Chapter 39: Evolution (1)

TL: Hanguk

We were forcibly transported to a mysterious space.

The sensation wrapping around my entire body felt similar to when I used the waypoint.

[You have entered the Bonus Stage exclusive to Scenario Challengers.]

Accompanied by an ominous message, the surroundings turned into a blindingly white space.

Thud!

Willia, Woof-woof, and I prepared for battle, just in case.

It was a Bonus Stage, after all. Doesn’t that usually mean we’ll have to fight again for some extra reward?

And it seemed my prediction was correct.

[The Hidden Boss from the Underground Tomb has appeared.]

[Skeleton Knight Neville / Level: 40]

Suddenly, this so-called hidden boss appeared.

'I deliberately came looking for a dungeon that seemed easy to clear, but what's all this about? What on earth is this scenario fragment?'

I couldn’t tell if I should consider myself lucky or unlucky.

Either way, since it's called a bonus stage, the reward should be substantial if we can just defeat this guy.

'I don't even have time to look at the new skill book I just got?'

Fortunately, I had just leveled up after defeating Skeleton Mage Katra.

I had used up all my magic power spamming skills, but thanks to the level up, my magic power had recovered.

If I hadn’t leveled up before this fight, it would’ve been a lot harder.

I kept my focus, watching the Hidden Boss closely.

“Bless!”

Willia cast a buff on me.

It's fortunate that the enemy who appeared without warning is alone.

Unlike him, I have a Priest who is a secret weapon against the undead, so I don't think there's any reason to lose this battle, even if his level is high.

I quickly invested the stat points I gained from leveling up into Agility.

[Come at me.]

Unlike Skeleton Mage Katra, Skeleton Knight Neville was a silent monster.

Wearing light leather armor, he crouched low and brandished a hand-and-a-half longsword, his eyes gleaming red.

The strongest swordsman-type monster I had encountered so far was the named Dullahan.

I wondered just how strong this Hidden Boss would be.

-Creep. Creep.

I adopted a basic sword stance and cautiously approached him.

The air around him felt ominous, making it hard to rush in recklessly.

As the distance between us slowly narrowed...

-Clang!

I attempted a push and head strike mixed with a feint.

But Neville calmly blocked my sword and thrust at my wrist, forcing me to retreat.

-Screech!

A long scratch appeared on the gauntlet I was wearing.

It was just a single exchange, but it was enough to gauge the level of my opponent.

‘Monsters should fight like monsters, relying on brute strength.’

The foe before me was a skilled swordsman.

However, we're not having a kendo match.

We're fighting.

“Willia-nim!”

“Heal!”

At my command, Willia cast Heal on Skeleton Knight Neville.

The radiant life energy of the light-attribute healing magic was deadly poison for the undead.

-Flinch.

And it was no different for Neville, who had been standing there confidently.

I had anticipated his moment of confusion and quickly pressed forward.

I drew my secondary sword from my waist.

It was Cruder's Sword, a weapon I obtained after defeating the named Dullahan.

[Using dual swords? What a futile act!]

I knew that, too.

I hadn’t drawn the second sword to fight with two swords.

I had only drawn it to create more variables in the battle.

[Cruder's Sword / One-handed longsword / Grade: Special]

- Increases sword aura power by 30%.

- Strength +2, Agility +2

- Inherent Skill: Splitting Sword

What I was aiming for was the inherent skill of Cruder's Sword.

‘Splitting Sword.’

The Sword Aura split like a whip, slashing in four directions: up, down, left, and right.

Splitting Sword was a powerful and unpredictable attack that consumed 2 mana.

Neville’s red eyes flared even brighter as he activated a skill in response to the strange sword strike that followed the Heal.

‘Is that just Sword Aura?’

But the skill Neville used wasn’t anything special, just a simple Sword Aura attack.

Amazingly, Neville displayed a skillful technique, deflecting each of the Splitting Sword attacks.

Unfortunately for him, there was no reason for me to just sit back and admire his tricks.

"Heal!"

Once again, Willia's Heal disrupted his movements, and I quickly plunged my secondary sword into the ground, channeling Sword Aura into Zerka's Sword.

