I Possess Too Many Characteristics

Chapter 23

Jeongah shouted, looking up at the ceiling.

Of course, rock spiders don’t just come from the ground like humans.

As if to prove him right, the first attack started from the ceiling.

“I’ll aim for the space between the eyes first!”

Ping—

Jeongah shot an arrow into the darkness where it was difficult for ordinary people to even see what was there.

Perhaps because her level had risen, the line was much cleaner than before, and the speed of the arrow was undeniably fast.

“Keeek!”

It hit.

However, as she admitted, she didn’t hit the space between the eyes.

She hit an eyeball near it. It seemed to be in great pain, but the rest of the eyes became even brighter.

It didn’t seem to have any trouble moving either.

In the end, it only served to further enrage the spider.

Perhaps Jeongah was the biggest victim in this party.

Thanks to Sunhyeong’s laziness, wasn’t she dealing with only the ones with bad matchups?

Anyway, even while Jeonghyeon was thinking such thoughts, the spiders were approaching every moment.

“Jeonghyeon-ssi, prepare for impact!”

“Yes!”

Sunhyeong, holding up his shield, said without looking back at Jeonghyeon.

The nickname of the rock spider is ‘Head Thief’.

This was because they often ambushed by dropping from above their opponent’s head and snapping their neck in an instant.

It couldn’t be called an ambush now, but it seemed like their basic instincts hadn’t changed.

Jeongah’s second arrow hit a leg, but the third one didn’t.

In the first place, it was difficult to accurately hit the intended leg of a target moving at that speed.

The rock spider, which had reached right above Sunhyeong’s head, seemed to jerk its body before plummeting straight down onto his head.

Clang—

It was hard to believe it was the sound of a spider colliding with metal.

Sparks flew as the sharp pincers and the shield collided.

This was already expected.

The series of planned operations had to be carried out.

“Heave!”

First, detach the spider clinging to the shield.

Jeonghyeon struck the third leg with his mace with all his might, loosening the spider’s grip.

As soon as he felt it, Sunhyeong slammed the shield on the ground, throwing the spider off.

“Sangsu!”

“Okay!”

And at that moment, along with Sunhyeong’s call, a flash of light flew in from behind.

It was Sangsu’s lightning magic.

—Crackle.

It seemed to pass by a path close to Jeonghyeon, but it must have been his imagination.

Even if rock spiders had stronger lightning resistance than other monsters, living creatures couldn’t be completely free from electricity.

“Keekeeek—”

The spider, flipped over, struggled in pain.

However, it didn’t show any signs of dying immediately.

“It doesn’t die from this?”

Sangsu, looking somewhat surprised, shot another magic spell at it.

Only after being hit by the follow-up attack did the rock spider slowly curl its legs and die.

The burning smell filled the narrow cave.

Jeonghyeon looked at Sangsu, who had poured two lightning magic spells in a row instead of at the spider.

‘Does he have some mana to spare?’

Usually, mages have strong firepower, but they reveal problems with their sustain.

This was because using magic consumed a lot of mental strength, and the absolute amount of mana wasn’t plentiful either.

This was the reason why innate talent was said to be as important as the trait for mages.

Therefore, it was known that mages refrained from using magic once they gained a certain advantage.

Judging from the fact that he was implicitly displaying his power in a situation where Sunhyeong or Jeonghyeon’s attacks could have finished it off, it seemed that he wasn’t completely incompetent.

‘Well, Jeongjin wouldn’t have brought just anyone, huh?’

While thinking such thoughts, Jeonghyeon felt a question arise within him.

He made eye contact with Sangsu as soon as he checked the spider’s loot.

Even though Sangsu made eye contact with Jeonghyeon, he didn’t avoid it and instead showed a triumphant smile.

‘Look at this guy?’

Was he feeling confident because he practically caught the spider by himself in the first battle?

Judging from that look in his eyes, it seemed that the attack path that was subtly close to him wasn’t entirely coincidental either.

It was clear that he was trying to say, ‘You can’t do this, can you?’

Jeonghyeon shook his head.

In the first place, it was disgraceful for a D-rank to be so competitive with an F-rank.

Even though his skills weren’t completely lacking, disgraceful was still disgraceful.

Of course, it was trivial to Jeonghyeon, who had endured the murderous intent of Jucheol and Heesu.

“Oh~ Sangsu, seems like you’ve improved?”

