Wyvern Onslaught and the Cave of Traps
The wyverns plummeted downward all at once.
Chirrr!
Startled by the sudden assault, Mu-hyuk resummoned his skeletons. They instantly positioned themselves behind the Armor Knights, nocking arrows to their bowstrings.
By then, the wyverns that had reached the ground began attacking the skeletons with their beaks and talons.
A few latched onto an Armor Knight's shoulder and soared high into the air before releasing their grip.
Boom!
Crashing down from dozens of meters up, the skeleton lost most of its HP. Still, it succeeded in tearing the wings off two wyverns.
Kiririk!
The skeletons swarmed the two grounded wyverns that could no longer fly.
A barrage of skills and attacks rained down.
Experience gained ×2
That seemed to give the remaining wyverns pause—they pulled back out of attack range.
"Whoa, that scared me."
Sung Min-woo finally emerged from behind the spirit.
"What the hell are those things?"
"Who knows. Looks like they're gathering."
As he spoke, another wyvern appeared.
Nine in total.
Mu-hyuk turned to eye the path ahead.
No place to hide.
And it was ridiculously wide open.
They had to find a valley in a place like this.
"Gonna have to stay on edge for a while."
"Ugh, yeah."
He glanced back briefly before pressing forward.
Now ten.
Then eleven.
The wyverns were inching lower bit by bit. But Mu-hyuk and Sung Min-woo weren't the types to fall for the same trick twice.
"Not yet."
Even as they descended within striking distance, he kept his gaze fixed ahead, feigning ignorance.
At that moment, the wyverns accelerated and dove in.
He hadn't been unprepared. He'd been subtly repositioning his summons.
Just before the wyverns could snatch the skeletons, he issued a single command.
Burtan. Ki Wave.
Burtan, perfectly positioned, rattled its jaw.
Kiaaaaaak!
Ki Wave
The Ki Wave swept over the wyverns.
Krr, krrruk?
Off-balance, the wyverns couldn't take flight and tumbled to the ground, skidding with harsh scrapes.
Skeleton Mage magic attacks.
Armor Archer power shots.
Only then did he order a full assault.
Pa-bat.
Mu-hyuk kicked off the ground hard, closing in on the wyverns.
Activating Wind Step made him feel like a streak of wind.
In an instant, he mounted the back of the largest wyvern in the center and swung his sword.
Storm. Cross Slash.
Storm. Cross Slash
A powerful explosion erupted.
Kirrr!
The wyvern cried out in agony.
-670 HP
-1,246 Additional Damage
He plunged his sword straight down.
Puk.
Its hide was tough; the blade didn't sink deep.
Chirrr!
Still, it had taken a solid hit—the wyvern scrambled up in panic. But it hadn't fully shaken off the Ki Wave's effects and staggered for a while.
In that time, he stabbed the same spot repeatedly.
Suddenly, the beast flapped its wings violently and shot into the sky. Mu-hyuk crouched low to keep his balance and stabbed down once more.
Striking the same area repeatedly allowed the sword to pierce deep into the flesh this time.
To stay mounted, he gripped the hilt tightly with both hands.
Once he'd adjusted a bit, he released one hand, drew the dagger from his belt, and slashed at the wyvern's back with Storm.
-371 HP
-631 Additional Damage
-370 HP
-631 Additional Damage
Ten times. Twenty.
Storm, Storm.
When cooldowns reset, he mixed in skills.
Cross Slash.
After repeating this for a while, the wyvern finally gave out and plummeted.
Mu-hyuk timed his jump perfectly and rolled on landing. His HP had taken a hit, but nothing serious.
He finished off the twitching beast and surveyed the battlefield.
Most wyverns were dead. The survivors unleashed desperate skills, but the damage was negligible.
Mu-hyuk charged in, ending it swiftly.
"Ki Wave makes it way easier."
"Sure does."
He approached a wyvern corpse that hadn't despawned yet and began Corpse Dissection.
Corpse Dissection
Dissection in progress...
Corpse Dissection complete.
The bone's traits were Knowledge and Wisdom.
Perfect for an immediate swap.
He pulled a bone from Armor Mage 1.
Armor Mage 1's Wisdom (0.14) decreases.
He slotted the Black Wyvern bone in its place.
Armor Mage 1's Knowledge (0.26) increases.
Looking to Sung Min-woo, he said,
"Let's move."
No time for a real break, so they pressed on.
*
Finding the valley wasn't hard.
"Faster than I thought."
"Phew, thank god."
They strolled slowly along the valley.
"Cave at the rear, right?"
"Yeah."
"Gotta check as we go, then."
"Pretty much."
After walking in silence for a bit, Mu-hyuk's gaze locked onto one spot.
The path dropped sharply, and the valley changed dramatically—a small waterfall formed.