‘Mighty Slash.'

As the powerful strike connected, Neville was knocked back, unable to withstand it.

But it didn't seem to have dealt much damage, as there was a blue light condensed like a shield in front of Neville.

It's probably something like a sword barrier.

I watched as he swung his sword, spreading his Sword Aura widely.

"So what?"

I sneered at him, who seemed relieved to have created some distance, and used my Swift Thrust skill, which had a range of 3 meters.

-Boom!

The thrust pierced through his sword barrier, already weakened by Mighty Slash.

[Kuk!]

For the first time, I heard Neville groan in pain.

'Good.'

That was a sign that the tide of the battle was turning in my favor.

[Where do you think you're going?!]

However, he didn't back down easily.

Even while taking the hit, he extended his Sword Aura like a whip, swinging it at me.

-Boom!

Willia, who had been watching from behind, quickly cast Divine Shield to block the whip, but Neville's Sword Aura whip pierced through the shield and grazed my side.

-Splat!

"Baek-ho-nim!"

Blood spattered, and Willia called my name in shock.

But I just let out a sarcastic chuckle, pretending it didn’t bother me.

"All your skills are just derivatives of Sword Aura, huh? For a skeleton, you sure fight with a lot of character."

[......]

Neville remained silent, ignoring my remark.

"Heal!"

And once again, Willia quickly healed me.

Having a Priest really made things stable in a fight.

But Neville’s attention now shifted from me to Willia behind me.

I could see what he was thinking.

It seemed that while he might be able to fight me one-on-one, with Willia in the picture, he realized he couldn’t win.

[It seems I need to get rid of the nuisance first.]

I anticipated that Neville would rush toward her, so I infused Sword Aura into my sword.

But then, Neville suddenly slammed his sword into the ground.

-Thud!

“Huh?”

A wave of intangible blue light spread out, and I was forced back three steps by an unknown force, feeling a sudden queasiness.

Those three steps gave Neville enough time to charge toward Willia.

“You skeleton bastard…”

Suppressing the nausea rising in my throat, I belatedly chased after him.

-Awwoo!

Just in time, Woof-woof stepped in to block Neville's path, protecting Willia.

However, considering the overwhelming force Neville had displayed so far, Woof-woof wouldn't be much help.

But, for some reason, Woof-woof, who had been standing in front of Willia, suddenly stepped aside.

[What?]

Then, Willia, who had been hidden behind him, stepped forward and spoke briefly to Neville.

"Swift Thrust."

-Splat!

A Swift Thrust with a 3-meter range shot out from the dagger Willia held.

It was the second Swift Thrust skill obtained during the mission to rescue Bean Sprout-nim's party.

Swift Thrust only manifested when wielding a sword or spear, and since a Priest NPC had learned it, the power was reduced by 30%.

Even so, it was enough to introduce a new variable, and Neville, having experienced my Swift Thrust, twisted his body in panic.

Barely dodging the attack, Neville retaliated by lashing out with his Sword Aura whip toward Willia.

“Divine Shield.”

-Clang!

Willia’s Divine Shield couldn’t completely block Neville’s Sword Aura.

However, perhaps due to her prior experience, she continuously chanted Divine Shield and finally managed to deflect Neville’s Sword Aura.

Still, the closer proximity now favored Neville, the swordsman.

That is, if Woof-woof simply stood by and watched.

-Boom!

[Eek!]

Woof-woof rammed into Neville, pushing him back.

"Oops, I can see your back clearly."

And right behind Neville, who had failed to quickly take out Willia, was me.

"Why did you make such a bad move?"

I’m not a fool, I wouldn’t have left my rear undefended.

‘Sword Aura, Mighty Slash.'

I unleashed my strongest skill combo, striking Neville’s exposed back while he was nearly defenseless.

[Not yet!]

“Swi…”

Neville, desperately trying to escape the situation, began to react, but as Willia once again started to utter “Swift Thrust”, his red glowing eyes wavered heavily.

"Swift guy Seo Baek-ho!"

[Damn it!]

But Willia’s words were just a bluff.

