Hyper Luck

With the air getting increasingly heavier, we did not exchange a single word as we went deeper and deeper. Not a single person in the party took a heavy breath.

It was because the noise from below was getting louder.

Being unable to see during the journey down the spiral staircase had made me nervous.

As we reached the end of the 4th staircase, we began to search for the next staircase in a hurry. However, all we could find was an open space that seemed to be the plaza and no staircase.

"Is this a dead end?”

Guile whispered to himself as he looked around the walls. I also looked around for a path while paying close attention to the huge hole in the middle.

I wandered through the pitch-black seemingly endless darkness with my two eyes.

After a while, I was finally able to spot two sources of light in the distance.

Those two lights would flicker once in a while. Tilting my head in curiosity, I put my focus on the sources of light.

Then I realized that those weren’t some sort of embers nor were they lights reflected by gems.

The lights I found weren’t all of them. Two other small lights suddenly appeared next to the first two lights.

Likewise, the light began to rise two by two at regular intervals. The light seemed to be looking at me. No, they were definitely looking at me.

Of course.

The flickering lights were their eyes.

And soon,

"Grrr! Krgh!”

A heavy, unpleasant sound echoed through the entire space desperately. It felt like my heart sank down.

Everyone behind me had their faces hardened like icicles in the snow.

From the depths of the darkness, a sound of movement began to come out.

Then I started hearing music playing around my ears.

The monotonous drumbeat heard in time with a certain beat was telling me only one thing.

You are fucked.

The first person to break the silence in our party was Sharan.

"Everyone get in position!”

At her shout, Swordsman took the lead and covered me, Guile took the position behind me.

Sharan quickly climbed the stairs with incredible elasticity, like a cat jumping over a wall, and settled near the upper floor.

From above, her voice mixed with astonishment and excitement resounded through this space.

"S-so many of them! These things…! They’re all trying to climb up the wall!”

As soon as she finished speaking, a ray of light rose from below.

The ray of light rose to our eye level and exploded like a firework, cleansing the darkness around us in an instant.

And we were able to spot dozens, no, hundreds of lizards climbing the wall towards us.

The levels displayed above their heads were manageable, but seeing hundreds of them with red letters above their heads enough to fill my field of vision was really disgusting.

Then, on the right side of vision, a golden text appeared announcing a quest update.

[ Removal of the harmful animal colony in the mines of De Munt Hill ]

Commuds: 0 / 1586

?: 0 / 1

At the same time, Guile's cracked voice came out, filled with astonishment.

"F-Fifteen… hundred!?”

Before all the despair at the end of those words could even escape, Swordsman struck the floor with the shield pulled from his back.

"Guile! Get yourself together!”

At his resolute shout, Guile gritted his teeth and pulled out an old, gilded bell from his inventory.

"O, Sharke the God of Sound, With my humble hand I play a musical note you have made, please protect us!”

Guile shouted as quickly as he could with a trembling voice and carefully rang the bell in his hand.

Soon the singing sound of iron cut through all the other noises and sharply wet our ears.

< Ringing of the little bell of the Berrywood Cathedral’s effect is activated. >

< +2 HP regeneration per second >

< All speed increased by 8% >

< Duration: 60 minutes >

Words passed through my sight. This was an item with a pretty good buff effect. Continuing his actions, Guile pulled out the Shiny Stone from his inventory and clearly illuminated our surroundings.

In the brilliance, several Commuds hanging from the wall were caught screaming and falling down. Each of them had arrows embedded in their bodies.

Sharan was already fighting the battle.

[ Removal of the harmful animal colony in the mines of De Munt Hill ]

Commuds: 7 / 1586

?: 0 / 1

We were all mesmerized by the sight of Sharan taking out Commuds, who had those ugly scales and ferocious muscles, one by one with each arrow.

"Sharan!”

I shouted in a loud voice while looking above where she was.

It was hard for me to think that the Commuds would die in one arrow when they reach the even ground, so dropping it with an arrow when hanging from the wall was a sure and efficient method of taking them out.

"You are going to have to take them out while they’re still hanging on the wall even if it takes all of your arrows!”

"Okay!”

Sharan shot an arrow as she answered my voice. There was a small barrel that she was carefully crafting back inside the carriage attached to the arrow she shot.

