laulau20

Chapter 96: Knight Hunt

Added 2025-07-11 13:57:57 +0000 UTC

The sky had turned dark. James was exhausted. He had nearly gotten himself killed like a noob in this dungeon, and the fatigue was finally catching up to him.

He leaned against a boulder. It wasn’t much of a shelter—just an open space with little cover—but he was too tired to care. Unlike other survivors, James didn’t make campfires. He preferred to sleep in the dark.

Meanwhile, Andrew and his team had reached the outer gates. The guards that had chased Hain stopped at the boundary and didn’t pursue further. The group let out a collective sigh of relief—except for Kouki, who quickly realized something was off.

“Where’s James?” Kouki asked. “He’s not here. Did those knights get him?”

“Shit. We can’t lose him. He’s our best fighter.”

“Hm… They shouldn’t have,” Andrew said calmly. “My skill says he’s still alive.”

“You can tell that?”

“Yes, but it doesn’t work like a tracker. I can’t pinpoint where he is. I only know whether he’s been wounded or not.”

“Is he okay?” Kouki asked, worry in his voice.

“He’s currently healthy,” Andrew replied. The group collectively relaxed.

“Andrew, what do I do now?” Hain asked. The cyborg’s voice buzzed with static. Despite having half his body destroyed, he was still conscious. Thanks to his cybernetic enhancements, as long as his head remained intact, Hain could survive without medical treatment—similar to James’ golem arm and artificial heart. His parts were also repairable.

“Hain, do you have any cyborg parts that look fully human on the outside?” Andrew asked.

“Yes. But all of them cost 1,000 coins. I don’t have that kind of cash right now.”

“Then we’ll scour the area and kill some monsters to collect coins,” Andrew said. He turned to Muto. “Any chests nearby?”

“Right there, Andrew,” Muto replied, pointing toward a ridge.

“Alright. Be careful—monsters here are infected with some kind of parasite. Do not touch them,” Andrew warned. He had seen what happened the last time he was here—several teammates had fallen to the infection.

“Got it. Sounds easy enough,” Kouki said, readying his blade.

“No. If you encounter one, do not get close. The ooze can splash. Even a small dose is enough to spread—and if untreated, you’ll die within days,” Andrew warned.

“There’s no cure?” Sanders asked, frowning.

“Only one. I’ll have to burn you—severely—for the infection to recede. We’ll use Kouki’s magic and his dragon for it,” Andrew said. “It’s going to hurt. But don’t worry—health potions can patch you up afterward. Just don’t let the infection reach your head or heart. Unless you’re immune to fire... you’re dead.”

“I see.” Sanders nodded grimly.

“I’m a cyborg. The parasite won’t affect me, right?” Hain asked.

“Wrong. It’ll infect you just the same. The only advantage you have is your resistance to fire—that’ll make the cleansing less dangerous. But if you run into a fully infected host, you won’t even get coins or experience after killing it.”

“Man, this floor is a pain,” Kouki grumbled.

“Yes, it is,” Andrew agreed. “Let’s get moving.” Then he paused. “Ah—don’t leave just yet. I’ll leave Hain here with Kouki. Kouki, protect him, please. Dehlia and I are heading into the city to grab a few quests. We need the coins—and the reputation.”

“Good luck, Andrew. Stay safe,” Kouki said.

“After this, we’ll head to the northern cave. There’s a trick to the boss monster there. We can bypass it entirely—no battle required.”

“Huh? But we’ll miss out on the coins and EXP,” Sanders objected.

“It’s fine,” Andrew replied. “As long as we get the chests behind it, the loss won’t matter much. Your lives are more important. This was how we did it last time.”

The group nodded. While Andrew and Dehlia made their way to the city to accept quests, the rest of the team began clearing the surrounding monsters, careful to avoid any infection. They hit them from afar, relying on kiting attacks and fire from Kouki’s dragon and magic.

James didn’t know how the dungeon quest would progress. Since he was marked as a monster and locked out of interacting with the townspeople, he decided to do things his way.

Kill everyone in his path.

“So the knights are fighting monsters? That’s rare,” James muttered, peeking at the battle from a distance. To him, both knights and orcs are monsters of the dungeon.

A party of ten knights—comprising three archers, two mages, three paladins, and two swordsmen—was battling a horde of orcs and goblins. Most of the monsters were infected. Though not fully taken over, the ooze made them resistant to physical attacks. James watched as more than fifty orcs swarmed the knights with furious abandon.

