Chapter 305 – Side Story Part 2. Naked Newbie Life (17)
“Oh my, thank you every time. The food comes out quickly, so just wait a little longer.”
“Yes.”
Today, Li Yan is running an errand for team leader Kang Jeong-hyeok and is waiting for the food she ordered to be served in front of the best restaurant in town.
Kang Jeong-hyeok had been training his paranormal skills in his dorm whenever he had free time over the past few days, and since he was reluctant to show it even to Li Yan, he had asked her to bring him a separate dinner.
Today is already the 3rd day of those days.
Li Yan looked at the people eating inside her restaurant and hummed her song.
He always complains that it doesn’t taste good, but to his taste, the food here is the best in town.
In the past, she would have eaten expensive dishes only once a year, but now she can buy them without worrying about money.
The level has already risen to 20, and is expected to be promoted to B grade tomorrow morning.
So, of course, you can’t help but hum without even realizing it.
‘If my dad were here, he would have been very happy…’
But sometimes, when I think of my dad, my heart becomes heavy.
Where are you and what are you doing?
I pray hundreds and thousands of times in my heart with the sincere hope that you are safe.
“Li Yan.”
“…!?”
It was then.
Someone called his name behind his back.
Surprised, Li Yan shifted her gaze and frowned for a moment when she saw who the voice was.
“Morton…”
“Can I talk to you for a moment?”
Morton looked around the whole time.
It seemed like they were on guard to see if there were any strangers nearby.
“I have nothing to talk to you about.”
“… It’ll just take a moment. I don’t really mean to cause any harm…”
“It’s okay. If you want to talk with me, first get permission from the team leader.”
“…”
Morton frowned strongly, but soon relaxed his expression and came closer to Li Yan and whispered.
“It’s about your father.”
“…!?”
Those were words that Li Yan could not refuse.
Without a second thought, Li Yan followed Morton into the dark alley next to the restaurant building.
Now that her level is much higher than Morton’s, she convinces herself that running away is a breeze as long as she doesn’t fall into the trap.
“There’s no need to be so guarded. It’s just me.”
“Okay, just say it. Where is my father now?”
“I don’t know that.”
Li Yan did not hide her irritation.
“Are you kidding me!?”
“No. Listen to the end. I came here to apologize for what happened in the past and to give you information.”
“Information? Are you telling me to believe that?”
“It’s up to you to believe or not. But I just want you to know that I’m doing this at my own risk.”
“…”
Lien glanced at Morton, who was much bigger than her, then sighed and said.
“Tell me first. That information.”
Morton swallowed dry saliva without realizing it and then opened her mouth.
“Actually, a few days ago, I briefly heard a conversation going on within the clan. A story about your father.”
“… What are you talking about?”
“Because it was a conversation between executives with A rank or higher, I couldn’t directly intervene. So I didn’t hear everything. But I heard one thing for sure. Ancient ruins in the Goblin Forest.”
“…?”
“There is a high probability that that is the dungeon your father last entered.”
“But that place… My father was a C-ranked person. Even my father’s party said it was dangerous there, so we never go there!”
It was a very infamous dungeon for adventurers in the village.
Even if most A-rank parties prepare thoroughly, less than half of them come back alive.
“I don’t know the details. I may have been caught in a trap… Anyway, this is all I heard.”
Morton left a few final requests and disappeared into the darkness of the alley.
“Don’t tell anyone that you heard this from me. If it gets to the ears of the clan’s executives, my life will end there. And you, too, don’t do anything reckless. That’s not a dungeon that anyone can enter. Even in our clan, there are A-ranks that include strangers. It’s a dungeon that only parties go to.”
Li Yan stood for a long time in the alley where Morton disappeared.
Her mind was filled with various thoughts.
“Soni! A customer who packaged a large quantity of food!”
Then, she quickly came to her senses when she heard the voice of the restaurant owner.
“Yes! I’m here!”
Even as she went to get the food, she hardly left her mind.
‘Ancient ruins in the Goblin Forest… Only stranger parties…’
It would be difficult if you were alone, but if the team leader, the party leader, helps you, you will be able to go to any dungeon, no matter how infamous it is.
‘What should I do if he dies?’
In order to shake off the negative thoughts that kept coming to her mind, Li Yan tried to think of only one thing.
If you just help the team leader… You can go anywhere.
Then she will definitely be able to bring her father back.
* * *
Another day has dawned.
As of 10 a.M., All party members were promoted to B grade.
Actually, it’s just the grade, but if you look at the level, it’s safe to say it’s already A grade.
Considering the paranormal abilities I possessed, it was somewhat of a foregone conclusion that our party would head to the next floor.
“It’s good that he gets things done quickly.”
I spent the morning shopping.
Drok from the purchase office came to my lodging early in the morning and paid for the fire tiger skin, and I used the money to buy some equipment.
