chapter 401
401 – Soloing (2)
I expanded my senses and looked around first.
The sense value exceeded 200 and the detection range increased to 8km.
As the range increased, the time to grasp the information also increased, so the senses were not currently being invested.
This dungeon is a multi-story structure consisting of a first floor and a basement.
Class B dungeons are much larger than before, so it usually takes 2-3 days to clear them.
However, I decided to cancel the summon and bring back Yeonhee as soon as she finished exploring the dungeon, so there was no need to focus on clearing it.
‘It’s definitely wide.’
There were many monsters like Pierce Big Boar and Red Goblin near the entrance, but you’ll have to hurry to meet new monsters.
Seogeo-eok──!
– Pierce Big Boar has been defeated!
– Han Zialing has been defeated!
I only killed Big Boar and Hanja Ling along the way.
In particular, just one Big Boar can feed Yeonhee and her colleagues for several days, so I felt reassured every time I caught it, so I couldn’t miss it.
Twenty minutes to travel like that.
‘It’s been a while.’
A huge stone statue named Living Statue captured my senses.
It was a humanoid stone statue made of gray stone. It had ten arms on each side and a very large head compared to the body.
The height has reached 4 meters, and the width is close to 2 meters, making it feel like I have met a small tank.
A guy standing alone and looking up at the sky.
They always greet us with that attitude. Like a believer waiting for a revelation from God that will never come.
Although he is immune to physical attacks, I took out my greatsword as usual.
‘Is cutting through space included as a physical attack?’
Now I’m going to check it out.
The reason why [Stealth] Is a fraud is that I can launch a refined attack. The enemy is unprepared and must allow my attack to proceed.
[Empty Cham (空斬) type flame slash]
Seogeo-eok──!
──?!
‘It works as expected.’
I nodded with satisfaction after neatly splitting the statue’s head, which was thick enough to have no discernible neck, by about 20 cm.
Drurrrr!
As soon as it was attacked, ‘Living Statue’ immediately launched a counterattack.
As I attacked and lost my hiding, huge fists flew at me from various directions.
This is a dungeon where physical attacks inflict significant damage.
There was no need to test my defense here.
Huuuuung──!!
A huge swing passes by my face, enough to make my body float in the air due to the wind pressure.
‘···It’s very fast and powerful. If you get hit, your defense might break through.’
If it had been before my job change, I might have narrowly avoided it, but since my abilities had increased significantly, evasion wasn’t difficult.
As I easily dodged the attack, the statue’s eyes flashed.
‘I have to take this once.’
– Strong magic resistance neutralizes [Curse of the Stone Statue]!
‘This is just as I thought!’
I was elated when I confirmed that the magic resistance I had gained after defeating the great evil Vinci Monk was functioning properly.
The ability that [Calmness] Possesses is resistance to mental abnormalities, and I was not sure if it could even block the magical ‘curse’. Now, those worries are gone.
Grumbling─
After being hit by a weapon that shouldn’t have been hit, and even having the curse neutralized, even the stone statue carved with an indifferent expression had its face distorted hideously.
Thump thump thump!
He put pressure on me with his overwhelming physical strength.
However, I jumped high in the sky to avoid the stone statue that was running towards me, and while floating, I sprinkled [Special strong acid] On its head.
When he receives magic damage, he has the characteristic of converting a certain percentage of the damage into recovery of health and magic power, so he did not use any other skills.
The statue was not very intelligent, and it spun around in place and glared at me.
It looks a little cute to look at the sky without paying attention to the falling mountains and rivers.
Chieeek──!
‘As expected… Strong acid is not magic, so the recovery effect does not seem to be activated…’
However, perhaps because the base was stone, the effect was not great.
Although the surface was dented little by little, it took time to treat it this way.
I tied him up with [Chains of Flame] And heated up the stone with [Flame Thrower].
Then, as I poured Irmana water on the red-hot head of the statue, cracks began to appear on its body, starting with the face that was split during the first attack.
‘This is a little better.’
[Cicolorene]
Powong─!
When a blade of water was thrown at the crack, the Living Statue collapsed.
– Killed the ‘Living Statue’ for the first time!
– The attribute [Kleptomaniac] Is activated!
– The characteristic [Power of the Stone Statue] Has been acquired!
– The achievement [Pioneer] Is activated.
– All abilities increase by 1.
[Power of the statue]
– Damage received from magic -15%
– Whenever you lose stamina due to magic, stamina and magic power are restored by 10.
‘Wow, that’s a really good trait?’
Any ability that reduces damage is likely to be highly regarded, but a whopping 15% damage reduction was truly amazing.
– Acquired the skill [Curse of the Stone Statue]!
– The achievement [Pioneer] Is activated.
– All abilities increase by 1.
[Curse of the Stone Statue]
– Consumes 50 magic power to curse enemies who evade physical attacks.
– Puts a localized part of the body into a ‘petrified’ state for 1 minute.
‘It consumes a little more magic power, but it’s a good skill. It’s a little unclear what the standard for avoiding my attacks is?’
Drurrrr!
‘Oh, are there any additional guests?’
As soon as one guy was killed, other statues that had been standing still began to flock in.
‘It will take some time.’
