Vol 4 Chapter 2 (2/2)

If thelevel 40, of course they wouldn't make any money You had to sell a level 45 item at the very least to er her level

'I was out of aaht of my objective because of that enjoyment If I'm to do better than others, I have to do ame for fun'

Ark clenched his teeth

'What's i up My level right now is 78 I' my skills up to ht now Alright, this is actually good There's no need to think of anything else My only goal right now is the thief gang!'

The thief gang was no longer si a clue for a quest It was a er

The thief gang went beyond their level and were of a higher difficulty than other monsters It was natural The AI that applied to every ence level But the bandits were huular h But with his Familiars, Ark was in fact no different fro had been this great, then the problem was teamwork!

'Theis how I use my Familiars'

The Fa at the ratio in battle, if Ark was 60, then the Familiars occupied 40 In other words, the abilities of the Fath in battle; in order to face ene, they absolutely needed to level up their teamwork

'There's a limit to the simple operations we've used until now We'll use this chance to reinforce the operations a little so that we can deal with more complicated situations'

It had been A, B, C, and D until now They had only used four plans Of course they were as effective as they were simple, but if the number of monsters increased and the situation became more complex, it limited their maneuverability

'We need an operation that's a bit more methodical and mutually beneficial'

Ark's strong point was that he could iht

However, the only operations Ark kneere the ones he had experienced in FPS (First Person Shooter) or RTS (Real-ti his brains for a long time to think of a plan, he found a way It was the battle professional who had been sent to South America to train SWAT, JusticeMan

Hadn't he already seen hoerful JusticeMan's tactics had been in Jackson?

Finishi+ng his thoughts there, Ark ied out and called JusticeMan

”Strategy? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

”I really need it Do you have anything that could help?”

”Well I do have soh level It's only got things that are hard to understand even for people who came back from the army”

”Isn't there a textbook for learning the basics?”

”Ah, I do have one I don't know if it'll help, but I'll send it to you”

Just like when he firstopponents were the slow Trolls Ark used Dedric to lure out Trolls one at a time to try out various operations

”Plan A-4!”

When Ark gave the command, the Fa it to the back After luring the Troll to a remote place like that, they switched to A-1 and Dedric and Skull split to the left and right as they besieged the Troll When they did so, the Troll floundered, unable to decide on who to attack Since the attacks weren't focused they were also easy to dodge In addition, since they were all on different sides, one out of the three was always able to deal a Backstab

A-2 was a series of attacks where they would strike and back off instantaneously This was for when the ene; it helped preserve Health Also, A-3 was a useful operation when facing a quick monster, where all three of them attacked at once When Snake's Deadly Poison skill was thrown in properly on top of that, the effect was multiplied

Like that, Ark used all the A operations to hunt the monsters in the area And once they reached a level of familiarity with it, he trained them on the B operations

Of course, the general training went on in Spartan style

”Skull, you were a few seconds slow in changing operations this time Food punishment!”

”Kekeke, I knew it Well yeah, could a skull without a brain even memorize them properly anyways?”

”Dedric, don't act up Food punishment for you, too!”

”EHH? W-why me?”

”Didn't I tell you? From now on, it's shared responsibility”

”Ridiculous, this is violence!”

”I told you, right? I like violence”

Ark opened the Familiars' redients because they had never been to the Old Forest before This was actually JusticeMan's suggestion When establishi+ng teamwork, wasn't it best to brand them with shared responsibility?

A specialist was indeed different Thanks to hiether and whispered whenever they could even when Ark didn't say anything They didn't want to be hit by a bolt out of the blue because of the other guy It was a bit oppressive, but it seeun to think in terms of the 'all for one, one for all' idea In any case, through training and punishment, the Faain

Also, the increase in punishments led directly to the rise in the proficiency of Survival Cooking And then—!

”Yuck, hat is this? It tastes hella bad!”

The food you haveStew'

It smells and looks fine, but it tastes so awful that when eaten, it will cause trauma It will make the eater lose their appetite and they won't even want to look at food, noeffect!

