Chapter 24
#24. Lizardman Ruins
They say steady effort, more than genius, is what makes success.
For someone like me, who had never once made a habit of steady effort in my entire life, it was hard to relate, but my circumstances had changed a bit lately.
-Thunk!
I drove the lizardman's tail, which was coming for my leg, down with my sword and pinned it into the ground.
A lizardman's tail is a flexible bundle of elastic muscle. When it swings, it hits far harder than most kicks.
But because it sprouts near the pelvis, if you swing it carelessly, your balance will collapse.
All the more so if you try an attack like this and get your tail countered in return.
-Smack!
I smacked the staggering lizardman's jaw with my shield, then dodged the spear stabbing in from behind.
Spinning my body around, I gave the lizardman attacking from the rear the same shield bash and drew my sword.
I jabbed the throat of the lizardman that had first been knocked down by the blow to the jaw, then turned back around and finished off the other one as well.
After confirming there were no more lizardmen, I put away my sword and shield, sat down, and pulled out a White Roll to chew on.
“The one-stripe guys seem easy enough now...”
It's already been a month since I entered the third floor. I think I've fought lizardmen more than a hundred times in that month.
I thought I had no talent at all for physical work or exercise, but once I put in a ton of time, I eventually managed to make something of it.
I don't know whether this counts as success, but there's no doubt it's the fruit of my efforts.
Now I can comfortably beat even two lower-ranking one-striped lizardmen at once.
Of course, because of the basic difference in physical specs, I don't think I've surpassed lizardmen in pure skill.
In fact, when I fought a lizardman with three white stripes last time, it managed to land a pretty solid hit on me. Of course, I still won.
It's been a little while since then, so if I fought it again now, I'm confident I could win without letting it land a single solid hit.
“Maybe it's about time I headed into the ruins.”
Anyway, aside from the occasional three-striped lizardman, there was no suitable opponent left in the area near the village.
“Status window.”
Seo Jin-hyeok Lv.47 (Warrior)
HP : 690/690
MP : 355/355
Strength : 71 (57+14)
Agility : 51 (47+4)
Endurance : 53 (47+6)
Intelligence : 49 (47+2)
This is my current status window in full gear. So far, I've killed quite a few lizardmen, but my level has only gone up by exactly 2.
They say hunting lizardmen is to build skill that's independent of stats, but that makes the stagnation even more annoying.
It's only natural for my stats to stagnate, but my skill improvement must never slow down.
Since there's almost nothing left to gain from fighting lower-ranking lizardmen, it seems about time to look for stronger enemies and expand my hunting grounds.
Then I should start tackling the quests I'd been putting off.
**
After returning to the village and taking care of only the essentials, I spoke to Windsor, the expedition leader.
“Aah, you're back early today. You're something else, you know that? I can't figure out how you manage to roam that swamp crawling with lizardmen so well! Do you perhaps have some secret? I'm curious, I am!”
Say one thing, and three come back. Windsor talks far more than any other NPC.
“So, what brings you here? You hadn't said a word in a while, so I was worried you might have gone mute.”
“I'm thinking of checking out the ruins you mentioned last time.”
“Oh-ho, so you've become interested in the ruins too? Of course, that's only right for an adventurer. Just wait a moment!”
The ruin exploration, which could be called the main quest of the third floor, is a kind of mini-dungeon-style content.
Like the labyrinth zones on each floor, you clear the dungeon by revealing the map as you go, and finally fight the boss monster.
According to a walkthrough post on the open community, the boss of the third-floor ruin dungeon was cleared once long ago and has never respawned since.
It was probably a boss you could only encounter once, like those one-time monsters.
Anyway, the ruin dungeon is also a good hunting ground where you can encounter enemies a little stronger than the lizardmen near the village.
Once I got to the point where I could easily beat lower-ranking warrior lizardmen, it was only natural that I'd plan to move into that area.
But when I actually went to the ruin dungeon, its entrance was firmly sealed shut. It was nothing like the information posted on the open community.
The ruins weren't open from the start; they were a dungeon that opened gradually as you progressed through Windsor's quest.
