LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 49 - Traitors⑴
Chapter 49 Traitors⑴
Ding.
[You have defeated the Ogre.]
[175,629 experience points and 89 gold have been distributed according to your contribution.]
[You have obtained a B-grade rare item: Ogre Gauntlets.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
Yeong-sik looked at the messages popping up before his eyes and grinned. A thrilling shiver ran through his entire body.
An explosive level-up that jumped him from level 45 to level 54 in one go, a whole 9 levels.
Considering how much harder it became to level up as one progressed, this was an even more astonishing figure than when he gained 4 levels at once during his first troll hunt.
“Good.”
A shiver ran down Yeong-sik’s spine. The strategy he used this time took advantage of the monster’s lack of anti-air capabilities and low intelligence, using a drone to deplete its health before capturing it.
The plan was successful. The drone managed to evade the Ogre for three hours, gradually wearing it down. Although there was a risky moment when a clump of dirt thrown by the Ogre nearly destroyed the 1,000-gold drone, it managed to survive with only the propeller getting damaged.
‘With this method…’
No matter how high the level or powerful the monster, as long as he could exploit their low intelligence and plan meticulously, there was nothing he couldn’t capture.
‘I need to keep leveling up my crafting skills as well.’
Yeong-sik thought about the feats he accomplished with the drone.
In fact, both the troll herd hunt and the method of wearing down the Ogre’s health to capture it were only possible because of the drone’s power.
Even though he had unlocked up to security level 7, it was still impossible to face a group of trolls or an Ogre head-on at his current low level. The drone was an incredible item that made such impossible feats possible.
If a person had played the bait role instead of a fast, freely flying drone, they wouldn’t have lasted long and would have been caught and killed by the monster.
‘I’m really glad I made this.’
Yeong-sik opened the body of the drone and removed the dirt stuck between the propellers. It was a very delicate task, but with his understanding of the drone’s internal structure, it wasn’t too difficult for him.
Ding.
[You have acquired the skill ‘Repair Lv 1.’]
‘Hmm?’
Yeong-sik tilted his head at the sudden message window that appeared before him. The skill description continued in front of his eyes.
[Skill Information – Repair Lv 1]
Description: Uses metal materials to repair mechanical devices. The more severe the damage, the more time it takes.
It was a very simple skill. Yeong-sik’s eyes sparkled as he used the repair skill on the drone.
– Vuuung.
A few metal parts from his inventory disappeared, and the drone’s propeller began to spin again. The drone’s damage wasn’t severe, so the repair was completed in an instant.
‘This will be convenient in emergencies.’
Although he could still fix things directly by understanding the structure, using the skill was much faster.
“Wait a minute.”
At that moment, a thought crossed Yeong-sik’s mind. He placed his hand on his body and used the ‘Repair’ skill.
– Vuuung!
A blue light flowed into Yeong-sik’s body, healing the small cuts and fatigue he had sustained from the battle with the Ogre.
‘As expected.’
Yeong-sik confirmed that the repair skill could be applied to himself as well and smiled broadly. However, his smile quickly faded as he checked his inventory.
‘This uses up too many materials.’
It had taken 20 metal parts just to heal some small cuts and fatigue. He couldn’t imagine how many materials it would take to heal a serious injury.
“Ugh… I’ll have to refrain from using this on myself unless it’s an emergency.”
It was a skill that was difficult to use freely, except in urgent situations.
Despite this, Yeong-sik was satisfied that he now had a way to heal himself without relying on a healer’s magic. He turned toward his party members.
Gil-soo and Ara were looking down at the Ogre’s corpse in disbelief, each checking their own status windows.
“Haa. It seems that even though we defeated a high-level monster, the level cap hasn’t changed.”
Gil-soo confirmed that the level limit displayed in his status window was still at 45, and he had a bitter expression.
Ara looked at Gil-soo with a sympathetic expression and spoke up.
“Still, raising the level cap isn’t an impossible task. Don’t worry too much, sir.”
“Haha. Thanks for saying that.”
Gil-soo smiled lightly and picked up the gloves that had fallen on the ground.
“By the way, are these the ‘Ogre Gauntlets’ we obtained this time?”
“Show them to me, sir.”
Yeong-sik approached Gil-soo with an intrigued expression. In fact, this was the first time a rare item had dropped from a monster since they had arrived in this world.
As he received the gauntlets from Gil-soo, the item information appeared before his eyes.
[Item Information – Ogre Gauntlets (Rank: B)]
Description: Gauntlets imbued with the strength of an Ogre.
Options: Strength +8, Intelligence -3, and enables the skill ‘Ogre’s Roar’.
[Skill Information – Ogre’s Roar]
Description: Lets out a powerful roar in front, reducing the agility stat of all targets within range by 3.
‘This is quite good.’
Yeong-sik’s eyes sparkled as he read the item description for the Ogre Gauntlets. While the drawback of -3 to Intelligence was a downside, the boost of 8 to Strength more than made up for it.
‘The skill isn’t bad either.’
Yeong-sik’s eyes gleamed as he read the description of the skill ‘Ogre’s Roar’ attached to the item. Reducing the agility stat of targets in a range was a fairly good skill. Especially since this skill could synergize with Ara’s ice magic, potentially stacking the slow effects.
In fact, even for Yeong-sik, who didn’t particularly need the Intelligence stat, it was quite a tempting item.
‘But…’
After a moment of contemplation, Yeong-sik held the gauntlets out to Gil-soo.
“I think it’s best if you use these, sir.”
“Me, you say?”
“Yes. The item’s performance matches your profession, and I can’t use gauntlets because of my blade.”
Yeong-sik said this while raising his left hand. His left hand slightly parted, and the blade protruded from it, making it difficult to use the gauntlets without modifying them to fit him.
