Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 45
Chapter 45: Episode 13. Story of a Dungeon Fight (1)
On the sixth floor of the dungeon, I changed the mode to inside affair mode and tried to change the landscape there.
The monsters’ ecosystem was built up to the fifth floor, but the sixth floor had been empty until then.
However, to get what I wanted, I had to renovate the place and raise special monsters there.
But changing landscapes also cost points.
I spent 100,000 points to change a considerable amount of space on the sixth floor into a pool of lava.
Creeeaak!
The dungeon started to shake, and the sixth floor started to change its shape.
The floor cracked and from the crack, a 100-foot-tall volcano came out. When five volcanoes were placed on the sixth floor, lava started to come out of the craters.
Active lava was set on the designated surfaces.
It was good, but that wasn’t all that I needed.
I put low-level monsters, Level-3 ‘Pyrok Larvae,’ in the area.
Pyrok Larvae cost 1,200 points per every one monster.
Pyrok Larvae were 1.7 times more expensive compared to an Orc, yet it was just a tiny larva the size of a hand. I bought 40 of them with no hesitation in buying them.
‘At least one of them has to become an adult.’
Pyroks stayed in the lava while they were larvae, but when they become adults, they could live outside of lava.
It was just a tiny red larva at first, but after three metamorphoses to grow into an adult body, they became a three-foot-long mid-level monster with a dragon tail and bat wings.
But even the shop that sold everything didn’t sell adult Pyroks, because 99 percent of them died going through three metamorphoses to become adults.
They needed intensive care, which was why I called in Dark Elves and Dwarves.
‘They’re monsters that help support the origin of fire-related Mana.’
Adult Pyrok fed on stones containing Mana of Fire. They could instinctively feel the Mana and find volcanic rocks.
This was the reason that I decided to buy Pyrok Larvae.
Lyhee looked at me with confusion.
“Master. Pyrok Larvae are not easy monsters to farm. If they become adults, they will be some of the strongest among mid-level monsters, but I don’t think it’s reasonable to buy them, even though you already did.”
“I know.”
“Maybe you’re just curious, because they don’t sell adult Pyroks at the shop for everything? If so, I will draw you an adult Pyrok. I’ve only seen them once, but they were super cute.”
Lyhee wasn’t exactly the great artist though, and I didn’t want to buy them just because I was curious.
I had a plan involving adult Pyroks.
‘There are four different kinds of altars that keep Mana out of the dungeon. I will find the fire altar.’
That was another piece of information I knew from my former life.
There were four different kinds of altars hidden in the dungeon, and if I find the altar, I could receive a powerful high-level monster that was the altar’s protector.
I was planning to use Pyroks to find the altar.
I hadn’t tried to look for the altar until now because I hadn’t had a use for it yet.
Finding the altar wouldn’t give me an achievement, which I confirmed in my former life. And a high-level monster was only useful to massacre humans, so there was no benefit for me.
But now, the game had changed.
Now, I was officially at the top of the awakened heroes in Korea.
If I inspired the awakened heroes to stop the monster wave when Korea was severely damaged by it, I would be able to have massive influence in Korea.
I could do that even if I wasn’t the official top among the heroes, but I needed to make a real impact, so I was waiting for the best timing and way to start the monster wave.
I needed a massive impact in one shot.
Now that I was the top among the heroes… the monster wave would affect not only the awakened heroes, but also regular people, and that would strengthen my position as the top awakened hero.
Moreover, people and politicians of this country were seriously insensitive to safety. They weren’t making any real moves although they knew about the dungeon and monsters. I needed to change their attitudes.
In the Republic of Korea, most of the people were seriously insensitive to safety.
They kept talking about the dungeon and North Korea but without taking any proper action.
This country needed a real threat to happen in order to make people move.
It was probably because Korean politicians were using the dungeon for their political campaigns. I’d seen it more than enough in my former life.
‘I need to create an environment to grow and train more awakened heroes, and… I need to become a symbolic figure. That will be helpful to raid dungeons of other devils.’
I was making my plans for the future.
If the awakened heroes sacrificed themselves to stop the monster wave, the surviving ones would have better social statuses, and the awakened heroes would train even harder to protect regular people and survive at the same time.
There would be a side effect in the creation of some awakened heroes who would try to take advantage of the situation, but a bit of corruption wasn’t such a bad thing, since I could always cut them off if they became too bad.
There was another reason; I was planning to present Krithli as the dungeon master.
That would kill ten birds with one stone!
Therefore, I thought it was a reasonable time to use the altar monster.
Also, I didn’t have many points left, so this was the perfect time to use the altar monster.
“Master?”
Looking at me deep in thought, Lyhee called for me in confusion.
I answered without any emotion on my face, “Lyhee, did you call in the Dark Elves and Dwarves?”
“Yes, they’re all there. Do you want me to bring them here?”
“Yes.”
I nodded. Lyhee started to flap her tiny wings to fly toward them.
“Greetings, Master!”
“Greetings, Master!”
There were fifty Dark Elves and twenty Dwarves.
All of them lined up in perfect lines and kneeled in front of me.
Among the Dark Elves, Krithli was kneeling as well. She had gained weight and looked like the definition of perfect beauty. I was deeply impressed with her appearance, as she looked like a goddess of beauty.
I had never really taken an interest in women, but she was almost exciting me…
I shook my head and opened my Mind’s Eye.
I wanted to see the progress of the past month.
