Skeleton Master Chapter 011

As the eerie sensation subsided, a heavy feeling spread throughout my body, starting from my buttocks.

Although the pain wasn't severe, I could roughly estimate how bad it was by looking at my reduced HP.

My arms and legs seem fine...

I tried to get up. There was no discomfort in my movements.

I looked around. Objects were faintly visible, as if a weak light was coming in from somewhere.

A massive iron door not far away caught my eye.

An iron door?

Could this be the special dungeon I've been looking for?

It's a bit different from what I knew...

I've never heard about falling down or the door being this large and grand.

But in the current situation, worrying was pointless.

I'll know once I open the door and go in.

Step.

Moo-hyeok, standing in front of the door, reached out his hand.

The moment he touched it, the iron door moved.

Creeak, creeeeeak.

The massive door opened with an unpleasant sound.

At that moment, a message appeared.

[You have discovered a level 15 'Unique Dungeon'.]

[Experience gain (50%) is increased inside the dungeon.]

Moo-hyeok's movement stopped for a moment.

A Unique Dungeon...?

It wasn't the special dungeon he had been looking for.

Instead, he had found a Unique Dungeon, known to be even harder to discover.

He couldn't fully grasp the situation, but one thing was certain.

This is huge.

The entry requirement was also level 15, the same as the special dungeon he had been looking for.

If he had entered the special dungeon, even if he found this place later, he wouldn't have been able to enter.

Of course, clearing the Unique Dungeon would surely take him beyond level 15, creating a problem where he couldn't enter the special dungeon he had originally planned.

But he didn't think the rewards here would be any worse than the special dungeon he had been searching for.

The dungeon grades are divided into four levels.

The common dungeons that are relatively easy to find.

Above that, the special dungeons.

And then there are the Unique Dungeons, which are extremely difficult to find but offer excellent rewards.

Of course, that's not the end.

There are also Ancient Dungeons, of which only about a dozen have been discovered in the long span of 10 years.

You can tell how amazing they are by the fact that everyone who cleared an Ancient Dungeon became famous.

Anyway, out of these four grades, Moo-hyeok had just discovered a Unique Dungeon, which ranks second from the top.

It could only be described as incredibly lucky.

The benefit of the special dungeon he had been looking for was a potion that would increase intelligence and wisdom by 2 each upon clearing.

He would probably get even better rewards here.

Of course, if his luck was extremely bad, he might get rewards similar to or lower than a special dungeon.

But judging by the atmosphere, that didn't seem likely.

It was dark and gloomy.

And also heavy.

It felt like there was something extraordinary here.

In the past, while living with full-body paralysis, he had watched countless videos of high-ranked players.

It was a sense he had naturally developed.

"Summon Skeleton."

Boney one and Boney two appeared.

Kirik, kirik.

Moo-hyeok looked satisfied as he watched the two.

"Summon Zombie."

He also summoned a zombie, which was weaker than the skeletons but had higher health and defense to take at least one hit from the enemy.

With two skeletons and one zombie, he passed through the door.

As he did, the iron door closed by itself, and light burst forth from both sides.

It seemed that ordinary stones had been imbued with magical power.

"Oh ho."

He approached and touched the stone.

He tried to apply force, but it didn't budge at all.

Check information.

A window appeared before his eyes.

[Stone Imbued with Magical Power]

It's a stone imbued with light magic.

There was nothing particularly special about it.

Losing interest, he continued along the path.

The silence settled heavily, causing a sense of tension to rise unnecessarily.

It wasn't excessive, but just right, so it didn't feel unpleasant.

That's when it happened.

He sensed a presence in the distance.

"Stop."

Boney one, Boney two, and the zombie halted.

After ordering the zombie to take the lead, he waited for the presence to reveal itself.

As the sound of something scraping the floor grew louder, the small dot visible in the distance gradually took shape.

A snake...!

It was a snake with geometric patterns.

Moo-hyeok's brow furrowed as he watched the creature approaching, flicking its tongue.

Creepy.

But he couldn't just stand there watching.

It was time to fight.

Swish.

He drew out the Sword of Destruction and the sturdy shield.

"Zombie, defense mode. Boney one, standby on the left. Boney two, standby on the right."

With his wisdom stat still low, this was all the commanding he could do.

But if he gave appropriate orders with short words, he could make their actions cohesive.

The snake was now within reach.

"Boney one, Boney two. Automatic attack."

As he gave the order, Moo-hyeok also moved.

As he slowly moved in a semicircle, the approaching snake collided with the zombie.

The zombie was pushed back significantly, and the snake took its place.

Boney one and Boney two, positioned on the left and right, extended their fists.

The bones at the center of their fists had extended sharply, piercing the snake's skin.

The snake thrashed its body.

With their wisdom still low, Boney one and Boney two couldn't react to the attack and collided with the snake's body.

In that single attack, bone fragments scattered everywhere.

Crack, crack.

The difference was overwhelming. But the role of the summons was sufficient.

