Chapter 20
Exchange Gathering (5)
I stared at the Kobold Champion in the distance.
‘No sense of oppression.’
There was none of the oppressive feeling I had experienced when facing the Orc Legion Commander.
But that was only the case for me.
Everyone in front of me except Laura seemed to be feeling quite pressured.
I caught sight of Jake backing away.
At this rate, the front line looked like it was about to collapse.
Though calling it a front line was a little much when there were only seven of us.
If the tank got that frightened, the formation would collapse in an instant.
I gripped a black javelin in my right hand.
My target wasn't the Kobold Champion standing there so arrogantly.
The kobolds were blocking the way as if they were guarding it.
Swoooosh!
The central kobold among the soldiers lined up in front of the champion was pierced through the center of its upper body by the javelin I threw.
When one of them died.
Kraaaaaaak!!
The rest reacted.
The Kobold Champion slammed the shaft of its enormous spear straight down.
Boooom!
Could that act of slamming down its spear have been a signal for the champion to give orders to the kobold soldiers?
About twenty kobold soldiers charged all at once.
Laura began darting around in all directions with her longsword.
Perhaps because she had already killed them several times, her movements were clearly better than yesterday's.
Screeeech-!
Interestingly, Misaki was a player who used a bow.
And she used it quite well.
Thwuck!
Kaaak!
Misaki's arrows never killed a kobold instantly just by piercing its body, but they were more than enough to set up Laura or Sun Haoran to finish them off.
My vision surveyed the entire dungeon room.
Squeak!
Apparently irritated by Misaki's shooting, Laura cut down the two kobolds charging at us.
Th-thank you.
Misaki thanked me without even thinking to wipe away the sweat covering her face.
Before I knew it, most of the kobolds had met their deaths.
When only about four of them remained.
Clang!
The Kobold Champion's body shot upward.
Landing.
The problem was where the Kobold Champion landed.
On Jake's shield, the only tank among the Exchange Gathering participants.
Crack-crack-crack—!!
The shield was mercilessly crushed.
It was hard to believe it had once been a sturdy shield that had blocked countless kobold attacks.
Fragments of the shattered shield spread widely like shards of broken glass.
“Graaah!”
I heard a cry of pain unlike anything I had heard since entering the Exchange Gathering.
Jake took a direct hit to the abdomen from the claws on its right foot, which were no less sharp than the Kobold Champion's spear.
Slash!
I pulled the black javelin I had thrown from the right shoulder of the kobold in front of me.
Then I ran toward the front where Jake was as fast as I could.
“You…!”
Laura glared at me as I suddenly sprang forward.
She brought her straight sword down across the Kobold Champion's ankle.
Kaaak!
Ignoring the Kobold Champion's enraged cry, I grabbed Jake's body with both hands and leaped backward.
Misaki and Zixuan bravely blocked the way in front of me as I returned carrying Jake.
“Khk…cough!”
A handful of blood flowed from the corner of Jake's mouth.
I had heard that potions were often kept separately in a pouch at one's waist, in preparation for emergencies during battle when there wasn't even time to take one out of the Inventory.
Jake was one such player. He took a minor potion from the pouch tied around his waist.
He poured the potion directly over the wounded area.
There were bandages in the pouch as well.
He hastily tied those around the wound too.
“I've done this much, so don't blame me even if you die.”
Even then, Jake looked at me and gave an awkward nod.
“Its movements have slowed down! Attack it together!”
Laura's shout reached me.
The reason the Kobold Champion's movements had slowed was probably because I had stabbed its ankle.
Before entering the Exchange Gathering, I had discussed with the seniors in the Transcendent Gallery the matter of landing the last hit—the final blow that finished off a monster.
* * *
Title : How is experience divided when you kill monsters in an Exchange Gathering?
Author : ㅇㅇ*
- Does the person who lands the final hit get more?
└ Yeah, you probably won't have much to do, but it's the same in party play outside Exchange Gatherings. The one who finishes it off gets the most experience.
└ Spear King) Upvote this if you're a climber excited about stealing the last hit by throwing a javelin.
└ ㅇㅇ*) Upvoted.
└ ㄱㅊ!!!!
└ You guys sure know how to have fun.
└ Light’s Sword) Why throw a javelin when you can send a ranged slash?
└ Light’s Sword) Ah, you can't do that yet. You're not Level 20.
└ LMAOOOOOOOOOOO, look at this humblebrag.
└ But at this rate of growth, won't he reach it soon?
└ Shaman) Jujutsu is practically a curse, so it's easy to steal the last hit. You should learn jujutsu.
└ Dragon Demon King) Beltui—playing around with the last hit is funnn.
└ Ice Queen) Hehe! I've stopped only the heart inside an Ogre Lord's body before, so I could steal the last hit without anyone noticing! Freeze!
└ If a hidden boss room appears, go in if possible ㅇㅇ Clearing it triggers a double-experience event.
└ Avoid it if it has five stars.
└ Heavenly Demon) Why avoid it when it has five stars? That only makes me more excited.
└ I'm just a Normal-difficulty scrub, so I've never entered anything with three stars or more.
└ And you're a smart scrub who knows your limits.
