Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Brand (1)
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“Kyoot! Die, human!”
Clang!
What the mine kobold had hurled was a pickaxe. But Rokan couldn’t afford to let his guard down. This was precisely their combo skill.
“Dash.”
He dodged the thrown attack, infused with powerful energy from their skill combo, without underestimating it as it flew through the narrow mine passages. He could have blocked it with Force, but with more than one or two enemies to face, there was no reason to take the damage.
“Fatal Blow!”
What he activated was Fatal Blow. In an instant, Rokan’s body vanished, reappearing right in front of the kobold.
Along with a strike carrying the force of a mountain!
[Critical!]
The kobold’s head—also called dog-headed human—split open along with its helmet. It was more like a hard hat than a proper helmet, but its defense was rare even in Trinsic. Still, it couldn’t withstand Rokan’s attack power.
“Excellent!”
The helmet and skull shattered together, and a heavy sensation transmitted through his fingertips. It was incomparable to the flimsy feel of toppling monsters like bundles of straw.
Instead of trembling with thrill, Rokan launched himself toward another mine kobold drawing its weapon against him.
After the pickaxe-throwing combo skill, they would each draw their weapons and begin standard combat.
“That’s right, resist with all your might!”
But without their combo skill, they were no match for Rokan. Despite the 10-level difference, Rokan’s combat prowess already surpassed theirs. And since he knew their fighting style inside out, it wasn’t an exchange of blows—it was just one-sided pummeling.
“Keheong!”
The mine kobolds had balanced strength and agility, but that was their problem. Neither stat overwhelmingly favored them, so they had to clash weapons with Rokan—and every time, they took the loss.
Their weapons would bounce off on impact, and blocking would buckle their knees. How could they fight properly like that? One bared its sharp fangs for a bite, but Rokan’s response was ruthless.
“Guard!”
Thwack! Thud thud thud!
The skill he used was Guard, which boosted defense, but his action was pure offense. He swung his arm as if inviting the bite, smashing the kobold’s mouth. Naturally, the fangs didn’t sink in—only broken teeth scattered into the air from the overwhelming strength.
“Heh heh heh! Now hand over the loot nicely!”
[You acquired Blue-glowing Mineral.]
And so, the quest items piled up steadily.
Mine kobolds gained advantages in mine terrain during combat, making them tough for users who had just arrived at Crossroads. But Rokan was already a monster beyond his level.
Even though mine kobolds respawned fairly quickly, he hunted faster and pressed deeper.
Of course, even Rokan couldn’t hunt infinitely. The mine kobolds’ combo skill was relatively easy to dodge, but to prevent others from swarming during fights, he hunted at full speed—draining his mana faster than his health.
So he hid in gaps where their patrol routes didn’t overlap, recovered mana, then moved again, delving further in.
‘It’s about time for it to show up…….’
That’s when it happened.
Inside, the boss monster was in the midst of berating the mine kobolds.
[Mining Supervisor Kimoti][Lv 115]
“Kurook! Hurry up—we need to mine as much as possible before those muscle pigs arrive!”
No need to ask who the muscle pigs were. Obviously the dwarves. This mine had been theirs from the start.
‘That’s the material for making mana ingots, I think.’
Rokan watched piles of minerals essential for high-grade item crafting due to their high mana conductivity, then devised a plan.
Even for Rokan, charging headlong into a place with over ten mine kobolds plus a boss monster was reckless.
So what to do?
‘Lure them out.’
Simple. Lure out as many as possible.
‘Stealth.’
Rokan activated Stealth to conceal himself and approached them. Even with Stealth, the level gap meant he’d be spotted quickly, but he had the experience and distance sense to gauge it.
Maintaining a safe distance, he grabbed “it.” A cart piled high with the blue-glowing minerals they had mined.
“Uraaaah!”
Strike, Charge, Dash.
Mobilizing every skill, Rokan shoved the cart and bolted.
The movement was so sudden and swift that even the mine kobolds couldn’t react properly.
“Guok ja! Catch it! We can’t let it escape!”
They were already short on time—if they lost that too, achieving their goal would be nearly impossible. Realizing this, the named monster bellowed, and the mine kobolds tossed their pickaxes aside, chasing after Rokan en masse.
‘Perfect.’
Even while sprinting at full speed, Rokan glanced back with a smug smile. Most mine kobolds were pursuing, but the Mining Supervisor just stared in dismay. It couldn’t chase without leaving the mine undefended.
“This should do it. Escape, Stealth, Dash.”
Chased by the mine kobolds, Rokan deemed the distance sufficient, then leaped off the cart. He shoved it toward the entrance along the rails and doubled back via Stealth the way he came.
The kobolds, fixated solely on the cart, passed right by the hidden Rokan. Once he was sure he’d shaken them all, he boldly dropped Stealth and ran.
