Chapter 8. Closer than enemies

The quality of monsters that appear after destroying the cursed monk has improved.
A skeleton mage that uses necromancy, a skeleton warrior with armor, and enhanced zombies and ghouls.
In other words, elite mobs that appeared after the middle boss began to show up.
They were definitely stronger than those who appeared before. Their bodies were strong and the movement was much faster and smoother.
However, Ivan felt rather comfortable dealing with it. This is because the number of appearances has decreased, so he just swing the word less.
Since there was not yet a proper wide-area skill, it was more difficult to push a lot at once.
‘I should pay attention to the wide area skill in the future. What can I use right now?’
Falling into this freaking world, Ivan built up quite a bit of strength, but technically it wasn’t an efficient way to get stronger.
Although the versatility was broadened using skill point, he could not delve deeply into any field. It’s literally a miscellaneous character.
That’s because Ivan’s goal has not been strengthening, but survival.
The priority was to build specifications so that he could survive any situation rather than become efficiently stronger and easily destroy the enemy.
To be honest, if you had dug into one path with the optimal training route as you did in the game, you might have been several times stronger than now.
But at that time, the current choice was the best. Because it was more important to survive right away than to be strong in the future.
So I didn’t regret it. It’s just a pity.
“Damn it. Is this a dungeon? It’s so hard. I’m going through everything. Ugh!”
Ralph cursed as he poured holy water and potion into his thigh. He was caught up in a trap that he couldn’t confirm while dealing with a monster that hit from the side.
My thighs were greatly torn and I spilled a lot of blood. The wound was sizzling with the power of a pretty high-quality potion, but he didn’t look very good.
“What do you think? Will you be okay?”
When Ivan asked, Ralph bent and stretched his legs several times, jumped in place, and nodded.
“It’s not as serious as it looks. It’s a little stiff, but it can’t be helped. If I had moved half a step more, my leg might have been cut off, but this is fine. It’s not a hundred percent, but it’s not uncomfortable to fight.”
Ralph was not the only one injured. Emin was injured while using mana forcefully, and Julia injured her arm as one shoulder armor broke. In the case of Sven, he has an injury on his side.
Ivan was the only one who was fine. Even so, Ivan couldn’t avoid small scratches, and the skeleton’s bone powder and the rotten flesh of zombies made it messy on the outside, but the inside is just fine.
‘I don’t know if I’ll get sick first and die before I get stabbed.’
Tap, tap!
Ivan, who roughly shook off the dirt on the outside, began to clean up the surroundings. The boss room was just around the corner. It’s time to take a rest for the night.
The fatigue felt by the party now was considerable. This is because passing through the forest with great vigilant and wandering through the dungeon where you don’t know what’s going to pop out was a big hurdle.
A constant series of battles, hidden traps, and dark vision.
It was an environment where even veteran mercenaries could not help but be exhausted. The fatigue was more felt by Emin, who had only studied in the tower all the time.
Tap, tap!
piles of firewood gathered from here and there burned and warm energy spread. Until just now, it was not a very pleasant situation to fight the corpses, but I still feel much better. That was the charm of bonfire.
“I’ll have to make and eat a terrible stew tonight. Come on, monsters are coming.”
Everyone nodded and agreed to Sven’s cry.
Anyway, the monsters in the dungeon had been roughly wiped out. All that’s left is the guy in the boss room. In addition, what’s the point of smelling food here if it’s only undead?
Julia, who did not come forward, started cooking on the bonfire. A mercenary-style camping dish in which you pour water and collect all the food you have little by little.
The dish, which was boiled with grain powder, nuts, jerky, etc., was by no means excellent, but it was not the worst. Still, I could feel my body getting warm as the hot soup went through my throat.
Slurp.
‘I want to eat hot rice soup with kkakdugi on top.’
Overall, it had a Western-style atmosphere, but this was not the real West.
If you look for it, it was not without rice soup or kimchi.
‘I have to eat it when I go back to the village.’
I was thinking like that, but Julia hesitated to talk to me.
“Excuse me…”
“What’s up?”
“If I’m not mistaken, the technique you used earlier looks like Thunderstep. No, it was definitely Thunderstep. Were you also a member of our Mufa?”
A walking method that moves quickly while emitting electricity from the body, thunder.
It was the basic footwork of Mufa Thunderwolf, but at the same time it was also the most important technique. This is because all of Thunderwolf’s techniques are based on the assumption that the footwork is based on thunder step.
“Somehow, I got used to it. The Thunderwolf disciple I met before was quite impressive.”
“… Senior Matthias taught you how to thunderstep?”
