Chapter 6
Swish!—
The sword, grotesquely wrapped in bandages, cut through the air with a sharp sound.
Each time the pitch-black blade visible between the bandages flashed.
Shing!—
One by one, the heads of the kobolds approaching us fell.
A style that prioritized rotational force and speed over strength.
On top of that, she wielded the blade at just the right place and time, as if by calculation.
Wait, was she actually calculating her movements?
Her eyes were following every attack…?
“Huh. You're better than I expected. But your style doesn't really suit swordsmanship, does it?”
- She's B-rank? I can feel the difference in level…
- Why isn't the boss doing anything, though?
- lol, looks like she's scared and hiding behind her
- Putting the lawsuit aside, wasn't the video actually faked?
- I mean, you need a bodyguard when you go into a Gate
“That's not it. The protagonist always makes their entrance at the end.”
Anyway, this was a style of swordsmanship I hadn't seen before.
It didn't seem like the basic Hunter swordsmanship I'd seen in ordinary videos.
Was it her own style? Or maybe a family style?
Whatever it was, it didn't seem to suit Ha-eun's fighting style, which paid such close attention to detail.
She'd move smoothly, then suddenly rely on brute force, slamming down with a vertical slash here and there.
A swordswoman using a style that didn't fit her body.
This was obviously going to be a pain.
“Hiyah!”
Shing!—
While I was thinking that, thick blood burst from the last kobold with a splatter.
After dark red blood spattered across the floor, the blade spun around and slipped smoothly back into its sheath.
“Hoo…”
Then, as she let out the breath she'd been holding, I walked over and said,
“Good work. It's my first time seeing you fight for real, and you weren't bad.”
“Yes!… Thanks for the compliment!”
I had a general idea of her skill now, and I could tell what her problem was, too.
But at this rate, she wasn't even a rough gem yet.
Above all, her emotions weren't stirred at all in battle, where it mattered most.
It was as if she were just a moving puppet.
‘Maybe I should watch her a little longer.’
I was looking over the fallen kobolds and sorting out my thoughts when—
Ruuuumble—
“Ah?! An earthquake?!”
“Looks like it's finally reacting. The owner must be angry.”
“T-The owner? A dragon…?!”
“Yeah. Let's hurry farther inside. Stay close to me, just in case.”
Maybe the thing deeper inside had run out of patience, because the abandoned mine began shaking violently.
“Come to think of it, you said this was a B-rank Gate, right? Why is it only B-rank when there's something like that inside?”
“M-Maybe because it's a type of monster that's only just been detected… There aren't any danger ratings for it yet.”
At that, I looked at Ha-eun.
Then, feeling playful, I smirked and said,
“You called a dragon a monster? Does that mean you consider me a monster, too?”
“Huh? N-No, that's not what I meant!”
- Gasp
- Species discrimination ㄷㄷ
- Explain yourself, boo
“Pfft—Sure, sure. If dragons aren't monsters, what are they? The Demon King is just a king, then. Right?”
“Nooo….”
As we talked and made our way farther down into the mine, a vast space came into view.
Had the abandoned mine gotten lucky and connected to an ordinary cave?
Just as we were slowly moving inside, Ha-eun spoke up carefully.
“But… if it can't be detected, couldn't there be a powerful dragon like you in there—”
“Shh. Quiet for a second.”
I covered Ha-eun's mouth as I sensed something, then placed a hand on the wall.
Then I gathered a little mana in my hand and struck it.
Ruuuumble—
“Oh?”
The space trembled, and a huge spherical structure embedded in the wall lit up, as if opening its eyes.
“W-What did you do?!”
- Whoa, what is that?
- Uh, it's moving?
- It's fucking huge. Are we screwed??
- Boss, run!!
- Just from the height of that arm, it looks bigger than me…?
“A golem? If it's still working, it must be pretty sophisticated.”
“I-I think this is the boss! My detector's going crazy!”
“Huh? The boss?”
This was the boss?
Only its face and one arm had come out of the wall.
Then what was the thing farther below…?
Vroooom!—
“Eek!”
The mine shook violently, as if it were about to collapse.
The thing had been moving slowly inside the wall, and it must have finished warming up, because—
Crash!—
It slammed its enormous arm down at us.
“Whew, that's got some weight to it.”
I grabbed Ha-eun and quickly moved backward.
I might be fine, but if she got hit by something like that, she'd end up as a pancake.
“So it was like a guard, huh?”
Did they stick it in the wall to adjust the difficulty to match a B-rank Gate?
This Gate sure was meticulous in some strange ways.
Whoosh!—
“Hya?! U-Unnie?!”
“Stay back. I'll handle it.”
I let go of Ha-eun and shoved her far behind me.
A golem's core was a kind of treasure.
By human standards, a magic core was the culmination of technology, created by top-notch scholars putting their heads together.
Besides, it was advanced technology, most of which had been lost in the world I'd visited.
Anyway, the important thing was that it was worth a lot.
It would be a good way to top up my skill funds before meeting the thing down below.
Pshhh—
The arm of the thing, moving again through the thick cloud of dust, came into view.
