Chapter 50. Hermes (5)
"The 30th and 35th floor"s first achievement have been completed as well by the same Hero from 1,500 years ago."
"How unfortunate, Shin-nim. Luckily, the next one is… oops."
For a piece of information worth 50,000 gold, it made me feel nothing but emptiness. However, from Loretta"s "accidental" follow up, it seemed the 40th Floor Master"s first had not been taken. That was enough. Until then, I"d refrain from being too adventurous and focus on obtaining the Floor Master slayer t.i.tle. Afterwards, I could "master" the 40th Floor Master.
The only problem left to solve now was to break through the 25th floor and join Ellos and Palludia.
As the 25th floor had a mix of zombies and ghouls just like the 24th floor, I could easily get through it. However, as it also had a Floor Master room, I could not obtain a t.i.tle from clearing it. When I arrived in front of the Floor Master door, I stopped and contacted Ellos.
"Ellos, are you on the 25th floor?"
[Mm, yeah. I"m near the end. I"ll be at the "door" soon. What about you? Can you really come here on your own? We can party with you if you want.]
"I"m in front of the door. The 25th floor"s."
[… Really?]
"Really."
Ellos went silent for a while, then continued after laughing.
[I see. You are a "Hero" after all. I"ll hurry, see you in a bit.]
"Yeah."
I then contacted Palludia.
"Palludia, it"s Kang Shin."
[What? I told you not to contact me before reaching the 25th floor.]
For someone who said that, she answered extremely quickly, as if she"d been waiting. As I didn"t want get on her nerves, I only said what I wanted to say.
"I"m on the 25th floor."
[Really?]
"I don"t lie."
[… Okay, good job. Huhu, Shina you liar. As I thought, rather than you, he prefers…]
"Hm?"
I felt like I had heard a familiar name. However, Palludia said it was nothing.
[I"ve been on the 25th floor since two weeks ago! But because I was busy with my world"s war, coincidentally, really coincidentally, I couldn"t enter the dungeon for a while. My first time challenging the Floor Master will be with you. You should think of it as an honor!]
"That reminds me of the first time we fought the Orc Lord."
[Don"t bring that up! That was a long time ago. I"m no longer a little kid!]
If I looked at all the messages she sent me until now, she was undoubtedly still the same little kid. Of course, I didn"t say that to her either.
"Ellos says he"ll be here in a bit. Let"s wait for him and we can challenge the Floor Master together."
[Okay. Hey, I heard you stayed in the 5th floor for over 3 years. Are you sure your skills haven"t turned rusty? Since you"ll be in this Palludia Gren Ehuir-nim"s raid party, I won"t allow stupid, orc-like things!]
"I also climbed to the 25th floor in under a year. Palludia, you"ve heard of my Crown Prince nickname, right?"
[Pfft.]
Palludia snorted. In that instant, I felt my blood boiling.
"Don"t laugh! It"s not funny!"
[O-Orc is Crown Prince… Pfft, pff.]
"Eeeek! I"m not an orc anymore, you little kid!"
[I"m not a little kid either! Boo, boo! I"ll be the one to judge whether you"re still an orc or not, so look forward to it!]
"Fine! I"ll also be the one to judge whether you"re a little kid or not! Hmph!"
In the end, we ended our conversation after a little argument. Ah, I forgot to ask why she wanted to party with me after so long.
This childish crown princess really was unpredictable. She started an argument when we first met, she charged at the Orc Lord with just her staff because her friend was killed, and she added me to her friend list even though she seemed to hate me.
I would find out soon enough. Since I promised Palludia, it felt wrong to fight the Floor Master before I met up with her and Ellos. What should I do now?
Upon thinking about it, the answer was clear. It was to use the Event Dungeon Entrance Ticket I got from the 24th floor and clear the dungeon.
[Event Dungeon Entrance Ticket: Giant Zombie"s Attack
An entrance ticket to an Event Dungeon. If ripped in half, it allows up to two people to enter the Event Dungeon. Recommended level: 25-30.]
Looking at the description, I felt conflicted. Should I contact Palludia again? No, wait, was I high? Why would I enter a dungeon alone with that yappy little kid? With that, I erased the thought from my head. What other choice did I have? Ellos was still trying to get to the door… What about Shina? No, Shina shouldn"t even be at the 20th floor yet.
In the end, father was the only choice I had. He was the only person I could fully trust to cover my back.
