BXBX NOVEL Chapter 22
Time passed quickly.
“Come back safely. Don’t get hurt.”
“You still don’t trust your big brother?”
“…”
“This time I’m going lightly, just like a picnic, so don’t worry.”
“Okay. Make lots of money.”
Kang Hyeon left the house after Kang A-hyun’s send-off.
“I should get a used car or something.”
The way there is fine using the subway, but the way back is a concern.
It was inconsiderate to use public transportation looking dirty and disheveled after raiding a dungeon.
“If I went with that guy An Yu-seong, I wouldn’t have to worry about transportation.”
For a moment, he recalled the madman he met at the ability user education school, but soon shook his head.
“If I hang out with him, it’s obvious I’ll go crazy first.”
Lost in various thoughts, he soon arrived at the station where he needed to get off.
The dungeon was a 30-minute walk from the station. It was a bit far, but he decided to walk since there was plenty of time.
“That must be it.”
Finally arriving at the meeting place, Kang Hyeon could immediately tell where the raid group was.
The entrance to the fairly large dungeon was bound to catch the eye even from a distance.
However, what was even more impressive were the people dressed in all sorts of outfits.
“Everyone’s outfit is shocking.”
From a man wearing steel plates that looked like they belonged on a construction site, to a woman holding a huge spear, people of all genders were milling about in front of the dungeon in various appearances.
‘They probably put it in their inventory and changed here?’
It was obvious that walking around downtown in such outfits would draw all kinds of attention.
-Click
At that moment, Kang Hyeon’s head turned towards a sound from beside him.
At the same time, seeing a man getting out of a car, Kang Hyeon realized his thoughts were wrong.
‘That guy seems to have watched too many movies.’
The man had very thick chains wrapped all around his body.
‘Can he even move?’
Kang Hyeon was planning to wear the armor he got from the skeleton knight today. However, most people had never properly farmed items yet, so they either made their own armor or commissioned it.
Such equipment wasn’t treated as items, so it couldn’t be put in the inventory, which is why everyone wore it here.
“30 minutes until departure. Please check once more if you’re missing anything!”
The familiar voice of a middle-aged man that he had heard on the phone a few days ago was heard. Kang Hyeon walked towards where the voice was coming from.
“That must be Kim An-seong.”
Finally arriving nearby, the man who spotted Kang Hyeon approached.
“Are you participating in the raid group?”
“Yes. I’m Kang Hyeon.”
“Kang Hyeon, Mr. Kang Hyeon… Ah! The tank position?”
As he spoke, Kim An-seong looked Kang Hyeon up and down.
“I’m sorry, but don’t you have separate equipment?”
“It’s in my inventory. I’ll put it on now.”
Kang Hyeon put down his backpack and took out the skeleton knight’s armor and sword from his inventory.
The skeleton knight’s armor usually came out as F-grade, but occasionally when E-grade equipment dropped, he always kept it in his inventory.
“Wow, what’s that?”
“Is that an item?”
“Looks like armor that only professional raid groups doing E-grade dungeons would wear.”
The skeleton knight’s armor is all matte black.
Kang Hyeon wearing it stood out at a glance.
It looked quite stylish, like something out of a cartoon or movie.
“Where did you get something like this?”
“If you have any extras, would you sell them to me?”
People suddenly gathered around Kang Hyeon, throwing questions at him.
“I have extras, but they’re just E-grade weapons and armor. It’s nothing special.”
“I’ll buy it for 2 Million won. How about it?”
“What’s just 2 Million? I’ll buy it for 5 Million won!”
“5.5 Million won!”
Suddenly, an auction broke out among the people over Kang Hyeon’s equipment.
‘What’s wrong with these people…?’
Most people who come to dungeons are poor and in difficult financial situations, aiming for a big score.
However, there were some exceptions, one of which was middle-aged men in their 40s and 50s.
They were laid off from work and had severance pay and savings, but in today’s world, they couldn’t rashly start another business.
In the end, they entered dungeons to maintain even a small income.
“8 Million won!”
Such people were pouring their severance pay into buying Kang Hyeon’s items.
“Sigh… That’s not okay.”
Finally, when a man with a cleanly shaven head shouted 8 Million won, the other men shook their heads.
“Haha! It’s over. Will you sell it to me for 8 Million won?”
“Well, yes. I’ll give it to you as soon as the deposit is confirmed.”
Kang Hyeon, who suddenly made a lot of money, barely held back his gums from fully blooming as he answered.
“Please check.”
“It came through well. Here’s the armor and sword.”
“Thank you!”