Huge stone statues that attack each other in pairs.
Buuuuu!
‘This is a bit difficult!’
It’s not a big deal if you fight him one-on-one, but he’s so strong that it takes a long time to kill him, and the more he gathers, the longer the delay gets.
– ‘Living Statue’ has been defeated!
– ‘Living Statue’ has been defeated!
– Obtained the Absorbing Rune (Advanced)!
After killing seven more, I left because I didn’t want to waste any more time.
Absorbing Rune (Advanced)
– Recover +5 magic power upon killing an enemy
I exchanged the advanced level of Absorbing Rune that one of them dropped with the intermediate level that I was already wearing.
After retrieving all the small jewels dropped by the statue, I was moving again and found a party led by the woman I had seen before entering the dungeon.
Eun Hyun-sook, nicknamed ‘Mace of Madness’, lightly carried a mace as large as her body on her back and was making a group of Pierce Big Boars into a slut partner.
‘The power is still great. Same goes for that awesome mace. But why did you enter the Living Statue Dungeon? It’s hard to kill them with a mace… Ah, there’s an enchanter next to you.’
An enchanter who temporarily grants magical properties to weapons.
If that person sticks by her side and demonstrates her abilities, physical tank Eun Hyun-sook will be able to perform well worthy of the nickname ‘Mace of Madness’.
‘It’s my first time seeing it up close, but that mace… It had good options.’
Sometimes, while exploring a dungeon, there are people who have a rare chance of finding a treasure chest and being lucky enough to obtain a unique weapon. Eun Hyeon-suk said that.
Unique weapons are equipment that cannot be passed on to others and are ‘completely owned’.
When the wearer dies, it evaporates, so it cannot be coveted.
As I remember, that mace is a wonderful weapon whose destructive power and throwing speed increase in proportion to strength.
It was a perfect weapon for her with the physique of a heavyweight fighter.
Huung- Huung-
Puppuppuppuppeep—!
I couldn’t help but hold out my tongue as I watched the bizarre sight of five big bores turning into blood clots at once.
‘That’s amazing.’
Even for today’s country, it won’t be easy to avoid that mace.
Of course, it would be even more difficult to block it without causing damage.
‘Are you saying that the current dungeon situation is not so good that even people with such extreme tendencies are forced to come down…’
In many ways, it was a time of suffering for low-level people.
I kept a reasonable distance from her.
Eun Hyeon-sook possesses a detection-type ability called ‘Reveal Bane’, and that ability has the power to identify beings that are potentially a threat to her.
This ability is usually found in wizards, but she was a special case in many ways.
When she infiltrated the underground factory of the Evolutionary Water Organization, she detonated a bomb to evade the wizard with that ability.
I didn’t know exactly what range Eun Hyeon-suk’s Rebel Bane would reach, and I couldn’t figure out whether she had enough power to detect my stealth.
‘So, let’s go safely. Because today’s goal is skill.’
When I climbed up to the sky and looked down, I realized that I wasn’t the only one avoiding Eun Hyun-sook’s party.
Dozens of other parties were all moving away from her to avoid her.
‘It’s a nuisance.’
But it is inevitable.
Because she has an annoying personality that is highly likely to start an argument when she meets another party in a dungeon.
I flew slowly and landed toward a place where there were no people and where the monster I was targeting was.
Calm─
In this place where only the sound of insects rustling and the sound of flowing valley water filled the space, a unique monster was located.
In order to check his abilities, I disarmed him and stayed still.
Then, after about 5 minutes, he pretended to leave, activated stealth, and returned to his original position.
When I returned, I saw that the moss-covered stone next to the tree was shaking and changing shape.
‘Oh… Your appearance is impeccable. Even though he is a lowest-level doppelganger, is he that good? The level of monsters has definitely risen.’
They have a habit of hiding by imitating the surrounding environment or animals, and then attacking when prey appears.
However, when he sees hunters who are especially good at using magic, he can’t resist imitating them, and even sneaks into the party and causes trouble. The reason has not yet been revealed.
The doppelganger, who changed his appearance to resemble me while wearing flame armor, took a fresh look at his body
It seemed like my body was quite pleased with me as I nodded my head slightly and jumped around in place.
The guy looked in the direction I disappeared and started walking in that direction.
Perhaps because he can’t copy sounds yet, he walks silently without making any sound.
I was a little amazed when I saw that.
‘Juana Eunyoung could be fooled, right?’
People with a relatively less bright sense of spirit could certainly be deceived by their appearance and become angry.
‘If an ordinary doppelganger is at this level… The variant won’t be a problem.’
Since I figured out the doppelganger’s skills, I ran straight towards him and swung my sword.
Seogeo-eok—!
“─?!”
When the head is cut, countless tentacles sprout out and writhe like jellyfish from the cross section.
Their main bodies are black, transparent, amorphous monsters.
Except for the tentacles, it resembled a slime, but it rarely revealed its true form except when it was close to death.
Powong─!
I burst into flames on the head and body of the cut-off doppelganger.
‘It rides well.’
It had a slightly nutty scent, but these guys are known to have a pretty interesting texture and taste.
He took off the part of the body where the tentacles had no movement, put it in his mouth, and put the rest into subspace.