[ Venom and Curse Dragon of the Night (1) ]
I had already removed my earring before entering the dungeon, so my only equipment was a single knife. It was a slender blade, similar to the one I used last time in the F-rank dungeon to extract mana stones—more like a utility tool than a weapon.
I wasn’t sure if there was going to be a three-item limit again this time, but for now, I decided to keep one spare. Since all my gear only boosted Magic, if I absolutely needed to use an item, it would probably be better to go for a potion. I had even brought a high-grade health potion just in case of emergencies.
-Creek, creak.
Between the glow of the fireflies, I saw long antennae twitching. Moments later, a large insect revealed itself, and I couldn’t help but grimace.
This E-rank dungeon was well-known for having good location, low difficulty, and decent rewards, but was still widely avoided. Nicknamed “Cockroach Nest,” it was that unpleasant.
The monsters here weren’t literal cockroaches, but they looked a lot like them. I’d never been to this dungeon in my previous life. Ugh, I really hate it. Forget the mana stones; I’m clearing this as fast as I can and getting out.
-Skitter.
“Damn it, don’t come any closer. Get lost.”
I didn’t even want to use my Tendrils, so I knocked it out with Spiked Trap.
[° ? ° ┒┷○┰┖馬 ○=∥￦━┖馬 ? ??]
…Can you get lost too? Don’t you have anything better to do? What’s with all the weird chatter?
The ordinary monsters of this dungeon, the black Flatback Beetles, were stupid and greedy. They were even dumber than real cockroaches and would gulp down anything you put in front of them, even if it was poisoned. Their high poison resistance was annoying, though.
But they were still just E-rank monsters. They wouldn’t stand a chance against Blackie’s poison, and with a quadruple dose, they’d melt away easily.
I took out a large chunk of monster meat from my inventory. I wasn’t sure if this would count as an item use, but even if it did, it would only be my second one. I had deliberately prepared the largest piece of fresh meat I could find. It was still dripping with blood.
“Poison bait for cockroaches, of course.”
I cut off about a third of the meat and placed it in the middle of the path. Then, I spread sticky poison all around, covering the floor, walls, and even the ceiling with Tendrils to make sure there were no gaps.
-Skit skit skit.
Ugh, here they come. A swarm of black bugs scurried toward the meat, their long antennae waving side to side. I backed away, and they swarmed over the bait without hesitation.
-Squeal!
-Squeak!
As soon as they stepped on the poison, they flipped over, twitching. But that didn’t stop the others. They clambered over their dead comrades, grabbed the meat, and—
Flop. They collapsed, legs twitching, poisoned by the meat as well.
In no time, the chunk of meat was gone.
-Skitter.
Crunch, chomp, chew.
Ugh, they’re eating their own kind. I knew that’s what these monsters did, but seeing it in person is still disgusting. The poisoned corpses piled up, and those who ate the bodies also collapsed in turn.
Some of the bugs charged at me, but I just knocked them out with Spiked Trap.
‘A few more traps, and they’ll all be wiped out soon.’
The sooner I’m done, the sooner I can go home and take a shower.
Damn it, I really hate this! Why are they laying eggs while they die? And why do the larvae hatch right away? On top of that, they’re eating each other again! And the babies are actual cockroach-sized, but there’s an insane amount of them—ugh, I’m going to puke.
‘No wonder people avoid this place.’
And now I have to wade through that mess to find mana stones? Seriously, I hate bug monsters. They’re gross, their fluids are disgusting, they’re often poisonous, they carry parasites, and they reproduce way too fast.
I’m never coming near a bug-infested dungeon again. Damn it, all this just for a stupid title.
‘The boss here should be a spider.’
It had poison, but being E-rank, it wasn’t too dangerous. The dungeon notes said to be careful of the webs. There were usually three or four of them, sometimes with baby spiders too.
Please, no baby spiders. No babies, please.
I muttered a silent prayer as I headed deeper into the cave.
The walls were damp and reeked of moss. A faint light filtered in from cracks in the high ceiling. Beneath that light were giant webs, and three massive spiders.
And countless baby spiders.
‘Ah, crap. Seriously?’
There were so many. Way too many. The red and black stripes on their bodies squirmed like a writhing mass. I should’ve brought a lighter or something to set them on fire. Not that ordinary fire would work, but still…
I suddenly missed my brother. I wish I had a fire skill… Or if Yerim were here, she could freeze them all. People with AoE skills are so lucky.
Grumbling, I coated the entrance with poison. I sealed off the escape route, but since spiders rarely leave their webs, that probably wouldn’t be necessary.
I picked up a stone from the ground, coated it in poison, and hurled it at the web.
