Chapter 12

Chapter 12

[Quest cleared.]

Thump-thump-.

‘Still glowing.’

Swish-.

Dojae lifted the shattered magic stone.

Though split into dozens of pieces, each fragment still held its own light.

Normally, the moment a magic stone shatters, it loses its integrity and rapidly disperses the magic power it contained into the air.

Magic power isn’t like an element or an electron; it cannot be contained as it rapidly disperses.

Yet these shattered fragments still held magic—whether this was their original state or due to some other reason.

‘Huh?’

Buzz-buzz-buzz-.

Then, the excavated magic stone fragments began vibrating against each other within the soil.

Scratch- scratch-.

The fragments slowly shift.

Like wriggling earthworms, the magic stone fragments slowly shifted in a specific direction.

Then.

Crack-!

“Gah!”

The magic stone settled on Dojae’s palm.

The magic stones had gathered together, settling into their original form, radiating light from Dojae’s hand.

“My… my hand…”

Do-jae clutched his hand and collapsed.

It felt like his hand was burning.

No, it felt like being torn to shreds by a knife.

Would it feel like this if you poured chili powder and salt into a torn wound?

The pain was so intense he tried scratching his hand with his fingers, but the stone remained unyielding.

Pop!

The magic stone erupted with a blinding light that seemed to swallow everything around it.

And when Dojae opened his eyes, the pain had vanished completely.

“What the hell… Is this the quest reward?”

The jade-colored magic stone exposed above the golem’s armor.

The golem’s heart is concealed when the armor is donned, yet it sits embedded as if it were originally one piece.

“Release.”

Thud.

The flow of mana to the golem armor is severed.

Then, the magic stone on the back of the hand gradually faded and scattered like dust.

Soon, those particles traveled up Dojae’s forearm, disappearing into his shoulder, chest, and near his heart.

“Hah. Magic is something else.”

Sensing a change, Dojae immediately opened the skill information to check the description.

[Skill]

Skill Name: Golem Armor

Level: 4

Type: Active

Description: Forms Golem Armor using the golem’s heart as its core. Golem Armor is influenced by the user’s stats and skill level.

Mana Cost: 4+a

Resistance: Sonic Waves (50%)

Orb: Memory of the Sealed Right Hand

“Memory of the Sealed Right Hand?”

The Golem Armor level increased.

And just like when a skill gained resistance, another line was added.

But unlike before, this time the information was hard to understand.

‘Is there something like a memory in my right hand? And what’s this about a seal? Is it the right hand that’s sealed, or the memory?’

The ambiguous wording only added to the confusion.

The only thing certain was the amount of mana I could feel within my body.

He could sense a far richer mana pool than when hunting King Greydon.

Dojae opened the information window for a proper check.

[Info]

Name: Lee Dojae

Level: 35

Title: Golem Sorcerer

HP: 5,500 / MP: 17,780

[Stats]

Strength: 40 / Stamina: 40 / Agility: 70 / Spirit: 10 / Resistance: 40

(Points: 25)

[Skills]

Passive: Golem’s Heart Lv. Max / Aether Space Lv. Max

Active: Golem Summon Lv. 2 / Golem Armor Lv. 4

“It went up by 5? Gah. My mana pool…”

Dojai gasped in shock at the incredibly inflated mana pool.

It had increased to over three times that of his health.

Even before this, maintaining the Golem Armor alone consumed a significant amount of mana as its level increased, making it quite taxing. With this much mana, he could practically stop worrying about mana management.

‘Maybe I should go pick up some loot.’

Unfortunately, King Greydon wasn’t a beast-type monster, so loot didn’t automatically drop.

Moreover, since he hadn’t gained any new titles after Cerberus, it seemed titles required specific conditions.

And that probably meant quests.

“Huh, this should be pretty lucrative.”

Whoosh-!

Dojae monopolized the boss loot.

He even whistled as he began dismantling it.

***

Outside the dungeon.

Several cars are parked.

“You’re here!”

A young man bowed his head toward a man about to step out of a car.

The man frowns at the glaring sunlight, one leg still inside the car, and says.

“Who are you?”

Startled by the sudden question, the young man stammers.

“Huh?”

“I said, who are you?”

After a moment of blankness, the young man snaps back to his senses and answers, tense.

“I’m Kim Jeong-tae, the new hunter who just joined! It’s an honor to be working with the team leader!”

“Is that all?”

“Huh?”

“Is that all?”

“Yes… Is there anything else you need…?”

Swoosh-.

The man unfurled his black umbrella the moment he stepped out.

Despite the clear, sunny weather, he stood holding a large umbrella.

“Why are you here?”

“Ah, I was told to wait for the team leader…”

Thud.

Thud.

The man stabbed the young man’s chest with his black-gloved hand.

Long sleeves and gloves too.

It showed a determination not to let a single ray of sunlight touch his skin.

“Well, since I’m here, I should probably brief you on the situation, right?”

“Well… I was going to say that…”

“If you were going to say it, you should have said it, right?”

Each word stabbed like a dagger, forcing the young man to back away step by step.

“I’m sorry!”

Only after shouting an apology did the man’s actions cease.

With one final word, the man left the young man behind and headed toward the dungeon.

“I’ll look around on my own, so you do the same.”

The young man stood there blankly, watching until the man entered the dungeon before letting out a deep sigh.

“Haah… I want to quit my job…”

***

The man who entered the dungeon was Jin Hee-soo.

