Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Sea Serpent Pet, Q
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Slash slash slash-!
Hae-jin sliced through every attack from the tentacles and scales of the giant monsters targeting him as he charged forward.
From the ranged attacks coming at him to the giant monsters themselves—he cut them all down.
But no matter how relentlessly he slashed, they kept coming.
The boss monster, Mermaid King.
It was continuously summoning more giant monsters.
*Of course, I have to take that thing out...*
The Mermaid King kept summoning giant monsters to block Hae-jin from approaching.
Seeing this, Hae-jin spoke up.
"Man, I never imagined I'd have to pull this off in the fifth Trials' Arena..."
With that, Hae-jin unleashed his skills like a madman.
"Combat Orders, Hyper Body, Sharp Eyes, Meditation, Wind Booster, Combo Barrier, Magic Shield, Magic Resistance, Full Aura, Haste, Strength, Holy Symbol, Striking, Bless, Thunder Enchant, Lightning Enchant, Clair Senses..."
And so on.
Hae-jin hammered every buff skill that Joo-hyuk had possessed without pause.
With raw stats alone, he couldn't plow through the giant monsters serving as meat shields, so he was going all out to take down the Mermaid King in one shot.
Just like when Joo-hyuk hunted seriously.
Having stacked every buff imaginable, Hae-jin leaped into the air.
"I'll finish it in one hit."
Hae-jin soared forward, slashing through the giant monsters at a speed utterly unlike before, closing in on the Mermaid King.
Unlike earlier, when he couldn't even get close due to the endless summons, now his pace was on another level.
He was cutting them down faster than the Mermaid King could summon them.
Splatter splatter-.
Chunks of giant monster rained down onto the sea like a storm.
And at the end of it all, Hae-jin finally laid eyes on it.
The Mermaid King's true body, hidden behind the infinitely refilling horde of giant monsters.
Seeing it, Hae-jin shouted.
"Now it's over!"
Slice-!
The Mermaid King's head was severed.
Finally, Hae-jin cleared the 80th floor.
As he finished off the Mermaid King, the boat he'd been riding drew near.
Hae-jin landed on it.
"Whew, gross."
He rolled his neck as he spoke.
He hadn't expected to use Joo-hyuk's full buff setup here—something he only pulled out in the late stages of the Trials' Arena.
Next, Hae-jin gathered the items dropped by the defeated Mermaid King and giant monsters.
That's when he spotted it.
"Huh? This drops here?"
The item that surprised Hae-jin.
It was none other than this.
[Item! You have acquired 'Sea Serpent's Egg'.]
The Sea Serpent's Egg.
It was the egg from which the Sea Serpent that the Mermaid King had ridden could have hatched.
What was a Sea Serpent?
Among water-attribute giant monsters, it was the most powerful—a quasi-dragon tier existence.
Even ordinary monster eggs had an incredibly low drop rate, but something like a Sea Serpent egg was rarer than winning the lottery.
However, as difficult as the drop was, hatching the egg was even harder.
The hatching difficulty scaled with the monster's grade emerging from the egg.
That was the norm.
That was the norm, but...
"Grow Up."
Crack-.
With one skill from Hae-jin, cracks suddenly spiderwebbed across the Sea Serpent's Egg in his hand.
Grow Up.
A skill that accelerated growth.
It was one that ordinary players had no reason to learn, so few knew about it—but it could be obtained by raising intimacy with elves.
Naturally, Joo-hyuk had acquired it, and Hae-jin had inherited all his skills.
Hae-jin used it to trigger an absurdly premature hatching.
From the cracks emerged a long, pointed snout.
Tap tap tap-.
The snout diligently shattered the shell.
And out popped the baby Sea Serpent.
A system window appeared before Hae-jin's eyes.
[Pet! You have acquired 'Sea Serpent'.]
[Please set a name.]
[Name: ]
With the Sea Serpent now his pet, a setup window prompted him to register its name.
"A name?"
As Hae-jin pondered what to name it...
[Kyu-ing?]
The baby Sea Serpent tilted its head at him.
"Kyu-ing?? Kyu, Q. Yeah, your name's 'Q'."
Hae-jin settled on the simplest naming sense imaginable for the Sea Serpent.
A system window appeared.
[Pet! Setting 'Sea Serpent's name to 'Q'.]
[Pet! Intimacy with 'Sea Serpent' has increased by 10%.]
With the name decided, the Sea Serpent reacted.
[Qing!]
It seemed pleased with 'Q', letting out a bright chirp.
Hae-jin chuckled at the sight and stroked the Sea Serpent's head.
After petting its head, Hae-jin said.
"Alright, let's head to the 81st floor."
[Qing!]
"Hm? Flame Zone?"
Upon reaching the 81st floor, Hae-jin took in the sight.
Lava flowed everywhere.
Seeing it, Hae-jin was absolutely thrilled.
"This is pure profit, no question."
Why did Hae-jin see it as a win?
Not for himself, but for the pet he'd just acquired: 'Q'.
A Sea Serpent was a water-attribute pet.
And this lava zone screamed fire-attribute monsters.
Of course, the freshly hatched Sea Serpent couldn't handle the monsters here on its own.
But Q had Hae-jin.
First, Hae-jin checked the 81st floor's monsters.
*Flame Golem and Flame Ghost, huh...*
A golem and ghost made of flames.