Thoroughly deceived, Neville missed the timing to counter, and was left helpless as he took the full brunt of my attack.

-Boom!

[You have defeated the Hidden Boss, Skeleton Knight Neville, and gained 32,000 experience points.]

[You have gained 15,000 experience points for the first defeate of a Skeleton Knight.]

[Hidden Boss Skeleton Knight Neville’s defeat reward has been distributed.]

- You have obtained 9,700 coins.

- You have obtained 3 Intermediate Healing Potions.

- You have obtained 4 Inventory slots.

- You have obtained Neville’s Leather Armor (Top).

[First defeat reward for Skeleton Knight has been distributed.]

- You have obtained 2,000 coins.

- You have obtained the Skill Book: Sword Barrier.

This marked Neville’s death.

[You have cleared the Underground Tomb Dungeon within the time limit.]

Then, along with the expected dungeon clear message, additional rewards followed.

[As the first to clear the Underground Tomb Dungeon, you have been granted a bonus reward.]

- Special-grade Item Draw Ticket

[For clearing the Underground Tomb Dungeon, you have been granted an additional reward.]

- Premium-to-Special-grade Item Draw Ticket

“Nice!”

I couldn’t help but grin, overwhelmed by the waves of rewards flooding my status window.

But then, something caught my eye.

“Huh?”

I noticed something strange.

The scene in the room abruptly shifted, and a hologram-like map of the Korean Peninsula appeared in the center.

And in front of the map, a message popped up.

[352 days remain until Scenario Progression.]

- Number of challengers in the Korean Peninsula scenario: 1

- Number of unlocked Korean Peninsula Scenario Fragments: 1

‘352 days until Scenario Progression?’

***

Though the final message left me with a lingering sense of unease, there was no guarantee that this “scenario progression” was necessarily a bad thing. Since there wasn’t enough information yet, I decided not to waste time worrying unnecessarily.

After clearing the dungeon, I used the waypoint to return to Wolgwang Island to organize my rewards.

Back on Wolgwang Island, I saw Kim ssi working diligently.

‘Advanced recovery skill really does wonders.’

He was running around busily on two legs, as if he had never been injured in the first place.

I didn’t disturb him and moved to a quiet spot to review the rewards I had earned from the Underground Tomb Dungeon.

[Fire / Intermediate Skill / Active]

- Allows the creation of fire or adds a fire attribute to magic-based skills.

- Mana Cost: 1

[Wind / Intermediate Skill / Active]

- Allows the creation of wind or adds a wind attribute to magic-based skills.

- Mana Cost: 1

[Sword Barrier / Advanced Skill / Active]

- Creates a defensive shield made of Sword Aura.

- Mana Cost: 1

- If used while maintaining a Sword Aura skill, no additional mana is consumed.

So, I got three new skills.

Amusingly, all of them were synergy skills that could be combined with other skills for added effects.

By mixing Fire and Wind into Magic Bullet, the skill transformed into new variants with fire and wind attributes.

To describe them simply, they could be called Fire Shot and Wind Shot.

Fire Shot causes an explosion upon impact and inflicts additional burn damage.

Wind Shot spreads blade-like wind upon impact, causing lacerations.

‘So, I can’t imbue both attributes into a single Magic Bullet at the same time? That would’ve made an incredibly powerful skill.’

Regardless, this gave me even more powerful ranged attack options.

And not only were Fire and Wind useful, but the Sword Barrier skill also proved to be excellent.

‘The fact that it doesn’t consume extra mana while Sword Aura is active is a major advantage.’

It was a skill that seemed extremely useful in close combat emergencies.

Satisfied, I shifted my focus from the skills to the items I had obtained as rewards.

[Neville’s Leather Armor / Top / Grade: Special]

- Leather armor used by the named monster Neville, made from Ogre leather. Despite being leather armor, it offers protection comparable to steel armor while being flexible enough not to hinder movement.

- All stats +2

I had been lacking in proper upper body armor, so this was perfect timing.

Neville’s Leather Armor was the perfect equipment for my combat style, offering high defense without the restrictions of metal armor.

Plus, it increased my stats by a total of 6, and the sleek black vest design looked great.