"Father."
[What"s up, son?]
"What floor are you on, father?"
[I"m on the 25th. Why, do you want to party with your father? I refuse. My contribution will go down if I party with you.]
Since his reason for saying no was a roundabout way of praising me, I felt a bit embarra.s.sed. Scratching my head, I continued.
"I have an Event Dungeon Entrance Ticket."
[Hurry up and invite me to the party.]
Father"s att.i.tude took a complete turn. What fervor, greed, and initiative! Though I didn"t want to admit it, I took after him too much!
After accepting my party request, father appeared. He was wearing the same clothes as when he was in Yeungdeungpo"s Event Dungeon. The only difference was that he was wearing the bracelet he earned as reward on his right wrist.
"Oh, what an excellent spear! Where did you get it?"
"Ah, mm, a named monster dropped it."
I didn"t think he"d ask that right away! Father"s eyes sparkled at the word "named monster."
"Named monsters, I love those guys. I wish they appeared more often. They have a nice tactile feeling too, when I hit them."
"You"re probably the only one who wants to fight them because you like the feeling of hitting their flesh. Anyways, are you ready?"
"Yeah. You see, I cleared the 24th floor pretty quick and got a "One Who Dashes Through Graveyards" t.i.tle. It lets me deal 20 percent more damage to all undead monsters with physical bodies. Amazing, isn"t it!?"
"Oh, it is, father!"
I didn"t tell him I received a similar t.i.tle as well as a G.o.d"s true name. I knew how to care for father"s pride. I was a filial son, unlike my childish father!
After confirming that we were in a party, I ripped the entrance ticket in half. In an instant, the surrounding scenery melted. If Earth"s Event Dungeons could be entered through Gates, entering an Event Dungeon in the dungeon was like us being on TV and someone changing the TV channel with us still standing in place.
Eventually, the surroundings stopped warping and we found ourselves on a plain with arrows raining down.
"Uwat!"
"What"s this!?"
We quickly struck the arrows flying toward us and surveyed the area. It was a battlefield. Soldiers wearing different armor were stabbing each other with swords, while archers and magicians were attacking from long-range even at the cost of hitting their allies. It was a place where humans slaughtered humans. When I realized this, I got a dull headache and my breathing became rough.
"Snap out of it, Kang Shin! Don"t let something like this scare you! How can you become the world"s strongest if you"re so weak?"
No matter how I tried to regain my composure, it was true that I was in an incomprehensible situation. Shouldn"t I be in an Event Dungeon?
"Who are you!?"
I saw a soldier attacking me with his sword as he asked for my ident.i.ty. As I couldn"t kill another human being, I lightly parried his spear and sent it flying. The spear then landed about 20 meters away, piercing one of the corpses lying on the ground. At least, I hoped that it was a corpse. I entered an Event Dungeon, I didn"t want to suddenly become a murderer.
"Father, let"s get away from here for now. We"ll be targeted if we stay here."
"I agree."
Soldiers from both sides came after us like fire ants. We sent each of them flying as we ran. As we were like erasers making the part of the battlefield we were in empty, everyone on the battlefield began to eye us.
"Who are they!?"
"Kill them first!"
"Attack, attack!"
Even if the soldiers. .h.i.t me, they would not even be able to scratch me. However, the magicians were a different story. It was why I was quickly trying to escape this battlefield.
"Didn"t the entrance ticket say "giant zombie"s attack"?"
"Yes, it did."
"Then what"s this? Are these people even real?"
"Don"t ask me, son. Your father isn"t that bright either."
Because I felt like I was getting stupider the more I talked with father, I stopped thinking altogether. If I knew this would happen, I would have asked Loretta more about Event Dungeons. Was my intelligence not done updating? Just how rarely did I use my brain… ah, a fireball!
"Father, dodge it!"
"Eit!"
Father lightly swung his spear and shot out a shockwave. The fireball collided with the shockwave and exploded, killing the nearby soldiers.
Although a countless number of people were already dying in this battlefield, I became annoyed after finding out people had died from the fireball father exploded. I barely held in my desire to curse aloud. Although these soldiers were trying to kill us, I couldn"t help myself from how I felt.
At that moment, a message rang out.
[You obtained 70 gold.]
"… Father, these guys are monsters."
"I heard it too."
At least, I did not know any human that dropped gold when they died. Although I had faced numerous humanoid monsters, I didn"t think the dungeon would actually send humans as monsters. I suddenly felt that this Event Dungeon had a terrible personality.
