🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 13
Yujin moved with a speed unimaginable for a mere Enhancement Sorcerer, slaughtering monsters one after another.
Right now, Yujin’s stats were effectively at a D-rank.
Add an S-rank skill on top of that, and his party members couldn’t even keep up from behind.
Swoosh! Slice! Slash!
[You have defeated a Goblin.]
This is why a healthy body is everything.
Yujin was quite satisfied with how smoothly his body moved.
Of course, this was just an E-rank dungeon—an awkward middle ground between F and D-rank.
So doing this kind of slaughter here wasn’t necessarily something extraordinary, but for Yujin—who had always been sickly—this was more than enough.
Thud.
Yujin, who had been advancing without pause, finally came to a stop.
Not because he was tired or exhausted.
It was because a fork in the road appeared before him.
One of these must lead to the boss room, and the other’s a trap.
Which one should I take?
Frankly, Yujin didn’t care which path he chose.
Go to the boss room? Sure, that was fine. He could just clear the dungeon straight away.
After all, contribution points went up the most when you defeated the boss.
But I’ve got leveling up to think about.
He had a trait that let him gain EXP and level up for every enemy he defeated.
So rather than just exiting the dungeon as fast as possible, it was more profitable to hunt thoroughly before leaving.
“Hmm.”
Just as he was thinking—
“Huff, huff!”
“W-Wait up!”
The Hunters who had fallen behind finally caught up to Yujin.
If he hadn’t stopped, they’d never have been able to catch up.
“Is there a problem?”
Yujin asked in a dull voice. Blood was still dripping from the sword he had used to just slash through a kobold.
Even just standing there, he gave off an eerie and intense aura.
Han Taesoo, who had been about to say something after finally catching up, instinctively clammed up.
“Yes? What’s the issue?”
Yujin asked, wiping the blood off his sword.
“We discussed this before, didn’t we? Rewards would be distributed based on contribution. That means I’m allowed to act independently, right?”
“…Well…”
Han Taesoo couldn’t respond properly.
Normally, a “based on contribution” clause in dungeon parties was seen as disrespectful—implying the other person was weak.
It wasn’t like they directly looked down on Yujin, but they did assume he was weak because he was an Enhancement Sorcerer.
Han Taesoo cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Ahem, ahem… I think we may have misjudged the situation.”
“Misjudged how?”
Yujin stared at Han Taesoo calmly.
There was no need to pick a fight, but they needed to be clear about the pecking order.
If you didn’t put someone in their place, they’d eventually try to climb over you.
“…I had a bias.”
Han Taesoo admitted his mistake straightforwardly.
“Since you’re an Enhancement Sorcerer, I assumed you didn’t have any combat ability. Honestly, we added you to the party just to fill out the numbers. But now I see… I was completely wrong.”
That’s more like it. A clean apology.
Yujin nodded.
“Yes. You were mistaken.”
He raised his sword slightly.
“There’s no Enhancement Sorcerer more competent than me.”
Han Taesoo chuckled awkwardly.
“Haha… I apologize. Then, maybe from now on, we can try to coordinate a bit more—”
“Regardless,” Yujin interrupted flatly.
“I’ll be moving alone from here on out.”
“…What?”
“If I stay with you all, I’ll have to slow down. There’s no reason for me to do that.”
“……”
Han Taesoo couldn’t refute it. His gaze dropped to the ground.
A kobold head rolled on the floor.
Its body didn’t even have a single scratch left behind.
A clean kill—one blow.
This wasn’t something an E-rank was capable of.
“Unless one of you can kill faster than me?”
“Th-That’s…”
Just as Han Taesoo stuttered, unable to respond—
“Hey. Who the hell do you think you are?”
The party’s healer stepped forward, face flushed red.
It wasn’t from drinking. He was just that angry.
“Don’t you know the unspoken rules of dungeons?”
“Unspoken rules?”
“You don’t fake your rank. You stick with your party. Isn’t that basic common sense?”
“You guys broke the rules first. Even in secondhand deals, price haggling on the spot is frowned upon—and you did exactly that.”
Clack!
Yujin rested his cleaned sword on his shoulder.
“And I never lied about my rank.”
“Bullshit!”
The healer pointed at the kobold corpse.
“An E-rank Enhancement Sorcerer wiped out a bunch of kobolds alone? That makes sense to you?”
“Why not? Even a healer could do it—if they were good with a sword.”
“You bastard—!”
The healer’s anger surged—until his eyes locked on Yujin’s weapon.
Lust overtook his expression.
“Your weapon—it’s a total cheat item, isn’t it?”
Yujin glanced at his sword.
It’s true, it’s kind of pay-to-win.
Originally, this iron sword wasn’t anything special.
But thanks to Yujin’s enhancement skill, its cutting power had been boosted.
Rather than a skill carry, it was more of a gear carry—the degraded version of [Spirit of the Blade] only increased its power by 10%.
“Leaning on one broken item and acting all high and mighty…”
“Alright, that’s enough.”
Kang Mingi stepped in again to try and mediate.
Yujin pointed his sword at him.
“Hey.”
“…Yes?”
“Shut up. Stay out of this.”
He waved his sword, signaling him to get lost.
Kang Mingi’s expression hardened.
“…We may have made a mistake, but Yujin, you’re crossing the line.”
