Posted on mobile. I will edit the layout later on.
《What have I slain?》
"Boss, these monsters are too tough," said Philip, exhausted.
His eyes rested on the orc that Haroon just killed. Recalling how tough the fight was, that the orc didn"t even seem to get tired no matter how many times he attacked, his body shook with fear.
"Let"s take a rest and heal ourselves with potions before the other orcs rush in. We"ll be in big trouble if that happens."
On Haroon"s words, Philip retrieved the bag that he hid behind the rocks in the corner, took out some potions and handed them to Gitan and Ritrina. Those two were exhausted as well. Ritrina"s hands who were receiving the potion, were shaking hard from her lack of strength, as she had been fighting in her berserker mode.
Haroon went to the corpses and cut off their lumps, then he headed to the other entrance. Teeno happened to return at the same time.
"How"s the situation?"
"Nothing is going on, fortunately. I think the sound didn"t get out of this place as the pa.s.sage is bent three times."
Teeno"s words relieved Haroon"s worries.
"That"s fortunate, since everyone"s exhausted. Okay, and anything special about this dungeon?"
"If what I saw and a.s.sumed is right, the dungeon has a circular shape overall, and was built by digging out the dirt. Generally, the dungeon consists of four sections that are separated by the square near the central area. Each section has a maze-like pa.s.sageway and rooms located to them, all in a whirl-like pattern. Unlike the other orc tribes, it seems there are more female orcs than male ones, seeing how they formed a family-like social system. Multiple families are living in every room that is divided by dirt walls, and every pa.s.sage has narrow paths that are connected to the central square."
Haroon imagined the path of the dungeon as a top-view maze. It looked like a maelstrom.
"These orcs are remarkable."
They were truly intelligent. They had never heard of orcs that were capable of architecture. The party was surprised to hear from Teeno"s words that the orcs built the whole cave instead of using a naturally formed one.
"I"ve never seen such a tribe in my whole life. They have built their residences like humans, and seeing how they have blackened holes with ashes that looks like furnaces, they know how to utilize fire. They are very intelligent."
Teeno seemed frightened by what he had observed.
Of course, there are some races of orcs who became influenced by humans, and are living a cultured life. But most of them were field orcs, and their appearance were more of a human nature rather than orc-like.
It was common sense that an orcs’ intelligence was equivalent to, or less than a 10 year-old human, despite the fact that they"re stronger and more wild than them. That was why the orcs were not settling at one place, because they were not capable of farming, but were hunting or raiding villages.
But these orcs were different. Utilizing fire already meant that they have a high intelligence. Thinking of how Philip was having trouble dealing with an orc considering how his level was similar to it, it was frightening to think that there were countless numbers of them in that cave.
"Let me rest for now. Then I’ll think of what we should do next."
"As you wish, Boss."
Haroon looked around. Then his face darkened.
Philip, Gitan, and Ritrina were sitting against the wall and resting with devastated expressions on their faces. Serinn finally got up after Hall’s treatment, and was now sitting beside Hall who just entered meditation.
"Here, gather around for a second."
Sitting beside Serinn, Haroon called the other three. They slowly stood up, and shambled over. Even though those three had already recovered from their wounds with the help of potions, they were suffering from low morale, knowing how weak they were compared to the orcs.
"I suppose defeating the lump orcs by ourselves is a bit too much to ask."
Those words made their faces bright once again. They must have been afraid of Haroon insisting on clearing the dungeon, as they were frightened by the lump orcs’ strength and combat ability.
"Let"s retreat for now, and come back when we"re capable of clearing this dungeon."
"Wise choice, Boss."
"Let"s get out of here!"
Everyone welcomed his choice, even Hall. The difficulty of this dungeon was way higher than they thought. Moreover, they had no intentions of staying in a monster dungeon, since it didn"t have any valuable treasure anyways.
"Teeno, lead the others and head out of this dungeon. I’ll scout this place a bit more for later."
On his words, his members started packing up and headed toward the outside, but Teeno objected.
"It’s too dangerous, Boss. I know what you are capable of , but this place is……."
"I know, Teeno. I"m only scouting a bit to plan ahead for next time."
Following his order, Teeno headed outside with the others. Haroon smiled back at Teeno who kept looking back, worried, and headed inside.
"This is the best place to regain Brat"s ability and help it to evolve. I can"t give up this chance. I can always use its poison if I need to."
