Episode 50.
Jung Si-woo crouched down to grab the mana bead and dollar left by the Banshee. As he stood up, he looked for the Giant Ghoul’s whereabouts. He was still traversing the dungeon passage that connected the city and the boss room.
“Oh, I can still relax.”
When he first entered the dungeon, he couldn’t stop the Banshee from flying into the sky. He was able to kill the Banshee only after the Giant Ghoul had met them eye to eye. This time was different.
ThorMaster conscious movement and ruthless violence! If the Banshee regained her power, there was only one thing that she could do: wail. Even though this was what Jung Si-woo wanted, the fact was that it was pitiful.
“Well, let’s completely clean up the wraiths and skeletons until he comes. Only the wraiths and skeletons.”
“Oppa’s persistence now is just praiseworthy.”
[Gwooooo!]
[The master, the master is dead!]
Though they were confused, all of the remaining monsters in the city charged towards Jung Si-woo. However, he was strict in selectively killing only the wraiths and skeletons. He was not going to allow the death of a single zombie or ghoul.
[Khaa!]
[After a lifetime, finally…]
Jung Si-woo hopped from roof to roof, cleaning up the skeletons and wraiths. He was even mindful of the rubble that could ricochet and hit the zombies and ghouls!
As the skeletons and ghosts disappeared from the city, which was already horrifying, only rancid corpses remained. The scenery was straight from a movie or game; the zombie apocalypse was complete.
[Gwooooooooong!]
How much longer had it been running? The Giant Ghoul’s scream was finally loud enough to reach Jung Si-woo’s ear. Upon hearing its cries, the first thing he checked was whether there were any moving skeletons and wraiths.
“None. Great!”
“I’m more impressed at the fact that you ended up not killing a single zombie.”
Because he couldn’t launch magic bullets indefinitely, he killed the monsters switching from melee attacks to throwing rocks nearby. In the midst of all this, the fact that he never missed was unbelievable.
[Kuhaaaaaaaaaa!]
The Giant Ghoul grasped the situation in the city right away. The Banshee who had summoned him died and had disappeared, while his enemy, Jung Si-woo, was alive and moving!
[He killed our master! We shall also kill him!]
[Kyaaaaaaaaahhh!]
[He will die, he will die!]
The first thing that the Giant Ghoul, who was filled with rage, did was Kinship Predation. There was no way he would win facing Jung Si-woo head on! The zombies and ghouls chose to resign. It was better to be devoured by the Giant Ghoul than die at the hands of Jung Si-woo.
“Wow, you’re still a General.”
“Oooog, Oooooekkk.”
Jung Si-woo was recovering his stamina and mana while the Giant Ghoul was eating the zombies and other ghouls he threw at the guy. He had fully recovered his stamina because the Banshee had been dealt with a few minutes prior, but that was not the case for his mana.
“So let us wait. Ah, that’s right.”
[Guooohhhhhhhhh!]
Come to think of it, there was a bonus to decimating the entire city. He nodded his head as he saw the zombies and ghouls gradually grouping at the sounds of the Giant Ghoul’s cries. Zombies or ghouls, it didn’t matter anymore. As they began to be no more, he started destroying one empty building after another.
“Hya! Haap!”
“He looks like one of those warriors in an RPG game, trying to break through a jar to eat an item!”
“What an easy-to-understand metaphor, Sunbae-nim!”
After breaking down many buildings, you start to develop some tricks. Jung Si-woo knew the exact method of wrecking the buildings, which were lined up neatly behind one another, to cause a domino effect. He calculated all this and efficiently destroyed the buildings. 7 additional, 11 more, 17, now 25!
“You only knocked down one building, but 34 came down with it…”
“This should be enough for an award.”
In this dungeon, Jung Si-woo began to realize just how to destroy to see the most damage. Typical players could not learn nor have the reason to; their techniques only grew.
[Guooohhhhhhhhh]
“You look good, which makes me feel good!”
The Giant Ghoul had finished its last meal and let out a cry. Jung Si-woo greeted him by swinging over the rubble from the building he had just smashed with his hammer. However, the Giant Ghoul’s reaction was unexpected.
[A… Human! How dare…!]
The Giant Ghoul lifted his two arms and proceeded to smash the rubble, which came flying at the speed of bullets. It was an agile move, something that wasn’t appropriate for his size. At the same moment, his build started to decrease slowly.
[Gwo-o-o, Kuhaaaaaak!]
“Huh.”
Though the Giant Ghoul’s body was shrinking, its force continued inflating. Jung Si-woo realized a situation far different from the previous dungeon was developing. The reason was apparent. He had finished off all the zombies and ghouls in the dungeon!
“Uh, isn’t this what they call a ‘secret’?”
“To think that this dungeon was keeping two secrets…”
Soo Ah-rin and Yong Se-ha both shared in bewilderment. Of course, the Banshee’s existence could not be considered hidden as the Banshee herself revealed this fact.
However, who could have known of this hidden element? Something that could only happen if the Banshee let the Giant Ghoul roam free, as it devoured the city’s ghouls and zombies while she distracted the party.
[The boss monster of the dungeon, Giant Ghoul, changes to Ghast by satisfying special conditions.]
A warning message popped above Jung Si-woo’s retina. Receiving this meant that his enemy was capable. He was thankful and thrilled to know his efforts were not in vain.
“Of course, the heavens help only those that help themselves.”