This time, it seemed to be planning to sweep in from the side instead of attacking the way it had before.
I didn't know who'd coded it, but its behavioral patterns were pretty simple-minded.
It would be more fun if it threw in a little variety.
[Withdrawal 300,000 won - Details: [Mana Charge] skill usage fee]
[0 won]
The moment I spent the money, mana began to circulate through my entire body, forcefully coursing through my meridians.
I focused that mana in both fists to increase their destructive power, then—
‘How can I attack it and still look cool?’
Tap—
After a brief moment of thought, I leaped toward the arm flying at me.
Golems were powerful, but they were noticeably lacking in speed and flexibility.
On top of that, since they weren't living creatures, they couldn't make judgments or react instinctively.
In that case, wouldn't an attack that slipped past it by a hair look the most dramatic?
Tap!—
- Boss, what are you doing?
- Uh, duck, duck!
- Damn, I can't watch…
- Is she really going to die…?
- [LushGreen] Wow, she's taking on a golem and a yaksha;
Just before its arm hit me,
I lowered my stance at the last moment and slipped beneath the incoming arm.
Then I turned my body and swung a fist at the huge boulder passing over me.
A powerful blow, created by releasing the energy gathered through Mana Charge as if detonating it.
As a result—
KABOOM!—
The trajectory of the incoming arm bent diagonally.
I quickly read its new path.
After figuring out where I needed to go next and what I needed to do, I sprinted off.
But then—
[NotAtAllSuspicious donated 50,000 won!]
[OysterMushroom donated 30,000 won!]
[I'mGonnaDie donated 70,000 won!]
Donations were coming in pretty well today.
So people really did like exciting stuff, like fights?
“Sorry, guys. I'm in the middle of a fight, so I'll check the messages later!”
Crack!—
In the meantime, the arm that had been knocked away slammed hard into the wall.
Then, as if it had broken, it fell limply toward the ground.
“Hup!”
I was waiting underneath it and grabbed the golem's arm, assuming a stance to throw it over my shoulder.
My body was tiny compared to the golem embedded in the wall.
But the strength within me was fundamentally that of a dragon.
Something this size was easy enough to pull out.
[Withdrawal 150,000 won - Details: [Physical Enhancement - Gold] skill usage fee]
[0 won]
Krrrunch—
“Uh…?”
- Holy shit?
- ?? What is she doing?
- It's coming out?
- How strong is sheㅋㅋㅋ
- Was the boss a strength-type…?
- So this is edited, right?
- [NotAtAllSuspicious] .
A tremendous cloud of dust billowed up as the golem slowly began to come out of the wall.
Krrrunch—
The reason I was going to pull it out of the wall was simple.
The mana core was usually embedded where the golem's chest would be.
If that part wasn't exposed, ripping it out would be a real pain.
I couldn't exactly start digging through the dirt, could I?
‘Almost there.’
KABOOM!—
The giant golem, thrown over the shoulder by a human much smaller than itself, revealed its full form in the chamber.
It looked about six meters tall?
If it had been a fish, I would've been thrilled to call it a big catch.
Rumble…—
Even as I watched, the golem tried to stand up, following its programming.
Tap—
But I was faster. I climbed on top of it and gathered mana in my foot.
Then—Bam!—
I stomped hard on its chest.
- Ohhh
- Wow, what a great angle ^^7
- ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- I want her to step on me just once, too
- I'd seriously let her step on me just once;
- Guess there won't even be a body to findㅋㅋㅋ
- Why isn't she wearing a skirt?
The camera tried to follow me, but seemed to have switched to a low angle to keep filming.
Well, whatever. I watched as the light the thing had been emitting slowly faded, then covered my hand in mana like a glove and—
Smack!—
Plunged it into the golem's chest.
Then, with a crunch, I violently ripped out the sphere I felt in my hand.
[Would you like to sell the Giant Golem's Mana Core (B, Hidden)?]
[Sale price: 3,500,000 won]
‘Mm-hm, this is a good haul.’
Having lost its heart in an instant, its light slowly faded away.
Then the familiar status window appeared.
[Gate cleared.]
[Reward - 1 Mid-Grade Mana Stone]
[Gold Dragon special reward applied.]
[Rare]
[Reward - 1 Skill Use Ticket]
***
[3,500,000 won]
I smiled happily as I looked at the money that had suddenly piled up in my bank account.
Then Ha-eun, who'd been following behind me, asked carefully,
“Are you that happy?”
“Yeah. It feels like something inside me is being filled up.”
“Uh….”
- Gasp
- Gasp!!
“I'll kill you if you say anything weird, you hear me?”
- I meant, you look incredibly coolㅎㅎ
- As expected! Boss!
- You're so hot
- Read the room, you crazy bastard
[NotAtAllSuspicious donated 100,000 won!]
[You're amazing, boss! By the way, could you look down like you did earlier and wag your tail once…]
“Ha-eun? Let's go this way.”
“Ah… y-yes.”
We were heading even deeper underground in the abandoned mine.