"Son, they were created when we entered the Event Dungeon. They aren"t actual humans, so you don"t need to feel sorry."
"You don"t need to worry about my mental health, father. I know fully well what they are. I just don"t like the fact that I have to kill them, when they are so much like humans."
"Then do you want to get away from here first? Going by its name, a giant zombie should appear eventually."
"Yeah, let"s… Thanks, father."
"Don"t say that. It gives me gooseb.u.mps."
"Actually, I got gooseb.u.mps too from that."
As we both scratched the gooseb.u.mps on our skin, we hurried off the battlefield. Although there were soldiers coming after us like flies, we took care of them softly as we made our escape.
Eventually, we reached a place where the shouts of the battlefield became faint. It was only then that we realized how big the battlefield was. From the hill we were on, we could see the battlefield stretching out across the horizon.
In the vast plain without even a single hint of greenery, the corpses of soldiers were piled up and blood flowed like a river. Although I had seen a lot of monster corpses, they couldn"t match up to the cruel scene of humans killing other humans. We had escaped the battlefield, but the fight continued. It seemed it would not end until one side was completely eliminated. Just how many people would die here? 100,000? 200,000?
"After monsters appeared on Earth, do you think the conflicts between different countries increased or decreased?"
When I was watching this scene blankly, father asked me. After thinking about it for a little while, I answered.
"Wouldn"t it have decreased? After all, we have to fight against the monsters."
"It increased. Countries that shared borders began fighting as they claimed that the other country should be responsible for cleaning up the monsters that appeared on their borders. Countries that had low military strength, but high-valued monsters, were invaded by stronger countries for their monsters, and the ability users of the weaker countries then joined to fight against the invaders. Although it did not lead to full scale war in most cases, there are places where small conflicts expanded into much bigger ones."
Father went silent for a bit, then continued.
"Human greed draws blood of other humans. This much hasn"t changed. I won"t tell you to do something stupid like trying to stop it, but become stronger. Otherwise, you"ll be swept away by human greed one day."
"Of course. I plan on becoming the world"s strongest."
"Your father will still be the world"s strongest."
"It will be me!"
There, we had a minor battle. I had come to add another win to my name.
Chapter 51. Hermes (6)
It was only after about two hours that the situation changed. At that time, father and I were roasting some pork belly over a hot grill. Although the soldiers on the battlefield looked and acted like humans, after we realized they were monsters created by the dungeon, we stopped caring whether they killed or partied with each other.
"Father, why do you have pork belly in your inventory? Nom, nom."
"Gulp. Don"t you know? If you put meat in your inventory, it"ll be fresher than if you stored it in the most high-tech refrigerator! You can store it right after you cut it for maximum freshness!"
"Ah, I"ve tested that before too!"
I used the same principle when I bought Yua a hamburger. I see, so that"s why father carried around meat in his inventory! Although I frequently ate my meals in the dungeon, I had never thought to bring meat. As expected of a dungeon explorer of 27 years! So he didn"t just hunt orcs for 20 years!
"Here, have a drink."
"Oh, I should really be the one to fill your gla.s.s."
After exchanging some soju, we joked around as we talked. Suddenly, however, I felt a gaze on me.
"Father, did you notice that?"
"Eh? Notice what?"
I"ve thought this for a while, but father really did have weaker senses than me. I asked Peika who was sitting on my head drinking drops of alcohol from her mini elemental-sized cup.
"Peika, can you go survey the area?"
[Hmnya? Master, what"s a sumvay?]
"Ah…"
"That"s not even a word…" I realized Peika was immobilized. I didn"t know that elementals were weak to alcohol. It was my mistake. I had fallen for Peika"s cute plea of asking me for a juice she"d never seen before!
While I was distracted by the Peika"s drunk appearance, the gaze watching us had disappeared. It seemed father had finally noticed something as he was looking around, but it was too late.
"Hm, was it the zombie?"
"Maybe it was an wild animal that wanted some meat."
[Masteeeer! What"s a sumvay!?]
Of course, I didn"t think it was nothing. Even so, there was nothing we could do now except continue eating meat. As such, I decided to just let things be. Also, Peika, sumvay isn"t a word!
The twilight had pa.s.sed and night time approached.