At first, he thought the knights would lose. Infected monsters were far tougher than normal orcs and goblins. James himself struggled to kill them without fire or acid. Yet the knights prevailed.

Blue auras radiated from their armor, shielding them from the black ooze. Even when the vile liquid splashed over them, it simply evaporated, unable to infect.

With coordinated precision, the knights hacked through the monsters one by one. They avoided the infected parts, instead targeting heads and hearts with swift, practiced strikes. Thrust. Hack. Slash.

James narrowed his eyes.

These knights were worth a lot. The experience and coins from killing just one would be a major haul. Wiping out the entire squad might earn him enough to reach Chimera Level 3.

But there was a problem.

They showed no openings.

They fought like veterans—well-trained, focused, and equipped to handle the infected. James considered using flashbang grenades to blind them, maybe buy a few seconds. But that alone wasn’t enough.

Maybe if there were only two or three, it could work. But ten? He had to find a way to separate them.

“The mages? No, the archers and mages aren’t pushovers,” James muttered, narrowing his eyes. “They can handle themselves in close combat.”

He’d seen it with his own eyes—archers drawing short swords from their waists, performing sword skills like seasoned fighters.

No obvious weak links. No easy prey.

He would need to get creative.

Meanwhile, the mages used their staffs like maces when the orcs got too close. They weren’t as fragile as typical archers or spellcasters—they could hold their own in close combat.

James observed them from a distance. As the sun rose higher, he was about to give up and search for easier prey—until an opportunity presented itself. The group split into two, each taking with them at least one paladin, one archer, one swordsman, and one mage.

Originally, these ten knights had been two separate parties, but they had teamed up to handle the horde. Now that the threat was gone, they separated again. Their mission was to locate orc and goblin nests, so there was no longer a need to stay grouped together.

This was the chance James had been waiting for.

He quickly tailed the group that had an extra paladin. Flashbang grenade in hand, he was ready to strike. With a well-placed Homing Arrow and Vorpal Lunge, he hoped to take out both the mage and archer before facing the close-range fighters.

[You have purchased a flashbang grenade for 50 coins.]

“This is just like that dungeon trial,” James muttered, trying to suppress the chill crawling up his spine. “Don’t chicken out now. High risk, high reward.”

The group hadn’t noticed him. Their eyes were fixed on the ground, tracking the remnants of the orc and goblin horde, hoping to find a lair.

James followed them through the forest, stalking them like a tiger preparing to strike.

Eventually, the knights found what they were looking for—an orc village tucked away in the wilderness. One archer sprang into action, loosing arrows imbued with a weapon skill. Unlike James’s Homing Shot, his skill didn’t track the enemy. Instead, the arrow split midair, each half veering toward a separate target.

The mage unleashed a barrage of fire. Like a tsunami, a towering wall of flame erupted from the ground and incinerated the village’s wooden barricade. James gaped at the display of firepower.

“If I still had my axe, this would be easy,” he grumbled. His axe skill had a two-hit combo that was perfect for this kind of ambush. He took a deep breath. First, he would shoot the mage in the head with Homing Shot, then toss a flashbang, and follow up by lunging at the archer with his sword skill. He’d deal with the extra paladin afterward.

“No—archer first,” James decided, adjusting his plan on the fly.

Golden motes of light gathered at his arrowhead. The glowing projectile traced an arc through the air toward the archer. James charged forward, flames flickering from his firefur, which granted him resistance against the mage’s attacks. As he closed the distance, he hurled the flashbang near the paladin, dropped his bow, and drew his sword.

In one fluid motion, his blade gleamed with a golden glow. The three knights turned toward him—but it was already too late. The Homing Shot struck true, piercing the archer’s helmet and stabbing straight into his skull. Not even enchanted steel could stop a weapon skill. One down. Four to go.

“Ambush! A monster’s attacking from the rear!”

The paladin drew his sword, and the mage began chanting. The grenade James had thrown exploded with a deafening blast, disorienting the camp. Even the two knights stationed near the orc nest turned around in surprise.

“Stop it!—ARGH!!” One of them screamed as the blinding light overwhelmed them. The flashbang had worked even better than expected—it even interrupted the mage’s casting.

But not everything went according to plan.

