Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: The New Member's Test
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The death of Andras, the master of Sauerland Mountain, had less of an impact on the monsters residing there than one might have thought.
Considering Andras had been absent from Sauerland Mountain for nearly two hundred years, it was, in a way, to be expected.
Kang-seok led the group to a stone grotto located near the docks. This artificially made grotto was connected to the ruins of an ancient city nestled within the mountain.
“The ruins of the ancient city are home to various kinds of monsters. The most common ones these days are mainly Rat Scavengers and Goblins, but you never know when other monsters might appear, so be careful.”
Just before they entered the grotto, Kang-seok warned Go Min-gu. Go Min-gu grinned and nodded.
“Understood. Don’t you worry.”
Though he answered breezily, Go Min-gu was inwardly clicking his tongue.
The Savior of Aachen.
The man was so far from what he had first imagined.
A Player's strength was often unrelated to their appearance.
Go Min-gu, who had been summoned to this world four months ago at the start of the Great Summoning, was a veteran Player and was, of course, well aware of this fact.
But still, there was a certain impression given by one's looks and atmosphere.
Kang-seok didn't seem to exude the ‘aura of the strong’ that Six-star adventurers naturally possessed.
He couldn't fathom how such a frail body—by the standards of Go Min-gu, a mountain of muscle himself—could have taken down a monster tens of meters tall.
Perhaps the strength or size of the creature called Andras had been exaggerated?
‘Moreover…’
He couldn't quite trust the guild members Hunt had praised so highly, either. This current party was a prime example.
Three of the six members were women.
Women weren't good at games.
Go Min-gu, who had run countless raids in World of Antaria, was certain of it. So how would they fare in real combat, which was nothing like a game?
‘A woman as a tank.’
The party's tank was the wall that blocked the enemy's attacks, a shield that steadfastly protected their allies.
The woman with a model's physique walking in front of him could withstand the attack of a giant monster?
He couldn't help but shake his head. The playful woman named Choi Yu-ra was just as untrustworthy, and as for the female ninja who had been stealing nervous glances at him, he wondered if she could even fight at all.
The only one who seemed reliable was Kim Kang-san. Full plate mail, a sword, and a shield. The very picture of a typical heavy-armored warrior, he looked incredibly dependable.
‘This is a test. But it’s not one-sided.’
Go Min-gu also planned to test Kang-seok's party. He needed to see if Adamas was a guild worth joining.
Go Min-gu had a goal.
To hell with the World Quest and all that; first, he had to reach the max level as quickly as possible. Then, he would learn ‘Shapeshifting,’ a skill only available to max-level Shamans, and return to his ‘human’ form.
To do that, he needed to join a powerful guild, not some ragtag group of amateurs.
Over ten Player guilds had been formed in the last month alone, so he didn't need to fixate on Adamas.
Snorting, Go Min-gu quickened his pace. Watching his back, Kang-seok offered a wry, knowing smile.
Passing through the narrow grotto, they emerged into a fairly spacious area. It was a large chamber with a high ceiling, and paths branched out in all directions.
“Today, we're going to check the eastern chamber. Kang-san, you take the vanguard. Yu-jin, you protect Yu-ra and Han-yeong.”
As Kang-seok spoke quickly, the party immediately changed formation. Kim Kang-san stood at the very front, with Seong Yu-jin, Choi Yu-ra, and Park Han-yeong behind him. Kang-seok and Go Min-gu were in the rearmost position.
From a conventional standpoint, it was a fairly standard arrangement, but Go Min-gu found it rather dissatisfying.
It felt like the men were positioned to protect the three women from both front and back.
Shaking his head once more, Go Min-gu let out an involuntary sigh.
“Nervous?”
Choi Yu-ra, who was walking ahead, spun around and asked. It seemed she had misunderstood his sigh. Go Min-gu gave an awkward smile and replied.
“Real combat is always nerve-wracking.”
“Just do what you always do. There aren't any particularly strong monsters around here.”
Finishing her sentence with a wink, Choi Yu-ra turned back around. Go Min-gu clicked his tongue inwardly and followed.
How long had they been walking? It was when they entered the fifth chamber.
Kim Kang-san, leading the way, gave a hand signal to halt. The party almost simultaneously assumed combat stances and surveyed their surroundings.
The chamber was filled with the rubble of collapsed pillars and miscellaneous objects, providing plenty of cover. Being underground, the darkness was thick, too much for torches alone to dispel.
Go Min-gu also gripped the totem slung over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed as he scanned the area.
As a member of the Camaronian beast-kin race, a people with the heads of canines, his sense of smell was exceptionally keen. A few sniffs were enough to identify the monsters' locations by scent alone.
“Over there!”
Go Min-gu shouted sharply, pointing to a pile of debris on the left, and slammed his totem into the ground.
