Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
“Damn… look at how easy they fall.”
“I know, right? It’s like they’re made out of cardboard, and his spear’s a box cutter.”
“Are they really the same monsters we’ve been hunting all this time?”
“Obviously.”
Guild members of the Myth Guild were looking on in amazement as Lee Jiwon hunted. A party had already been hunting when he arrived and they came right up to greet him when they noticed him come in. Lee Jiwon was a precious friend to the Myth Guild after all he had done for them, especially after the Time Attack quest.
The captain of the 7th Hunting Party had already been ordered to not interfere with Lee Jiwon’s hunts and quickly ordered his party to make way for the man. He also handed Lee Jiwon a piece of paper that noted the locations of the FOBs on the 1st, 3rd and 5th floors.
(Ed. Note: FOB = Forward Operating Base, if you didn’t know)
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. Let us know if you need any help.”
“I will.”
The 7th Hunting Party watched as Lee Jiwon made his way through the dungeon. By this point, no one in the Myth Guild doubted Lee Jiwon’s abilities, but they couldn’t help be curious as to how Lee Jiwon would fare against the Crocodiles. These monsters were covered in leathery scales harder than steel and boasted very high DEF. In other words, the Pharos dungeon was not really a dungeon for fighter classes.
But this was Lee Jiwon. The hunting party watched as Lee Jiwon walked closer to a five-meter tall mutated Crocodile, in case he really did need help.
However, in a matter of seconds, they realized that they didn’t need to worry about him. The Crocodile had holes all over its body, as if it were made out of paper. Every time the Croc would try to bite him, he would already be behind it and every time the Croc tried to counter with a swing of its sharp tail, he would already be on its back.
“Was he always this fast?”
“I don’t know. From what I remember, he would always stick to his enemies and not try to dodge any attacks.”
“Yeah, I’m sure that was his fighting style. But he’s way faster now.”
After a total of twelve blows, the mutated Croc finally fell on its back, dead.
“…” All sixty party members here knew that the five-meter tall mutated Crocs were very strong. There was a reason always came here in a group of sixty. They could deal with one or two at a time, but if at least three or four gathered, things become dangerous for the party. It also took the party quite a while to defeat one, thanks to the Crocs’ high DEF.
However, with Lee Jiwon’s speed and flexibility, he could make short work of any horde of Crocs.
At that moment, the hunting party heard exactly what Lee Jiwon calmly muttered to himself.
“Not bad!”
——
“Grashaah!”
“You can hiss all you want; you can’t hit me.” I quickly dodged to side as the Croc flew at me with its maw gaping wide. As expected of a high-grade dungeon, the normal and mutated Crocs were powerful. That just made it more fun for me, though.
Their hide was thick and I enjoyed feeling my spear actually strike something every time I attacked.
At that moment, I let my guard down a little too much against three mutated Crocs and one of their razor-sharp tails slashed my side. “Crap.”
A wound like that could have been fatal to anyone else, but it was just a scratch for me. “That’s it. Struggle for your lives as hard as you can.” I charged in at an even bigger horde of Crocs.
==[You have gained a level.]==
They also forked over a lot of EXP!
“I can’t leave these, either.” I checked every single Croc tooth, Croc hide, and the golden rings they dropped. I was rich enough that I didn’t need to pick up the materials, but the Myth Guild had requested that I sell to the guild at higher prices instead of at a Store. They needed the materials to craft some important items.
Another important part was that I no longer needed to worry about inventory space.
“Store!” I said, pointing to the hide and teeth.
==[2 Sharp Crocodile Teeth and 1 Thick Mutated Crocodile Hide have been Stored.]==
I didn’t need to bend down and pick up dropped items anymore. Release was easy, too. If I used Release, images of whatever was stored would appear and I could select any of them to take out.
“Nice!”
I continued to hunt as much as I could to make up for lost time after India and the Time Attack. It was fun getting to bound around like this again. I smiled before charging in at another horde.
——
Shetland Islands, Scotland…
A lavishly dressed person was seated on a very wide chair. This person was too fat to fit into anything smaller.
“Kekeke. So, they sent a messenger to Lee Jiwon?”
“Yes, sir. We confirmed it last night.”
