Chapter 4. Boy Becomes a Dungeon Explorer (4)
I had no pride to save, nor did I need to. The next week, I stood in front of the same door and obediently shouted that I would enter a party. Then, a translucent window appeared.
[This is the party recruitment board. Click on the one you want and enter a party.]
“Let’s see. Hunting the Orc Lord, looking for healer. Must be above level 5. How stupid, isn’t everyone on the 5th floor level 5?”
Thinking that there were people even more stupid than me, I slowly scrolled through the window and found one that was looking for a front-line damage dealer. Because I started playing games, I knew what a front-line damage dealer was. They were people who attacked in melee range using close-range weapons.
The moment I clicked on that post, I felt stunned briefly and soon found myself among nine other people.
“Welcome. You’re a front-line damage dealer, right?”
A handsome western-style man began talking to me. Thinking it was English, I was about to yell out ‘I cannot speak English.’ Fortunately, I found that I could understand what he was saying without problem.
“Y-Yes, I use a spear.”
“Oh, a spearman! Are you from the Edias continent?”
“N-No, I’m from Seoul.”
“Seoul? It’s the first time I’ve heard of it. Anyone else?”
“It’s not from the Luka continent.”
“It’s not from Pilos either.”
The people around me murmured as they shook their heads. When I glanced at them, I noticed that most of them had white or dark skin, and had blonde, red, or brown hair. They were all foreigners! As I cowered slightly, the man who first talked to me approached. He was wearing a small shield on his arm and had a short sword attached to it. With a sigh, he reached his hand out to me.
“You must be from a minor place. Nice to meet you. I’m the party leader Ellos Von Kasina. Paul, Celtine, and I are from the Edias continent.”
“Gasina1?”
“It’s Kasina.”
I grabbed the hand of the party leader, who looked slightly disappointed. Having played games for a while, I knew what a party was. It was just that I never thought I would be in a party with people from other worlds…
“I’m Kang Shin. Nice to meet you.”
After a brief introduction with the other party members, I thought we would immediately fight the Orc Lord. I was mistaken.
“Hold on.”
It was a small girl from a place called the Luka continent. Besides this small girl, three other members, a woman carrying a rapier, a long-eared beauty with a quiver on her back, and a weak framed girl barely holding onto her wooden shield came from this continent. The small girl was a blonde, twin-tailed beauty, whose hair shone like gold and whose wooden staff matched well. However, the way she talked wasn’t cute in the slightest.
“Wait, look at his clothes. Aren’t those the beginner’s clothes?”
“Beginner’s clothes?”
What was wrong with my clothes? I looked down at the clothes I was wearing. Because I wanted to be in clothes suited for moving around, I always came into the dungeon wearing my training clothes. Even if they were ripped, they were restored once I got out of the dungeon.
“… You haven’t gone to the Floor Shop?”
“I did.”
Because the other side was talking informally, I did the same. The girl asked again, surprised. “They sell defensive equipment there. Why didn’t you buy them?”
“Ah.”
I did remember the Floor Shop selling defensive equipment. However, my goal was to reach the 10th floor and buy a mana cultivation method. I couldn’t thoughtlessly spend gold before then. It was the same for my weapon. I continued to use the Sharp Wooden Spear given to me at the beginning. Of course, it wasn’t so sharp anymore.
“I have to save money to buy a mana cultivation method.”
“What? You don’t have a mana cultivation method? What family are you from?”
“Family? The Kang family I guess?”
“Doesn’t that family have a mana cultivation method?”
“Nope.”
“What? Oh no, we got the wrong party member. Kick him out!”
“Mm, it’s going to be difficult if you don’t have a mana cultivation method.”
“He doesn’t have a mana cultivation method?”
The other party members began to whisper to each other. Realizing that something was going wrong, I talked to Ellos, who seemed to be the most understanding.
“Does everyone else have a mana cultivation method?”
“Of course. Wait, I don’t know about the other dungeons, but it’s known to be impossible to climb to the 5th floor of the First Dungeon without a mana cultivation method. How did you get this far?”
“Oh, I raised my skill level. I mastered my mid-rank spear technique…”
“Mid-rank master!?” This time, another person in the back yelled out in surprise. It was a brown-haired man carrying a large shield and wearing a thick leather armor.
“Don’t lie. I practiced my shield technique for 10 years and it’s only just gotten to mid-rank level 2. You said you mastered the mid-rank spear technique!?”
“I did… is that weird?”
“It is! Mastering a mid-rank weapon skill without even a mana cultivation method, I don’t believe it! Don’t tell me, you have the high-rank spear technique?”
“No, it said I couldn’t learn it because I don’t have mana.”
