After winning the battle against the Grand Overlord, Seon-hwa began securing samples through DNA extraction.
And Seong-jun’s party finally summoned an A-rank Dungeon at the hideout.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay without me?”
Seong-jun had excluded Seon-hwa from the dungeon raid, telling her to focus on the experiment.
She asked if he’d be all right.
“We’ve raided together enough times already. We’ll be fine. Besides, you’ll have your equipment ready soon, so you need to secure plenty of samples before that, right?”
“Still, I feel bad since we had an agreement.”
The agreement between them was that in exchange for Seong-jun helping with her experiments, Seon-hwa would assist with dungeon raids.
She was apologizing, bringing up that promise.
“You’ve already been plenty helpful. And this is an important time, isn’t it? Even if not now, I’ll ask for your help whenever it’s needed, so don’t worry.”
Seon-hwa said that, but inwardly she wanted to focus on the experiment.
She couldn’t keep operating in this half-finished body forever.
“Alright, I understand. Then take care and come back safely.”
With that, Seon-hwa saw them off, and Seong-jun and his companions entered the dungeon portal one by one.
“I’ll be going.”
Whoosh! Whoooosh! Whoooosh!
Entering the dungeon through the portal, Seong-jun’s party.
“This is the Death Knight Dungeon, a Dark Attribute dungeon. As you can see, it’s a labyrinth type. The monsters are melee, so we shouldn’t have much trouble dealing with them.”
The dungeon they summoned was the Death Knight Dungeon.
It was known for high-ranking monsters from the demon world that wielded massive longswords.
“The team will be the same as last time: Gwang-taek hyung, Yuseon, and Chang-su as one team. I’ll move alone.”
Even though he could now exert full S-rank abilities through the Guardian’s Authority, he judged that tackling an A-rank dungeon with only two people was still risky.
That’s why he grouped Gwang-taek, Yuseon, and Chang-su together.
As for Seong-jun, he had become even stronger through various upgrades before facing the Grand Overlord Alexander, so he was sufficient alone.
Above all, with tanking, close-range DPS, ranged DPS, and healing—he was nearly all-rounder—he had no trouble handling A-rank monsters by himself.
“Alright, contact us immediately if anything happens.”
“Got it. And here—this is Vitality Holy Water. It restores depleted stamina and also recovers a little health. I’ll cast Healing Light, but just in case, use this if you’re in danger.”
Seong-jun handed out E-rank Vitality Holy Water to the party.
“Oh! Like a potion? Well, with Healing Light, our health won’t drop much normally, but good to have just in case.”
“Then I’ll appoint you as Guardians and buff you.”
Seong-jun immediately started casting buffs.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoooosh!
After buffing in party mode and appointing them as Guardians, Seong-jun said, “All set. Let’s go.”
The party exited the dungeon entrance and headed toward the start.
*
The party split at the dungeon entrance.
Upon entering, they found a fork.
Seong-jun took the right path, while the rest took the left.
And finally, they discovered the first group of Death Knights.
‘Weapon Change!’
Seong-jun changed his weapon to a bow and immediately cast a skill.
‘Wind Snipe!’
Using the Wind Snipe he had registered from Yuseon, he struck one of the three monsters.
Zwing—!
Bang!
The Death Knights immediately charged toward Seong-jun.
“Kuoohhh!”
“Kyaaaah!”
In response, Seong-jun cast Surge of Holy Arrows.
Zwing! Zwing! Zing!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
While transformed into a bow, he could attack with it, but the damage from Surge of Holy Arrows was far stronger.
After all, Surge of Holy Arrows had options that dealt double damage to Dark Attribute monsters and inflicted stun with a certain probability.
The Dark Knights took the full force of Surge of Holy Arrows and closed in on Seong-jun.
Then—
“Chain of Light!”
Seong-jun changed his transformed weapon to a shield and immediately cast Chain of Light.
Clank—
Thud!
“Kueeek!”
“Kuwang!”
The Death Knights were instantly pulled in front of his shield and stunned.
At the same time, he grabbed the S-rank Mace he carried as a secondary weapon.