The man who received the equipment from Kang Hyeon was overjoyed.
A moment later. When the man put on the armor, envious and jealous gazes gathered around.
“Wow! This is great!”
The skeleton knight’s armor is plate armor weighing just over 20kg. It was a burdensome weight for the man, but he didn’t mind, being highly elated by the gazes around him.
‘If I knew this would happen, I should have brought even the F-grade ones.’
Kang Hyeon regretted the dozens of armors left in the tutorial, but it was already in the past.
“May I have your attention!”
Just then, Kim An-seong, who confirmed that all 20 members of the raid group had gathered, called for attention.
“We will now enter the dungeon. Please enter according to your pre-determined positions following behind me.”
“Yes!”
“Then, let’s go!”
“Woah!”
At Kim An-seong’s energetic shout, some people joined in with fighting spirit.
‘It really does feel like we’re going on a picnic or something.’
Their actions were meant to ease their tension a bit, but to Kang Hyeon, it looked somewhat comical.
-Whoosh!
A massive cavern.
Along with a sensation he hadn’t felt in a long time, an eerie space unfolded before Kang Hyeon’s eyes as he opened them.
There were dozens of caves in a colossal cavern that seemed to exceed 1km in diameter.
Kang Hyeon thought that if you were to magnify an underground ant colony hundreds of times, it might look something like this.
“This cave is the fastest route to reach the core.”
Kim An-seong, standing in front of one of the caves, said.
“Please take your positions as previously agreed.”
The people who had formed a formation slowly moved, following Kim An-seong.
“Keek, keek!”
“Five baby Taranque in front. They’re coming!”
At Kim An-seong’s shout, the people at the very front each took defensive stances.
“It’s dangerous if you get hit by the acid, so spread out, and those with shields in the front line, don’t dodge but block well! Those with buffs, cast them right now!”
Kim An-seong commanded skillfully, as if this wasn’t his first challenge to the Taranque’s hatching grounds.
[Strength increases by 1]
[Agility increases by 3]
…
As several buffs stacked, the total stats jumped by about 10 in an instant.
‘Buffs are indeed good, I must say.’
Kang Hyeon, having already tasted the effects of buffs before, felt his senses sharpening as he prepared for the clash.
-Bang!
“Kieek!”
The sound of the charging Taranques colliding with the shields echoed through the cave, and immediately the people behind thrust their weapons.
“Everyone, prioritize safety and calmly dispose of them!”
Baby Taranques weren’t particularly strong monsters to begin with.
With 20 people attacking 5 of such monsters, the battle ended anticlimactically in less than 5 minutes.
There were no casualties.
“It’s a good start. The number of monsters appearing will gradually increase, but if we keep this up, it’ll be enough.”
“Yes!”
“Let’s push on to the core without anyone getting hurt!”
“Woah!”
“The dungeon’s not much. It’s even easier than when we did it at school?”
As the battle ended without any damage and with Kim An-seong’s speech added, people’s morale soared sky-high.
‘That Kim An-seong guy is quite capable.’
In truth, Kang Hyeon was disappointed that the situation ended so anticlimactically, but he decided to be satisfied since he came this time purely for the experience.
“Here it is.”
“Ah, thank you!”
“I haven’t received mine yet.”
After briefly taking time to distribute the magic stones extracted from the monster corpses according to order, the raid party continued to advance.
***
Ippotranslation
***
A few days later, the number of Taranques, which had been increasing each time, now reached 30.
“Injured personnel, fall back immediately for treatment!”
However, the assault team, which had killed over 300 Taranques in two days of continuous battles, skillfully held off the enemies.
“Die!”
“We’re about to be breached here. Help!”
“Arghhhh!”
At that moment, a man screamed and rolled on the ground. He had been splashed with the Taranque’s acidic fluid on his face.
The man quickly retreated to receive healing, but it seemed unlikely he would regain his original face.
“Be careful!”
Seeing this, people moved more cautiously as they pushed back against the Taranques.
“I think we’ll reach the core if we go just a bit further. Everyone, let’s keep it up!”
Shortly after, all the enemies were defeated.
However, the morale of the assault team had dropped considerably due to the first severely injured casualty.
“Are you okay?”
“Don’t worry about me. A man should have at least this much of a scar.”
The man whose face had partially melted was surprisingly calm.
Despite the concerns of those around him, the man waved them off, smiling and saying it was nothing.
‘He seems to have good mental strength, but it’s a pity what happened.’
Kang Hyeon and a few others noticed that he was just pretending to be fine, but they didn’t intervene.
“Finally!”
After a few more battles, the assault team finally reached the core.