He hadn't expected the summons to be able to do much against monsters in a unique dungeon anyway.

He had only hoped they would be of some help.

Right now, the summons were doing an excellent job of drawing the snake's attention.

Moo-hyeok didn't miss that opportunity.

Swish.

Having reached the creature's blind spot, Moo-hyeok launched himself.

As he fell onto the snake's head, he forcefully plunged the Iron Sword of Superhuman Strength.

[A critical hit has occurred.]

Although he had turned off the messages, Moo-hyeok could tell.

It had landed.

The feeling was just right.

It must have been a critical hit.

Perhaps due to the sudden massive damage, the snake let out a strange sound and violently contorted its body.

But Moo-hyeok absolutely refused to let go of the sword's handle.

Keeeeek!

He held on for a long time, enduring.

When the creature's movements became slightly calmer, Moo-hyeok drew a dagger from the scabbard at his waist and stabbed it into the snake's skin again.

He drew another dagger and stabbed once more.

Thud, thud, thud.

After about seven more attacks, the snake's movements ceased.

"Huff, huff..."

As the tension dissipated, Moo-hyeok belatedly checked the messages.

He burst into laughter tinged with astonishment.

['Snake of Strength' has been killed.]

['Strength Stat (0.1)' has increased.]

He savored the meaning displayed in the messages.

*

Unique dungeon.

This place was where stats increased.

The Snake of Strength, Snake of Vitality, Snake of Agility, Snake of Intelligence, and Snake of Wisdom appeared randomly, and each time one was dealt with, the corresponding stat would increase.

The Snake of Strength had high destructive power and fast movements, but its health was weak, so it could be killed with about eight attacks.

However, even one hit would drain about 30 percent of HP, making it quite dangerous.

Fortunately, by throwing in the zombie, Boney one, and Boney two, he could attempt an attack, and if he didn't miss that sacrifice and succeeded in attacking, he could take it down more easily.

The Snake of Vitality had low attack power, so there was no risk of death.

But its defense was high and its health was extreme, so it took 20 minutes of non-stop attacking to barely kill it.

The Snake of Agility was fast in its movements to begin with.

An even more serious problem was that it could read Moo-hyeok's attacks far too easily.

This was due to its high reaction speed.

The solution was simple. Or rather, it was the only option.

There was nothing else to do but to mindlessly attack in all directions randomly.

Fortunately, the dungeon was narrow, and with two skeletons and a zombie joining in to attack haphazardly, they could land a hit on it at least once.

The moment it was hit, the Snake of Agility would pause briefly, and that was the moment that couldn't be missed if one wanted to hunt it successfully.

The Snake of Wisdom was intelligent, so the moment it sensed danger, it would either flee or call for allies.

If it escaped, it became the most troublesome entity.

However, if one preemptively blocked its escape route, there was no easier creature than the Snake of Wisdom.

Lastly, the Snake of Intelligence used magic. However, it was at the level of a late 10th-level mage, so there was no difficulty in dealing with it.

This was because Moo-hyeok's intelligence stat was quite high, giving him excellent innate magic defense, and he was also borrowing the power of items.

"Phew."

Anyway, it was already the third day of hunting here.

Two days ago and yesterday he had hunted all day, and today too, he had been hunting non-stop since morning.

Although he occasionally logged out to eat and rest, his mind and body were still growing weary.

But he couldn't leave the dungeon.

This place was the best hunting ground.

Every time he hunted a monster, his stats increased, and due to the buff from discovering the dungeon, his experience points also rose terrifyingly fast.

Moreover, he could collect bones and leather through corpse recovery, so leaving would be foolish.

I'll have to clear it.

Moo-hyeok steeled himself and moved again.

He could see a snake in the distance.

By now, he could identify what kind it was just by its pattern.

The one approaching now was a Snake of Wisdom.

The most troublesome one.

The first time it had fled and brought back companions, he had run away without looking back.

Since then, when dealing with a Snake of Wisdom, he made sure to block its retreat first.

Just like now.

"Summon Boney one. Defense mode."

Moo-hyeok stepped back.

Meanwhile, the approaching Snake of Wisdom cautiously faced off against Boney one.

Perhaps because it was only in defense mode.

The Snake of Wisdom, gradually closing the distance, coiled around Boney one's body.

During that time, Moo-hyeok carefully circled around to block the retreat path.

"Summon Boney one. Summon zombie. Defense mode."

Two summons were enough.

The space wasn't that wide, so to pass through here, one would have to go through the two summons.

Crack!

In the meantime, Boney one had been shattered.

No matter how wise the Snake of Wisdom was, it had been in defense mode and was coiled by the snake, so there was no way to escape.

It doesn't matter.

Having blocked the retreat, the creature was as good as caught.

No, the Snake of Wisdom could be dealt with comfortably even without summons.

As long as the remaining summons blocked the retreat. Gripping the sword handle tightly, he kicked off the ground.

Whoosh.

He quickly closed the distance with the snake.