Normally, once a Gate was cleared, it would begin to collapse, so you had to get out as quickly as possible, but…
“Are you sure this is really okay…?”
“Trust me. The Gate isn't collapsing right now because of the thing down below. Even if it does collapse, I'll get you out somehow.”
“Still….”
It seemed that under certain special circumstances, a Gate wouldn't collapse even after being cleared.
Clomp—
“I knew it. There was a reason they couldn't detect it properly from outside.”
A sealing spell had been cast over the depths of the abandoned mine we'd come to.
There were even brand-new-looking boards stuck all over it, as if Hunters had installed them.
“This is a standard-issue Hunter barrier membrane. …I guess this is what my brother said he'd installed.”
“What, you have a brother, too?”
“…Yes.”
Anyway, had the Hunters tried to seal the thing inside here temporarily?
Hmm… But if that was the case, the seal was incredibly weak, and it had been there for a long time, too.
Crack—
Rrrip—
I grabbed the sealing spell with my hand and ripped it apart by force.
If the thing inside wanted to get out, the seal was meaningless. It could break through by force, too.
The moment I took a step through the opening I'd made—
Fwoosh!—
I knocked away a blob of lava flying at us.
“Eek?!”
“Well, look at that.”
So this was its territory, huh?
But it should've checked who was coming before attacking.
Rumble…—
“Th-That….”
Behind the path the lava had taken, the body of a huge creature came into view.
Rock and dirt piled up like a mountain.
Amidst it all was a giant dragon with a rocky carapace, like a mountain made of stone.
An Earth Dragon.
It slowly raised its head and looked at us.
“An Earth Dragon? That's pretty much bottom-tier in terms of rank.”
Its neck glowed red, as if it were about to fire another lava Breath.
“Wh-What do we do…?”
Ha-eun gripped her sword with a trembling hand, shaken by the presence filling the entire area.
But she looked terribly unsteady.
‘It's impressive that she isn't running away.’
“Don't push yourself. Stay back.”
I stopped her and drew up my mana.
If she fought, she wouldn't last a single exchange.
Even if it was a low-ranking dragon, a dragon was still a dragon.
A mere human had no business fighting one.
[Withdrawal 500,000 won - Details: [Mana Charge] skill usage fee]
[3,000,000 won]
Coming here and attacking us right away meant it had no intention of talking things out, right?
Even if it did, it had some nerve. I should give it a good punch first and think about it afterward.
Fwoosh!—
Seeing another blob of lava flying toward me, I launched myself forward, too.
I'd knocked the previous one aside with a punch because I was in a hurry, but the lava might have splashed onto Ha-eun if I wasn't careful.
That meant I needed to use a more precise attack.
[Withdrawal 500,000 won - Details: [Armament Manifestation - Gold] skill usage fee]
[2,500,000 won]
A golden bastard sword appeared in my hand.
Then I widened my eyes, focused on the blob of lava, and swung my sword.
Swish!—
With a sound like wind being cut, a massive slash swept down from above.
After confirming the lava had been split exactly in half, I released the sword and kicked off the air once more.
[…!]
The Earth Dragon's pupils widened as it saw a figure flying toward it in an instant.
I didn't let that opening go to waste. I clenched my fist and—
Crack!—
Smashed it down hard on the creature's snout.
[Ghk….]
Rumble—
The boulders that couldn't withstand the impact tumbled off its massive body in a cascade.
I landed among them, dusted off my hands, looked up at the Earth Dragon, and spoke.
“Whew, you're hard.”
[Y-You wretched human!]
“Hey, hey. Don't you know who I am? Calling me wretched?”
[…? What are you, how can you speak Dragon Tongue—]
- ? What, they can understand each other?
- The boss is a dragon, too. Of course they can understand each other
- Wow, that's awesome. I wanna try speaking Dragon Tongue, too
I gave a faint smile as I saw the chat.
“Lessons start at 500 million won. Interested? Ah, maybe I should offer a subscription instead. How about it?”
- This crazy bitchㅋㅋㅋ
- Lessons, my ass
- But I'm genuinely curious. Being friends with a dragon? Can't pass that upㅇㅇ
- It'd see you as a snack, not a friend
- Even linguists don't know the languages monsters speak
- If we pay enough, can we ride on the boss's back?
- Ride on the boss's back…?
“Dragon Tongue isn't really a language, though.”
Simply put, Dragon Tongue is communicating through mana.
Everything a dragon says carries mana.
[This human female thinks she can trick me with her petty schemes. Does she know who I am?!]
“Hah… This is why low-ranking ones are the worst. You just don't get it, do you? By now, you should've had the sense to crawl.”
I sighed at the way it clearly didn't understand the situation at all.
At this rate, we'd end up in a full-blown fight, and the only way to end it would be to kill it.
Ha-eun might get hurt in the process, too.
Above all, it had wounded my pride.
How dare an Earth Dragon call me a woman?
It seemed I had to show it exactly who I was.
And if I wanted to make that clear, this was probably the surest way.
[Withdrawal 2,000,000 won - Details: [Polymorph Release] skill usage fee]
[500,000 won]
You're going to die today.