Chapter 70: Demon Cave Clearing Squad (1)
I didn’t need to explain it in words. It will be enough to see it and feel it for himself. Well, by the time he feels it, one of us will be headed to the netherworld.
But I don’t know if it will work because the enemy’s level is too high.
‘Please!’ I thought to myself as I took out BachuPichu’s Twin Blades. I quickly started the process with the nearby monsters.
[Combo (Under 40%): Intermediate Level 8, 98%]
[Drake’s TBSA: Intermediate Level 7, 85%]
Papapat!
I raised it a bit in Paksen Park, but it rose a lot during the Chaos Battle. The number of kills I made were over 18,000.
I was landing combos between 50 and 70 hits each time. Of course, I was using Drake’s TBSA when I did it.
So no wonder the skills increased quickly.
It should be obvious by now, but Drake’s TBSA becomes stronger and faster as it goes up in skill rank. At first, it landed 3 hits in 1 second, but now, I can attack 4+ times if I really wanted to.
This was such a time. Since the monsters around me were all weak, I didn’t need to focus on defending and could instead raise my speed to the maximum.
I quickly raised the level of my combo as I headed toward mophead.
Mophead still had not figured out the situation properly. He was still leisurely laughing.
“You are pretty fast. You had something hidden up your sleeve!”
Am I just fast?
He didn’t seem to realize that I was landing critical hits without fail.
I guess there was no way for him to know. There are no other humans who can land combos like this. It is only possible for me.
Papapat!
My combo was instantly over 20 hits.
It was at that moment that mophead started to get stiff. It was because he saw a monster over level 100 die with a single hit from my cutlass.
“ . . . . . . Uh! Just what . . . . . . !”
He must have finally realized the severity of the situation.
But it was already too late. After raising my combo to over 40 hits, I flung my body toward mophead and swung my cutlass with all my might.
The shocked mophead lifted up his sword to block.
“Ah!”
Clang!
He really wasn’t an average swordsman. That fast attack was blocked by his sword. I failed to land a critical hit and the combo was canceled as well.
But it wasn’t like it didn’t do any good. Mophead’s sword could not stand my attack and broke into two. On the other hand, my cutlass was fine.
‘You really can trust the abilities of the dwarves.’
Mophead swung the half broken sword and ran toward me. He must have determined that he just needs to catch me first.
I quickly created distance between us. Of course, my twin blades did not stop moving. I started using the monsters nearby to restart my combo and raise it up.
It instantly got up to 15 hits. This should be enough to hand some damage to mophead.
While I was doing that, mophead had caught up right behind me.
‘Fast!’
But not overwhelmingly fast. I had 700+ agility after all.
I moved my body to the side and avoided mophead’s hand.
At the same time, the direction of my twin blades turned as well. I was aiming for mophead’s two arms that were headed toward me.
Papat- slash!
“Aak!”
Mophead shouted loudly of pain.
Mophead had stopped and started to stare at the blood pouring out of where his hand used to be and could not stop shouting.
“Aaaaah.”
He has a loud voice. My ears are ringing.
After succeeding in cutting off his hand, I did not rush it and created distance again. He’s a high leveled character with agility similar to my own. A single moment of carelessness meant death.
I was making another combo and looking for an opportunity.
“I don’t know how many bad things you have done until now.”
Mophead’s eyes were full of fear.
“Do-Don’t kill me.”
But his other hand could not let go of the half broken sword. It was the will to keep his life even if he had already lost a hand.
It is a good will, but does he think he can defend against me with a broken sword?
“Now pay the price of your sins.”
Papapat-
I lowered my stance and slashed his leg with a 30 hit combo.
The shocked man lowered his sword to defend, but it was not long enough. I was aiming for his ankle and not his thigh after all.
“Uugh.”
After losing his feet, the man sat down like he was crumbling down, while I continued my combo and slashed at his neck.
