Chapter 7
Chapter 7
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Sand Mire (1)
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Sand Mire. Gold-rank mage skill.
It creates a sand pit in front of the user that swallows feet.
Normally, any wide-area crowd control skill like this would be treated as a treasure in its own right.
Because it can create variables on the battlefield and set up overwhelmingly favorable situations for allies.
But this skill was different.
A skill whose evaluation was utterly ambiguous.
[Title: Why Sand Mire Sucks for Newbies (EU)]
Author: Refrigerator
Pros: Wide-area slow. Low mana cost.
Cons: No friend-or-foe discrimination.
That one line says it all. Game over.
If you disagree, you're wrong.
ㄴ pkkjju: If you use that skill, our team's tank gets their ankles caught too.
It's a stupid skill that binds the feet of allies tanking up front.
Even if you're top damage dealer, if you don't want to get chewed out by the tank, don't use it.
ㄴ MagicIsFirepower: Gold rank? Biting on that, huh? What a newbie.
Only then did everything make perfect sense.
A wide-area CC that renders even allies completely immobile.
In tower clears where party play is recommended, there couldn't be a worse skill.
But I was still puzzled.
Because their premise was wrong from the start.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ: But I'm gonna solo anyway, so doesn't it not matter?
ㄴ MagicIsFirepower: That's only true on low floors.
How'd it go against 10 goblins?
Honestly, don't you think it'd be nice to have a sturdy tank soaking damage up front?
At those words, I was momentarily speechless.
The hair-raising moments from the tutorial flashed vividly before my eyes.
Eight bullets crafted with all my concentration.
If I hadn't controlled them, or if even one had missed.
Just thinking about it, a horrific outcome would have awaited.
I readily agreed.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ: Yeah... you're right.
ㄴ MagicIsFirepower: And then the CC you cast hits that tank too. You get that?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ: Makes sense.
But my real thoughts were still the opposite.
Tank? Tanks are only needed because damage is lacking, right? If you just one-shot them all, why need a tank?
I'm going to be a burst damage mage.
My party doesn't need a tank.
Their logic was flawless.
Provided you fought their way.
The way I envisioned using it was different from their thinking.
"But explaining it here would be pointless anyway."
I had no intention of explaining my plan in detail here.
It would just come off as boring and pretentious.
"Plus, 100% chance of sparking a debate."
And picking a keyboard fight against A-rank and S-rank mages? I had no confidence in winning.
At best, I'd get dismissed as a greenhorn.
I quietly closed the browser tab.
Proof wasn't something you talked about—you showed it with actions.
***
You only get one shot at challenging the tower per day.
Accustomed to a flipped day-night schedule, I woke at dawn the next day like always, while everyone else slept.
I raised the unfamiliar girl's body and began preparations different from yesterday.
This time, I had no intention of charging in blindly like before.
'The info said floors 1 through 5 are just goblins... but my difficulty is different.'
First thing I grabbed was the biggest problem from last clear: sand.
In the tutorial, without prepped sand, I'd desperately broken down my fingers into bullets.
The result? Just ten bullets.
Way too few against ten goblins.
'Looking back now, it was really dicey. One miss and...'
Hitting every bullet in live combat without practice? No matter how I thought about it, I'd been lucky.
I had no plans to repeat that foolish mistake.
I securely fastened a small sand pouch to my waist.
It was filled with soft sand scooped from the school track.
'Well, if my plan works, I won't even need to use it directly.'
Next up was the camera.
I firmly attached the body cam I'd bought online to my shoulder.
Last time, too frantic to get proper proof shots.
When I returned to the white room after the tutorial, all I had was a hasty pic of the score sheet.
I inwardly regretted missing shots of that gruesome goblin massacre.
'Can't post to Hunter Gallery due to doxxing risks, but Mage Gallery's fine.'
That thought suddenly brought a cold doubt to mind.
Those people in Mage Gallery. Why were they being so nice to me?
Just because I'm a fellow mage?