“Hahaha, I actually got some tips from Cha Junwon-sunbae.”

“Cha Junwon? That B-rank mage in Jeongjin?”

“Yeah, he’s the one who scouted me, and since we’re in the same magic system, he gave me some simple advice.”

Meanwhile, Sangsu’s mouth was practically splitting his face as he received praise from Jeongah.

To hunters who used their bodies, mages were literally fantasy.

First of all, their performance was flashy, and even though they were hunters, they could be said to be fighting with almost a different mechanism.

Hadn’t Jeonghyeon also been amazed when he first saw Heesu’s magic?

‘He’d be a decent guy if he just did his job.’

Leaving the triumphant Sangsu behind, Jeonghyeon approached the rock spider, taking out his work knife.

Sunhyeong cautiously started a conversation.

“Which parts do we take from the rock spider?”

“First, the claws are popular, and then the belly shell. If it’s a female, we also take the poison sac, but this one’s a male.”

“The belly? Isn’t there another part that’s harder?”

“Uh…… the work team leader said that the shape is…… for making equipment…… and the volume is too big.”

“Ah, I understand.”

Sunhyeong, who had briefly raised a question, immediately agreed with Jeonghyeon’s answer.

Certainly, the rock spider’s body shell was hard.

Even looking at the spot where Jeonghyeon had struck with his mace, there were marks, but it wasn’t shattered or anything.

But who would deliberately use equipment with such a hideous appearance?

There was some demand, but the price was too low compared to its volume.

“But I heard you leveled up, and you seem much stronger than before. Like when you noticed them first, and even though you called it a weak point, these guys are known to be vicious, but they lost their strength in one hit.”

Jeonghyeon’s hand, which was cutting out the claws, paused for a moment.

Did Sunhyeong, who was fighting beside him, notice something after all?

It was a short period, even though many things had happened in between.

But Jeonghyeon had also thought of some excuses.

“Ah, I practiced a lot on corpses. Now I know exactly where to hit to make them lose their strength.”

“As expected, Jeonghyeon-ssi is a hard worker, huh? Zombies and skeletons too?”

“Of course. I even bought all new equipment. This is no joke.”

Jeonghyeon gave a showy shrug.

It wasn’t entirely untrue that the equipment had helped.

He hadn’t moved his body in earnest, but Doil’s equipment was truly amazing.

Unlike the stiff rental equipment, it felt like he was wearing casual clothes, with a bit of exaggeration.

But it also firmly supported his joints, making it much easier to use his strength and reducing his worries about unexpected injuries.

Sunhyeong’s eyes also lit up as he examined Jeonghyeon’s armor.

“No wonder the color is unusual. It’s Tadan Orc leather, right? Where did you buy it?”

Sunhyeong, as a tanker, preferred metal armor.

In fact, he was currently wearing armor that was half chain and half leather.

However, looking at the quality of the leather armor, one could guess the quality of the metal armor as well.

It was natural for him to ask where he bought it.

“Do you know the Association workshop?”

“The workshop……? Ah……”

The enthusiasm in Sunhyeong’s eyes quickly faded after hearing Jeonghyeon’s answer.

The Association workshop was a place that those who had been hunters for a while had heard of at least once.

The problem was that most of what they heard were bad reviews.

Sunhyeong was probably thinking that Jeonghyeon must have been ripped off after hearing that it was workshop-made.

“As expected, you’re not ordinary. Usually, people just buy it online or at a store.”

“I’m a bit short on money.”

Sunhyeong’s gaze towards Jeonghyeon was now close to pity.

“Let’s try to earn a lot today and get out of here.”

“……? Yeah, well, we have to.”

Jeonghyeon nodded because it was true that he had to earn a lot of money, even though he wondered why Sunhyeong was looking at him so pathetically.

Sunhyeong stepped aside so Jeonghyeon could focus, and he soon began to hum.

“Let’s diiiissect the rooock spiiiider~”

Anyway, one rock spider was worth about 800,000 won.

It was a profit incomparable to fiddling around and catching zombies or skeletons, even though it was a bit more dangerous.

Besides,

‘Rock spiders are…… manageable.’

Even though they were weaker than the spiders inside, he could easily handle the movements he had just seen.

‘Would it be a bit difficult if it was a boss mob?’

The thought of the boss mob he had heard about before entering briefly crossed his mind, but he quickly shook it off.

The purpose of this hunt wasn’t to go that deep, anyway.

