Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 338 TIME TO FIGHT

Hancock received a dungeon key with her rewards as well. I told the duo we would wait until the next day to do the dungeons though. After we worked out together in the morning I showed them that we didn’t need to accept our daily quest reward. We could simply wait to accept the reward. That way if they got in a pinch in their dungeons they could use the Status Recovery to get back to full health. 

I knew these little tricks from reading the manhwa of course, but they stared at me like I was some sort of genius. I let them praise me and we hung out for a bit at Hancock’s place. We would all challenge our dungeon later in the day. 

Cha and Hancock were on better terms again. I wasn’t exactly sure what Hancock told Cha. I assumed it was some veiled flirtations and other acts that would make the woman blush and stutter. 

My dungeon was at a carport, Jin-Woo’s was at a subway station, and Hancock’s was at an office building. We were all relatively close to one another. I couldn’t remember exactly what the dungeon of Jin-Woo’s entailed, but I was fairly certain we could pass the dungeons on our own. With potions in our inventory, armor and weapons handy, after I lent Jin-Woo some money, we were ready to go. 

“Good luck, babe,” I said. Giving her another kiss. She grabbed onto my ass, keeping me close.

“I’m scared,” she mumbled. 

“No you’re not,” I said. 

“I’m kind of scared,” she amended. 

“You’ll be fine,” I said. Jin-Woo standing awkwardly apart, I gave her a peck. “Force Summon yourself to me if it gets bad.”

“Fine,” she said, rolling her eyes. Wearing leather gear it was her original set of gear before she started making money in the world. A large mace at her back, she pulled out the brass colored key from her ample cleavage and walked up to the office building. Sticking the key in the front door I felt the Spiritual Energy shift but that was the only change. 

“You see this?” She asked. 

“Looks like a door to me,” I said. 

“It’s a bright light to me,” she said. Hesitating slightly she gulped and walked through the door. I didn’t see her anymore. Her Haki disappearing from my senses I shrugged and walked away. 

“What happened?” Jin-Woo asked, his eyes wide. 

“She went into the dungeon,” I said. “Jin-Woo, what’s up with you man? You know as much as I do.” 

“I don’t know,” he said, nervous. “I’m used to being the weakest Hunter. This idea of yours. Going beyond S-Rank is kind of scary.” 

“It will take a lot of work, dude. But it’s possible,” I said. “Stop being so scared. That trial with the statues was a hell of a lot scarier than this.”

“You’re right,” he said. “I thought for sure I was dead.” He looked up to me as we walked. “You really saved my life there, man.”

“I did not,” I assured. “But if you feel so inclined you can give me your dungeon key.” I stuck my hand out. 

“No thanks. I want to try it.” 

“Fine, you can set me up with your sister as a consolation prize.”

“Stop joking about that,” he grumbled. 

“Right…joking,” I said.

“I’ll kill you if you touch her,” he said. I laughed. I really did like the guy. Old me had been a half-friend to him. As the weakest Hunter, people talked bad behind Jin-Woo’s back, old me wasn’t any better. In some weird attempt to try to fit in, I joined in on making fun of Jin-Woo. I felt bad about it, of course, but still kept up with it. Only pretending to be his one friend to his face. I meant to make up for that. 

We got to the carport my dungeon was at. The carport was a 6-story tall concrete structure. People streamed in and out in their cars. Curious how it would work I pulled out my own key. The copper glowed brightly as I moved it toward the walk-through opening of the port. When I pushed it to the opened door, white electricity shot out from the key, making a door where there had not been one before. 

“Guess this is it,” I said. “Good luck.” Jin-Woo nodded and I stepped through the door. As I stepped in the scenery changed completely. 

Shifting from a concrete structure, the interior altered so that everything was covered in thick moss. The moss growing on the floor and walls I was apparently inside a new dimension where the carport was overgrown with greenery. 

Turning to the door it was covered over with a hard rock. Hitting the rock the thing didn’t budge but caused a screen to pop-up. 

“Of course,” I said. Turning around I extended my Observation Haki out. Spiritual Energy flickering in and out of my range I pulled a 1-handed sword from my inventory. Wearing Gantz armor under my clothes I thought it best to be safe for the time being. 

“Come here, whatever you are,” I said. Stepping out to the moss covered ground. The place was dark a short distance from me. Charging my voice with Tremors I roared out, ready to get this started. I was surprised to get a skill out of the move. 

“Cool,” I mumbled. “Didn’t even notice the mana.” I was brought out of my self-praise as the first beast ran at me. Big, it was about 5 feet tall on all 4s. As it lumbered toward me my Observation Haki told me all I needed to know. It was a bear.

As the monster gained speed it came into where I could see and I noticed a name over it’s head. In big orange letters it read, Swamp Bear. 

“Bring it, Yogi,” I said as the monster roared. More noises of monsters running toward me sounded. I leapt up as the monster got closer. Driving my sword into the beast I barely punctured its hide. Then I sent a Tremor into the weapon. My weapon came vibrating quickly I sliced into it deeply. More notifications appeared but I jumped off and attacked again. 

The bear had dark green fur to blend into the moss. 5 feet tall on it’s paws, it was near 11 feet on it’s hind legs. As it roared from the damage I had done I stabbed into it again and again. Moving quickly from dodge rolls to attacks as I read over my notifications.  

