Chapter 95 – Centipede Nest

There are two types of giant centipedes.

Blue-colored giant centipedes and red-colored giant centipedes.

Both types were mixed together in the cavern Min Do-jun entered.

‘What a sight.’

Over 100 fifteen-meter centipedes moving around was not just creepy but intimidating.

‘But they’re all just experience fodder for me.’

Min Do-jun descended after surveying the cavern.

[Skull Necklace effect increases magic power by 16.]

A message appeared, suggesting it had become night.

‘Couldn’t tell day from night in the cave.’

Perfect timing.

He was just about to start hunting.

‘Summon Ghost Wolf.’

Rather than a cute puppy, a majestic wolf appeared with a flash of light.

[Awoooo!]

[Ghost Wolf]

-Name: Awo

-Level: 1,600

-Grade: A

-Combat Power: 24,285

-Strength: 835 Health: 433 Agility: 433

-Unassigned Stats: 0

-Traits: Ghostification, Bond

-Skills: Track, Assault, Howling

‘Honestly, the combat power is disappointing but…’

Ghost Wolf’s strength lay in utility rather than combat.

‘Shall we test the new skill? Awo, use Howling Taunt.’

[Awoooooo!]

A different howl from usual filled the cavern.

The giant centipedes that had been ignoring them turned their heads.

*Tap tap tap tap!*

Ten giant centipedes within 100 meters crawled over with hundreds of legs moving.

*Woong*

*Whoosh*

Min Do-jun prepared for battle by applying two buffs to his ghost sword.

‘Come.’

The centipedes were targeting Ghost Wolf rather than Min Do-jun.

Awo, waiting for his master’s command, evacuated into the air just as the centipedes gathered.

Min Do-jun leaped out simultaneously.

[First Strike effect doubles damage.]

‘Magnum Burst.’

Flames erupted as he swung his reddened sword.

*BOOM!*

Seven clustered giant centipedes had their bodies torn apart like split ships.

‘The skill has wider range than expected.’

Given their size, he thought he’d only hit a few, but surprisingly damaged more than half.

‘Too much health to one-shot?’

Even with First Strike effect, one-shotting them was difficult.

Giant centipedes had about twice the vitality of other monsters.

‘But their attack power is low.’

That’s why Min Do-jun decided not to use Reflection trait in this battle.

It wouldn’t be very effective against low-attack enemies, and with a 24-hour cooldown, he needed to conserve it.

‘Instead, I’ll use other skills.’

Heat rose from Min Do-jun’s body.

[Using Berserk.]

[Strength and Agility increased by 1.5x.]

[Strength +853 Agility +834]

[Time remaining: 2 minutes 59 seconds]

With Berserk, his strength and agility exceeded 2,500.

The Avatar of the Battlefield buff had stacked somewhat, raising them higher than usual.

*Slash slash*

Min Do-jun’s ghost sword bisected the dying centipedes.

‘Awo, Assault.’

[Grrrroar!]

Ghost Wolf also joined the battle using Assault skill.

Ten centipedes died in an instant.

[Awoooooo!]

Howling echoed at Min Do-jun’s command.

He continued killing the gathering centipedes without rest.

*BOOM!*

Landing Magnum Burst.

*Whirrr!*

Finishing weakened monsters with wind blades.

*Whoosh!*

Launching fire storms while charging at the monsters.

*Slash slash!*

[Current Kill Count: 48/50]

[Current Kill Count: 49/50]

[Current Kill Count: 50/50]

[All stats increased by 50%]

[Time remaining: 59 minutes 59 seconds]

Avatar of the Battlefield trait reached maximum.

Though Berserk ended simultaneously, there was no regret.

All stats had increased by 50%.

‘Magic power exceeded 3,600.’

That wasn’t all.

As magic power rose, other stats increased again.

They’d increased 50% and then increased again.

Because of this, strength, health, and agility all approached 3,000.

Higher numbers than when he first used Berserk.

‘Avatar of the Battlefield and Magic Swordsman traits create amazing synergy together.’

Incredible stats unbelievable for level 1,600.

Min Do-jun gathered centipedes with Howling again and unleashed Magnum Burst.

*BOOM!*

Seven died instantly in the fan-shaped flames.

[Experience +16,000] (100% contribution)

[Experience +16,000] (100% contribution)

[Experience +16,000] (100% contribution)

‘Now we’re one-shotting them.’

As magic power rose, all skill damage increased.

*Whirrr*

Spinning wind blades carved up one centipede.

With ten blades hitting, the giant centipede couldn’t withstand it and shattered.

‘Even Gust Blade can one-shot now.’

With increased damage, the giant centipedes turned to smoke faster.

[Stack 100/100]

Before he knew it, hunting frantically had filled his Berserk stack.

Using it immediately increased strength and agility by over 1,400.

‘Insane.’

Min Do-jun clicked his tongue at strength and agility exceeding 4,200.

They’d surpassed even his main stat, magic power.

‘At this moment with buffs, I’m comparable to my prime.’

Min Do-jun’s highest combat power before regression was 1.2 million.

His current measured combat power was lower at around 750,000, but…

‘Of course combat power appears lower since it measures average values.’

His momentary combat power was actually comparable to when he was level 4,000.

Of course, this was all due to the combination of Avatar of the Battlefield and Magic Swordsman traits.

‘Didn’t know their synergy would be this good.’

