Chapter 122 – Hazing (3)
Translator: Seven
Editor: Ana_Banana
(TL: Just a quick note at the start, the name for this chapter(which was broken up) has been changed to ‘Hazing’ because I found this to be more appropriate after considering some things that will be said in this chapter. The word is the same, it was only my interpretation of it that was different from the author’s)
What was the most important when hunting 30,000 monsters?
There were many important things.
Physical fitness was important, mental strength was important and proper rest as well as sufficient food supplies were also important.
But if they were asked what the most important thing was, all players would respond in the same way.
“You must never get surrounded by monsters.”
And that was not being surrounded by monsters.
In truth, there were not many cases of the players being surrounded by monsters in ordinary dungeons.
If you were to take the players personal abilities into account, then it was still possible for them to break through the perimeter if they were surrounded.
“Keep in mind. There are at least 30,000 monsters here.”
However when the number reached as much as 30,000 it can no longer be considered ordinary and as such the way of thinking also had to be changed.
The moment you separated from other parties then it was possible that you would be practically surrounded by monsters.
“So it’s important to stay with the other parties.”
So the most important thing when hunting 30,000 monsters, was to maintain a certain distance to the other parties.
“Even if it’s slow. It’s best to move with the other parties. If you go ahead on your own…it’s over.”
There was no player among those who entered the second floor of the Golden Lion dungeon who didn’t know that.
Naturally, as soon as they entered the dungeon, they had come together and made an agreement to do the aforementioned, so that there would be no hesitation.
Of course, not everyone followed the agreement.
The clearing of the first floor of the dungeon was so sudden, that the players were scattered all over the place, in some cases even their life and death was an uncertainty.
“I don’t see Isaac Ivanov.”
Isaac Ivanov was one of them.
“The West group said that they don’t see Isaac Ivanov, how about you?”
“It’s the same for the East group.”
“If there are no words coming from the North group then he’s probably not there either.”
Isaac Ivanov could not be found anywhere.
“If he was here, he’d definitely stand out…”
Moreover, because his style of combat was extremely noticeable, people’s interest in him was naturally higher.
“Was he left on the first floor?”
“Ay, that’s not possible. It’s Isaac.”
“Isaac Ivanov even cleared dungeons that no one was able to. He couldn’t possibly die on the first floor.”
Of course, no one thought he was dead.
“He might be isolated somewhere.”
“The first floor clear was so sudden, so it’s definitely possible.”
They simply thought that he was so far away that he couldn’t join the group of players.
“In that case, he’ll have a hard time.”
“Then this is a proper hazing.”
“3 Floor dungeons are very different from 2 Floor dungeons. This will be a good lesson for him. If he can survive at least.”
So everyone believed that Isaac Ivanov would have quite the spicy hazing as his initiation into attacking 3 Floor dungeons.
Their thoughts were not completely wrong.
As they thought, Isaac Ivanov’s party was quite the distance away.
The distance was that instead of going toward the group, they were instead moving farther away to where the monsters were most active.
Kuuk!
Kuack!
And they were advancing at an incredible pace.
It was astonis.h.i.+ng.
Kim Woo-jin and Lee Jin-ah moved deeper into the monster infested area, slaughtering the monsters at a pace that seemed to exceed common sense.
Rattle!
What made this possible were the Skeleton Soldiers and Skeleton Knight which were buffed by Berserker energy.
The soldiers and the knight were killing all the monsters with one hit while disregarding any damage they received to their bodies.
Kyaah!
Among them, the skills showcased by the Skeleton Knight were the most eye catching.
The Skeleton Knight, which had higher defense and stats than the other skeletons, was not easily damaged.
This was because the Skeleton Knight had better combat abilities when compared to the other skeletons.
If regular Skeleton Soldiers had about 30% of Kim Woo-jin’s fighting sense, then the Skeleton Knight had 50% or more.
Considering Kim Woo-jin’s abilities, such a difference was actually quite noticeable.
Unlike Kim Woo-jin, the Skeleton Knight was not afraid of death so it easily threw itself into battle.
It would be strange if the hunting speed was slow.
Their blitz-like hunting soon acc.u.mulated a large number of kills.
[The effect of Ruler of the Battlefield has been stacked to the maximum.]
And as the number of corpses piled up, the skeletons began to exert more and more frightening power.
‘This must be how Johann Georg felt.’
It was the moment when the King of Undead, the unstoppable monster, was recreated through Kim Woo-jin.
‘It’s not enough.’
But of course Kim Woo-jin wasn’t satisfied with just this much.
In the end, even the King of Undead couldn’t kill Lee Se-jun, so it was impossible for him to be satisfied with just a similarity.
That’s why Kim Woo-jin swung his whip. (TL: oooh kinky)
“Lee Jin-ah.”
“Huh?”
“We’re going deeper.”
“Deeper? How?” (TL:…after my joke…this conversation became more…)
Instead of answering the surprised Lee Jin-ah, Kim Woo-jin instead brought out the Book of the Dead and summoned one of the sealed skeletons.
The Sawtooth Wolf Boss’ skeleton soon appeared.
When he saw the skeleton wolf appear, Lee Jin-ah spoke with a tired expression.
“No, do you really need to go deeper? I think we can just hunt here, don’t you?”
Kim Woo-jin replied in an even tone.
“You have to pay for all the choco pies that were gifted to me.”
