Chapter 48. Dungeon Rampage (2)
I shifted Manbyun back to the ‘Hundred Times Burned Demon Sword’ and aimed it at the remaining three. Instinctively, they took a step back.
“Not going to attack? Weren’t you so confident before? Let’s end this quickly so you can rest.”
I sneered at them. They lacked resolve and weren’t particularly skilled.
If they intended to kill someone, they should have understood that they might die themselves.
“For people who do this kind of thing, you’re pretty sloppy, aren’t you?”
In the world of hunters, the law of the jungle—the strong prey on the weak—is the fundamental rule.
The weak ultimately submit to the strong. This isn’t just true for hunters and monsters but also applies between hunters.
There’s a reason why hunters are ranked by letters. The higher the rank, the stronger they are, becoming predators. The lower the rank, the weaker they are, becoming prey.
And in this situation, it was already clear who the predator was and who the prey was.
“Damn it. They didn’t say he was this much of a monster!”
Kim Woo-rim, a thug, cursed as he tightly gripped his spear with trembling hands.
He looked like he was ready to run at any moment, half-turned already. The same went for Lee Ji-ah.
“Whew… He’s stronger than we thought.”
Amidst this tension, one of the prey bared their fangs and began to growl, hair standing on end.
“Damn it. I didn’t plan to use this here.”
Seok Woon, the Hunter Association examiner, sighed as he pulled something out of his chest.
“Ah! That’s right. Damn it! Yeah, it’s not over yet!”
It was a horn with a greenish hue. At a glance, it was clear this was no ordinary item.
Sun Eye.
The power of the sun gathered in my eyes, and my vision changed, revealing the item’s information.
〚Item: Green Horn of Madness
Rank: Rare
Grade: A
Description: A horn that can partially control the madness bestowed upon a certain race.
Abilities:
- Blow the horn to issue a simple command that induces a status effect: madness to goblins for one hour.〛
So that’s it. The key that would allow them to escape this rampaging dungeon unscathed.
It was undoubtedly an item suitable for this dungeon. It also looked rare and expensive.
‘Who is Moon Kang-un to have handed out items like this to these assassins?’
How much money did they spend just to kill me? Four rare-grade skill books, a rare-grade item, assassination fees, bribes to buy off examiners, fees for pre-assigning a dungeon, and more.
They had spent at least billions on these preparations. It was excessive.
The will to ensure my death was almost too easy to read.
“This is troublesome.”
Even with my enhanced stats, if dozens of goblins attacked me at once, it could be dangerous.
It wasn’t an issue of stamina or mana. Recovering was simple enough for me.
With the effect of the divine relic, I could partially regain my costs, and I could always use the infinite potions in my inventory.
The issue was that if multiple enemies attacked simultaneously, there would be no time to recover, leaving me vulnerable.
Of course, even then, I wouldn’t simply die. But the sheer risk was the problem.
Without considering my dire and frustrating situation, Seok Woon used the item without hesitation.
Bwooooo!!!
The horn’s sound resonated throughout the forest. The sound controlled the madness, sending a command to all the goblins consumed by it in the forest.
“Kill the lone human!”
He couldn’t give a more detailed command. The goblins had lost most of their intelligence to madness, and the item description only allowed for simple commands.
But that was enough. The four of them would stay together, leaving me alone.
I couldn’t pay attention to both the goblins and the assassins, so I glared at them before turning around and dashing toward the forest.
-Kieeeeeeek!!!
Screeches erupted from all over the forest. The amplified madness came under control, and the goblins began following the command.
“Whew… Damn it. I thought I was going to die. Really.”
Kim Woo-rim finally released his spear from his sweaty hand and wiped his face. For a moment, he truly felt the touch of death.
If it hadn’t been for Seok Woon’s item, they would have been in real danger.
It wasn’t just Kim Woo-rim who let out a sigh of relief. Seok Woon shook his head at the absurdity of the situation, staring at the horn, and Lee Ji-ah collapsed to the ground as if all the tension had drained from her.
In the brief silence, they gathered their thoughts.
“Get up. Grab your weapons. We don’t have time to rest. Wake him up too. In an hour, we’ll have to clear this dungeon on our own. We need to kill as many goblins as we can while we have this chance.”
Seok Woon assessed the situation coldly. The horn wasn’t meant to kill Shin Juha.
It was a fallback to clear this dungeon after killing Shin Juha when it had rampaged and become too difficult to clear.
But the plan had gone awry, and now, to save their lives and escape this hell, they needed to move.
“Damn it. If we kill the goblins, won’t Shin Juha survive?”
“A goblin with an advanced rank and an A-grade level. Its level would be at least 25. It’s not a monster that an [E-] rank hunter can handle. Well, that monster might kill a few, but dozens? That’s guaranteed defeat.”
