𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 37
“Isn’t it alright? It’s a high-level dungeon, so the experience points are considerable, and you can also acquire the items that drop there.”
Listening to her, it seems my fight against Turu left a deep impression. By the way, just how high-level is this dungeon that they’re hiring me? Well, even if I don’t catch the boss, it’s still 500,000 won.
500,000 won……
‘Hmm, if it’s a high-level dungeon, the items should be good, right?’
“So, what do you think?”
“Let me think about it for a moment.”
After replying only that much, I turned my gaze to Raz. Looking at her, her face was strange. Should I say she was looking at me with eyes that said I was amazing? Or admiration? Either way, it was an undeniably burdensome gaze.
“Wow, that’s amazing.”
“What’s amazing? No, wait, you mentioned money earlier, what was that about?”
“Ah, that’s…… ”
At my question, Raz glanced at Loina next to her with a hesitant look, then as if deciding it didn’t matter, she opened her mouth.
“Did you see the homepage today? They added a video board. If you get first place there, they give you a whopping 3 million won.”
“I saw the video board too.”
And I know very well that the first place is held by Extinction Sword, who has an S-rank skill.
“Really? Then it’ll be easier to explain. How about we make a video together and upload it? If we get the prize money, we’ll split it half and half.”
” …… ”
Her words were simple. So simple that I didn’t know where to start pointing out the flaws, but I decided to speak my mind anyway.
“What kind of video will get us first place?”
“That? You soloing the boss of the dungeon I found. A video of you fighting and winning against the boss 1:1! If you use the skills you have, you can definitely get first place!”
” …… ”
She’s probably talking about Jayer’s Guardian Shield and Phantom Shift. Surely, the Guardian Shield is flashy enough that if filmed, it could rank high. Conversely, filming it would also mean revealing the skills I possess to the world.
In short, it wasn’t even worth listening to.
Having decided that, I averted my gaze from Raz without hesitation.
“You said it was 500,000 won if I helped, right? Let’s go.”
“Hey! This is a real jackpot! And I’ll share the dungeons I find in the future too! You don’t even have an Exploration Skill!”
“It seems that lady has an Exploration Skill.”
“Yes. D-rank, I heard?”
“Why did you say that!”
I lightly ignored Raz who shouted in a fit of anger. But was the mention of D-rank unexpected? Loina, as if she had discovered a treasure, spoke to Raz.
“By any chance, would you consider joining our guild?”
“No! I’m sick and tired of guilds.”
“Please think carefully. We’ll treat you well.”
Now they started talking to each other, leaving me aside. By the way, if I help with the dungeon, what happens to today’s quest? There’s no real reason I have to do it, but the fact that I can only do it once a day bothered me.
‘The quest is a real concern.’
Should I give up today and just take the 500,000 won? Due to dying to that damn Turu, I lost about 200,000 won. But the 500,000 won, which was more than enough to cover that loss, was quite tempting.
‘Or, it’s about 4 o’clock now, so if I log out, it’ll be 10 o’clock, right? Couldn’t I do the quest then?’
While I was having all sorts of thoughts like that.
“Anyway, I don’t want to. If you want to scout, scout someone else.”
“Yes. But if by any chance you change your mind, please contact me.”
“I won’t.”
With those words, Loina’s gaze returned to me.
“Have you finished thinking?”
“Well, I’ll help. Though I’m not sure about the boss.”
“I’m grateful you’re even helping. Ah, but it will take about an hour to gather guild members, so how about we meet at the north gate in an hour?”
‘In an hour?’
Oh? Then I could do the quest?
I might not be able to buy accessories, but it seemed like I could do the quest. Naturally, having no reason to refuse, I nodded in agreement to her words, and she emphasized once again about meeting in an hour and left.
‘Then let’s quickly try the quest.’
An hour seemed like enough time to do the quest comfortably. Thinking that, I headed towards the Quest Guild, and Raz, with a somewhat dissatisfied expression, started to follow me.
“Why won’t you do it?”
“Because I can make money without filming a video.”
“But it would be better to earn more.”
“And how are you going to solo the boss monster?”
“That’s…… ”
Raz was speechless at my words. It’s not that I’m not confident in facing the boss monster. But if I filmed a video, the fact that I have an S-rank skill might be revealed.
Well, honestly, it doesn’t matter if it’s revealed. What are they going to do? It’s not like they can steal the S-rank skill from me.
‘Of course, it could be annoying.’
