Skeleton Master Chapter 039
Three days had passed in the dungeon.
After yesterday's dungeon hunting, today he hunted like crazy until 1 AM again.
Completely exhausted, he fell asleep as soon as he lay down in bed.
At 7 AM, Moo-hyeok woke up to his alarm, washed his face to clear his mind, ate an apple, and headed to the gym.
After getting in a good workout and shower there, his mind felt clearer.
On his way home, he felt a vibration in his pocket.
Is it Minwoo?
He pressed the answer button.
"Hey, long time no see."
(Yeah, what are you up to?)
"Just finished working out, heading home."
(Working hard, I see. Still doing well in Illusion?)
"Of course."
It was Seong Minwoo.
(What level are you?)
"38 now."
(Whoa. Did you say 38?)
"Yeah."
(Hey, you were only level 31 not too long ago, and now you're already 38? That's insane. How are you leveling up so fast?)
"Getting those early advantages really helped."
(Man, and here I was thinking we could hunt together.)
"Oh yeah? What level are you?"
Last time we met, he was 32.
(I'm 36 now.)
Well, that means he gained four levels.
"Oh? That's pretty fast!"
(I've been grinding like crazy. But still can't keep up with you.)
"I just got lucky. Anyway, I can't right now. Let's hunt together in about a week."
(Sounds good. I'll definitely hit 38 by then!)
Seeing his enthusiasm made me feel oddly happy.
Well, I can't let him catch up to me, right?
After all, there's fun in pushing each other forward like this.
"Alright, see you then."
(Okay!)
After hanging up, Moo-hyeok logged into Illusion with a refreshed feeling he hadn't felt in a while.
- Welcome to the world of Illusion.
After checking his diamonds right after logging in, he found that despite hunting hundreds of Red Bears, diamonds rarely dropped. Because of that, he had only gathered 150 diamonds so far. Since they dropped in sets of 10, that meant they had only dropped 15 times.
What kind of drop rate is this anyway?
He could only conclude that it was extremely low.
What was even more frustrating was that the merchant showed no signs of appearing. Even though he had backtracked the way he came to find him, the merchant was nowhere to be seen even when he reached the entrance.
In the end, he had no choice but to keep moving forward, and forward again.
I hope I see him today...
Especially since I've already gathered my target amount of diamonds.
Anyway, Moo-hyeok pressed on.
Thud.
A Moulking and Red Bear appeared.
Hunting was still somewhat difficult since Moo-hyeok's specs remained unchanged.
After another intense battle no different from yesterday, he managed to hunt dozens of Red Bears.
Perhaps because of that.
[Level Up.]
His level increased by one to 39.
He had gotten 20 more diamonds during this time.
He now had a total of 170 diamonds. However, since the merchant hadn't appeared, all he could do was keep collecting them.
He'll show up eventually.
Comforting himself with that thought, he went back to hunting Red Bears.
GROOOOAR!
It was still quite challenging.
"Phew..."
After finishing his hunt, he sat down to rest while crafting a sword. He managed to create one with decent options.
Just as he put it in his inventory and leaned against the wall...
Hmm...?
He felt vibrations in the floor.
He listened carefully.
The reverberations gradually became clearer.
Thud.
It was definitely footsteps.
He lifted his head and looked straight ahead.
He's here...!
The merchant had finally appeared.
"Nice to see you again."
"Yes, I'd like to make a purchase."
"Of course. Shall I show you the items?"
Moo-hyeok shook his head.
"Let's go with an upgrade."
"The same as last time?"
"Yes."
"Hmm, understood. Let me show you the status first."
A hologram appeared.
[Dungeon Upgrade Level 1]
[All damage increases by 0.5 percent.]
Level 2 (11 diamonds): All damage increases by 1 percent.
Moo-hyeok took out all his diamonds.
"Let's upgrade as much as we can with 170 diamonds."
"Oh my, are you serious?"
"Of course."
"Very well."
The levels increased rapidly.
[Dungeon upgrade has risen to Level 2.]
[All damage from the user and all associated summons increases by 1 percent.]
[Dungeon upgrade has risen to Level 3.]
[All damage from the user and all associated summons increases by 1.5 percent.]
......
Moo-hyeok ignored the intermediate messages.
Just one.
He only checked level 10.
[Dungeon upgrade has risen to Level 10.]
[All damage from the user and all associated summons increases by 5 percent.]
[First seal has been broken.]
[All attacks from the user and all associated summons are granted 'Piercing Effect'.]
This was it.
The merchant's seal system that Moo-hyeok had been waiting for!
"The upgrade is complete! Your current dungeon upgrade level is 11, and my deepest congratulations on breaking the first seal! The total diamond cost was 165, so I'll return 5 to you!"
The merchant stared intently at Moo-hyeok as he received the 5 diamonds.
"Hmm, how curious."
"What is?"
"You don't seem surprised at all, as if you knew about this secret from the beginning."
Moo-hyeok had nothing to say.
It could only be called an excuse.
"No, I am quite surprised. I'm just awkward at expressing it."
"Is that so? Well, alright. I hope you clear this dungeon."
After finishing his conversation with the merchant, Moo-hyeok set off again.
Piercing Effect.
He wondered just how much it would help with hunting.
He waited for monsters with anticipation.
Thud.
It was after moving for about 3 minutes.
Chi-chi-chik!
The distinctive sound of a Moulking was heard.
Bone Archer, prepare to attack.
Through all his hunting experience, he had accurately figured out at least the first pattern.
The creature always jumps up from the ground right in front of Moo-hyeok.
Until now, even knowing when it would emerge, he could only deal minimal damage.
