Episode 54
In fact, every time a zombie died, they could feel a tiny bit of mana being absorbed into him. The dungeon recovered the mana when a monster died inside, but Jung Si-woo already knew that in the real world, the mana was recovered to himself. It’s just that the level of mana being absorbed was so weak that they couldn’t jump to any conclusions.
“Is this the real world? I’m telling you this is pretty fun.”
“Ma, mana crystal! The other elites are eating it up!”
“As long as the total amount doesn’t change, it’s okay.”
But it was clear that they weren’t in control of the dungeon now that they had been dropped to the Stone Chamber. By itself, his power had risen by more than 100%. What’s the biggest difference between a dungeon and a non-dungeon? It’s the level up.
“Ahhhhhhhh!”
Jung Si-woo raised his mana to strengthen his body. It didn’t just strengthen his body; it temporarily spreads all over the rocks and upgrades them into harder, sharper weapons than steel!
“When you level up, you can regain mana and stamina, so there’s no need to save it.”
“Now that you mention it, he hasn’t been using mana until now.”
“Ahh, poor Dullahan….”
The form of the stones in each hand remains unchanged. However, his body and the stones he was using were enhanced. So, the result was remarkably different.
“Hmph!”
[Kuaaak!]
[Kugeeek!]
The flying rock cuts through the air in an instant, paving a straight line through the undead, shattering all in its path. The rock even exploded with Jung Si-woo’s subtle Mana Control, sweeping the undead away at once with enhanced debris like grenades! The rocks left only traces of destruction like a shooting star. All the monsters disappeared, even the elites.
[Kuhaa!]
[Kieeeeeeeeeeee!]
[I’m surprised you’re already using mana…hehe.]
Jung Si-woo examined his own magic while ignoring Dullahan’s provocation. The magical power consumed by throwing one stone was about 2% of his total magical power. He would still be able to throw up to 48 shots. Of course, in the meantime, he didn’t take into account the restoration of magical power or a level up.
“The mana of the elites are a little denser. All right.”
At this rate, he could level up as much as he wanted before his mana ran out. With a grin, he threw another fastball. Hundreds of undead exploded again. You couldn’t throw rocks like this against a higher-level enemy, but the level of the undead was low, and they were all gathered in one place, so there was no better attack strategy than this!
[He started using magic! It’s proof that they are afraid of Setnak!]
[Setnakkkkk!]
[Punish! Punish!]
On the other hand, Dullahan was encouraging the undead to march forward. One by one, the ghouls were reborn as elites by eating the corpses. Even the elites ended up dead by the stone shot with mana, but then another elite ate that corpse and strengthened itself.
“Secondary mutation… it isn’t a ghast yet, but I’m still nervous. If a hundred giant ghouls run against the walls at once…”
“I’ll get rid of every last one.”
“That’s a wonderful expression.”
Even if Jung Si-woo killed dozens or hundreds of undead at a time, he couldn’t stop them from advancing completely. Increasingly, the distance between the undead army and the wall was diminishing. Dullahan joyfully rode the black ghost horse, enjoying the sense that Jung Si-woo was being cornered.
“Huff, huaaf!”
Jung Si-woo was now grabbing three or four stones in each hand and throwing them. The rocks that bore the power of bombs exploded between the undead, completely disrupting their lines. Dullahan gazed at Jung Si-woo, thinking him restless.
[I don’t know how I got here…but it starts with you. A legitimate war stops us here…hmm?]
Suddenly, Dullahan realized something. Jung Si-woo’s magical power, which was bottoming out, was suddenly completely restored! The reason was clear. However, if so, it was even less understandable. He’s clearly a human being with a different Mana system than the undead!
[He is taking the mana from the undead. And he only killed the lower level undead!]
He didn’t know. It would definitely be impossible to level up his mana by killing zombies and skeletons when he reached level 100, but he was still unbelievably strong right now, even though his level was only 75 or 76!
[Your level has increased!]
“Good.”
Jung Si-woo smiled as he felt his strength and magic being restored. Every time he killed the undead, he was worried about the mana being too small, but this was fine. He’ll be able to level up at least two times just by defeating those pawns!
“Let’s begin the second war!”
“Walls, they’re clinging to walls!”
“Ignore them!”
He didn’t care about the little ones. It’s not like Jung Si-woo was opening up a monastery right now; all he has to do is protect himself and exterminate the undead! By the time they reached the top of the wall, their army would be destroyed!
“Eat these rocks, you alien monsters!”
“I was wondering why it took you so long to say that!”
As his level rose, Jung Si-woo began to throw stones more actively than before since his body and magic became stronger. Dullahan was surprised to see Jung Si-woo’s magic being restored, but in the end, he remained motionless. So now they focus on reducing the number of enemies as much as possible! A little faster, a little more! A myriad of corpses piled up and spawned a terrible hoax. The undead seemed to gain more power as their allies died.
“Hyeong-nim, the elite ghouls are beginning to devour each other!”
“Ignore it.”
“Yep. Oh, the skeletons melded into one elite monster…!”
“Ignore that, too.”
“Yep. Ah, the two of them merged again…!”
“Why do they like to merge so much!?”
There was a big problem arising. As the elite ghouls approached, they ate the zombies, eventually devouring each other and pushing the boundaries, creating a ghast, then making the skeletons squeal and form into one giant flying skeleton lance! But that wasn’t the end. Just moments ago, a ghast a little bigger than the one that Jung Si-woo fought in the cemetery grabbed onto the flying skeleton lance. Then, small bony trunks protruded out of the flying skeleton lance-like tentacles, hitting the ghast before it began to eat. In the end, the body of the black undead was covered in white bones like armor.