The moment the arrow hit the wall it exploded with sparks from the inside. A purple smoke started to spread around the arrow.

And the Commuds passing around the purple haze fell powerlessly.

[ Removal of the harmful animal colony in the mines of De Munt Hill ]

Commuds: 37 / 1586

?: 0 / 1

I turned around to shout at Guile as I checked the quickly rising number of Commuds taken out.

"Guile! The light coming from that stone! Can you control the brightness?”

"Yes!”

After confirming Guile's response, I explained the plan ruthlessly based on the visual acuity endowed by the stats and the countless simulations that happened in my mind.

"Maximum output! We have to take the aggro Sharan is bringing!”

"Okay!”

Guile put the stone in his arms, crouched down, and began to cast another spell.

Soon enough, the Commuds who reached the square where we were standing began to attack, armed with weapons sharp enough to retain light.

At this, Swordsman who went to the front screamed a war cry in a great spirit.

"Kiai!”

Swordsman clenched his teeth so tightly that his jaw muscles were visible above the skin, and swung his shield toward the face of a Commud, who was the first to run at him.

Slam!

And that Commud was sent flying with a piercing sound. However, there were still dozens of other Commuds running towards us.

As I confirmed the numbers of my enemies in slow-motion, I carefully closed my eyes and grabbed the hilt of my blade on my waist.

As soon as I confirmed the heavy power that filled my whole body, I pulled out my sword.

I refined my will to fight as I spun the golden blade of my sword.

Swordsman skillfully knocked out two Commuds and took a step back and shouted.

"All the aggro on me!”

"Is everything okay downstairs? I don’t think you can hold all of them by yourself, Mister! They’re stronger than they look!”

I heard Sharan’s voice from above. Soon, the dozens of Commuds that went past Swordsman started to run at me with their thick legs stomping towards us.

I stepped in front of Guile who swallowed an empty nervous gulp and took the deepest breath I could possibly take.

"Hmph!”

And opened my eyes as hard as I could with my breath kept in my stomach.

The muscles of the two arms holding the hilt became so tight as if all the blood in my body were pumped into those muscles, and my legs were pulled tight like that of a jaguar catching its prey.

Firstly, I leaped as hard as I could at a Commud that was running at me.

I passed through it as I cut it in half, and ran straight to the others following him in a single momentum.

***

Guile swore to himself that this time it would be different, however, the moment he saw the amount of Commuds presented by the quest, he felt like he was blown away.

Swordsman was already surrounded by the countless amount of Commuds, and Mose pulled out his blade without a single word.

In such a situation, Guile could not control his trembling chin and took a few steps backward.

However, if there was one thing that was different from before, he at least had the will to fight against them.

He carefully put strength to his grip on the sword.

He was willing to fight even if the outcome of the battle was uncertain. So he took a step forward.

That was when he saw Mose leap towards the enemies as he swung his golden blade in his hands.

And after that,

Guile had to search for Mose who suddenly disappeared from his vision, busily looking around with his eyes wide open.

He had his eyes on Mose until he leaped into the air with the force that left cracks on the ground.

However, he lost track of him after he’d cut the Commud he ran into clean in half.

But!

He had to stare at the scene that unfolded before him, even forgetting the fact that he was in a battle.

The Commuds rushing at him were cut and fell like dominoes one after another, screaming and spitting blood before falling to the cold floor.

Guile was finally able to spot Mose only after the dozens of Commuds who had passed by Swordsman all collapsed in the blink of an eye.

"Oh my god…”

Guile realized it right at that moment.

That Mose was a tremendous being that far exceeded his imagination.

* * *

I wasn’t out of breath at all. With light movements and steps I continued to slash down those lizards. Their corpses were covered in black smoke, and the cores of small spheres spewed out one after another.

I went through a pile of cores on the ground and swung my sword again at the things attached to Swordsman.

I had already cut down half of the Commuds clinging to Swordsman by the time I finally took a breath.

I was worried that he might have already passed out but contrary to my concern,

He was smiling.

With a single shield and a sword, he was enduring as he did back with Black Mountain.

"You seem very tired right now!”

A silly joke leaked out of my mouth before I could realize, as soon as my worries were resolved.