“I wasn’t taught directly. I just watched him use it and followed him awkwardly. Since then, I’ve made some efforts to practice.”
Julia looked very confused at the words.
“Do you mean that you just follow him by looking at him? Thunder step isn’t something you can learn so easily…”
“Thunder step isn’t a sect secret, is it? Matthias just laughed when he saw me imitate him.”
The martial artists were just picky about people and were not stingy in sharing teachings. They are not aimed at beating someone, but being strong on their own.
However, in most cases, even if they told others, they couldn’t copy them. It is only possible for a talented person to follow after training for more than a decade with his or her unique practice.
At that point, you should call yourself a fighter and a disciple of martial arts rather than an outsider.
Of course, Ivan didn’t practice for decades. He just used his skill points.
“That’s true but…”
Yulia, who was agonizing over biting her lips, soon said with a hard look.
“Regardless of the reason, if you have learned thunderstep at that level, you are already a disciple at Thunderwolf. Even if it is not a martial arts, the spirit of martial arts is with you.”
Chuck!
Julia reached out her hand to the front and greeted her with a tap on her left chest.
“I should officially greet you. Julia Miller, a disciple at Mufa Thunderwolf and successor to Thunderbolt Fist. I welcome a new disciple.”
“…Ivan Esirsson. I only learned the thunder steps.”
“I will let the headquarters know about you. Thunderwolf will be with you if there you need help.”
Mufa Thunderwolf had no teachers or disciples. The person who started training first is just the senior, and the person who started later is the junior.
The fighters valued individual discipline and had extremely individual tendencies, but they also had a strong camaraderie that knew how to move together against unreasonable dangers blocking someone’s path.
“Haaa, I didn’t know I’d meet such a strong junior here.”
Julia, who had been making a hard face, smiled coolly, and it felt like the dungeon was turning bright for a moment. Certainly, she was a beauty that could catch the eye wherever she went.
“You’re always welcome if it’s a beautiful senior.”
“Ha ha, you look stiff, but you know how to joke, too.”
“Who’s joking…”
The atmosphere of the party was not so bad. Although everyone suffered major and minor injuries, it was not fatal, and the attack on the dungeon was likely to be completed soon.
As we passed by, we found a few silver utensils, gold coin bags, and fraud-stained equipment. Even though it was hard, I couldn’t help but feel good.
“Go to bed. You have to recover your physical strength to finish the dungeon.”
They blocked the hallways on both sides with piles of stones, and each took their seats and laid down on the floor. The watch time was about an hour and a half with the four of us excluding Emin.
Ivan, who was in charge of the first watch, went around diligently and painted the holy words in every nook and cranny.
He didn’t know how to use great barriers or shields, but he was able to block the movement of evil energy just by doing this.
I didn’t know if the demon, who was tied up in the boss room, would do his tricks while he was sleeping. He might just run out of the boss room and come rushing in, and even if it doesn’t help much, it’s better than nothing.
Ivan woke Julia up after finishing his turn and handed over the vigil. He lay down in his seat, but he did not fall asleep. Just in case something happens.
Fortunately, nothing happened. Nevertheless, Ivan’s expression was not very bright.
‘It’s strange that it went too quietly. Or…’
Ivan, who had been making a serious face for a long time, quickly erased his face and stood up as if he had just woken up.
Breakfast was prepared by putting some ingredients in the soup dish from boiled soup yesterday, and each of the equipment was reorganized.
Drrrrk!
When the heavy door, as if made of bronze, was opened, a thick layer of evil energy spread out. An evil aura that makes the whole body shiver, the scent of death.
In front of the vibrating incomplete Demon Gate, a demon covered with skulls rose from his seat.
This was the cause of the forest unrest.
The devil that the fallen monks tried to summon, the rotting grasp.
Guoooooo!
Kikikiki!
The wind suddenly blows in the enclosed basement. Evil laughter came out and the rotting grasp looked at them.
-Finally, the sacrifice has came!
Whoosh!
Bang!
“Ugh!”
The corpse golem rose through the floor. A three-meter-tall monster that was created by arbitrarily splicing human bodies.
As he swung his fist, tank Ralph’s body was pushed back.
“Damn! He’s too strong!””
“The demon is strengthening his corpse golem! You have to disconnect the two!”
Kiiiiieeeeeeeeekkk!
The terrible screams of the vengeful spirits rang and the golem’s body suddenly hardened. Not only was it a mental attack, but the vengeful spirit was holding their hands and feet with reality.
Holy water, holy oil, anyway, something divine.
