Chapter 147: Chapter 146: The Monster Tribe, Part II (2/2)
”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.
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”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!