Clang-
His agility really is high. He managed to lift up his sword and block in that short period of time.
But the strength of the attacking sword was strong, and the strength of the defending sword could not withstand such strength.
The man’s sword was flung out of his hand and my sword slashed his neck with half the strength. But even that was enough to kill him.
Plop.
The message was simple.
I guess it made sense. Killing the criminal Ruan and his mistress Amy helped me created a 241 level difference record. I don’t foresee myself beating that new record in the future.
‘Put all available points to magic. Check status window’
[Kang Hwi Ram, Level 143]
Dexterity: Advanced Level 3, 32%
Strength: 153
Agility: 717
Stamina: 90
Intuition: 91
Magic: 40
Vitality: 36
Mana: 422
HP: 549
Endurance: 33
Reinforced Toughness: 100
Now I just need to raise 2 more levels. Then I will be able to use the Bladestorm skill.
I experienced it many times in the game, but I have not been able to confirm it in this real world.
‘I wonder how strong it will be.’
If it was as strong as it was in the game, it will be very useful to me.
It’s disappointing. I really want to raise two more levels and complete the Bladestorm skill,
but I needed to go now. If I miss the timing, I won’t be able to join the Demon Cave Clearing Squad.
‘To Huksen I go.’
Huksen wasn’t that big of a city. It only had a population of about 500,000.
But it was a farmhouse city known worldwide. It was because it was the outpost for Golan Park, which was known as the sanctuary for warriors under level 300.
That was why Huksen was usually busy with warriors and magicians in the late 200s that came from all over the continent, and was always full of vitality.
Loud noises. Chatter chatter.
I crossed through the boisterous streets and headed to the Athena Temple.
“What brings you to our temple?”
“I heard that you are creating a Demon Cave Clearing Squad. I came to participate.”
“Thank you for your courage. Everybody is preparing by the Demon Cave. I will lead you there.”
I followed the priest. The Clearing Squad’s temporary base was located in the mountain zone outside of Huksen’s protected area.
I first met with the bishop in charge.
“This is someone who hopes to join the Demon Cave Clearing Squad.”
“Oh, thank you very much. The synchronization period has just ended. We plan on entering in two days. Please use that time to get familiar with the other members and finish your preparations. Do you have any questions so far?”
I have a lot of questions. Even trivial information may end up being useful.
“Have you determined the size of the Demon Cave?”
“We can’t be sure, but we expect the boss monster to be in the late 200s.”
“How many total members do we have?”
“100 people.”
“As for the necessary equipment……”
I asked all sorts of questions. It took over 10 minutes to answer all of my questions.
Even so, the bishop answered everything without losing his gentle smile.
“Do you have any other questions?”
“No. Thank you very much.”
“Then please come this way.”
I followed the bishop to where the rest of the clearing squad was staying.
There were warriors and magicians.
But there were no priests or bishops.
It was to be expected. Divine power does not work in Demon Caves.
There were also no women. If women were included in a Clearing Squad like this one, there were chances that issues outside of the battle would arise.
So no wonder the atmosphere was rough.
But still, it was too rough. We are all going to be comrades with our lives in the line in the near future, but the gazes they were giving each other were very combative.
I was wondering why this was the case but I quickly found out the answer.
“Another person came to die.”
“Which police station did you come from?”
A really large man asked the question. He was looking at me with a sharp gaze.
But did he say police station? Then they……?
Oh my gosh. That must be the case. Now that I take a closer look, they each have the symbol of a criminal on their faces. It was a mark made with magic.
“Hmm? Why don’t you have a mark? Were you not dragged here from a police station?”
“Oh, that is really the case. Did you volunteer to join the Clearing Squad?”
Am I the only one who came on my own free will?
It makes sense. Demon Caves are dimensions that people are past nervousness and are just scared about.
Don’t they say people fear the enemies they cannot see more than the ones they can? Just like Chief in the Northern Mines.