Father was the first to sleep, and I stood guard. After three hours, father got up and I slept. When I got up after three hours of sleep, it was still middle of the night. Under the dark, starless night sky, only a pale moon was lighting up the world.
It seemed the soldiers didn"t want to fight at night, as both sides had returned to their camps. However, the corpses of the dead soldiers were still on the battlefield. The nose-piercing stench of blood had permeated the battlefield and was even reaching where I was.
"It looks like those corpses will rise."
"Of course. Where else would zombies come from?"
Keeping our eyes on the cruel battlefield, we snacked on some instant ramen. I realized that partying with father kept making me eat things. Usually, people ate less as they aged, but father always had something in his mouth, saying that a martial artist must eat well. With this habit following him into the dungeon, his inventory was most likely filled with food.
Once I started focusing on the dungeon, I didn"t like to eat anything before I cleared a floor. As such, it was a bit hard to match father"s style. Peika, on the other hand, seemed to like ramen noodles, as she happily ate the ramen one noodle strand at a time.
[This is yummy. It doesn"t exist in the Spirit Realm.]
"Eat lots."
[Master, I love you!]
When I patted Peika on the head as she slurped more ramen noodles, father interrupted.
"What have you been talking to since a while ago?"
"I told you, I became an Elementalist."
"Can I adopt one too?"
"Elementals aren"t pets."
"Ah, three got up."
"Don"t count elementals like… what?"
"Three got up."
I turned to face the battlefield. Under the moonlight, the once dead were rising. We could notice because of our heightened senses from level ups. It would take a while before each camp found out.
Father asked, "What do you want to do?"
"Hunt them, of course. I hate being backstabbed… so!" Answering father, I threw my spear into the darkness. I didn"t have enough time to use Spirit Aura, but Heroic Strike was still activated. With its radiant white light, it flew through the air like lightning. It was much faster than before. I was surprised as I did not know the 15 percent speed increase applied to thrown weapons.
"Kuk!"
[You obtained 1,500 gold.]
"Beldon died!"
"Those guys found out!"
"Kill them before they kill us!"
Immediately afterwards, I pointed my hands toward where the voices came from and ordered Peika.
"It"s already too late! Peika!"
[Thunder Blast!]
After gulping down the ramen noodle in her mouth, Peika shouted as she shone with a golden light. A bolt of lightning as thick as my arm shot out from her body, lighting up the darkness.
"The shield!"
"Kuk, the shield magic got broken!"
"An elemental? Who are they!?"
Immediately after I called Peika, I grabbed the Silver Spear from my inventory and charged forward. Thanks to Dash, my running speed was incomparably faster than before. My aim was the crowd in the distance whom I suspected were the ones responsible for making the zombies.
Father and I had both noticed them at the same time we noticed the zombies. There were five… no, four of them, since one of them had already died. They all had black hoods draped over their heads and were carrying small wooden staves. They were the extremely small kind that magicians would carry around to hide their ident.i.ty. With all the clues in front of me, I figured they were black magicians.
"S-Shield isn"t enough to stop him!"
"d.a.m.n it, r-run!"
"We should have been under stealth magic!"
They might have been able to deal with us if they immediately used magic, but instead, they panicked and hesitated. It could just be that their chants were too long or that they didn"t have the materials needed to cast magic. However, that was none of my business.
"W-Wait! Even if you kill us, you can"t stop what"s happening!"
One of them shouted in a high-pitched voice. It was a woman. However, since I had already decided to kill them, their s.e.x did not matter. They were monsters. They were monsters.
Right. They were monsters.
"If we don"t kill you, what are you going to do to us?"
"Of course we"d kill—"
"Elemental Tempest!"
[Kukuku, owner of a strong power calls me.]
[Destruction. Flowing blood amidst ear-splitting screams. That is what I want.]
[He tore apart the black magicians. He"s just my type!]
Because of the place I was in, the elementals coming to a.s.sist me were all dark. Hopefully, they wouldn"t be weaker because of it. My spear was shining with black light from the elementals. I thrust forward, and a storm swept through the entire area.
"Darkness Arrow! Kuaaaak!"
"S-Shield! Kuk!"
Elemental Tempest was a skill that gravely injured even the Floor Masters. Some random magicians couldn"t possibly block it. Three of the black magicians failed in their attempts to block Elemental Tempest and were instantly torn to shreds. Although it was only for a moment, my eyes caught sight of a rather gruesome scene.
d.a.m.n it. I had used Elemental Tempest to kill them quickly, but I ended up seeing something unsightly. It was a good thing that the monsters that died in the dungeon disappeared into thin air, only leaving behind their loot and not their remains.