He only had 5 antidotes left, so he couldn"t summon it unless it was necessary. He simply felt that it would be a waste to miss such a chance to evolve him. With messenger walking, that his body has now internalized, Haroon went deeper and deeper.
One of the features of Messenger Walking is that the steps don"t make any sound. Absorbing the mana and diffusing it makes the body lighter, and the process also absorbs the sound, so it was a great skill to utilize while scouting.
Like Teeno said, the pathway from the toilet to the residential area was bent three times. That"s probably why the noise made from the fight couldn"t make it to the outside. The wall was studded with glowing stones at head-height, so the cave wasn"t dark at all.
"They are intelligent enough to make these kind of things?" He thought.
As he reached the end of the pathway, a large place came into sight. Like how Teeno said, there was some kind of square in the middle, and the large place was divided into four sections. There were buildings made out of dirt that were used as residential areas and some other purposes. Haroon could hear the sound of bashing metal objects, and he could see some large buildings that are presumably used as warehouses. These orcs do live like humans.
Haroon could hear some orcs having a conversation, and it was not far from him.
"Woah!"
Surprised, Haroon hurriedly climbed the wall near him. Although the wall was quite high, it wasn"t refined smoothly so there was a lot of things to grab on. To avoid getting caught, Haroon climbed over the glowing stones.
"Huh? What"s this?
The wall further up from the glowing stones was still in darkness, and the wall near the ceiling was still not polished, so there was a lot of solid places to rest on. They probably didn"t bother to smooth out the ceiling.
Looking from above, Haroon could see two lump orc warriors hurriedly heading toward where he was.
"They must be going to the toilet."
Seeing how they were not armed, waddling toward the toilet with their hands grabbing the belly, Haroon doubted if these guys really were the lump orcs that he just fought with. But without hesitation, he took out some throwing knives, making sure not to make any sound. He had to be extra careful as the lump orcs’ senses were sharp.
As soon as the orcs pa.s.sed the point right below him, the knives left Haroon"s hand silently. He was using multi-shot.
"Some might call me a coward, but I have no other choice."
The knives. .h.i.t the back of the orcs" heads. With a short scream, they staggered and soon collapsed on the ground. Haroon hurriedly headed down and dragged the bodies to the toilet.
"d.a.m.n! That was d.a.m.n heavy."
Their bodies were a lot heavier than he thought. After cutting off their lumps, Haroon dumped the bodies into the hole. He had to give up on their leathers.
"What do I do now? Do I retreat and come back later? Or do I want to make a play right now?"
He didn"t have his members to help him, but he detested the idea of giving up this chance. He wanted to regain brat"s ability and evolve him now if he could.
"Well, let"s finish this for now. I"m running out of antidotes anyway."
Making up his mind, he headed back to the entrance where his members would be waiting for him.
The members and Hall were resting against the wall near the entrance. Unlike the inside of the dungeon, the darkness has drawn over the outside.
"Let"s rest for now."
The members were so exhausted they weren"t interested in what Haroon had found inside the dungeon, and they slowly started moving, doing what they needed to do to prepare a good meal and a good place to sleep. They made dinner with the deer meat they hunted the day before, and finished their meal with a cup of tea. Haroon let his members and Hall rest, and went back into the dungeon. The Quad w.a.n.kers fell asleep right away after the dinner, but Hall and Teeno stayed awake to see him off.
"They must be coming to the toilet as this is after their dinner time."
Haroon was intending to sneakily attack the ones that would come to the toilet. Although he wouldn"t be skinning the leathers, getting the lumps was enough for him.
And his a.s.sumption was right.
The orcs were flooding into the toilet. Haroon waited for the perfect moment where the orcs would be lowering their guard to their lowest, but he soon changed his mind.
Because the orcs kept coming in continuously, Haroon once got found by the orcs. If it wasn"t for his skill to integrate brat into one of his throwing knives, the whole plan would have failed.
Haroon went back to the place where he hid when he went scouting. It allowed him to make safer choices when attacking the orcs. As the orcs were going to the toilet from their residences, their guard was already low, so there was no chance they would sense Haroon"s throwing knives.
Once he killed an orc, he quickly dragged it to the toilet, cut off the lump and pushed it into the hole. To avoid getting caught, Haroon opened up some holes that had an excessively foul smell, and used Brat"s elemental magic to spread the smell.