Mu-hyuk and Sung Min-woo hurried down the steep path and focused on the area behind the falls.
Hard to see through the cascading water, but he had a feeling.
"That's it."
He stepped into the valley stream.
Water up to his thighs.
As he neared the waterfall, the pressure intensified, but it was nothing.
With his stats, a little current wouldn't faze him.
Bracing the falling water, he entered and spotted a small cave. They exchanged knowing glances and went inside.
Darker than expected.
"Fire."
Sung Min-woo summoned a spirit fire, lighting the way.
"Why spirits? I have a lamp."
"Eh. This guy's brighter."
"Fair."
As they walked, Mu-hyuk tilted his head. He stopped, narrowing his eyes at the darkness ahead.
"What's up?"
"Dunno... something."
An inexplicable chill.
"You see something?"
"Nah."
"Then?"
"Just feels off."
"What? I'll go first—follow me."
The moment Sung Min-woo took a few steps with Fire, something flew in and struck the spirit's head.
No idea how destructive it was, but the spirit fire was reverse-summoned in one hit.
"What the—?!"
"Back up first."
"Y-yeah."
Too dark to see.
He hurriedly lit the lamp.
Looking ahead, he saw what had dropped where Fire vanished—a short, thin iron spike-like object.
"No way—that killed it?"
"Yep."
"A trap?"
"Probably."
One shot took out the spirit.
If traps like this were everywhere?
This place was seriously dangerous.
"What now?"
"Simple."
Of course he had a plan.
A really easy one.
"Skeleton Warrior Summon."
Armor Knight 1, defense mode.
Advance.
Send summons first to trigger traps.
It hadn't gone far when something flew in again.
He vaguely saw the object this time—much larger. Then came a series of dry cracks.
Mu-hyuk's eyes widened at the sight. Armor Knight 1 faded and vanished.
Armor Knight 1 has been reverse-summoned.
He stared blankly at the message.
What?
Stunned by the anticlimactic end.
It had solid HP.
An Armor Knight—over 5,000 HP, yet reverse-summoned after a few hits.
He checked the details, frowning deeply.
-1,000 HP ×5
Even blocked with the shield, the HP loss was insane.
"What happened?"
"Blocked with shield, but lost 1,000 HP."
"Holy shit. Without the shield...?"
A curse slipped out in shock.
"But anyway..."
The tension eased quickly.
Sung Min-woo's stiff expression relaxed.
"Doesn't matter."
He was planning to send summons ahead anyway.
Mu-hyuk sent Armor Knight 2 next, shield up.
This time, the floor gave way, and it dropped.
Thud.
A faint vibration came seconds later.
Armor Knight 2 has been reverse-summoned.
"This place..."
Still, he didn't stop.
Plenty of skeletons left.
"Wonder what's next."
Traps grew more varied as they advanced.
Skeletons melted from vicious poison, drowned flailing in swamps, got caged by rising grates, or flash-frozen by surging cold.
Blades, arrows, daggers—endless. They'd pop up just when you relaxed, sending chills down your spine.
Deep in now, and traps kept coming.
Armor Knights, Bone Swords.
Armor Archers, Bone Bows.
Mages, warhorses, cavalry—all deployed.
"Spirits are out too."
"Break time, then."
Rest to resummon.
Sitting, he pulled disposable crafting tools from inventory.
Sung Min-woo watched and spoke up.
"Crafting again?"
"Sitting idle's boring."
"You're insane."
Mu-hyuk chuckled and gripped the hammer. Under the lamp's glow, he swung hard.
Grain aligned.
Progress (7.9%) increases.
Swing again.
Clang!
Consecutive hits boosted contribution. Thirteen swings yielded a longsword.
Sung Min-woo watched, tsked, and reached into his inventory.
"Tch, guess I will too."
He started crafting a longsword.
Soon after.
Decent options—he stowed it.
"Let's go."
"Yeah."
Resummoned skeletons and sent them ahead.
Kirik, kiririk.
Armor Knight shielded fully and advanced. Soon, flames erupted from the floor, engulfing it.
Blessing of the Dead
Restored HP to endure as long as possible.
Overwhelmed by sustained damage, it reverse-summoned. Sent another Armor Knight.
Flames again. Five repeats, and no more fire.
"Clear."
They repeated this.
One by one.
Dozens of summons gone before long.
Last: a single warhorse.
"Another break?"
As they advanced with it, the path ended. A door stood in the center.
"There!"
Excitement surged, but he stayed cool.
Warhorse, advance.
No traps triggered up to the door.
"Send spirits too."
Sung Min-woo scattered 12 spirits to probe ceiling, floor, walls—no traps.
"Looks safe. Let's go."
"Roger."
Fortune favored them—no traps.
At the door, Mu-hyuk reached out.
Creeeak.
Light flooded in. He took in the new world beyond.