, huh.”
Even if it was clad head to toe in armor, he had Aura.
Aura was a cheat skill that ignored defense and dealt damage unless blocked by another Aura. Armor would just slow it down, making it easier to fight.
As the Aura enveloping the baseball bat deepened in color, so did Kang Jin-hyuk’s confidence.
“Come on, then.”
The footsteps grew louder as the distance closed, and soon their owner rounded the corner.
Upon identifying the foe, Kang Jin-hyuk involuntarily gasped.
“What the fuck?”
It wasn’t just one.
Easily over twenty fully armored knights emerged from the corner, by visual count alone.
They marched in perfect unison, as if the sound came from a single entity, moving with one mind and purpose.
Kang Jin-hyuk was speechless at the chilling sight.
Clank.
Spotting Kang Jin-hyuk, the knights drew their swords in unison, assuming identical stances like clockwork.
Not a speck of dust could slip through—no gaps whatsoever.
A frontal assault looked tough, but it wasn’t impossible.
Kang Jin-hyuk raised his baseball bat, envisioned a lightning bolt, and swung with all his might at the knights.
A massive thunderclap shook the maze as a brilliant bolt shot forth, striking the densely packed knights.
Encased in metal armor, they felt the lightning’s power in full.
“Did I get them?”
Kang Jin-hyuk realized what he’d said too late and clamped his mouth shut.
But words once spoken couldn’t be taken back.
The knights, smoke billowing from their armor gaps, resumed their advance as if nothing had happened.
“This damn mouth of mine.”
Kang Jin-hyuk sighed and gripped his bat firmly.
“If lightning doesn’t work, at least they’re not living things.”
Their mechanical precision screamed non-biological.
“Not skeletons… so golems, maybe?”
Skeletons couldn’t support that armor weight with just bones, so golems seemed more likely.
If they were golems, wrapping up tight was probably to protect their cores.
“In the end, only a frontal breakthrough?”
Looking around, Kang Jin-hyuk turned and bolted away before the knights closed in.
The knights pursued with even faster movements.
Confirming they were chasing as planned, Kang Jin-hyuk veered sharply sideways.
The spot the knights reached following him was a narrow passage barely wide enough for one person.
Kang Jin-hyuk taunted them from the opposite side, beckoning with his hand.
“What’re you waiting for? If you wanna catch me, crawl in here yourself.”
The taunt worked; the golems shifted formation, lining up single file.
Like a train, the knights entered the passage one by one, starting from the front.
“They’re actually coming in.”
Great unity, terrible brains, apparently.
Discarding their numerical advantage, they approached one at a time.
Kang Jin-hyuk swung his bat down on the helmet of the lead knight.
It raised its sword to block, but the Aura-enhanced bat snapped the blade and crumpled the helmet.
Even crushed like a stomped soda can, the knight didn’t fall.
As it swung the broken sword, Kang Jin-hyuk stepped back.
“Not the head for the core. Torso, then?”
He dodged another swing by twisting his body.
Seizing the opening, he smashed the bat into the knight’s side with full force. A crunch echoed, and he felt something shatter through his hands.
“Here it is.”
Core destroyed, the knight collapsed limply.
[Your level has increased.]
Thanks to the hefty experience, Kang Jin-hyuk leveled up right away.
But he’d only taken down one so far.
The next knight pressed forward without giving him a breather, swinging threateningly.
“Now that I know the core spot, it’s just a matter of time.”
Kang Jin-hyuk smirked leisurely as he felled the incoming knights one by one.
The clash of metal rang through the narrow passage for a good while.
By the time Kang Jin-hyuk’s level had risen substantially,
No more footsteps approached.
“Easier than I thought?”
Having tensed up from Lucia’s warning, Kang Jin-hyuk relaxed after clearing them.
“As long as I have MP Potions left, hunting will be smooth.”
He pulled a potion from his inventory to restore the MP spent on Aura.
Aura’s sole drawback was its massive MP consumption.
No issue if he could chug potions like in a game, but
In reality, after twenty-plus, his stomach bloated, hindering movement.
“Should I puke to empty my gut?”
Half-serious, Kang Jin-hyuk pondered as he returned to where he’d first encountered the knights.
Closing his eyes and listening, no sounds came this time.
But to be safe, he pulled out his radar from the inventory.
“Hmm… No monsters around here already.”
Disappointed at the empty radar dots, Kang Jin-hyuk frowned.
In his current situation needing quick levels via monster kills, this lull was unwelcome.
“Gotta go deeper.”
He advanced with radar on, alert for ambushes.
After wandering the maze for about five minutes, a single bright dot appeared on the formerly black screen.
“Nice.”
As Kang Jin-hyuk cheered at the new prey, three more dots popped up.
Then five, ten, fifteen… The dots multiplied endlessly.
“Huh?”
When they hit a hundred, dominating the screen, Kang Jin-hyuk sensed trouble.
And when they all surged toward him at once, chills ran down his spine.
“How do they not know when to quit?”
He’d hoped for more monsters, but not a hundred swarming simultaneously.
He turned to head for a narrow passage to force one-on-ones, only to see the radar fill with dots ahead too.
“Uh-oh?”
This was bad.
He realized his predicament too late.
Having missed the escape window, Kang Jin-hyuk faced a crisis against hordes closing in from both sides.