Chapter 94: The Underground Waterways [3]

Translator: similarTIGER

Editor: Sotheno

What? Roa’s dead?

“But didn’t you say there was nothing there?”

Soo Hyuk couldn’t help but ask. Just a few moments ago Kamian said the path was blocked, but now she’s dead?

“Yes, I did say that. But now, I can’t tell what’s going on…”

Kamian couldn’t help but be embarrassed.

“I’ll log out and ask her.” Kamian felt like he had to ask her himself.

Just at that moment.

-Chwiiig! Chwiiig!

-Aaaooouuuu!

Soo Hyuk’s words were cut off by two blood-curdling screams similar to those that had come from the Wolf-Orc monster. He had to check where the two screams were coming from.

-Chwiiig! Chwiiig!

-Aaaaooouuu!

The chimera’s scream had come from the crossroad.

“Did Roa enter the left path?” Soo Hyuk asked while staring at the right one.

“Yes, she took the left.”

“Do you think there’s something on the left?”

“Yeah, well, maybe…”

Soo Hyuk remained silent, but one thing was certain. Roa was dead, and the reason behind it was still unknown. Something that she couldn’t see.

“Ok, I’ll be waiting here.”

“Hmm, I’ll be right back.”

Replying to Soo Hyuk, Kamian logged out. Of course, Soo Hyuk didn’t plan to stay put; he planned to investigate what’s going on. But just as Kamian logged out, Soo Hyuk saw it.

Squeak!

Green lumps were flying out from the aisle.

“Get out of the way!”

Soo Hyuk was sure that the lump was poison. So he stepped forward to stop the poison from spreading and shouted at everyone to move back. Hearing him shout, all the Koma Guild members stepped back.

Puck!

Soo Hyuk extended his hand to stop the poison.

[You have been poisoned.]

[You have been frozen for 1 minute.]

[You are bleeding for 1 minute.]

‘Huh?’

Soo Hyuk couldn’t help but be embarrassed.

He’s poisoned?

Previously when the lump struck him, he wasn’t poisoned. So, rather than dodging it, he was trying to stop it. But now he got the message that he was poisoned?

For confirmation, he checked his health stats.

‘…I’m glad.’

Soo Hyuk was worried he would lose his health after getting poisoned. But, though he lost some points it wasn’t enough for him to worry.

‘It’s only a small amount.

His wisdom stat had now exceeded 3000 and was getting close to 4000, so it was unsurprising that there wasn’t much damage even though he was poisoned.

“K! What’s that chimera’s health now?”

Soo Hyuk called out to K-Cross as he came out of the pathway.

“2 million!”

After a moment, K-Cross answered.

‘Does that mean I can get poisoned if their health is 2 million?’

Soo Hyuk sunk into his thoughts; the chimera he had killed near the entrance had around 1.8 million health and he hadn’t been poisoned. He could figure out the exact number for when he would get poisoned, but he decided it would be better if he was careful with chimeras that have a health of 2 million or more.

It didn’t matter how little the damage was, under special conditions it could lead up to unexpected situations such as paralysis.

“Poison Chain!”

Soo Hyuk wrapped the chimera with his poisonous chains to decrease its movement.

“Firebolt!”

He then tried to test his fire spells on the monster to decrease its health.

Squeak!

As soon as both the spells were cast, the monster’s wolf head spit out a huge lump of poison. They didn’t know how to defeat it, so the best choice was to avoid it and so to avoid poison, Soo Hyuk stepped back.

Piiik!

The lump landed exactly where Soo Hyuk was, then it splashed outward and started spreading. However, he already calculated such an outcome and stepped back further.

The splash failed to hurt Soo Hyuk as he began to cast more spells toward the chimera. Even though he had cast Poison Chains on it to restrict its movements, it gradually narrowed the distance between each other.

“Fire Spear! Fireball!”

Kwang! Bang!

Both the spear and the fireball were directed at the chimera.

‘So the higher its health, the higher its defense.’

Soo Hyuk came to this conclusion as he watched the Wolf-Orc chimera during their fight. Because the chimera still showed no signs of being defeated.

Rather, it was full of ferocity. Soo Hyuk felt that this monster could narrow the distance between them in no time and mercilessly attack them.

Certainly, this chimera was different than those closer to the entrance. Its health was higher than any of them, and its defense was also a lot stronger.

‘The chains don’t need to slow it for very long.’

The gap between the two closed in no time making it difficult for his poison magic to display its power. Though his magic was quite versatile, it took time to maintain and show its effects.

Normally, Soo Hyuk would have cast his spells without worrying about the side effects, but he couldn’t do that with Kamian and the Koma guild around him. If he were alone, he could slay it quickly while ignoring the poison due to the ‘Master of Poison’ title.

“Flame Dance! Poison Ball! Poison Spear!”

Soo Hyuk cast spell after spell on the chimera and before long, the Orc head stopped moving and closed its eyes. Shortly after, the Wolf head closed its eyes and the chimera fell over dead.

-Mutated Orc Skin

-Mutated Wolf Skin

As soon as the chimera fell on the ground, a window appeared.

Suak!

‘Huh?’

But Soo Hyuk couldn’t pay attention to the window. It was because a small fireball popped out of the corpse.

The small fireball could only mean one thing, there was another monster within range of the corpse. The chimera had fallen within 10 seconds, so the fireball targeted the next monster within range.

If there was no monster in range, the Flame Dance would have a similar effect as Fireball or Fire Bolt. However, the fact that a fireball popped out of the corpse means that there are still chimeras lurking nearby.

‘No way.’

Flame Dance usually had a range of 5 meters but due to the situation and Soo Hyuk’s skills, its effect was increased to 30 meters. The fireball, now floating, flew towards the right pathway which was filled with darkness.