* * *
I'll take the last hit in this boss room.
I can make up the experience I'm losing by watching from the sidelines now in the hidden boss room.
Perhaps because we were nearing the end of the Exchange Gathering.
The five people who had not meshed together particularly well began to coordinate with one another.
The soldiers guarding the champion had now all been wiped out.
Laura and Sun Haoran charged at the Kobold standing proudly alone.
“You take the right!”
Laura shouted that as she brought her sword down toward the Kobold Champion's left shoulder.
Clang!
But the sword did not tear through its hide. The spear in the champion's left hand blocked Laura's longsword outright with its blade.
The spear Sun Haoran thrust was caught in a bare hand.
Thwuck-!
The arrow fired by Misaki, who was still sweating profusely, lodged in the champion's upper body.
Her accuracy was praiseworthy, but the problem was that not the slightest change appeared on the face of the Kobold Champion that had been hit.
The rest of the group were diligently drawing its attention away.
It was the perfect situation for stealing the last hit.
[Mana Body Enhancement Lv.3 - Activating skill.]
The mana flowing from my Mana Heart spread throughout my body.
The muscles I had trained over this time expanded of their own accord.
[Focus Enhancement Lv.3 - Activating skill.]
For the first time in a long while, I used self-suggestion.
This is the mound.
I stepped one foot forward and leaned my body backward.
I rotated my waist and swung my right hand, which held the black javelin.
Swoooooooooosh!
The javelin split the air.
─Crack.
The javelin hurtling forward buried itself precisely between the Kobold Champion's brows.
Strike.
[Boss monster ‘Kobold Champion’ has been defeated.]
[Your level has increased!]
[Lv.12 → Lv.13]
At last, I had leveled up.
[‘Strength’ increases by 7.]
[‘Agility’ increases by 6.]
[‘Vitality’ increases by 6.]
[‘Mana’ increases by 5.]
[The ‘Kobold’s Cradle’ dungeon has been cleared!]
I felt everyone's gaze, including Laura's, turn toward me.
Every single one of them had a dazed expression.
[Calculating your contribution score for the ‘Tower Exchange Gathering’ dungeon.]
[You are ‘1st’.]
[You have been awarded 1,000 coins as a first-place reward.]
[You have been awarded an item as a first-place reward.]
[Nemesis Sword Carnavalt]
Category - Weapon (Sword)
Attack Power: +50
Effect: When facing two or more enemies, increases weapon attack power by 10 for 10 minutes.
Effect cooldown: 60 minutes.
Usable level: Level 12 or higher
Grade: B+
Spear King-senpai.
I successfully stole the last hit with a javelin.
Laura walked toward me with a hollow laugh.
“You got first place, didn't you?”
“Yes.”
“Want to know how I knew?”
I tilted my head at Laura's words. I already knew the reason from the seniors in the Transcendent Gallery. I had thrown the javelin specifically for the last hit, but I was pretending to be a newbie, so I had to act like I didn't know.
“In low-floor Exchange Gatherings, they usually use the person who lands the killing blow as the criterion for first place. Wow, you really have a knack for this. Your javelin skills are incredible.”
In Laura's hand was the black javelin I had thrown.
What was this?
Was she going to stab me? Throw it?
To my embarrassment after briefly suspecting Laura, she held the spear out in a safe direction, away from its blade.
“But I'm not annoyed. If you hadn't thrown that javelin, I think I'd still be locked in a strength contest with that bastard.”
Jake, who had apparently leveled up and instantly recovered, was standing beside Laura. He bowed his head to me.
“Thanks. I survived thanks to you.”
Misaki approached timidly.
“You worked hard…!”
Zixuan merely shrugged.
“Well, I'm satisfied as long as I survived.”
Laura was waving her longsword through the air with her right hand.
It wasn't difficult to guess what she was doing.
“I'm leaving first.”
Laura said quietly.
“There's no way we'll meet again in an Exchange Gathering with this same group, but if we do, let's say hello.”
A white circle appeared beneath Laura's feet.
Then a mass of pure white light burst from the circle and wrapped around Laura's body.
The German woman from the Hard-difficulty Tower disappeared like that.
Misaki suddenly approached me.
“W-would you like to add me as a friend?”
I had no intention of doing that.
My newbie act wasn't over yet.
“Let's do it if we meet again.”
It wasn't worth doing, either.
The latter reason was clearly the more important one.
Misaki seemed to guess why I had refused and smiled bitterly.
“Okay, then!”
Even so, her voice was cheerful.
“Then we'll be going too!”
Flash!
Cheerful Misaki and her friend Zixuan disappeared at the same time in a burst of light.
“I'm going too!”
Jake waved at me as he disappeared.
There were two people besides me who had not yet returned to their respective Towers.
I had just finished organizing my thoughts: once the two of them returned, I would head straight to the hidden boss room alone.
Shing.
Baek Jin-young pointed his sword at me.
“Move as I tell you if you don't want to die.”
Sun Haoran stood beside him, holding a spear.
The spearhead was pointed at me just like Baek Jin-young's sword.
Sun Haoran opened his mouth.
“You will die anyway, but it'll hurt less.”