The Veteran Player Already Knows

Chapter 13 - Nest (2)

“Goodness.”

A sigh escaped me as I looked at the bug, which was easily the size of a building.

It was a D-grade Demonic Beast, the ‘Queen Bug’.

A grade high enough to be the king of an E-grade dungeon.

Even in this dark and murky place without any lighting, I could clearly see them endlessly laying eggs.

The reason a dungeon was created here was because these things kept spawning countless offspring.

The sight of the larvae squirming inside the eggs was a bit disgusting.

They were quite cute when I saw them in the game's graphics, though.

“…Urgh.”

And right next to me was someone whose condition would worsen just by looking at that.

“Don’t throw up. You want to get caught when we’ve gone through the trouble of hiding?”

“…”

“Don’t faint either.”

“…Kill… me…”

“I told you, if you’re going to die, die fighting.”

Suppressing Seo Ah-in, who was muttering with lifeless eyes, I scanned the enemies inside the hatchery.

Most of them looked identical to the Demonic Beasts I had just dealt with.

But as one could tell from their menacing, dark-red shells, each individual's combat power was now enhanced compared to before.

‘There it is.’

And behind the countless Demonic Beasts, the item I was looking for came into view.

The clear reward for this dungeon.

[ Mandrake Sapling / Low-grade ]

[ This is the root of a Mandrake that has not yet fully grown. Its effects are lesser compared to a mature one, but it can produce various magical effects. ]

Nice.

I counted how many there were, and it seemed to be at least more than three or four.

‘Gotcha.’

A satisfied smile bloomed on my face.

Although its listed grade was low-grade, in terms of rarity alone, it was an item that could be classified as rare, and no one would complain.

A mature Mandrake, which could be obtained by raising it correctly, was a versatile material that could be used in almost every aspect of the game.

To get it, I would have to break through all the Demonic Beasts carpeting the area.

‘Of course…’

I had no intention of going through the trouble of breaking through there myself.

In the first place, I brought this girl along to take the easy way out.

“Alright. Shall we get going?”

“Are we going back to the Guild? Finally, something reasonable comes out of your mouth-”

“…Of course I mean we’re going forward.”

I said to Seo Ah-in, whose face was changing color at an incredible speed.

“I have a plan.”

“What?”

“First, you’ll take on all those Demonic Beasts by yourself.”

“…Excuse me? What? Excuse me?”

“What. Why.”

“No. I think I misheard you. You want me to take on all of them by myself?”

Seo Ah-in pointed at the swarming bugs with a trembling hand.

It certainly looked like a lot at a glance.

I could understand her reaction.

Of course, the answer I would give her was already set.

“Don’t ask again when you heard me perfectly fine. Wanna die?”

“…”

“Besides, there’s just a lot of them, they’re nothing special. Someone at your level should be able to go on a rampage. I even showed you how to do it earlier.”

“…I don’t know if I can do it well.”

I glanced down at her hand as she said that.

She was trying hard to hide it, but it was trembling so much that I could see it at a glance.

Right, well.

As I had pointed out a few times before, this girl was the type to be unusually weak in real combat despite her skills.

She was good at beating up humans, but when it came to fighting Demonic Beasts, she couldn’t even bring out half of her original skills.

The reason was a bit of a tricky one to solve at once, so it was a problem that had to be improved slowly over time.

But.

I had every intention of skipping all those processes and just reaping the results.

First, I offered Seo Ah-in the canteen I had at my waist.

“Drink.”

“What is this?”

“It has long been said that when a person is nervous, they should first shove water down their esophagus.”

“…I’m hearing that for the first time.”

Of course, she was. Because I just made it up.

Besides, what was in the canteen wasn’t just water.

But perhaps because she agreed that she had to do something, Seo Ah-in drank what was in the canteen without much complaint.

“So. Are you a little less nervous?”

“…Not at all. I’ve never been able to relax no matter what I did…”

Well, you’ve never had what you just drank before, though.

“I see.”

“…”

As I replied with a bright smile, Seo Ah-in’s expression hardened and she took a slight step back.

“…Could you please not make that face? It’s creepy.”

“Are you going to spit on a smiling face?”

“Something bad always happens when you smile like that.”

This girl’s more observant than I thought.

In fact, something like that was about to happen.

For instance, On the ridge where we were hiding together, me suddenly giving Seo Ah-in a little push.

“…Huh?”

I grinned again at the girl whose body was tilting over with wide eyes.

“One life lesson.”

“Huh? Yes? Huh? Uhh? R-right now?”

“You have to try things to get better. That’s all.”

As I said that, I gave another light tap to the girl who had somehow managed to keep her balance.

Only then did her face turn pale as she realized what had happened to her.

Seo Ah-in, who had rolled down the ridge and landed with a thud in the middle of the Demonic Beasts, finally let out a heavy scream.

“You, you trashy human-!”

Partially agree.

But you know.

If this girl could just use her real skills, breaking through here wouldn't even be a question.

That seemingly lacking girl had her various strengths, but among them, her combat prowess was one of the top cheat keys in the entire game.

And this process would probably be the first step in leading her to that ‘complete form’.

“Well, I told you, you can do it.”

“Is that something you should be saying right now?!”

Seo Ah-in replied, grinding her teeth.

She was just drawing her sword with teary eyes as the Demonic Beasts swarmed near her.

“Then you want to remain a chicken in real fights forever? This can’t be fixed without some shock therapy.”

I also got up and continued.

“You say it yourself.”

Slowly and deliberately, so she could hear me clearly.

“Are you an inferior human who doesn’t even try to change?”

“…!”

Those words probably remained in her memory.

Because that’s what this girl’s father always said.

Anyway, her attitude always changes when it comes to anything related to Mr. Seo Jin-seong.