The centipedes that had filled the cavern were now almost gone.

*Slash!*

[Level up!]

[Achievement unlocked!]

Killing the last centipede raised his level.

‘Killed about 130?’

Some might think only gaining one level after killing so many centipedes was little, but for other hunters this would take all day.

But Min Do-jun did it all in just 10 minutes.

‘One level in 10 minutes… not bad.’

That wasn’t the only thing to be happy about.

[Achievement – A-rank Monster Slaughterer!]

-Condition: Hunt 1,000 A-rank monsters

-Reward: A-grade Magic Stone

[Achievement – Centipede Nest Time Attack!]

-Condition: Solo kill all giant centipedes in nest within 15 minutes

-Reward: 2 Superior Random Boxes

While the first achievement reward was mediocre, Min Do-jun’s eyes lit up at the second.

‘Two items worth 1 billion each?’

Min Do-jun already had one Superior Random Box.

He’d been saving it for later, but now he had three.

‘I’ll open them when I have time later…’

Right now he needed to quickly leave the nest.

The party members would be waiting at the end of the fork.

‘I’ll raise suspicion if I delay.’

Min Do-jun ran back through the fork path he’d come from.

Thanks to his Ghost Step Boots, he didn’t need to worry about footsteps being heard.

‘About here?’

As he neared the end of the fork, Min Do-jun slowed down and unequipped his gear.

Like before, he maintained minimal equipment like ghost sword and armor, cosplaying as weak.

‘Nothing good comes from showing strength.’

Though he already possessed power approaching S-rank, it was better to hide it until revenge was complete.

Moving forward again, he reached the connected space where the fork path ended.

“Oh? You’re here.”

“Magic swordsman. Why are you so late?”

“Do you know how long we waited?”

The waiting party members showed their irritation first.

Calling him by his class showed they didn’t even remember his name.

“Sorry. Another giant centipede appeared and took some time.”

“What? Another one appeared?”

The excuse was plausible since sometimes two appear per path though usually just one.

“Still, how can you be 15 minutes late?”

“How long does it take to kill one?”

“Will you take responsibility if we get penalties?”

As Min Do-jun was about to respond to the complaints, Kim Ji-hoon intervened.

“Come on, stop that, he might take longer since his level is low? Instead of this, let’s go hunting.”

“Let’s do that.”

“Leader is really magnanimous.”

The previously grumbling party members turned at Kim Ji-hoon’s words.

‘Is this Emperor Guild’s authority?’

For just a moment, being the #1 guild didn’t seem so bad.

‘Didn’t know hiding strength would be this uncomfortable.’

If he had revealed all his power, the party members’ attitudes would have completely reversed.

‘Have to endure for now.’

Min Do-jun followed the party members while internally sighing.

When encountering centipedes, he fought using only Mana Sword on his weapon as per his concept.

No party members paid attention to this.

They were all busy pouring out skills while hunting.

Not for experience, but to look good to Emperor Guild.

Though Kim Ji-hoon himself didn’t care about such party members.

‘Was he really not hiding his skills?’

Still not giving up, Kim Ji-hoon glanced at Min Do-jun.

He secretly sighed seeing him still slowly cutting centipedes with sluggish movements.

‘Seeing this, I understand why he was late coming out of the fork but…’

What he couldn’t understand was why such an incompetent hunter was first on the recruitment list.

‘Rumors can be exaggerated, but to think he’d be this weak…’

He knew magic swordsmen were weak, but not to this extent.

“Second fork.”

After advancing for 2 hours, another fork appeared.

The party members naturally split up, and this time Kim Ji-hoon chose a remaining path without sticking to Min Do-jun.

He casually killed one centipede while walking leisurely and emerged at the fork’s end.

‘Am I first?’

Kim Ji-hoon waited with a bored expression as party members emerged one by one from the paths.

“Is everyone here?”

“One, two, three, four, five…?”

“Magic swordsman is missing again.”

“Oh, really!”

“Why is that guy so slow!”

“Let’s understand since his level is low.”

The party members’ complaints quickly subsided at Kim Ji-hoon’s words.

Min Do-jun appeared after about 10 minutes of waiting.

“Sorry for making you wait. Taking long to hunt.”

“…Let’s just go.”

Hunting resumed and the third fork appeared.

Min Do-jun was late again this time too.

“I’m sorry.”

The party members turned away without responding.

They’d come to expect it by now.

Kim Ji-hoon felt the same.

‘This confirms it.’

Kim Ji-hoon planned to tell Emperor Guild after the raid.

That Min Do-jun’s skills were terrible.

Absolutely not worthy of being first on the recruitment list.

‘No need for further verification.’

Kim Ji-hoon gave up his expectations.

He felt foolish for briefly getting excited about the potential bonus.

‘He’s not even looking anymore.’

Min Do-jun was satisfied seeing Kim Ji-hoon seemingly give up.

‘Acting weak paid off.’

Thanks to this, Min Do-jun was able to raid three centipede nests.

This was why he came out late each time they entered a fork path.

‘Killed about 400 so far?’

Monopolizing three centipede nests had raised his level by 3 and gotten him 2 A-grade magic stones.

‘The level increase will be exposed if they check rankings, but that’s fine.’

He could explain it away as trait effects or claim he received accumulated achievement rewards.

‘They probably don’t care about me anyway.’

Rather, Min Do-jun thought about the items obtained from the centipede nests.