Chapter 299 – Part 2 – Lucky Break

The moment he landed the first hit and was about to deliver the second strike.

His Combat Sense told him.

That defense ignore would trigger.

‘This is insane. The Combat Sense trait tells me about this too…’

The defense ignore effect doesn’t only apply to hunters.

Monsters definitely have the concept of defense power too.

‘Monsters are like having armor covering their entire skin. If the damage is weak, you can’t even leave a scratch.’

That’s why he aimed for the head with his Slash skill.

Under the assumption that it wouldn’t die in one hit.

Since he hadn’t placed a mark and it wasn’t a preemptive attack, there was no damage amplification at all.

‘But even so, it died in one hit because defense ignore triggered.’

This is exactly why defense ignore is so terrifying.

If it triggers well, you can kill in one hit depending on the body part.

‘Being able to know when defense ignore will trigger through Combat Sense? That’s completely insane.’

Usually, you attack randomly and it triggers with a 10% chance without you knowing.

But with Combat Sense, you can know in advance whether it will trigger on this attack or not.

‘That means I can pour the skill I want into the body part I want.’

You should use skills when defense ignore triggers to maximize the effect.

Being able to concentrate firepower at the desired timing is an incredible advantage.

‘Combat Sense is a more amazing trait than I thought.’

I never imagined it could create this kind of synergy effect.

‘Being able to know in advance is good. Good, but…’

When he glanced around, all the team members were equally surprised.

‘The situation has become a bit troublesome?’

He had planned to show skills just slightly better than Do Eun-jeong’s level, but unintentionally showed overwhelming ability.

‘It was an unexpected situation for me too, so even knowing defense ignore would trigger, I couldn’t withdraw the attack.’

While Choi Seong-min, who had encountered a somewhat troublesome situation, was pondering what excuse to make.

Eom Jeong-sik was staring at the disappearing Worwolf corpse with an expression of disbelief.

‘This doesn’t make sense, this doesn’t make sense at all!’

If he hadn’t seen wrong, the Worwolf definitely died in just two hits.

‘Does it make sense for someone with 3,000 combat power to catch a Worwolf in 5 seconds?!’

It was an overwhelming record compared to himself who took 3 minutes and Do Eun-jeong who took 1 minute.

Glancing to the side, Do Eun-jeong was also unable to hide her surprise just like himself.

‘Damn! Eun-jeong is completely smitten!’

She was simply surprised, but in Eom Jeong-sik’s eyes, it looked like she had fallen for him.

But the surprised people weren’t just Eom Jeong-sik and Do Eun-jeong.

‘That’s the movement and damage of someone with 3,000 combat power?’

Even the supervisor who was watching was shocked by Choi Seong-min’s skills.

‘Clean evasion without any waste and damage capable of killing a Worwolf in one hit…’

He had known him as the weakest in Team Crush, but it was actually the opposite.

‘He’s strong. The strongest among the team members.’

He could be certain because he had directly seen Team A’s skills earlier.

The young man before his eyes was stronger than anyone.

Even stronger than himself, a D-rank.

‘Did he experience explosive growth in the four days since combat power was updated?’

The combat power of 3,000 was unbelievable.

‘No matter how strong Slash skills are, how can you kill a Worwolf in one hit with just a dagger?’

Even he, with combat power exceeding 10,000, found it difficult to kill a Worwolf in one hit.

Incomprehensible damage.

‘I heard there was an accident where a supervisor died in Team Crush before… could it be?’

While he was sending suspicious glances wondering if it wasn’t actually an accident, Do Eun-jeong was looking at him with admiring eyes.

“Seong-min junior! That’s really amazing! To think you’ve been hiding such skills until now!”

“I wasn’t particularly hiding it…”

“The Worwolf died in just two hits – how exactly did you do it?”

“I guess my trait activated luckily. I can’t tell you the details though…”

The excuse Choi Seong-min chose was luck.

