Chapter 4 Part1 (1/2)
<chapter 4.=”” hunting=”” hero=”” -=”” 1=””>
He stared intensely, but there really weren't any monsters at the entrance, not even one. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo thought the Zombie Hero, who went into the dungeon before him, had probably cleared all the monsters. But he didn't know what monsters it had fought for its body to have become such a mess.
”Jjik, Jjijik”
”Ah, finally.”
He had been absent-mindedly running through the dungeon, without the appearance of a single monster for 10 minutes, and finally met a monster after he had traversed what he felt was halfway through the dungeon.
If you took a common house rat from Earth and made it five times bigger, how disgusting and big would those rats be! Then, he remembered that the dungeon's name was the rural rat nest.
”Jjiiiiiiiiiiiiik!”
”Heup...”
From the outside, they looked weaker than the Skeleton Soldiers, but he didn't know what kind of abilities the monsters of this world were hiding! Lee s.h.i.+n Woo exerted strength into his hand gripping the sword and cautiously took a step forward.
At that moment, the Rural Rat exposed its brutally s.h.i.+ning front teeth and lunged at him! Lee s.h.i.+n Woo instinctually took a defensive stance and pointed his blade at his enemy. It was such a solid stance that if a skeleton who knew Weapon Defense saw his form, it would've been satisfied with it.
[You have defeated a Lv1 Rural Rat.]
[You have received 5 Perium.]
[You have acquired a Rural Rat's rib bone.]
It was embarra.s.sing to say that it was a single strike. He had exerted strength into his sword and positioned it so that it would hold back the rat's charge, but the rat had charged into his sword by itself and died.
Of course, it was also due to the fact that it was a fine sword, but just by looking at the amount of Perium dropped, he came to an obvious conclusion. The Rural Rat was ridiculously weak, even compared to the Skeleton Soldiers! His tension loosened tiredly, and he felt despondent. Despite that, he instinctually picked up its rib bone and used his Bone Reinforcement.
[Would you like to use the Rural Rat's rib bone to strengthen your own bones? You can reinforce your rib bones.]
”Reinforce.”
[Your rib bones have been reinforced. Absorbing a portion of the Rural Rat's memories and experiences.]
[Jjik! Jjijijik, Jjiiiik! - Rural Rat]
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo momentarily stood there and felt conflicted. What would be the point of exploring this dungeon now...?
However, he soon got a hold of himself and hit his own cheek. An unpleasant sound rang out at the clash of bones.
”If I can increase my stats by just one from these guys' bones, then it would still probably be best that I procure them all. Yeah, now that I've made up my mind, I'll clear out all the dungeons nearby.”
It'd be troublesome if he got arrogant just because he got a little stronger. The fact that he could grow this much despite not knowing magic or how to fight was all because of Bone Reinforcement!
He soon decided to calmly and orderly proceed and stepped deeper into the dungeon. It seems that his senior hero hadn't stepped foot from this point onwards as more and more rats gradually popped out.
Of course, he cleaned them up in a single strike, but he gradually had to put more force into his sword, so it seemed as though the rats' health was gradually getting higher.
[You have reinforced your ribs. Your health has increased by 1. Proficiency in the Beginner Stealth skill has increased by 3%.]
[The Beginner Stealth skill has become Lv3.]
[Jjijijijik, jjiiik? - Rural rat]
Was it because he became level 2? That's why the level 1 Rural Rat bones would barely increase his stats... However, just like how larvae are good at rolling, the Rural Rat species' proficiency in the Stealth skill wasn't bad.
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo suddenly realized. All monsters have their own worth!
'I can only lighten my footsteps a little bit for now, but if I develop this skill, it should be really helpful when I need to run away from the battlefield.'
In other words, it would be best to use it in tandem with the Avenger skill. By killing the seemingly unimpressive rats, he had gained a skill with such amazing growth potential, so if he turned back after his first rat kill, he would've been really disappointed.
”Jjijik... Jjiiiiiiik!”
”Yeah, I'm trespa.s.sing, so why don't you try screaming a little louder?”
”Jjiiiiiiik!”