With a yell I used Piercing Strike in the animals throat. My Tremor Fruit activated automatically and shot into the beast’s head. It toppled over dead as more of its brethren came at me. 2 bears this time a white light surrounded me as I leveled up. My HP and MP didn’t heal but I felt stronger. I was ready to go again as I got more stats. 

Moving between attack and dodging, the Gantz suit proved more than helpful. After another 2 bears I had leveled again. Feeling stronger after each kill, I brought up my screen. 

Each level up awarded 1 point in every stat. When the bears stopped thrashing behind me I heard more grunts further in. About to go after them I was surprised when the bodies disappeared. On the spot where the bear carcasses disappeared 2 random drops materialized. One was called a Bear Claw, the other was a Bear Fang. Throwing them in my inventory I kept going. 

What followed was 3 hours of bloodshed. My weapon broke about halfway through so I had to rely on daggers until one of the bears dropped a sword called Bear with Me. Quite heavy, it was almost a 2-hander, but I muddled through. Working my way up the car port it became a constant fight as the sound from one fight drew 2 more foes. 

After the 2nd floor a new monster was added into the mix. Small yellow monkeys. They were quick, but I threw knives at them, killing them with ease. Checking to make sure I got everything, I didn’t gain as many levels as I did at the start, but I was getting stronger. 

At the 4th floor the monkey and bear monsters changed into small slimes. Green to match the moss all around me they actually spit out acid when I killed them. Forced to use my Tremor power to bust them up in focused blasts, and Nen to emit power into them, I was getting stronger with the powers at each level. 

By the time I killed everything my status screen was looking a lot better. Tired, I was at the 6th and hopefully last level of the car port. I thought it best to turn in my daily quest reward. Getting a full Status Recovery my HP and MP was restored, and Fatigue was brought to 0. After maneuvering my new stat points I studied my screen. 

The Bear Hunter title appeared after the 20th bear I killed. 

Mana Wave showed up when I emitted a Nen attack and Focused Blast happened when I used a Tremor to break bones of a foe. Somehow I was using mana to make the attacks stronger. I was rather liking the new skills. I had also received a Return Stone from one of the monsters. 

Not seeing a reason to use it I walked to the open air of the top floor. Still no cars or people, everything was coated in moss. I felt like I was in a swampy Upside Down from Stranger Things. Guided by my Spiritual Energy I killed a couple more green slimes with a Blast Wave, but noticed the big boss monster. It’s name hovered overtop of it in big red letters. 

Slime Lord Hullent

I had learned that the letter color mattered when I was fighting a monster. White meant they were weak, orange meant strong, and red meant far above my level. I grew excited as the faceless slime rotated as I got closer. Some minor slimes around it I sent a huge Blast Wave out. The area vibrating the slimes shook and burst. 

The big boss began to roll toward me like a bulldozer. The moss ripped up from the immense speed I poured water out of my body. Jumping onto the disc I raised above the Slime Lord as it rolled passed. Dropping down I stabbed toward it, but to my surprise my weapon chinked off the Slime. 

Cursing I slashed again, only for a spark to fly and the sword to bounce back. About to keep striking, the slime jumped up at me. It’s gelatinous body touching me I heard and felt my flesh sizzle as the acidic beast ate into me. Yelling out I cursed as I moved the disc of water to separate us. Pushing off the water I landed far away. Shifting into Kame Mode I healed slightly but the Slime Lord was rolling toward me again. 

What followed was a half hour of me attacking sporadically. The monster was a confusing beast. My sword doing nothing I focused on Blast and Mana Waves. When my MP was out I drank potions or relied on just my Tremor fruit, chakra, Nen, and Haki. Brought far enough to bring all my strength out, eventually something changed. 

When I sent a huge tremor into the Slime Lord it suddenly burst. Spewing out acid. Narrowly escaping, I thought I would be killed by the acid, but instead of making a giant wave of water as it burst, the Slime Lord turned into hundreds of little slimes. They scattered over the car port and scuttled back toward one another. As the slimes touched, they conglomerated, becoming bigger until they were gigantic again. 

Cursing my stupidity I understood the skill the boss was using then. He could take a certain amount of damage, but then when it was hurt enough it would split into the hundreds of slimes that made it up. I could actually kill the slimes then. 

As I attacked again my blows bounced off of the body, but I had a chance. Getting in the zone I hit it over and over until it split once more. Sending out huge blast waves the now very weak singular slimes burst and I got over half before they met back up. 

The Slime Lord was invulnerable again, but the amount it could absorb was far less. It took me less than half the time to beat it down. After it burst open a 3rd time, I killed enough that it was only about my height when it came together. Unable to turn invulnerable this time it fired acid at me but I broke it apart and killed it after I used another Mana Potion. 

The Lord became an oozing green puddle under me as I got a lot of notifications. 

I looked around and as the green goo evaporated, 1 item appeared from it. 

Walking over to it the item prompted me if I wanted to learn the skill so I pushed yes. The small stone with a blue rune on it disintegrated. Having leveled 3 times from the fight I brought up my last notification. 

A terrible title name I couldn’t help but wonder if it would help my water-chakra attacks. Curious, I brought up my Status Screen and changed the title from Bear Hunter to Slimy. 

Happy with my gains I whistled as I headed out of the dungeon. I got my quest rewards as soon as I exited, making my good mood all the better.