“Good, good. I thought the wolf people gave up after not doing anything this whole time. But do you think Lee Jiwon will help those filthy mutts?”
“That’s…” The officers glanced at one another and struggled to answer the Duke’s question. They all thought that it was logical for anyone to choose not to, but they couldn’t be honest when the Duke wanted Lee Jiwon to help. If he did, then the Duke could eat him. They knew better than to give him an answer he didn’t want to hear.
“He is the one who defeated the Blood Prince. He’ll probably jump in with high spirits.”
“Besides, the wolf men are at their last dregs,, with no one else to turn to. They’ll do whatever they can to get Lee Jiwon on their side.”
“Kekeke. I hope that happens. No, it should happen! Mmm, he seems even more delectable as I think about it,” the Duke said, visibly drooling. His eyes flashed with a light of craziness, but no one noticed. They couldn’t, as they couldn’t even see his eyes.
—
The last mutated Croc fell before me.
==[You have gained a level.]==
“Ha… that’s enough for today. I already hunted all day.” For the past month, I had hunted all day and rested at the Myth Guild’s FOB for six hours before setting out to hunt again. Not to mention, I was leveling steadily as well.
“The King Emperor’s Grand Dignity is also working quite well.” I never really noticed a huge difference as I hunted alone, but I once had to help the Myth Guild’s FOB stop an ambush from a horde of Crocs. I could hear what they were saying to each other about it.
—
“Huh?”
“My attacks are cutting all the way through now.”
“You too?”
The fighters on the front line were the first to notice the difference. They seemed surprised that the attacks that were usually stopped by the Crocs’ armored hide now slashed all the way through. It wasn’t a huge change, but it was enough for them.
“Chain Lightning.”
“Flame Demon’s Raging Fire.”
“Razor Wind!”
The mages on the rear lines made their attacks and even they noticed something different; the monsters were dying faster than before!
“Hey, use your Monster Detect.”
“Okay. Monster Detect!” One supporter used her Monster Detect skill, and discovered the debuff that was the source of the anomaly.
“Grand King-Emperor’s Dignity?”
“What?”
“All of the Crocs are under a debuff called Grand King-Emperor’s Dignity. All Stats, including ATT, MATT, DEF and MDEF, are lowered by twelve percent.”
“twelve percent? That’s one hell of a debuff, but I never heard of it before. Did we always have a supporter who had it?”
“Sure, but he’s not part of our guild.”
“We do? Who?”
The support mage who used the Monster Detect skill turned to face the man wielding a spear. “Master Lee. You all remember when he participated in the King-Emperor’s quest in East Asia.”
“Oh yeah! That’s right!”
“It has to be from an item, right?”
“I think so. There’s no other answer.”
The Myth Guild members stared at Lee Jiwon with even more respect. He truly was strong if he had an item of that caliber. Still, they knew it wasn’t fair to just chalk up his strength to item power. They were just thinking that out of envy, especially since the Myth Guild had no items of Rank 8 or above before the Time Attack quest.
Lee Jiwon could hear what everyone was saying behind him.
-It must really be good.-
He never knew how to truly utilize the upgraded King-Emperor’s Dignity after hunting alone. He always thought he could do without.
——
“Heh.” I wasn’t getting tired of the hunt even if it was getting grindy. I wouldn’t mind if I had to spend a few months doing this. Actually, I would even prefer to.
-Huh?-
I felt something strange as I headed for the FOB from behind a huge boulder. Someone was hiding there, and it could be an ambush.
-What’s going on?-
The only monsters in the Pharos dungeon were Crocs, and that included the elite monsters. They didn’t hide or ambush their prey. That was something real crocodiles would do as animals, but these were monsters.
-Deva?-
I thought who or whatever was hiding behind the boulder was a deva, but my gut told me that it was a monster. It was definitely a monster, and one that shouldn’t be in the Pharos dungeon.
“Ah, jeez. Who’s there? Would it even understand me?” I called out. If it didn’t understand me, I would just kill it.
I then heard the footsteps of a bipedal being. It walked like a human.
“Huh?” At that moment, I saw a being that seemed like a monster and human at the same time. It was a woman with pointed ears, covered in fur!