“H-, how?”
When Kim Woo-jin said that, Lee Jin-ah’s expression became one of fear instead.
“As soon as we entered Yeouido Park I heard hundreds of screams about choco pies, it would be strange if I didn’t realise it.”
“Th-, that! It was Oh Se-chan who took it! I didn’t want to eat it, but he threatened to kill me if I didn’t, so I had to hold my tears back and…you know me don’t you? I don’t really like sweets…ay, f.u.c.k.”
Lee Jin-ah who was making excuses soon shut up.
“That was ridiculous.”
Even Lee Jin-ah knew that that excuse was ridiculous.
“Fine, I’ll fight. I’ll fight beside that Skeleton Knight, it’s such a monster.”
After saying his excuses, Lee Jin-ah climbed onto the back of the skeleton wolf and shouted loudly.
“Let’s goooo!”
At his cry, the skeleton wolf began sprinting toward the battlefield.
It was at that moment.
[Your level has increased.]
Kim Woo-jin heard a notification in his ear telling him that his level had risen.
However Kim Woo-jin ignored the notification. He intended to follow Lee Jin-ah onto the battlefield.
Therefore Kim Woo-jin did not show any change of expression when he received the good news of a level up.
[The Emissary of the Underworld is happy with your performance.]
[The Emissary of the Underworld has bestowed more power unto you to encourage you to keep performing.]
[The rank of the Skeleton Knight skill has increased by one.]
[The rank of the Ruler of the Battlefield has increased by one.]
[The rank of the Skeleton Warrior Mastery skill has increased by one.] (TL: here the author only put ‘skeleton mastery-???? ????’ instead of ‘skeleton warrior master-???? ??? ????’ so I think they just omitted the warrior part since there is no ‘skeleton mastery’ skill in the whole novel. I’ll put the status for skeleton warrior mastery below.)
However Kim Woo-jin’s face was forced to change when he received the notifications that came after it.
With a light smile, he turned to look behind him.
‘I should prepare to meet the guests.’
…
Pak!
Like firewood, the heads of all the monsters that were facing a player who wielded an axe, were split in two.
There was no sign of struggle at all.
Pak!
“Hng”
The Crazy Dog, Chun Dao-ming showed the monsters exactly why he was famous.
The eight men who entered the dungeon with him also showed their competence as they swiftly handled the monsters.
Everyone played their part as they created a stage for Chun Dao-ming to go crazy without restraints.
This was the reason.
“It feels like someone is pulling the strings.”
Chun Dao-ming had time to form other thoughts in his head.”
“Pulling the strings?”
“No matter how I think about it, the first floor was cleared too quickly.”
“Weren’t they just lucky?”
“It couldn’t be. Even if you were lucky enough to find the Red Eyed Orangutan, you would observe it for a while first before attacking it. That’s what I would do. Wouldn’t you?”
“Huh?”
Unlike the others who were focused on their fights, Chun Dao-ming had the time to think, and during that time he became convinced.
“Someone deliberately killed the Red Eyed Orangutan to make the situation more urgent.”
“But why…”
“Maybe it’s because they don’t want to lose their prey.”
As he said those words, Chun Dao-ming sat on the broken corpse of a monster and used his axe to tap on it.
Pak! Pak!
It was something he did when he was troubled.
In his head, he remembered the conversation he’d had with that person before they entered the dungeon.
There, Chun Dao-ming and two others were given information about Isaac Ivanov.
‘There’s at least three compet.i.tors.’
For this reason, Chun Dao-ming believed that there were at least three people who were targeting Isaac Ivanov.
His calculations weren’t wrong.
There was always a fisherman at the other end of the bait and it was very likely that the person who gave them the information was the fisherman.
Chun Dao-ming had the ability to figure out at least that much.
‘No, compet.i.tors are fine. If they don’t pay attention, their heads might get smashed. Isaac, let’s see if I can hunt you or not.’
Of course there were differences.
“Hey, who do you think would win in a fight between Isaac Ivanov and me?”
“Of course it would be you, boss. This is his first time in a 3 FLoor. It would be strange if he could compare to the boss.”
“Right, then let’s catch him first instead of worrying.”
Usually, people with such a mindset would proceed without hesitation compared to those who would carefully consider.
“We’ll hunt him down and get the item and if those other b.a.s.t.a.r.ds show up then we’ll kill them as well.”
There was no sign of doubt in Chun Dao-ming’s voice as he said those words. But it was not arrogance.
‘If I can’t, I’ll just take out the Dragon Sword.’
It was self-confidence that was based on hard evidence.
“Well, let’s go help with the hazing ceremony. We’ll show them just how terrifying 3 Floor Dungeons can be. Unlike the first floor, this floor can’t be cleared suddenly.”
Chun Dao-ming’s lips stretched into a smile.
(Note:
[Skeleton Warrior Mastery]
-Rank: C
-Effect:
-Enhance the abilities of summoned skeletons and increase the number of skeletons that can be summoned. The effect increases as the skill rank increases.
-Skeleton Soldier stats increase by 20%
+14 summonable Skeleton Soldiers.
This was the last status for this skill that we were given but it is possible that it was ranked up one more time…I can’t exactly recall. Keep in mind this also doesn’t factor in the effect of the plus ring.
Kim Woo-jin is so lucky, people come all the way from the USA and China to give him weapons.)