My Skill Book – Chapter 74
Chapter 74
After leaving the Safety Zone, we moved in the direction indicated by the crystal.
It was when we reached the top of the sand dune visible before us.
“Kyah!”
“Uwoah?”
A massive shadow shot up from below the dune and quickly flew behind us.
Thanks to the [Windbreak Wall] skill, we weren’t caught up in it, but everyone was startled by the shadow’s sudden appearance.
“Wh-what on earth was that?”
Ms. Hyeri, who had fallen on her rear, spoke without getting up, turning her head.
“Wasn’t that a bird?”
“It wasn’t a bird. It was a dragon.”
After the middle-aged man, O Seyeon spoke.
“It looked like a dragon to me too. A dragon of nothing but bones.”
The Vice Guild Leader expressed the same opinion as O Seyeon.
I followed the shadow with my eyes. Its form hidden by the storm, the shadow was flying toward the Safety Zone.
‘No way…….’
The shadow stopped moving at the Safety Zone.
Shortly after, light flashed from the Safety Zone, and noise followed.
It was the signal that battle had begun.
‘That size……. It’s no ordinary monster.’
“Hwajin, what will you do?”
The Vice Guild Leader asked.
“You are the party leader. I will follow your lead.”
“I agree with the Vice Guild Leader. Do as you please, Hwajin.”
The Vice Guild Leader and the middle-aged man spoke. The other two seemed to be of the same mind, looking at me.
“We’ll return to the Safety Zone. There’s something I want to check.”
We ran toward the Safety Zone.
“It’s huge.”
As we arrived in front of the Safety Zone, O Seyeon muttered.
Floating above our heads was exactly what O Seyeon and the Vice Guild Leader had seen: a dragon of nothing but bones.
A fully exposed spine, a grotesque skull, and tattered wings.
It was large enough that, had it stood on the ground, from its hind legs to the top of its head it would have rivaled a single building.
The ranged dealers of the exploration union were pouring skills toward the bone dragon, but the dragon did not even flinch.
“Vice Guild Leader, could you help me? I want to go up.”
The Vice Guild Leader nodded and lifted me in his arms.
After feeling my body float up, we simultaneously kicked off the ground.
Reaching where the dragon floated in an instant, I used [Magic Barrier] to create a foothold.
“That’s enough now.”
At my words, the Vice Guild Leader returned the gravity affecting his body to normal.
“I’ll be right back, please wait a moment.”
I used [Ground Shrink] to climb onto the dragon’s body.
‘From here, it’s really enormous.’
Below, the Hunters’ skills were flying in endlessly. Yet they all exploded or vanished before even touching the dragon.
‘Does it have some kind of barrier skill? Well, I’m about to find out.’
I inserted the bookmark into the dragon’s bone and summoned the book.
--------------------
-Status-
Guardian of the Desert
(Immune to Fire, Lightning, Ice, Poison, and Wind attributes)
HP: 3000/3000 MP: 1000/1000
Constitution: 150 Strength: 130 Magic: 100 Mental Strength: 30 Perception: 40
Unique Skill: [Sandstorm]
[Weathering]
[Breath of Death]
--------------------
“This is way too broken.”
I muttered without realizing.
Immunity to five attributes was one thing, but with three stats exceeding 100, I even had the illusion that its Mental Strength and Perception—higher than mine—looked low.
I examined the skills for a moment.
‘So this Sandstorm was this guy’s passive.’
The range of [Sandstorm] was nothing less than the entirety of a single field floor.
‘Was the reason the storm didn’t blow on Desert Floor 1 because this guy was on Floor 2? Come to think of it, Peter said at first that the storm didn’t blow on Floor 2 either.’
The skill below that, [Weathering], was also broken. It had the effect of scattering mana wherever the wind touched.
The reason the ranged dealers’ attacks hadn’t worked properly was because of this skill.
“As for the last one……. Damn!”
After checking the skill’s effect, I looked at the dragon’s mouth.
Black energy was gathering.
I jumped off the dragon and returned to the Vice Guild Leader.
“Vice Guild Leader! We need to get down quickly!”
The Vice Guild Leader made a puzzled expression, then soon understood and lifted me again.
After descending, I shouted toward the exploration union with all my might.
“Peter! Scatter as much as you can! If you don’t, it’s a massacre!”
***
‘What?’
Peter, who was commanding the exploration team, turned his head at the sudden shout.
The group of I Hwajin, who should have left already, was near the Safety Zone.
“What are you talking about! A massacre!”
“Hurry! Trust me!”
Hwajin’s expression looked urgent.
Peter looked up.
The dragon’s skull was facing them. A strangely ominous feeling wrapped around Peter like sticky liquid.
“All units, disperse! Everyone with defense skills, activate them now!”
As soon as Peter’s order fell, the Hunters moved frantically.
Immediately after the Hunters of the exploration union scattered and used their defense skills,
the Guardian of the Desert spewed a massive amount of black smoke.
The smoke that descended to the ground spread around the Hunters in an instant.
Shortly after, several Hunters who touched the smoke collapsed straight to the ground.
Peter’s eyes widened.
“Lin!”
“I’m analyzing!”
Lin, who was beside Peter, was looking through her documents with cold sweat dripping.
“The analysis is out. Skill name [Breath of Death]. Targets that touch the smoke have a 50% chance of…… instant death!?”
Lin shouted in surprise, forgetting that she was making a report to Peter.
***
Cold sweat ran down my back as I watched the Hunters collapse.
Peter had heard my warning and scattered the Hunters, but it was impossible for them to avoid all the smoke.
