Chapter 57
Chapter 57
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: No, Why Does That Pop Up Here?!
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Truly unstoppable.
Ayoung's fists showed no mercy.
"Oppa! More of those filthy rats are swarming in here!"
"Wipe 'em all out!"
With Ayoung's cheerful voice came the heavy whoosh of air ripping through the sewer.
Kwachik—!
The dull thud of her fist embedding into a monster's skull.
Ayoung seemed to have gotten pretty good at controlling her strength now. She was demonstrating a refined(?) technique that killed the monsters without completely bursting them open.
Woojin picked up the occasional loot that dropped beside her.
Mediocre items and magic stones whose uses were still unclear.
Not every item came with a skill.
Earth's items were the same.
"Let's see..."
Woojin picked up the fang dagger.
A rough, feral mana unlike anything from the everyday objects he usually enhanced flowed through his fingertips.
'As expected, it's completely different from household goods.'
Earth's items didn't carry this vivid mana.
It was the unique energy possessed only by gate-spawned products.
Woojin immediately focused his mind.
"Enhance."
Wooong—!
A blue light poured from Woojin's hand, enveloping the dagger.
'As expected...!'
Woojin instantly noticed the difference.
'It gives way more experience.'
He hadn't paid close attention when enhancing the crimson silkworm leather armor last time, but this was certain.
The cost-performance ratio of experience gained versus mana consumed was overwhelming.
"Ayoung, leave one alive. Make sure it can't move."
"Th-that's kinda hard to control! But I'll try!"
After about twenty turned into chunks of meat to secure one gasping monster rat,
Woojin finally had his test subject in hand.
Woojin drew the enhanced dagger and precisely slit the rat's throat.
Puk—
"Ugh... This sensation never gets easier."
But the results were sweet.
He could feel the surge of growth energy churning inside him.
'As expected, killing monsters directly gives incomparable experience compared to enhancing.'
Lately, Woojin had been feeling the necessity of leveling up.
A 15-enhanced sofa was sturdy, but as a fixed item, he couldn't carry it around.
To handle the large-scale collaboration with DH Electronics and the items from Woosang Shop going forward, he needed to expand his mana capacity.
And one question creeping into his mind.
'What happens when an Enhancer undergoes a second awakening?'
He'd never done it, so he couldn't even guess.
Among production classes, the only one to reach stage 3 awakening was the blacksmith path:
Blacksmith,
Steel Forger,
Metal Sage.
No one knew what an Enhancer would become.
But surely there was an evolution path fitting for it.
To level up and reach second awakening, he'd need a ton of gates.
'The Asia subjugation... Guess I have to join?'
The Asia subjugation operation led by Jihyun Yoo and Ailin.
They'd been persistently trying to drag him along, but he'd been holding out with a no.
But now the stakes were higher.
He couldn't hide in the back forever.
"Oppa! What are you spacing out for? The boss room is right ahead!"
At Ayoung's call, Woojin shook off his thoughts and stood.
"Let's go. Sangjin, you ready? It's your turn now."
Sangjin stared at the massive iron door with a stoic expression—no, one laced with a strange anticipation.
"I'm ready. But hyung, how big do you think the corpse inside will be?"
"...Why are you curious about that?"
"Bigger ones seem like they'd offer more to work with."
Woojin silently turned his head.
'Why is this guy like this... so creepy...'
He was his brother, but definitely not right in the head.
As the boss room door opened, a house-sized giant alligator revealed itself.
Sangjin clicked his tongue.
"Why the hell is there an alligator here...?"
Woojin chuckled at Sangjin's usual demeanor.
"You don't know that movie? The baby alligator that falls into the sewer grows huge and starts eating people."
"There's a movie that ridiculous...?"
"Yeah, it all makes sense in its own way."
"Whoa... But damn... You're telling me to kill that? Will my sword even cut it?"
"Don't worry. Our lovely Ayoung will take care of it."
'L-Lovely!??'
Ayoung blushed but gulped as she eyed the massive alligator.
"D-Do you think I can do it?"
"Of course! You can't use your full punches right now. Still clumsy with control, right?"
"Huh?? Then how...?"
Woojin snapped his fingers in front of Ayoung's eyes.
"This. Just flick it—flick to the forehead only."
"...F-Flick to the forehead?"
A flick to the forehead on a house-sized alligator...
Jo Ayoung stood before the alligator half-doubting.
The house-sized beast opened its maw in threat.
"Grraaaaaah—!"
A blast of rotten flesh and sewer stench hit Ayoung's face.
"Ayoung! Gently! Don't use full power no matter what!"
Ayoung took a deep breath at Woojin's earnest warning from his safe spot in the corner.
"Hoo..."
She'd grown quite accustomed to combat now.
Tat—!
Her figure split the water droplets as it dashed across the ground.
As expected, the massive alligator wasn't very agile.
Pat—!
Ayoung leaped to its side head in an instant.
Her right middle finger hooked tense against her thumb.
