Chapter 35

Jun-sang took the map that Seo-yoon offered. But even though Jun-sang had taken the map, Seo-yoon didn’t let go of his hand.

“…”

When Jun-sang silently looked at him, he smiled and said, “Before I give you this… actually, there’s something I’m not quite sure about.”

“What is it?”

“It’s about the hidden quest… whether we can also receive the reward if you clear it alone, Mr. Jun-sang.”

“Hmm…”

Jun-sang frowned. Unfortunately, he didn’t have accurate information about this either. The tutorial was a solo quest from the start, so it couldn’t provide an answer in this situation. However, to find a similar example, when he had previously undertaken the Forest Purification Quest, Inia’s request, which appeared as a sub-quest, was completed by him alone, and he received the reward alone.

Moreover, that wasn’t the only problem. Jun-sang had speculated that there were at least two hidden quests in this current quest. One of them was the subjugation of the Valley of Death, the undead stronghold, as Lim Seo-yoon had learned from the villagers. The other, he suspected, was to keep civilian casualties below a certain level during the village defense. In this case, if Jun-sang were to head to the Valley of Death now, his contribution to the village defense would be low, which could negatively impact his later evaluation.

Jun-sang asked Seo-yoon, “You must have a plan if you brought it up, right?”

Seo-yoon nodded and replied, “It’s simple. In games, this kind of situation can usually be resolved in one way.” Jun-sang immediately understood. “You mean a party.”

“Exactly.”

The other three had initially formed a party at Jin Sea-ah’s suggestion and were still maintaining it, but Jun-sang had immediately disbanded his. Come to think of it, Seo-yoon was also the one who first brought up the idea of forming a party.

“Did you anticipate this from the beginning?”

At Jun-sang’s words, Seo-yoon chuckled awkwardly and shook his head. “Of course not.”

Jin Sea-ah, who had been quietly observing the two men exchanging words, suddenly sighed deeply and said, “I’m a woman who graduated from a prestigious university and was told I was smart… but seeing you two makes me feel strangely unconfident about myself.”

“…”

At least Jin Sea-ah understood, but Seo Yoo-mi was just tilting her head. Jun-sang let out a small laugh and said to Jin Sea-ah, “Party up with me.”

“Huh?”

Jin Sea-ah looked bewildered as to why it had to be her, but when Seo-yoon smiled and nodded, she went ahead and sent a party invitation to Jun-sang as instructed. Only after Jun-sang accepted the party did Lim Seo-yoon let go of the map-holding hand and say, “Then, I wish you good luck.”

“…”

Jun-sang understood this was a test. Could he truly clear that place alone? Or would he meet a terrible end as a result of misplaced confidence? If he succeeded, he could easily gain additional rewards, and if he failed, a formidable competitor could be eliminated without him lifting a finger. Ultimately, from Lim Seo-yoon’s perspective, there was no loss either way. This was literally soryeojangdo (keeping a knife hidden behind a smile). The saying, “to hide a sword in a smile,” must have been coined for someone like Lim Seo-yoon.

However, conversely, this was also an opportunity for Jun-sang. The level difference was too great; even if he hunted swarms of zombies, it was difficult to level up, so he needed to hunt stronger monsters. Stronger monsters also had a higher chance of dropping good items. Moreover, recalling his exploration of the hidden cave in the tutorial, there was also a high possibility of obtaining items other than seeds.

High risk, high return. It was clearly a very dangerous challenge, but the rewards were equally promising.

“…”

Jun-sang silently unfolded the map first. It showed the surrounding terrain drawn with remarkably crude strokes. From a modern person’s perspective, it looked more like a roughly drawn sketch than a proper map, but for now, it was fortunate to have even this much.

He folded the map again, tucked it into his pocket, and called out to the wolves. Immediately, Seo Yoo-mi made a tearful face and said, “I-if I go with you too…”

“…”

Jun-sang looked at her for a moment, then said, “You’ll be in the way.”

His resolute words made Seo Yoo-mi’s face turn into a complete tearful mess, Jin Sea-ah clutched her forehead, and Lim Seo-yoon gave a wry smile. Ignoring their reactions, Jun-sang immediately crossed the palisade and headed into the forest with the wolves.

“I wonder if he’ll be alright,” Lim Seo-yoon said with a smile.

“You don’t need to worry.”

“Why?”

“Do you think I’m the only one who’s hidden their abilities?”

“…”

Jin Sea-ah’s mouth simply hung open in disbelief, unable to speak for a moment. “Y-you don’t mean… that’s not all?”

“Probably not.”

“That’s impossible…”

“Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to go so without hesitation. It’s only natural.”

“Good heavens…”

Jin Sea-ah shook her head in amazement at Lim Seo-yoon’s words. And she silently watched Jun-sang’s back as he moved further away from her sight.

Meanwhile, after a certain distance from the village, Jun-sang began to run, with the wolves leading the way. How long did he run? Soon after, the Crimson Wolf discovered a group of zombies and skeleton soldiers shambling along. This time, there were more of them than before; just counting the zombies, there were easily over a hundred.

“…”

But Jun-sang quietly observed the undead horde from a distance, then simply passed them by. Even if there were a hundred or so zombies, defeating them wouldn’t be a problem if he used explosives appropriately. In fact, this could be seen as a small punishment Jun-sang was inflicting on Lim Seo-yoon. To be equipped with that much armament, it must have cost a considerable sum, even if he didn’t know exactly how much. If Lim Seo-yoon had to handle that many enemies alone without Jun-sang, he would have to expend a significant portion of his armaments, and that all costs money. Jun-sang continued to move towards the location marked on the map, encountering undead hordes twice more, but he only observed them from afar and passed by.