“Everyone, this is the last stretch! Let’s take care of these guys and go home!”
“Yeahhh!”
As the goal came into sight, the exhausted people mustered their last bit of strength.
“Instead of advancing together, we’ll lure them into this narrow entrance and deal with them bit by bit. Everyone, hold your positions!”
To reach the core, they had to exit the cave into a fairly wide open space. As there were an enormous number of Taranques visible at a glance, Kim An-seong decided to lure and eliminate the enemies.
“They’re coming. Get ready!”
The Taranques reacted to the sound of people and charged forward, and soon humans and monsters clashed.
-Kwang!
“Ugh, why are there so many?!”
Some people groaned at the unexpectedly large number of Taranques.
“Stay calm and do as we’ve been doing. The entrance is narrow, so only a few can attack at once!”
Just as the assault team was about to regain stability under Kim An-seong’s skilled command, it happened.
“Adult Taranques!”
“What?! Weren’t those supposed to be only in the boss room?”
From somewhere, two adult Taranques were rapidly approaching.
The baby Taranques they had faced so far were at most the size of medium-sized dogs, barely reaching the waist.
However, adult Taranques were several times larger, about the size of giant beasts.
Some people panicked at the unexpected sight of these massive monsters.
“We can’t stop those!”
“Yes, we can. Hold your positions!”
“How are we supposed to stop that? We’ll die!”
Even before the adult Taranques had fully approached, the battle line began to crumble.
“Keek.”
“Aaaaah!”
Finally, as the adult Taranques came near the assault team, they spewed acidic fluid from afar.
People fell into complete panic.
“We need to run away!”
“Save me!!”
In an instant, the battle line shattered, and people began to flee.
“No, come with us!”
The man who had bought armor from Kang Hyeon was positioned at the very front as a tank.
Moreover, due to the weight of the armor, he couldn’t run quickly and gradually fell behind.
“Hurry and run away!”
At that moment, the man whose face had been splashed with acidic fluid blocked the front.
“Damn it..!”
The man’s legs were shaking uncontrollably.
‘Why am I doing this? I should’ve just run away!’
He had moved to save others without even realizing it. While he was regretting this, the adult Taranque arrived. Without a moment’s hesitation, it extended its leg towards him.
‘I’m going to die…!’
-Schwack!
In the moment he sensed death.
The leg flying towards him was cut off in an instant.
“Quickly, run away!”
The one who had swung the sword was none other than Kang Hyeon.
“Yaaah!”
[Roar of the Enraged Lion is activated]
[All enemies’ morale and stats have decreased]
Kang Hyeon used the Roar of the Enraged Lion.
With the use of the skill, the enemies’ movements slowed slightly, but that was all. Roar of the Enraged Lion was not a skill to draw aggro.
“I’ll handle this, everyone focus on defense!”
Kang Hyeon, also using Giant’s Strength, jumped into the midst of the enemies to draw aggro.
“Keek!”
“Where do you think you’re snarling!”
-Thwack!
Kang Hyeon kicked the head of an approaching baby Taranque as if kicking a soccer ball.
The impact caused its head to explode.
“Bisection!”
Kang Hyeon, using the skill, swung his sword with all his might.
In one go, the adult Taranque’s leg was severed.
He had targeted the leg first because attacking the head might disturb the poison sac located in the upper body.
-Thud!
As the Taranque with one leg cut off fell, Kang Hyeon immediately plunged his sword into its head and began to rampage in earnest.
-Crunch! Slash!
Attacks flew in from all directions.
It was impossible to dodge them all.
Kang Hyeon, trusting in his armor’s defense and his own regenerative ability, forced a frontal assault.
“Don’t fall back, defend! Ptui!”
Kang Hyeon spat out the Taranque’s bodily fluid that had entered his mouth while speaking.
It felt like his mouth was on fire, possibly due to a bit of acidic fluid mixed in.
“If we run away, the damage will increase! Everyone, hold the line!”
As Kim An-seong led the people after seeing Kang Hyeon’s heroic actions, the battle line gradually began to stabilize.
“We can do this! Just hold on a little longer!”
“Haaaaah!”
One by one, people regained their senses and returned to their positions.
The battle line quickly stabilized, and now people were calmly holding off the enemies.
“Who is that man…?”
People who had completely settled in and gained some composure blankly watched Kang Hyeon fight.
“Keek!”
-Bang!
With each swing of his sword, with each kick extended, one Taranque fell.
-Crunch
“Whew…”
Finally, Kang Hyeon plunged his sword into the head of the last remaining Taranque and exhaled deeply.