“Well, if you say so, Yeong-sik…”
Gil-soo, who seemed to have been interested in the Ogre Gauntlets, gulped and accepted the gauntlets. Watching Gil-soo, Yeong-sik smirked.
The primary reason Yeong-sik gave the item to Gil-soo was because of his level cap. Compared to Yeong-sik and Ara, Gil-soo’s level cap was much lower.
Yeong-sik wanted to help him overcome that with items.
‘It’s hard to say it outright.’
Since Gil-soo was already concerned about his low level cap, Yeong-sik couldn’t carelessly suggest that they bridge the level gap with items.
Gil-soo, having received the Ogre Gauntlets from Yeong-sik, immediately put them on. As soon as he wore them, he felt his arm muscles tighten and a sense of increased strength.
“Hup!”
– Bang!
Gil-soo advanced and thrust the Shield of Radiance forward. Mana flowed from his body through the shield, creating a shockwave.
– Crack.
The shockwave from the Shield of Radiance seemed to be influenced by the increased strength stat, causing the stone wall hit by the shockwave to tremble and crumble.
“…Amazing.”
Gil-soo murmured a short exclamation of admiration.
Even when he first used the Shield of Radiance, he felt that rare items granted the wearer power beyond their level.
Currently, Gil-soo was equipped with one A-grade item and one B-grade item.
These were incredibly high-grade items that would be difficult for other summoners of the same level to even covet.
Even a hidden class, said to be generally stronger than average classes, might be outclassed by Gil-soo due to the difference in equipment if they were at the same level.
“Thank you, Yeong-sik.”
Understanding this well, Gil-soo bowed his head toward Yeong-sik. He knew Yeong-sik was being considerate of his lower level cap.
“Haha. Please continue to be our reliable tank.”
Yeong-sik chuckled as he said this.
Considering Gil-soo’s current equipment, it was fair to view him as a summoner above level 55. With that level of strength, hunting monsters in the remaining time wouldn’t be a big problem.
‘Anyway, we’re not going to the Northern Frontier.’
One of the promises made before parting ways with Bae Han-seong was not to go to the Northern Frontier. That place was a chaotic battlefield where even guilds could be wiped out if they weren’t careful.
For Yeong-sik’s party of just three, hunting there would be suicidal.
‘I need to find more Ogres.’
Yeong-sik’s eyes gleamed with this thought. In the inner part of the Northern Frontier where they were, apart from dungeons, there were hardly any monsters above level 60 in the general field.
Therefore, high-level summoners usually raised their levels to between 60 and 70 by cooperating with guilds and hunting in the Northern Frontier.
However, Ogres were an exception. They were so powerful that they were rarely seen inside the Northern Frontier, being elite monsters at level 70.
Normally, they were only encountered by chance in the Northern Frontier, making them formidable monsters. Not using a method to easily hunt such high-level monsters would be a waste.
“By the way, the drone seems more amazing than I thought.”
“When you first said we should hunt the Ogre, I thought you had gone crazy. I never imagined there was such a method.”
Ara looked at the drone in Yeong-sik’s hand with astonishment.
Yeong-sik nodded and replied.
“I didn’t expect this method to work either.”
“Hmm. So, what’s the plan now? Are we going to keep hunting trolls?”
Ara tilted her head and asked him. She had heard that hunting trolls could easily raise their levels to 60, so continuing to hunt trolls didn’t seem like a bad idea.
“No.”
Yeong-sik shook his head.
“Now that we know this method works, we should aim for bigger prey.”
Yeong-sik’s lips curled into a broad smile as he said this.
The day after successfully hunting the Ogre, Yeong-sik searched the troll habitat for Ogres using his drone.
Although Ogres were scarce in the troll habitat, they were easy to find due to their habit of smashing everything in their path.
Using the same method as before, Yeong-sik wore down the Ogre’s health and then lured it into a canyon for a surprise attack.
After running at full speed for 3 to 4 hours chasing the drone, the Ogre couldn’t withstand the ambush from Yeong-sik’s party and fell helplessly.
Ding.
[Your level has increased.]
A week had passed since they began hunting Ogres.
In that short time, Yeong-sik and Ara experienced an explosive level-up, reaching level 68.
Typically, Ogres required a five-person party to be defeated, but with just three members and the experience split between only two, such an absurd leveling speed was possible.
“Capturing Ogres has become quite manageable,” Ara remarked as she looked down at the fallen Ogre.
As their levels increased, their attack power also grew, making it much more stable to hunt Ogres.
Especially for Yeong-sik, whose stats were nearly equivalent to a level 90, it was now possible to take on an Ogre one-on-one without needing to tire it out first, significantly speeding up their hunting process.
“Hmm… but Ogres are becoming harder to find.”
Perhaps it was because they had been continuously hunting the already small population of Ogres.
Yeong-sik frowned, recalling how it took hours to find just one Ogre.
‘Maybe it’s time to move to a new hunting ground.’
Trolls no longer provided experience, and finding an Ogre even once a day was becoming difficult.
Yeong-sik decided it was time to move to a different hunting ground and use the money they had accumulated to level up their skills.
– Vuuuung.
At that moment, the communication crystal orb in Yeong-sik’s possession began to glow. He reached out and picked up the orb.
– Yeong-sik.
Bae Han-seong’s voice came through the crystal. His voice was tense and rigid.
– You need to return immediately.
It had been less than a month since Yeong-sik’s party separated to start hunting on their own.
“Is there a problem?”
Yeong-sik asked, his expression hardening at Han-seong’s tone.
– Yes. We have a big problem.
“Has the kingdom’s security force already discovered our guild’s location?”
– No. They haven’t found us yet.
“Then what’s the issue…”
Han-seong continued.
– Traitors… have discovered our location.