My Skill Book, My Way — Chapter 27
Chapter 27
Soldiers had gathered in front of Dongdaemun Dungeon No. 2.
It was likely a precaution taken in case the overflow value exceeded its limit and monsters burst out of the dungeon.
Of course, firearms without mana could only buy time, but that was still better than nothing.
Right in front of the dungeon entrance, there were civil servants managing the dungeon and hunters who seemed to have come after seeing the quest announcement.
“What happened? The overflow value was stable until two hours ago.”
“I’m not sure either. When we took the regular measurement at nine o’clock, it had suddenly spiked.”
A man who looked to be in his mid-twenties was sweating profusely as he reported to a man who appeared to be his superior.
“Hunters, please receive your overflow measurement devices here! Without this, it won’t count as proof!”
As expected, someone who looked like a civil servant was shouting.
The measurement device was shaped like a wristwatch.
“You.”
I turned at the sound of someone calling from behind to see a man holding a knife.
“What’s your rank?”
“A.”
“Perfect. This friend and I are both A-rank too. If you don’t have a party, want to go in together?”
“Ah, I’m fine.”
I said so and turned around.
“Uh……?”
I heard the man who had spoken make a puzzled sound, but I ignored it.
‘It’s a 4-star dungeon, so I shouldn’t need to form a party.’
Recalling how I had run the 4-star dungeon near City Hall until I was sick of it, I immediately entered the dungeon.
Since it was an emergency situation, I didn’t have to pay the dungeon entrance fee.
[You have entered Seoul Dongdaemun Dungeon No. 2.]
[This dungeon is a 4-star dungeon.]
[Overflow: 9865/10000]
[Monsters have been generated.]
‘Wow. It was almost about to overflow?’
I took out Jain’s Axe Spear from my inventory.
‘Lightning Spear.’
Golden currents of electricity flashed and enveloped the spear.
The interior of Dongdaemun Dungeon No. 2 was a cave. Stalactites, stalagmites, and stone pillars filled the surroundings.
“Kree!”
I turned my head at the spine-chilling cry to see monsters holding stone axes.
The pack of about ten monsters looked similar to forest goblins, but their skin was brown or gray.
‘They’re earth goblins.’
They were named so because they dug burrows and lived inside them.
“Kiaah!”
They charged while screaming.
“Haah!”
I swung the axe spear powerfully. Then, golden electrical currents bursting from the spear swept through the monsters.
The monsters were charred black without even being able to scream.
[You have acquired a total of 300 EXP.]
“Is it because of Jain’s Axe Spear’s effect? It’s much better than Flame Spear.”
At this level, there was nothing to fear.
I held Lightning Spear and swiftly made my way down the cave.
Besides earth goblins, there were bats almost as big as my upper body and bugs the size of forearms, but they fell away with just a swing of Lightning Spear.
I was slightly bewildered when a stone monster appeared and remained intact after being hit by Lightning Spear, but I just stabbed with all my strength and it shattered into pieces. It was the power of a two-digit strength stat.
After going down the cave for about ten minutes, a large cavern appeared.
At the center of the cavern was a massive golem made of rock. It looked to be nearly three times my height.
Smaller golems that I had encountered while coming down were also around it.
I examined the cavern, but I couldn’t see any path leading further down.
‘As expected, that must be the boss group.’
I checked my remaining mana. Since I had only used [Lightning Spear] once while coming down, my remaining MP was over 50.
I gripped the axe spear with both hands and shouted.
“Charge!”
My body shot forward.
In an instant, I flew right in front of the boss golem’s chest and thrust my spear.
Crack!
A massive crack formed on the golem’s body, and fragments fell to the floor.
“Guaaah!”
The golem let out a strange sound. It sounded like a scream.
‘At this level, I won’t need to use [One Flash],’
I used Retreat and Charge to deal with the elites first, then faced the boss golem.
After creating distance, I briefly put the spear into my inventory and took out a staff.
‘Drop Enhancement!’
Thinking that I might be able to obtain magic stones from the golem just like when I got them from the centaur, I used the skill.
Two images floated up in my mind.
A faintly glowing red gem and a blue stone assumed to be a magic stone.
‘Let’s check the gem first.’
I selected the gem, then switched back to my spear.
“Guaaah!”
After repeating the attack on its chest three times, the golem’s chest was completely destroyed.
[You have acquired 180 EXP.]
Rumble!
The remains of the golem that collapsed onto the floor soon disappeared.
I picked up the red gem remaining on the floor.
‘Ugh!?’
I almost dropped the gem at the powerful energy transmitted through my hand.
A gray window floated before my eyes.
--------------------
[Mana Heart]
The core of a golem created by the Machine King Hesto. A powerful swirl of mana churns within.
--------------------
‘Did I pick this for nothing?’
It was an item I had no idea what to do with.
[You have cleared Seoul Dongdaemun Dungeon No. 2.]
[Overflow value is being readjusted to 9650.]