It was a very eerie sight, but Jung Si-woo couldn’t help but acknowledge the skeleton armor.
“Well, that’s cool. Damn…!”
“Dammit, the undead are showing off…! I’m jealous!”
No matter how much he thought about it, they were much cooler than him. He was throwing stones at a wall, after all! Seeing Jung Si-woo and Yong Se-ha muttering together, Soo Ah-rin shouted.
“Is that really important right now?! Can’t you see that they are elite monsters as powerful as Dullahan?!”
“No, they’re still weaker than Dullahan. But if all of them merge, then…”
If it was given more time, they might be able to fuse perfectly and become powerful monsters. But for now, that monster was running around with its armor crumpled. In reality, it was just an unfinished product that was forced together.
“Let’s reduce the number of undead until it gets here.”
“Positive……”
The undead army had already declined to less than a fifth to when they first appeared, and that number was still declining due to Jung Si-woo’s throws and cognate predation! Who would’ve thought this could be done alone? If this were a quest, it would be similar to choosing a path full of obstacles, then breaking through and running at a faster speed than if he were to take a shortcut.
[Your level has increased.]
“Yes!”
“Hyeong-nim!”
“What wonderful timing…hmph!”
Jung Si-woo reached level 77. As the Knights of the Skeleton Armor approached the wall, they climbed up at an incredible speed compared to the undead and flew over it!
[Gruahhhh!]
The skull helmet opened, and the rotten undead’s face stuck out, spraying poison in a straight line towards Jung Si-woo! He appeared to have rendered Jung Si-woo inactive while attempting to land on the wall.
“Soo Ah-rin, Yong Se-ha! Get back!”
However, Jung Si-woo drove the supporters away and rushed straight into the poison. The face of the undead was twisted strangely. It didn’t expect him to run straight through!? It was a crucial mistake because it didn’t know about Jung Si-woo’s poison resistance. But it was already too late. He was in the air, so it couldn’t take any further action as he bolted right through the poison fog.
[Doom Knight’s poison has penetrated the body.
Poison tolerance didn’t completely overcome it, resulting in weak poisoning.]
[Poison Resistance Lv8.]
At the moment the poison entered his body, he was instantly blinded by the ghast’s powerful poison, but he still earned a level 8 resistance, so it didn’t interfere with anything. This is what his superhuman mind was capable of!
“Whew, yaaah!”
[Kaaahk!?]
Jung Si-woo took the hammer straight out of his inventory, ignoring the pain of his burning blood vessels, and struck the undead……the Doom Knight, with all his might!
[Heavy Strike Skill Lv26.]
[Kugeeeeeeeek! Kyeek!]
The Doom Knight hit the ground! Its body, and the sturdy bone armor it wore, was completely crushed at the moment of impact with the ground. It was a picturesque critical hit by Jung Si-woo’s hammer strike in a vulnerable situation.
[Your level has increased!]
“Okay, it’s dead.”
He leveled up just before he faced the Doom Knight, but now that he killed it, he couldn’t believe he was leveling up again. He assumed that it was still a pretty strong undead. But of course, it was an unlucky monster who was killed by Jung Si-woo in one blow!
“Oh, Oppa. That’s…”
“Huh…?”
However, there was something faint on the wall. Jung Si-woo approached it and found the flying skeleton lance it was holding!
“Heeeeeh!”
Suddenly, Soo Ah-rin panicked and grabbed Jung Si-woo’s collar, but he relieved her with a cheerful smile.
“It’s already dead. It’s just one skeleton spear.”
“You want it to transform, don’t you!?”
It would’ve been a lie if he said that he didn’t want to, but sadly, it was a safe bone. Jung Si-woo grabbed the handle of the spear to prove it. At that moment, a message was engraved in his eyes.
[Doom Knight’s Skeleton Lance]
[Rank – C +++]
[Attack – 1,500 – 1,950]
[Skill – 0/500]
[Option – ???]
[A skeleton spear that mutated together as the ghast was reborn as Doom Knight. A myriad of skeletons clumped together to strengthen their weight and power to the extreme. An ominous Lance, full of ridicule and deceit.]
“An artifact…! I could never get artifacts like this in the dungeon!”
“You got artifacts left by monsters like this on Mount Seolac. There’s nothing new about it. But this…is better than my hammer.”
“Is this an opportunity to learn assault spear skills…?”
“Se-ha, you can have this.”
“Hyeong-nim!”
It was more powerful than the one that Yong Se-ha dealt with at the time before the retreat. It was clearly more aggressive, heavier, and most of all, the hidden options were exciting. Of course, Yong Se-ha would need to restore a little more level to handle it properly. So, he decided to keep the lance in his inventory for now.
“Well, then.”
He would like to tidy up the Dark Knights’ hearthstone, but seeing the undead banquet happening on the ground right now, he thought he should postpone that a little bit. And above all…
[I couldn’t believe it at first…but you’re not influenced by the mana of the undead and making it your own.]
Dullahan’s eyes were different from before. He couldn’t let Jung Si-woo go on like this.
[If we let him slaughter the troops, he may become stronger than he is right now…that can’t happen.]
Immediately after the ghost horse made a strange cry, it hit the ground and floated into the air. Dullahan picked up his ax and pointed it at Jung Si-woo.
[I’ll finish you myself. A star that refuses war, a human from Earth.]
“…”
Jung Si-woo gripped his hammer. This was the start of the boss’ war.
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