Isn't this a treasure among treasures?

‘It would’ve been nice if it had its own skills like Mighty Slash or Splitting Sword, but boosting raw stats like this is just as valuable.’

That was all for my rewards for now.

Aside from that, I had also received two Item Draw Tickets from both the regular and first-clear rewards...

[Special-grade Item Draw Ticket]

[Premium-to-Special-grade Item Draw Ticket]

These two tickets gave me the following items:

[Sapphire Wand / Grade: Special]

- A beautifully crafted magic wand that looks like a work of art.

- Magic Power +5

- Inherent Skill: Entangle

[Entangle / Advanced Skill / Active]

- A wire made of magic energy shoots up to bind the enemy’s movements.

- Mana cost: 2

[Pet Pendant / Grade: Premium]

- When attached to a pet’s collar, it enhances the pet’s growth rate.

The Sapphire Wand went to Willia, and the Pet Pendant was given to Woof-woof.

I could use the Sapphire Wand myself, but considering efficiency, it was better suited for Willia.

"Ah, it's so beautiful."

Willia was mesmerized as she admired the wand adorned with a blue gemstone and a white handle.

From time to time, she would even hug the wand tightly.

Seeing how much she adored it, how could I take it back from her?

-Woof woof!

Moreover, Woof-woof seemed thrilled with his gift as well, enthusiastically licking my face in excitement.

"But how do you keep growing ?”

[Woof-woof / Grand Dire Wolf / Level: 32]

I laughed as I petted Woof-woof.

In any case, I was glad that everyone was satisfied.

But then, something unexpected happened.

[Woof-woof has awakened a new skill.]

[Skill: Charge]

- Charges at the enemy to body-slam them or runs forward at even greater speed.

Was this thanks to the Pet Pendant?

At last, Woof-woof had also awakened a new skill.

I had been concerned that since Fatty had awakened a skill even before reaching Level 20, he might end up stronger than Woof-woof at the same level. But now, Woof-woof had gained a highly versatile skill just in time.

While Willia, Woof-woof, and I were laughing happily, Kim ssi finally noticed our presence and approached us, tilting his head in confusion.

“What’s going on here?”

***

Day 14 after the apocalypse.

Something seems off from the morning today.

And this is the reason:

[****Harry, an American player, has successfully enhanced a weapon.]

[The achievement of the world’s first successful weapon enhancement will be recorded in the Hall of Fame.]

[Everyone, please congratulate ****Harry, the American player.]

[****Nase, an Egyptian player, has discovered a neutral city.]

[The achievement of discovering the world’s first neutral city will be recorded in the Hall of Fame.]

[Everyone, please congratulate ****Nase, the Egyptian player.]

The players who had been quiet so far, apart from me, started making their presence known by achieving these world's first accomplishments.

“Wow, there’s weapon enhancement too? How do you even do that?”

“And what’s a neutral city?”

Naturally, I didn’t feel jealous or regretful as I read these announcements.

I was just intrigued.

It meant there were others, besides me, pushing forward in this crazy world.

“I wonder if Willia knows anything about weapon enhancements or neutral cities?”

So, I decided to find Willia to gather some information on the topic.

"What are you doing?"

And soon I found Willia, who was standing at the border of the safe zone, staring intently at something.

“The monsters have been acting strangely since morning.”

“Huh?”

Following her words, I turned my gaze in the same direction.

In the distance, I spotted a group of Orcs.

The Orc hunting ground near the safe zone on Wolgwang Island is a place where six Orcs respawn at once.

I’ve gotten so used to hunting Orcs that at this point, taking them down felt like swatting mosquitoes, so I hadn’t paid them much attention lately...

But, as she said, something strange was going on.

“Huh? What’s that?”

Out of the six Orcs, three were scanning their surroundings as if keeping watch, while the other three were lying on the ground.

We stood there, silently observing.

Soon, we saw the Orcs lying down begin to glow.

And before long, the light faded, revealing the newly transformed Orcs...

[Orc Archer]

[Orc Archer]

[Orc Warrior]

Unlike the usual Orcs, these ones had distinct roles.

'Why the hell are these bastards suddenly evolving?'