Strictly speaking, his transformed weapon was A-rank, so the S-rank Mace was superior as a standalone weapon.
But since Seong-jun needed to switch weapons frequently, he used the transformed weapon as his main despite its lower rank.
‘Surge of Holy Arrows! Holy Attack!’
Zwing! Zwing! Boom—!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Kwakwang!
Surge of Holy Arrows, a ranged basic attack, and Holy Attack, a melee basic attack, had very short cooldowns.
Due to various cooldown reduction effects, Surge of Holy Arrows had a cooldown of about 1.5 seconds, allowing near-continuous use, while Holy Attack boasted a very short 21-second cooldown.
In particular, both skills had options that dealt 2 to 2.5 times bonus damage to Dark Attribute monsters, and Holy Attack, when used with a blunt weapon, dealt 40% increased damage and also had a Bone Breaker effect that significantly reduced the target’s weapon attack power with a certain probability.
Perhaps because of that, even though these were basic attacks, the Death Knights’ health was rapidly depleting.
“Kuoohhhh!”
The Death Knights, freed from stun, swung their massive longswords in attacks, but Seong-jun held his ground, dodging by moving only his upper body or deflecting with his shield, maintaining an easy tanking posture.
Boom! Boom! Boooom!
Crack! Thud! Kuwak!
A fierce close-quarters exchange between the three Death Knights and Seong-jun.
Or rather, it was the Death Knights who were fierce; Seong-jun was so relaxed he wasn’t even sweating.
And finally—
“Kueeerrr.”
Kuhng! Thud!
They began to fall one by one.
“Three is manageable even without my clone. It looks like I can handle up to four, but if it’s five or more, I’ll need to use the clone.”
Shadow Clone had a one-hour cooldown after being canceled.
So he tried not to use it unless the situation was overwhelming.
The situation he had assumed required Shadow Clone was when there were five or more A-rank monsters.
“Subspace Open! Store!”
Seong-jun stored the Death Knight corpses and Mana Stones in his subspace and moved on.
The hunt was proceeding very smoothly.
*
Although the progress was much slower than when tackling a B-rank dungeon, he advanced steadily without any particular crisis.
About five hours later, the dungeon’s clear rate had passed 13%.
“It seems the clear rate is a bit faster than last time.”
When they first raided an external A-rank dungeon alone with permission from the Association, they achieved roughly 20–24% clear rate after 9 to 10 hours of hunting.
So it took them five days to fully clear it.
But now, in just five hours, they already had a 13% clear rate.
At this pace, if they hunted for about ten hours, they would reach nearly 26%, exceeding their best record from the first A-rank dungeon raid by over 2%.
And if they increased the clear rate a bit more, they might reduce the clear time from five days to four.
“Hmm, if I had a detection ability like Seon-hwa noona’s, I could increase the clear rate significantly. Is there no such skill?”
Yuseon’s scouting skill was helpful, but it had the disadvantage of being stationary during scouting and taking time.
Seon-hwa’s detection ability could be used instantly while moving or fighting, which saved time.
So Seong-jun thought it would be nice if there were a skill similar to Seon-hwa’s detection ability.
Just then—
Ziiing!
The communication device usable within the dungeon began to ring.
“Huh? The buffs still have a long way to go. What’s up?”
With a puzzled expression, Seong-jun turned on the communication device.
“What’s wrong?”
Yuseon’s voice immediately came through.
“-Oppa! I think we found a ruin!”
A ruin?
Seong-jun’s eyes widened at Yuseon’s words.
“A ruin? Are you sure?”
-There was a hidden door on the wall, and when we opened it, a new passage appeared leading somewhere!
We haven’t confirmed if it’s the path to the ruin, but since it’s a hidden passage, I thought it might be a ruin.
What should we do?
Should we go in on our own?
A hidden passage found on the wall.
Of course, a hidden passage didn’t necessarily lead to a ruin.
It could be a path to a secret space or a shortcut connecting to another passage.
But the possibility that it led to a ruin wasn’t low.
