Part 4
As soon as the sun had completely set, Jonghyeon looked toward the pyramid.
-Ding
-The hunt begins.
At the same time, a familiar sight appeared.
By now, he could have exchanged greetings and received a warm welcome.
Of course, they wouldn't reciprocate.
From the pyramid, along with yesterday's stone statues, hunting dogs made of the same stone material were now mobilized as well.
As if to hunt Jonghyeon, the stone statues had even brought hunting dogs!
'Even at a minimum, combining the hunting dogs, there must be over forty of them.'
But Jonghyeon was gradually adapting(?) to this bizarre dungeon as well.
After assessing their numbers first, Jonghyeon moved quickly as if nothing were wrong.
Earlier, Jonghyeon had searched through stone statue debris, selected trees to use as footholds, and even marked them.
A state of perfect preparation completely unlike yesterday!
Of course, there was a sad story behind that as well.
'Before catching the last statue yesterday, I stepped on a branch wrong and almost fell.'
It was a ridiculous reason, but Jonghyeon had chosen the trees quite carefully and memorized their approximate locations with his reasonably sharp mind.
Since he had even marked them, there was no way he couldn't find them.
Jonghyeon climbed a tree located near the forest entrance.
He thought the time had finally come to test the weapon he had made during the day.
'Even if I had become a blacksmith, I would've succeeded. Hehe.'
Before he knew it, the stone statues that had reached the garden entrance began scattering and searching for Jonghyeon, just like yesterday.
And Jonghyeon held his breath as he watched the stone statues and stone dogs pass by his tree.
Until a stone statue and a stone dog lagging behind at the end came into his field of vision.
It was his chance.
'Counterattack begins!'
Swoosh!
Something sharp flew toward the back of the stone statue's chest.
It was an arrow.
The stone statue tried to turn around at the sound of the arrow, but it could no longer move, impaled as it was.
A hit in one shot.
Moreover, a single strike had stopped the stone statue's movement.
'Success!'
A few hours ago.......
Jonghyeon had thought fighting the stone statues head-on would be difficult.
One-on-one was fine, but fighting multiple opponents was a different story.
'Rather, it would be fine if they were people or monsters. They don't have such reflexive reactions.'
The same went for Chimeras and Hounds that frequently appeared in lower-level dungeons.
Humanoid Chimeras with wings couldn't fly high, but they were feared because they snatched people from midair to attack them.
And Hounds that looked like hunting dogs were secondary to that.
But even they hadn't posed much of a threat to Jonghyeon.
Jonghyeon had hunted the Chimeras that came down searching for him by hiding and severing their throats before they even noticed.
When he focused ki into his legs, he was so fast that the Chimeras died before they could react.
That was how Jonghyeon tended to fight—establishing his own formula.
But these stone statues were on a different level.
Their reaction speed was nearly on par with his, and their strength even surpassed his own.
He needed a countermeasure for that.
'And that countermeasure is this bow.'
After catching some sleep during the day and waking up, Jonghyeon had carved the statues and gathered tree branches to make a bow.
Since he had caught twenty-three statues the day before, he had more than enough arrows even after failures and various experiments.
Jonghyeon looked at the stone dog with a bewildered expression, as if recalling the hardships from earlier.
Confused by its master's death, the stone dog began barking urgently.
Woof! Woof!
'It actually sounds like a dog?'
Having regained some composure, Jonghyeon looked down at the stone dog from the tree with equal parts curiosity and surprise. But leisure in such a situation only cost him more the longer he indulged in it.
Jonghyeon quickly nocked another arrow and shot the stone dog in the head.
The dog, with an arrow stuck in its head, could make no more sound and stiffened.
-Ding
-Remaining stone statues: 47. If you do not catch them within 4 hours and 50 minutes, you will receive a penalty.
'This is simpler than I thought.'
Of course, for an ordinary human, this dungeon was difficult enough that they would have died ten more times by now.
But Jonghyeon's calm composure in thinking so lightly of it came not only from his ability to wield ki, but also from experience.