Since the distance was quite far, even though he was trained in mountain running, it was almost noon when Jun-sang finally arrived at the undead stronghold known as the Valley of Death.

“Phew…”

Heat shimmered from Jun-sang’s body like a mirage, a result of the strenuous forced march. Since his stamina was significantly depleted, Jun-sang decided to rest first before entering the valley. Opening the icebox in his inventory, Jun-sang took out bear meat and bones, sharing them with the wolves. He then took out emergency rations and ate them, resting. And only after slowly eating and resting for about an hour did Jun-sang, with the wolves leading, slowly proceed inward.

Upon entering the valley, despite it being midday, it was dark as dusk, likely due to the thick fog.

“…”

He had been thinking of setting a fire like in the tutorial if things got too difficult, but with the fog like this, such a method would be problematic. Moreover, perhaps due to the aura of death emanating from within, it was difficult to find any trees or grass that would catch fire.

Jun-sang continued deeper into the valley until he encountered a group of zombies. The zombies stood still like dried old trees, but as Jun-sang and the wolves approached, their eyes glowed red, and they began to move. However, for Jun-sang and the wolves, this level of zombies no longer posed much of a threat.

Grrr!

Before Jun-sang could even move, the three wolves sprang forward and began to tear at the zombies. Jun-sang, a step behind, lightly moved with precise steps, approaching the zombies who were flailing about from the wolves’ attacks.

“Open Two-Hit Combo.”

He had the Two-Hit Combo card equipped, and one of the lead zombies flailed its arms, lunging at Jun-sang. But Jun-sang lightly parried the zombie’s arm with the back of his hand, then delivered straight punches to the zombie’s head with both hands.

Thwack!

It was a lightly thrown one-two straight, but its power was anything but light. The zombie couldn’t withstand the force transmitted from Jun-sang’s punches; its neck snapped backward, and it collapsed. Again, from the right, a zombie rushed forward with its arms spread, as if to embrace him. Jun-sang lowered his body as much as possible, slipped beneath its arms, then extended his hand, grabbing the zombie’s neck from below, and slammed it onto the ground. The form was slightly different, but it could be considered a type of choke slam.

CRUNCH!

The zombie, with no knowledge of how to break its fall, had the back of its head crushed and ceased to move. Two more zombies simultaneously rushed at Jun-sang, who was still in a low stance. This time, both hooks exploded with a weave, smashing the zombies’ heads. In an instant, four zombies were felled, and soon after, the wolves, each having dispatched one zombie, returned to Jun-sang’s side as if to escort him.

Jun-sang first crushed the heads of the fallen zombies and inspected inside, but nothing appeared. He finished his check and stood up… Suddenly, dozens of zombies shambled into view from a distance.

“…”

Where on earth were all these numerous undead coming from? He had already defeated hundreds of zombies. It might have been an ancient city or something in the past, but the zombies’ condition was too good to be from such a place. It was almost as if someone was continuously summoning the undead.

“Ah…”

Why hadn’t he thought of it sooner? Jun-sang finally concluded that this abnormal flood of undead was due to summoning or a similar means. If that was the case? The solution was simple. Just as in the Forest Purification Quest, he needed to eliminate the source object, such as the Darkness Core, or find the place where the undead were being summoned and destroy it.

Once the plan was decided, Jun-sang unsummoned the wolves and headed up towards the ridge. He began to move cautiously, trying his best not to be seen by the undead. Occasionally, a few lost undead blocked Jun-sang’s path, but they posed no problem. How far did he travel up the valley? Jun-sang finally found a very suspicious cave, emanating dark energy, from which the undead were emerging. After observing for a while while hiding behind a rock, it was clear that the undead were indeed coming out of that cave.

Once the presumed summoning point was confirmed, Jun-sang quietly said, “Open Crimson Wolf, open Timber Wolf, open Dire Wolf.” In quick succession, three wolves appeared, summoned with Jun-sang’s words. As soon as the wolves were summoned, Jun-sang immediately launched himself and the wolves like lightning towards the undead below the valley. The very first target was a skeleton soldier standing idly.

Thwack!

The skeleton soldier, standing blankly like a human skeletal specimen in a science lab, collapsed as Jun-sang’s clasped hands, like a hammer, struck the back of its head. Having dispatched one skeleton soldier with a single blow, Jun-sang finally noticed his presence and quietly said, looking at a skeleton soldier that was raising its sword and charging towards him, “Open Shoulder Charge.” And as soon as the Shoulder Charge card was equipped in the slot, he shot forward like a flash of light, cutting through the air, and slammed his shoulder into the skeleton’s chest.

THUD!

Amidst the skeleton fragments shattering like exploding fireworks, Jun-sang found the head, still glowing with a pale blue light from its eye sockets, and crushed it with his fist. Then he crushed the mouth of a zombie that was lunging at him with bared teeth, crushing it with his fist.

“Open Two-Hit Combo.”

And after re-equipping the Two-Hit Combo card in the slot, he began to unleash a barrage of punches indiscriminately at the zombies. Soon after, all the undead near the cave entrance were completely shattered and lay on the ground.

“Phew…”

Jun-sang took a deep breath, regulating his breathing, and finally approached the damp, black-energy-emitting cave entrance.

“Hmm…”

The moment he touched the black energy emanating from the cave, Jun-sang involuntarily let out a groan at the chilling sensation that spread across his skin.