A full body leather set worth 200 goals and a dagger worth 150 goals with an additional attack power of 16.
Is this enough to envy anyone in the lowest level?
I don’t know, but the dagger I originally used had an attack power of 2, so this one would be much better.
‘But, wouldn’t it have been a bit of a waste to buy armor if I wasn’t planning on getting hit even once…’
I thought about this later, but you never know.
Above all, as someone who has been playing games since I was young, as long as there is a separate stat called defense, raising it is a natural thing to do as a gamer.
Currently, I am wearing a full body leather set and have a defense of 22.
‘Well, this is also temporary…’
In addition, we commissioned the production of leather equipment made from the fire tiger skin left over from the sale.
As befits the nickname ‘Fire Tiger’, the completed equipment is said to have high resistance to flames.
There was a reason why even animal skins cost as much as 20 pieces per piece.
Anyway, it was almost noon.
“Okay, let’s go. Let’s have a sandwich for lunch.”
“Leader. Are we hunting that guy today?”
“Uh. I have to hunt.”
Our party left the village and revisited the cave where we had been rampaging all day yesterday.
There is only one goal.
The boss of Smoking Tiger, who occupies a place in the deepest part of the dungeon.
Even compared to the elephant-sized Smoking Tiger, it has a larger belly and long white beard and eyebrows.
[Smoke King Tygmos]
Just like the nickname ‘King of Smoke’, thick cigarette smoke is billowing throughout the space where he is located.
My throat hurts every time I breathe.
“Let’s get ready soon.”
But there is nothing to worry about.
We took out the countless tiger sticks we had recovered yesterday, lit them on fire, and each took one to suck out the smoke.
[The maximum value of magical power and mental power increases slightly.]
[Resistance to the toxicity of the smoke exhaled by Tygmos increases.]
Collock. Cough, cluck.
The four people except me coughed repeatedly, probably because it was their first time smoking.
“Okay, everyone, come to your senses and wake up. We’ll start soon.”
“Cough, Colock… Yes…”
“Whoa. It’s spicy. It’s so spicy. I’m crying.”.
I have already experienced dealing with this world’s boss monster once.
Of course, compared to the guy in front of me, that rabbit was just cute.
But you have to be careful.
Even that rabbit used things like spatial leaping and instantaneous movement.
There was no way this tiger would obediently be hunted by us.
‘But whatever. Because this side also has cheats.’
I strengthened the hand holding the dagger and immediately used space manipulation.
Distorts the space around the boss monster’s eyes and connects it to the space right in front of me.
The moment I see the eyes of a giant tiger monster in the distorted air, I swing my dagger strongly.
Puuk-
As it was an item weighing 150 pieces, the tip of the dagger was twice as sharp as yesterday, and penetrated the eyeball of the king of acting, Taig, by more than 15 centimeters.
However, the reaction speed was so fast that the guy left the distorted space before he could even open one of his eyeballs.
“Tch. One eye is still fine! Everyone, be careful!”
“I, I will go.”
Dick charged forward with his shield in front of him.
From the beginning, the boss who lost one eye was furious and stamped his foot.
Thump thump thump – the ground shook up and down, the cave vibrated as if it would collapse, and pieces of rock fell on top of my head.
‘Is this also a device?’
The dungeon itself will not collapse like this.
However, this itself already felt like a fatal wide-area attack to us.
“Everyone, look out for your heads!”
Actually, that boss is not weak enough for a party like us to deal with.
I was just trying to close that huge gap with my first attack through space manipulation.
Even for monsters, losing sight is a huge handicap.
-Quaang!
“Wow! Crazy… What kind of power does this guy have…”
“Dick! Are you okay?”
“Not yet. Leader! How long do we have to hold out!”
“Until it stops moving. Now the movement is so intense that I can’t use my abilities.”
However, I could barely close the gap with him by just taking one eye.
Unfortunately, with my current abilities, I can’t do anything as long as he doesn’t stay in one place and runs rampant.
“Dick! Guide him to use a skill! I don’t know what skill it will be.”
The rabbit was an instantaneous movement.
So what is a tiger?
Without even having time to wonder about it, the doubt was quickly resolved.
The guy activated the skill.
The tiger took a deep breath from the huge stick held in his hand, and unlike the other guys who shot out flame breath, the tiger vomited out so much white cigarette smoke that he couldn’t see in front of his eyes.
Smoke fills the space as if a thick fog has bloomed.
Fortunately, it resisted the toxicity, but the boss moved as if swimming in the smoke and completely disappeared for a moment.
…!!
Then, at some point, it appeared in front of me with a devil-like smile and swung its huge front paw strongly.
It seemed as if he was trying to avenge the loss of one eye.
-Quaang!
But it’s all in vain.
I was no longer at the place where he hit.
Space leap.
My only skill shined, and in an instant I was on top of the guy’s head.