The taster will become unable to eat any kind of food for 2 hours If they force themselves to eat, they will vomit and lose the effects of previously eaten food instead

The moment when Bat crawled out of the pot and threw up, the skill finally leveled up

Through one up

Survival Cooking (Advanced, Passive) : You used various ingredients scattered in nature to make countless new foods Thanks to your li, you have finally beco expert

You can no out 100 of the hidden effects in ingredients Also, the expiration date, additional effects, and the penalties have risen greatly

As an Advanced bonus, you can make the special dish 'Medley'

Medley: Makes a new dish, a 'Medley,' by ether The Medley dish will mix the characteristics of the two dishes and increase the additional effect, or may even nullify the penalty Sometimes, a completely different form of additional effect that is impossible with normal dishes will form at random

However, food made with Medley will not be saved as a new recipe If there are dishes in your bag that are taking up space but are too regretful to eat or throay, daringlythem into Medleys wouldn't be bad either

Survival Cooking, indeed!

Ark hadn't only ood effects this whole tiredients, sometimes there were times when he made dishes that he kneould have penalty effects out of necessity to raise his proficiency, and he had to throay those dishes while holding back tears One wouldn't knoasteful it was to have to waste perfectly good ingredients to make trashy food

'But now I can recycle the trashy food bythem into Medleys!'

Ark i Medleys After putting two dishes in the pot and activating the skill, a new dish was soonsound effect

You have made a Medley

Soup of Horrifying Taste + Tea Tasting Like Steas = Essence of Fury

Possessing a taste that is hard to even describe, the person who eats this will experience extreme fury

Fury +50, shouting volurow louder by 100

Since Medleys had random effects, he could find out the effect as soon as he

'Fury?'

Like the Spiritual Power that Ark used when calling out his Familiars, Fury was a value that warrior professions consu why the shouting volume increase effect had been made In other words, it was an effect that Ark didn't really need However, Ark was quite satisfied with the result

'Soup of Horrifying Taste has a das is a food that actually consumes Mana It's not bad since useful food wastwo dishes I would have had to toss anyways And even if Iproficiency rises Even if a bad dish co away food'

After that, Ark experimented with this and that

Foods h the sah rate when he mixed food with the same formula, occasionally an entirely different dish was h well, it didn't make much difference anyways

Since it was a hard-won technique, he attereat enthusiasm, but he didn't make any really decent foods For the ave off the vague feeling that they were useful somewhere, or maybe not, like the Essence of Fury

'Well, it should be fine if I think about the purpose of these foods slowly Since I've halved the foods I've been carrying around 'cause they were a sha, let's pack them for now'

If possible, he wanted to test it out a little more, but Ark currently didn't have the breadth of mind He could take his pot and use it at any ti and that was now

'It's my turn now'

Ark had no thoughts of being satisfied with just the fact that his Familiars' combat ability had risen Even if the importance of the Familiars had increased, it was still only 40 The other 60 was Ark's share Even if the Faer, it wouldn't row

'Thanks to the training I did in the sea, the skills I learned in the beginning have mostly reached their peak However, I can't use the new skills I've learned properly yet The success rate of Parry and Counter's chain skill, Riposte, is especially too low If I'ed attacks, I have to make these two skills completely mine'

After thinking that, Ark sealed all his other skills He only concentrated on activating Riposte by chaining Parry and Counter Attack Of course, it was easier said than done There was no proficiency to Riposte; it was a technique that had to be activated with the gamer's ability alone In order to activate Riposte, he had to grasp the al between Parry and Counter Attack It wasn't easy even if he got into position and aimed for just that moment It also wasn't easy to activate it successfully with a risky position in a battle situation that constantly changed Rather, he often ended up taking a hit fro to activate Riposte

”It was a mess this time I was only able to succeed with it twice!”

When that happened, Ark ate food Naturally, he had to use new dishes for the growth of the Familiars, so he made and ate a dish that tasted awful froistered in his recipes Ark was stern with others, but also equally stern with himself

Dedric and Skull stared at him with horrified eyes

”What a brutal master he's scary, scary Let's not be impudent with him anymore”

Clack clack clack

Like that, the Sil days

[T/N: A specialfor over three years on Silmido island for an infiltration mission into North Korea This is the sa in Moonlight Sculptor]

20 hours of training a day without going to a village even once!

As a result, Ark and the Faars It was such a difficult time but it was definitely effective The Familiars memorized all the operations up to D-4, and their fellowshi+p had becoed the activation rate of Riposte up to 80

”Alright, now it's tie”

”Huhuhu, I've been waiting, Master”

Clack clack clack!

