Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 194

“My older brother and I are new to dungeons of this scale… What is our schedule going forward?”

“It’s just like what you heard in the briefing. First, we are going to thoroughly hunt and annihilate the easy monsters. Then, we are going in deeper. If there are extra quests along the way, we will clear them to get additional rewards.”

The brothers nodded at Ha-Na’s explanation. This was the standard strategy.

“I’m just saying, but…the condition for this dungeon is definitely challenging.”

The condition of this [Forest of the Twisted God] dungeon was called [Choice]. When a Hunter was about to die, they were given the choice to accept the twisted power, or just die as a human. Of course, Hunters were also normal humans and they generally wanted to live, so they most often chose to accept the twisted power.

That was how the [Twisted and Mutated Entities] came to be. And it was a problem because they had all the knowledge from when they were alive, and they were still capable of using skills.

“We have to think about fighting these monsters while moving forward.”

Everyone nodded at Ji-Byeok’s heavy remark. Today’s battle had been nothing more than a practice game. The real battle would be dealing with those [Twisted and Mutated Entities].

* * *

Ji-Han looked at the campsite and smiled. He had done countless regressions, but this was the only time the team members had created a campsite like this. Looking down at the hot cup of cocoa, he thought about himself.

Ji-Han could go back in time. These regressions came with many costs, but as the world was about to be destroyed, it was inevitable for Ji-Han to choose to do it once more. If he didn’t do that, the entire world, including himself, would perish.

Many opportunities were given to those who control the power of time, but they were not omnipotent. One of the conditions that Ji-Han had to obey was that he could not explain what would happen in the future to others. If he explained anything, the next regression would begin immediately, and all he would get for his efforts would be the pain of another death.

In addition, following each regression, there were penalties accumulating, and because of this, Ji-Han had to tread carefully.

This [Forest of the Twisted God] was the same. The things that he had told his team in the briefing were the summary of what the Philippine government had found out by sacrificing Hunters in the dungeon. In fact, this place was far more terrifying than it appeared.

The [Twisted and Mutated Entities] were human in nature. And the hell created by humans was surprisingly not far away, especially in a world like this. But the reason why Ji-Han had cleared this dungeon in several timelines was that there was something to be gained from it. Ji-Han needed to acquire [Fragment of the Twisted God]. It was one of the pieces for the future.

‘If it’s for the sake of that…’

Calming down his bitter mouth with the taste of sweet hot cocoa, he thought about the future.

* * *

The hunt continued. Because it was a high-level dungeon, they were all leveling up at a tremendous rate. And it also helped that monsters popped out in large numbers, anywhere from dozens to hundreds.

Ji-Byeok made a fortress, and Ha-Na and Mu-Cheok blasted the monsters from a distance. Ji-Cheok used the [Blaze Dominion] and [Cthugha’s Steps] to burn most of them to a crisp before they could even reach the fortress. Seong Kwang had the idea of putting the World Tree in the middle of the fortress, and that further increased their hunting efficiency.

‘I can’t believe our mana is being restored while we’re hunting!’

Since they were hunting in a party, experience points were evenly distributed. Thanks to that, on the fourth day of hunting, everyone apart from Ji-Cheok had gained 10 levels. This kind of level-up speed was terrifying!

“This is crazy,” Ji-Cheok said as he saw the dead monsters from the cliff that Ji-Byeok had created.

‘Anyone would say the same if they saw enough monster corpses piled up to form a small hill.’

The team was mowing the monsters down as usual, but it seemed that the number of mobs was decreasing.

‘Is it because we killed so many? I didn’t even go down on my Mono Bike G to set them on fire today.’

Ha-Na and Mu-Cheok’s were starting to be like bread and butter when it came to fighting, so the monsters couldn’t even break through the fire barrier.

‘They’re becoming so strong…’

“It might be because we’re that overpowered.”

“It’s also because our team’s chemistry is superior to theirs.”

Ji-Byeok and Ha-Na exchanged comments on the current situation. They were right. The enemies couldn’t even approach them. Ji-Cheok wondered how many Hunters could fight like this.

Ji-Han and Reable didn’t even participate—no, they couldn’t participate.

“Wait… Your name was Reable, right?”

“Yes~ It’s Jung Reable!”

“I read your file and know about your ability, but you’re not doing anything. Aren’t you supposed to do something?” Ha-Na snapped at him.

She wasn’t wrong. Thankfully, they were recovering their mana thanks to Ji-Cheok’s World Tree, but if it was any other situation, Reable would’ve been chewed out for not helping out.

“But you didn’t even give me a chance to step in~ Well, I’m sure you’re not saying that just because I’m not participating, right?”

“To be honest, we haven’t seen what you can do. We don’t know if you’re actually a person we need on our team or not.”

“Huhuhuhu. You’re right. Then I shall show off some of my skills!”

Reable snapped his fingers. A magic circle around three meters in diameter appeared above his head.

“Is that Silent Spell Cast?”

“This is a magic spell called [Rise of the Dead]. When this magic circle appears, all the corpses under it become undead! It’s a spell that does not require additional mana!”

“Grrrrr!”

Just like Reable said, the corpses under the fortress stood up. The monster corpses that were cut into pieces or severely damaged could not get up. However, the ones that were physically able to move stood up, showing the same athletic abilities as before they were killed. They were more like Ghouls rather than Zombies.

