Chapter 32

Unable to bear the chilling atmosphere, Jin Sea-ah brought up another topic. “By the way, does anyone know how to use this?” What she held was the Seed that Seo Yoo-mi had given her earlier.

“Ah… you check it with Item Identification, then equip it to a card… I heard you can equip it to items too, but I’ve never seen that. Did you not get the Item Identification ability?”

Jin Sea-ah shook her head at Lim Seo-yoon’s question. Seeing her reaction, Lim Seo-yoon added, “You get it by going through the labyrinth in the tutorial.”

Jin Sea-ah frowned and asked, “If I didn’t get it there, can I never get it again?”

“Th-that… I’m not sure about that either…” Lim Seo-yoon scratched his head, and Jin Sea-ah let out a deep sigh. “I should have endured it and explored more if I knew this… sigh…”

“Then you couldn’t check the one that came from the boss either, could you?” “No.” “Just give it to me for now. I’ll check it for you.” “Just a moment.”

Jin Sea-ah pulled out a small, lucky pouch-like item from her pocket, took out a seed from it, and handed it to Lim Seo-yoon. Lim Seo-yoon took the two seeds from her, placed them on his phone, and said, “At least you managed to get a seed from the boss. I also found it hard to bring myself to rummage through its head.”

“Th-that’s… because I was so angry back then…” “Right, I guess so.”

Lim Seo-yoon checked the seeds, then handed them back to her, saying, “This one… is called a Life Seed, it increases vitality. And this one is an Anti-Frozen Seed, it increases cold resistance.”

“Are they good?” “Well, I haven’t gotten many myself, so I’m not sure if they’re good…” “Anyway, thank you.” “Don’t mention it.”

While the two chatted intimately, Jun-sang opened his phone. Though he hadn’t been able to level himself up, the levels of his cards were definitely rising during these battles. Jun-sang checked the newly leveled-up Rampage card.

Congratulations! The skill card ‘Rampage’ has leveled up.

• When a card’s level increases, various effects are added.
• When ‘Rampage’ is equipped, the attack power increase effect increases by 2 percent.
• When ‘Rampage’ is equipped, the armor effect reduction penalty decreases by 2 percent.

Since he was using the Berserker Combo anyway, the armor effect didn’t really matter, but the increase in attack power was something he had wished for. After checking the card, Jun-sang thoroughly washed the two newly found seeds with water and equipped them to his phone.

Item Information

• Name: Physical Seed
• Level Restriction: 10
• Type: Seed
• Grade: Uncommon
• Effect: Physical attack power +3%
• Description: A seed that increases power when using physical attacks.
• Can be equipped to items or cards with Seed slots to enhance their abilities.
• A special ability ‘Separate’ is required to detach an equipped seed.
• [Click here to equip this seed to an item or card.]

Item Information

• Name: Attack Speed Seed
• Level Restriction: None
• Type: Seed
• Grade: Common+
• Effect: Attack speed +2%
• Description: A seed that increases attack speed.
• Can be equipped to items or cards with Seed slots to enhance their abilities.
• A special ability ‘Separate’ is required to detach an equipped seed.
• [Click here to equip this seed to an item or card.]

If Lim Seo-yoon, who was currently talking about the seeds he had acquired, had seen these, his jaw would have dropped at such a windfall. But Jun-sang showed no expression as he removed the Anti-Fire Seed from his Rampage card and inserted the two newly acquired seeds there. Pondering what to do with the remaining seed, Jun-sang decided to equip it to his Ring of Life, which had an empty slot.

Jin Sea-ah, who had been watching Jun-sang’s actions without much thought, asked again, just in case. “That… is that perhaps a ring where you can equip seeds?”

“…” Jun-sang nodded silently. Then Lim Seo-yoon, who had been watching from the side, immediately reacted. “Oh! Can I take a look for a moment?”

Not only Lim Seo-yoon but also Jin Sea-ah’s eyes sparkled brightly as they gave him a burdensome look. But Jun-sang ignored their words and spoke to the two wolves below the roof, who were being pestered by Seo Yoo-mi. “Wake me when the enemy comes.” And as soon as he confirmed the wolves understood his command, he lay down on the roof and began to sleep. This quest was going to last for three days, so it was necessary to conserve his stamina whenever possible. Others could shake off their fatigue through leveling up, but for Jun-sang, it was unclear if he could even level up by hunting zombies, so he had no choice.

“…” “…” Thanks to him, Jin Sea-ah and Lim Seo-yoon, who had been intensely gazing at Jun-sang with burdensome looks, ended up looking like dogs chasing a chicken.

“Tsk…” “Haha…” But even they had no intention of disturbing Jun-sang’s recovery just to examine his ring. No matter what anyone said, the very fact that they could casually chat like this was due to his overwhelming strength, and they weren’t so shameless as to deny that. Although Jin Sea-ah had the Wall of Fire skill, and Seo Yoo-mi also possessed frightening strength compared to others… if Jun-sang hadn’t stepped forward and massacred more than half of the zombies, there was a possibility that not only the villagers but also casualties among themselves would have occurred.

However, even taking all these circumstances into account, being so openly ignored wasn’t exactly pleasant. Especially for Jin Sea-ah, who had some confidence in her appearance, it was a blow to her pride.

“So full of himself, really.” “Haha…”

Fortunately, there were no further attacks that night. But as dawn slowly broke and one side of the sky began to lighten, the two wolves, who had been sitting quietly on alert, suddenly stood up and began to howl.

“Yelp!” Thanks to that, Seo Yoo-mi, who had been dozing off leaning against the Crimson Wolf, tumbled backward, creating a minor disaster, but in any case, the howling of the two wolves was a sufficient signal to break the quiet stillness of the village. The first person to react was Jun-sang. As soon as he heard the wolves’ howling, Jun-sang shot up from his spot and immediately leaped down from the roof.

