[The Plague Site of the High-Ranked Plague Sorcerer,
5 minutes remaining until the start of the contamination process]
However, I couldn’t see the boss monster, the high-ranked plague sorcerer, as it was hidden in the crowd. The magic plague sorcerers and summoners were also blocked from my view. All of them were protected by the rat soldiers, and the army was surrounded by a defensive barrier. The Barba warriors and archers also stood still in the formation.
[The mutated Moong Tribe has been summoned.]
The slaves that appeared around the Barba formation were obviously decomposed and diseased. It was unfortunate that they were turned into biological weapons, and their eyes filled with madness flashed as the summoners had cast reinforcement spells on them.
The arrows poured down like rain. The archers didn’t care whether they shot the Moong slaves or not, and the mutated Moongs seemed to be obsessed with the idea of killing us.
I said while batting away the plagued arrows, “We should destroy the formation within five minutes, and I’ll take care of it. You two should focus on surviving until then.”
The scimitar was named after Youxia, and my lightning power was named after Odin for a reason. When these two powers mixed in the scimitar, it turned into a divine weapon. Every time it collided with the Barba’s defense, a deafening roar rang throughout the dungeon and streaks of lightning crackled sharply.
Zziiiing!
The rat soldiers couldn’t take their eyes off such a godly sight, and they buzzed whenever the scimitar hit their defense. I struck the barrier for the third time after chopping an arrow in midair. Then, I heard a scream from the mutants that were after me in the back, and the smell of burning flesh soon filled the space.
The spears broke through the barrier and floundered as if they wanted to stab me, but their weak offense didn’t work on me. At least, the magic of the plague sorcerers and summoners was fast enough that it managed to strike me, but Youxia’s Scimitar easily absorbed 9,400 points of magical damage.
Even now, three magic spells were flying towards me at an aggressive speed like an evil spirit full of resentment. One of them smashed into my defensive barrier and temporarily caused my view to turn yellow. When it went back to normal, I saw that the area was filled with mutated Moongs. I saw Woo Yeon-Hee jumping in and out a couple of times, and the golden energy that indicated Michael’s weakened defensive barrier continued to sparkle.
This was only the beginning. When the high-ranked plague sorcerer finished contaminating the dungeon, we would become weak while they got stronger.
Thud!
I threw Shiva’s Knife at the boss monster and struck the Barba’s defensive barrier after jumping straight into the explosion.
Thud!
“Kieuk?”
“Kieuk. Kieeeuuuk!”
The rat soldiers went wild inside the barrier, and I slew the mutated Moongs that attacked me from the back.
[The trait Forerunner has been activated.]
[Your Agility has been upgraded.
Change: C → B]
[The trait Gifted has been activated.]
[All traits have been upgraded.
Change: C → B]
I changed directions, and every time I swung the scimitar while running towards Woo Yeon-Hee and Michael, more than ten mutated Moongs were sliced in half. This was because I temporarily changed my target from the Barba formation to Moongs.
[Gifted (Trait)
Effect: When one of the user’s traits activates, Gifted increases the probability of the trait’s activation.
Class: C (0)
Duration: 5 minutes
Cooldown time: 7 days]
The trait Sensitive was the one I had never activated, and it upgraded Sense by one class when I severely damaged a target. I used Gifted on this, so Sensitive would now be available to use more frequently. As expected…
[The trait Sensitive has been activated.]
[Your Sense has been upgraded.
Change: C → B]
In other words, all of my stats and traits were now at their maximum except for the Man Who Overcomes Adversity. Starting there, no magic worked on me, and the monsters tried changing their attack strategy after grasping the situation, but it was too late. I ran around and damaged their defenses, and all the rat soldiers could do was pray that the barrier wouldn’t break.
Finally, I shattered the barrier, and the rat soldiers that made eye contact with me got terrified and ran away. I precisely calculated the angle and trajectory of Devi’s Sword and sliced their necks.
Then, the plague sorcerers and summoners appeared, and the boss monster was still focusing on polluting the dungeon in the center. It gazed at me in disbelief as all the summoned Moongs had been either sliced in half or struck by bolts of lightning.
[The Plague Site of the High-Ranked Plague Sorcerer,
2 minutes 31 seconds remained until the start]
The high-ranked plague sorcerer realized it was too late, and a violent wind blew when he gave up contaminating the areas. The wind pressure was too strong, and the plague bacteria in the wind gnawed at my defensive barrier. Woo Yeon-Hee somehow managed to stand up, but Michael was stuck at the corner, vomiting blood. The plague sorcerers and summoners had already been blown away in all directions by the wind.
Woo Yeon-Hee and I could tell what the other thought just by making eye contact. When she made a turn to kill the remaining plague sorcerers and summoners, I took a step toward the boss monster.
Don’t be fooled.
