Chapter 109: Chapter 108: The Quest I Was Waiting For, Part III
After three hits, the Moleman’s shield fell to pieces with a clang. Once the shieldman lost its shield, I stabbed its chest twice, killing it.
“Phew. These Shieldmen are getting annoying now.”
I had finally arrived at the third floor after about twelve hours. The toughest part wasn’t killing the monsters, but actually finding the floor entrances. The EXP was so good that if it weren’t for the Cheng Long Guild that was supposed to arrive soon, I would have stayed on the first two floors and hunted a little more.
On the third floor, the monsters no longer had Cadet in their names, and they moved much more tactically than the monsters on the first and second floors. The Shieldmen would take their places on the front lines with the Spearmen and Archers in the back. It made it difficult to attack the weaker Archers first, like I did on the previous floors, as the Shieldmen would actively defend the Archers and Scouts.
Well, it wasn’t impossible; it just made it more annoying to deal with.
“I need to keep going. Warrior’s Brave Spirit. Judge’s Gavel.”
=[You have activated Warrior’s Brave Spirit.]==
==[You have activated Judge’s Gavel.
Your next attack will be a critical hit
Level 1: 3,600 second cooldown. Base damage increased by 5,000. The damage of the User’s next attack increased by 300% and CRIT damage increased by 500%.]==
I activated both skills as soon as their cooldowns expired to get them to level 2 as soon as possible.
I charged at the horde of regular Molemen and attacked a Shieldman head on.
My attack flashed yellow and obliterated its shield in an instant ,and another red hammer slammed down on the monster’s head, killing it.
“Damn. That skill really is no joke.” It was the tenth time I had used it now, but I just couldn’t get over how overpowered it was.
[Power Shot!]
[Double Shot!]
Two arrows hit my side and thigh. Each hit dealt about 30,000 points of damage. That amount of damage would be dangerous to a normal fighter class, but thankfully, I wasn’t a normal fighter. With my current abilities, I was definitely stronger than most tank builds.
I quickly dashed at the Archers to pay them back. At that moment, another Shieldman raised its shield to block me, but it was hopeless.
I jumped onto the monster’s shield and used it as a trampoline to propel myself further towards the Archers. I flipped myself in midair and stabbed down at one of the Archers.
[Gwek!]
My spear flashed yellow at the contact and impaled the monster at least thirty cm deep. The Archer cried out in pain before dying. Using my momentum, I kicked out at the other Archer and side-kicked it in the abdomen. I pulled my spear out of the ground and dashed over to it while it stumbled on the ground, stabbing it.
I stabbed it once more as it writhed on the ground in pain, killing it. Once it disappeared, the three Spearmen turned towards me and raised their spears in a fighting stance. I stood there and beckoned at them to come at me.
The Spearmen stabbed their spears at me at once, but I didn’t move to dodge or deflect the attacks. I felt too lazy to deal with their attacks.
[Piercing Blow!]
Their spears struck me square in the chest, but didn’t pierce through. Their damage definitely was higher than the undead monsters’ at Khufu’s dungeon.
“It’s still not enough.” I pushed the spears aside and held them under my arm. I gathered my strength and pulled. “What’ll you do now?” I pulled to get the spears out of their hands but I guess doing that to three monsters at once was a little too difficult. “Fine then; take this.” I flipped my spear in my right hand and began stabbing at their heads consecutively.
==[Your opponents have been struck by Powerful Shock. 100,000 points of damage has been afflicted. For three seconds, your opponents’ movement speed, attack speed, DEF and MDEF are lowered by 80%.]==
“Whoa. I hope this goes off when I fight against the boss monster.” It took me less than 2 seconds to clear the Spearmen out.
“And then there was one.” After a few more hits, the remaining Shieldman fell.
==[You have gained a level.]==
I laughed to myself. Hunting was fun. I was getting quickly getting stronger, faster than I had anticipated after I came back to the past.
“Alright! Time to push on!” I quickly made my way to the 4th floor entrance, ignoring the monsters I could.
—
The usually empty Chinggis Khaan International Airport was receiving several flights that day. The flights weren’t from airliners, they were all private planes.
“Looks quite a few have gathered here,” Wai Chung said.
“The quest reward is pretty nice. There’s a chance to get a Rank 10 item out of it,” Xia Fang, the Cheng Long Guild’s chief of staff, replied.