His fighting style always pursued the synergy of mind and body.
"Then shall we begin the hunt?"
It was time for the stone statues to become the hunted!
With the Eye of Detection skill he had acquired earlier, the time seemed more than sufficient.
The moon displayed the remaining time: 4 hours and 49 minutes.
★ ★ ★
After dealing with the last hunting dog, the remaining time was forty minutes.
He had cleared them even faster than yesterday. Moreover, more arrows remained than expected.
'A success.'
Jonghyeon had cleared many dungeons that were difficult to clear alone by using his head.
Physical strength was important, but if one was stupid, they could absolutely never clear a dungeon alone.
That was one of Jonghyeon's firm beliefs.
After waiting silently in the tree for the remaining forty minutes, a now somewhat familiar voice spoke.
-Ding!
-Congratulations. You have passed the Stage 2 mission.
-You have acquired the skill 【One Accustomed to Darkness】.
"Huh?"
Only now did questions arise in Jonghyeon's mind.
'I was too busy until now to notice, but why darkness? I definitely chose lightning.'
Of course, it didn't particularly matter what skill he was given at this point.
And he hadn't chosen darkness because it was an element people usually shied away from.
It wasn't as if he had chosen lightning for some profound reason.
They had been helpful, after all.
Jonghyeon figured there was no way to check the skills that had come out, so he began writing them down on a small memo.
He wanted to think more about why it was darkness instead of lightning, but his eyelids refused.
No matter how much he pretended otherwise, it would be strange if he weren't tired after hunting so many monsters.
Jonghyeon lightly jumped down from the tree and closed his eyes for a moment in the shade.
Before long, Jonghyeon opened his eyes, went to the stream to wash his face, and thought.
'Darkness or whatever, it doesn't matter, but I should take care of food first.'
He needed cowhide, so he immediately began searching for cows.
Holding his hungry stomach and searching for about ten minutes, he discovered a herd of cows grazing!
"Cows...... I'm counting on you."
Jonghyeon spoke softly from afar and began running toward the cows.
The cows died with piteous eyes.
Without an ounce of mercy, Jonghyeon hunted quite a few cows even after obtaining enough meat.
And after quickly filling his stomach, he began fiddling with something again.
★ ★ ★
It was already the third day since entering this place.
And finally, the long-awaited final night.
-Ding
-The hunt begins.
-As it is the final night, a spectacular event has been prepared.
'Is this damn dungeon playing games until the very end......'
Jonghyeon looked toward the pyramid tomb with an annoyed expression.
"Event my ass...... what the hell!"
Only now did it feel real.
That the message just now hadn't been a joke.
Jonghyeon had prepared a trump card as a contingency plan, but this time, even he couldn't dare predict victory.
That's right.
The boss monster, the highlight of any dungeon!
Its identity was an elephant stone statue with the visual appearance of about ten stone monsters combined.
It caught Jonghyeon's eye immediately and was overwhelmingly intimidating.
Jonghyeon bit his nails and thought.
'It can't be helped. I'm betting everything on the trump card.'
If someone who didn't know Jonghyeon's current plan saw him, they would have said he was crazy without hesitation.
Because Jonghyeon didn't even hide before the army of stone statues; instead, he boldly stood in front of them and began firing his bow repeatedly.
Twang- Ting.
As the barrage of arrows flew from the front, the stone statues deflected them and began approaching Jonghyeon threateningly, albeit slowly.
The stone statues' reflexes lived up to their reputation.
They walked on resolutely without being hit by a single arrow.
'For now, the lure is a success.'
Jonghyeon, who had begun a nerve-wracking lure, fired all his remaining arrows at the stone statues approaching in formation without scattering.
Whether they hit or not didn't matter; he just sent arrows flying roughly while keeping his surroundings in mind.
Then, neither slowly nor quickly, he led the stone statues in the direction he intended.
Thud! Thud-thud!
The footsteps of the stone statue army grew loud enough to make the ground tremble as they approached!
The closer they got, the more real it felt.
If he failed to maintain distance even slightly, he would cross the Jordan River then and there.