“If it really is a path to a ruin, there might be monsters spawning. Wait for me. No, I’ll come right now.”
-Uh, okay.
I’ll send you our location.
Come quickly.
Although there were often cases where no monsters appeared, high-grade ruins occasionally spawned monsters.
The problem was that unlike inside the dungeon where monsters appeared in small groups of three to five, ruins often had at least ten or more spawning together.
That’s why Seong-jun told them to wait for him in case monsters appeared.
Ding!
“It’ll take about five minutes from here. A hidden passage… I hope it’s a real ruin.”
The party’s location appeared on the communication device, and Seong-jun immediately headed toward them.
Joining the party, Seong-jun entered the secret passage and advanced without hesitation.
And then—
[You have discovered the hidden space [The Hideout of the Great Sage Vormia Lorenz].]
[The [Reformed Death Knights] guarding the hideout have detected intruders. 50 Reformed Death Knights have begun moving in earnest to eliminate the intruders.]
A notification appeared that they had stepped into a ruin.
“It’s a ruin! But what’s a Reformed Death Knight? A Death Knight is a Death Knight, what’s with the ‘reformed’?”
“Ugh, that’s not the problem. The problem is that we might have to face 50 A-rank Death Knights at once.”
He wasn’t sure exactly what Reformed Death Knights were, but the important thing was that there were 50 Death Knights in the ruin, and all of them had started moving simultaneously to eliminate the intruders.
Although the passage wasn’t very wide, so they could handle about five or six at a time, that was just a theoretical number.
The pressure of 50 A-rank monsters was immense.
“I’ll start. After I use my AoE skill, Yuseon, you use yours too. That should take down at least half. Then Chang-su, immediately activate your Shadow Clone and join in. Gwang-taek hyung, do your best to hold them off. If it gets dangerous, I’ll support you.”
Wasn’t this the reason he had saved his AoE combo for such a situation?
Although he couldn’t reduce them to bare minimum health like with B-rank monsters, his AoE combo plus Yuseon’s AoE should bring them down to at least below 50%.
After that, with powerful attack skills, they could gradually reduce their numbers.
“Understood. As an S-rank, I have to do at least that much.”
Gwang-taek, now an S-rank Tanker thanks to the Guardian’s Authority, resolved to hold off five or six somehow.
A moment later—
“Kuoohhh!”
“Kuwahhh!”
With the Death Knights’ loud roars, the ground began to shake.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The impact of as many as 50 massive, heavy Death Knights charging caused the ground to tremble.
“Here they come! Everyone get ready!”
At Seong-jun’s order, Gwang-taek took the front line and raised his shield.
Yuseon and Chang-su also prepared to attack at any moment.
Then the Reformed Death Knights appeared.
“Kuoohhhh!”
Everyone made bewildered expressions.
“Whoa? What’s that? Why are all the Death Knights white?”
“Is that even a Death Knight? I’ve never seen a white Death Knight in my life.”
As high-ranking monsters of the demon world, Death Knights were entirely black from head to toe.
But these Reformed Death Knights were entirely white from head to toe.
No wonder they were taken aback.
“Wait, don’t tell me they aren’t Dark Attribute?”
At Gwang-taek’s words, Seong-jun cast Divine Eye just in case.
‘Divine Eye!’
The information on the Reformed Death Knights appeared.
As Gwang-taek said, the Reformed Death Knights were not Dark Attribute but Light Attribute.
“Crazy! Gwang-taek hyung is right—they’re all Light Attribute! Hang on! Dark Attribute Infusion! Wide Area Mode!”
If the enemy was Light Attribute, the party’s attacks might not work effectively.
That was because they were strong against Dark Attribute, but had weaknesses against the same Light Attribute.
Whoooosh!
Fortunately, Seong-jun had Dark Attribute Infusion, which changed a target’s attribute to Dark.
In an instant, he turned the Light Attribute Reformed Death Knights into Dark Attribute.
If he hadn’t listened and checked, they would have been in big trouble.
“Then let’s begin! Sanctuary!”
“Gwang-taek hyung, got it! Holy Field! Divine Totem!”
