by Park Saenal
..That was what I wanted to yell at her, but I didn’t.
‘Patient, be patient.’
I barely suppressed my anger. Euphemina had great skills compared to her fragile appearance. Her combat skills were equivalent to Blood Witch Yura. In addition, she had an epic class that only three people had. I didn’t dare mess with such a great person
Most of all, her strength was needed to rescue Huroi. I couldn’t afford to rescue him with just my strength. No matter how wrong she was, I needed to continue flattering her.
“B-Be careful. I can’t use defensive magic like you.”
“Yes~ yes~ I’m sorry.”
Euphemina apologized to me in an insincere manner. I was once again infuriated.
“This woman! How can you act so shameless despite almost killing someone!? Kneel down and apologize right now!”
…Was what I wanted to yell.
“Patience… Kuoh… Huh?”
I felt a new sense of anxiety. Euphemia was staring at the bananas hanging from the ceiling.
‘Surely she isn’t planning to pluck such a suspicious thing to eat? Ah, it can’t be. She isn’t a monkey…’
At that moment! Euphemia jumped lightly and grabbed a banana.
No, why?
Crack!
Immediately after Euphemina grabbed a banana hanging from the ceiling… The floor where I was standing started crumbling.
“Kiaaack!”
I barely escaped from danger by rolling my body to the side, and finally couldn’t resist yelling at Euphemina.
“What are you doing now? Why are you eating bananas in this situation?”
Euphemina answered with the banana in her mouth.
“Chew chew. Gulp. I just wanted to eat a banana because there was a banana in front of me.”
“Look, it’s just plain common sense! It’s odd that bananas are hanging in this dungeon. It’s clearly a trap!”
“Isn’t it strange for it to be a trap? The bananas could be hanging for patrolling soldiers to eat when they’re hungry.”
Euphemina sighed. “You poor person. You live by looking at the world from a very negative perspective. I bet you don’t have any friends to confide in.”
“…”
I was sure of it. Euphemina was clearly very angry. So she deliberately triggered the traps.
‘I can understand.’
Euphemina had come to rescue me because of a quest that would benefit her. But rescuing Huroi had nothing to do with her. Her current actions were complaining that she didn’t like rescuing a person unrelated to her quest. That’s why she purposely triggered the traps!
‘She has a temper…’
Indeed, it was rare for a beauty to have a good nature. Most beauties were sheltered like princesses.
‘But Ahyoung is pretty and has a good nature.’
My heart felt cleansed as I was reminded of my ideal love, Ahyoung.
“Ahyoung… I want to see you…”
“Over here! Those people are here!”
“…You dare disturb my contemplation?”
I was drawing a beautiful picture of Ahyoung in my mind when I heard a noise from both ends of the corridor and soldiers quickly arrived. There were around 50 people.
I sighed.
“How come they keep coming endlessly? This is bothersome.”
Euphemina snorted.
“Bah, aren’t I the one dealing with them anyway? Won’t you just be watching or running away? Don’t you think it is disgraceful to complain when you aren’t doing anything? I can’t understand it when you have that weapon. You should be fighting.”
“Fighting? Me? I can’t do that.”
I had the unique rated dagger that Euphemina returned to me. Obviously, this dagger’s attack power could easily handle the attacking soldiers. But I couldn’t enter battle. Why?
It was simple.
“I don’t have any armor.”
“…”
The clothes that I was wearing had absolutely no defense. I couldn’t fight against soldiers with no defense! At the end of the day, Euphemina was helping me so I could concentrate on rescuing Huroi without fighting.
“Even if you don’t have armor, isn’t it easy for you to handle the soldiers?”
“No. I’m not as strong as you think. Then… I’ll leave this to you.”
“Huh? What does that mean…?”
I patted Euphemina’s back and headed towards the hole caused by the trap she had triggered earlier. “I’ll go and find Huroi first. Hold their attention until then!”
“H-Hey!”