“Oh, right. So civil. So elegant, modern man.”
“Do you think, no matter how strong you are, you can beat all five of us?”
“What, you gonna kill me and bury the body? Feel free to try.”
Yujin was confident.
Confident that he wouldn’t lose to the likes of them.
“…Then let’s do this.”
Han Taesoo spoke up. He looked exhausted, and whatever else he was, leadership didn’t seem to be his strength.
“There’s a fork ahead. We’ll split into two groups and each take a path. Whoever finds the boss first will start the raid.”
“Han Taesoo!”
“I’m the party leader. Please follow my decision.”
He spoke in a firm, commanding tone.
The healer clicked his tongue in irritation.
Smart move.
Trying to minimize losses, maybe?
But their thinking had one flaw—
They think they can beat the dungeon boss on their own?
That was their blind spot.
Yujin recalled their earlier performance.
Could those guys even handle the kobold boss?
This world was a game.
And Yujin was a veteran. A regressor, even.
He knew everything there was to know about kobolds.
Well, almost everything—some memories were fuzzy.
Guess I’ll have to back them up eventually.
He could come later.
Either way, they weren’t strong enough to beat the boss.
The kobold boss couldn’t be taken down without knowing the strategy.
And with gear like theirs? Impossible.
So Yujin readily nodded.
“Sure. Just call me when you’re dying, Han Taesoo.”
“Haha…”
“Tch. Unbelievable.”
The healer grumbled and kicked a kobold corpse, then stormed off down the right path. The rest of the party followed their key support.
Yujin shrugged and took the other path.
The kobolds welcomed him.
“Come on, then.”
It was time to level up.
*
When the healer who had taken point fell back and Han Taesoo stepped into the lead again, a massive door blocked their path.
“…It’s the boss room.”
Their faces lit up.
They’d reached the boss before that jerk Yujin!
“Ha! Serves that bastard right. Hope he dies out there.”
“Minsu.”
Han Taesoo addressed the healer in a low voice.
“That’s enough.”
“What? Dammit…”
“If you stir the mood any further, I won’t tolerate it.”
“…Tch. Fine.”
Han Taesoo sighed deeply.
Lee Minsu, the healer, had been on the fringe of the delinquent crowd in school—somewhere between an outsider and a thug.
Then, just before graduation, he awakened as a healer and went completely off the rails.
He had talent, so they brought him along, but Han Taesoo hadn’t expected this level of trouble.
He’d only recently realized just how little leadership he had.
This shouldn’t have happened.
Another sigh.
At least they had agreed to differential contribution rewards.
It was humiliating to accept, but money made people more forgiving.
Maybe they could still salvage the relationship.
Someone with that kind of skill… probably has connections too.
Way beyond the likes of them.
So all they could do was hope he didn’t take this personally.
“Alright. Let’s go in.”
“I’ll scout ahead—”
Kang Mingi stepped forward. As the archer, he was in charge of reconnaissance.
Han Taesoo nodded and stepped aside.
Sssshk.
His [Search] skill activated and scanned the room.
His expression hardened.
“…This is bad.”
“What? What’s wrong?”
“There are… a lot of kobolds in there.”
“There always are, though?”
“It’s… excessive. Like, at least double the usual amount.”
“…Are you serious?”
Han Taesoo’s face grew grim.
It was rare, but sometimes the boss room held large numbers of kobolds.
Since the boss room’s layout couldn’t be known in advance, there was no way to prepare.
We’d need a magician for this…
Or a high-level swordsman who could kill in wide arcs or apply stun effects.
But we can’t back out now.
They were already here.
Retreating meant no gains—and for folks living paycheck to paycheck, time was money.
“…No choice. Everyone ready up. We’re going in.”
“W-What? With that many monsters?”
“Would you rather leave empty-handed?”
Minsu shut up.
He knew retreat meant going home broke.
“We’re going in.”
Creeeeeeaak—
Han Taesoo opened the door and raised his shield, stepping in cautiously.
A wide chamber lay beyond, torches flickering on the walls, kobolds swarming below.
Han Taesoo swallowed hard. There were so many.
But if we just kill the boss—!
If they could take the boss out before the rest attacked, they could still win.
He gave a signal. The archer nodded and drew his bowstring.
Then—
SKREEEEEEEEE!
The kobold on the stone throne in the center screeched.
That was the trigger.
The others turned red-eyed and charged.
“A-Aaaaargh!”
“Maintain formation!!!”
Boom!
[Taunt]
Han Taesoo slammed the ground, activating his skill.
“Backs to the wall! Don’t get separated!”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
The party huddled back, shields up.
But the kobolds were rabid, hammering them relentlessly.
Han Taesoo’s strength began to fail. He clenched his teeth.
Is this… the end?
Then—
“You guys look like you’re in trouble.”
SPLAT!
A nearby kobold’s head went flying.
For just a moment, the pressure eased.
Han Taesoo looked up in disbelief.
Yujin, covered in blood.
But none of it was his.
Kobold blood.
Yujin had cleared the path back in no time, cutting through monsters and returning to the boss room.
He flicked his blade and asked:
“Need a hand?”
At that moment, Han Taesoo had only one answer.
He nodded.
Even Kang Mingi and the healer followed suit.
“…Yes. Please help us.”