"Kuhak! Haa, haa… d.a.m.n it, so strong…!"
Coincidentally, the black magician, who had talked to briefly, was the only one who managed to escape the range of Elemental Tempest. It seemed she gave up trying to block it with magic and instead gave her all in using her legs to run. Even so, she could not completely dodge it. Her hood was ripped apart and her back was severely injured. Coughing up a mouthful of blood, she opened her mouth with great difficulty.
"Cough, Odd Winged Ravens" dream won"t end in a place like this…!"
"Odd Winged Ravens?"
"T-That"s right. From this war, we will make the world know of our exist…"
"Ah, okay. Well, goodbye."
I cut off her head with my spear. I just had to beat the Event Dungeon. I didn"t really care about the detailed lore. As if to prove she was a monster created by the dungeon, she became particles of light and scattered into the air.
[You obtained 2,000 gold.]
[You obtained Odd Winged Ravens" Journal.]
[You succeeded in sweeping the mastermind! Points will be added to your final clear score.]
I picked up my Black Earthen Spear as I spit on the ground. Nauseating things were nauseating no matter what I told myself.
"I feel disgusted."
"That"s normal. They talked like humans too."
"But they"re monsters, right?"
"Yes, they"re monsters. So don"t worry about it, son."
I felt much better with father"s rea.s.surance. Although I didn"t expect much from him before entering the dungeon, I was thankful now that he was here. He truly was reliable.
I didn"t say my thoughts out loud. Between a father and son, it wasn"t necessary.
I had also realized something important. Event Dungeons were cleared when their boss monsters were killed. However, we received a message saying that points were added to our final clear score. In other words, the Event Dungeons" clearing process was also important.
I wondered if it would have been even higher if we went wild in the battlefield. However, I stopped thinking about it, as it was too late.
Instead, I opened Odd Winged Ravens" Journal. It showed how much they hated their countries, the things they had done and what they planned to do in the future. I skimmed through most of the information and looked for the part that helped explain the current situation. With luck, I thought I might find a way to further increase the final clear score.
Yes, it was there.
"There"s only one thing left to do then. Huk!"
At the same time I tried to change the subject to alleviate the morbid mood, I turned my head to the battlefield and couldn"t help but gasp seeing the zombies getting up one by one. Both armies had realized what was happening, but the number of zombies was increasing too quickly for them to properly respond. In the end, the commanding officers of both armies had led their soldiers into a night battle.
"Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds used black magic on our comrades in arm!"
"Kill them! Let our comrades rest in peace!"
"Guooooo!"
"Oh no, it"s too late."
The magicians swept the zombies with a large-scale magic, and the foot soldiers began to fight afterwards. What were they thinking? Unless they were like me or father, they would become zombies the moment zombies even scratched them! The commanding generals who would send their soldiers out to battle in a situation like this couldn"t be sane.
It turned out, the commanding officers really weren"t sane.
After reading the journal a bit more, I found out that the black magicians had not used black magic on just the corpses. They had already made their moves on the commanding generals. Being able to affect the higher ups of both countries meant there were spies infiltrating both governments. Surprisingly, this Odd Winged Ravens might be a pretty large organization.
Of course, I didn"t really care about all this. I simply wondered if stopping their plans would net me more final clear score, but it seemed it was too late.
The soldiers were fighting each other, and zombies interrupted and bit them. Slowly, the number of zombies on the battlefield was growing. I trembled as I watched what was taking place on the battlefield. What I was witnessing was surely worthy of making me feel fear. However, a fear-shattering voice then reached my ears.
"When is the giant zombie going to appear?"
"Father, I really respect this side of you."
Father was stretching his legs like he was unhappy he missed the chance to fight the black magicians. He was almost like a puppy waiting for someone to say "catch!" My tension died along with it.
"Wow, what are they, c.o.c.kroaches? They sure are multiplying fast."
"They"re seriously creepy. I feel like there are bugs crawling all over me."
In the blink of an eye, the zombies were overwhelming the humans. The knights who knew how to wield mana and the magicians seemed to have noticed something was wrong, as they had long since escaped the battlefield or had returned to complain to the higher-ups. However, the zombies were rising from their camps as well.