As Haroon"s actions were very careful, and as it was the time that most of the monsters would be sleeping, no orcs had noticed that something terribly wrong was going on around them, until Haroon had almost gotten enough lumps.
"Just one more."
Dragging the heavy dead bodies of orcs and summoning Brat so many times made him feel very tired. Although he regained health and mana with help from potions, he couldn"t do anything about the mental exhaustion. When he was planning to get just one more lump, a giant orc"s silhouette came into sight.
"It"s the Orc Chief!"
Its size was twice as big as the other lump orcs, which was as big as a young ogre. It was wearing luxurious armor, self-made or stolen from humans, and it had 3 lumps on its head.
"The h.e.l.l? Does this one sleep while wearing gear on?"
Haroon was perplexed. It was even wearing a helmet made out of gold, spiked gauntlets and boots.
"There"s no way I can kill it with my throwing knives."
It was only exposing its face and the front of its neck, which was not a place he could hit from above. Even a raid leader could deflect his throwing knife, so there was no way his knife could make it to its face if it was thrown from a place where it can see him.
While Haroon was thinking of which move to make, the Orc tribe chief pa.s.sed where he was at. Then it suddenly stopped and made some kind of moan. It lowered its body and inspected the ground. The orc tribe chief had found the trace of blood and the trace of something being dragged over the floor.
"s.h.i.t! Now all I have is Brat"s poison!."
Haroon summoned Brat on stand-by mode and told it of his intention.
– "Brat, I need some kind of sleeping poison"
– "Leave it to me, Mas!"
As if it knew its owner was doing hard work for it by even deciding to give up his time for sleep, it followed his order without the bratty behaviour it used to make.
The Orc Tribe Chief seemed to be sure that something had went very wrong, and took out its waraxe. Oddly enough, the axe was not shining at all, but its sharpness was frightening.
It was fortunate that it hadn"t called the other orcs yet. It was not known if it was not sure of what was happening, or if it was being overconfident in its abilities. If it had called the other orcs, it would only be a matter of time until Haroon and the pa.s.sage in the toilet was found.
While the orc chief carefully went around the corner, Haroon summoned Brat by voice, trying to be as quiet as he could.
"Summon."
Brat quickly followed the tribe chief. As soon as the UI sound alerted of the poison status effect, Haroon quickly took an antidote. He could hear the orc chief shouting.
[You have been feared by the Orc Tribe Chief. You are stunned for 3 minutes. Your ability is decreased by 20% for 5 minutes.]
Stunned for 3 minutes from just hearing its shout? This boss monster was way more frightening than he thought. But it seems that the skill was not only affecting him. He nervously looked over the dungeon, but there was no sign of anything moving.
After 3 minutes, Haroon jumped down from the ceiling and headed toward the pa.s.sage. Although it was a large place, it was an enclosed area so the Orc Chief"s shouting was echoing around the cave.
He needed to run away as soon as he could.
After turning around the corner, he could see Brat spraying something over the Orc Chief. Presumably some kind of sleep-inducing materials.
The Orc Chief was covered in the fog, but it wasn"t falling asleep that easily. Instead, it was swinging its axe around, and surprisingly enough, its axe was covered in a mana-blade.
"It is a prime-expert?!"
It was capable of using mana on the blade. Though its level is high, Haroon didn"t even imagine it to be able to use mana. He dropped his jaw.
It was shocking to know that not only was it physically strong, it was able to use mana like the knights. This was valid proof that the lump orcs are intelligent and havehigh abilities.
"It"s too dangerous! Come back!"
The Orc Chief was not even able to open its eyes because of the fog, and it was swinging its axe around chaotically, which put Brat in danger. Although no normal weapon could damage an elemental spirit, a mana blade was dangerous enough to harm it. Making a creepy smile, Brat flew back to Haroon.
"Hehehe! I thought you didn"t like me as all you do is beat me up……."
It made a rather nasty smile. Brat was in a good mood as it realized that its owner actually cares about it.
"How did it go?"
"Well, it"s still resisting my poison as its level is high, but it"ll fall asleep in no time. Hehehe! The material will spread inside its body even faster since it moves so much."
Just like what Brat had confidently said, the Orc Chief fell asleep soon after. Hesitating for a second, Haroon bit his lips and took out his steel sword. As the orcs would have heard the Orc Chief"s shouting, the orcs would be rushing toward him any time now. Though he didn"t like how he was killing it when it couldn"t even resist, he put all his strength on the sword and cut its neck.
