Chapter 45
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Arrogance
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“Heh heh heh! It’d be wise if you came quietly…….”
*Whirr— Whirr— Whirr—*
“Huh? What’s that sound? Whoa!”
The archer, who’d been smirking obnoxiously as he approached, spotted the breeze coming right at him and tumbled over in shock. It was an unsightly fall, but it saved his life.
“Phew.”
I’d gotten startled myself, half-worried he might actually die.
“Where’d that trick come from!”
The spearman, on the other hand, spotted the returning axe early but didn’t dodge—instead, he thrust his spear forward. He must’ve been trying to keep the weapon from getting back to me.
“Haat!”
*Clang!*
But despite his booming shout, the spear tip snapped off all too easily.
“Gasp! No way!”
“Way!”
In the meantime, I slipped out of the corner, grabbed the breeze, and spun the spearman around in front of me to block the archer’s shot.
“Get out of the way, Kim Jun-su! Before I shoot.”
“You crazy bastard! Hey, don’t shoot!”
While they were causing a commotion, I climbed up to the top of the pyramid and snatched the Dungeon Crystal.
*Ping!*
An arrow grazed my earlobe. My ear burned for a split second, and then something hot dripped onto my shoulder.
*Drip. Drip.*
Blood.
“Ugh!”
It wasn’t until I touched my ear that I realized more than half of my earlobe had been shot off.
*Twang—!*
I dodged the next arrow and raised my hand.
Perfect timing—my Illusion skill had just leveled up, so now I could cast it on two people at once.
There was the precondition that my Intelligence had to be higher than theirs, but I figured I could manage that just fine.
‘Unless they’re mages, no one dumps points into Intelligence big-time.’
Most people distribute their stats based on their weapons and fighting style. Those two probably invested most of their points in Strength and Agility.
‘Alright then. Have at it—chase my shadow all you want.’
My illusion bolted off at full speed. Toward the otherworld passage.
* * *
“He’s out!”
“After him!”
An arrow flew straight for his head, with Kim Jun-su hot on his heels, ready to thrust his spear at any moment.
But the guy slipped the arrow like an eel and bolted into the otherworld passage.
“What now? Looks like that bastard’s heading back to the otherworld. We’ll lose him like this—should we follow?”
“You nuts? Why the hell would we go there?”
“But look! He’s about our level, and he’s wandering around the otherworld like it’s nothing. Maybe he knows how to move around there safely. If we could just figure that out…….”
“Ugh. Still too risky. I’m not risking my life chasing some punk like that.”
At O Won-sang’s repeated objections, Kim Jun-su finally relented. The dungeon was already starting to collapse. If they crossed into the otherworld now, they’d never make it back.
“Let’s get out and report to Big Bro. This is huge. A guy who can roam the otherworld freely? Insane.”
Kim Jun-su hurried out of the Gate, convinced he’d finally found a lead. Sure enough, Lee Chun-bae was waiting right outside.
“Bro!”
“Damn it all! I set up an ambush and you idiots lose the Gate again?”
“Calm down and hear me out, Bro. That guy—he can go back and forth in the otherworld whenever he wants. He just fled that way. Right?”
“Yeah, I saw it too, Bro.”
Lee Chun-bae’s face turned beet red as he bellowed.
“You morons! What kind of bullshit is that? That bastard already came out here ages ago!”
“Huh? W-what……?”
“You got played. He fooled you completely!”
* * *
Ten minutes before those two emerged from the Gate, I’d already exited—through the Earth-side Gate, not the otherworld one.
“Who goes there!”
I ran straight into the sentries, but they were just 1★ Hunters at best.
“Me? The Agent of Darkness.”
I muttered playfully and knocked out the two sentries in a flash. Then I slipped into a nearby building.
I’d just gone Stealth to hide my presence when the guild members started gathering. The Guild Master, Lee Chun-bae, was among them.
“Damn it! We prepped so much, and the Gate closes again! What the hell were those idiots inside doing?”
He woke the sentries and started grilling them. I watched from my hiding spot in the nearby building.
“Whew. That was close. Almost ran into the Guild Master.”
Soon, the two ambushers stumbled out of the Gate. And then Lee Chun-bae started beating the crap out of them.
“You fucking retards! What? A guy who roams the otherworld freely? You expect me to buy that crap?”
They protested their innocence, but Lee Chun-bae wasn’t listening. Just as the rumors said—total brute.
‘Right on plan!’
That was exactly why I’d risked coming out the Earth-side Gate.
To undermine the credibility of their testimony and hide the fact that I’d crossed over from the otherworld.
To that end, I deliberately hadn’t used Illusion on the sentries outside. They needed to see me.
“Damn it! Search every inch around here! He couldn’t have gone far!”
Lee Chun-bae only stopped beating them once something probably broke, then ordered the guild to scour the area.
They fanned out from the Gate, combing the surroundings. They’d reach my hiding spot soon.
“Of course, I’ll be gone by then.”
*Rumble—!*
The Gate slammed shut with a deafening boom. The dimensional interference vanished, letting me use the Golden Key.
‘Go ahead—search your hearts out.’
I opened a portal and warped straight back to the Demon King’s Castle.
“Phew. Barely made it.”
Relief washed over me, my legs turning to jelly. As I slumped to the floor with a sigh, Moemoe-chan popped up, shrugging smugly.
“See? What would you have done without me, Master?”
Cocky as ever, but I had to give her credit today.