A vague story that he was just lucky with his trait and could kill it in one hit.

The plausibility was lacking, but it was also the best excuse for now.

‘They should think it’s luck and just let it slide…’

He was worried they might not believe it, but it seemed to be unfounded concern.

“Haha, I knew it! It was indeed a lucky break!”

Eom Jeong-sik was supporting the claim that it was luck.

‘Who would have thought that guy’s jealousy would be helpful.’

But words alone lacked persuasiveness, so he needed to prove it more through actions.

That killing the Worwolf in one hit was really luck.

“Can I try catching one more?”

“Sure, catch it if you want. I don’t know if such a lucky break will work again though.”

Eom Jeong-sik was being sarcastic, but that was actually more helpful for Choi Seong-min.

To erase the supervisor’s suspicion.

Grrrowl!

Choi Seong-min dodged the approaching Worwolf with nimble movements and slashed with his dagger.

Swish- Swish-!

He tried slashing the head with his Slash skill, but the same situation as before didn’t occur.

Grrrowl! Bark bark!

He only made the Worwolf angry instead.

‘His movements are really clean and good. At that level, his agility must exceed 150. But…’

Watching Choi Seong-min inflicting wounds here and there, the supervisor shook his head.

‘He’s only succeeding with shallow attacks. To the point where I wonder if he really killed one in one hit.’

It didn’t seem like he was doing it on purpose.

Seeing that the Worwolf didn’t die even when he attacked the same part with the same skill, his damage seemed originally low.

‘Then was the earlier situation really luck?’

Among traits, there are traits that trigger critical damage with a certain probability.

Earlier, he must have been lucky to have damage amplified and kill it in one hit.

‘If that’s the case, then the previous situation makes sense.’

The suspicion in the supervisor’s eyes somewhat cleared.

At the same time, Choi Seong-min took the Worwolf’s life.

“Phew…”

When he deliberately breathed out as if tired, Eom Jeong-sik laughed loudly.

“Didn’t I tell you? Lucky breaks like before won’t work! Relying on luck in a dungeon where lives are at stake isn’t very good…”

That’s when it happened.

As the Worwolf’s corpse disappeared, red unknown characters appeared.

It was a rune.

[Strength Rune has appeared.]

[Automatically spinning roulette according to party rules.]

[Acquirer is Choi Seong-min.]

The rune was absorbed by Choi Seong-min, who had 100% contribution.

“Wow, Seong-min junior, first rune acquisition among party members!”

“Tch, lucky. Even getting a rune.”

Unlike items, runes are directly absorbed by the person with high contribution.

Therefore, even supervisors can’t touch runes.

And runes weren’t something that came out easily.

Only about two or three per dungeon at most, and even those were distributed according to contribution.

‘It would have been better if it was an Agility rune, but it can’t be helped. It’s a Worwolf dungeon after all.’

The runes that come out also differ according to the monster’s attribute.

Fire attribute gives Strength runes, endurance type gives Health runes, wind attribute gives Agility runes, water attribute gives Magic Power runes.

‘Since Worwolves are fire attribute, only Strength runes come out.’

Because of that, raising agility here was hopeless.

That doesn’t mean Strength runes aren’t needed though.

[Rune Affinity trait activates.]

[Strength Rune effect enhanced to Strength +2.]

‘Oh, so it’s like getting two instead of one?’

He agrees with Eom Jeong-sik’s words about being lucky.

Since such good things keep happening one after another.

“Wow, anyway, seeing Seong-min junior’s skills, he really deserves to be called elite.”

“It’s just trait luck and regular luck though…”

“Still, you seemed to catch it faster than me? It only took about 30 seconds.”

Much faster than Do Eun-jeong’s 1 minute.

Even so, Eom Jeong-sik turned his head and didn’t acknowledge Choi Seong-min.