Swordsman smiled softly and raised the corners of his mouth at this joke.

"I ain’t even started yet!”

After a moment, he jumped up from his spot and slashed a Commud that had climbed up the cliff with all his might.

I too leaned on his back and followed up and slashed the Commuds that were holding us from the back.

However, the number of Commuds was beyond our imagination.

Sharan shouted in shock.

"Th-there’s just no end to these things. They’re still climbing!”

She was still shooting down the lizards that were climbing up the wall with her arrows despite her voice filled with astonishment and horror.

Swish—! Thud!

"Gaargh!”

She didn't forget to shoot her poison arrows in the places where the lizards were crowded from time to time.

And soon after, I realized that the number of Commuds climbing up the cliff and besieging us started to increase more than the Commuds that Swordsman and I were cutting down.

I was confident that I could cut down no matter how many of them kept coming, but it was clear that Swordsman was getting more and more tired.

"Damn, sorry for being a deadweight.”

"You got my back. You don’t have to say something like that!”

This kind of frivolous conversation was going on between Swordsman and me. Of course, hidden in this triviality was a solid trust towards each other.

"Cha!”

The battle started again with the battle cry from Swordsman, but it didn’t last long.

"Mister!’

It was Guile’s voice. I was too absorbed in the fight that I failed to pay attention to what was happening behind my back. A blunt curved sword was lodged in his shoulder.

"Ugh… You goddamned lizard!”

Nevertheless, Swordsman replied with a heavy swear word from his mouth, got up with a battle cry, and cut the throat of the Commuds that stabbed him.

And Guile too managed to defeat the three Commuds that surrounded him with all his might.

I clenched my teeth.

It was time to change up my blade technique.

The one useful for dealing with large numbers of enemies.

Attoria’s Swordsmanship!

I spread my legs wide and put some strength on my shoulders.

The technique was a relentless one that spread the blade wide like a rainbow after the rain and cut down everything in its path.

Then, I cut down five Commuds that were surrounding Swordsman.

< You have successfully defeated 100 monsters. >

< The effect of Attoria’s Stigma is activated. >

< You are now able to use  Disastrous Flame: Solar Storm skill! >

"Guile”

I looked at Guile and shouted. Guile put his head up and looked at me.

"Go run towards the direction that Swordsman is! Mister! You still have some strength left in you to hold the shield, right?!”

He showed his thumbs up while bleeding all over his body, replying to my shouted question.

Guile began to run frantically through the Commuds with almost a screaming shout.

He clenched his teeth and ran, and immediately hugged and lifted Swordsman.

At the same time, Swordsman completely covered himself and Guile with a huge shield despite the injury on his shoulder. So I hurriedly slammed my sword into the ground and knelt down on one knee.

The Commuds rushed at me madly around me who was left alone,

And at that brief second,

"Sharan! To the corner!”

I shouted, and intense red flames started swirling around me.

* * *

Swordsman almost let go of his grip on the shield as he made a mistake due to the sudden, tremendous heat.

However, at that moment, Guile managed to support the bottom of the heated shield in an instant with his bare hands.

Smoke soon rose from his hand, and Guile let out a choking scream, but never lifted his hand from the shield.

"You…!”

Swordsman shouted at Guile, but he only clenched his teeth and supported the shield.

And at that moment, Guile and Swordsman couldn't help but open their eyes wide in amazement at the change that happened in their view.

Because the number in their pop-up window located on the right side of their vision had gone up at an unbelievable rate.

< Commuds : 241 / 1586 >

< Commuds : 348 / 1586 >

< Commuds : 511 / 1586 >

< Commuds : 861 / 1586 >

The firestorm that engulfed the Commuds with incredible speed did not last long, however.

Swordsman carefully withdrew his shield by the time Guile couldn’t feel the intense heat from the shield on his burnt hands.

The plaza was charred in black.

The corpses of the Commuds were all turned to ashes, leaving only the numerous small cores.

Swordsman found a figure walking slowly from the middle of the smoke rising among the ashes.

Dressed in ashen gray armor decorated with shoulder shaped like the mane of a lion that seemed to move and flutter by itself like the tail of a flickering flame,

It was Mose.