Hiss hiss hiss!

With only evil left in theleamed with bloodthirst

”Oho, it's a guest!”

”Huh? Isn't that fellow the one who ran away a while back?”

”He was alive?”

”Kekekeuk, he's braver than he looks, seeing as he's throwing away his life”

”Then I oughta put an arrow in his head, as he wishes 'Cause customer satisfaction is our motto”

Once he crossed the boundary into their turf again, the bandits mocked him

Soon afterwards, arrows began to pour from the tree tops

”Dedric, Skull Plan D-1”

”I know”

Dedric and Skull quickly went out in all directions Unlike D, where they blindly fled, D-1 was an operation where they determined the location of the bandits androcks or trees as shi+elds Ark, however, exposed hirained in his body After buying a few an to run away

”Plan A-1!”

”Okay! Skull, come here!”

When Ark shouted, Dedric picked up Skull and cut through the forest

”Eh? Those bastards are running away again?”

”Catch therace to the Silver Arrows!”

The thieves yelled as they pursued on vines When so noise as the bandits who had been quickly narrowing the gap suddenly yelled while falling to the ground

That was exactly what Ark was ai found out that they moved from branch to branch, Ark had sliced the branches in the area beforehand As a result, the branches broke as soon as the bandits jumped on top of them

”Now, Snake!”

Hiss hiss hiss!

Craaash!+

Snake opened its mouth wide In that moment, an enormous number of leaves spewed from its mouth As the leaves flew out in all directions, it was as if the forest was enveloped in a fog of leaves It was yet another plan that Ark had prepared for just this moment He had filled Snake's belly up with leaves in advance for an attack that used Snake's attribute of throwing up items!

”Urgh, hat's this?”

”damn, where are they?”

With their vision blocked by the leaves that were pouring out like a rain shower, the bandits fell into confusion That hen Ark and the Fa leaves

”Plan A-3!”

”Uhahaha, you bastards! Have a taste of this!”

At Ark's shout, Dedric soared into the sky Then he drew a steep arc as he plunged down like a lightning bolt Struck on the top of his head, a thief hurriedly raised his bow In thatup froh The bandit screaered and the arroent astray That was the only attack the thief could attempt Afterwards, Ark ran in and crammed successive critical hits on him, and the thief fell over without even a chance to shout

”Snake, Neurotoxin!”

After destroying one of the thieves in an instant, Ark fed Snake an herb Venos

Ark applied the Neurotoxin on his sword and went around all over the place, striking the arms of the bandits The arms of three or four thieves became paralyzed and went limp Once three or four thieves became unable to shoot arrows like that, it all fell into Ark's pace from there

”Th-these bastards!”

The rogues moaned as they faltered

A few of theo back up into the trees, but Ark wasn't one to stand by and watch He immediately unfurled operation C-3, and Dedric flew around in all directions as he stepped on the heads of the thieves Skull also claed the for them was Ark's sharp, blue sword

”You would've played with me oh so well!”

Po-po-pow!

Stabbed in the back, the thieves undoubtedly took Backstab da up the trees and pulled out their daggers Seeing their flashi+ng blades, a chilly smile spread on Ark's lips

”You're going to try facing me with blades? I'm thankful”

Ark i in every direction But as Ark? A strong, level 78 person who had trained his body day and night with Taekwondo

Ark had been chased away by the thieves because of their arrow attacks But if it was simple hack and slash close combat, Ark wouldn't bat an eye even if he were surrounded by monsters over level 100, much less the likes of level 70 thieves

Moreover, his opponents were human NPCs It would be easier to predict their attacks withmonsters

'Time to strike!'

If a bandit raised his blade, Ark's body would react more swiftly than expected He would slip past the blade at an angle and unleash a front snap kick Then he shot forward as he went right up to his retreating opponent, and unfurled a knee kick and sword strike in rapid succession Since he was pressed tightly to his opponent, the others couldn't easily swing their swords at him This was a weakness fornorant monsters

Po-po-po-pow!

The three thieves went exploding off in all directions

”Hiik!”

At that sight, the re as he earing a stylish hat, unlike the other rogues, it see Perhaps because he thought he couldn't face Ark with a dagger after seeing hiht, the thief quickly pulled out his bow Then he shot an arroith practiced hands As befitting of the boss, he must have used a special skill because the arroas enveloped in black energy However, Ark didn't even budge and stood right in its way, glaring at the arrow

Then, the e itself in Ark's neck--!