Name: Krithli
Occupation: N/A
Title:
<ul>
Blood descendant of The Real Magic Dragon (Epic, Intelligence Mana+6)
Blessed by the protection of the Moon (Ex U, Mana+8)
</ul>
Abilities: Power 26, Intelligence 94 (+6)
Speed 28, Strength 32, Mana 55 (+18)
Potential (235+24/478)
Others: The blood descendant of the Real Magic Dragon Ahojin and the Dark Elf Higher Shila. Impossible to predict the potential of its growth.
Skills: Necromancy (R), Creation of Undeads (U)
[Before and After]
Power 23, Intelligence 100, Speed 21, Strength 27, Mana 60, Potential (211+20/478)
Power 26, Intelligence 100, Speed 28, Strength 32, Mana 73, Potential (235+24/478)
There were an additional four Mana from the ‘Death Cane’ option.
Once she recovered her health, her abilities had increased rapidly, but what really surprised me was that her skill Necromancy became Rare-Level.
It had been only one month…
Her Necromancy at the Normal Level became Rare-Level.
‘Huh.’
Was this the power of Intelligence at 100?
The growth rate was incredible.
It seemed like Necromancy would become a Unique Level skill in about a few months, and the Creation of Undeads as well.
The growth of a slave of mine was a good thing for me.
I nodded and talked to them.
“Do any of you have any experiences in commanding an army?”
Two raised their hands, Dark Elf Julium and Dwarf Staene.
They were both leaders of their villages.
“Only two?”
Julium carefully shared his opinion. “I’m afraid it will depend on how you define an army, Master.”
“Over 500 soldiers.”
“If so, there are two more.”
There were four Dark Elves.
I looked at the Dwarves.
“What about Dwarves?”
“We have one more.”
“So five in total. That’s about right.”
I couldn’t just unleash monsters for the monster wave—I needed commanders to lead them.
“So, the five of you, take three steps forward. Krithli can take two steps.”
Krithli and the five followed my order.
The Dark Elves and Dwarves were two steps away, while Krithli was three away from me.
“In a week, we’ll start the first monster wave. We will send out Orcs, Kobolds, and Knol, 50,000 monsters in total, so I want you guys to command the monsters to put people in a panic.”
“Master. What do you mean by ‘the first’?”
Julium asked me the right question at the right timing.
“The first the monster wave is to give humans awareness of monsters. Krithli won’t go out this time. Only five of you will lead the wave. You can lose all the monsters, but all five of you, the commanders, have to come back. We will have the second monster wave in about two months. For the second one, Krithli will be the commander of the whole troop, and even stronger monsters will join the monster wave.”
The first was just to give them a taste of it.
I told them while clenching my fist, “We don’t have much time. I will give 1,000 monsters to each commander. You need to train them for a week so that they have the basic skills to abuse humans outside of the dungeon!”
“Yes, Master.”
“Yes, Master!”
Krithli and the five commanders bowed down.
“And the rest of you have other tasks to do. I put some monsters called Pyrok Larvae in the lava region on the sixth floor, so you guys need to take care of them. When a larva floats on the lava with its stomach up, you need to pick it up and let it breathe on the ground for 30 minutes. Make a hive that doesn’t melt in lava, and build your houses around the lava region.”
I quickly allocated tasks.
There was only one week left until the first monster wave!
We had to move quickly.
<hr />
Five hundred Orcs on the third and fourth floors, and 4,500 Kobolds and Goblins.
I assigned 20 Harpies, ten Champions that were the hybrids of Kobolds and Goblins, as the additional monster for the first wave.
I thought that would be enough to smash a human army.
Korea had no nuclear weapons. These monsters would be enough to smash an army of soldiers unless they brought in massive numbers of tanks and fighter aircraft.
Even with modern weapons, humans didn’t have the guts to fight against a fearless monster army.
Bam! Bam!
The sound of monsters echoed in the dungeon.
A huge army of monsters lined up on the ground floor in perfect formation.
I raised my right hand and pointed to the front.
“Go out.”
“Go out!”
Bam! Bam!
Five thousand monsters led by five commanders left the dungeon.
The Mirr squadron base camp near Bukhan-San was a base camp meant to stop monsters coming out from the dungeon.
It was at a hidden location from the citizens to observe the entrance of the dungeon, but over an entire year, there were no monsters that came out from the dungeon.
Hence, the soldiers were way too relaxed, and all they did were some compulsory daily patrols.
Commanders of the squadron usually played card games or some other entertainment they brought from the city, never really paying enough attention to the dungeon.
“A pair.”
“Sorry, I’ve got a full house.”
The table made for tactical meetings had became a poker table. Losers were just looking at the two playing the final round with empty pockets.
But the game was almost over.
The soldier who had a pair complained to the commander, “Commander, be generous. You can let me win sometimes. Huh! I wanted to order some fried chicken for my soldiers with this money.”
The commander kicked his tongue and answered, “You dumb *ss, fried chicken for your soldiers? Everyone knows you call a hooker when you win the money.”
But then, when the commander was collecting his money, someone opened the door abruptly.
The commander didn’t look happy.
“I told you to knock—”
“C-commander! Th-there’s a monster wave!”
The commander laughed at him. “What are you talking about?”
“He must have had a bad dream.”
“He’s a bit delusional.”
All the soldiers were laughing at him.
Bang!
However, when another patrolman kicked the door to report, the mood suddenly changed.
“The m… the monster wave!”
“More than 4,000 monsters! Monsters are coming out of the dungeon!”
