Chapter 44. Event Dungeon (7)
After questioning what thoughts father had in my mind, I urged everyone on.
“Attack! Now!”
“D-Did you do that, Yeon Hwawoo?”
“Less questions, more attacking!”
With that, I charged at Arachne. Warcry lasted for 5 minutes. If we couldn’t defeat Arachne in 5 minutes, her charm would likely wipe us out.
“I-I don’t have mana right now! I used it all up exploding the army!”
“Are you really SS-ranked!?”
“Hey, we wouldn’t be doing so well without me! I’m recovering, so wait!”
It was true that she played a big role. Arachne’s most feared weapon, the Black Forest, was restricted for now. The huge explosion from just now seemed to have reached Arachne too, as one of her legs were missing and green goo was coming out of what should be a hard carapace.
That said, Mastiford was a magician. Shouldn’t she have learned how to manage her mana from the time she spent exploring the dungeon? For someone with such a powerful ability, she wasted too much energy in using her skills. In a way, her ability was something that went beyond her league.
For the record, Arachne’s bodily fluid sizzled upon contact with the air and rose up as smoke. It was poisonous as well!
[Kiaaaaaak!]
What sounded like the singing of a beautiful voice was now nothing more than a monster’s roar. At the same time, two of Arachne’s legs flew toward us. I instinctively knew that if I was hit, I’d die! The goosebumps I instantly received urged me on. Using Divine Speed, I charged past its attacking legs and sent a punch toward its upper body.
[Kiaaak!]
“Letting a grappler approach, it’s over! Thunder Beast!”
Since I used 20 percent of my mana with Divine Speed, I could only maintain Thunder Beast for 80 seconds. The moment I activated Thunder Beast, the lightning that was staying in my gauntlet expanded to cover my entire body. I could feel it strengthening my muscles and nerves. I could tell that this powerful ability had at least doubled my overall power.
From the outside, I looked like I was simply shining, as if I was shooting out lightning from my body. So that’s why it’s called Thunder Beast! To anyone looking at me, I probably looked more like a lightning beast than human.
[Master, something is forcefully taking my power!]
“Just hold on a little, Peika. I’ll end it soon!”
[O-Okay, I’ll do my best. Do Master’s best too!]
With Peika’s cute voice cheering me on, I struck my lightning clad fist on Arachne’s face. Although it looked like a weak woman’s face from the outside, there was not even a scratch, as expected of a boss.
In fact, Arachne screamed and tried to bite down on my fist. At the same time, she raised her two legs to attack me. Thankfully, father was there to stop it.
“You dare seduce me, when I have a wife!? I’ll take your silk and make my wife and Yua a dress! Mega Wavelance!”
Father seemed to have used a major skill as Arachne screamed as her huge eyes trembled. Using this opening, I quickly wrapped my legs around her waist. Although she was a monster, I had still come in close contact with a naked woman’s body. As such, her sweet scent and soft skin distracted me. After seeing this, father shouted, “You bastard! I’ll tell Yua about this!”
“Shut it, Kang Yungoong-nim!”
‘Can you not make it obvious that we’re father and son!?’ After shouting at father, I continuously punched Arachne’s fair face. Tactile feeling aside, she was still a monster! Her beautiful looks made me feel like I was doing something inhumane, but I chose to ignore it.
[Kiaaaaaaa!]
“Don’t open your mouth, your spit’s getting on my fist!”
Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk!
After continually pummeling her face with all my strength, Arachne’s face finally tore up from the heightened impact from Thunder Beast, and poisonous blood began to shoot out.
However, the lightning enveloping my entire body did not let the poison reach me in the slightest. I continued to punch her to do as much damage as I could before the time ran out. At the same time, just in case I couldn’t finish her off in the time frame I had, I did not forget to prepare the highest-grade Health and Mana Potions I had.
[Kiaaaaaaaa!]
Arachne seemed frustrated that she was unable to do anything as she wildly shook her human arms to attack me. Although they looked like a frail girl’s arms, the impact they had upon hitting my armor was indescribably painful. Although they weren’t as strong as her spider legs, they were as strong as my own arms. Furthermore, as time went on and she realized the life-threatening situation she was in, she crazily shot out spider webs from her bottom half.
The streams of spider webs flying out in all directions then joined into a single large stream and attacked father and me. As we were both super-armored, receiving the attack didn’t hinder our movements by much. That said, we would still be injured. At that moment…
“Uuu, if I collapse from anemia, it’s you two’s fault! Cutie, hold out a little longer!” Mastiford shouted.
As if to prove the saying that ‘a diamond on a dunghill was still a diamond,’ Mastiford made her final move. I felt something flying past my shoulders like an arrow. At the same time, the poisonous spider webs that were attacking me were burnt up and disappeared.
Not only that, a white ball of flame that was flying through the air struck Arachne’s body, making her cry out in pain. In just this short moment, Mastiford had recovered enough mana to use another skill! Although she was regretful in some areas, her ability was undoubtedly shocking.