He was right. No matter how strong Shin Juha was, it wasn’t easy to kill so many goblins and survive.
“For now, we’ll move in the opposite direction that Shin Juha ran, killing any goblins we encounter. They won’t attack us as long as we stay together, so we just need to kill them.”
Kim Woo-rim nodded, slapping Ma Dong-won awake, and they immediately started moving.
***
Kiaaaak!!
“Damn bastards!”
The Demon Sword amplified the flames of the sun, piercing through the chest of a goblin consumed by madness.
“Huff… Huff…!”
Damn it. I’d already killed over 20 goblins. The battle was so tough that I had gained two levels.
Yet there were still more than 10 goblins left in this forest, and the so-called apostle mentioned in the description was still around.
As the dirty feeling of death creeping closer began to take over my body, I pulled a potion from my inventory and drank it to catch my breath.
My health and mana began to recover rapidly. Unfortunately, potions had their limits.
If the same effect was used repeatedly, there would be a penalty where the efficiency would decrease. However, for me, the penalty was negligible.
‘If the efficiency drops, I can just drink more.’
Potions were limitless. No matter how many I consumed, it wouldn’t even make a dent.
“Thankfully, I haven’t run into more than three goblins grouped together yet.”
Something felt ominous. My instincts were sounding an alarm. A sense of foreboding that a massive attack might come at once.
‘Recover as much as possible.’
I could still hold out. If worse came to worst, I had Equivalent Exchange and the Wings of Arrogance as backup.
“And the new skill I got is quite useful too.”
Strength of the Ganggwi. A skill obtained after clearing the dungeon. Its effect was simple yet powerful.
A 1.5x strength boost for 5 seconds, with a 10-minute cooldown.
Adding 50% to my strength made the effect straightforward and effective.
It allowed me to kill enemies that wouldn’t die in a single blow and reach otherwise unattainable levels of destruction.
‘As my level rises, these stats will increase.’
Then I might really gain the absurd power of the Ganggwi. What was clear was that such simple, effective skills were better than vague ones.
“Whew… Time for me to get ready too?”
I had caught my breath. It was time to prepare to overcome this crisis.
If they had used an item to turn their crisis into an opportunity, then I had to find a way to escape this crisis too.
When I opened my inventory, countless items appeared before me.
There was no time. I had to quickly find an item that would be effective in this situation.
‘Stealth-type items?’
Rejected. Using stealth for an entire hour would be difficult, and there was a high risk of being detected by monsters with higher ranks and grades.
‘What about bombs?’
Let’s grab some of those. I took out a few bombs I had used before in the Ganggwi’s Cave and considered their explosion range as I set them up around me.
But that wasn’t enough. The apostle might not be affected by the bombs.
‘Damn, it’d be nice to have a search function.’
With so many items, it was impossible to find the right one without preparation.
“Any items related to goblins?”
My eyes and fingers moved quickly. The screen scrolled rapidly, and a few minutes passed.
Kiaaaaaak!!!
The goblins had found my location. Judging by their roar, there were at least ten of them.
“Did I find something useful?”
It was uncertain. I glanced at the item in my hand and frowned for a moment before quickly coming up with an appropriate use and starting to move.
I climbed up a tree, watching out for the goblins that could appear from anywhere.
The goblins steadily approached, sensing my scent and presence, and the moment they crossed the line I had set up—
The bombs planted to the north detonated as mana activated them.
Kiaaaak!!!
Screeches echoed as some goblins were swept away. But that was it.
Even in the Ganggwi’s Cave, the damage came more from collapsing the cave than from the explosion itself, so it was difficult to kill enemies outright with mere low-grade mana bombs.
And these goblins weren’t just simple-minded brutes like the Ganggwi.
As the smoke cleared, the goblins reappeared. Although they were injured and bleeding, none were dead.
There weren’t even many that were fatally wounded.
“The apostle…”
I frowned as I glared at the insane goblin at the back, holding a staff and muttering while dancing.
It seemed like it had sensed the mana in the hidden bombs and used a barrier-type skill.
‘Damn. No choice then.’
I had to run. Fighting would be suicidal. There were 12 goblins left. All of them had gathered here with the intent to kill me.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t win. If I used Equivalent Exchange, the Wings of Arrogance, and chugged potions like water, victory was possible.
But that would only be a hollow victory.
‘If I make it out now?’
I would end up helplessly dragged along and suffering. If those four assassins accused me of betraying them?
It would be a headache just thinking about it. They hadn’t inflicted meaningful damage on me, so there was no evidence. But I had clearly attacked their tanker, breaking his shield and knocking him out.
So I couldn’t let this end here.
I clenched the item in my hand, opened the Wings of Arrogance, and—
“It’s doping time.”
Pouring the speed-boosting buff potion into my mouth, I turned and fled in the direction the four assassins had gone.
—
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