“…”
All the party members fell silent. Then, Ellos spoke out. “Let’s bring him in.”
“But Ellos…”
“We barely climbed to the 5th floor with the three of us. With the rule, [all players below the 10th floor can only be partied with people from their own continent], he must have climbed to the 5th floor on his own. If he had his own party, he wouldn’t need to enter ours. Am I right?”
“Yes.”
When I nodded, Ellos seemed to gain more confidence and talked louder.
“See. Kang Shin alone has the ability of all three of us combined. I can’t speak for the future, but at least on this 5th floor, he has more than enough qualification to fulfill the damage dealer role. He’s a mid-rank spear technique master!”
“But look at his armor…”
“I don’t like him…”
“Kick him!”
The twin-tail kept on saying to kick me. I held myself back from glaring at her, but she got more arrogant and glared at me.
“Kick him!”
“Miss Palludia, please calm down. We haven’t seen his skills yet.”
“We don’t need to! Look at him, he’s using a half-broken wooden spear!”
“Hmm…”
“It’ll be too late if we take the time to see it. I don’t know how your continent is, but mine is in a fierce war against the demon race. If I lose the opportunity to get stronger for a whole week, we’ll fall behind in the war!”
“My continent is also at war with invaders. Hu, fine. Just give us some time. Mister Kang Shin, I apologize, but you’ll need to show us your power. There should be an orc further back, so show us your abilities by defeating it.”
“Sure, it’s not a hard request.”
“Kuk…”
The brat named Palludia stepped back from the negotiation with Ellos, but still bit down on her lips in displeasure.
“You’re an orc yourself…”
“I’m not an orc!”
I couldn’t help but yell out when she picked on my weak spot. When I faced her and glared, she seemed to be intimidated as she turned away.
“Hmph!”
“Hmph.”
I also snorted. Then I sauntered off. Because there were no orcs near the door, I had to walk for 5 minutes.
“Chwiik, human!”
Found one. It was wearing a worn-down leather armor and carrying a fearsome glaive. Confirming that the others were watching, I ran toward it. My spear spun in my hand, and I soon snapped my hand, grabbing onto it tightly. Now!
“Haap!”
I lightly dodged the orc’s glaive attack, and the spear I struck out like lightning pierced its target. The orc that was running toward me stopped in its track, let out a burping sound, and began to fall with blood foaming at its mouth. As he fell, I quickly pulled back my spear to prevent it from breaking. Without anything to lean on, the orc fell with a thud.
At first, I fought with monsters with brute strength, blocking their attacks with the spear. But because the durability of my spear wore off and fell below 10, these days I was doing my best to kill the orcs in a single blow. Because of my mastery of the mid-rank spear technique, it wasn’t too difficult to do.
“W-With just one hit…!”
“No way, did you see that? I didn’t even feel a hint of mana!”
“I did! Mana aside, that’s not even a skill!”
“Amazing…”
Ellos and the other party members seemed to be awed by my technique. Hm, I guess these days, I’m evenly matched with father just with pure spearmanship. Unfortunately, there was always that one person who likes to rain on your parade.
“Hmph, that was just a coincidence! If he tried again, there’s no way he can draw such a clean and beautiful trajectory!”
“M-Miss Palludia, even if it was a coincidence, he is undoubtedly skilled. He is more than suited to become our party member.”
“Eeek, if you can’t agree with me, I’ll just leave! It’s either my party or him! Your choice!”
“T-That’s…”
“Then I’ll just defeat another one.”
Because Ellos looked troubled, I spoke out. Ellos looked at me with teary eyes. Disgusting. Palludia, on the other hand, snorted and said, “Try it!”
“How convenient, there’s one right there.”
An orc archer. They were an annoying bunch that shot arrows from afar. Thankfully, they didn’t appear often. When they appeared with other orcs, I had to be prepared to receive injuries as I charged in. But now, there was only one orc archer. For me who could avoid even bullets, avoiding arrows wasn’t much of a problem.
“Chwiik! Orc shoot arrow!”
“Human stab orc!”
Having hunted alone for a year, it became my hobby of sorts to talk back to monsters like them.
With ease, I tilted my head and dodged the orc archer’s arrow. I took a step forward and shot towards the orc archer. Just like before, my spear beautifully pierced through orc archer’s neck.
“How is it?”
“Ee… Eeeek….”
Although Palludia’s eyes were glaring, she clenched her fists and looked down. She had accepted her loss. I didn’t know just what part of me she didn’t like, but I could think of quite a few possibilities by myself. As such, I decided to not care.
What was important was not the outside, but the inside! I am Kang Shin, the son of the world’s strongest spearman. I’ll show you the strength I gained by giving up my ordinary life!
1. Gasina means b*tch in Korean.