“Ghast is an elite monster that one can only encounter in Level 30 undead dungeons! Not to mention, coming across it is very rare. Ghast’s most notable strengths are its huge build yet ridiculous celerity, and its toxic gas whose smell alone is addicting!”
Yong Se-ha explained the characteristics of the Ghast that he had never caught before. It was no lie that he was an Elite from the Tornado Guild.
“Then let’s stick together. Ah-rin, you prepare the detox.”
“You say that now, but we all know you’re just going to get hit because you want to build your tolerance.”
“In no time, you now know what I’m going to think…”
After he separated himself from Soo Ah-rin and Yong Se-ha, Jung Si-woo grabbed his hammer and moved forward. The black body of the undead was fully transformed into a mere 2 meters. The Ghast sprayed its whole body in toxic gas as it angrily looked at Jung Si-woo.
[The undead also have a heart. And you took that and stepped on it!]
“You look like you have a bit of intelligence.”
It was good. There was no way he could master the art of combat by fighting with brainless beasts forever. He smiled, satisfied, and charged forward. Mana was injected into the hammer in his hand, making it denser and more substantial.
“Die!”
[You should!]
The nails that the Ghast withdrew and the hammer in Jung Si-woo’s hand collided. A sharp and intense sound, like when metal clashes metal, vibrated in his ears. It was a bonus when its toxic gas sucked into Jung Si-woo’s nose.
[Ghast poison enters the body. Poison tolerance did not completely overcome it and is now a weak affiction.]
[Ghast poison enters the body. Poison tolerance did not completely overcome it, and affiction intensifies. If nesting continues, it may develop into a more severe poison.]
Jung Si-woo twitched his fingers and toes to understand its adverse effects on his body. He concluded its results were nothing of concern in a matter of time.
[I will gladly dissolve you with my poison!]
“The poison is secondary. Your physical attacks need some training, don’t you think?”
Thee Ghast punched its fist with all its force towards Jung Si-woo, who leisurely avoided and kicked its foot. Like its hand, its thigh was turned hard as steel. However, Jung Si-woo’s strength wasn’t to be looked down upon.
Losing its balance, the Ghast falls onto the floor! Jung Si-woo’s hammer strikes its head repeatedly with all his force!
[Kuhaaaaaaaaaa!]
“Ha.”
However, its head was surprisingly harder than its torso. Jung Si-woo, who was about to crush him completely, hastily avoided and retreated when the Ghast, who was filled with outrage from having its head battered, tried to force its poison-filled nail onto him. Jung Si-woo checked his hammer, where a tiny crack at the edge was.
“The time to crush you with this hammer has passed…”
“If you want to swap weapons, do it now, Oppa!”
However, Jung Si-woo shook his head at her words. Perhaps because his opponent was strong, Black Wolf’s Paw proficiency jumped to 3, after only two collisions. Now, only 2 were left to reach 100% proficiency.
“Just one more smash, and it’ll reach full proficiency. I’m sure Black Wolf’s Paw will also appreciate me wielding it against something that capable.”
“It looks like you might just break it!”
Then it couldn’t be helped. Out of nowhere, Jung Si-woo charged towards Ghast. The seething monster spewed out a more lethal gas than before.
As the affiction intensified, the pain visited from his skin, feeling like it was eroding to his insides. However, this wasn’t even itchy because he was convinced it was fair to pay for increasing tolerance. Jung Si-woo was that unshaken to the point where Ghast believed his poison was ineffective.
[This monster…!]
“Yeah, I hear that often.”
The Ghast eventually gave up on the poison and met him head-on. It tilted its arms slightly backward, then shot them out like swords. Considering the rigidness of its body and its nails’ sharpness, one could easily predict the result of getting hit with one of those.
However, Jung Si-woo did not evade. Moments before clashing with it, he triggered Cruel Charge, completely misaligning its target points. He then tackled Ghast.
[Kaaaak!?]
“Haaap!”
Cruel Charge. It was a skill that combined the skills of Battle Sprint, Slam, and Stone Skin. Ghast’s nail was no match for its defense power, which threw off the target points! His armor was ripped, though!
[How dare this lowly human have such a strong….?]
“Also something I hear often!”
The Ghast’s attack failed. Unable to handle the shock of receiving Jung Si-woo’s attack in full, Ghast floated in the air. It urgently tried to correct its stance and land, but Jung Si-woo grabbed its arms and swung them around like a windmill. With Black Wolf’s paw, he raised it from the bottom to the top!
[Kaaaak!]
[Black Wolf’s Paw’s skill level has reached 100%.]
[Black Wolf’s Paw reveals its true appearance.]
The moment when Ghast’s head entirely and finally shattered, the hammer’s skill level reached its maximum. Black Wolf’s Paw exploded from the damage inflicted on it during the collision!
However, Jung Si-woo realized that a slightly smaller but more solid weapon appeared in place of the exploded hammer. Soon after that, the information about the artifact appeared before his eyes.
[Giant Black Wolf’s Paw]
[Rank C++]
[Attack power – 850 – 1,750]
[Proficiency – 240/480]
[Attribute – Flame D+]
[Options: 1. Enlarge by consuming mana 2. Poison with a certain probability when striking]
[It is a sledgehammer that captures the power contained in the front paw of the Giant Black Wolf. It is more substantial, powerful, and weighty, making it difficult for the user to handle. Powerful poison power has been added. As the camouflaged outer was broken, its real power has been revealed. There seemed to be more potential left.]
Wait, I think a completely different artifact’s been born!?