Moreover, I could say I didn’t want to because of that annoyance.
“Where are you going, anyway?”
“The Quest Guild. I couldn’t do today’s quest.”
“Quest? Come to think of it, I have to do a quest too.”
” ……You want to do it together?”
“My attack power is higher than you think. I can handle the role of at least one person.”
“That’s what you think.”
No matter how high Raz’s attack power is, it’s probably lower than my defense. I have nothing to say since my defense is higher than my attack, but still.
“Wow~ You’re so mean. You hunted well in my dungeon yesterday.”
” …… ”
Suddenly, the mention of the dungeon left me speechless. As Raz said, I hunted in her dungeon and even got a set item. And apart from that, the word ‘dungeon’ brought a question to mind.
“By the way, did you sell the dungeon?”
“Not yet. That’s why I suggested filming the video.”
‘Right.’
It would be ridiculous to go to a dungeon that’s already been sold and try to catch the boss. Should I go there later and level up? The experience points there were decent.
‘Hmm……’
No, let’s not.
I’ve already gotten everything I could from that place. It felt uncomfortable going to a dungeon that could be sold at any time, and I could level up in the dungeon Loina mentioned, so I decided to give up on going to Raz’s dungeon.
“Sigh, it’s clearly a good opportunity.”
“What good opportunity.”
One way or another, Raz and I arrived at the Quest Guild.
Arriving at the Quest Guild, I asked the receptionist to show me the E-rank quest list. Since I had already completed three F-rank quests, I was eligible to receive E-rank quests, but it seemed Raz wasn’t.
“E-rank? You completed all the F-rank quests?”
“Of course.”
Leaving behind Raz, who had a somewhat complicated expression, I examined the quest list the receptionist showed me.
[Eliminate the Forest Monsters.] (E-rank)
Details：Recently, unusual monsters have been appearing in the Blue Strawberry Forest located northwest of the Harpe Empire, threatening the livelihood of nearby villagers. Eliminate 10 monsters that are inhabiting this remote area where it’s difficult to dispatch troops.
*Automatically moves to Blue Strawberry Forest.
Reward：Fame (45), Gold (1 Gold 50 Silver), 30 Blue Strawberries.
Recommended Party Size：2 people
[Eliminate the Predator ‘Hove’.] (E-rank)
Details：In a certain mountain range located in the Anis Kingdom, there is an eagle that reigns as a predator. The eagle’s name is Hove. Hove is strong enough to defeat even most monsters, and it hunts several animals a day, causing difficulties for the hunters living nearby. They are simply hoping for Hove to be eliminated as soon as possible.
*Automatically moves to the mountain range.
Reward：Fame (60), Gold (3 Gold), Item (1 piece of the Violent Wind Leather Armor Set)
Recommended Party Size：6 people
“Hmm.”
I wanted to take a quest with a good reward considering the losses I had today, but this predator quest seemed difficult.
Catch an eagle? How do I catch something that flies?
For the record, I don’t have any ranged skills. This also meant that I couldn’t do anything until Hove, the eagle, landed. And since it even has a name, it was likely a boss battle similar to the one I had with Dorgen two days ago.
“Wow, Hove? This gives 3 gold!”
“Don’t even dream about it. I’m not doing it.”
“Well, it looks difficult just by looking at it. I wonder if it would be okay if we gathered some people.”
“There’s no time for that.”
Remembering the people who kept shouting to recruit party members yesterday, I immediately objected. In the end, the only thing I could do was the monster extermination quest.
“I’ll take the quest to eliminate the forest monsters.”
“Yes. That will be 10 silver.”
‘Tsk, expensive.’
[10 silver has been consumed.]
[You have accepted the E-rank quest, ‘Eliminate the Forest Monsters’.]
“Then I’ll be expecting good results.”
Ignoring the receptionist’s words, I looked at Raz. Should I take her with me? I thought about it for a moment, but decided to take her since I owed her for yesterday’s dungeon.
“Party request.”
“You’re taking me too? I still have one F-rank quest left.”
“I owe you from yesterday, and you never know.”
If my prediction was correct, I should be able to proceed with Raz. The reason is the party size limit. If I proceed with a beginner and fail? It would be entirely my loss. If I fail, I would also suffer considerable damage, so I thought it would be possible to proceed with Raz.
On the other hand, if this doesn’t work……
It’s still okay. I can do it alone.
