Chapter 72: The Forest Covered by Snakes (6) (1)
-There are more dungeons than stars in the sky.
This famous saying comes from the explorer Holder, who was once renowned as a dungeon excavator. The conflict between monsters and Holder had been ongoing until now. Numerous dungeons had been discovered and conquered, but… There were still many undiscovered ones, and at this very moment, someone was registering a new dungeon with the association. This was why adventurers like Holder, who were determined to find undiscovered dungeons, were thriving.
‘As there are many, there are also many different types.’
Dungeons come in all sorts of forms. Just like the underground academy dungeon I first conquered, they can take the shape of caves, but also forests, mountains, oceans, deserts, and even village-like forms…
As Holder said, there are truly diverse types of dungeons in the world. Furthermore, in the latter part of the original work, there were cases of different races communicating with humans within dungeons.
…Whether to consider them monsters was a secondary issue.
“Anyway, the Forest Covered by Snake should be relatively quick to conquer.”
Choi Dong-wook, leaning against a tree, said as he checked his equipment.
At my request for casual conversation, he was chatting with me easily.
“Even though it’s a forest-type dungeon?”
“As long as you don’t get lost, you’ll reach the boss room quickly. Forest-type dungeons have shorter paths than you might think. Well, even considering that, we conquered it too quickly.”
A B-grade expedition party within the hunting team 5. Except for Shin Yuna and me, it was a party made up of elite members. We completed the hunt at an astonishing ‘ultra-fast speed’.
The Inwangsan Field took about 1 hour. The Forest Covered by Snake took about 3 hours. A total of 4 hours. We started the mission in the afternoon at 2 o’clock, so we reached the boss room around 6 o’clock in the evening.
Even if it’s a dungeon with a short conquest time, considering that the average conquest time is 8 hours, it was undoubtedly an impressive conquest speed. Therefore, party leader Kwon Oh-jun declared a rest.
Before entering the boss room, it was a brief maintenance period.
“Last time, where was it? Was it Royal? There was a desert-type dungeon we conquered there, and it took more than a week.”
“It took that long?”
“The dungeon was too vast, and finding the boss room was difficult. When you go to a place like that, you have to prepare for a camp. Conquer it by dividing the time like a regular job.”
In fact, I knew all of this. I probably knew more about the types and forms of dungeons than Choi Dong-wook did. However, I was just making small talk to see if I could learn even a little about assassination rune usage, which I couldn’t utilize effectively outside of throwing skills.
“Isn’t it better to use a shortsword than a dagger?”
“A shortsword?”
“Yeah. The biggest drawback of dagger skills is that they have a short reach, but if you use a shortsword, that’s somewhat compensated. It’s about maintaining the advantage of the fast speed unique to dagger skills while reducing the disadvantage.”
“I see…”
“So, some people call this short swordsmanship. Of course, in terms of the system, it’s still a weapon skill related to daggers.”
In the academy, they taught dagger usage. And, just like Choi Dong-wook said, the short reach was a drawback that became evident, so I had shifted my focus towards two-handed or one-handed swordsmanship.
‘But the professor back then didn’t mention shortswords…’
Even though they were both B-grade Holders, there was a significant difference in skill level. The professor at the time and Choi Dong-wook were exactly like that. The reality of Korean assassination skills, which were evaluated as particularly weak, was evident. Even if Choi Dong-wook were to come as an instructor to the academy, it would be just right.
“Are there rune skills for short swordsmanship too?”
“Of course not. There may not be standard normal runes like the Three Strikes Swordsmanship, but there are decent derivative runes if you look at the rare runes. I have one as well.”
His words made my eyes light up.
In other words, defeating Choi Dong-wook in a duel means you can acquire that rune. The details of the rune information are kept secret among the Holders, so I didn’t know the specifics, but if I imagined his performance in battle, it was undoubtedly a useful rune.
‘To be honest, I’m not confident I can win…’
An assassin-class B-grade Holder, and among them, Choi Dong-wook seemed quite formidable. He was much stronger than other C-grade Holders, but I couldn’t be sure of victory against him. Nevertheless, once the ultimate skill restriction was lifted, I thought I might be able to win somehow.
This was the first time since joining <Judgment of Fire> that I had a clear goal in mind.
“I think everyone has had enough rest. Let’s get going. We should stop looking at those annoying snake bastards.”
Kwon Oh-jun said as he got up from his seat. The other party members finished their preparations and got up as well. It was time to enter the boss room.
***
ippotranslations
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“…Trees?”
The first thing I noticed as we entered the cave was that the boss room had absolutely no resemblance to a cave. The firm earth that we had been walking on steadily in the dungeon covered the ground, and inside, various types of trees stretched up to the ceiling. It felt like an underground forest.
Moreover, the shapes of the trees were somewhat unusual. The trunks were much thicker than ordinary trees, and there were hardly any branches. Especially, there were no leaves at all where there should have been at the tips, and even if I looked closely, I couldn’t see any green. They were eerie-looking trees.
“Yeah, it feels like a brown forest.”
Lee Soo-mi’s comment was fitting. Despite having a similar appearance to the Inwangsan Field or the Forest Covered by Snake, it gave off a feeling similar to a ‘brown forest’ because of the leafless, bare trees.
We examined this unusual sight and continued further inward toward the center of the boss room.
“There seems to be… one more pit.”
Min Chae-hwan, who had been searching from the entrance, said. The large pit that we had descended when entering the boss room. There was another similar pit inside the boss room.
Even without Min Chae-hwan mentioning it, I could faintly see it between the large trees.
Sssss-
And then, at that moment.
The sound we had heard countless times before rang out once again. It was the movement of snake-type monsters within the dungeon, a sound often heard when they moved slowly.
Sssllluuurrrp-
Fwosh-
In response, the party members firmly assumed their combat stances. The support members at the rear were already preparing their magic for their respective attacks, and I held a one-handed sword and shield in my hands.
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