Thunk, snap.
The stone broke through the web, dissolving the silk as it burrowed in, but soon got tangled and stuck. As the webs contracted, the spiders quickly spun new threads, weaving them back together at impressive speed.
Damn, I’m going to have to go in there after all.
‘I don’t have enough mana to use Spiked Trap on all the baby spiders.’
Do I have to kill them all to clear the dungeon? I guess I’ll have to get in close… and either poison them or stomp them to death.
Sighing, I activated Lizard on the Wall. The largest spider, which had been staring at me from the middle of the web, flailed its eight eyes in confusion as I disappeared.
-Hiss.
The other two big spiders also scanned their surroundings, but they couldn’t spot me. I crept toward the tangled white mass of webs, using Spiked Trap on each of the three spiders in turn.
-Squeak!
-Hiss!
The cursed spiders thrashed about, tangling themselves in their own webs. The baby spiders, startled, scattered like water droplets, some of them squishing underfoot.
Pop. Squish.
The feeling of them bursting under my feet gave me goosebumps. I extended my tendrils, piercing the shells of the larger spiders and injecting poison. They trembled for a moment before falling still. I noticed one of the spiders had dropped its mana stone, so I picked it up with a tendril. Thanks to the Miracle Rookie title, there were two of them.
Please, let the achievement screen pop up. Please let the exit gate appear. Please…
“…Still nothing. Do I really have to kill all the baby spiders?”
[ ? (· ?·)┘☆π∈┃○★]
Just when things had gone quiet, the weird messages popped up again. I can’t even say anything without triggering this nonsense.
“If you’ve got nothing better to do, why don’t you fill in some of those vague skill descriptions? Stop stalking me.”
[Tuturu…]
…What the hell are you saying?
Swallowing my curses, I went after the scurrying baby spiders, squashing them as I went. Yuhyun, Yerim, I miss you guys. They’d take care of this in one hit.
Thankfully, it seemed I didn’t have to kill all of them. As their numbers dwindled, the exit gate finally appeared. And then,
[Remarkable achievement! You have successfully solo-cleared an E-rank dungeon with F-rank stats, F-rank or lower attack skills, and less than five items used!]
So the limit was five items this time, huh.
[S-rank title, ‘Veteran F-rank’, awarded!]
Veteran F-rank? I hate that title. No matter how skilled you are, there’s no way an F-rank could solo an E-rank dungeon without relying on powerful equipment.
I was a worn-out F-rank in my previous life too, but… Forget it. What’s the point in complaining about the past? Let’s check the status window.
[Veteran F-rank (S)
A superhuman with unparalleled experience as an F-rank Hunter.
Doubles the effect of all attack skills you possess.]
…Wow, seriously, really, no, really.
I stared up at the ceiling. Well, the cave ceiling.
Damn it. I don’t even have any attack skills!
Now I’ve got two useless titles.
‘I mean, they’re both really good, Miracle Rookie and Veteran F-rank, and they’re both definitely S-rank level, but…’
What is this?
Doubling the effect of all attack skills? The double dungeon rewards from Miracle Rookie are great, but this one—just imagine how broken this would be if I were a B-rank! It’d be overpowered, and people would be screaming about game balance.
If the SS-rank Lautitars’ Natural Enemy skill doubles its effect only against Venom and Curse dragon types, this title doesn’t even have a target restriction. The only reason this is an S-rank title is because only F-ranks can obtain it. If it weren’t for that limit, it’d probably be L-rank or something.
Not that it does me any good.
I’ve got ten skills, but they’re all support and resistance skills! Wow! If you count the two titles, I’ve got twelve, but ha ha ha.
‘Since the wording says “skills you possess,” it probably doesn’t apply to equipment skills. Maybe it’ll come in handy once the final Blessing takes effect.’
To test it, I extended a tendril. Huh, it’s definitely over four meters now. So, in terms of skill strength, I’m basically at A-rank.
‘With the sticky poison, unless someone has S-rank poison resistance, even an S-rank would die. Spiked Trap is D-rank, so it won’t be as effective, but…’
As long as they don’t have high curse resistance, I could neutralize even A-ranks. My stats may be lacking, but in terms of skills, I could easily beat an A-rank combat hunter head-on.
Well, not that it matters when I’ve only got two days left.
I guess I’ll be invincible for seven days every once in a while if I apply a keyword to an A-rank or higher hunter or monster.
‘…It’s not like I have no options, but…’
If I really wanted to, I could make these titles useful.
By taming a monster of the right rank, applying a keyword, and then killing it every seven days. Especially against cursed venom dragon types like Blackie, with this combination, even a C-rank could perform at an A-rank or higher level.