In the game, a healer's main role was managing the party's health. If their health—their HP—wasn't maintained above a certain level, a single area-of-effect attack from a boss could wipe out the entire party.
But that was just in a game.
Players in this world didn't have HP gauges.
It was impossible to check an ally's HP status, and enemy attacks didn't just deplete a number as they did in the game. Getting hit by a sword didn't just reduce HP; it caused a real wound.
In this world, a single blow could be fatal.
Therefore, he had to support the party in a different way than he had in the game.
A green light emanated from the totem Go Min-gu had planted, and the form of a giant eagle materialized above it.
It was a shamanic spell that simultaneously enhanced the concentration and agility of allies within a certain range.
Unlike typical buff magic, spells using totems only affected the area around the totem itself. That was why he had cast a spell for the ranged dealers who supported the party from the rear, not the frontline.
To help them shoot better, and to help them better evade any potential enemy attacks.
The energy radiating from the totem invigorated the party, enhancing their combat prowess. As Kim Kang-san and Seong Yu-jin moved forward, Rat Scavengers charged from the direction Go Min-gu had pointed, letting out bizarre shrieks.
The moment the first Rat Scavenger clashed with Kim Kang-san, Go Min-gu cast his second spell. He threw a powder from his pouch into the air and chanted, causing numerous orbs of light to appear near the chamber's ceiling, dispelling the darkness.
With the Rat Scavengers hiding in the shadows now clearly visible, Choi Yu-ra unleashed a rapid volley of arrows, providing cover for Kim Kang-san and Seong Yu-jin. Park Han-yeong used her stealth skill and vanished from sight.
Despite having cast two spells in succession, Go Min-gu had no intention of stopping there.
Healers and buffers were the ones who orchestrated the battle from the rear.
In American football terms, they were like the quarterback, the commander on the field. As such, Go Min-gu didn't forget to buff Kim Kang-san and Seong Yu-jin, who were fighting on the front line.
Totem-based buffs had pros and cons, like two sides of the same coin.
Being stationary, they couldn't affect allies who moved out of range, but because they were stationary, they granted the shaman freedom after being placed.
Instead of chanting a new spell, Go Min-gu began to dance a jig. Not only that, he even started to sing.
This was the effect of his new skill tree—the Bard—which he had started developing as soon as he realized that ‘healing’ had less tactical utility here than in the game.
Shamanism, especially, had deep ties to dance and song. The Shaman in World of Antaria was based on ancient shamans, so naturally, there were skills related to dance and song.
Go Min-gu sang the Song of War, a tune that simultaneously boosted the strength and stamina of his allies while dulling their sense of pain.
The effect was truly tremendous. But despite its outstanding efficacy, Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra wore expressions of agony.
Go Min-gu's singing was truly reminiscent of a pig being slaughtered. Whether the act of singing itself was what mattered or if just hitting the notes roughly was enough, the painful-to-hear song still managed to fill the party with vigor.
‘I hate that I get stronger from listening to this!’
Seong Yu-jin was caught in a fierce internal conflict, but she couldn't bring herself to voice her true feelings. Kim Kang-san gritted his teeth and tried to focus on the battle, while Choi Yu-ra scowled deeply as she pulled the trigger of her crossbow.
The Rat Scavengers had been no match for the party even during the fight in Gawain's temple. A mere twenty of them were no longer a significant threat.
Kim Kang-san and Seong Yu-jin did their best to prevent the Rat Scavengers from getting past them to the allies in the rear. Any that did manage to break through the front line were invariably pierced by Choi Yu-ra's bolts and sent to their graves. Every time Park Han-yeong appeared and disappeared, another Rat Scavenger lost its life. It was a completely one-sided battle.
‘They’re better than I thought.’
Just as Go Min-gu, having finished his dance, slightly revised his assessment of Seong Yu-jin, Choi Yu-ra, and Park Han-yeong, something happened.
Kang-seok, who had been quiet until now, suddenly shouted.
“Left!”
He instinctively turned his head to see something massive bearing down on him. It was too fast to even think about dodging. No, it would be more accurate to say he was frozen in shock.
A giant, gray-skinned Mountain Ogre.
The already huge Mountain Ogre charging at such a tremendous speed was like a runaway dump truck.
*WHOOOOSH!*
The sound of its club cutting through the air was terrifying. Go Min-gu flinched and squeezed his eyes shut.
A deafening crash followed.
*CLANG!*
It was short. And it was the sound of metal. Go Min-gu, who had cowered, cautiously peeked through his eyelids. And then he gasped in astonishment.
He saw the back of Seong Yu-jin, clad in black armor with a red coat fluttering behind her. The shield she held had blocked the club swung by the ogre, which was more than twice her size.