Unless something unexpected happened, he wouldn’t even see its tail before returning.

Rather than that,

‘I need to try this too.’

Jeonghyeon looked down at the daggers on his waist.

When people asked why he brought so many daggers, he vaguely explained that he had been practicing throwing them.

Actually, he had obtained a D-rank trait, and he was planning to practice here because he didn’t have time.

“So, they were surprised when I showed them my magic. They said my proficiency was better than expected.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re amazing.”

Behind him, Sangsu was still busy bragging to Jeongah.

Jeonghyeon chuckled.

Would he be able to speak so confidently even after the daggers started flying?

◈◈◈◈◈◈◈◈◈◈◈◈◈◈◈◈◈◈

Rock spiders had a knack for getting on people’s nerves, not just with their appearance but with every single action.

Screech—

For example, the sound of them running from afar was like that.

It was especially bothersome for Jeonghyeon, who could sense their presence much earlier than others.

He’d rather listen to the sound of nails scratching a chalkboard.

Not only the spiders approaching to attack them, but he could also faintly hear the sounds of movement far away because they were inside a cave. It was stressful to no end.

‘Three this time?’

The number had increased slightly.

Until now, it was just the ones that seemed to have separated from the group, attacking one by one.

“They’re coming. Three this time.”

“Everyone, get ready!”

The party members, who were initially puzzled, now believed Jeonghyeon’s words without a doubt.

Even Sangsu prepared his magic without a word when Jeonghyeon announced the spiders’ approach.

It seemed that Jeonghyeon had been upgraded to something like a high-performance radar or a money-copying machine for Sangsu.

But it would be a little different from now on.

It was a bit overwhelming to deal with all three of them at close range.

It was easier said than done to attack the third leg, as they were so ferocious that it wasn’t easy to land a hit.

Therefore, it was necessary to intercept at least one of them beforehand.

“Oh? Are you going to use the daggers?”

Jeongah asked, seeing Jeonghyeon holding the mace in one hand and pulling out a dagger with the other.

“Yes, I haven’t done much so far. I’m going to help Jeongah-ssi too.”

“Well, it’s good if you can increase your contribution even with daggers.”

Sangsu was still sarcastic whenever he saw an opening.

Ignoring him, Jeonghyeon prepared to throw his dagger as he watched Jeongah draw her bowstring.

He didn’t know the exact range or the kind of correction the Throwing Technique provided, but he had a vague feeling.

That if he threw it like this, it would fly like this and pierce like this.

‘If I can’t even do this after going through that adaptation pain, I should file a complaint.’

Jeonghyeon shuddered for a moment, remembering the nightmarish adaptation pain.

The adaptation pain was the pain that came from the body changing to adapt to the trait.

The Throwing Technique, like the sensory traits, must have been naturally engraved in his body.

’30m, 25m, 20m……’

Jeonghyeon silently measured the distance in his mind.

He felt like he could hit it even if he threw it now, but since it was his first time throwing it, he decided to wait until it was within visual range.

Besides, it was more realistic to throw it after Jeongah shot her arrow first.

“This time, the leg!”

Ping—

As expected, Jeongah’s arrow flew first.

It narrowly missed the first few times, but she also seemed to be getting used to the rock spider’s movements, as the arrow gradually approached the third leg, the weak point he had told her about.

And this time,

“Kiririk!”

“It hit!”

It successfully pierced the joint between the third leg and the body.

One of the spiders that was vigorously crawling on the ceiling couldn’t withstand the nerve shock and fell to the ground, struggling.

It would probably stay in that state for about 10 seconds.

It was a crucial moment.

And after confirming that, Jeonghyeon immediately threw one of his daggers.

Whoosh—

A piercing sound comparable to an arrow.

The dagger, tearing through the air and darkness,

Crack—

“Kick?”

“Huh?”

It not only accurately pierced the spider’s forehead but also embedded the handle halfway in.

And as if the spider had died instantly,

Thud—

It didn’t move anymore, leaving only the sound behind.

Moreover,

『You have acquired 1 coin.』

There was even a cheerful sound.

“What, how…… Eek!”

Sunhyeong, who hadn’t grasped the situation, hurriedly put strength into his shield-bearing arm only when the spider approached close range.

Jeonghyeon, who was shaking off the spider attached to the shield, was the most dumbfounded.

‘This is…… D-rank?’

The effect of D-rank was too much.