But.
‘If I could do something like that, I wouldn’t have needed to go back in time.’
Venom and Curse Dragons aren’t common, and I’m not heartless enough to love and care for a monster for days, pampering it only to stab it in the back at the end. What would I do, thank it for all the mana stones and end its life? No, that’s not something a normal person would do.
If I could handle that kind of thing, I would’ve just accepted Yuhyun’s death, wished for strength from the Wish Stone, and gone on to live a comfortable life.
Even without the memories from before, that’s still a path that would lead to a mental breakdown. I’m letting that go.
With a deep sigh, I checked the dungeon rewards.
‘Oh, a high-grade health potion.’
And I got two of them, thanks to the double rewards. Usually, you’d only see these in A-rank dungeons, and even in B-rank dungeons, they’re only given out as first-clear rewards. Could I be getting an elixir for solo-clearing a D-rank?
‘Even if you’re not an F-rank hunter, these rewards make solo-clearing worth it.’
For this dungeon, even a decent C-rank hunter with the right attack skills could clear it solo. But it feels like I’m getting extra rewards as an F-rank. This is too good for a standard solo-clear reward.
The other items were also on the level of C~B-rank dungeon rewards. And, of course, doubled. I hadn’t even bothered to collect any mana stones, but this was still a decent haul. I got four pieces of C-rank gear thanks to the Miracle Rookie title’s effect. It really is a great title. If only I could run higher-level dungeons, I’d be swimming in rewards. What a shame.
‘Could these titles be part of some “double” series?’
Miracle Rookie doubles rewards, Veteran F-rank doubles attack skill effects. What if D-rank doubles stats? Not that it’d make much of a difference for me. I’d rather have it double support skill effects. That way, I could raise monsters twice as fast and perform optimized awakenings twice a month. Applying keywords would be twice as easy, too.
Please, let the D-rank title double support skills. Let me get something useful, at least once.
“When did you go out?”
Myungwoo looked surprised when I got back home. I raised the shopping bag in my hand.
“Just ran to the convenience store. Didn’t you hear me leave?”
For the sake of a solid alibi, I had canceled Lizard on the Wall at the door, left the apartment again, and gone to the store on the first floor with the hunter stationed at the entrance.
“I didn’t notice at all. What’d you buy?”
“…Roach poison.”
“What? We have cockroaches in here?!”
“No, we don’t. It’s for my peace of mind.”
As soon as I saw it on the shelf, I’d grabbed it without thinking. The package even said it worked on spiders. Pest control is a wonderful thing.
I headed straight to the bathroom and took a long shower. I’d never heard of anyone catching diseases from E-rank dungeon monsters, but I still used enough body wash to drain the bottle. Honestly, I wanted to douse myself in disinfectant.
After washing up, I gathered Peace and Chirp and prepared their dinner.
“Chirp, I told you this isn’t for you.”
-Chirp!
I had to peel Chirp off the bottle of powdered C-rank mana stones. Why is this tiny bird so obsessed with mana stones? When I gave it an F-rank mana stone, it chirped in dissatisfaction but still gobbled it down. I did pick up some E-rank mana stones earlier; maybe I’ll let it try one.
“Here, Chirp.”
-Chirp chirp chirp!!
Wow, it’s thrilled. I broke up the E-rank boss monster’s mana stone, and Chirp practically danced with excitement. Peace, on the other hand, only ate the exact amount he needed and ignored the rest. This one’s a bit of an oddball. Chirp devoured two E-rank mana stones in a flash, then wrapped its wings around the bottle of C-rank powder.
-Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp.
“That’s not yours.”
Maybe I should try giving it an even higher-ranked mana stone. E-rank seems to be fine; I’ll bring some D-rank stones tomorrow.
‘…What is this?’
I had gone to bed early, since I had another dungeon tomorrow, but was startled awake by a sudden surge of Weakling’s Instinct. Did Yerim come to raid the kitchen again? S-rank stats, poison skill… Wait, curse skill? What?
I shot up, wide awake, and a message screen appeared in front of me.
[When facing Dio Valsesis, all skill effects will be doubled!]
What the hell?! Double? A Venom and Curse dragon?! S-rank?! Did an S-rank dungeon just appear in my bedroom? Why is it so quiet? My mind was racing, but thanks to Fear Resistance, my body remained calm.
As soon as my thoughts cleared, Weakling’s Instinct kicked into overdrive, feeding me information. With its heightened accuracy, I pinpointed the enemy’s location before I even opened my eyes.
I leapt out of bed, immediately casting Spiked Trap.
“Hello—ugh!”
…Why did a person fall over?
–TL Notes–
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