But now he had the Piercing Effect.
Things might be different.
With such expectations, he gave the command.
Bone Archer, rapid fire!
At the same moment, the Moulking burst from the ground.
Thunk.
The bone arrow pierced through its flank. With that destructive force, the Moulking flew through the air and crashed into the cave wall.
He had dealt similar damage when he first encountered a Moulking. Later, when Moo-hyeok approached to attack, he had to retreat, unable to withstand the damage from its claws.
But now?
It was clearly different from before. The bone arrow, enhanced with Piercing Effect, had completely penetrated through the Moulking's flesh and embedded itself in the cave wall.
As a result, the Moulking was left dangling like a skewer. It struggled but couldn't break free.
"Huh."
Moo-hyeok stepped forward with a sigh.
When he got close, the creature wildly swung its claws. But due to the distance, they couldn't reach him at all.
On the other hand, Moo-hyeok's staff was long enough to attack from that position.
Whoosh.
The staff cut through the air and struck the Moulking's body.
[Piercing Effect is applied.]
[Additional 10 percent damage is dealt.]
Tsu-tsut, tsu-tsu-tsut!
The creature wailed.
This time, he pressed down on the skull head to make the blade emerge and stabbed its chest.
[Piercing Effect is applied.]
[Penetrates flesh and deals continuous damage.]
This was the effect of piercing.
The additional 10 percent damage wasn't that impressive.
The ability to pierce through.
What mattered was being able to do what he couldn't do before due to lack of strength.
He could now actually pierce through flesh and pin it to the wall like a skewer, while also dealing continuous damage.
It could be considered an essential ability for hunting Moulkings.
A smile naturally formed on Moo-hyeok's lips.
To think it would become this easy.
Thanks to this, he could now hunt not only Red Bears but also Moulkings in the same amount of time.
He could gain experience twice as fast, and securing diamonds had also become much easier.
He should break the second seal quickly too.
Meanwhile, Moo-hyeok's attacks continued. Because of this, the Moulking's entire body was already tinged with silver. Even at a glance, it was clear its HP was nearly depleted.
GROOOOAR!
When the Red Bear finally arrived, he switched his skeletons to auto mode to deal with it.
Farewell.
Thunk.
As the blades struck in succession, the Moulking's body went limp.
[Experience points gained.]
After performing Corpse Disassembly and collecting the 10 diamonds it dropped, he turned around. He could see the Red Bear engaging with his skeletons.
-
Eight Skeleton Warriors pressed forward with swords and shields at the frontline.
Four Archers provided covering fire while steadily building up damage.
If you were to look at them individually, these summons would normally be crushed under the Red Bear's feet.
But even thin branches, when layered countless times, aren't easily broken at once.
Kirik, kirik!
Even though Moo-hyeok had switched them to auto mode while focusing on dealing with the Moulking, the Bone Swords and Bone Archers were performing their duties admirably.
Thanks to their increased wisdom, they had absorbed their combat experience both physically and mentally to some extent.
Hmm.
The flow of battle wasn't bad.
Four Bone Swords surrounded the Red Bear, focused solely on defense with their shields raised, while the remaining Bone Swords positioned themselves behind their shield-bearing comrades, swinging and thrusting their swords.
The constant barrage of bone arrows restricted the Red Bear's movements, while the various enchantments on their weapons made their actions even more effective.
KWAAAAARGH!
The Red Bear roared in frustration.
But nothing changed because of it.
Although five Bone Swords had been unsummoned, the Red Bear was already staggering, having lost its combat ability.
Thud.
Only then did Moo-hyeok approach to finish it off.
"Corpse Disassembly."
He obtained bones this time too.
Unfortunately, there were no diamonds.
He stood up and looked over his skeletons.
Now they felt more like comrades than mere summons.
That kind of feeling had developed somehow.
"Good work."
After leaving those words, he unsummoned them all.
Time for a little rest.
While waiting for his MP to fully recover, Moo-hyeok once again dove into his grinding routine.
Clang! Clang!
He crafted swords and put them up for auction.
Sizzle.
He filled his stomach with food he made himself.
-
The hunting was going smoothly.
Both the Moulking and Red Bear were taken down so easily that one might say they melted away.
This was all thanks to the power of penetration.
Before a day had passed—
That is, just before midnight in real time—
"Whew."
Finally, he reached the end of the first floor dungeon.
Stairs.
As expected, the dungeon had more than one floor.
What kind of monsters would appear on the second basement floor?
It would be nice if the penetration effect alone could handle them, but that possibility was likely low.
Things would probably get easier once he hit level 25.
That's when the second seal would be broken, as far as he knew.
The next one would be 50, was it?
Since this was old information, it might not be entirely accurate, but Moo-hyeok figured it would be something around that.
He checked his inventory before heading down to the second floor. He had about 100 diamonds collected so far. Only enough to raise the dungeon level by four.
Level 15 was the limit, huh.
He had already cleared all the monsters on the first floor anyway.
They wouldn't even respawn.
To reach level 25, he would have no choice but to hunt monsters on the second basement floor.
Right, let's go down.
He headed downward through the stairs.
Step.
The darkness grew thicker as he descended.
An eerie atmosphere also permeated strongly.
Though it wasn't completely dark, as objects were still distinguishable.
Fortunately, when he reached the end of the stairs and opened the closed door, light brighter than expected converged from all directions.
This was thanks to the glowing stones embedded throughout the walls.
As his eyes adjusted to the light, the interior came into proper view.
"Hmm..."
A groan escaped involuntarily.
This was because the environment was completely different from the first floor.