“This is also a lucky break, a lucky break…”

But in the subsequent hunting, Choi Seong-min proved that the skills he showed earlier were real by hunting Worwolves in 30-second cuts.

“I guess it’s not a lucky break…”

Eventually, he came to be acknowledged by Eom Jeong-sik.

Not only that, there were also situations where he showed exceptional combat sense.

“Three ahead! Prepare for battle!”

When three Worwolves charged, he first reduced the health of the monster that came running first with dagger throw.

“Be careful! These guys are dangerous when they group up…”

He also deliberately drew aggro from one side to separate the Worwolves.

“I’ll take this one!”

While each was fighting one-on-one.

Choi Seong-min suddenly threw his dagger toward where Eom Jeong-sik was.

Thwack!

Yelp!

He had seen the Worwolf that was facing Do Eun-jeong trying to join Eom Jeong-sik’s side and checked it.

“…You have some sense.”

Whether he heard Eom Jeong-sik’s muttering or not, Choi Seong-min casually retrieved his dagger and pressed his opponent.

Yelp- Yelp-

“Phew, is everyone okay?”

“Yes, senior.”

“I thought 3 vs 3 would be tough, but it was easier than expected.”

“I think it’s because Seong-min junior was active.”

“Hmm…”

He didn’t answer, but Eom Jeong-sik was acknowledging it inside.

‘An elite is definitely an elite.’

That among the three, Choi Seong-min’s skills were the best.

‘Though it’s only slightly better than my level.’

He was acknowledged for elite-level skills, but it didn’t feel like he was incredibly strong.

He had combat sense and fought somewhat well, but his damage felt lacking.

Therefore, even the supervisor who had been watching suspiciously thinking he might have hidden power eventually withdrew his gaze.

Because there was nothing suspicious about him.

Of course, this was what Choi Seong-min had intended.

‘Unlike before, the number of times the supervisor looks at me has decreased.’

That meant he had somewhat escaped from interest.

This also meant he had avoided suspicion.

‘As intended, I was acknowledged as elite while avoiding suspicion.’

Now if he gradually revealed his strength and showed growth, it would be convincing even if he became D-rank next month.

‘Having the elite label is good because I can reveal my strength. Good, but…’

There had been something bothering Choi Seong-min’s senses for a while.

‘To think the boss would target us.’

It was none other than the Red-eyed Worwolf.

The boss of the Worwolf dungeon whose entire body was transparent except for its eyes.

‘The supervisor and other team members don’t seem to notice…’

Choi Seong-min could easily detect it.

Thanks to his Stealth Detection trait.

‘It’s been sneakily following us, so it seems to be targeting us.’

Given the Worwolf’s nature, it was probably aiming for an ambush.

‘I should pretend not to know for now. Both to the boss and to the team members.’

Unlike regular monsters, bosses are not easy to encounter, so they drop items with 100% probability.

That meant it was dangerous, but for skilled hunters, it would be an incomparable opportunity.

‘I can’t miss this opportunity.’

“Let’s rest for a bit.”

Just as it was time for a break, Choi Seong-min quietly raised his hand.

“Senior. I need to go take care of something.”

Knowing that this meant a biological need, Eom Jeong-sik waved his hand.

“Go quickly and come back.”

“Well… it’s the big one.”

“The big one? Didn’t you go to the bathroom before entering the dungeon?”

Usually, since you can’t bring toilet paper into dungeons, people take care of it in advance.

“I did go, but my stomach suddenly hurts.”

“What will you do? There’s no toilet paper.”

“I’ll have to tear my clothes or something.”

“Ew, gross… Alright! I’ll give you 10 minutes, so hurry up and go.”

“Yes.”

When Choi Seong-min left the group, his trait detected the boss following him.

‘Good. As expected, it’s targeting me when I’m separated from the group.’

Though he was called gross, the one-on-one situation with the boss was created as desired.

’10 minutes? That’s enough.’

Catching the boss?

That’s not as difficult as you might think.