Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Let’s rewind time.

Before Dojae arrived at his younger brother and Eunhee’s place.

When they were in the unfamiliar dungeon sent by Quest.

“Keeeeeeek!”

A harpy screams with a broken leg.

Its wings fluttered weakly from the pain.

Thud.

Seizing the moment, Dojae drove his fist into the harpy’s belly.

“Kwaaak. Kwaaak!”

With vocal cords different from humans, the harpy retched out incomprehensible sounds.

‘This might be somewhat human-like.’

Flutter- flutter-.

The harpy flapped its wings vigorously, but with one wing pinned, it couldn’t fly.

It merely spun around in circles on the ground.

Crunch-.

[Level Up.]

Dojae’s foot stomps down near the harpy’s neck.

The harpy finally collapses, limp.

He hunted the harpy lightly, without any significant damage.

All thanks to the sturdy defense of the Golem Armor.

‘95% complete!’

Checking the quest window, Dojae couldn’t hide his joy.

Just a little more hunting, and the quest would be complete.

The quest’s progress bar would rise even if he just passed the time.

After all, the quest wasn’t about hunting, but about surviving.

But after hunting the first harpy and seeing the progress increase further, he began actively seeking them out.

It was only natural to pursue them now that a way to escape this place had presented itself.

Hunting harpies also let me level up, so it was killing two birds with one stone.

‘Each one boosts progress by about 5%, so I’ll rest briefly then finish this quickly.’

The mana consumed just to maintain the Golem Armor was 1.

If it regenerated by taking damage, the mana would deplete even faster.

I needed to fully recover my mana for the next battle.

“Agility +5.”

Current level is 5.

I just leveled up again from hunting and used the given points to raise my Agility stat.

Five points per level up.

This brought Dojae’s Agility stat to 30.

‘I’ll sit for a moment.’

Dojae sat down on a rock for a moment and looked up.

‘Have I looked up at the sky like this recently?’

Dojae’s eyes were always fixed on the ground, where monster corpses were scattered.

‘The sky is so clear.’

The sky above the field-type dungeon was unexpectedly blue and clean.

Only a few scattered clouds drifted slowly, bringing a refreshing feeling.

“Kyaaaah!”

He thought he might get a little rest.

Unfortunately, this is a dungeon, and the sky is ruled by harpies.

Whoosh-!

With a sound of wind being cut, a large shadow approached from far away.

A creature twice as large as the others.

With a single light flap of its wings, the creature arrived in an instant, causing Dojae’s hair to flutter violently.

“Mother Harpy?”

Mother Harpy.

A boss monster found in the Harpy Dungeon.

Its size is twice, sometimes even three times larger than regular harpies, and everything—claws, legs, wings—is much thicker and more powerful.

Above all, despite being a harpy, its face is so grotesque it feels wrong to call it human.

‘It looks like a spoonbill.’

Dojae had mistaken it.

‘I didn’t expect a boss here. My mistake.’

This is a dungeon.

And a field-type dungeon at that.

It wouldn’t be strange for the boss to pop out anytime, anywhere.

Anyway, now wasn’t the time for self-reproach.

Mother Harpy’s attack began.

“Kyaaaah!”

Clack-!

Mother Harpy screamed so loudly it made your hair stand on end, sweeping past the golem armor before you could react.

Thud-thud-thud-.

Unlike ordinary harpies, rocks rained down with every single attack.

The shock reverberated all the way to her head, making it ring.

The relentless claw attacks and the golem armor’s regeneration.

I could feel my mana rapidly depleting.

CRASH-.

Dojae’s fist collides with Mother Harpy’s foot.

I’d planned to break its leg, but it blocked it more easily than I’d expected.

‘If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve boosted my resistance and strength.’

Regretting it now is useless.

His golem armor was sufficient for dealing with ordinary harpies.

Investing all points into agility to move faster was a perfectly rational decision.

“Kee-ree-ree-ree.”

The Mother Harpy let out a cry that sounded like a mocking laugh and soared high into the sky.

Spreading its massive wings wide looked dangerous.

Whoosh-.

Sure enough, its massive talons narrowly missed Dojae’s shoulder.

Had he not ducked at that instant, he would have been caught without a doubt.

This time, the points spent on Agility paid off handsomely.

“Kyaaah!”

But Mother Harpy relentlessly charged forward to snatch the treasure.

Since her claw attack wasn’t working, she planned to drop him from a height.

But Doja wasn’t one to be caught so easily.

He rolled and crawled, doing whatever it took to avoid being caught.

As he dodged, he began to see openings in her timing.

Thud-!

“Kyaaah!”

“Huff, huff.”

Dojae finally landed a hit.

Mother Harpy was furious.

Then the creature stopped its physical attacks.

Instead of its screech, it began making a different sound.

Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

The ultrasonic attack only Mother Harpy uses.

Its hideous maw opened and closed repeatedly.

As the frequency stabilized, cracks began to form in the stones composing the golem’s armor.

“Ugh…”

Moreover, the ultrasonic waves didn’t only affect the golem armor.

Doja himself felt his ears ringing and his stomach churning.

The ultrasonic waves penetrated the golem armor, so covering his ears wouldn’t solve the problem.

His magic power grew unstable, and pieces of the golem armor began falling off in droves.

‘I have to hold on.’

Given the situation, Dojae clenched his teeth and focused on regenerating the golem armor.

The creature seemed to be waiting for Dojae’s armor to peel away, firing only ultrasonic waves.

Even moving is a struggle, so he grits his teeth, determined to buy time somehow.

With 95% of the repair progress already achieved, it shouldn’t take too much longer.

Ting-.

In the midst of the chaos, how many minutes had he spent repeating collapse and regeneration?