Anyway, at my words, Raz, who was staring at me intently, smiled brightly, a smile I had never seen before, and grabbed my hand.
[Party formed.]
[Current party members: 2 (Rudin, Raz)]
[A guild quest exists. The E-rank quest, ‘Eliminate the Forest Monsters’, will be shared with party member Raz.]
‘As expected, it works.’
“Hehe, please take care of me.”
” …… ”
Is she that happy?
I understood her being happy since she followed me and ended up getting an E-rank quest. However, considering Raz’s skills, appearance, and gender, I felt she could have gotten an E-rank quest even without me.
But to be that happy. I couldn’t understand that, and I couldn’t even bring myself to ask. I just started the quest without saying anything.
“Start quest.”
[You have started the quest. Would you like to move to the quest location?]
“Yes.”
[Moving to the quest location.]
Pabat!-
The place we were transported to was a forest.
Realizing that this was the Blue Strawberry Forest mentioned in the quest, I looked around. To see if there were any monsters. However, no monsters were visible, only Raz who had followed me.
“Shall we go then?”
Slightly impressed by Raz’s nonchalant attitude despite it being an E-rank quest, I decided to move as she suggested.
“Fall back if it’s dangerous.”
“Is that okay?”
“It’s better than dying needlessly.”
The death penalty is that severe.
Raz seemed to understand my skills as she nodded. By the way, where do I have to go to find these damn monsters? I don’t even know what kind of monsters they are.
‘I’ll know if I wander around.’
Since this was the place I received the quest, there was a high chance that there was nothing here besides monsters. And as I thought, after wandering around for a few minutes, I encountered a monster.
“Snort!”
“That’s…… ”
“A wild boar.”
Well, it’s a wild boar, but……
The wild boar in front of me was different from the ones I had seen on TV. Its size alone was much larger than me, and the tusks around its mouth seemed to be at least 1 meter long.
‘If I get stabbed by that, it’ll just show up as piercing damage, right?’
[Ferocious Wild Boar]
“Squeal!”
‘Here it comes.’
The charging wild boar’s speed was quite fast, with its body lowered. However, it wasn’t fast enough for me to not react. Even though my level dropped, my Agility is quite high. To respond to the charging wild boar, I also activated a skill.
“Giant’s Sprint!”
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwak!!-
The wild boar’s charge and my Giant’s Sprint. I didn’t know how much attack power the wild boar had, but I believed my Giant’s Sprint would win.
Kwaaaang!!-
[You have received damage. -68.]
[Skill Damage! 442.]
“Kuek!”
The wild boar flew backward, its size belying its weakness. It seemed its Strength was lower than mine even after using Giant’s Sprint. Even though my level dropped, my Strength after using Giant’s Sprint exceeds 300.
There’s no way I would lose to such a wild boar.
“Concentrated Fire.”
Pat!-
At the same time, Raz shot an arrow at the wild boar that had been flung away. Could that even deal damage? As I watched silently, the arrow hit the wild boar as expected, but it didn’t kill it.
‘Just as I thought.’
“Concentrated Fire.”
While I was thinking, ‘Should I just finish it off?’, Raz cast the skill again and shot an arrow. I didn’t expect much, but surprisingly, the arrow pierced through the wild boar’s hide.
A completely different result from the first arrow that bounced off after hitting the hide.
‘Piercing damage?’
Come to think of it, I received piercing damage when I fought her too, right? How does she get piercing damage so easily? Is it a skill?
“Damn it, why won’t it die! Concentrated Fire!”
“Squeal!”
Anyway, piercing damage or not, it seemed it wasn’t enough to kill the wild boar. And the wild boar, having regained its senses, lowered its body as if preparing to charge again. While I was contemplating whether to help Raz, I noticed her preparing something.
“Flame Trap Installation.”
Pabat!-
With that, a red magic circle was engraved on the ground in front of Raz. I guessed it was a trap-type skill. And as expected, the wild boar, charging towards Raz, stepped right onto the magic circle.
Kwang!-
[Combat experience 420 acquired.]
The erupting flames and the message indicating experience points gained. With that message, I realized the wild boar was dead.
‘That was a close one.’
Should I just kill them myself from now on? Considering the damage I received, it didn’t seem like a very strong monster.
“How was it? You saw my skills, right?”
” …… ”
I didn’t even feel like answering.
Hiding a sigh that escaped involuntarily, I set out to find the remaining 9 wild boars.
“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!”
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