A few moments later.

-Chiiwiig! It hurts!

-Hahahaha!

They could hear voices coming out of the darkness.

“….”

Hearing such voices, Soo Hyuk was startled. It was very different from any voices he had ever heard.

-Chiik! It was a human!

-Haha!

Soon the owners of the sounds emerged from the darkness; the voices belonged to a chimera which was of the Wolf-Orc variant as well. But this one was different, this chimera was far different from any of the previous chimeras they had encountered.
-Haha!

-Be quiet. Chiik!

It was the Orc head that spoke, it seemed to be twice the size of the previous chimera. Both the Orc and Wolf were massive.

‘Boss?’

Is he the boss monster?

‘No, when they appear there is always a message.’

Soo Hyuk shook his head, this may not be the boss but he would be difficult to deal with.

Then.

“So-Soo Hyuk!”

K-Cross was startled.

“This monster has 5 million health!”

Hearing K-Cross, Soo Hyuk couldn’t help but be shocked as well.

‘Five million?’

The monster in front did look a bit different but to this point. But, 5 million health?

‘Is he the middle boss?’

If not the Boss monster, there was only one category left, it was the mid-boss monster.

-Chiiiik! Wolf! Blow out the poison!

Soo Hyuk, who was lost in his thoughts, was about to watch the wolf fill the whole area with poison.

-Ahhhhhhhh!

The wolf opened its mouth, spewing out its poison. This poison wasn’t like what they had encountered previously when it was a lump, instead, this poison was in a smoke form, spreading out in a poisonous fog at tremendous speed.

“Pull back! Fireball!”

Though it was a gas rather than a liquid, it should be possible to prevent it with a Fireball. So, after warning the Koma guild, he cast the spell…

‘Huh?’

He thought the fireball would at least produce an explosion, but seeing the situation in front of him, Soo Hyuk couldn’t help but panic.

‘Is he resisting?’

No explosion was heard, the fireball gave out a little smoke and burned out. Soo Hyuk, with a puzzled look on his face, cast another spell.

“Fire Spear.”

This spell was a level stronger than the fireball.

Siiakk…

Much like the fireball, the fire spear didn’t cause an explosion. Though it did cause a little more smoke before burning out, however, that was it.

‘It can’t be helped.’

Soo Hyuk thought while watching the poisonous smoke narrowing the distance.

‘I’ll have to ask Kamian when he gets back.’

He still needed to know what happened. Though, he put his worries to the side for now and cast a spell.

“Firestorm.”

Firestorm is a spell that can create a whirlpool of fire.

-Ahhhhhhhhh!

The whirlwind of fire devoured the chimera, burning the poisonous fog.

-It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!”

-U-ughhh!

-Run-away! Not Forward! Go Back! Back! Chiiwk!

Soo Hyuk watched as the firestorm tried to consume the chimera. He heard the two pained voices of both the Orc and the Wolf as they tried to break away from the flames.

“K, can you see what its health is now?”

Looking at the firestorm creating havoc, Soo Hyuk asked K-Cross. He wanted the eyes of the dragon to see how much this mid-boss chimera’s HP is left.

“I’m sorry, because of the fire I can’t.”

However, the eyes of the dragon could only be activated when the opponent is at sight.

Listening to K-Cross, Soo Hyuk let out a regrettable sigh.

-Cwiik! H-have to go back…

-U-ugh…

The voices of the chimera got smaller and smaller. But seeing the Firestorm move, means that they didn’t get weaker, rather they were moving far away from the place.

But not long after, the firestorm stopped moving.

– Mutated Orc Skin

– Mutated Wolf Skin

– Completely Mutated Orc Skin

– Completely Mutated Wolf Skin

Then the window was updated.

‘As expected.’

Soo Hyuk looked at the now updated window.

‘When dealing with poisonous monsters, I’ll have to use Firestorm.’

He felt like he was fighting the poison toad when he was on the quest to open the door of poison. No magic can beat Firestorm when dealing with poisonous monsters.

‘It would be perfect if I didn’t take any damage.’

Soo Hyuk thought after seeing the Firestorm. But, the spell was not only a danger to the enemies, but it also had an effect on the caster too.

Though Soo Hyuk, who cast the spell, took damage. It was less than the enemies.

‘Well, it is funny.’

Soo Hyuk, who was looking at the Firestorm, opened his character window after picking up the dropped items.

‘How much did my experience go up?’

He had to check his level as well, believing that he killed a mid-boss chimera.

The difference between a regular mob and a middle boss was a large amount and since the regular mobs gave him so much experience. He was looking forward to how much experience he had received.

When he checked his experience, Soo Hyuk was surprised.

‘92%?’

After reaching level 190, he had only leveled up twice.

‘I got a lot.’

Soo Hyuk, who needed 5 times the amount of experience than others to level up, had gained nearly 1 level from that chimera. So, what did 92% signify?

“Soo Hyuk!”

Soo Hyuk, who was scrolling through his stats, closed his character window upon hearing a familiar voice. He turned back to check who was calling him.

“Did you have a good conversation?”

The voice’s owner was Kamian. He nodded at Soo Hyuk’s question and answered.

“Yes, but…”

Soo Hyuk looked puzzled by Kamian’s response.

“I don’t know what killed her. I just know that she was killed while trying to get out…”

Soo Hyuk, listening to Kamian’s answer, didn’t speak for a while. Then after thinking for a while, he asked.

“What’s Roa’s health?”

“It must be a little over 30,000.”

“What about her defense stats?”

“Not that high.”

Soo Hyuk nodded as if he expected those answers and thought while looking toward the left pathway, where Roa entered.

‘What dealt 30,000 health in one go?’