“They’re coming. If you don’t fight, you’ll die.”

As I said that, a few Demonic Beasts nearby immediately rushed at Seo Ah-in.

“…For someone like you, you’re always chirping away with that mouth of yours!”

As Seo Ah-in spat out those words in annoyance, White Edge was drawn from its scabbard like a flash of light.

And in a single slash.

The charging Demonic Beasts were instantly cut in half.

‘…She’s a monster.’

There were at least 6 or 7 of them.

To pull off such a feat with a thin sword that’s hard to cover such a wide range.

Of course, seeing her pause in surprise after doing it, it seemed it was the first time she had succeeded in doing something like that in ‘real combat’.

“…Huh? Why did this work…?”

“…”

Of course, apart from such a feat, it seemed her screw-loose behavior wasn't going to be fixed.

“See?”

I added with a smirk.

“You did it.”

“Uh…”

Seo Ah-in, who seemed to be at a loss for words, rolled her eyes.

It seemed she tried to find something to rebuke me with but failed.

I could tell just by the way she timidly argued with a vaguely sharp voice.

“What are you going to do while I’m buying time here?!”

“I need to catch that.”

I said, pointing ahead with my chin.

And Seo Ah-in, who confirmed the Queen Bug at the end of my gesture, looked back at me in horror.

“That big one? By yourself? Are you crazy?!”

A moment ago she was cursing me out as trash, and now she was worried again.

With a smirk, I organized the belongings I had brought.

“Just hold out for 5 minutes. It’ll be over then.”

At my reply, Seo Ah-in’s expression immediately went blank.

***

I tore open the cap of the potion I had brought with my teeth.

It was an unavoidable measure as I was taking out the molotov cocktails from my crossbody bag with my other hand.

‘These trashy stats.’

Anyone would forgive this level of grumbling if their body’s stamina was already hitting rock bottom after just a brief battle a moment ago.

To be in this state even after I invested stat points.

I shoved a potion into my stomach for my screaming heart and muscles.

With my body revitalized, I quickly lit a molotov cocktail with a lighter.

Thanks to Seo Ah-in drawing the attention of all the nearby Demonic Beasts, the path in front of me was practically a free pass.

So, from here, now.

“…My stomach’s gonna burst, damn it.”

While grumbling, I took out another healing potion and shoved it down my esophagus.

Unlike the one I just took, this one served to momentarily amplify my mana.

Which meant something like this was possible.

[ High-speed Maneuver ]

[ High-speed Maneuver ]

[ High-speed Maneuver ]

.

.

.

I invested all the mana I had to approach the Queen Bug as quickly as possible.

As befitting the name Queen Bug, these things would continuously spawn Demonic Beasts if left alone even for a moment.

They were the ones that had to be cut off first once a battle started.

Of course, as is characteristic of this role, their combat power wasn't that great for their size.

Though they were naturally stronger than the ones that swarmed Seo Ah-in.

--!!

And as soon as I got close, the Queen Bug vibrated its body rapidly with a sound that grated on the ears.

At the same time, antenna-like tentacles began to jut out from all over its body.

‘…I’m not into this kind of thing.’

It was kind of cute when I saw the game model, but seeing the actual blackish tentacles made me feel genuinely bad.

So, it would be best to end this as quickly as possible.

‘It’ll hurt a bit, though.’

Taking a deep breath, I clutched the canteen I had passed to Seo Ah-in a little while ago.

To be honest, The thing inside this was something quite tremendous.

[ Purifier / Rare ]

[ Removes all harmful effects applied to the user and grants immunity for a short time. ]

The ‘harmful effects’ mentioned here referred to all negative things applied to both body and mind.

It was thanks to this that Seo Ah-in’s ‘combat anxiety symptoms’ had completely disappeared.

Considering that other high-grade healing potions gave ridiculously impressive stat buffs, well.

One might not think it’s that great.

But in certain situations, nothing was as useful as this.

So much so that it could even be used in this way.

“Ah, I told you I’m not into this kind of thing!”

As soon as I felt the sensation of a tentacle piercing my body with a squelch, I gritted my teeth and chugged the canteen.

At the same time, I felt the tentacles that were about to enter my body being repelled.

As far as I knew, this was an action that gave the opponent a ‘debuff’ rather than an ‘attack’ judgment.

Which meant that while under the effects of the Purifier, I was temporarily as good as invincible against this thing.

‘That was the system.’

The systems for countering attacks varied depending on the type of attack, and figuring them out through repetition and mastery was one of the main activities of the game.

Of course.

I was probably the only one in this world who understood it all from A to Z.

‘And…’

This game was a system where both sides were more or less balanced.

It was in that context that an enemy like the Queen Bug, which had to be eliminated with the highest priority, was given a ‘weakness’ that made it easy to do so.

While the tentacles rushing towards me were all being repelled, I quickly climbed up to its chest.

“Heave-ho.”

And I immediately threw three or four molotov cocktails into the ‘spiracle’ in the middle of it.

The molotov cocktails immediately slid down into the Queen Bug’s body.

Bug-type Demonic Beasts, which belong to the earth attribute, were particularly weak to fire, and I just put it inside its body?

It meant that even with such a shabby weapon, I could see a conclusive effect.

---!!!!

As the Queen Bug let out a painful scream, the surrounding Demonic Beasts also began to writhe as if they were having a seizure.

Unlike the Tower, a dungeon is cleared as soon as the boss is defeated. It’s quite convenient in this respect.

If you just take care of the strongest one, the mobs will be annihilated on their own.

“…”

And among the Demonic Beasts that were collapsing all at once, there was Seo Ah-in, sending a gaze as if she were looking at an alien.

“…Are you the same species of human as me?”

You should think that to yourself.