Excited over one of only five rare newbies in Korea?
'No way.'
I let out a scoff.
Having rolled through every corner of the internet communities for 10 years, seeing every type of human scum.
There was no way I'd naively believe in people's goodwill.
On the net, unmotivated kindness was either a scam or bait for something bigger.
There had to be something I didn't know.
Some benefit coming their way.
Either way, it didn't matter.
The key was to use their goodwill without getting swept up in it.
'One thing they said is certain.'
I need to get strong. Overwhelmingly so.
Strong enough that other hunters or even the nation can't touch me lightly.
Like Dungbeetle said, until I'm an acknowledged A-rank hunter, I have to play dumb and clueless.
From gallery info, the A-rank benchmark seemed to be clearing floor 20.
Until then, just hang in there.
'Yeah, since I drew a golden spoon job, might as well go that far.
...Then snag a gallery name spot, live doing whatever I want.'
Once I build up to S-rank, how would I live?
No, how do current S-ranks live?
Curiosity suddenly hit.
I opened the gallery app on my phone.
'Wonder if they're still talking about me?'
I logged into Hunter Gallery.
Sadly, my story had been buried in a day's posts.
The hot topic had shifted to Earth's strongest hunter, Demigod.
'No, reading this, it's still kinda about me.'
[Title: Demigod Losing #1 Spot and Rage-Quitting LOL]
[Title: Singbunggle Captures Demigod's Current Face]
[Title: If Demigod's a Water Rocket, Upvote LOL]
The posts were all screenshots from Demigod's SNS account.
I read Demigod's SNS posts with a satisfied smile.
His account was plastered with rage-filled posts every minute.
[Show yourself, coward. Don't hide behind anonymity.]
[I will find the worm that dared challenge a god's domain and crush it.]
[Doesn't matter what nation. Outrageous.]
[Must be a hunter secretly trained at the national level.]
[China? It's China, right?]
[No idea what trick they pulled, but definitely some bug. Their real skill must suck.]
[No one can be stronger than me.]
ㄴDemigod rage meltdown LOL
ㄴPathetic, mi-god...
But reactions to Demigod's fury were ice cold.
No one was taking his side.
Even among his fans, some were openly telling him to chill.
ㄴDemiGoD, I get how you feel, but it's just floor 1. Calm down a bit...
Yet he never stopped the SNS spam.
His reply to a concerned comment?
[How dare a nobody like you 'order' me?]
"What a total crazy attention whore..."
I clicked my tongue and closed the tab.
Seeing someone even more SNS-addicted than me was like mirror therapy.
"I shouldn't end up like that..."
Wandering empty dawn streets on pointless errands, before I knew it, the massive tower silhouette loomed far ahead.
A pitch-black pillar swallowing all the city's lights.
I stepped inside without hesitation.
[Tower Floor 2 (EXTREME) entry.]
[Teleporting to location in 60 seconds.]
Familiar floating sensation, and the scenery shifted.
Same damp cave as yesterday. A space like the tutorial's extension—the tower's second floor.
'They said monster numbers double starting floor 2.'
I remembered a post saying four goblins on Hard floor 2.
So on Extreme like mine, assume at least 20 popping out.
"Kerruk!"
Sure enough, soon the creepy goblin croaks echoed.
Not just one or two.
The gleaming eyes in the dark numbered over twenty, thirty.
But I wasn't worried.
My heart was strangely calm.
Thrilling excitement wrapped my whole body instead.
"Sand Mire."
As planned, I cast the spell.
The cave floor ahead instantly turned into a massive sand pit several meters wide.
"Kerrrruk!"
The first few charging goblins plunged feet-first into the sand and halted.
Those following did the same.
They advanced slowly, tangled together.
I sliced off my right hand and tossed it into the mire.
The sand-turned hand blended seamlessly into the pit.
Soon, I could feel sensations from the mire shared with my body.
As if the mire had become my hand.
The goblins felt like ants crawling over it.
"Alright, time to start the experiment?"