Realizing that the commanding officers became zombies who could only make groaning noises, the knights and magicians blasted their mana and slaughtered the zombies. The problem was that there were just too many zombies. In the end, most of them ran away after realizing the situation they were in. Now, only ordinary soldiers were left on the battlefield. They were simply food for the zombies. By now, there were more than 100,000 of them. When I was feeling nervous about the sheer number of zombies, father spoke up.
"Let"s see. Every two or so drop an average of 70 gold, so that"s 35 gold per zombie. Since there"s two of us, I divide that by two… which means 17 gold per zombie. So if I kill them all, that"s 1.7 million gold. That"s 340 million won! That"s an expensive necklace for wife and even solves Yua"s marriage fund. Ooooh, son! This place is a gold mine!"
"That"s what you"re thinking of in this situation, father!?"
I cancel what I said about him being reliable! This person didn"t have a moral dilemma in the first place!
Chapter 52. Hermes (7)
We ran to the battlefield. Other than the black magicians we took care of, there didn"t seem to be anyone hiding in the shadows. Although we ran into some of the knights escaping the battlefield, they became startled and ran away without talking to us.
[You obtained 80 gold.]
[You obtained 72 gold.]
"Mm, I really like the floors where zombies appear. There are more monsters than usual. Maybe I should grind a bit more on the 25th floor…"
While shouting things like "Yua"s education insurance…" or "residential home loans…" father sliced the zombies apart. It seemed he was planning on buying a building in Gangnam1.
In any case, I also joined in. Even if there were 100,000 zombies, we were killing about 3 every second, meaning 360 zombies were disappearing every minute. I didn"t exactly want to calculate how long it would take to kill all 100,000 zombies. I a.s.sumed it would take about 5 hours.
"Guooo."
"Guo what!?"
"Guooo!"
"Like I said, guo what!?"
"Son, is your head okay?"
"This is just my habit. I can"t do much about it after all these years!"
I responded to each zombie as I crushed their heads. Father and son, a spearman duo drew a future of hopes and dreams as they slaughtered their way forward. They were terrifying even in my eyes. Then, I realized I was one of them and despaired.
"Peika!"
[Thunder Bomb!]
A spherical ball of lightning that Peika casually threw out exploded dozens of zombies in an instant. Taking care of the remaining zombies, we ran through the path Peika created. It was toward the direction of one of the camps of the warring countries. I wanted to look for any remaining members of those odd winged b.a.s.t.a.r.ds just in case, and father was following me.
"Tempest!"
"Kyaaak!"
"Shockwave!"
"Kuaaa!"
Even our weakest skills could easily destroy the zombies, so it did not take long until we took care of all the zombies in the camp. I then went inside the camp"s largest tent, where I was able to find what I was looking for.
It seemed the black magicians never thought their journal would be stolen, as they had recorded everything they had done to both camps in their journal.
The commanding general of this camp apparently liked to drink red tea mixed with brandy. Thus, the spy they planted had gifted him a high-cla.s.s brandy cursed with some black magic. Just by drinking it, the black magicians would be able to control him whenever they wanted. What I found was this cursed brandy.
[You retrieved an item of the Odd Winged Ravens. Points will be added to your final clear score.]
"Let"s go to the other camp as well!"
"You"re saying we should go through that battlefield infested with zombies?"
"Of course."
We took about 30 minutes to slaughter our way through the battlefield. In the process, we had killed about 10,000 zombies. Just like in the other camp, we cleaned up the zombies in this camp and found the cursed item.
[You retrieved all of Odd Winged Ravens" items. Points will be added to your final clear score.]
"Whew."
Hm, what was this mysterious feeling of accomplishment? I was wiping sweat off my forehead like a farmer that had just finished harvesting all his crops. It was then that father let out an exclamation of surprise.
"Ohhh! Look at that, son!"
"Yes? Huk!"
In the middle of a hill that had become a battlefield for the zombies, something was rising. Just whose corpse was so big? Would the t.i.tan from the myths even be that big? In front of our eyes, a 7-meter-tall giant zombie was roaring.
[GUOOOOOO!]
[The boss monster of Giant Zombie"s Attack, the Giant Zombie has appeared! Defeating it and clearing the dungeon will grant special rewards!]
When the Giant Zombie raised its huge arm and slammed down on the ground, the tremor even reached where father and I were. At the same time, the shockwave annihilated hundreds of zombies. I couldn"t help but be touched by the sight.