“No time to waste—let’s finish this quick! Krraaaaaah!”
The roar echoing through the cave halted their nerve cells with the mana-infused energy. Dazed and unable to act, they just stared at Rokan’s axe hurtling toward them.
“Kik! Frenzied Charge!”
Snapping to, it fled on all fours, escaping the attack range.
“Tch!”
Rokan’s swing hit empty air, but it wasn’t a total loss. He’d forced one combo skill into cooldown.
And the attack chance wasn’t over. He immediately pursued and tried again.
“Charge of Destruction!”
If it was a mad dog, Rokan was an enraged bull, barreling forward with shoulder first, intent on crushing everything in his path.
“Whip of Submission!”
As the gap closed rapidly, it abandoned flight. Instead, it swiftly switched to offense, uncoiling the whip from its waist and lashing out.
A whip strike to inflict excruciating pain and force submission.
But it picked the wrong opponent. Bad skill matchup.
Charge of Destruction massively boosted not just destructive power but defense too. Enduring the stinging barrage effortlessly, Rokan slammed into the kobold’s chest.
Its armor was decent; instead of flattening like a squashed frog, it rolled to mitigate.
“Kuiik!”
“Oh ho, holding up pretty well.”
But that was it. The kobold’s unpredictable whip attacks were no match for Rokan. Before the whip could slither like a snake, his battle axe reached it.
“Force, Strike!”
People often say to counter hardness with softness or variability—but only when levels are matched. Against overwhelming power, all tricks were futile.
Rokan’s battle axe, infused with Force, brutally tore into Mining Supervisor Kimoti’s small body.
“A good start.”
A great start all around. The plan worked perfectly, and he’d felled the named monster in one go.
A strategy that usually required a party and multiple failures—but Rokan pulled it off solo, effortlessly.
With so much ahead to tackle alone, this felt all the more welcome.
“They’ll be back soon.”
Confirming his combos packed the punch he expected and his skills held up even in a third-tier city, Rokan caught his breath lightly.
Spotting the mine kobolds returning, he gripped his battle axe tighter.
“Time to test the limits. Berserk!”
This time, to push himself to the brink, he leaped right into the heart of the enemy lair.
* * *
“Crazy.”
Even Rokan had expected a tough fight this time. The mine kobolds’ combo skill wasn’t impressive, but they were level 110 monsters with terrain advantages.
But the Fatal Blow and Berserk combo was devastating. No—this was insane.
“Didn’t expect it to go this far…….”
Non-humanoids had a base 30% critical chance on basic attacks, rising to 40% for consecutive kills. Add Fatal Blow, and it hit 90% crit rate with nearly 8x damage.
Why would enemies already outmatched without buffs stand a chance against Rokan with immortality, infinite mana, and 8x attack power?
Even the boss’s combo skill was ignored—Charge of Destruction turned grazed foes into jerky, and Fatal Blow cleaved them in two.
“Cancel!”
[Health is insufficient. If you do not recover to 9% of max health within 10 seconds, you may die.]
After slaughtering them all, Rokan canceled Berserk and pulled out an intermediate health potion. He drank some and applied the rest to his wounds.
He’d swept them with overwhelming offense, but tanking the Mining Supervisor’s combo head-on had dealt serious damage, and the level 100+ kobolds hadn’t just stood there dying.
“Somewhere around here…….”
Checking his inventory, he’d acquired all fifty blue-glowing minerals for the quest. He could use a return scroll now and claim rewards including the boss kill—but he didn’t.
Instead, he risked Stealth to venture deeper.
‘Bingo.’
There they were—the original guardians of the mine.
Dwarves, emaciated from starvation, locked in iron cages.
Clank!
Rokan rushed over and unlocked the cage door. The “Unknown Key” from Kimoti transformed into “Temporary Jail Key” and fit perfectly.
“A human come to save us……”
“Where are our brothers?!”
“Ah, thanks anyway!”
Freed from the cages, the dwarves briefly showed emotion, then grabbed their tools and bolted toward the entrance.
Left alone, they’d ghost back to Crossroads on their own.
‘Good thing it’s not an escort quest.’
An escort back out would’ve been a headache, but since they’d vanish like NPCs, he ignored it.
Then Rokan used a return scroll to head back to Crossroads.
* * *
‘This has to be 100% completion, right?’
The minerals weren’t clumsily mined by him—they were top-quality from the kobolds. He’d wiped out the occupiers and rescued the imprisoned dwarves. They’d have to praise him, not just approve.
The mine would inevitably be retaken due to lacking defenders, but Rokan was confident. Recalling the rewards from them, he grinned broadly.
Dwarves—all master smiths of advanced rank or higher, excluding players. What could he gain from them?