'Now!'

Ark's handit aith the tip of his sword, then fiercely stabbed with a chained movement

The technique had beco in almost within the time it took to mark a decimal point and unleash a Counter Attack! He had practiced Riposte for five days to the extent of getting blisters on his hands for this ed that he would be able to parry it and deal a counter Lacking a way to deal with a ranged attack, this was the desperate measure Ark had cooked up

The effect met his expectations With the sound of ed itself in the thief boss' face

”Arrgghhh, ho could such a thing!”

The thief clutched his face and swung his dagger all over the place, but Ark wasn't one to get hit by such a blind blade Ark, Dedric, and Skull soon ran in at him, and the bastard quickly turned into a cold corpse

”Urrgggh, y-you bastard!”

When the boss collapsed, he dropped a silver bow Ark picked it up and a eopened

- You have killed the boss of the Silver Arrow thief gang

If you take the evidence to the Giran Guard, you can claim your reward

Within five days, he had finally taken care of the first bountied criminals

”Uhahaha, hoas that! This Dedric-nim's skills!” Dedric leapt around as if he had annihilated the thief gang all on his own

”Snake, skill change Itee”

It was ti, Ark went around the area as he started packing away the items Compared to normal monsters, the bandits dropped a considerable as like leather or clubs, there were quite a few daggers or clothing equipment items That wasn't all— since they were thieves in nah their hideout The dishes and lanterns the thieves had used, and even the h thievery Of course, there were only shoddy things that wouldn't h leveled thieves, but money was money Ark even threw all the leftover food that the bandits had eaten into his bag

'This is ht'

After sweeping up every little copper the thieves had owned like that, Ark immediately moved to his next destination His next objective was the Grey Axe Gang, which was said to have appeared in the area around Rodellin Village

Unlike the Silver Arrow thief gang, it was composed of warrior professions However, they were just as tricky to face He had always thought of a party with various professions like Warriors, Archers, and Magicians in it to be ideal, but a Warrior party where everyone was arer than he expected

”Chop him up!”

With their shi+elds in front of the their axes They were also 5 levels higher than the Silver Arrow thief gang, putting them at 75 And it was no easy matter to take down even one of them because they had tree with Riposte and used the operation he had practiced with his Familiars to strike and back out as they took care of the Warriors one at a time When he downed the last Warrior, his level went up

- You have leveled up

He had leveled up within five days

'Now I knohy people didn't go for the thief gang bountied criminals'

Annihilating a thief gang was three to four ti monsters of the same level It was due to the cleverness of the human NPCs and because they were arive any extra EXP despite that, so there was no reason to hunt a thief gang with such difficulty There were plenty of bountied cris anyway

But Ark shook his head 'My ability to adapt to circuht tricky opponents Like how I hadn't even thought of returning an arroith Riposte a while back, and since I also don't knohen I'll have to fight a huain experience with this opportunity'

”Now, shall I see what you've got?”

Ark swept up all the ite After shaking doo thief gangs like that, Snake's belly filled all the way up He wouldn'taway the abundant japtes was quite pleasurable

Of course, it was tough to expect much of a quest reward or a jackpot ite h a hunting ground

Ah! He alht when the rascals who had bullied Ark when he was in elerade, they were beaten up by Ark Ark had been learning Taekwondo for 2 years His personality of repaying his suffering ed at all from back then

”Oh, did you take care of these guys? I haven't seen you before, so you must be a newcomer? Good work, I'll remember your face from now on since you took care of two of them Ah, this is the promised bounty I ask that you work for Giran's peace in the future as well”

-You took down a bountied criminal and received a reward

For co the task successfully, your Giran contribution has increased by 15

You have completed your first bounty hunt and your Hunter Rank has been elevated to E

When he turned in the evidence to the Giran Guard, he received 25 Gold and his contribution and Hunter Rank went up as an additional reward He thought there wasn't ood to have soht wanted crily quite fun

”I didn't get information about the quest, but well, it doesn't et it eventually Let's just sweep through the thief gangs and get experience for a while It's unexpectedly fun and seems profitable, too”

Ark pulled off two e board