"What an epic team kill…"
"d.a.m.n! Let"s hurry, son. He"s going to steal all the gold!"
"You"re probably the only one who can say that after seeing what just happened, father."
I was sad. I didn"t like hunting monsters for the sole purpose of earning gold, but it was the opposite for father. I a.s.sumed that"s why he so easily registered as an ability user. Although he had not started being active, with his awakened ability and fame as a martial artist, he would become well-known in no time.
[GUOOOOO!]
"Uh, father, he"s looking this way."
"Does he want to have a staring contest?"
[GUOO!]
"He"s picking up a few zombies."
"Is he going to eat them?"
Wrong.
Instead of eating them, he threw them at us as if they were stones. With an incredible speed no less!
"Run, father!"
"That crazy b.a.s.t.a.r.d is literally throwing gold away!"
"Just dodge!"
[GUOOOOO!]
Father and I were now the only living humans in this battlefield. The Giant Zombie seemed to like living people more than dead ones, as he ignored the zombies nearby and ran toward us. Thundering booms rang out as he took each step, and any zombies he grabbed on his way were thrown at us like stones. Then, in response to the Giant Zombie"s attack, the tens of thousands of zombies left on the battlefield turned their attention toward us.
However, that was not what I paid attention to.
"Wow, look at all the team kills he"s doing while running here."
"Kuk, 2,100 gold just disappeared in his hands!"
Crack, crack! More zombies were crushed under the Giant Zombie"s feet. No matter how slow it was, with its enormous size, almost a dozen zombies died every time it took a step. I instantly thought I could use the Giant Zombie to easily kill the zombies.
"Father, do you want to hunt the Giant Zombie and clear the Event Dungeon, or do you want to avoid it and hunt more zombies?"
"Of course, we have to hunt more zombies! 100,000 or 200,000, it makes no difference to me!"
"Alright, then I"ll aggro the Giant Zombie. Father can go to the opposite side and hunt the normal zombies."
"Got it."
Father and I split up. After confirming that he was running to the camp on the opposite side of the battlefield, I shouted as I ran toward the Giant Zombie.
"I"m here, you idiot! How can you catch me with that slow body of yours!?"
[You used the skill, Provoke! You draw nearby enemies toward you!]
[GUOOOOOO!]
Along with the zombies near me, the Giant Zombie fixed its eyes on me. After sweeping through the normal zombies with my Black Earthen Spear, I grinned.
"Hmph, you think that"s enough? To satisfy me, you"ll have to bring at least 3 times as many zombies!"
[You used the skill, Provoke! You draw nearby enemies toward you!]
[You mastered low-rank Provoke! Your words become more effective in drawing enemy"s hostility.]
[You learned mid-rank Provoke! You can let your voice reach an even broader area, drawing even more enemies toward you. It becomes easier to provoke enemies with high intelligence!]
"Provoke became mid-rank!"
At the same time that Provoke"s rank went up, the hostility of zombies piercing into me became completely different than before. The Giant Zombie was also running towards me without a shred of hesitation. Tremors rang out for each step the Giant Zombie took, which was like a human being running in slow motion. With each tremor, more zombies were killed.
"Good, good, keep coming!"
I started walking leisurely. The ordinary zombies couldn"t even scratch me. When one of them stuck itself on me, I grabbed him and swung him around, sweeping away the incoming zombies. After a little while, the sky became darker, forcing me to look up. There, I saw the Giant Zombie looking down at me with its eyes full of maggots.
The dungeon"s genre was definitely horror. It was like seeing a 3D movie, but in real life, not in a theatre. The Giant Zombie was also much more intimidating up close.
That said, it was still a zombie!
"Catch me if you can!"
[GUOOOOOO!]
I know, I also wanted to do this with a cute girl, not some 7 meter tall giant zombie! But what other choice did I have? Father wanted to hunt more zombies, and I wanted to clean up this battlefield crawling with zombies. It was because I had a strong feeling that I would receive another bonus if I killed all the zombies.
Killing the Giant Zombie would be easy, but the Event Dungeon would end if we did. I suspected that father and I were the only ones who would refuse to clear an Event Dungeon for such a reason.
[GUOOOOO!]
"If you want to complain, do it after you catch me! Tempest!"
I had no intention of letting him off of his crime of using humans (though they became zombies) as weapons. I used Tempest after Tempest, as I gulped down lowest-grade Mana Potions.