“All right, our expedition members are all ready. We could set out right away!”
Windsor, with a large pack on his back, and six expedition members, each armed in their own way, stood before me.
Would this turn out to be my first party run, or a solo run with seven deadweight companions?
“Then let's get going.”
Honestly, I don't expect much.
**
Naturally, lizardmen appear even on the road to the ruins.
The expedition members and Windsor were startled when they encountered a lizardman and hurriedly drew their weapons.
I hadn't expected much from them from the start, and as I thought, they don't seem like they'll be any help.
“Move aside, will you?”
I shoved the obstructive expedition members aside and stepped forward. The lizardman that appeared was a lower-ranking warrior equipped with a shield and spear.
A lizardman with two white stripes—not a difficult opponent. I immediately drew my sword and rushed in.
A spear is a great weapon, with superb range and power, but if you close the distance in an instant like this, it turns into a weapon that makes you look like a fool.
Of course, to take on a spearman like this, you have to greatly outclass him in speed and reflexes.
And for me, with my superior Agility stat, that's not a difficult task.
-Sshk!
The lizardman hurriedly blocked with its shield, but I shoved it aside with brute force and drove my sword into its neck.
I didn't have enough attack power to finish it with that one blow. Even then, the lizardman tried to counterattack with its tail.
But I've long since memorized the timing of these guys' tail attacks. I kicked the tail as it swung at me.
-Thwack!
Because of the reckless tail attack, the lizardman's lower-body balance had become unstable. It was the perfect opening to trip it.
I went into a body check, knocked the lizardman over, then finished it off by stabbing the same spot with my sword once more.
“Let's keep moving.”
But the expedition members only stood there with dazed expressions.
When I asked what was wrong, expedition leader Windsor scratched his head with a somewhat weary look and said,
“No, you... you're incredibly strong. Don't tell me you've been killing lizardmen all by yourself this whole time?”
“I have, though.”
“We naturally thought you had some trick for sneaking past the lizardmen so well... gave us quite a shock.”
Come to think of it, if I just left them alone, they'd say things like that.
They'd ask whether there was some shortcut they didn't know about, or how I could move around without getting caught by the lizardmen.
They apparently never imagined I'd be wandering around defeating lizardmen on my own.
Well, from an NPC's point of view, that's understandable.
Lizardmen are fairly strong monsters that are normally meant to be fought by multiple challengers at once.
My performance far surpasses the level of an average third-floor challenger.
I didn't expect to be reminded of that fact again like this.
“You could've told us beforehand, though. Still, it's nice to have someone this dependable around...”
Windsor grumbled like that for some reason and put away the hand axe he'd just drawn earlier.
If your ally is strong, you should just be happy about it. Why was he acting like that?
**
After that, we encountered lizardmen three more times.
One had a single white stripe, and two had two white stripes.
I couldn't expect any fighting power from the expedition members, so of course I fought alone each time.
“You've been fighting nonstop; why not take a short rest?”
Windsor suggested resting a few times, but I refused. I wasn't about to expose the limits of my stamina over something this trivial.
“That's impressive... Then let's get moving. We should be nearly there now.”
And so we moved slowly, finally arriving at the swamp ruins.
The entrance to the ruins was blocked by a massive stone door, and the stone door was densely covered in unreadable inscriptions.
I'm no expert on foreign languages, but no matter how I looked at it, it wasn't a language from Earth. It must be some kind of ancient script.
“Oh, right. My guess was correct—the relic we found was the key to this place!”
Windsor seemed to decipher the writing on the stone door with surprising ease, then took a large stone from his pocket and held it close to the door.
-Clank, clank!
Then a mechanical sound utterly out of place for stone rang out, and the huge stone door slid open to both sides.
[Where Lightning Sleeps]
As I stepped into the ruins, a system message similar to the one that appears when entering a labyrinth area floated before my eyes.
So this is the dungeon's name, huh.
So a weapon that commands lightning is asleep here after all.
My original purpose was to hunt here, but now I'm interested in that weapon too.
Maybe I could even get one of those hidden Unique- or Epic-grade items I'd dreamed about on the first floor.
Let's take a look around.