The confused Euphemina hurriedly tried to catch me, but it was too late. I ignored her and dove into the hole.
Ku tang tang tang!
“Wah!”
[You have fallen from a high place and suffered 200 damage.]
I left the soldiers and Euphemina, falling alone to the fourth floor.
“Cough! Cough! Uhh…fortunately, I didn’t get significantly hurt.”
I raised my dusty body and moved my gaze to the dusty ceiling. The battle between Euphemina and the soldiers had already begun, as flashing lights and the soldiers’ yells were heard.
“Good, Euphemia. You’re doing very well~.”
If she fought as loudly as possible, the enemies would believe that Euphemina and I were on the third floor, pulling all the defensive troops to the third floor. Then the defense on the fourth floor would be relatively poor.
“Huhut, I can find and rescue Huroi in this gap. Aren’t I surprisingly smart?”
Did I feel bad for leaving the fighting to Euphemina while I rescued Huroi? Well, no. My conscience didn’t exist. I was the type to use others if it would benefit me.
Was I worried about Euphemina fighting alone? Of course I wasn’t worried. She was the first epic class and so OP that she could use all types of magic spells without chanting first. She would survive even if hundreds of soldiers and dozens of knights were her opponents.
Chapter 46
Chapter 46
‘Duplicator…’
Blood Witch Yura, the 1st ranked South Korean and 5th rank on the unified rankings. Even she, who was at the top of two billion users, had to chant long spells when using great magic. But Euphemina, who said she was a Duplicator, could use powerful magic equivalent to Yura without needing to chant.
‘Duplicator…it seems to be a magician type class that duplicates the skills of others. It is an epic class but isn’t this too much of a scam? It completely destroys the balance.’
What were the disadvantages of a magician class?
While the versatility of magic that could be used for various purposes was certainly an advantage, the magician’s strong attack power and high damage were their biggest advantages over others.
The strongest warrior could sweep away dozens of enemies with swords and spears, but the highest attack spell of a magician could destroy an ‘army’ in one blow. This meant a magician had horrific attack power.
However, every time they had to chant a spell. The higher the level of the magic, the longer the chant. And this was a magician’s fatal disadvantage. But Euphemina didn’t need to chant when using spells. It meant she could use magic in quick succession, and the biggest disadvantage of a magician didn’t apply to her.
To briefly describe the Duplicator class, it was ‘a magician who could duplicate the skills of others and had no disadvantages?’ She could even learn the Advanced Blacksmith’s Craftsmanship skill.
“…Um, so a Duplicator can copy all types of skills and use spells without any penalty…then that is… Ah, I don’t know. Anyway, it is a fraud class.”
I wanted to guess correctly about the Duplicator class, but it was painful when I thought about it, so I just focused on finding Huroi.
***
“That shameless human…”
Because Grid ran away, Euphemina was left alone among the soldiers. Why was she in this smelly and dreary dungeon?
Because s
he had to rescue Grid (the reason for the rescue was to clear the quest received from Rabbit). Why did she retrieve Grid’s unique rated dagger and return it to him? Because it was a favor so that their relationship would continue to be good in the future (to be precise, she wanted Grid to make a unique rated orb for her).
As such, Euphemia treated Grid nicely, only for him to act like this. He used Euphemina’s power to clear his quest and now left her alone with the enemies.
“I know that it’s wise to use one person as bait while the other rescues the quest target. I know that, but…” Euphemina’s anger reached its peak and eventually exploded, “That ungrateful person dared to use me as bait? If I hadn’t helped him, wouldn’t he be trapped in the prison forever and deprived of his unique dagger??”
Shaaaa-
The air around Euphemina became cold.
“W-What?”
“She is a magician. Don’t give her time to cast a spell!”
The soldiers surrounding Euphemina felt the danger as their helmets and armor started freezing. They hurried to attack Euphemina, but it was already too late.
“Frost Queen’s Breath.”
Kudududuk!