David and Goliath. No, the size difference was even greater, yet Seong Yu-jin hadn't been pushed back an inch. She had compensated for the drastic weight difference with various tanking skills.
It was a feat that couldn't be accomplished just by knowing the skills. And even as Go Min-gu was gaping in shock, the other party members hadn't stopped moving.
Tossing aside her crossbow, Choi Yu-ra instantly drew a massive bow and pulled the string taut. An arrow wreathed in red light pierced the Mountain Ogre's eye.
“Gaaack!”
The Mountain Ogre writhed in pain. Seizing the opening, Seong Yu-jin slashed at its leg. Park Han-yeong suddenly appeared behind the ogre's neck and embedded several shurikens with talismans attached into its flesh.
A series of explosions erupted as the talismans detonated. With its head engulfed in flames, the Mountain Ogre collapsed, letting out a terrible scream that was painful just to witness.
Go Min-gu swallowed hard. He was about to let out a sigh of relief, but everyone except him was already looking in another direction.
“Kang-seok!”
Seong Yu-jin shouted. Her cry finally drew Go Min-gu's attention to Kang-seok, and he was just as shocked as when he'd seen Seong Yu-jin block the ogre's attack.
Kang-seok was weaving through a pack of over twenty Rat Scavengers all by himself.
It was like a flash of lightning.
He wasn't using skills. Stabbing, slashing, kicking—they were all ordinary attacks. Yet it was like flowing water. Not even a well-choreographed action movie could be so one-sided and overwhelming.
‘He's strong.’
Rat Scavengers were by no means strong monsters. Go Min-gu himself was confident he could handle about ten of them if he applied buffs and swung his totem like a madman.
Taking down twenty Rat Scavengers alone.
Many Players could do that. But very few could do it like Kang-seok was doing now.
The same sense of pressure he had felt when he first encountered a Six-star adventurer.
Kang-seok had it now. It was a world apart from the gentle image he had projected before the battle.
Go Min-gu quickly shook his head. Instead of standing there dazed, he forced himself to focus and once again slammed his totem into the ground.
A new buff. Stamina recovery.
Combat was an activity that consumed an enormous amount of stamina in a short time. What was needed now was a buff to relieve fatigue and restore stamina itself.
Go Min-gu began to sing the Song of War again. But as if on cue, Park Han-yeong suddenly appeared before him. Crouching low, she pressed her ear to the ground and then shouted loudly.
“Ahead! Something big is coming!”
Kang-seok and Kim Kang-san, who had been finishing off the Rat Scavengers, simultaneously turned to face the front. The ground began to tremble loudly, and the remaining Rat Scavengers shrieked and scattered in all directions.
“KRRRUUUUUUUNG!”
A spine-chilling roar shook the stone chamber. A massive, gray, lizard-like monster with glowing yellow eyes charged toward the party.
‘An Earth Drake!’
An offshoot of the common drake that flies, this subspecies lived only on land.
But its power was on another level. Though its tail made up more than half its length, its body alone was nearly ten meters long. It was a true behemoth.
Go Min-gu was even more shocked than when he'd faced the Mountain Ogre. He could barely breathe.
He had fought an Earth Drake once before.
It was the worst battle of his life, one where he had lost all the comrades who had cleared the tutorial with him.
Luckily, a Six-star adventurer had been passing by, and Go Min-gu alone had barely managed to survive.
That was over three months ago—no, it had only been three months. Fear gripped his mind. He could hardly stand, let alone sing and dance.
Seong Yu-jin rushed past him.
Go Min-gu couldn't properly hear what she was shouting. All he saw was a flash of white light a few times, and then the Earth Drake's attention was completely fixed on her.
The Earth Drake attacked Seong Yu-jin with a tail swipe, using its entire massive body. She was pushed back a great distance, but once again, she blocked the attack. She continued to emit a white light, drawing the Earth Drake's attention.
Kim Kang-san charged at the Earth Drake, easing Seong Yu-jin's burden. Choi Yu-ra fired arrow after arrow, but the Earth Drake's scales and hide were so thick that more than half of them bounced off.
But still, Choi Yu-ra didn't stop shooting. Park Han-yeong circled the Earth Drake, throwing shurikens.
[Quest: Defeat the Earth Drake.]
Letters of light appeared. Go Min-gu exhaled with all his might. He pounded his chest once with his fist, then slammed his totem into the ground again and yelled.
“Hear! My song!”
He sang the Song of Courage to overcome his fear, a tune with the effect of boosting his allies' morale.
Having finally regained his senses, Go Min-gu thought. Seong Yu-jin and Kim Kang-san were effectively drawing its aggro. But they lacked offensive power. Park Han-yeong and Choi Yu-ra alone couldn't deal a decisive blow.
‘Choi Yu-ra's arrows have a magical effect.’
