In an instant, I was completely mesmerized, staring blankly at her stunning figure. The unknown gem of her necklace, radiating a greenish glow, matched perfectly with her deep black hair and pure white skin.
“This must be incredibly expensive, right? Il-wol, is it really okay for me to have something like this?”
Seemingly deep in thought about whether she could actually keep it, she fiddled with the necklace and took a step closer to me, gently curling up against me.
“Thank you…”
Thump-thump—
The sound of her heart beating against my chest gave me the illusion that my own heart was racing. Emotions I had never felt before stirred within me, a bittersweet sensation swirling in my chest.
Unconsciously, I brought my hand to her cheek, slowly sweeping down to cradle her chin.
“Ah…”
I could clearly see her purple eyes shaking. If I were human, the next move would surely be to lean in and kiss her.
But when I gazed into her eyes and saw the deep darkness reflecting the figure of a skeleton, it felt like a bucket of icy water had been dumped on my heart, instantly cooling my feelings.
I awkwardly placed my hand on her head and gently petted her.
“Heh… Hehe… It’s nice…”
I had no idea what was nice, but seeing her twist her body like that made it clear that she was satisfied in this moment.
We stayed close for a while, but a sudden interruption forced us apart.
Woof!! Woof-wang!! Wang-wang-!!
‘You little mutt, seriously…’
(Get away!! Get away!!)
Thanks to Wang-wang’s frantic efforts to separate us, the peculiar atmosphere returned to normal.
Creak-craack—
Soon, Wang-wang’s bone-munching show began.
(That leg bone is the best!)
‘You always get me bones; can you at least say thank you once?’
(That leg bone is the best!!)
‘Ungrateful little brat…’
After briefly watching Wang-wang, we began discussing the ominous event we had just encountered.
“We can’t know why the Kobolds acted like that, so let’s just move on and think about what to do next.”
Nod—
“Even so, I still plan to keep summoning Kobolds.”
“Clap, Clap, Clap!!”
“Il-wol, right? Let’s try to minimize contact with others, and if we hear anything suspicious from now on while in a dungeon, let’s just ignore it and carry on. Thinking back, most of the recent events happened when we were listening in on conversations.”
‘True… But how can we just ignore such noises?’
“Of course, we’ll have to form a party when we go to the Fire Monkey dungeon, so using Kobolds might be difficult, but if I raise a few more summoned creatures before that, it should be alright.”
Nod—
Though I always looked somewhat flustered, my way of responding to situations was consistently sound.
“To do that, we’ll just have to spend a little more time on Big Boar. Honestly, it’s still a bit tough when we face Big Boar.”
‘That’s true. Especially since we lack frontlines. We need more companions to tank so Yeon-hee can deal damage safely, even if they’re just pawns like Kobolds.’
“And it’s a bit difficult to summon ‘Ran’ unless it’s an emergency. Even with an artifact, it’s still a bit taxing to use her every battle. I might consider investing in healing stats, but for now, that’s a bit much.”
Nod-nod—
There wasn’t much I disagreed with, so I kept nodding along.
‘Tomorrow, I should scout around for other routes and see if I can find any hidden spots.’
While we were deeply engaged in conversation, Wang-wang suddenly began spitting out Mana Stones. Today he coughed up three low-grade Mana Stones, meaning his transformation skill was leveling up.
‘Ah, I want to do that too, but there’s no way, ha-ha.’
I was still fiddling with the bone in hand, trying to find a way without any luck.
Woof- Woof-wang!
Wang-wang looked at me with a triumphant expression that was quite infuriating.
“Hehehe— Wang-wang, should I sleep with you tonight? Now that I can keep one, after all.”
‘What about me?’
Woof! Woof! Growl-growl—
Seeing his eyes gleaming as he looked at me, a sudden jealousy flared up. Yeon-hee, staring at me intently, spoke up.
“I-Il-wol should… well, anyway, see you tomorrow!”
“Clap, Clap, Clap…”
Yeon-hee blurted this out and rushed into the room, clutching Wang-wang tightly.
‘Sigh— I guess I’ll just practice…’
Buzz-Boom—
And the next day.
I entered the Big Boar dungeon, trying to look for hidden places, but I couldn’t find anything even similar. I was only able to haul in five Big Boars, ten Goblins, and three Slimes, leaving me satisfied with a day’s earnings of about 350,000 won.
For an F-rank Hunter to make this much in a day was truly remarkable, and it’s undeniable that I carried the bulk of the work.
And we both leveled up happily.