The fortunate thing was that [Breath of Death] had a five-minute cooldown.
‘I have to do something within that time.’
At that moment, Peter’s body flashed and soared into the sky.
Peter, now in the sky, collided with the dragon.
With a loud *BANG!*, I could see the dragon flinch.
‘He’s going for a showdown.’
It seemed he had gone to settle things alone so that the exploration team wouldn’t be dragged in.
Then Lin ran toward us.
“Hwajin, please. Help Peter. At this rate, Peter will die too.”
Lin wore an earnest expression.
“Hwajin, what should we do? Are we going to help?”
The middle-aged man asked, holding his axe.
I looked up at the dragon without a word. Explosions continued to ring out in the sky.
A light that seemed to be Peter was flying around the dragon, bombarding it.
The HP of the dragon I had checked with the book was decreasing, albeit faintly.
‘I can’t leave it like this.’
I started wracking my brain.
‘Why did the dragon come here in the first place?’
If it had discovered humans by chance and tried to attack, there was no explaining why it had simply passed us by when it first spotted us.
‘Guardian of the Desert……. Guardian of the Forest……. Could it be?’
I turned my head.
The giant trees that the tree humanoid had grown earlier were all around the exploration union’s tents.
I looked up at the dragon and Peter, then spoke to my companions.
“Everyone, please help me.”
I took everyone toward the exploration union’s tents.
And we combined our strength to start removing the trees.
We burned the trees with fire; O Seyeon and the middle-aged man cut them down with their weapons; Hyeri and the Vice Guild Leader smashed the frozen trees with their shields.
After destroying that small forest, I checked where the dragon was.
The Guardian of the Desert was leaving the Safety Zone.
Peter, now back on the ground, and the exploration team members stared blankly at the dragon’s departure, as if bewildered.
‘Just as I thought.’
The Guardian of the Forest had appeared and attacked us when we set the forest on fire.
If so, why had the Guardian of the Desert appeared here and attacked the exploration union?
The reason I guessed was simple.
It was because trees had grown here.
‘So it was my fault after all.’
“Thank you, I Hwajin. Thanks to you, we were able to prevent further sacrifices.”
Peter did not blame me.
That John had attacked me first, so I had no choice but to use the tree humanoid.
And because I had warned them to scatter and took measures to make the guardian return, the damage had been minimized.
“To think such a monster was in the field. Learning of this new variable is a great gain.”
Peter said so.
This time, we truly left the exploration union and the Safety Zone and set off.
The exploration union said they would depart after finishing the memorial ceremony for the victims and completing their recovery and maintenance.
Perhaps because the Guardian of the Desert had left, the sandstorm had subsided.
We were able to find the circle quickly thanks to the crystal’s guidance.
“We’re not going to run into it right as we go to Floor 3, right…….”
The middle-aged man spoke in a worried voice.
“What are you talking about, mister?”
“Right? There’s no way we’d be that unlucky, right?”
“I’m going to call it up even if it’s not there when we go down to Floor 3.”
“What?”
I stepped onto the circle.
The surroundings brightened and the terrain changed.
[You have entered Desert Floor 3.]
I took out the seed from my inventory and threw it.
“Wait! Hwajin! What on earth are you doing?”
“I’m going to take down the Guardian of the Desert.”
When I said that, everyone made disgusted faces.
“Don’t tell me, Hwajin, the reason you sent the guardian back at the Safety Zone earlier was…….”
I looked at the Vice Guild Leader and nodded.
“I did it so Peter wouldn’t steal it.”
If you catch a guardian, you are granted a title along with bonus stats. I couldn’t let such a privilege be stolen.
“Are you calling it because you have a plan to catch it?”
O Seyeon asked as if pressing for an answer.
“Well. We’ll only know if we try.”
“Hwajin…….”
Hyeri’s eyes were sharp.
“I’m joking.”
Before anyone knew it, the reborn tree humanoid scurried over and stood before me.
“Plant as much as you can. Make a forest to your heart’s content.”
The tree humanoid hopped up and down—as if expressing joy in its own way—then immediately scattered seeds, emitting light from its body.
While the tree humanoid ran around excitedly, I summoned my book and edited skills.
Shortly after, the tree humanoid that had turned the vicinity into a forest staggered back and transformed into a seed. It seemed to have exhausted all its strength.
As I was collecting the seed, wind began to blow.
‘It’s coming.’
The world grew pitch black, and the flying sand gradually intensified. The trees growing around us shook as if they would be uprooted.
“It’s here!”
The middle-aged man shouted. From afar, a black shadow was growing larger as it approached.
Finally, the dragon arrived above the forest.
“Everyone else, please wait from afar. Vice Guild Leader, please come with me. There’s something I want to ask of you.”
“Understood.”
I rose into the sky together with the Vice Guild Leader.
Kuwaaaa.
The dragon spewed [Breath of Death] toward the forest. The trees instantly withered.
I took the Vice Guild Leader and descended onto the dragon’s spine.
“What do you plan to do from here?”
The Vice Guild Leader asked.
“I’m going to do this.”
I pressed my spear against the dragon’s spine and uttered the skill name.
“Metallize.”
Then, the giant dragon’s body gradually turned silver-gray.
“What is this skill?”
“It’s a skill that temporarily turns the body into metal. At the same time, it makes the body immune to external impacts.”
“Why that skill now……”
I didn’t answer and pressed the demonic spear against the dragon’s body once more.
“Corrosion.”
I used the newly created 9 Word Skill.