Chapter 55 Dungeon Practicum (5)
In Scandinavian Mythology, Odin had two ravens—Huginn(thought) and Muninn(memory)—by his side. He collected all kinds of knowledge from all over the nine realms with the two ravens, and he used that knowledge to rule over Asgard, the realm of the Aesir.
If the ravens mentioned by the Nornir System were the same as Odin’s ravens from mythology, they would be the god king Odin’s greatest servants.
In other words, they were JaeHyun’s enemies.
JaeHyun considered it.
If that were the case, Chairman Gu Ja-In and Odin’s ravens…
Did this mean there was some kind of link between them?
* * *
“Everyone, duck!”
At JaeHyun’s hurried shout, his entire team immediately crouched.
Swish….! Crash…!
The club tore through the air and hit the ground with a thud.
The Kobold Lord, which had finally appeared in front of them, was showing overwhelming strength.
The team quickly moved into battle formation and faced forward.
In such a hopeless situation, Ina’s face was the first to stiffen.
‘… How is it still alive after getting hit by JaeHyun’s attack? That Kobold Lord…’
She couldn’t understand it.
A Kobold Lord was just a D-rank boss.
How could it get hit by such a powerful attack and still remain standing?
In addition, even if kobold-type monsters had recovery skills, they didn’t have regeneration skills.
‘What the hell is happening?’
Meanwhile, JaeHyun was thinking thoughts to Ina’s, and was trying to develop a new plan.
‘That Kobold Lord… It’s not a regular Kobold Lord. Between the overwhelming amount of mana flowing from him, as well as its regeneration ability… It’s already above C-rank. It might even be more powerful of an opponent than the Night Shade.’
It was truly a terrifying situation.
JaeHyun checked his team’s condition while biting his lip. Even though they were trembling in fear, they were thankfully still trying to maintain formation.
JaeHyun tsk’ed as he spotted the Kobold Lord pulling its club out of the ground, where it had been stuck.
The monster’s eyes were red and absolutely emotionless.
The unfocused pupils merely sent a shiver down the spine of those that stared into them.
‘Damn… There’s no other way.’
With no other choice, JaeHyun shouted orders towards his team.
“Everyone, listen carefully! While I hold that bastard off, run back to the entrance of the dungeon! Quickly!”
“… What?! What the fuck are you talking about?!”
“No way…! You want to take on that insane boss mob by yourself? That’s impossible!”
“… It’s too dangerous alone.”
Even Ina, who had barely spoken since entering the dungeon, agreed.
JaeHyun clenched his fist as he ground his teeth, at a loss of what to do.
There was nothing wrong with what they said.
It only meant that the probability of JaeHyun getting hurt when dealing with the Kobold Lord was lower, but it was obvious that it was much easier for several people to defeat the monsters.
But their levels and physiques were quite different from JaeHyun’s.
Although they were cadets at an elite academy, they were still rookies. If they were hit by that kind of attack, Ina might survive, but the other two would die instantly.
‘Damn.’
In addition, the kobolds rushing in were a big problem.
No matter how weak they were, with that many of them, taking care of all of them at the same time was impossible.
Roooaaaarrrr…!!
The Kobold Lord stood with its club in hand and hit the ground forcefully with its club.
Boooooom…!
At the same time, cracks started to appear as the ground was destroyed once again.
The team’s formation was broken, and the Kobold Lord’s attack quickly continued.
It was a natural continuation, as if the movements were planned in advance.
JaeHyun got goosebumps all over.
‘… Does Gu Ja-In have the ability to control monsters, by any chance?’
If not, the current situation shouldn’t have been possible.
Of course, there were monsters with some level of intelligence. But was there a monster in the world that could plan and move like that?
No. In the end, there weren’t any.
JaeHyun shouted one more time.
“Run away, quickly! Right now! You’ll die if you get hit even once…”
“… No!”
Crash!
A shiver went down JaeHyun’s spine before he could finish talking.
The club, which was rapidly approaching, was aimed right at JaeHyun’s head.
He couldn’t respond quickly because he was too focused on his team, and he was barely able to survive thanks to Ina’s shield.
JaeHyun panted as he checked Ina’s state.
There was a crack in the shield. Things obviously didn’t look good.
He reflected on the way he had shown his back to his enemy, then immediately turned towards the Kobold Lord.
“Sorry. I showed you something disgraceful.”
“… No. But even you won’t be able to defeat a monster like that by yourself. I should be at least C-rank, if not B-rank.”
“That’s right. Ina, it might be hard for me right now. But I don’t want to increase the number of innocent victims. I need your help.”
“… Okay. I understand.”
Ina quickly left the vanguard to JaeHyun and approached the other two.
She swiftly narrowed the distance between her and the other two with 《Haste》 and spoke.
“… You guys head to the dungeon entrance and inform Instructor Kim (JiYeon).”
“B-But!”
SungWoo cried out. Jina looked at her with teary eyes.
However, Ina shook her head.
“… Fighting against an enemy like that while worrying about your companions is impossible.”
“… Sorry. We’ll inform the instructor as fast as we can, so—!”
“W-Wait!”
SungWoo gritted his teeth.
Fortunately, they reached a decision quickly. He quickly took Jina and started to run towards the entrance of the dungeon.
Ina didn’t have time to watch them head outside. She immediately returned to JaeHyun’s side.
***
Translator – Rainypup
Proofreader – Harley
***
“Fortunately, Seho seems to be fine. His breathing sounds a lot better.”
“Yeah.”
YooJung’s answer to HoYeon’s words was short.
With an anxious expression, she kept looking at the entrance of Team 3’s dungeon.
HoYeon turned to her.
“Is it because of JaeHyun?”