Kku-guk—
'God's Might' condensed at her fingertip.
And then the crisp sound followed.
Ttak—ak!!
The moment Ayoung's middle finger met the alligator's temple, the air exploded.
Peo-bung—!
Chwaaak—
The shockwave rippled outward, pushing the water surface, and the alligator's tough scales shattered like glass ornaments.
Keu-duduk—!
Its iron-hard skull caved inward deeply.
"Kwaaaaaang!!!"
With a scream, the several-ton behemoth flew into the air.
Whoosh—
Spinning as it flew, the boss slammed straight into the boss room wall.
Kwaaang—!
Kwarururu—!
The wall cracked like a spiderweb, debris raining down.
Jo Ayoung landed lightly and stared blankly at her finger.
A true nuclear flick to the forehead.
Even she was dumbfounded.
"...It, it actually worked?"
As she worried if she'd hit too hard,
Woojin's nagging came from behind as expected.
"No! I said don't hit too hard! It's almost dead! Sangjin, over here! Hurry!"
Woojin dragged Sangjin and rushed over.
The alligator was already rolling its eyes, gasping for breath.
A do-or-die moment.
They might have to run the gate again.
"Hey! Stab here quick! Skull's cracked, brain's showing—brain! Ugh! Gross!"
But Sangjin calmly raised the sword Woojin had enhanced, face serene.
"Stab here?"
"Yes! Stab! Hurry! It's about to croak!"
Woojin shrieked in disgust.
Even with all his experience, the sight of the giant alligator's caved-in head twitching triggered visceral revulsion.
Ayoung had turned her head away too.
But Sangjin was different.
He didn't hurry despite Woojin's urging.
He approached the alligator very slowly instead.
"Sangjin?"
Woojin called his brother's name curiously.
The aura emanating from Sangjin's back was utterly unlike his usual self.
Cold, heavy, and profoundly still.
Sangjin stood before the alligator's burst head.
Leaking brain matter and dark red blood soaked his sneakers, but he didn't blink.
Instead, a strange light gleamed in his eyes as he gazed down at the gruesome remains.
'Weird.'
Sangjin murmured inwardly.
Normally, he'd be retching.
But from the first rat corpse until now, Sangjin felt nothing.
No, he felt at peace.
The final breaths of a massive life fading, the dilating pupils, the slowly cooling body temperature.
Sangjin was even awed that death was such a clear, beautiful phenomenon.
Sangjin slowly raised the sword Woojin gave him.
His gray eyes reflected in the blade.
Sangjin's lips parted softly as he regarded the alligator.
"Don't suffer. I'll blanket you in a swift, peaceful death."
"...What?"
The moment Woojin asked back.
Sangjin's hand plunged down without hesitation.
Puk—!
A chill swept through the boss room, as if the temperature had plummeted.
Shoooo—!
Mana began swirling in like a storm.
But something was off.
Starting from Sangjin's feet, shadows writhed and began encroaching on the surroundings.
The sewer wastewater turned pitch-black like ink in an instant, and unidentified black smoke rose from it, wrapping around Sangjin's entire body.
"Wh-what the hell is that!?!"
Woojin shouted in panic at the phenomenon unlike Catherine's secretary awakening, but the process didn't stop.
The moment the black smoke pierced Sangjin's head and heart, tens of thousands of screams and wails flashed through his mind.
Yet instead of pain, Sangjin began sorting the fragments of darkness one by one with his fingers.
Where this soul was broken.
How to make this flesh move again.
Sangjin's eyes snapped open.
A faint purple mist swirled around his irises, and a status window etched clearly in the air.
Silence fell.
The black smoke drifting in the air settled obediently at Sangjin's feet like it had found its master.
Sangjin clenched and unclenched his palm blankly, murmuring.
"This... is awakening?"
Woojin swallowed dryly and approached cautiously.
"Hey, you... you okay?"
Sangjin grinned.
"Yeah, perfectly fine. Feels amazing."
Woojin asked in a trembling voice.
"Wh-what class did you get?"
After the scene he'd just witnessed, Woojin prayed inwardly.
Please be a farmer, a chef, or just a regular mage—anything normal.
Sangjin turned slowly, a mischievous smile on his face.
Seeing that cheeky expression eased Woojin's mind a bit, but the words from Sangjin's mouth next were shocking.
"Hyung..."
"Yeah, dude. Why drag it out!? What class?!"
"I'm... a Necromancer, apparently?"
At his words, eerie black smoke billowed from the freshly dead giant alligator's corpse, and its bones twisted with a u-duduk.
"......"
Woojin's mind blanked.
Necromancer.
Master of the dead.
The taboo existence shunned and feared by all the living.
Dark Legion Commander.
And the guy who'd just awakened was instinctively trying necromancy.
Woojin clutched his head in disbelief and yelled.
"No, fuck! Why does that pop up here?!"
His scream-like shout echoed hollowly into the darkness of the underground sewer.