Chapter 23: The 9-Second Record
[Combat begins in 1 minute. Hurry and finish preparing.]
Combat begins in 1 minute. Hurry and finish preparing.
Whoosh!
A massive dog, easily three meters tall.
A monster with impressive black fur tinged with red light emerged from the magic circle.
Grrrrrr!
Still in the pre-combat preparation phase, the Hell Beast couldn't charge yet and just growled menacingly.
Its enormous fangs bared, drool dripping down—it clearly saw Carpe as a tasty meal.
"Three heads, and it'd be a perfect Cerberus."
-Actually, Cerberus exists too. Think of Hell Beast as its degraded version. A severely degraded one.
True to its hell-dwelling nature, the Hell Beast was a fire-attribute monster built to withstand the scorching heat of the underworld.
-On the flip side, that means its weakness is crystal clear. Alright, get ready.
"Hyangi. Enchant my weapon with some ice magic."
"Kyuu!"
At Carpe's command, Mukhyang gave a short reply and spun once in midair.
Cold energy began to settle onto Carpe's sword.
Familiar uses Spell of Eight.
Ice attribute applied to weapon. Lasts 5 minutes.
Mukhyang's skill, Spell of Eight.
A whopping 8-star skill that freely manipulated eight different elemental magics.
It had two main abilities.
First, it boosted magic damage for eight attributes—fire, water, lightning, ice, plant, light, darkness, and mental—and allowed penalty-free learning of advanced spells in those attributes, acting as a mastery skill.
Second, it could enchant a target's weapon with one of those eight attributes.
The attribute buff Carpe received was this second ability in action.
And this time, Carpe cast his own buff skill on the weapon.
"Striking."
Green Skin Slayer gains Striking.
Weapon's physical damage increased by 20%.
This was the first time using the combat-type buff skill gained from advancing to Magical Fist Lord.
"Phew."
With the enchant complete, the preparation time ended. Tension gripped his body in a pleasant way.
Combat starts soon. 5... 4...
Combat begins!
"Raaargh!"
The moment combat started, the Hell Beast wreathed itself in flames and charged at Carpe with full power.
Inferno Dash.
The skill that dyed countless players gray in the early days of RaSe, Hell Beast's signature and opening pattern.
Now, with tons of strategy videos out there, everyone prepared for it—but for slower players, it was so fast they got hit even knowing it was coming.
Swoosh!
Of course, none of that applied to Carpe.
His current agility stat exceeded 40 thanks to various titles and item effects.
Carpe easily twisted his body to dodge the attack.
-Yeah, no need for advice here.
He hadn't even watched strategy videos or heard pattern explanations from Cheonma.
"This guy's kinda weak?"
The Hell Beast was just too weak compared to Carpe.
That was all there was to it.
"Grrr!"
Maybe pissed at how easily Carpe dodged, the Hell Beast sucked in a massive breath right there. The prep motion for its killer pattern, Inferno Breath.
"What, advertising 'kill me'? Using a big move right in my face like this?"
As it inhaled, the Hell Beast's head tilted back slightly.
Exposing its throat perfectly. Carpe didn't miss it and dove straight into the beast's guard at full speed.
"?!"
The Hell Beast panicked at Carpe's unexpectedly blistering speed, but the breath was already rising in its throat.
Too late to pull back.
Stab!
Carpe's thrust sword pierced the Hell Beast's throat dead-on.
Vital spot hit precisely! Ignores target's defense and attribute resistance massively.
Ice attribute on weapon. +50% damage to fire enemies.
The critical ignore-defense and attribute bonus exploded, making the Hell Beast let out an agonized scream.
"Kwaaaagh!"
On top of that, with its throat pierced, it couldn't spit or swallow the building flames!
Triggering even more bonus damage here.
Skill Elemental Mastery adds 10% attribute damage.
The Elemental Mastery effect from advancing to Magical Fist Lord activated.
And finally.
Title One-Shot to the Lord's Side adds 10% damage on first attack.
"Kwerrrgh?!"
Legendary gloves and hero-grade sword.
A feast of buff skills and perfect attribute matchup.
Title effect, critical hit—all synergizing into an astonishing result.
Fwoosh!
The Hell Beast's breath backfired, burning it from the inside.
Unfortunately, with its fire resistance slashed, it couldn't handle its own flames.
Ding.
The Hell Beast.
Beginner zone nightmare, the wailing wall boss monster.
Thud!
The hellhound toppled without a single proper counterattack.
"Ah, damn. I wasn't supposed to end it this quick."