At those words, YooJung closed her mouth. Shivering slightly in fear, she spoke in an anxious voice.
“… Why? They should only have met a Kobold Lord in the dungeon! Min JaeHyun and Ina aren’t so weak that they’d be killed by a monster like that! But… Why haven’t they come out of the dungeon yet?!”
YooJung’s eyes were turning red. She was finding it difficult to control herself because of the intensity of her emotions.
Why on earth did something like this happen?
Just moments ago, Instructor Kim JiYeon said that only the dungeon Team 3 entered had a different mana wavelength, making it impossible to enter.
Those inside could come out, but it was impossible to enter.
Considering all the other cadets that had entered the dungeons had been rescued safely, the situation was incomprehensible.
“Calm down, YooJung. We should trust in them and wait…”
HoYeon’s words were not reaching her at all.
The lives of her precious friends were on the line.
Especially since JaeHyun was a special friend to YooJung, one that she had known for a long time.
Her inability to keep calm couldn’t be helped.
As her face turned pale in worry…
Bzzzt!
The mana-surrounded wall collapsed, and two members of Team 3 appeared.
Color returned to YooJung’s face for a moment as she watched, but it turned cold once again.
No, her expression was darker than before.
YooJung walked to stand in front of the two and asked, with clenched fists,
“Why are you two the only ones that came out of the dungeon?”
“Th-The thing is, the other two are still fighting against the Kobold Lord…”
The two replied, almost in tears.
It was probably at the thought that the two inside the dungeon might die.
YooJung’s eyes were out of focus.
“So.”
She glared at the two fiercely as she spoke.
“Why are you two the only ones that came out alive?”
The eyes of the cadets, who had fought for their lives in the dungeon, were immediately focused on the two’s faces.
* * *
Boom! Boom! Boom!
JaeHyun and Ina were struggling against the three powerful swings that came, one after the other.
The way the Kobold Lord was freely swinging his club was very surprising. The attacks arched through the air like bows, maintaining a lot of force while still being fast. There was no opening.
“You should already know…”
“… Are you asking me to cover you from behind?”
“Please.”
Even without talking, the two had already quickly formulated a plan.
JaeHyun concentrated, so he could read the movements of the Kobold Lord.
“Hup!”
Kicking the ground with a shout, he shot towards the monster again. He moved so quickly that it was enough to make one wonder if he had suddenly disappeared.
Unfortunately, the monster was swinging the club very fast as well.
Crash!
While flying away, JaeHyun gathered his mana and parried the attack with a shield.
‘One hit. Just one hit is pretty powerful. All I have to do is change the trajectory.’
It was indeed a terrifying level of physical strength.
What the hell was going on?
That monster was clearly beyond the limits of a Kobold Lord. It was already more than a C-rank, almost reaching B-rank. No matter how many secrets Gu Ja-In had, this was crossing the line.
To attack cadets by using monsters in a place that trained raiders to kill monsters…
‘I have no choice but to go full out here. But I’m still not sure I’ll win. There’s no other way.’
JaeHyun covered his whole body with mana and released it in a line. Thin threads of light colored their surroundings blue as it carved up the area.
At the same time, several chains poured out of the ground and ceiling.
The Active Skill 《Lightning Chain》 has been activated.
Bzzzzzz!
As the chains clanged against each other, JaeHyun covered himself in lightning.
‘It’s just a monster that’s borrowing a Kobold Lord’s form… But that doesn’t mean it’s unbeatable.’
JaeHyun had been observing its body closely and had come up with a solution.
‘The body of the Kobold Lord is melting, little by little. It’s probably because its body can’t handle that overwhelming mana. And yet, that bastard is still continuously attacking, even as its body breaks down. That means…’
A slight smile spread on JaeHyun’s face.
“That means that there’s something hiding nearby that is continuously injecting it with mana.”
And that meant that, if he got rid of that source of mana, the Kobold Lord’s regeneration ability would stop.
It would die.
Roooaaaarrrrr….!!
As the chains rushed forward and wrapped around it, the Kobold Lord resisted. Chains broke and fell to the ground with a dull sound.
JaeHyun just watched and continued to pour mana into the spell.
“… Odin’s raven, huh?”
A moment ago, the system told him that Odin’s raven was behind the monster.
‘Odin, the Aesir, and those against them.’
He thought he could finally understand a little.
There were still a lot of things that were unclear, but one thing was certain.
“I’m a thorn in Odin’s side, and I have to kill that bastard.”
JaeHyun smirked.
Leaving the Kobold Lord behind him, even as it began to move freely, he began to attack the mob.
The lightning chains sprinkled blood everywhere as they pierced through the Kobolds’ surprisingly fragile bodies.
The reason that JaeHyun purposefully hunted the regular monsters instead of the boss was simple.
It was because of the clear alert that rang out in the next moment.
You have killed a Kobold.
You have gained 1 level.
You are currently Level 30.
You have a new item that you can equip.
JaeHyun’s face was filled with delight.
“Equip.”
You have equipped the weapon 《Mistilteinn》.
Mistilteinn was the item he had gotten at the department store the day he met HoYeon. It was a growth-type item that he couldn’t equip at the time because his level was too low.
It was the last ace JaeHyun had hidden up his sleeve.
“Odin’s raven… I don’t know where you’re hiding, but…”
Due to having 《Mistilteinn》 equipped, the user’s field of vision has been expanded.
You can read your opponent’s movements more clearly.
The Active skill 《Mana Perception》 has been acquired.
A golden hue colored JaeHyun’s eyes and his view expanded.
“I’m definitely going to kill you.”
Roooaaaarrrrr….!!
In the next moment, the Kobold Lord broke the remaining chains and rushed towards JaeHyun.
____
