Chapter 147
Do-Jin pulled up his Status Window.
[Do-Jin]
Level: 136
Class: Grimoire of Truth
Strength: 48
Agility: 51
HP: 315
Intelligence: 602
Skills (1): [Show]
Traits (5): [Show]
It only displayed his base stats, the ones gained purely from levels, achievements, and training. And those raw numbers, absurdly high for his level, never failed to fill him with satisfaction. With a quick tap, he switched on the equipment modifiers.
[Do-Jin]
Level: 136
Class: Grimoire of Truth
Strength: 184
Agility: 187
HP: 551
Intelligence: 1150
Skills (1): [Show]
Traits (5): [Show]
Seeing the boosted stats on display made him grin. Relics really were something else. Just swapping out one necklace had boosted his total stats as much as all his other gear combined.
“Whoo... I’m getting nervous,” Theresa muttered beside him, taking deep breaths like she was about to run a marathon.
Do-Jin didn’t even look up. “Nervous? Come on. Compared to that freak we fought last time, this’ll be a cakewalk.”
Naturally, Soso was there too. Wherever Theresa went, Soso followed like a needle and thread that couldn’t exist apart.
“It’s not that,” Theresa said, clutching something close to her chest. “It’s just... I’ve never actually used this before.”
The item in question was the Lapis Lazuli Bastion, her brand-new relic shield.
“Ah!” she gasped, spotting a speck of dust on it.
Quickly, she pulled out a clean towel and started wiping it like it was a sacred artifact. Soso, watching this entire performance, looked utterly disgusted.
“And why don’t I get one of those?” Soso asked, her cold stare shifting to Do-Jin. “Hey. You.”
Since Soso almost never started a conversation first, Do-Jin blinked, caught off guard. “Uh... yeah?”
“Why didn’t I get one?” she said, pointing accusingly at Theresa, who was now polishing her shield to a mirror shine.
“What?”
“I went through just as much hell as she did,” she replied flatly. “So why’d Theresa get a relic while I only got an S-grade item?”
Soso wasn’t exactly acting out of jealousy. Ever since Theresa got that damned shield, she hadn’t stopped bragging. Her phone wallpaper was the shield and her messenger profile pic was the shield. Even her MeTube banner was the shield. To top it all off, she printed out a framed photo of it to hang in her room.
“Ahh, Soso! Want fried chicken tonight? On me! My relic shield says yes!”
Relic, relic, relic. Lapis, lapis, lapis. Soso was about two steps away from developing PTSD. Of course, that wasn’t Do-Jin’s problem.
“Only the top ten contributors got relics,” he said.
That was the truth. The top ten scorers earned relics. If they didn’t make the cut, then they didn’t get one. It was as simple as that.
“Right.” Soso sighed, long and tired. “She told me you gave her some advice before she got it.”
“Well... yeah, I did,” he admitted.
“Then next time you’re handing out tips, include me. That way, I don’t have to see that thing every damn day.” Her voice was calm, but there was genuine exhaustion behind it.
Do-Jin couldn’t help but be impressed. If Theresa had managed to mentally break Soso, a woman who’d stayed stone-faced even in the middle of that insane raid, that was a talent in itself.
Honestly, if it’s just shield-bragging, she’s getting off easy, he thought.
Compared to the chaos elsewhere, this was nothing. After all, ever since Do-Jin had taken down the World Boss on his own, the top guilds had been in full meltdown mode.
“Ignoring other guilds and soloing the World Boss was an act of selfish recklessness.”
That was an actual quote from a Spear Guild member’s post on social media.
“He charged into a fight with an unknown entity without warning anyone, endangering every player in the Inus Plains. Even if the result turned out well, it was still typical Korean arrogance and irresponsibility.”
Do-Jin hadn’t even bothered reading the rest as it was that long and that stupid. Some guy from the Japanese Yamato Guild had gone on an even worse rant, and promptly got kicked out of his own guild. And they weren’t the only ones whining. Plenty of others were bitter too. It made sense, though.
Both Spear and Yamato should’ve gotten a relic under normal circumstances. Especially considering that during the first raid cycle, only three relics had dropped, not ten. The chaos and botched coordination had tanked everyone’s scores that badly.
Remembering that mess, Do-Jin just nodded to himself. Yeah, this? This is nothing.
As he did, he glanced over at the “comedy duo” beside him. Soso was swinging her staff at Theresa’s shield while Theresa was screaming, using her own body to protect it.
They’re having fun, at least, he thought.
With a mildly amused expression, Do-Jin stepped forward. Their destination, the Instance Dungeon Thornscale Nest, finally loomed into view.
***
The Thornscale Nest, just like its name suggested, was the lair of the dungeon boss, Thornscale.
After the World Boss Raid, the place had turned into a sort of “challenge dungeon” among high-level players. Its difficulty was infamous. The Lizardmen lining the path to the boss room were nasty enough, but the real problem was Thornscale itself. Most parties were wiped right at the end because of it.
“Stream’s off, right?” Do-Jin asked.
Theresa nodded, still taking slow, deep breaths.
There was good reason to keep today’s fight private. None of the players who’d obtained relics had revealed their relics’ abilities yet. It wasn’t just about having power; it was about keeping one’s cards hidden. In a world like this, ignorance was the best kind of defense.
“Alright then,” Do-Jin said quietly. “Let’s start.”
Theresa nodded again and stepped forward into the dungeon first.
The moment the Instance Activation message popped up, the air filled with heavy, guttural breathing as hostile eyes glinted in the dark. Out from the shadows came a group of Lizardmen, humanoid reptiles armed with serrated blades and shields lined with spikes. Their yellow eyes flashed when they spotted humans, and they charged with a roar.