Carpe smacked his lips in regret.
He'd wanted to test all sorts of things, savor this rare boss fight.
But the glaringly obvious weakness made his body react before his brain.
-...What are you, some wild beast? Biting vital spots on sight.
"My bad. Tch. At least wanted to try all the Elemental Arrow variants."
-Eh, plenty more chances ahead. Loot first.
"Right."
Carpe nodded and headed to the Hell Beast's corpse.
It soon turned gray, crumbling to ash, leaving two items behind.
◈ Leather, crafting material
◈ Leather from Hell Beast, the underworld's lowest monster. Rare on the continent.
◈ Magic material
◈ Rare core from Hell Beast's body. Usable in many ways.
"Kinda disappointing. No gear?"
-Hell Beast doesn't drop gear normally. Drop rate's low anyway—two items is great luck.
"Oh?"
Lucky, then.
Come to think of it, he'd overheard someone outside saying essences sold for good money.
"Crafting mats, I guess. Holding onto 'em."
The Magic Engineering skill was still untested, but who knew when it'd come in handy.
"That it?"
Then, another alert popped up in front of Carpe.
"Hm. ID stays private."
Private selected. Stele shows ???
Vmmm.
The air shimmered, spawning two warp portals. Left one back to entrance, right to town.
"No need for entrance, straight to town..."
As Carpe moved for the right portal.
-Hold up.
"Yeah?"
-Grab everything worth grabbing first.
"Huh?"
Carpe blinked at the cryptic words.
He'd already looted...
-That spot where Hell Beast spawned? The magic circle.
Carpe's head snapped around at Cheonma's words.
-Dig there.
"No way..."
-Yep. Hidden reward. Easter egg.
"Digging now!"
Carpe bolted to the magic circle where Hell Beast had appeared.
Faint traces of the circle lingered on the floor.
"But how? Gotta dig deep?"
-Not deep. Ground's soft—hands work fine.
"No choice, then."
Sword might be too narrow—less efficient than hands.
As Carpe bent down.
"Kyukyu!"
Mukhyang scurried over and started clawing the dirt.
Carpe couldn't help chuckling.
"Hyangi, thanks but those tiny paws all day won't..."
-...It's digging fine?
"Huh?"
Mukhyang excavated at astonishing speed.
Even an adult with a shovel couldn't match half that pace!
"Digging skill?"
-No such thing.
"True. Racial trait maybe?"
-Anyway, perfect. Be out soon.
True to word, three minutes later—a battered chest popped out.
"Whoa, hidden like this? Famous easter egg?"
-Nah. I found it myself.
"...Impressive. How'd you even think to dig?"
-Was a crazy phase...
No lock on the chest—it opened easily.
Decent gold, lots of potions inside.
"Elixir?!"
-Heh. Pretty sweet, right? Beginner-zone exclusive for under level 10, though.
"Best. Downing it now."
Carpe popped the lid and chugged the elixir.
Tasted like strawberry juice. Alert popped right after.
Strength stat permanently +1.
-Done? Let's head out. Nothing left now.
"Hey, bro."
-...Nothing. Seriously.
"Digging the rest might yield another, right?"
-No!
"You dig all the ground here?"
-Not exactly, but...
"Then there is. Go, Hyangi!"
"Kyukyu! Kyuu~!"
-You maniacs...
Thirty minutes later.
Incredibly, another chest—and Carpe boosted his agility by one more.
Cheonma clutched his head, muttering, "This actually works?" Bonus.
Meanwhile, at the dungeon entrance.
"Ugh, party members suck to find. Just go in duo?"
"Forgot yesterday's ass-kicking already? Stay put and recruit properly."
"Yesterday was just us slipping... Fine, fine, quit glaring."
The scolded guy, Rakan, smacked his lips.
"Should've roped in that noob in rare armor earlier."
Obvious beginner, soloing? Lucky gear drop maybe, but Hell Beast laughs at one rare armor piece.
Bet he wouldn't last long before dying.
"Thinking 'bout it, such a waste... What's with the commotion?"
Always noisy, but not this noisy.
Rakan looked around and pinpointed the source.
The time-attack record stele. Chaos around it.
"No way this makes sense."
"RaSe devs slacking? Second bug in Hell Beast dungeon!"
"Bug?"
RaSe had bugs?
Rakan tilted his head and approached the stele. What the hell happened?
But upon checking, even he blurted the same.
"What kinda bullshit is this?!"
1st Place ??? - 9 seconds
Solo play #1 record: that insane number etched there.