Recalling the arrows glowing with red light, Go Min-gu quickly switched the totem's effect to enhance his allies' magic power. Not stopping there, he chanted a spell to enhance weapon attack power.
His plan was to boost the main damage dealer, Choi Yu-ra, rather than the whole party, to take down the Earth Drake. But just as he was about to cast the spell on her, something happened.
An immense presence from his right made him instinctively turn his head. He saw Kang-seok, who was emitting an aura like black flames from his entire body.
“Muzika's Claw!”
Go Min-gu cast the spell intended for Choi Yu-ra on Kang-seok instead. At the same moment, Kang-seok kicked off the ground. The Earth Drake, startled by his presence, breathed fire, but it was useless. Seong Yu-jin's shield miraculously blocked the flames.
It felt as if Seong Yu-jin herself had become a magical shield protecting Kang-seok. Kang-seok broke away from her side. Kim Kang-san, Park Han-yeong, and Choi Yu-ra attacked the Earth Drake from all sides to divert its attention, while Kang-seok kicked off the air and leaped high.
He flew.
That's what it felt like to Go Min-gu. Kang-seok, having soared into the air, kicked again, and a blue force field formed right under his boots. He kicked off it once more to increase his speed even further, crossing the air to position himself above the Earth Drake's head.
The Earth Drake tilted its head up. Go Min-gu quickly chanted a spell to increase fire resistance, and Kang-seok thrust his sword toward the Earth Drake's open mouth.
Knight of Knights.
A massive, jet-black sword pierced through the Earth Drake's flames. It nullified the attack itself and plunged deep into the creature's mouth.
A succession of light sigils appeared.
With its mouth shattered, the Earth Drake collapsed with a single shriek. It lay limp, no longer moving.
[Quest Cleared]
[Quest: Defeat the Earth Drake.]
Seeing the letters of light, Go Min-gu let out the breath he had been holding and collapsed to his knees. The sight of Kang-seok landing on the Earth Drake's corpse seemed unreal.
The Earth Drake.
A monster that was a nightmare for Go Min-gu.
And they had defeated it so easily.
“Are you okay?”
Choi Yu-ra asked, lowering her greatbow with a tilt of her head. Go Min-gu, lacking the energy to reply, just nodded a few times and looked forward again. Kang-seok, now standing shoulder to shoulder with Seong Yu-jin, was approaching him.
Go Min-gu let out an incredulous laugh. He broke out in a cold sweat, swallowed dryly, and asked Kang-seok a question he never thought he would have uttered when he first entered the grotto.
“So, did I pass?”
The guild Adamas was strong.
Not just strong, but incredibly so. Each guild member surpassed the skills of any Player he had ever seen.
And among them, Choi Kang-seok.
He had heard a rumor that there was an insanely strong Player in the northern lands. Some even called him the strongest Player of all. But Go Min-gu thought that the Kang-seok before him now would not lose to him.
Go Min-gu's question seemed to take him by surprise, as Kang-seok looked a bit flustered. And that expression made Go Min-gu even more anxious.
Kang-seok didn't answer right away. He exchanged glances with Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra. After also exchanging a look with Kim Kang-san, who was approaching with Park Han-yeong, he finally looked back at Go Min-gu.
‘Please.’
Go Min-gu's mindset had completely changed from when he had first entered the chamber. Kang-seok smiled and extended his hand.
“You passed.”
Go Min-gu's buffs were more than adequate. His choice of buffs to match the situation was not bad, and his ability to quickly regain his composure in the midst of chaos was particularly impressive. He would surely play a big role in the upcoming raid on Raum's Tower.
At Kang-seok's declaration, Go Min-gu shot up to his feet. He let out a shout of joy and began to dance a jig.
And about an hour later.
After passing through a secret passage and seeing Adamas's secret guild hideout, Go Min-gu danced a jig once again.
An airship and powerful guild members. On top of that, a secret hideout nestled in the mountains.
There were nearly twenty Player guilds in existence. But Go Min-gu dared to declare it.
Adamas was, without a doubt, the best and strongest guild in existence.
Go Min-gu wasn't the only one who was happy. Kang-seok and Seong Yu-jin were also pleased that the guild's strength had been significantly boosted by his joining. Choi Yu-ra and Park Han-yeong were more excited about acquiring an airship than about the new member, and Kim Kang-san was thrilled that Hunt, who was around his age, had joined the guild.
Kang-seok threw a welcoming party to celebrate Hunt and Go Min-gu joining the guild. Everyone laughed, talked, and enjoyed the food and drinks to their hearts' content.
Everyone had a happy day, except for one person—Yang Jun-gyu, who kept sniffling while sending resentful glances at Choi Yu-ra and occasionally staring at Go Min-gu with a dazed look on his face.
22 days remaining until the first World Quest.
The guild Adamas had completed its raid party for the assault on Raum's Tower.