Do-Jin’s reflexes kicked in, his circuits flaring as he began to cast a spell. However, the mana suddenly stopped dead in its tracks.
Right. We said we’d test Theresa’s gear first.
He remembered Theresa’s earlier request to test her new relic on her own before he stepped in. If Do-Jin started casting, the mobs would evaporate instantly. This was her turn to shine, so he had no choice but to just watch.
Theresa braced herself, excitement flickering in her eyes as she raised her beautifully crafted Lapis Lazuli Bastion to meet the oncoming Lizardmen.
The first sword struck the shield, then bounced off like it had hit a wall of steel. Theresa blinked in surprise. The impact that should’ve rattled her bones instead felt light. The shock absorption was incredible. She didn’t even flinch, while the Lizardman who attacked her staggered back, his arm jerking upward from the recoil like his own strength had betrayed him.
Attack after attack crashed into her shield, but Theresa handled them with ease. Every hit sent her attackers stumbling backward as if they’d punched a wall that punched back.
“Oh my god... oh my god!” she gasped, eyes wide in disbelief.
The relic-tier shield was performing beyond her imagination. Her excitement built until she finally switched from defense to offense. She lunged forward, not with her weapon, but the shield itself.
Her previous shield-based attack skills had always been disappointing because she’d never had the proper gear. Even against same-level monsters, her strikes had barely scratched them, but not anymore.
She timed her swing and slammed her shield straight into a Lizardman’s head. The sound that followed was brutal, a deep, metallic thud that reverberated in her bones. The Lizardman flew backward, its body collapsing in a heap.
Theresa froze for a moment, stunned. Then a grin spread across her face. The difference was like night and day. With such a powerful relic as the foundation, even her shield-based attacks hit like a truck. She dove back in with renewed enthusiasm, swinging her short mace and shield in tandem.
The pattern settled into a rhythm of block, counter, and bash. Each time a Lizardman struck, its weapon rebounded violently off her shield and left it wide open. Every time Theresa capitalized, her counters landed clean. The Lapis Lazuli Bastion did more than protect her; it turned her defense into a weapon. Right now, she was making full use of it, like she had finally found the perfect dance partner in battle.
Wait... am I actually clearing faster as a tank than I did as a DPS? Theresa thought in disbelief.
It wasn’t just the stability. Her kill speed was almost the same as when she was dealing damage. Experiencing her relic firsthand was enough to make her want to cry from joy.
There’s no doubt about it. My Barrier’s top-tier. Definitely S-grade, even among relics.
Once she finished testing her new toy, Do-Jin finally stepped in. From there, the road to the boss room was a straight shot. The Thornscale Nest might’ve been known as one of the hardest dungeons, but that only applied to ordinary parties. With a relic-tier shield tanking in front and Do-Jin blasting away behind her, the mob sections barely qualified as warm-up.
“Are we already at the boss?” Theresa muttered, sounding almost disappointed.
She’d been having so much fun experimenting with her new shield that reaching the end felt premature.
Well, at least I’ll get to test it on the boss.
While she was still thinking that, Do-Jin spoke up. “Are you done testing?”
Before Theresa could reply, Do-Jin had pulled several potions out of his inventory and downed them all in one go. They weren’t ordinary recovery potions, but boosters that offered short bursts of power in exchange for long-term side effects. He hadn’t dared to use them during the World Boss Raid since one wrong move could’ve killed him. In this dungeon, though, he was free to go all in.
“Wait, hold on...” Theresa started to protest, but it was too late.
Do-Jin’s veins glowed faintly as the chemical surge kicked in, flooding his body with raw mana. In seconds, he was in a full-blown state of magical overdrive. Without another word, he stepped into the boss room.
A guttural growl rolled through the cavern. The Thornscale, a massive Lizardman with crimson eyes and jagged, blade-like scales, rose from its throne of bones. Theresa scrambled ahead, raising her shield just as the monster spread its arms wide and let out a thunderous roar. The sound shook the walls, a perfect setup for a grueling fight, or so it seemed.
“Transcendence,” Do-Jin muttered.
Mana erupted from his back like wings of molten light. The radiant energy alone made it clear this battle wasn’t going to last long. He could feel it, the surge of power, the intoxicating rush of mana that coursed through him faster than ever before. Even Do-Jin himself was startled by how wild it felt.
He extended his hand toward the roaring Thornscale. “Stone Impact Burst.”
His spells, already fast by normal standards, now fired off at blinding speed. The Thornscale took a boulder-sized blast straight to the head and dropped to its knees. One hit was all it took to send the thing into a stunned state.
“What the—” Theresa didn’t even have time to register what was happening.
Behind her, a storm of magic exploded, an amalgam of fire, lightning, water, ice, and wind. Do-Jin unleashed every ounce of mana he had, and he hurled spell after spell without pause. The Thornscale couldn’t even recover from the first blow. It was pummeled into submission before it could move again.
Then came the finisher. Do-Jin poured the Power of the Ruin Rune into his final spell and released it. The already-broken monster took the full blast head-on. Its massive frame convulsed once, and then its head simply ceased to exist. The body hit the ground with a heavy thud.
Theresa stared at the corpse, frozen. She’d seen his golden mana before. It was always impressive, but never like this. This time, it had taken on a shape, solid and defined, like wings burning with divine power. He hadn’t even shown that during the World Boss fight. So this had to be from the new relic, or maybe his new ability.
Her gaze flicked down to the mangled corpse of the Thornscale, torn apart beyond recognition.
I guess my shield wasn’t the broken one after all.