If Gwang-taek hadn’t brought it up, Seong-jun would have attacked without knowing their attribute, and they would have wasted their AoE combo without dealing proper damage.
First, he cast Sanctuary, Holy Field, and Divine Totem, applying debuffs to the Reformed Death Knights and buffs to his allies.
Then the real AoE combo unfolded.
‘God’s Wrath! Radiant Wind!’
Kwawoooosh!
Kwakwang!
Kukwakwakwakwakwam!
God’s Wrath exploded and swept the area, followed by Radiant Wind engulfing the group of Reformed Death Knights.
“Chain of Light!”
Clank—
Gwang-taek pulled five of the front ones with Chain of Light, and then Yuseon cast her area skill.
“Wind Spirit’s Bombardment! Spirit Magic Light Cannon!”
Zwing! Zwing! Zwing! Kukwakwakwakwakwam!
Kwakwang! Kukwakwang! Kukung! Kwakukung!
Chang-su also activated Shadow Clone and entered full combat.
“Shadow Clone!”
Swooosh—
Two shadow clones of Chang-su were created, and they assisted Gwang-taek, attacking the Reformed Death Knights alongside him.
As the real battle began, the Reformed Death Knights took massive damage.
Their health instantly dropped below 60%.
That was even more damage than Seong-jun had expected—he thought they would fall below 50%.
Still, they had over 30% health left, but their attacks, weakened by Sanctuary, Holy Field, and Divine Totem, were not as strong. Gwang-taek could withstand them easily.
“I think I can hold them off just fine! Seong-jun, you focus on attacking!”
Worried that Seong-jun might join the tanking to help, Gwang-taek said he was fine on his own and told him to concentrate on attacking.
‘If there are monsters guarding the ruin, there might be a guardian too. I’ll save my Shadow Clone just in case.’
Like Chang-su, Seong-jun could also summon a Shadow Clone, but since there might be a ruin boss, he decided to hold back his clone for that.
Besides, without using his clone, Gwang-taek was blocking well at the front, so it seemed they could finish it easily if they just poured on attacks.
‘Sword of Light! Surge of Holy Arrows!’
Attacking from range, Seong-jun and Yuseon targeted the monsters in the rear, not the ones Gwang-taek was currently dealing with at the front.
The monsters trapped by Chain of Light were blocking the front of the passage, and there was no need to take them down first, giving the free-roaming Death Knights a chance to break through Gwang-taek’s tanking and enter the rear.
Bang! Bang! Kukukung! Kwakung!
Seong-jun continuously used Energy Recharge to restore energy for Gwang-taek, Yuseon, and Chang-su while unleashing attacks nonstop.
Still, as A-rank monsters, they showed considerable endurance.
“The trapped ones are dead, and now dealing with these suddenly got tougher! Seong-jun, your damage is so strong that aggro isn’t pulling properly!”
Once the Death Knights trapped by Chain of Light fell, the rear Death Knights came to the front, but the problem was that Seong-jun’s damage was too powerful, so Gwang-taek’s aggro wasn’t working well.
Naturally, the Death Knights tried to bypass Gwang-taek and head for Seong-jun.
Seong-jun switched his weapon to a shield and stepped forward.
“Can’t be helped! I’ll join the tanking too!”
With Seong-jun joining the front, a solid defensive line formed.
Since Seong-jun already had the aggro, most of the Death Knights rushed at him, and Gwang-taek pulled a few away, creating a surprisingly sturdy barrier.
I Became an EX-Class All-Round Priest Chapter 128
E-book publication date: 2025.11.14
Author: Kim Hyeon-jun
Publisher: Heo Heung-beom, Park Geon-won
Published by: Poten
Address: [04783] 10th Floor, 8 Yeonmujang 11-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul
Phone: 02-6320-8500
Fax: 02-6320-8585
ISBN 9791175302167
Price: 100 won
© Kim Hyeon-jun 2025
This e-book is a copyrighted work protected by copyright law.
This e-book has been published under contract with the author. Unauthorized reproduction, duplication, distribution, or sharing without written consent from both parties is prohibited.