Although it was a wizard, it managed to fight in a short distance. It flew in the air as if it was going with the wind and it dropped a cane on my head. I intended to let the barrier absorb the shock and smack the monster at the same time to lower its defense level. The moment I raised Youxia’s Scimitar and smashed the monster’s defensive barrier, it also struck my barrier.
[The trait Strongman has been activated.]
Strongman returned physical damage to the attacker, and that was why the monster bounced off immediately. This was activated as the Gifted trait increased the probability of other traits activating. When the gale vanished, I felt like the bonds that had tied me up faded away. The boss monster tried to get up quickly, but I was already falling straight on him.
Thud! Zziiing-
Sparks of lightning danced flashily when the monster’s defensive barrier was destroyed. When I took his bone necklace off and the item information popped up on the System, the battle ended.
[High-Ranked Plague Sorcerer’s Bone Necklace (Item)
Effect: Language (The Barba Corps)
Physical Damage Absorption: 0/1500
Magical Damage Absorption: 0/3500
Class: C]
When I thrust the Youxia’s Scimitar into its face, lightning bolts rushed into it.
[Barba Corps Interrupter: High-Rank Barba Plague Sorcerers ⅓]
“…I got scared for nothing,” I muttered.
I had not activated the Man Who Overcomes Adversity, and my defensive barrier was still intact. I could conquer the E-class dungeon alone. I realized I was better than the A-class Hunters that had not finished optimizing themselves because they couldn’t even target an E-class dungeon alone. The synergy between everything I had was amazing after I upgraded my skills and traits with the highest potential up to C-class and when A-class weapons and defensive equipment were used at once.
***
I had not yet told Woo Yeon-Hee about the dungeon that was discovered after many Awakened had sacrificed themselves. Misunderstanding began with the word ‘sealed.’ Dungeons weren’t actually hiding under our land and waiting for the day to come. They were the entrance to their main camp. In other words, dungeons were parts of the System that were summoned to our world. The dead bodies of the Moong that were scattered all over the place were the evidence…
When we moved to the safe zone and healed ourselves, Woo Yeon-Hee mentioned the Moong tribe.
“They looked a lot like us even though they were bigger and purple colored.”
She must have been bothered, but it was too early to tell her the truth. Instead of answering her, I pointed at Michael with my chin.
“This dungeon is too hard for him,” Woo Yeon-Hee said as if she was feeling pity toward him as he was completely messed up. I just realized it, but there would have been no problem conquering the E-class dungeon without him. I checked his condition and carried him on my shoulder.
Woo Yeon-Hee was in quite a bad shape as parts of her skin were contaminated. However, it was fortunate that she hadn’t been mutated. Blood flew out from her mouth, but it seemed tolerable. Her Strength class was high enough to purify the pollution.
“Shouldn’t we send him back to Revolucion?” she asked and I nodded. Even if we could no longer stay in the same party, his experience here along with his upgraded stats would help him and Revolucion. I wasn’t going to retrieve the items he obtained as he had risked his life for all this. It was up to him whether to keep them for himself or donate them to the group.
I gained three Accomplishment Reward points for destroying an E-class dungeon.
[Accomplishment Reward: 146]
It was natural that I paid attention to it as it gave me S-class quests.
***
When Michael recovered his health, I explained levelly, “That’s what happened, and I misjudged.”
He accepted what I said more passively than I expected. He seemed to have noticed the huge difference between Woo Yeon-Hee and my abilities and must have been convinced that his abilities were inferior to ours.
“I was about to tell you first as I thought Revolucion would need me more than you guys,” he replied.
“Yes. You can take the items with you, and give this to Joshua.”
I handed over a bag with skill books and told him the precautions when making plague sorcerers. He listened carefully.
Michael’s back wasn’t slouched over when he left. Instead, he was confident and I couldn’t wait to see how much Revolucion and he would grow. If he maintained his current personality, he wouldn’t forget what I had done for him. Just as I put Mick next to John Clark, I placed Michael beside Joshua and removed Michael from the party.
“It’s just the two of us again. Now I can call you Seon-Hu,” Woo Yeon-Hee said as if she felt relieved.
“Woo Yeon-Hee, I had been underestimating our capabilities,” I replied.
“About what?”
“It’s not just an E-class dungeon. If we keep up our work… we would be able to conquer even higher-class dungeons.”
She shook her head. “You’re wrong. It’s not ‘us.’”
“That’s what it looked like in the E-class dungeon, but not next time.”
“…You want to try a D-class right away?” She widened her eyes.
I nodded as I knew of a place where regular and high-ranked plague sorcerers were gathered. I had an escape insignia, and I could meet the conditions to complete the S-class quest there. There was no reason to hesitate.
“You’ll be more powerful there. It’s the perfect place for you to blast your Mind Control powers. We can do it together, Woo Yeon-Hee,” I said.