After running around like that for two hours, I became exhausted. I must have killed at least 10,000 zombies by now. When I looked from above to check the current state, the battlefield had become quite clean.
In the distance, I saw father gathering up and hunting zombies. I turned around and saw that not many zombies remained in the path the Giant Zombie was taking to run. It seemed it was time to end this game of tag!
"Peika, take care of the zombies that are still alive."
[I would need a lot of mana. Is that okay, Master?]
"Yeah, you can take it all."
I gulped down a Double Mana Potion, which restored my MP by 2,000. It was worth 3 million won, so I couldn"t help but shake my hands as I drank it.
From another perspective, it was only worth around 100 zombies! Since growing as a dungeon explorer, I thought I became quite generous. I finished the 3 million won potion in an instant. It tasted like orange juice.
[GUOOOO!]
At the same time, the Giant Zombie swept up the few dozen zombies that were left and put them in his mouth. It seemed he was also exhausted from chasing me around for so long. Once Peika began burning up the zombies, the Giant Zombie let out an angry growl and began looking for other zombies to eat. It was truly a stomach churning sight.
For some reason, however, something felt off with the scene of the Giant Zombie eating the zombies. It didn"t feel like something it did on impulse, but something that had been planned. Regardless, I took care of the zombies nearby quickly. The Giant Zombie tried to stomp on me in anger, but he was hopeless to catch me.
"Father, if you"re done, come help me!"
"I"m already on my way!"
Father was running toward me while blasting away the few zombies that remained with his shockwaves. I was slightly astonished by how much his skill had grown. However, I became frozen soon after from the message I received.
[Subquest complete! You exterminated all the zombies in the dungeon. Giant zombie absorbed 5.8 percent of the dungeon"s zombies.]
[With low zombie absorption, Giant Zombie fails to evolve into Giant Ghoul! Giant Zombie loses control and transforms into Flesh Golem.]
[Guooooo!]
"Wow."
I let out a short exclamation of surprise. After it finished eating up the zombies in its vicinity, the Giant Zombie faced the sky and roared.
"Ah, a rotten tooth is falling off." I quickly dodged, and the tooth crashed down with a boom, forming a crater.
"Whew." I sighed internally as I realized I almost got crushed by a tooth. If Loretta asked how I died, I would have been too embarra.s.sed to tell her.
In the next moment, the Giant Zombie"s other teeth fell off like raindrops. Not only that, its skin peeled off, its maggot-filled eyes, fingernails, and the few strands of hair all fell off. To me, there was no other disaster like it. Not only were they dirty, but if they were to hit me, I was sure I would take a huge amount of damage. I trembled and quickly escaped the premises.
[GUOOOOO!]
"Ah, I wish I could blur it out…"
[I"m back, Master! What"s next? That guy?]
"Yeah, I don"t want to be here anymore."
I was tired and cold from the late-night game of tag with a Giant Zombie. Infusing Peika into the Black Earthen Spear, I glanced at the Giant Zombie that had turned into a Flesh Golem. The slight resemblance to a human that it had before was now gone. Its outer skin had melted, revealing its veins and black rotten flesh. I felt an unprecedented appet.i.te for destruction from its indescribably disgusting appearance.
[KUOOOOOO!]
However, it was fast and strong. With speed that made it hard to believe it was once the Giant Zombie, it struck the ground with its fist. At the same time, the earth trembled and I received damage. Kuk, it was the same as Lizard Knight"s earthquake attack! With that in mind, I flew up. However, the other dungeon explorer here, my father, had a different reaction.
"Shock Absorption, Shock Reflection!"
"The h.e.l.l is that!? So cool!"
Father stood his ground and received the Flesh Golem"s attack. Then, he thrust his spear forward, shooting out a shockwave that was on a completely different level from his usual shockwaves. The shockwave flew forward and struck the Flesh Golem"s arm. Although it looked cool in a way, I couldn"t help but frown at the sight of Flesh Golem"s flesh exploding out and scattering about everywhere.
[KUOOOOO!]
"I"m coming too!"
If I simply stood still, father would rack up contribution points. I couldn"t let that happen. Resolved, I charged at the Flesh Golem with my lightning clad Black Earthen Spear. When it tried to lift the arm that had a huge crater from father"s attack, I jumped above its forearm and shouted.
"Talaria!"
A very affluent area in Seoul. ↩