All of the parties hurriedly used what they brought to shake off their resentment. In the meantime, more than a dozen skeleton warriors have appeared.
‘Thor!’
Crack, crackling!
White lightning flashed across Ivan’s body.
The lightning was the first of the destructive thunder gods to break something, and for the undead, it was a power that was divine.
Kwagwagwang!
A sword that swings fast following thunder. The undead collapsed at once, but soon recovered and raised themselves. It was all because of the command of the rotting grasp.
‘Anyway, it’s not compatible with those who push for quantity!’
Every step forward is pushed by one step. The enemy who constantly reproduced was not annoying, but a terrible being.
-Dedicate your blood and soul to me!
Swinging a bone sickle, the demon rushed in.
Bang!
Ralph, who stepped forward and blocked the rotting attack, screamed with a painful look.
“It’s not just an attack! He’s taking my energy away!”
Life drain. So draining the vitality.
It was the most demanding type of curse. It meant that the opponent gets stronger as you get weaker.
The rotting grasp’s eyes burn brighter than before, laughed.
-Blood! Life! How long has it been since I tasted this?
At that moment, Emin, who had been memorizing spells, opened his eyes widely. From the floor, the frost instantly builds up, and cold breaths begin to come out.
“Freeze!”
[Frozen Pillars!]
With Emin’s cry, ice pillars rise from the floor and swallow the enemies. Skeleton warriors, who had been wielding swords just now, strengthened zombies, and corpse Golem were trapped in ice and stopped moving.
The rotting grasp flew into the sky and avoided it, everyone but himself was sealed in ice.
“Cough!”
Emin, who vomited blood through excessive management of mana, shouted.
“I can only keep it for 10 minutes.” You have to kill the enemy during that time!”
Boom, boom, boom!
Using the frozen pillar as a foothold, Julia and Ivan fly up. At once, the two climbed to the devil’s eye level and aimed at his neck.
[Arang-in (Hungry Wolf Blade)]
[Thunder Dragon Slash!]
-You insignificant beings!
Bang!
Julia and Ivan bounced off when their rotting hands sprinkled mana roughly. The body was pushed away by his mana.
While Sven shot an arrow to stop the man’s movement, the two get back to their posture and widened the distance.
Bang!
Kwagwagwang!
The frozen undeads burst one by one according to the hand gesture of the rotting grasp. Sharp ice and pieces of bone spread in all directions to block the view.
‘He doesn’t look good too!’
It was a perfect neck-to-neck attack. He couldn’t have been okay, either.
Bang!
Ivan rushed in, avoiding the explosion from the blind spot with a sheer sharp feeling.
“I’ll open the way!”
Ralph’s voice is heard and the things that were blocking the view disappear at once.
-Be my strength!
I could see the rotting grip trying to fly into the air staggering.
Ralph was sticking close together and shaking the guy.
“Ugh!”
Ralph’s painful moan came out of his mouth.
His arms, which boasted muscle mass, had turned silm. In that short period of time, the vitality was drained.
Nevertheless, he grabbed him, which was an opportunity for Ivan.
‘Thor! Thor! What the heck, Thor! Give me your power!’
What I’m holding is a sword, no a hammer.
A symbol of destructive power that breaks the giant’s bone and makes thunder.
Crack, crackling!
White lightning takes shape. For the god of thunder, it is very light yet very heavy for Ivan to carry.
“Oh my god!”
Ivan’s forearm muscles swelled up as if they were about to burst. With the same strength as lifting a mountain, he barely lifted it and hit the devil’s head.
Kwagwagwang!
The devil’s body is torn and the nucleus is broken. With the magic of the dungeon, a trivial soul barely in shape is torn and scattered.
‘Damn it!’
Ivan’s forehead, which landed as if it were falling on the floor, was soaked in sweat.
‘Goddamn it, I think that’s too much.’
My hands are shaking. The overworked muscles screamed.
Ring, ring!
The sword Ivan was holding is shredded and broken. A sword that becomes dust scatters as soon as it touches the floor. It seems that the energy was too strong for the sword to withstand.
“Whoa, I’m tired.”
A sense of resilience felt because a strong force swept through the body.
I wanted to stretch out and sleep at any moment, but Ivan didn’t let go of his vigilant. The battle is not over yet.
Whistle!
Smack!
Whoosh!
The black smoke that comes out suddenly. Emin coughed and vomited blood, not just for blocking the view, but because the toxicity.
Tadadadadak!
The sound of several people running from outside. The uninvited guests who came inside first and were hiding finally began their activities.
As soon as he realized it, Ivan grabbed Sven’s neck next to him and hit him on the floor.
Boom!