In truth, I almost fell for Mastiford who managed to play such a pivotal role even after using skill after skill. Thankfully, I held on with Warcry’s effect. As I thought, love was a status effect! It wasn’t normal! I converted all of my emotions into rage as I pummeled Arachne.
“Haaaaaa! Diediediediediedie!”
[Kiaaaaaaak!]
“Die! Wave Gatling!”
It was the moment where I found out from who exactly that I inherited my harsh tongue. Father and I both yelled out crudely as we beat up Arachne. She in turn screamed and thrashed about with her two human arms and five spider legs. In response, I used Dragon Skin. When Arachne hit my body, her eyes opened wide in pain.
[Kiik! Kiiik!]
“Yep, that’s what I wanted to hear! A mere arthropod should not try to seduce a human! You’re 5 million years too early for that! Die!”
I considered using Dark Thunder Explosion, but I saved it in case an Event Raid broke out afterwards. Plus, I felt it wasn’t necessary now either.
Because of Dragon Skin, the speed brought up by Thunder Beast was halved. Even so, I was fast enough that Arachne could not dodge me. My fists hardened by Dragon Skin had more than enough destructive power to make up for the decrease in speed.
Eventually, the end arrived. My fists pummeling her face finally penetrated skin and broke her bones.
[Kiii!]
The headless Arachne let out a short shriek and went limp. I finally got up from my mounted position and deactivated Thunder Beast. The party members then eased their tension after knowing the boss fight had ended.
“Whew, haaa…. I’m exhausted.”
“Good job, so… Yeon Hwawoo!”
“Nice finish!”
“You looked cool!”
The moment the Thunder Beast’s effect went away, exhaustion swept over me. I felt like collapsing in place. The drained mana gave me a headache and the overexertion of my body made my muscles convulse. Dragon Skin was the only thing keeping me from falling on my knees.
When I tried to pull my hand out of Arachne’s head, I felt something in the way. When I dug through its brain and looked, a Bluestone glowing deep-blue came out. Although it was small, its brilliance was incomparable to the giant spider’s. I suddenly felt strength in my body again. With sparkling eyes, I showed everyone the Bluestone.
“Oh, this looks expensive! Everyone, look!”
“Hey, I know it’s a monster, but you shouldn’t dig through a beautiful woman’s head like that…”
“Mastiford-ssi, you yourself called it a monster. Don’t be so picky…”
“You were cool, Yeon Hwawoo-nim! Really cool! You were like the incarnation of Takemikazuchi1!”
Unlike Mastiford who gasped and backed away, Minami applauded me with sparkly eyes. I didn’t know what Takemikazuchi was, but I let it be since it sounded like a compliment. I gave her a thumbs up and slid down Arachne’s body. I then saw father rubbing his chin while staring at Arachne’s leg that he had ripped off. When he saw me looking at him in anticipation, he knocked on the leg’s carapace with his spear and said, “This. Don’t you think it would taste great if you fry it? Like crabs.”
“It’s poisonous!”
He calmly said something I never would have imagined. Then, a fanfare suddenly rang out.
[You defeated the Event Dungeon boss monster, Arachne!]
[100,000 gold is distributed evenly amongst party members. You received 25,000 gold.]
[Kang Shin-nim’s contribution is the highest. Choose your reward.]
[1. Arachne’s Silk Dress
2. Arachne’s Black Earthen Spear
3. Arachne’s Cobweb Earrings
4. Arachne’s Cobweb Bracelet]
Gasp! My contribution was the highest!? I definitely thought Mastiford would have the highest contribution. Now that I thought about it, although Mastiford showed great firepower throughout the dungeon, the only damage she did to Arachne was through the initial explosion and Cutie’s final attack.
She would have high contribution points, but it seemed it wasn’t higher than mine, as I dealt most of the damage against Arachne and even dealt the final blow.
As expected, Mastiford was complaining.
“What? Who has the highest contribution? Why isn’t it me?”
“It’s me, Mastiford-ssi.”
“Mmm, if it’s you, then… though I don’t want to admit it…”
Thankfully, it seemed other people couldn’t see the [Kang Shin-nim’s contribution…] message. I had forgotten about it, but my real name would have been found out.
After answering Mastiford, I slowly examined the reward list. Perhaps because it was an Event Dungeon, or because all four of us made good contributions, all four items seemed excellent.
That said, I knew the items higher up on the list were better than the ones below. Since the dress and earrings were likely for females only, I had to choose either the spear or the bracelet. I glanced at father. His weapon was the Silver Spear just like mine. I wondered if I should give father the spear under the ‘elder’s first’ spirit.
“Alright.”
I contemplated for about 0.01 seconds before I picked the Black Earthen Spear without hesitation. I then quickly stuffed it into my inventory so father wouldn’t see it. It was the perfect crime.
1. Japanese god of thunder