A bell rang out, and James’ sword—meant for the mage—swerved toward the paladin instead. The paladin’s shield glowed with a golden light, drawing James’ attention like a magnet.

“What the hell… I can’t take my eyes off it. Is that a skill?” James froze mid-strike. Whatever it was, it had paralyzed his focus. He didn’t have time to figure it out. He had to strike now, before the other knights returned from the nest. Either the paladin or the mage had to go down—immediately.

The paladin raised his shield. He couldn’t see James, but with his skill, Shield Taunt, he was certain the enemy would target a vital spot—most likely his head. He lifted his shield high, fully intending to protect his life.

But James wasn’t like other enemies.

Instead of striking the head, where it was protected by the glowing shield, James aimed lower—at the arm. James had experience with enemies that had shield skill. Shield skill could bounce weapon skills. His decision was correct. His sword skill severed it.

“ARGH!!” the paladin screamed. As his severed arm fell to the ground, the golden glow surrounding the shield flickered out. With the skill disrupted, James could finally focus his eyes on the mage again.

The mage had already retreated several meters, still disoriented but gathering mana to re-form the spell he’d lost. Even blinded, his training was impeccable.

The paladin, meanwhile, was regaining his footing. His blurred vision was clearing, and the disorientation had worn off. He had never encountered a flashbang before—any magical debuff would usually be nullified by the blessing of Mystis, the Bringer of Life. But this wasn’t magic.

His kite shield glowed gold again as he activated another skill. With a roar, he charged forward and slammed the shield into James’ chest. The impact hurled James backward.

Unlike other weapons, shield skills focused on defense and control, not raw damage. James hit the ground hard but wasn’t seriously injured.

“Shit. Phase two—kiting,” James muttered. “The mage and archers are decent at close combat, but they can’t match the other knights. If I can keep my distance, I can pick them off one by one.”

He scrambled back into the forest, snatching up the bow and arrows he had dropped earlier. Now that the enemy archer was down, the advantage was his.

The battle of attrition had just begun.

[Name: James

Age : 35

Sex: male

Levels : 54

Coins : 3750

Merit : 10

Stats:

STR : 168

Dex : 164

Magic : 125 (up3)

Mana : 1140 (up20)

Skills:

Novice Axe mastery level 5 (Powerstrike,V-slash, boomerang)
Novice Sword mastery level 2(hurricane, Vorpal lunge)
Novice Bow Mastery level 1 (Quickshot, Homing shot)
Beginner dagger mastery level 1

Magic:

Mind flay
Sense Alteration
Mana sonar

Class :

Attacker (level 35)(up1) (10% bonus when attacking) (Str, Dex, +1 for every level)

Shop (level 2):

Health potion (100 coins)
Hematonic potion (50 coins)
High potion (300 coins)
Antidote (50 coins)
Sell function / repair function
Bullets (10 coins / round)
Grenades/flashbang (50 coins / piece)
Arrow (50 coins / dozen)
Metal pocket arrow (100 coin. dozen)
Merit shop (10 merit/skill)
Poison dart (10 coins/round)

Unique Skill:

Chimera level 2 (1 extra slot open):
- Goblin stomach (Iron guts) (stomach slot)
- Eyes of Mana (mana sense) (Right eye slot)
- Golem arm of Valhalla (STR+30%, Physical Resistance +30%, negative trait: Repairable, Mana -200)(right arm slot)
- Ratking’s legs (Str +25%)(leg slot)
- Flaming tiger’s Fire lung (Fire breathing skill) (Negative trait: Mana -100 Magic -10) (Lung slot)
- Golem core (Poison resistance) (negative trait: mana-250 Magic -10, Repairable)(Heart slot)
- Orc’s torso (torso slot)
- Orc’s head (Head slot)
- Shadow snake fang (intermediate life leeching)(mouth slot)
- Flaming Tiger Lord’s Firefur (Fire cloak skill, Fire resistance, Physical Resistance +15%) (Negative trait: Mana -100 Magic -10) (Skin slot)
- Land Shark’s ear (echolocation: 10 meters) (ear slot)
- Mana core (Water Spell : ice spear, water manipulation, Magic +60, Mana +1000)(Extra slot)
- Quetzalcoatl Horn (Lighting shot: 20 mana per shot) ( Extra slot 3)
- Mana core (wind Spell : wind gust, wind wall, Magic +20, Mana +300) (extra slot4)