A cheerful sound reached his ears.

[Skill ‘Golem Armor’ leveled up.]

[The skill ‘Golem Armor’ has gained resistance.]

But Dojae had no time to pay attention to the sound.

He had to keep sending mana to hold together the crumbling Golem Armor.

[The resistance of the skill ‘Golem Armor’ increases.]

30 seconds….

[The resistance of the ‘Golem Armor’ skill increases.]

1 minute….

[The resistance of the ‘Golem Armor’ skill increases.]

[The resistance of the ‘Golem Armor’ skill increases.]

[The resistance of the skill ‘Golem Armor’ increases.]

….

And when five minutes had passed.

Only a ringing noise like tinnitus could be heard; the nausea had subsided.

[Skill]

Skill Name: Golem Armor

Level: 2

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: 1 + α

Resistance: Sonic Waves (50%)

Golem Armor Level Up.

The effect ‘Resistance’ has been added.

Now, even within Mother Harpy’s sonic attack, the Golem Armor began to hold firm.

“Kyaaah!”

Mother Harpy senses the change.

She halted her sonic attack and flew toward him once more.

CRASH!

“Kyaaah?”

Mother Harpy panics.

Unlike before, her claws are now embedded in solid rock.

“Gotcha now. Nice to meet you.”

Thud-!

Dojae’s fist smashed into Mother Harpy’s face.

Mother Harpy falls to the ground.

What happened next was no different from the other harpies.

POW-!

[Level Up.]

[Level Up.]

….

Level-up windows popped up in an instant.

Another message appeared shortly after.

[Quest completed.]

[You have obtained the reward.]

[‘A Space’]

[Achievement Exceeded! Exceeded 100% completion.]

[Additional reward obtained.]

[‘Brown Box’]

Immediately after checking all messages.

A small brown box appeared in Dojae’s hand.

Then, his body was sucked away somewhere by a powerful force.

Though it felt more like being pushed out.

***

Clunk-.

The brown box opened.

Clatter-!

Various items spill out onto the floor from inside the box.

[Acquired ‘Magic Stone’ from the brown box.]

….

[Acquired ‘Mineral’ from the brown box.]

….

[Obtained ‘Harpy Feather’ from the brown box.]

[Obtained ‘Weapon’ from the brown box.]

The box vanished along with the message.

What fell to the floor were three magic stones, three chunks of mineral the size of soccer balls, and a bundle of feathers.

And a long sword.

“Hmph…”

It was incredibly intriguing how such things could fit inside that small box.

‘I thought it was a shame everything vanished after finishing the quest, but I guess this is how I get it.’

Even while defeating the harpy, I had plucked and collected feathers and claws along the way.

But after clearing the quest, everything except the brown box had vanished.

I was regretting that I could have made a decent bit of pocket money if I had sold them.

But now, loot like this came out of the chest.

‘Let’s see.’

Dojae placed the fallen items on the bench and began examining them one by one.

‘Even at a glance, these are expensive magic stones.’

These were high-quality magic stones unlike any Dojae had ever seen in the dungeons he’d explored so far.

He had no eye for magic stones, but even at a glance, he knew these were the kind embedded in the weapons and armor used by high-rank hunters. They were now in his hands.

‘Selling just one of these…’

This month’s hospital bills for his younger sibling would be more than covered.

He might even be able to move him to a private room.

‘No. It’s better to hold onto them for now.’

Selling the magic stone now could provide a better environment for his brother, but that was all.

The ongoing maintenance costs would be hard to manage.

On the other hand, if I use the magic stone myself.

Most hunters don’t use magic stones directly; they convert them to cash. But Dojae is different.

He can summon a golem with the magic stone.

Considering the future, keeping the magic stones rather than selling them is the wise choice.

‘Sorry, but hang in there a little longer.’

Tap tap-.

Scratch-scratch-.

This time, Dojae touches the minerals.

He taps them and rubs them.

But there’s no way to tell what kind of minerals these are.

‘Well, I guess. I don’t even know what the rocks lying around on the road are.’

Since Dojae had no knowledge in this area, staring intently yielded no real insight.

Still, since they were quest rewards, he couldn’t just throw them away carelessly.

‘I’ll sell the feathers to Mr. Choi.’

Freelance hunters each have their own retail dealers they trade with.

Dojae also had a place he’d been selling his spoils to for a long time. They’d give him a fair price there.

‘The sword is what’s left… Perfect timing.’

A sword with a blue tint.

Its decorations were crude, but the blade itself was razor-sharp.

He had left his original longsword and dagger behind in the dungeon and lost them.

They were just cheap iron swords worth 300,000 won anyway, and since he’d cherished and used them for over two years, he figured he’d gotten his money’s worth.

In fact, it was impressive it lasted this long.

Though, truth be told, he rarely had occasion to use a sword.

‘But how am I supposed to carry it?’

More importantly, how should I handle this now?

Before, I used to carry several large collection bags to repeatedly move loot around, but now I’ve left them behind.

‘An inventory would have been so useful.’

An inventory I desperately wished for during every raid.

An inventory refers to a kind of magical pouch made from mana.

Inventories were graded based on the quantity or weight they could hold, but either way, they were incredibly expensive items.

So expensive that commoners couldn’t even dream of owning one.

‘Come to think of it!’

The sub-space mentioned in the quest.

I definitely received it as a reward while hunting Mother Harpy.

If Dojae’s interpretation was correct, it could perfectly process all the minerals and feathers scattered on the floor.

“Subspace.”

Zzzzt-.

The void tore open.

The sub-space portal appeared before his eyes.

“Whoa.”

Startled, Dojae gasped.

As if someone might see, he hurriedly shoved the items into the sub-space.