He was one of the team leaders for Yujin, one of Seoul’s five major guilds.

Having returned to the 35-story guild building in Cheongnyangni after a long absence, he ended up being called out for support in less than 30 minutes.

‘It seems like it’s time to stop being the Association’s lapdog.’

The Yujin Guild was renowned for being guild-friendly.

The fact that Yujin could rank among the top five guilds was largely due to the substantial support they received from the Association, thanks to their diligent backing.

That’s why Eugene still ends up handling these cleanup tasks.

And to think they’d waste the precious time of an A-rank Hunter, the very backbone of the guild, by sending them on a mere dungeon run like this.

Jin Hee-soo thought the guild master must be completely out of his mind.

‘Damn it, should I just quit right now?’

Truthfully, Jin Hee-soo had been considering switching guilds for quite some time.

But it was never going to be easy.

That was because he was notorious for being a troublemaker.

‘The US was a complete bust, and Europe was no different. At least France got back to us.’

Perhaps it was because he had gained excessive power from a young age.

After being driven out by top-tier guilds across the Republic of Korea, he barely managed to gain a foothold in Eugene.

At the time, Eugene was desperately gathering hunters to build its power, and Jin Hee-soo luckily managed to join.

But after causing all sorts of incidents and accidents within Eugene itself, they ended up sending him to this backwater position.

He kept reaching out to overseas guilds, but with the rumors spreading far and wide, it made no difference even abroad.

France, at least, was in a situation where they needed even a D-rank hunter’s help, so they called Jin Hee-soo. But he himself didn’t want to go.

‘How could I go to a place like that? Forget proper treatment—the basic infrastructure is crumbling.’

Thud-thud-.

Jin Hee-soo, who had arrived late anyway, wandered around inside the dungeon with no intention of joining the team members.

Truthfully, this was a mutually beneficial situation for both Jin Hee-soo and the team members.

Jin Hee-soo was a lone wolf who liked doing things his own way, but the team members?

Having to appease her whims and prevent her from causing trouble was no small ordeal.

“Huh? Didn’t they say it was a D-rank dungeon?”

While surveying the dungeon, Jin Hee-soo noticed something intriguing.

They say a strong person recognizes another strong person, and Jin Hee-soo found the monster carcasses quite amusing.

“Goblins, fine. But even Greydon one-shot killed?”

There was no sign of resistance from the monsters.

For a D-rank, at least four people would have needed to gang up to stand a chance against a Greydon.

Yet there was only one set of footprints.

What also caught his eye were the odd, clumsy marks scattered haphazardly—they didn’t seem to be human footprints.

‘Who cares.’

But he quickly lost interest.

They were several levels below him anyway.

Besides, a hunter roaming around a D-rank dungeon like this was obviously low-level.

Of course, his nature of not caring about things not his business also played a part.

‘There’s one oddball mixed in here.’

Following the tracks led him round and round until he reached the boss room.

He met up with his teammates, thinking the owner of these footprints had probably made the strategy much easier.

“The boss?”

“Yep! By the time we arrived, the dungeon had already been completely cleared.”

“Damn it, we made a wasted trip.”

“My apologies! I told the newbie the team leader didn’t need to come…”

“What? Who hired that guy?”

Everyone fell silent.

Then, one person walked out from the boss room, breaking the silence.

“Team Leader, I have something to tell you.”

“Oh, what is it?”

He was the deputy team leader, the one who practically ran the team in Jin Hee-soo’s place.

The other team members trusted and followed him more than Jin Hee-soo.

“As you saw on your way in, everything of value has been taken. The boss is no exception. The body is here, but all that’s left is trash.”

“What? Then what about our share?”

“Hmm. That part… Well, according to the report, the raid leader immediately called off the operation and ordered a full retreat after the boss dealt damage. That part seems a bit off.”

“Damn it, I don’t know. That’s none of our business. We just wasted time. I’m leaving first.”

One of Jin Hee-soo’s small pleasures: loot snatching.

Now that even that was off-limits, her mood soured instantly and she stormed off.

Watching him, the team members each thought to themselves.

‘Ugh, and he calls himself a team leader.’

‘Why’s he taking it out on us when he’s the one screwing up?’

‘The deputy team leader is a saint. A saint.’

The remaining team members began preparing to leave the dungeon, while only the deputy team leader stared into the boss room, filled with questions.

***

[Balance: 1,630,000 won]

“Wow… That’s all that’s left already?”

Dojae stared at his bank account balance.

Having just started spending the first large sum of money he’d ever earned, his balance was rapidly dwindling.

He bought a dungeon on a whim, prepaid his younger sibling’s hospital bills, signed a lease for his apartment, and bought all sorts of appliances, furniture, and daily necessities.

There was no way any money would be left.

That said, Dojae hadn’t been completely irresponsible with his spending.

All his spending was necessary, and he still had some spare funds.

It just wasn’t in cash.

“Heh heh, this is nothing. It’s nothing compared to before.”

Dojae chuckled as he looked at the list in his sub-space.

The spoils he’d steadily accumulated.

Some might ask if someone could buy a house with this stuff, but he already had one.

Moreover, unlike before, the quality of the monsters he hunted had improved, so his profits had increased dramatically.

Even selling just a portion of the list would more than cover his living expenses.

‘I should pay the boss a visit for the first time in ages.’

Dojae opened his smartphone contacts.

Dozens of numbers appeared as he typed in the search term.

He pressed the number for the closest and most frequently used company.

“Yes, this is the moving service?”