[A portal connecting outside the dungeon will be generated shortly.]
I checked the overflow meter on my wrist.
The number 215 was floating on the screen. It seemed to be the overflow value I had reduced.
Since the overflow was 9865 when I entered, it seemed no one else had cleared it until now.
‘I’ll search up the item later; for now, let’s quickly run more dungeons.’
Since the quest reward was 2 million won per 100 reduced value, that meant I had earned 4 million won for 15 minutes of work just now.
The quest would end once the overflow value dropped below 7,000. I intended to earn as much as possible before then.
Crackle!
A portal appeared before my eyes.
‘Hmm?’
The portal’s color was strange.
‘It’s purple……?’
Until now, the portals that appeared after clearing dungeons had all been blue.
The portal in front of me now had a purple border with a pitch-black interior.
‘What the hell.’
A bad premonition came over me.
I hadn’t never seen a purple portal before. No, the portal I had recently seen was definitely purple.
‘It’s the same color as the portal the monsters came out of during the raid…….’
I swallowed.
My instincts were warning me that I absolutely must not enter this portal.
[A new objective has been assigned.]
The voice came suddenly.
‘What?’
I summoned the book and checked the page with ‘Objective Settings.’
--------------------
-Objective Settings-
[Sub] Exploration
- Explore the space connected to the purple portal.
--------------------
‘…….’
I looked around.
Since my unique ability changed and my status window became a book, a message that an objective had been assigned would occasionally appear along with words like this.
Eliminate Jang Soyu and his gang.
Repel the hunters targeting Seono.
Defeat Mad Armadillo.
Until now, they hadn’t been much different from the goals I was originally trying to achieve, and since completing them gave experience points or upgraded abilities, I had just gone along with them feeling like I was getting a bonus.
But this time was different.
I had absolutely no intention of entering this ominous purple portal.
It was the same color as the portal the monsters had come out of during the raid.
If the portal led to a place swarming with field monsters or a field boss, it would literally mean certain death.
I turned my back on the portal.
It would be a bit annoying, but I could just exit through the portal at the dungeon entrance.
[……Tch.]
“Huh?”
I thought I heard something strange. But it was too quiet to hear properly.
I stood still and waited to see if I would hear more, but besides my own breathing, nothing could be heard.
One hour later, after clearing the dungeon four more times—the purple portal no longer appeared, and a normal blue portal leading to the entrance came out—finally, the overflow value dropped below 7,000.
The total amount of overflow I had reduced was 1,130. Since the overflow had been nearly at the limit of 10,000 when I came here, that meant I alone had reduced over one-third of it.
The civil servants and other hunters looked at me with expressions of disbelief.
In particular, the man holding a knife who had asked about my hunter rank earlier was frozen with his mouth hanging open.
The quest reward was paid immediately. I felt proud seeing the 22 million won that had come into my account.
‘I earned 120 million won in just one day.’
Moreover, I had also obtained three magic stones that increased mana through [Drop Enhancement].
On the way home, my head was filled with thoughts about how to spend the money piled up in my account.
***
Bzzzt.
‘Mmm…….’
I opened my eyes at the noisy sound to see my phone vibrating loudly on my bedside.
‘What is it.’
Checking my phone, it was a notification from the Atlas Guild app.
It was a guild-wide message sent by the guild master.
Seeing that someone who always used a polite tone whether speaking in person or sending messages had sent something like this, it seemed something serious had happened.
After reading the message, I checked the time and it was 6 AM.
I washed up briefly and went to the entrance.
“Oppa, where are you going so early in the morning?”
Jinhi asked in a sleepy voice, as if she had just woken up.
“To the guild. Tell Seono I left first.”
“Okay. Huaaam.”
Leaving Jinhi yawning behind, I came outside and caught a taxi on a nearby street.
News was playing on the taxi’s radio.
[Last night, overflow phenomena occurred in dungeons located all over the country.
Currently, local governments are handling the situation by rallying hunters, and the government has asked citizens to refrain from going outside and to pay attention to broadcasts. Areas currently under evacuation orders are…….]
“This is a big deal.”
The taxi driver muttered as if talking to me.
“Still, it’s a relief that Seoul seems fine. There haven’t been any evacuation orders in Seoul yet.”
“Is that so.”
After hearing the news, I could guess why the guild had called urgently.
Screech.
The taxi came to a stop.
“That’s strange. This road doesn’t usually get this jammed.”
At the driver’s words, I looked ahead and saw the road was full of cars. Moreover, those cars were stopped regardless of the traffic signals.
“Did an accident happen?”
The taxi driver leaned his head out the window and muttered.
A bad premonition came over me.
Kwaaang!
A loud roar was heard.
“It’s a monster!”
From the front of the road, people were abandoning their cars and running back while screaming.
Thud!
A sound shook the earth.
It was the sound of something massive walking.
“Keep the change.”
“Huh? Sir?”
I placed the bill and got out of the taxi.
And I ran toward the source of the footsteps.