“Like moths to the flame…”
“They seem a little too strong to be measly moths, sir.”
“Where are they coming from again?”
“From Korea, the Sunbin Guild…ah, there they are now.”
Wai Chung turned to where Xia Fang pointed and saw them; members of the Sunbin Guild.
The Sunbin Guild had quite a few mysterious elements to it, Wai Chung thought. For one, the Sunbin Guild had quite a lot of power for hailing from a small country of less than fifty million people. The Sunbin Guild also almost never failed a dungeon raid, even if many teams had failed that raid before them.
What was even more shocking was the conflict between the Sunbin Guild and the Hulan Guild of Heilongjiang. The Hulan Guild was almost five times bigger than the Sunbin Guild, and yet the Hulan Guild’s headquarters in Harbin had grown quiet these days. No one really knew what the conflict was about, but it seemed that the Sunbin Guild had come out as the victor.
Many believed the Hulan Guild foolish to not accept aid in its fight against the Sunbin Guild and also called them cowards when the Hulan Guild had surrendered, until a few videos surfaced. It became quite obvious why the Hulan Guild had to give up.
While the Hulan Guild definitely had the numbers, it could not break through the Sunbin Guild’s defenses. Each Hulan Guild soldier fell like leaves at the Sunbin Guild’s counterattacks. It was almost pitiful.
“It’s interesting, very interesting. The Sunbin Guild and that guy, Lee Jiwon… there’s something about the Dongyi, isn’t there?”
(TN: Dongyi here is a general term that many Chinese texts use to refer the Koreans who lived on the Korean Peninsula. I don’t think it’s derogatory, but to explain it would require a full-on history lesson about they said, we said. It’s a mess.)
(EN: They are a collective name for the tribes in that area, one of the Four Barbarian tribes. It’s kind of like saying ‘them Korean barbarians’.)
“The Sunbin Guild has been an issue from the start. They were the first to clear the fields of monsters while the rest of us scrambled in confusion. They even came to control many dungeons before any of us. As for Lee Jiwon… well, he came out of nowhere. I don’t know what to think of him.”
“We need to take them down a notch…”
“I’m sure we’ll have our chance one day.”
“You’re right. Our day will come. China must be the strongest in the world, not those Dongyi bastards!” (TN: China #1! Sorry, couldn’t help myself.) Contrary to what he had just said, Wai Chung bowed slightly when he saw Song Myungsoo among the Songbin guild members.
Song Myungsoo gave a small bow back. “It’s been a while, Master Wai Chung.”
“Yes, it’s good to see you again. Is your father doing well?”
“Yes. He’s still kicking.”
“That’s good to hear. But I see you’re here yourself.”
“Well, I had to be, considering the reward. Isn’t that why you’re here as well?”
Wai Chung chuckled. “Yes, well, I suppose I gave in to my greed. This young woman must be the rumored Song Haein.”
Song Haein came up next to her father and bowed. “How do you do? I’m Song Haein.”
“I see your beauty rivals your strength.”
At that moment, Weiban came up from behind Wai Chung.
“You’ve met him already, haven’t you? But I believe Haein hasn’t met him yet. I’m not trying to brag about my own child, but I do depend on him a lot.”
“It’s been a while, Master Song. And it’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Song. I’ve heard many tales of your feats all the way in China,” Weiban said to Song Myungsoo and Song Haein sincerely.
“Thank you. I always hear about the Cheng Long Guild as well,” Song Haein replied
Weiban’s brow furrowed, however. While he knew he was strong, Song Haein was strong as well, possibly stronger than all of the Cheng Long Guild. That meant Song Haein was stronger than he was. He could also tell from her tone that she didn’t really care for him.
“Haha. I see.” Weiban knew this wasn’t the place to make a scene and gave an empty laugh.
After a few more words, the two guilds left for the King-Emperor’s Tomb together. The entire time, both sides dreamt of ways to get rid of the other, but knew they couldn’t fight. There were too many organizations out there that would prefer that to happen.
As they continued on their way to the tomb, hoping to make the reward theirs, they saw them. The Nayuta Guild parachuted out of their plane instead of landing at the airport. A delectable prey had just landed in front of two apex predators; a prey that neither guild liked very much…