The Orc Chief died in vain while sleeping, not even being allowed to scream.
[You have slain the Orc Tribe Chief.]
[You have leveled up by 8!]
[You are rewarded with 300 gold!]
[You have gained 200 Fame.]
[You have gained 50 S.P.]
[You have been granted the rare t.i.tle of "Lump Orc Slayer". As a reward, All of your stats have gained 2 points.]
[You have acquired an item.]
[You have acquired an item.]
Even before the UI sounds finished, Haroon took out his catrat knife. Though he would get poisoned from using it, there was no need to worry as he already took an antidote.
Haroon removed the helmet from its head, and removed the lumps. No other weapons were sharper than his catrat knife, and it cut off the lumps with ease. After putting the lumps in his inventory, he quickly moved to run away, but soon, he changed his mind.
"Welp, I can"t leave these items behind."
He started looting the dead body. He removed the golden helmet, the spiked gauntlets, and the armor that covered its entire body. Though the dead body was almost too heavy to even flip over, the thought that these items would bring him some money made him feel lighter.
"Huh? What is this?"
While cutting the chains that connected the armor parts with his catrat knife, he found a leather pouch near its chest. He wanted to check its contents, but there was no time for it. Haroon just shoved the items into his inventory.
Fortunately, he had enough time to finish all of that before the orcs came. He could hear the orcs" footsteps echoing behind him. It seemed like the orc chief"s shout had stunned its hench-orcs as well.
Haroon quickly returned to the toilet and went through the pa.s.sage he came from. Before he left the toilet, he covered the pa.s.sage with boulders. Just in case the orcs chased him.
Before he reached the exit, he stopped and caught his breath, then he summoned Brat.
""Sup, Mas?"
Its voice was as high as it could be, and was full of loyalty, which he had never heard before, but he had to finish this quickly.
"Well, do whatever you can with these! Is there anything else you need?"
"This should be enough. Mas, I really appreciate it. I’ll do my best when evolving."
Its voice was shaking with happiness.
"Just do something about that poison. How am I supposed to summon you like this?"
"Well, I"m really sorry about that but I can"t do much about it. They are not just poisons but a combination of all polluted materials so even if I evolve, I don"t think I can do anything about it……."
It really seemed sorry about it. Haroon gave up on expecting something.
"Nah, never mind. I’ll just have to get some poison-resistance item or some kind of skill related to poison."
"But when I evolve, I’ll be able to use intermediate elemental skills as well, so I promise I"ll help you a lot."
"Yeah, you better! How long will it take, though?"
"About a week."
"At least I hope your appearance will be more likeable. Well, it doesn"t need to be likeable but just not uncomfortable."
"You got it, Mas. Look forward to it!"
Smiling, it went back to his inventory. Seeing it positioning in the center of the lumps, Haroon took out the items he"d newly acquired.
"Right! My status!"
He was looking forward to it as he had leveled up several times.
"Holy s.h.i.t! 15 level-ups?!"
Ma.s.sacring the lump orcs made him level up 15 times after leaving the Viscounty of Paros. Haroon distributed the bonus stats equally to his 6 basic stats. And proudly, he looked at his status window.
***
Name: Haroon
Race: Human
Cla.s.s: Swordsman
Level: 37
t.i.tle: Mercenary Guild Leader (and 6 others)
H.P.: 1,510
M.P.: 1,540
E.F.P.: 500
Strength: 57(+15) Stamina: 48
Intellect: 32 Wisdom: 50
Luck: 42 Agility: 45(+12)
Endurance: 18 E.S.P.: 14
Focus: 24 S.P.: 183
Fame: 1780 Leadership: 465
Fire Resistance: +10%
Magic Resistance: +10%
***
Haroon checked his items as well. First, he checked the items that he acquired by killing the orc chief. One was a skill book, and the other one was some sort of weapon. It seemed that he got swordsman-related items since he was one.
***
Crazy Sword (Intermediate Skill Book)
It is a skill book about an intermediate, sword-related martial art named Crazy Sword. The caster falls into a berserk mode that increases their normal ability by 2~10 for a limited time. Extreme pain follows as soon as the skill ends.
Requires 100 S.P. to learn.
Duration increases by 3 minutes per skill level.