=====
[Skeleton Soldier Il-wol – Lv.16]
Strength: 49 Agility: 44(+3) Health: 47(+3)
Intelligence: 24 Magic Power: 41(+3) Resistance: 1
Sense: 21 Recovery: 5
=====
The stats I earned kept Agility and Health the same and invested the rest in Magic Power. Unfortunately, I couldn’t steal the traits of the Big Boars. Those boars might not have any traits at all.
Maybe they only survived by charging ahead due to their innate physicality?
Anyway, Yeon-hee finally reached level 20 and became an E-rank Hunter. Once you reached E-rank, you started receiving monthly government support based on your subjugation records and various medical benefits. But with benefits comes obligations.
“I’ve been called to disaster level 1.”
“……”
Normally, disaster level 1 involves rescuing lives or recovery work due to natural disasters. Occasionally, it also includes military calls to stop monster breaks that happen from time to time.
Dungeons keep increasing, but the ratio of people awakening isn’t rising at the same rate. Even in urban areas, dungeon breaks happen several times a year.
Of course, the problem arises when monsters of champion rank or higher suddenly appear in these dungeons.
“To maintain my Hunter qualification, I have to support at least once every three emergencies.”
Nod—
‘Dungeon breaks started to increase around 2019… Looks like it’s only a matter of time before I have to participate. What were the major incidents around this time?’
Submarine Park, Changseongdaegu subway station, Ivland warehouse, Gu-changro Sinkhole…
Just recalling them, I can think of over ten. Among them, the Gu-changro sinkhole incident was the largest scale event in 2020.
‘All the decent Hunters in Seoul were called for that…’
Due to a massive sinkhole appearing and continuously pouring out two types of monsters, many D and E rank Hunters who responded initially, as well as a number of C-rank and higher Hunters who arrived later, lost their lives in that event.
‘It was about half a month later… It’s not far off now.’
“And it’ll take about a week for your armor, Il-wol. There’s a backlog of orders.”
‘Well, that’s to be expected. Even the shoddiest leather armor needs a craftsman to make.’
Vroom-vroom—
“Oh? It came out already! Level 1. Numerous monstrosified Slimes appeared in the underground waterway… let’s just skip this. The distance is too far.”
Nod—
Dungeons don’t always spawn monsters. Much like the current case, monsters can occur naturally as the concentration of mana in the area increases, but these still rank very low and aren’t much of a threat. Most of them turn out to be Slimes or gas-type monsters called Fogs.
“Now— let’s open a summoning scroll today~”
“Clap, Clap, Clap!!”
‘Please let it be a Goblin or something. A Slime wouldn’t be too bad either.’
Woosh—
A portal opened, and crawled out was…
‘A Steel Beetle…’
Scritch-scratch—
The noise was painfully loud, but it moved very slowly. It was about the size of a motorcycle helmet, making it quite frightening for anyone who was scared of bugs.
“Ah! I’ve seen this on the internet!! So this is also a summoned creature?”
Fortunately, Yeon-hee didn’t seem to mind such things.
This insect-type monster, often seen in low-grade dungeons, raises its shell to threaten enemies when in danger.
True to its name, the outer shell is quite sturdy, so striking it with my current attack power wouldn’t easily deal damage.
However, if I turned it upside down, its belly would be very vulnerable, allowing for an easy defeat. I just needed to make sure I approached it carefully to avoid getting bitten or cut by the edges of its solid shell…
‘Indeed, standard gray summoning scrolls can be quite underwhelming. The Kobolds seem like a much better option!’
“Since you have a hard shell, let’s call you Ddak-ddak-i! This time, I won’t yield!!”
“Tap…”
Perhaps I had buried that thought too deep.
“Anyway, let’s see what abilities Ddak-ddak-i has, I have a rough idea but… Hmm—”
I closed my eyes briefly, then upon reopening, Yeon-hee spoke.
“It has the trait [Crouch] and the skill [Grow Bigger]… This doesn’t seem like it would help in a fight much, you know?”
‘Guess I’ll just have to make it crouch by my side.’
“Let’s give it a go! Ddak-ddak-i— activate Grow Bigger!!”
At Yeon-hee’s command, the Steel Beetle raised its shell high into the air from its rear end, making a rattling noise.
‘The sound is definitely grating! But that’s all it can do.’
However, while I needed to focus on my senses to hear the sound clearly, it seemed Yeon-hee found it quite unpleasant as she promptly waved her hands and said.
“Whoa— this might be usable to deter monsters from approaching!”
‘Is it that useful? Hmm… It might actually come in handy unexpectedly?’