An unbelievable sight unfolded, as suddenly, a blizzard raged and the soldiers’ bodies started to freeze from their toes up to their heads.
“Kuaaaaak!”
“Hiik! Body… my body is becoming stiff!”
“C-Cold… Coldddd!”
The soldiers couldn’t run away because their feet were freezing. They were frozen in place and suffered from terrible pain. After a while, more than 50 ice statues with expressions of fear were created.
Euphemina trembled among the statues.
“Grid… if you hadn’t promised to make an orb, I would kill you.”
Of the dozens of spells she duplicated in preparation to take care of Piaro, there were only 11 left. On the other hand, the number of enemies didn’t show signs of diminishing. Soldiers constantly came and went, as if they were products of a factory.
In particular, she was concerned about the existence of the knights. She hadn’t encountered one knight yet. It meant that all five of the Winston lord’s knights were alive somewhere in the castle.
Was it possible to deal with all five knights and the tsunami of soldiers with only 11 spells? It was impossible. NPC knights had a minimum level of 180. No matter how good Euphemina was, she couldn’t deal with all of them.
“Hah…”
Euphemina felt regret. She was blinded by the rewards and the thought of friendship with Grid when she accepted Rabbit’s quest. But the water had already been spilled. She couldn’t give up the quest now.
“Eh? Aren’t there supposed to be two of them?”
“That’s right. I heard that she broke Grid out and they are acting together… This! Grid went a different way!”
“He is after Huroi! He fell to the fourth floor to rescue Huroi. Separate half the troops right now! Half will face that woman while the other half will head to the fourth floor.”
The soldiers quickly confirmed that Euphemina was alone. Then they moved to chase Grid in an orderly fashion. She felt it from the beginning, but the northern soldiers were very skilled. Even the low-level soldiers were good at coping with this situation. It was proof that they trained hard. Even though they were weak, they weren’t easy targets.
So Euphemina did her best.
“Demon King’s Tail… No, using fire magic here is nothing more than suicide. Sword of Light.”
Kwachichichik.
A brightly-shining, white sword appeared in the air. Euphemina aimed the sword towards the separate group of soldiers pursuing Grid.
Sekeokeok!
The sword of light swept through the bodies of the soldiers, leaving a bloodbath in its wake. After that, Euphemina used a spell to deal with the rest of the soldiers.
Now she only had nine spells remaining. Euphemina wanted to preserve her power but more soldiers were coming.
‘It is serious. In the worst case, I might need to use Rolling Dice.
Rolling Dice was a skill that gave a random effect to the target. If she was lucky, it would be something that could change this situation into a positive one. But if she was unlikely, it could make things worse. Therefore, she wanted to refrain from using it until her good luck stat was higher, but it seemed she would have to make an unavoidable choice.
The first thing to do was take care of the knights, while Grid rescued Huroi.
“…The problem is that he is an untrustworthy man.”
An ominous chill went down Euphemina’s spine. She thought that Grid might run away and leave her alone.
‘Can I trust a garbage person like that? If he has a minimum of conscience…’
She tried to think positively but…
“Wahh! That bastard won’t have a conscience! What should I do?”
Euphemina wanted to cry. If possible, she wanted to go back in time and refuse Rabbit’s quest.
***
The deepest solitary place on the fourth floor.
“Uhh… uhh…”
He had reached his limit so he could no longer even smell the horrible rotten water puddles. He couldn’t hear or see anything. In this narrow space where only darkness existed, Huroi was unable to remember where he was, why he was here and even who he was.
50 hours in real time, 200 hours in Satisfy, he was trapped in that darkness alone.
“Kuohh…Kuaaaah!”
Terrible screams echoed underground. Grid heard the sound.
“…Huroi?”
It was a familiar but also unfamiliar voice. Grid was able to notice that the screams coming from the end of the corridor was from Huroi.
“Okay, here I come! This damn bastard. I will make sure you pay me back for all this suffering.”
