novel
| ← Ch.030 | Ch.032 → |
TL: Uncle Choi
Editor: Bait
When dealing with kobolds, one should be most wary of their sense of smell.
As soon as one's body was smeared with a kobold's blood, it was practically impossible to hide from the rest of the kobolds.
At the same time, the kinship between kobolds was very strong.
When one of their kin is killed, they do not stop attacking until they kill the perpetrator and get their revenge.
Keohung, Keohung!
That was why twenty kobolds were running around the rugged mountains until they were out of breath.
The moment they detected the thick smell of the blood of their people, there was no other choice.
Keung! Keung!
They sniffed and ran towards the smell of the blood, taking the shortest path possible.
Soon, the kobolds were able to reach a spot full of their kin's bodies, which had been squashed.
Keohung, Keohung!
Their sense of smell was paralyzed by the thick scent of blood around them.
Some Kobolds even sank their noses into the ground in order to avoid smelling the odious scent of blood.
Keohung?
At that moment, a kobold found something strange.
There were bones of his kind between the bodies.
Of course it wasn't unusual for there to be bones.
The strange thing was that the color of the bones were pitch black.
Keong, Keong!
The kobold felt uncomfortable upon seeing the abnormality so it sniffed the bone after approaching it.
Seug!
Then, something rose from the pile of dead bodies and instantly sliced the kobold's neck. Siig!
Eerie sounds of edged tools cutting the wind could be heard all around him.
The kobolds were surprised and their hair pointed outwards.
Then skeleton soldiers with black bones rose up from the gaps between the corpses.
Tteolgeuleog! Tteolgeuleog!
The skeleton soldiers immediately spread out and hunted the kobolds.
Siig!
The skeletons soldiers' movements were surprisingly nimble, and the swords they wielded were incredibly sharp.
Seogeog!
Even amongst them, the attacks from skeleton soldiers holding scimitars were cutting the kobolds' bodies like hollow bamboo.
Of course, the kobolds fought back.
Keohung!
Krr!
They swung their weapons, clubs, crude swords, or maces, and some of their attacks hit the body of the skeleton soldiers.
Their power was considerable.
The evidence was that the kobold's sword, which hit the skeleton soldier, gave off a spark and sounded like it was hitting coarse iron.
Wasn't it obvious that their attack would sound like it's striking iron since their strength is so weak?
Keohung?
It was ridiculous from a kobold's perspective.
Puk!
Then there was a noise from behind the kobold.
It was the sound of an arrow coming from a distance.
Keohung?
Surprised, kobold began sniffing with his nose toward the direction of the arrow.
However, it was impossible for the kobold to smell Kim Woo-jin, who was covered in dirt to hide his scent.
Kim Woo-jin, who confirmed this clearly, began to actively fire his arrows.
Puk!
Endless swarms of arrows struck the kobolds' backs.
In fact, that was the end of the hunt.
After less than ten minutes of fighting, there were no kobold left standing on the floor.
Kim Woo-jin did not enter battlefield that ended in a such a way. He looked at it from a long distance in order to avoid being tainted by the scent of blood.
Puk!
He looked at his skeleton soldiers who were confirmed to be shooting the kobolds instead of Kim Woo-jin.
"Black bone skill, it's good as expected."
Black bone.
It was a skill that Kim Woo-jin acquired through the catalogue he received when he hunted the 1, 000th orc.
The effect was simple.
[Black Bone]
- Skill Rank: E
- Skill Effect: Greatly increases the defense of skeleton soldiers
It strengthened the defense of skeleton soldiers.
'Though I did not expect the ruler of the battlefield to work with the black bone skill as well. '
What was surprising was that the ruler of the battlefield also applied to the black bone skill.
It was due to the fact that constitution and strength affected the black bones' defense.
The ruler of the battlefield was a skill that increased all of its stats.
'This level of defense is similar to wearing a rare rank armor."
The resulting defence was visible even to the naked eye.
'Splendid. '
The skeleton soldiers were also aware of the change and were using it to their advantage.
Now, they not only avoided attacks, but they have began to withstand awkward attacks with their own bodies and counterattack.
In battle, they looked more advantageous.
There was only one problem.
[You Do Not Have Enough Mana. ] [The Effect of the Black Bone Disappears. ]
It consumed more mana than he thought to maintain the black bones.
The news did not make Kim Woo-jin dispirited.
'I need a way to increase the mana capacity. '
If it wasn't enough, he just needed to think a way to fill it up.
Then, a notification was heard in Kim Woo-jin's ear.
[Current Number of Kobolds Hunted is 95. ] [You Have Leveled Up. ]
It was actually a notification signalling the hunt was nearly over.
He could kill five kobolds by himself even without his skeleton soldiers.
Nevertheless, Kim Woo-jin did not get blood on his body. He did not hurry. Let's have a party since It's the last time, he wasn't planning on doing something silly like that.
He just waited quietly from a distance.
For his preys to come on their own accord.
Keohung!
In Kim Woo-jin's ears, the cries of kobolds could be heard.
After the world turned into a game in 2020, Oh Se-chan was confident that nothing could surprise him.
Even if there was a news report of nuclear missile being fired one morning, he would be more curious about nuclear missile related stock prices rather than being surprised. Like usual, he would take a look at the stock charts from around the world.
"What?"
But Oh Se-chan couldn't help but be surprised upon hearing the news.
"The dungeon gate disappeared?"
- Yes.
The dungeon gate disappeared.
"So, you're saying that after only 18 hours since entering the dungeon, Kim Woo-jin cleared it?"
- I think so.