Ability multiplication is proportion to the skill level (1:2).
Requirement: Level 40 swordsman, and mastering one basic swordsmanship technique.
***
"Well, this is for Ritrina, I suppose."
Ritrina was a born berserker, so this skill would be perfect for her.
Haroon"s eyes shone brightly as soon as he checked the other one.
"WHAT?"
It was a set of thin, almost-transparent throwing knives. There were 4 in total.
***
Ghost Blade set
Cla.s.s: Unique
The crafting material is not known. But seeing how it becomes invisible when thrown using mana, it may have been made out of the beak or claws of an ancient monster called Ghost Wyverns. These special knives become invisible when the owner puts mana in them, and are sharp and durable enough to cut steel. Retrievable.
Requirement: mana user.
***
"This is it!"
He finally got an item that he could use. Although he couldn"t use them for now, they were exceptionally good items which he can utilize once he learns to use mana. Who would be able to easily detect blades that were invisible like a ghost? Moreover, it was durable enough to cut or penetrate steel, exactly what Haroon was looking for.
The happiness that the Ghost Blade Set brought him simply blew away his mental tiredness. While celebrating, he checked the items that the orc warchief had.
***
The Lump Orc Chief"s Helmet.
Cla.s.s: Rare
The helmet that represents the head of an orc tribe. It is made with a combination of gold and mithril, and a unique spell from the lump orcs. Inflicts fear to weak monsters.
On equip:
Wisdom +5%
Opponent"s ability is decreased by 10%
Durability: 95/100
Armor points: 141/150
Equipment Requirement: 40 Wisdom
The Lump Orc Chief"s Armor
Cla.s.s: Rare
Made with gold, mithril, scales from white wyverns, and a unique spell from the lump orcs. Inflicts fear to the opponent.
On Equip:
Party member"s loyalty is increased by 100 points
Charisma + 10
Durability: 165/200
Armor Points: 245/300
Equip Requirement: 50 Strength
The Lump Orc Chief"s Boots
Cla.s.s: Rare
Made with wyvern"s leather, feathers, bones and a unique spell from the lump orcs. Mana users can stay in the air for a limited time.
On Equip:
Agility +5
Stays in the air for 3 minutes on cast.
Durability: 115/120
The Lump Orc"s giant War axe
Cla.s.s: Rare
The giant war axe that represents the head of an orc tribe. Made mainly with mithril, and contains a strong unique spell from the lump orcs".
On Equip:
Increases ally"s fighting will by 10% and decreases enemy"s will by 10%
Weight: 110 lbs
Attack Damage: 300
Durability: 280/300
Equipment Requirement: 50 Strength
Power Gauntlets
Cla.s.s: Rare
Made with steel, mithril, and black bear claws with Dwarven technology. The spikes are made out of wyvern"s claws that are known to be able to break steel. Induces fear to the enemy.
On Equip:
Strength +10
Fire, Magic, and Poison Resistance + 10%
Durability: 100/140
Attack Damage: 150
***
Haroon couldn"t say anything. Though there was no one to talk to. He just stood there dumbfounded for a while, and one string of thought went through his head.
"It has 5 rare items equipped, and it drops a unique item and an intermediate skill book? What have I slain? This is, like a n.o.ble orc!’
Haroon smiled strangely.
"Once we escort Hall to her destination, I"ll be staying at this place for a while. If this place has these kinds of monsters, it"ll be enough for me and my members to level up until level 60. Moreover, these monsters are full of items! Now that"s what I call hitting two birds with one stone."
Haroon"s eyes sparkled looking back into the cave, where the 300% item drop rate was waiting for him.
To Be Continued
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Footnotes:
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Editor"s notes:
Channy_: Haroon clearly doesn"t know how to play video games. Who distributes bonus points equally to every stats?!
Welp, Two big announces!
1. We"ll be releasing the chapters on Friday afternoon(PDT) from now on.2. I know I said this before, but starting with volume 4, I"ll be re-translating the first 18 chapters (Finally!), and we"ll let you know in this comment section when those are finished. My translation speed and quality is getting better and better, so now I can spare more time to work on it.
As always, I really appreciate Tom and Kmatt"s a.s.sistance, and you should too! They are doing an amazing job by quality checking these. You"ll be shocked to hear (and I am shocked to see) that my translation gets 200+ edits before it gets released.