“Whoops…” Jin Sea-ah and Lim Seo-yoon, who had been dozing, also threw off their shabby blankets and quickly got up to follow Jun-sang.

“Awoo… Jong-ah, let’s go…” Only Seo Yoo-mi, still half-asleep, followed the Crimson Wolf. And before all the villagers, scattered around the campfires and dozing, could even fully wake up, the battle began.

“This is…” Jin Sea-ah and Lim Seo-yoon, who had approached the palisade, flinched in surprise at the sight of the new enemy. It was a completely different entity from the zombies they had been fighting so far, and it was being pulverized by Jun-sang’s fists. It was a skeleton soldier, with no flesh left whatsoever. It wasn’t just clattering bones either; it was equipped with a shield, sword, and even armor, albeit crude.

“A skeleton… no, in this case, it might be more accurate to call it a skeleton.” Lim Seo-yoon murmured, wearing a troubled expression. His arrows were very suitable for living or quasi-living targets, but they were ill-suited for dealing with rattling, bony entities like these.

Lim Seo-yoon wasn’t the only one troubled. Jin Sea-ah also shot a flame arrow at a skeleton soldier, but she was bewildered by the skeleton soldier that continued to advance despite being engulfed in flames. The only saving grace was that, unlike the zombies, their numbers were not very high. But that was no reason for complacency. Hadn’t the zombies also appeared in small numbers at first, only to increase over time?

Lim Seo-yoon watched the situation for a moment, then took a deep breath and fired his crossbow, imbuing it with an unknown power. The arrow, when it hit its target, caused a small explosion, and the skeleton soldier’s head was shattered into pieces by the blast. Jin Sea-ah, who was preparing to cast Wall of Fire again, was surprised by the immense power and said to Lim Seo-yoon, “If you have a skill like that, you should have used it sooner!”

Lim Seo-yoon replied with a wry smile, “Well… I just got it when I leveled up this time.”

“Ah… cough.” Jin Sea-ah, embarrassed, cleared her throat unnecessarily and activated Wall of Fire once more. Even the skeleton soldiers that had ignored the flame arrows and charged forward now hesitated and stopped advancing, unable to withstand this Wall of Fire. As the skeleton soldiers that had been covertly approaching the village were again deterred by the newly risen Wall of Fire, Jun-sang was able to engage in combat with peace of mind.

“Phew…” He regulated his breathing, tucked his arms at his sides, and began to move with precise steps. Others were flustered by the appearance of the skeleton soldiers who were immune to normal attacks and even wielded weapons, but Jun-sang had already fought armed opponents in the mine and naturally possessed a striking and crushing attack style rather than cutting or stabbing, so he had no major problems. However, unlike the dog-headed monsters in the mine, their armor, though crude, seemed reinforced with iron and thus tougher, and their weapons were much longer, so caution was necessary.

The skeleton soldier, its deeply set eye sockets gleaming with a pale, cold light, thrust its shield forward, covering its body, and charged towards Jun-sang. This attack method—blocking the enemy’s attack with the shield, simultaneously pushing them off balance, then thrusting or slashing with the sword—was classic but highly effective, making it difficult for Jun-sang to find an opening. But if there was no opening, he would create one. Jun-sang had enough power to do so.

“Hmph.” Jun-sang chuckled to himself as he watched the skeleton soldier charge at him with its shield extended. “Open Shoulder Charge.” And no sooner had the card equipped than he unleashed Shoulder Charge towards the skeleton soldier’s shield. Although slightly rusted, if a solid iron-reinforced wooden shield met a human shoulder, the shield would normally win, but Jun-sang was a human who slightly deviated from the norm.

CRACK! Jun-sang’s shoulder immediately shattered the skeleton soldier’s shield, then continued to push through, crushing its ribs. The bone fragments that made up the skeleton soldier shattered into pieces and scattered everywhere with that single blow, and amidst it all, Jun-sang didn’t forget to find the skeleton head, still emitting its pale light, and neatly crushed it with his fist.

As Jun-sang turned his gaze to find a new enemy, the Crimson Wolf was seen charging towards a skeleton soldier. The skeleton soldier was soon pinned down by the large red-furred wolf, but even then, it swung its sword and wounded the Crimson Wolf’s body. At that, Seo Yoo-mi’s eyes, which had been silent until then, flashed brightly.

“How dare you… how dare you wound Jong-i’s body!” A skeleton soldier to her side aimed for Seo Yoo-mi’s back, as she was distracted by the Crimson Wolf, but she swung her chef’s knife without looking back, deflecting the skeleton soldier’s sword, then ghost-like, turned around and split its skull in half. Having swiftly dispatched one skeleton soldier, Seo Yoo-mi quickly approached the skeleton soldier that the Crimson Wolf was sitting on and pounded its head with the hilt of her chef’s knife as if pounding garlic, and soon, the skeleton soldier’s head shattered, and its movements ceased.

“Jong-ah. Does it hurt a lot?” Seo Yoo-mi quickly pulled out a piece of cloth from her pocket and tried to bandage the wound on the Crimson Wolf’s body, but the heartless Crimson Wolf immediately moved on to find the next enemy.

“Jong-ah! Where are you going! You need to get this tied first!”

Should he laugh or not?

“…” Jun-sang shook his head as he watched the scene, then lightly parried a sword thrust aimed at him with the back of his hand, grabbed the skeleton head, and simply pulled it out of its body. Even though the skeleton head was separated from its body, it still emitted a pale, cold light and clattered its jaw, but it was soon crushed and destroyed by a military boot. Immediately after, the white light of a level up enveloped Jun-sang’s body and passed over him.