Rats appeared everywhere and after taking care of them without much difficulty, he greedily absorbed their bones. After walking for a while, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo realized that the path was getting increasingly narrow. Conversely, there were more and more rats pouring out, and stirring about, making it difficult for him.
”Jjiiiik!”
”Jjijijijik!”
”Yes, yes.”
He was well aware of how this dungeon roughly intended to instill the trespa.s.ser with terror, but unfortunately, he was able to cut down all the rats that crossed paths with his sword. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo felt like the path was becoming just a tad bit stuffy.
Moreover, as he traversed deeper into the dungeon, his body was becoming more accustomed to the Bursting Thunder skill, so he was actually thankful if they changed up the conditions or the environment.
With that in mind, he swung his sword, tip facing the ground, upward, and the Bone of Thunder Lasting surged up from the ground to the sky like lightning, brutally slicing through all the rats in the entire area.
”Jjiiik! (No!)”
”Jjik!! (It's in front...!)”
The Rural Rats' death rattles filled the narrow pa.s.sage. While he reinforced his bones with theirs, he had finally mastered their language, and he was naturally able to interpret the meaning behind their cries; he only felt a bit uncomfortable.
Their desperate behavior only confirmed that there was something deeper within, but he had absolutely no idea what it was. If it was a similar environment to the dungeons he had heard about in webnovels or manhwa, then there should be a boss within but...
'They're showing way too much loyalty for it to be just a simple boss.'
The overly dense population of rats in this area were fully showing their loyalty.
Whenever he swung his sword, the rats filling the pa.s.sage would all die by themselves, so around now, it was no longer skill training, but arm swinging training instead.
Ultimately, he had no choice but to unleash a different skill. When it was overflowing with a mob of Rural Rats, he had the perfect 'escape from crisis' skill to deal with them.
”Tsk... Kuaaaaaaaaaaaaahk!”
[Using Shriek of the Dead. The enemies in the entire area have fallen into a frenzied state.]
[The Beginner Shriek of the Dead skill has become Lv3.]
”Jjik, Jjijik!?”
”Jjiiiiiiik!”
The effect was astounding! The moment the Rural Rats, who had all rushed at him with the intent to kill, heard the shriek, they were startled, and soon, fought in a fratricidal war! When he saw the dirty blood and flesh splatter everywhere, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo suddenly trembled.
'This skill really isn't good for my mental health. However, if I train it, it might become more amazing than any other skill...'
He suddenly realized that Shriek of the Dead was obviously more effective the more enemies it targeted. How many enemies had been targeted for the skill to level up immediately!?
”Jjik...”
”Jjijik, Jjik...”
”Well done. Now, rest in peace.”
He waited for the commotion to calm down before he cleaned up the horrific area. After that, he gathered the rib bones without resting and inspected himself while using Bone Reinforcement.
Despite spending close to a whole day concentrating all his efforts into killing rats and absorbing their bones, his health had only risen by 5; but in its stead, his Beginner Stealth had become level 4. Although he could definitely see himself walking, his movements were light, like the movements of a rat, though it was strange to even himself.
”I've gotten a bit more familiar with Bursting Thunder, as well as my body and the sword... Good.”
Since the skill was so amazing, he felt like he couldn't even unleash a quarter of the power within Bursting Thunder, but he could roughly imitate the appearance of the technique. For some reason, after swinging his sword in the air a few times, he nodded his head and looked ahead.
There was clearly a disparate iron gate located there.
'I feel mana coming from the gate itself. Since the mana within can't come out, does it have the ability to imprison whatever's inside so that it can't come out?
He didn't have any idea how the dungeon was created, but when he looked at the gate, he thought that perhaps the dungeons were originally set up by G.o.d to protect humans from the monsters.
Of course, now that all the humans who were supposed to be protected by the dungeons had become undead, they probably don't have much meaning anymore but... He laughed bitterly and placed his hand on the gate. At that moment, a message appeared in front of him.
[Once you enter the boss room, you cannot exit until either you die, or the boss dies. Will you still enter?]
”Yeah.”
He thought that perhaps the secret shop sold an item related to escaping the dungeon, but he thought he didn't need it right now. He wasn't being arrogant; this resulted from his extremely calm decision.
[Lv2 Rural Rat Queen]
[Lv2 Ratman]