Jonghyeon had nerves of steel, but he couldn't remain entirely calm at that sound.
'Just a bit more.'
Had he been escorting(?) the stone statue unit for about five minutes? He could tell they were nearly at the position he had marked in advance.
The distance from the stone statues was now a mere 3 meters!
It was close enough that a thrust spear would nearly reach him. Jonghyeon felt like he was walking a tightrope.
"Now!"
Jonghyeon pulled the device he had installed in advance firmly.
At the same time, he immediately focused ki into his feet and ran with all his might.
Boom! Craaash-
Then the large tree right behind where Jonghyeon had stood swayed, and stone statue debris began flying over the approaching stone statues' heads.
That's right. Jonghyeon's trump card was none other than a stone statue catapult.
Thud-thud-thud-
Sharply ground statues of their own kind flew over their heads, and the stone statues didn't know what to do, beginning to collapse helplessly.
He hadn't studied sculpting, but sharpening them moderately was enough to deal with the living stone statues.
However, because the statues were as heavy as they were, he had used cowhide instead of tree branches for the net.
-Ding
-Remaining stone statues: 38. If you do not catch them within 4 hours and 14 minutes, you will receive a penalty.
-Boss statue: 1
The effect was truly tremendous.
About half of the humanoid stone monsters and stone dogs approaching in formation appeared to have stopped moving.
And two statues were embedded in the stone elephant's back.
'Its movements will definitely slow down.'
The stone monster felt pain and confusion just the same.
That was the point.
And indeed, bewildered by more than half of their kin dying, the stone statues paused for a moment and looked at Jonghyeon.
'Phase two.'
Jonghyeon watched the situation from behind a tree and began luring them again.
But this time, instead of being lured, the stone statues began throwing the spears and swords they held at Jonghyeon.
Clang! Ting-ting-ting-
Jonghyeon quickly drew his short sword and began deflecting the flying projectiles.
But the speed at which the statues threw was quite fast and heavy.
Thus, while he deflected most of the swords, one of the spears he couldn't fully block grazed Jonghyeon's cheek.
Swoosh-
If he had turned his head even a little later, that spear would have lodged in Jonghyeon's head.
'Hot.'
That was his impression of the wound on his face after so long.
Though it had only grazed him, his slightly torn cheek began bleeding bright red from the tremendous speed.
A scratch he wouldn't normally get—how many times had it happened in this dungeon alone?
Swish-
Wiping the blood from his cheek, Jonghyeon felt somehow angry today.
Having thrown away the weapons in their hands, the stone monsters began walking toward Jonghyeon slowly but with overwhelming pressure, as if to subdue him by brute force.
Thud! Thud!
Especially the sound of the giant elephant approaching instilled a hint of fear in Jonghyeon.
At the same time, he shouted as if the situation were extremely unfair.
"Are you guys really going this far just to catch one person?"
As if responding to Jonghyeon's rage-filled voice, the elephant gradually picked up speed and began charging.
Muttering whether he was facing a rhinoceros or an elephant, Jonghyeon quickly focused ki into his legs and narrowly avoided the elephant's charge.
But the recoil couldn't be ignored, and Jonghyeon tumbled quite a bit across the ground.
Crash-!
The elephant didn't just break the tree behind where Jonghyeon had stood; it pulverized it.
Even as he rolled, Jonghyeon reflexively looked toward the source of the loud noise.
'If I had been grazed by that, it would have been instant death.'
Brushing off the dust and dirt on his body, he reassumed his stance.
'I just need to dodge one more time.'
The elephant tossed its head as if nothing had happened and quickly changed direction with unbelievable speed for its massive frame.
Boom! Crash!
An elephant large enough to easily fit over twenty of him began charging once more right before Jonghyeon's eyes.
Even so, Jonghyeon put on a rather composed expression.
And he felt he absolutely had to spit out these words.
"Die, you damn bastard."
---------= Afterword =---------=
If an ordinary person actually encountered an elephant..
They'd probably die the moment it swung its trunk—smack!