Chapter 38

Chapter 38 – Dungeon Terror (3)

“Where does this sound of a pig squealing keep coming from?”

Kang Hyeon rubbed his ears with his fingers and blew out a breath.

“Whew~”

The brute’s expression twisted fiercely.

“Kill him!”

When the pig shouted violently, thugs rushed in from all directions.

Kang Hyeon calmly watched this and lightly avoided the attack.

-Whoosh!

“Eek, why can’t we hit him?!”

“You crazy bastard! Can’t you open your eyes properly?!”

Kang Hyeon easily avoided all attacks.

The desperate guys recklessly swung their weapons.

As a result, in the narrow space, their movements became entangled and they ended up interfering with each other.

“What are you guys doing?”

Kang Hyeon approached the thugs and slapped one of them hard with his palm.

-Smack!

The guy who got slapped spun three times in the air and collapsed on the floor.

“D-don’t let your guard down! He’s not ordinary.”

“Everyone stay calm.”

When they realized Kang Hyeon had extraordinary skills, the thugs’ attitude changed completely.

“Oh ho...”

Seeing this, Kang Hyeon let out a small exclamation.

‘They’re certainly a bit different from the riffraff I’ve met so far.’

Their reckless behavior from just moments ago was gone, and they quickly regained their composure.

As expected of skilled individuals capable of attacking a top-tier D-rank dungeon.

Moreover, the guy who had collapsed on the floor had already gotten up, clutching his cheek.

“Ptui!”

When the guy spat, something white came out along with blood.

“You bastard. I’ll never just kill you!”

“What are you going to do if you don’t just kill me?”

At Kang Hyeon’s words, the eyes of the man who was slapped widened.

“I’ll peel off all your skin and pull out all your teeth so you’ll never again...!”

***

Ippotranslation

***

“What did you say?”

“I said I’m sorry...”

The guy whose cheek had swollen up like a tiger muttered.

“What?”

“I’m sorr... Sorry...”

-Smack!

Kang Hyeon mercilessly slapped the cheek of the guy who was trying to say something.

“Why do you keep whining? It’s annoying.”

Dusting off his palm, Kang Hyeon made a satisfied expression.

‘I’ve finally realized the use of Entria’s Shell skill.’

Slapping with gauntlets feels less satisfying.

But hitting with bare hands lacks power.

As Kang Hyeon was pondering, using Entria’s Shell to slap felt like finding the perfect balance between power and satisfaction.

“Still, it was quite difficult.”

Especially the pig who first approached Kang Hyeon took quite some time to catch.

It seemed his unique skill was related to endurance, as he didn’t budge even after a few slaps.

“Well, that wasn’t bad in its own way.”

In the end, Kang Hyeon was only able to finish him off after slamming him to the ground and delivering dozens of pounding blows.

“Phew, anyway, I need to get stronger in the future. To be drained by guys like this...”

In fact, if he had drawn Bilgein’s long sword from the start, this incident could have been easily settled. Knowing this fact, Kang Hyeon deliberately ignored it.

‘The feel of the hit is important in everything.’

As Kang Hyeon was nodding and rationalizing to himself, it happened.

“Thank you.”

Shin Seong-a, who was in the corner, offered her thanks.

“It’s nothing. I just relieved some stress after a long time.”

“I’m Shin Seong-a.”

She was trying hard to hide her trembling voice.

Kang Hyeon noticed this but pretended not to.

“I’m Kang Hyeon.”

‘Not bad.’

He thought she was a strong woman.

Despite nearly experiencing a terrible ordeal just moments ago, she maintained her composure and even now refused to show any weakness.

“I will definitely repay this favor.”

As Shin Seong-a bowed her head and spoke, Kang Hyeon waved his hand.

“It’s fine. What favor?”

After exchanging greetings, Kang Hyeon was about to continue on his way when he hesitated.

“Can you get out alone?”

“I cannot.”

At the crisp answer, Kang Hyeon swallowed a chuckle.

‘Shouldn’t she normally ask for help then?’

It was funny to Kang Hyeon that she stood firmly even though he was about to leave right away.

‘What should I do? It feels a bit off to go back now...’

He didn’t feel like going back to the entrance now. But it also felt uneasy to leave her here knowing she would die.

In the end, they had no choice but to move together, but apart from it being troublesome, Kang Hyeon wasn’t confident he could keep this woman alive all the way to the core room.

“Ahem...”

While Kang Hyeon was pondering, Shin Seong-a spoke first.

“Are you perhaps planning to clear the dungeon?”

“I’m thinking of going to the core room for now.”

“Then may I accompany you there?”

“It will be dangerous.”

“I can protect myself to some extent. I will make sure not to be a hindrance to you, Kang Hyeon.”

“...”

“I will follow Kang Hyeon like a shadow and only collect magic stones. Of course, I will give all the collected magic stones to you, Kang Hyeon.”

“Oh ho...”

Monsters touched by Bilgein’s long sword were sliced apart with screams.

‘My magic hasn’t fully returned yet. I need to conserve it as much as possible, not knowing what might happen.’

Kang Hyeon moved using only his innate abilities without using skills. Even so, he showed faster movements than any other ability user here.

“Aaargh!”