And they were starting to scatter all over the place.

“Why are they scattering?” Mu-Cheok asked a very sharp question.

“This is an efficient magic spell that consumes very little mana, but it has its downsides,” Reable said.

“What is it?”

Reable smiled at Ji-Cheok’s question.

“I cannot control them. To be precise, it doesn’t take much mana to raise them, but it does take a lot to control them!”

“Eh?! So you’re saying they might attack us too?” Ji-Byeok asked, flabbergasted.

“That’s right. But this place has become a Sacred Site because of the World Tree, right? So, those guys can’t get over here. Instead, they’ll be running to other places to hunt other living things~ Which is not really a problem, since we have to kill all the monsters here anyway. This is like killing two birds with one stone or, to put it less violently, feeding two birds with one scone!"

‘That’s ridiculous. Of course, killing all the monsters in the dungeon is the standard way to clear it, but I’ve never thought about getting rid of monsters like this!’

Ji-Cheok was not the only one. Everyone thought that it was ridiculous. The only people who were calm were Ji-Han and Mu-Cheok.

‘I understand why Ji-Han is calm, but why is Mu-Cheok so calm? He’s become so weird after becoming a Hunter…’

“Ah! And there’s one more feature that skill has!” Reable shouted.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this…”

“Same, girl.”

Ignoring both Ji-Byeok and Ha-Na, Reable continued.

“If a monster is killed by one of my Undead, it will become one of the Undead, just like them~ Isn’t that amazing? We can annihilate our enemies without even lifting a finger~ We’re basically playing the major league plague game!”

Reable was grinning happily, seemingly unaware of how terrifying he looked.

‘...Those Undead monsters can infect others? Like those zombies from the movies?’

“The monsters in this dungeon are not weak enough to be killed just like that by our Half-Ghouls. So you don’t have to worry or expect anything.”

Ji-Han intervened. He was right. This dungeon was a place that had already eaten countless Hunters. Those Undead were certainly both powerful and great in number, but there was no guarantee that they could kill all the monsters.

‘But wait, they’re Half-Ghouls? No wonder they looked stronger than Zombies.’

“First of all, Byul Ha-Na,” Ji-Han said.

“Yes.”

“Use your [Guidance of the Stars] skill to look down on the entire dungeon from above.”

“Roger that!”

She imitated Ji-Cheok's tone, giving a playful salute to Ji-Han, and closed her eyes. A halo rose softly over her head.

“This dungeon used to be an island,” Ha-Na said with her eyes closed.

Then, she raised her hand.

Flash!

Her hand started to glow and something like a hologram appeared in front of them.

‘I didn’t know Ha-Na had this kind of skill.’

It only showed the topography, so the monsters were not visible. But that was enough.

“The area of this dungeon is… about half of Jeju island. And there are three cities. One on top of a rocky mountain, one on a small lake, and one inside the forest. Director, do we have any information about thes— Wait! Enemies! Ji-Byeok, Watch out!”

As Ha-Na shouted urgently, Ji-Cheok also felt mana flying toward them from afar. When he turned his head, he saw ten flame spheres flying right at them. Then, he spotted a group of people standing under the Ji-Byeok’s fortress.

They were the [Twisted and Mutated Entities]!

‘How dare you attack us without introducing yourselves?!”

“Walls!”

While Ji-Cheok was surprised at the sight of the enemies, Ji-Byeok got herself together. She clenched her fist and struck down the small cliff they were standing on.

Rumble~

Suddenly, a rock wall surged out in front of them! The wall emitted a strange bluish light, obviously mana. It looked positively solid, and it appeared just in time for the flying fireballs to smash right into it.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The rock wall rumbled, but whatever Ji-Byeok made was more than strong enough. The wall blocked the attack without a crack. In the meantime, Ha-Na raised her bow toward the sky, drew the bowstring at terrifying speed, and started to pour out arrows. Each arrow appeared to be infused with powerful mana and skills. They flew over Ji-Byeok’s wall and fell toward the enemy. Their attack and defense combo were smooth like flowing water!

‘Everyone is so great! I can’t be a burden on the team.’

“Summon Mono Bike G!”

Flash!

Mono Bike G appeared in front of him. Just as he got on, he saw Mu-Cheok running toward him, shouting.

“Hyung! Me too!”

He sat behind Ji-Cheok.

The backseat footrest clamped down on Mu-Cheok’s boots and secured them. The reason why Mu-Cheok wanted to join his brother was that his weapon couldn’t shoot curved bullets.

“Oh, apostle of the great pig! Thou who feedest us with thy flesh! I beg thee to grant us the blessing of protection!”

Seong Kwang smoothly put shield buffs on the two brothers in an instant.

“It seems like the residents of this place came to greet us~ Then, shall I take to the front lines as well?” Reable said.

As Ji-Cheok rode his bike down the rocky cliff, he noticed Reable rubbing his hands.

‘It looks like that bastard is up to something, but there’s no time to wait and see what it is.’

Ignoring Reable, Ji-Cheok dove toward the ground.

Vroom!

With Wall Drive, he reached the ground in an instant. As he drove forward and looked straight ahead, his eyes were greeted by the sight of some beings that he had never seen before.