If she hadn’t warned me during that first ambush, I’d have an arrow through my skull by now.
“Yeah, yeah. Thanks a ton.”
“No problem.”
*Munch munch.*
Out of habit, I chewed some Madecassia grass and pressed it to my half-missing earlobe.
The pain made me wince, but I was just glad it wasn’t worse.
“Heh. Guess I’m getting tougher. Calling this ‘lucky.’ Anyway, this’ll need fixing eventually.”
I sighed at my shredded Kage Gatsu mask. It was a labor of love, so it stung even more.
“Might as well get a new helmet while I’m at it.”
I’d slain plenty of orcs, so I had lots of hides. Especially the orc warrior’s that took four hits to the crown of its head—great condition, top-tier defense.
I carefully skinned it, stowed it in my Inventory, and flopped onto the floor. I’d lost a fair bit of blood; everything was spinning a little.
“But an ambush…… Did they know I was coming?”
No incidents for two months while the investigators were around, so I figured All-Kill Guild would’ve let their guard down.
‘Turns out I was the careless one.’
Leveled up to 2★, stats rising smoothly—I got complacent. Assumed this would go off without a hitch.
Arrogance pure and simple.
No wonder I got burned.
‘To raid All-Kill Guild’s dungeons, I need to get way stronger.’
Breaking through to 3★ was a stretch, but I could at least hit the 2★ level cap.
With the extra stat points I get compared to others, that’d put me on par with 3★ stats.
‘For grinding, time for 2★ monsters. Barely getting any EXP from 1★ anymore.’
Orcs it was, then. Familiar foes, and I knew their patterns cold.
* * *
“So…… I’m gonna grind orcs for a while. Might go pretty far, so you guys hold down the fort at the Demon King’s Castle. Got it?”
“R, roger!”
Gobling saluted awkwardly—he’d picked it up from Moemoe-chan. Hard to trust, but it’d be fine.
Honestly, our current forces could handle every goblin in this forest if they all rushed us.
“Let’s go, Moemoe-chan. Cool and Yan, you too.”
I checked the minimap Cool and Yan made and headed south, south.
Passed a Hunter Academy Gate along the way but ignored it. No Gates for me for a bit.
‘Feels like I’m picking riskier fights every time. Survival on easy mode was the original plan.’
Guess I’d changed too. Charging into danger headfirst?
But this was the right path. Gotta get strong to survive—and stop the bad guys.
*Rustle.*
How long had I walked? The forest finally gave way to vast grasslands.
Blue sky, endless plains.
The open view drew an admiring whistle. Never been, but this had to be like the Mongolian steppes.
The grassland stretched to the horizon, unbroken.
Sparse trees here and there, but nothing to block sightlines. Made spotting monsters easy.
‘That an orc village?’
The one near the forest was fenced with wooden palisades. Impressively crafty for orcs—even spear walls of wood dotted around.
Wondered why, but figured it out soon enough.
*Thud thud thud—*
A roar from somewhere, and the ground shook.
Earthquake? Then dust clouds rose from the horizon. Something charging at high speed.
‘Horses? No—people riding them. Cavalry?’
Up close, their forms sharpened.
Human upper bodies, horse lower—centaurs.
About 3 meters tall. Brown-skinned, lower bodies sturdy as stallions, torsos ripped like pro wrestlers.
Dozens charged in a herd, long spears raised.
“Kiyoooo—!”
Like ancient nomadic warriors, howling something unintelligible.
“Kuooh!”
The orcs noticed and charged out with massive battle axes.
‘Wait, they built palisades—why go outside?’
Made no sense, but the orc herd clashed head-on with the centaurs.
*Boom!* The orcs flew skyward.
Those tough orc bodies tore like paper—pure terror.
Sure, plenty of centaurs died or got hurt too, but way fewer than the orcs.
“Grraaah.”
A spear impaled the heart of the last surviving orc.
“Kiyoooo!!”
The surviving centaurs raised their spears in victory cries. Black smoke poured from the orc corpses, absorbed into the centaurs.
The lead centaur got the most, and soon its body glowed white.
Moments later, the leader’s appearance shifted. Brown skin turned snow-white like a pale horse, twin horns sprouting tall from its head.
“Centaurs Vanguard Captain,” Moemoe-chan identified it.
A 2.5★ variant monster, Centaurs Vanguard Captain. It glanced our way.
I dove into cover and Stealthed. Its sharp eyes swept the forest. Lucky—no detection.
“Phew. Close call.”
“Be careful. Centaurs have insane mobility. If they spot you, no escaping.”
I stayed Stealthed in the forest, observing.
Monsters who massacred orcs. No stepping onto the plain till I knew their patterns.
“Huh? They’re not hitting the village? Why?”
“Centaurs skip fortified spots like that. They want battles on their terms.”
“Open plains, charges?”
“Yes. And they leave the young alive on purpose. Keeps orcs breeding for endless hunting.”
That’s when it hit me. On this plain, orcs were no match for centaurs. And neither was I.
“Let’s head back.”
No ideas on beating centaurs came to mind.
‘Forest lets me hide, but the plain? Dead meat.’
Escaping them? Tough— they outsped me.
“No good. Find another spot.”
Back at the Demon King’s Castle, I headed north this time.
A vast lizardmen swamp lay there—2★ monsters.
Plus, somewhere around here was the Gate linking to All-Kill Guild’s 2★ Gate.
‘Might as well scout their Gate location while I’m at it.’