ETH – Ch 22

Evolution Theory of the Hunter (ETH)
Volume 1 Chapter 22

“..you didn’t kill him, did you?”

“I have a sports massage certification. He’ll feel real good once he wakes up again.”

“You’re certified in all sorts of things aren’t you.”

“Should I do it for you too, SunbehOppa?”

“No.”

“I’ll do it softly.”

“Quit it. Don’t even think about it.”

When the monsters evaporated, two ores were dropped behind. Not bad. Not bad at all.

“What a good start. It would be nice if we got a dropped item today. Then don’t we get a bonus?”

Jung Sooah asked while picking up the ores.

“Yeah right. You really think that’ll happen?”

In all my 6 years as a porter, I’ve never seen an item drop in a level 1 dungeon. Even in a level 2 dungeon, I’d only seen an item drop two times…and they were both only level 1 items. That is how rare it was to get an item in a low level dungeon. Getting a skillbook from a level 4 monster in one go was like a one in a million event.

Manager Kim finally woke up.

“Umm..what happened?”

“Doesn’t it feel good? Should I do it for you again next time?”

“Huh?”

“I’ll do it for you every time you mess up on your skill.”

“No, no no worries. That’ll never happen.”

As Jung Sooah tried to put her hands on his shoulders, manager Kim violently shook his head to show her just how much he didn’t need it.

***

Everyone in the party quickly adapted to the dungeon. Cho Youngoo was now able to use his shield successfully and even begin to attack as well while Han Joonseok was able to now hit his mark 1 out of 3 tries with his arrow. I also made glasses girl slow down and concentrate on accuracy rather than speed.

Most surprisingly, even manager Kim improved. He was now able to put to sleep 3 monsters at a time every time. It seemed it wasn’t his ability that was at fault but his concentration.

As everyone steadily improved, our dungeon clearing pace picked up as well.

Now things had changed. Everyone agreed that our goal had become clearing the dungeon.

“Whew.”

When we had gone around the dungeon, Jung Sooah’s backpack was filled to the top with ores. If I were to estimate, it was probably over 150kg. A male porter could usually carry up to 200kg and a girl porter could carry 150kg. She was now carrying more than she was used to.

When she couldn’t store any more in her bag, we had no choice but to start filling mine.

“I’m sorry. Even though this is my job.”

“It would be a bigger problem if you overwork yourself. Just do what you can.”

“Ok.”

“And I won’t know until I finish the calculations, but I’ll make sure to pay you as much as you worked.”

“Really?”

“You worked this hard. I can’t pay you only $50 in good conscience.”

“Yes! SunbehOppa, you’re a great boss!”

“But didn’t we pretty much kill them all? Why isn’t it clearing?”

Manager Kim, who had been resting on the ground, asked.

Baekoonsa dungeon splits into two different courses. Both courses do not meet so you have to complete one trail, come back to the beginning, and complete the other trail. We had already completed both trails.

“No…it can’t be…”

Sooah opened her mouth. She didn’t finish what she was about to say, but everyone knew what she was thinking. A monster doesn’t always appear at the same spot. But there was a small chance that an irregular could appear.

“Let’s leave this spot first.”

We had pretty much killed enough monsters so there was no need for us to get greedy and try to clear the dungeon. We started heading quickly to the front of the dungeon.

“Stop.”

I raised my hand to have everyone behind me stop.

There was a cave wolf curled up on the floor in front. Well…I thought it was a cave wolf, but it was two times the normal size.

“It’s the dungeon boss.”

“How is it here…?”

Glasses girl asked with a tense face. Yep. You guessed it. The Baekoonsa dungeon does not have a dungeon boss. There was only one reason why this boss was here.

“It’s an irregular.”

At my words, everyone started to freak out.

***

We backed up and went back to the crossroads we came from. This was because if we stayed any longer and it saw us, we would have had to fight immediately. Cho Youngoo asked.

“Can’t we put a sleep spell on it and kill it then?”

“That kind of spell does not work on a dungeon boss.”

“How dare you flap your mouth when you’re only a beginner? You think I didn’t do anything if that were possible?”

Manager Kim yelled out at the same time I answered him. That old man’s mouth will get him into a lot of trouble someday.

“Aren’t you being too harsh? If you know so much, shouldn’t you suggest an idea to get rid of him then?”

“You think I’m being like this because I know…I’m just saying if you’re a rookie, you should just stay quiet.”

When Han Joonseok took Cho Youngoo’s side, manager Kim said his last sentence but stopped talking after that. At least they didn’t start going at it.

“There must be something we could do?”

Glasses girl asked. She remained a more calm attitude, different from the last raid. Seeing her improvement, I felt a little proud for having given her that small advice.

“I’m thinking.”

I had packed 3 cases of pepper bombs just in case we would cross paths with an irregular. This was to take away their sense of smell and sight. It wasn’t anything special – just homemade – but the difference between having it and not having it would prove to be huge.

Slap.

I lightly slapped my cheeks. Concentrate.

There is a big difference between a normal monster and a boss monster. If I were to put it into perspective, it would be like trying to fight 10 normal monsters all at one time. And on top of that, any knock out magic like sleep spells don’t work on it – we can only beat it by physical attacks. For this reason, whenever there is a boss, it is normal for everyone to prepare thoroughly ahead of time before entering the dungeon.

But we were not ready to take on a boss. Nope.

I started talking aloud to myself.

“The goal is to get out safely. The problem is, that thing is blocking our only exit…”

I turned to face the party. They were all people who came here by trusting in me. Though our relationship was strictly business, that’s where trust starts. I felt like if I just got them through this successfully, these people would put their full confidence in me from here on out. That manager Kim could really be a good addition to my team too.

There is an opportunity in every crisis.

I slowly spoke.

“Can you give me a little time alone? I’ll be right back.”

***

How should I do this? I took inventory of what I had available to me.

One warrior and two archers. I also had a mage and a porter.

If I looked at it objectively, Han Joonseok and glasses girl just kind of sucked. I couldn’t rely on them to do any kind of real damage. It would be a relief if they hit their mark. The best thing that they could do was maybe create some sort of distraction.

The cave wolf was at least two times bigger than Cho Youngoo. If it bit on his shield and pulled, Cho Youngoo would most definitely be dragged around like a rag doll. He would either have to let go of the shield or hold onto it…and both would be disastrous.

What if the archers stand at a distance from each other and shoot. Then the wolf would probably go after the archer that hits it.

Then Cho Youngoo would be between them…waiting for the wolf to attack one – after which he would follow to aid the archer who would be under attack. If Cho Youngoo is slow to react or the wolf moves too fast, the archer would die no matter what. But if Cho Youngoo succeeds in reaching the archer first, then the other archer can keep shooting at the wolf. Then when the wolf starts heading toward the other archer, I would step in.

I shook my head.

This plan sucked balls. There’s no way the wolf would move the way I want it to. I can’t rely on chance and call it a plan.

“If we do this, we’ll all die.”

No matter how much I wracked my brain, all I could think of was running away. Luckily, there were two paths in this dungeon. If one person can lure the wolf into one path, then the rest who would be hiding in the other path could run away and live. We needed a mickey.

And the only person who can do this in our group was me. No one else would have the balls or skills to do it.

Hey. At least now I feel a little better since I know what to do. It’s not an impossible thing I guess. I mean, I do have some things up my sleeve.

Bloodysword. Pepper bombs. And my “effort”.

I closed my left eye to check my stats.

[0,3,2350]

2350 reward points.

What can I do with this?