Most of the monsters were from E and F ranks, so there wasn’t a big problem. However, the situation was different for ‘Daience’s Laboratory’ where Kang Hyeon had been.

The ability users were helplessly pushed back by powerful D-rank monsters they had never encountered before.

“Don’t charge at the Chimera, get out of the way!”

[Roar of the Enraged Lion is activated]

[All enemies’ morale and stats have decreased]

Kang Hyeon activated the Roar of the Enraged Lion. A huge cry erupted, loud enough to be clearly heard even in the midst of the chaotic battle.

“Stick together, maintain formation, and focus on taking down the weaker ones!”

After giving instructions, Kang Hyeon himself ran around dealing with the Chimeras.

“Kieek!”

-Slash

Every time the red long sword was swung, monsters were helplessly cut down.

Thanks to Kang Hyeon’s storm-like performance, the situation soon began to stabilize.

“Who is that man?”

“Wow, is he from the Dangun Guild?”

People who now had some breathing room exclaimed in admiration as they watched Kang Hyeon rampage.

“Phew...”

The monsters were cleaned up before long.

Occasionally, powerful individuals like dungeon bosses appeared, but it wasn’t a problem.

Kang Hyeon had been defeating bosses alone before.

With Shin Seong-a’s support added, they could easily handle even the bosses.

“Good work.”

“Thank you so much.”

Finally, all the monsters in the vicinity were cleared, and relieved people approached Kang Hyeon to express their gratitude.

“Everyone worked hard.”

Kang Hyeon also smiled and returned their greetings.

-I’m fine. I checked the news, and they said only dungeons near Seoul burst open.

When he called Kang A-hyun to check on her, fortunately, nothing had happened.

“Now I can really take a breather.”

Kang Hyeon slowly looked around while catching his breath.

Around him, only the corpses of monsters were strewn about now.

“But why is that still open?”

At that moment, a man spoke while looking at Daience’s Laboratory, which still had its door open.

“Shit! The boss hasn’t come out yet!”

Kang Hyeon, too, had been so preoccupied that he hadn’t thought about the boss of ‘Daience’s Laboratory’.

“Everyone, step back. The boss will come out soon!”

At Kang Hyeon’s shout, people hesitated and retreated.

-Whoosh!

At that moment, an enormous number of Chimeras poured out of the dungeon. And behind them, a Lich wearing a brown robe slowly walked out.

Being a skeleton, the Lich couldn’t make expressions. But Kang Hyeon could feel the overflowing composure in its gestures.

‘Was it gathering Chimeras inside the collapsing dungeon until now...’

Kang Hyeon shook his head as he watched the Chimeras pouring out endlessly.

‘We’re screwed...’

Even for Kang Hyeon, it was impossible to handle such a large number of Chimeras at once.

[Lich Daience]

Finally stopping its steps, it spread its arms and raised its head.

-Good

It wasn’t a voice heard by ears. It was as if the language itself resonated inside the head.

“What? The monster is talking?”

People who encountered a monster speaking language for the first time became agitated.

“Everyone, listen to me carefully.”

Anxious gazes gathered on Kang Hyeon at his words.

“From now on, get as far away from here as possible. And request support from Dangun or the union.”

Shin Seong-a objected to Kang Hyeon’s words telling them to flee.

“No. Are you telling us to abandon you, Kang Hyeon?”

“Is there anyone here who can face even one of those Chimeras over there? You’ll be helping by not interfering and disappearing.”

At these undeniable words, people’s expressions became gloomy.

It wasn’t a long battle, but they had all survived thanks to Kang Hyeon’s help. Yet now Kang Hyeon was saying he would stay alone, so they couldn’t help but hesitate.

“We’ll stay and fight too.”

“You won’t be of any help! So hurry and go!”

Seeing the Chimeras flinch, Kang Hyeon shouted urgently.

It seemed like they would rush in and start a massacre at any moment.

“But...”

“Fuck! Just get out if I tell you to get out! Hurry!”

As harsh words burst from Kang Hyeon’s mouth, people finally turned and ran.

-Who said I would let them go.

At that moment, the Lich stretched out its hand. Then all the Chimeras started running at once.

Watching them, Kang Hyeon activated Wayne’s secret technique and Giant’s Strength.

“Geez, what am I doing...”

He didn’t want to become some cheap hero.

He wasn’t a good person, but he wasn’t a hypocrite either.

But right now, he just wanted to do this.

“I’ll come back to life anyway. So... Let’s play properly for once.”

Having made up his mind, Kang Hyeon pulled out Ogre’s Giant Hammer from his inventory.

“Where do you think you’re going! You mongrels!”

[Roar of the Enraged Lion is activated]

Kang Hyeon used his skill and swung the hammer with all his might. Unlike usual, it was a full-force strike without considering the strain on his body.

-Boooom!

The power was beyond imagination.

With a thunderous sound, the concrete floor shattered at once, and dust scattered.

The Chimeras hesitated at that momentum.

“Hey, you skull face over there.”

The Lich stared intently at Kang Hyeon’s call.

“How about clearing these small fries and having a hot boss battle?”

For a moment, a sense of bewilderment could be felt from the expressionless Lich.

-I refuse.

“Didn’t expect you to agree, you bastard. Ptui! Come at me, all of you!”