Only 18 hours since the player entered the dungeon.
'How the hell?'
In face of such nonsense, Oh Se-chan could not remain calm.
'Maybe he didn't go in alone?'
Rather than accepting the facts, he painstakingly tried to think of a way to deny it.
"No. The surveillance was secure. I'm sure he came alone. Even if he didn't, there's no reason for him to be appearing to go in alone. Above all, even if a 4 man party were to go in, it's not normal to clear it in 18 hours. Even if it was a 4 man party, to finish this dungeon in 18 hours... they would need skills of world class rankers. Or he's covered with legendary rank items. But how could that be possible? By what means?"
But the more he contemplated in his head, the more tangled the thread became.
'No, that's not it. '
In the end, Oh Se-chan realized.
"So where is Kim Woo-jin now?"
- ... I'm sorry. I can't see him.
"He's gone, isn't he?"
- Yes.
He realized that it wasn't the time for him to be denying the situation or thinking about how Kim Woo-jin got stronger.
'There's no way he doesn't know how capable he is. But he has been hiding his skills until now. '
The most important thing right now was that Kim Woo-jin wasn't just proving his ability.
'Under such circumstances, he showed his skills without hesitation after contacting me. He's giving me a signal. '
Kim Woo-jin sent a signal to Oh Se-chan.
A signal of great intensity.
Now, Oh Se-chan had to interpret the signal's meaning and respond to it.
'Does he know who I am? An assassin who's after me? But does it make sense to use a man of this magnitude as an assassin? No, where the hell did he come from? It isn't the Phoenix Guild for sure. Who's behind it? Is it the Hansung Group?'
His contemplation grew longer.
- Um, what should I do?
Oh Se-chan's underling asked him.
'I'm a broker. '
Only then did Oh Se-chan make a decision.
"We should start a service that befits our new customer's performance."
- What should I do?
"Prepare locker number 19."
Kim Woo-jin, who finished the dungeon in 18 hours, headed toward Ilsan Station.
When he returned to Ilsan Station, he hid his figure in the crowd and waited.
'It's about time he contacts me. '
He was waiting for Oh Se-chan's call.
'I hope I proved the value of trading with me...'
To be exact, he was waiting for Oh Se-chan to respond.
Naturally, Kim Woo-jin did not trust Oh Se-chan.
Kim Woo-jin made contact with him because he was an enemy of the Yamato Federation and likely not associated with the Messiah Guild.
Other than that, he didn't know anything else about him.
What mattered most to Kim Woo-jin was his ability.
So Kim Woo-jin was willing to show him his skills.
It was rather explosive.
Normally, Kim Woo-jin would have held back his skills accordingly.
It was not difficult for him to do such a thing in a dungeon with no eyes.
However, he did it at the cost of revealing his skills.
He threw the ball to Oh Se-chan with all his strength.
Naturally, now Oh Se-chan would respond.
'A clumsy hand approaches, and it is used as bait. '
If his reaction was to absorb Kim Woo-jin to his side, Kim Woo-jin would not deal with him.
Even if he did it, it would be in moderation.
As Kim Woo-jin said earlier, Kim Woo-jin only liked the background of a man named Oh Se-chan, he did not trust him.
But if he said something along the lines of let's join forces and surprise the world with our combined IQs of over 300! Or how about investing, I know a good investment?
It wasn't even worth talking.
He would simply be used as a bait.
On the other hand, if Oh Se-chan proved his ability, Kim Woo-jin was willing to make a close connection with him.
'Show me your worth. '
Then, a text message arrived on Kim Woo-jin's phone.
The text contained a number and told him to use a payphone.
Kim Woo-jin went straight to a nearby payphone.
Ttallang!
With the coin he prepared beforehand, he inserted the coin and dialed the number.
- Dungeon cleared in 18 hours. With your skills, I can even introduce you to an A+ rank dungeon. Only after we build more trust, of course. Referral fee is 25 percent of the income earned from the dungeon.
From the beginning of the call, Oh Se-chan spoke like a true broker.
- Also, the stolen goods will be purchased at 30 percent of the market price. The fee for money laundering is 30 percent. Lastly, the fee for acquiring items will be 11 percent of the purchased price.
Other than that he had nothing else to say.
- The list of dungeons I have secured currently have been placed in a locker at Ilsan Station. Locker number 19, password 4885. If you want to trade a dungeon, send a mail to the address attached behind the dungeon list.
He sent him the information he needed to do business with, and when he finished speaking, he ended the call.
He acted like a broker, and met Kim Woo-jin's expectations.
But Kim did not smile knowing this.
Oh Se-chan's disposition showed that he wasn't exactly what Kim Woo-jin wanted.
It was no laughing matter.
'I'm glad I stayed at the station. '
Kim Woo-jin went straight to where Oh Se-chan told him to go and immediately opened the locker. There were two envelopes inside the locker.
A paper envelope and a letter envelope.
'A letter?'
Kim Woo-jin opened the envelope that looked like a letter and checked the contents. When he checked over the contents inside the letter, he couldn't help but break into a laughter.
Inside the letter were 4, 300 won in cash.
'Is 100 won for the payphone fee?'
The cash included 4, 200 won for transportation he mentioned earlier and 100 won for the payphone not too long ao.
'What a funny guy. '
It was a situation where he couldn't help but laugh.
However, Kim Woo-jin's smile disappeared as soon as he checked the information in the other envelope.
'... I'm sure now that the Messiah Guild killed Oh Se-chan."
Oh Se-chan, in his hands were treasures that would make even the Messiah Guild covet them.
| ← Ch. 030 | Ch. 032 → |