Once this quest was cleared, he wanted to hit Huroi 200 times. Grid ran in the direction of the screams. But his legs soon stopped moving.
“I have been waiting.” It was Leo, the young knight who was insulted by Grid in the interrogation room! He blocked Grid’s path.
“W-What? Bachelor Ghost? Why are you here?”
Grid had predicted that most knights and soldiers would be on the third floor or blocking the exit. Therefore, he was confused about why a knight was on the fourth floor.
“Who is the bachelor ghost?” Leo turned red with anger and explained. “Weren’t you allied with Huroi? I expected that you wouldn’t escape alone. I knew you would rescue Huroi so I came here to wait for you.”
‘Ah, damn. I only shared a few words with Huroi. Anyway, the NPCs are using their head.’
Grid looked around. But he couldn’t see anyone other than Leo.
Leo looked at him and ridiculed. “Hah! Did you think I would come with soldiers? Don’t be too confident! Why do I need to bring soldiers to kill a lowly person like you? My strength alone is enough to rip you apart. Grid…! You will pay the price for insulting me!”
Leo had an extremely pleased expression on his face. This meant he had a deep grudge against Grid. Grid was forced to blame his actions a few hours ago.
‘I made him crazy with anger… If I knew this, I wouldn’t have been so rude.’
Once again, Grid realized that he shouldn’t curse people. But regrets always came too late.
Leo’s blue cloak flapped as he rushed forward.
Grid used a skill.
“Blacksmith’s Rage. Quick Movements.”
[Blacksmith’s Rage has been activated. Your attack power and attack speed will increase significantly for 20 seconds.]
[Quick Movements has been activated. Your agility and evasion rate will increase significantly for 1 minute.]
Chapter 47
Chapter 47
Pahat!
Leo narrowed the distance towards Grid with quick movements. Grid wanted to step back, but Leo was already in front of him.
“What?”
Leo aimed a flashy blow towards the panicked Grid.
Kaaang!
Grid raised his dagger and barely managed to defend against Leo’s attack. His wrists and shoulders were strained in the aftermath, and his right arm was temporarily disabled, but Grid survived thanks to the successful defense.
‘I wouldn’t have caught Leo’s movements at all if it weren’t for the Ideal Dagger.’
This was true. After using the skill ‘Quick Movements’ attached to the Ideal Dagger, his agility doubled. Ideal Dagger itself increased the user’s agility by 20. In addition to that, all of Grid’s stats had increased by 12 points after making a unique item. Grid’s combined agility was close to 250 points, making him able to respond to Leo’s attacks.
Leo frowned with an unpleasant expression and asked,
“You avoided my attack? Aren’t you a blacksmith?”
Leo was one of Winston’s most accomplished young talents. He was even called the ‘Northern Nova’ and his name was spread throughout the north. It was impossible for an ordinary blacksmith to block his attack, even with a fluke.
Thus, Leo started taking the battle seriously.
“You aren’t an ordinary blacksmith? Were you just acting in the interrogation room? Good, I will acknowledge your skills and do my best.”
Hwaruruk!
Red flames emerged from Leo’s longsword. It was a magic sword equipped with the fire attribute. Grid, who had been hoping there was a slight chance of victory, felt despair again.
“A magic sword…! Why is a strong person using something like that? This is a foul!”
The time limit for rescuing Huroi was 25 minutes. Could he defeat a knight equipped with a magic sword? It was impossible. He would be killed in a minute.
Grid was completely lost.
‘I have to run away. At this rate, I will die a dog’s death and fail the quest. Running away is the only option. But how can I run?’
Grid couldn’t outrun the knight. The physical abilities of a knight transcended him. It might be possible if he had a skill that gave the target an abnormal condition, but Grid was a blacksmith and didn’t have such useful skills.
In the end, Grid was destined to be killed here by Leo. But at that moment, something happened that no one could predict. There was suddenly a huge explosion in the spot where Leo was standing.