They were upgraded versions of Fire Golem and Fire Ghost.
Truth be told, Hae-jin could slice through them easily.
But he held back.
Instead of cutting them down outright, he used the full buff setup from the Mermaid King fight.
"Combat Orders, Hyper Body, Sharp Eyes, Meditation, Wind Booster, Combo Barrier, Magic Shield, Magic Resistance, Full Aura, Haste, Strength, Holy Symbol, Striking, Bless, Ice Enchant, Water Enchant, Clair Senses..."
And so on.
But this time, the buffs weren't for Hae-jin himself.
The target was 'Q'.
Having buffed Q to the max, Hae-jin commanded it.
"Q, Water Cannon!"
[Qwoong!]
Empowered by Hae-jin's full buffs, Q fired a ferocious water cannon from its snout.
The Flame Golem's flames began extinguishing under the blast.
Fssshhhh-!
[Graaaah-!]
Though its flames were doused, the Flame Golem charged without falling.
Seeing this, Hae-jin said.
"Can't one-shot it, huh? Q, dodge."
[Qing!]
Q dodged the charging Flame Golem alongside Hae-jin.
A Flame Ghost supported from behind, but Hae-jin and Q evaded that too.
Hae-jin could dodge effortlessly, of course.
For Q, a newly hatched pet, evasion wasn't easy.
Not without Hae-jin's full buffs, anyway.
Thanks to them, Q dodged the Flame Golem and Flame Ghost just like Hae-jin.
While evading their attacks, Hae-jin kept supporting Q to let it hunt directly.
In the end, Q took down both.
As the battle wrapped up, Hae-jin saw this.
[Pet! 'Q' has leveled up.]
[Pet! 'Q' has leveled up.]
[Pet! 'Q' has leveled up.]
[Pet! 'Q' has leveled up.]
[Pet! 'Q' has leveled up.]
[Pet! 'Q' has leveled up.]
[Pet! 'Q' has leveled up.]
[Pet! 'Q' has leveled up.]
......
Q had power-leveled.
Hae-jin was extremely satisfied.
"Perfect for easy gains. Let's grow big and strong, Q."
[Qing!]
And so, for Q's growth, Hae-jin tore through the 80s floors.
On the 85th, the boss monster 'Flame Giant' appeared.
Giant.
As the name implied, a colossal being.
Ogre, the king of the forest; Cyclops with similar physique—even those looked puny compared to its mountain-like bulk.
Fire-attribute ones were 'Fire Giants', and one tier above was the 'Flame Giant'.
But Hae-jin had no worries left.
The reason?
"Q, Gigantify."
[Qing!]
Gigantify.
A skill Q gained after Hae-jin insanely leveled it up on the way to the 85th floor.
Normally, Q should've grown massive by now.
It had reached adult Sea Serpent size, after all.
But as a pet, it didn't need to stay huge all the time.
Hence, Gigantify was needed to revert to its true form.
Responding to Hae-jin, Q's body emitted blue light.
The light expanded enormously.
Soon, the blue light faded, revealing Q in its gigantic form.
Hae-jin let out a whistle of admiration.
"Whew! You've grown well—real well."
He couldn't help but marvel at the enlarged Q.
The Mermaid King's Sea Serpent had already been larger than average adults, but gigantically buffed Q dwarfed even that.
It was now big enough not to be outmatched by the Flame Giant.
The enlarged Q clashed head-on with the Flame Giant.
Hae-jin plopped down to watch.
"Like a kaiju battle. Should've grabbed some popcorn."
Watching, Hae-jin voiced his mild regret.
"Ah, still not quite enough?"
In the monster showdown between Q and the Flame Giant, Q was being pushed back.
Finally, Hae-jin stood up.
"Okay, time to lend a hand for now."
Without delay, he buffed Q.
"Combat Orders, Hyper Body, Sharp Eyes, Meditation, Wind Booster, Combo Barrier, Magic Shield, Magic Resistance, Full Aura, Haste, Strength, Holy Symbol, Striking, Bless, Ice Enchant, Water Enchant, Clair Senses..."
And so on.
Fully buffed, Q started gaining the upper hand in the strength contest against the Flame Giant.
[Groooar!]
The Flame Giant bellowed in agony as it was overpowered.
Then Hae-jin issued another command.
"Q, quit the strength contest. Water Cannon!"
[Kraaaaaang!]
At Hae-jin's order, Q gaped its maw wide.
Blue energy gathered in its mouth instantly.
In small form, Water Cannon was like a squirt gun, but now it condensed power and blasted a massive shot straight at the Flame Giant's head.
[Kraaaaaang!]
Splash-!
Just as instructed, Q hammered the Flame Giant's head with a ferocious water cannon.
The flames blazing across its body gradually extinguished.
Fssshhhh-.
With all flames out, the Flame Giant collapsed.
Having perfectly defeated it, Q reverted from gigantic form and rushed to Hae-jin.
Hae-jin hugged the approaching Q and stroked its head.
"Good job, Q."
Delighted by the praise, Q wagged its tail happily.
[Qing!]
After wrapping up the 85th floor battle, Hae-jin pressed on toward the 90th.
From the 86th, Flame Giants appeared as regular mobs, and upon reaching the 90th, Hae-jin saw...
"Phoenix..."