The Demon Cave was a place like that. I had experienced it thousands of times throughout the game, but the majority of these people have had no experiences with Demon Caves.
Furthermore, Demon Caves were not the Chaos Battle. If you die, that was it. And once you go in, the chances of dying were greater than the chances of coming back out alive.
Who would choose to enter such a place?
That must be why they are using prisoners.
Even so, there shouldn’t be many people who were really forced to come here. That type of person will end up being a danger to the Clearing Squad instead.
Instead, they would have used a large benefit as bait to get some volunteers. Something so good that they couldn’t help but volunteer even though they know they would die.
For example, suspension of their execution.
A sentence reduction from their life-long term.
In other words, the worst of of the worst criminals.
It is the foulest atmosphere. How am I supposed to successfully clear a Demon Cave with these people?
Should I give up on it now? It wasn’t like I HAD to do it because it is a quest.
But the reward was too good to do that. They were offering a unicorn’s horn flute!
And there was a voice that made me confirm my participation.
“Welcome. I am Hansen.”
It was a man in his early 40s. He had a sturdy physique and a stiff expression, but he did not have a mark of a criminal on his face.
Thank goodness. There’s someone in the same boat as me.
It was not just one person.
“Let’s work well together. I am Eaton.”
A man in his late 30s. Unlike Hansen, he was a pretty boy. He seemed to be a magician. He also did not have a mark of a criminal.
“I am Jackson.”
“Pico.”
There were a total of 12 volunteers other than myself.
But I was feeling a bit odd about these volunteers as well. They weren’t showing the reaction they should have been showing.
‘Why are they not afraid?’
Even someone like me, who has a ton of Demon Cave experience, had a bit of fear. Demon Caves were those types of dangerous places.
But none of them showed any fear in their faces. Instead, I felt some type of strong resolution in all twelve of them.
Are they just religious fanatics?
Or did they lose all senses because of the reward of a Unicorn Horn Flute?
The weirder part was that they felt like one team. An organization all moving efficiently toward a single goal.
They were walking around trying their best to develop teamwork with the prisoners as if they made a promise with each other to do so.
“No matter what, we are all in the same boat now. Let’s all do our best.”
“We can come back alive. Then your sentence will be shortened greatly, and you’ll also be able to earn a lot of stuff i the process. Let’s work together.”
All twelve of them were doing that.
Are they perhaps a team?
I quietly asked, but that was not it. None of them knew each other. Apparently they met for the first time after coming to participate in this Demon Cave Clearing Squad.
‘Something is fishy.’
I was actually more concerned about them than the prisoners.
The prisoners did not easily fall into the atmosphere the twelve of them were trying to create. Rather than maximizing teamwork, they were breaking off into groups of three or five to think about how they could survive.
On the other hand, they were also making fun of the thirteen volunteers including myself.
“Weirdos. To volunteer for this type of thing.”
“Leave them be. They want to die so who will stop them?”
“Great. Let’s make them go first to do reconnaissance. Since they volunteered out of their own will, they should take that much work.”
“Alright. It’s best to send the ones that are going to die quickly to the afterlife.”
Reconnaissance.
That’s a good idea.
Two requirements need to be met to successfully clear a Demon Cave.
First is teamwork. We need to protect as many people as we can until we meet the final boss monster.
But more important than that was raising up your level. You needed to raise as much levels as possible to be effective in the battle against the boss monster.
Which means, I need to monopolize the monster hunting.
The way to achieve both of those at once was for me to take the lead in the name of reconnaissance. On my own.
Hansen and Eaton came back next to me and tried to console me.
“Do not pay attention to what they are saying.”
“Yes. Their goal should be the same as ours. They are talking like that, but once we enter the Demon Cave, they will need to move with us.”
I’m honestly more worried about you guys, you know?
Just who the hell are you guys?
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Translator : Miraclerifle
Proofreader : Borderline Masochist
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