Chapter 45

BAM!

CRACK!

A shower of punches. No, it wasn’t something that could simply be expressed by the mundane, hackneyed word “shower.” If one absolutely had to compare it to something in the form of rain, it would be more accurate to call it a tropical downpour accompanied by thunder, lightning, and hail the size of fists. Jun-sang silently continued to relentlessly pummel the boss’s elongated face and quietly opened his mouth.

“Open Crushing Blow.”

2-Hit Combo was removed, and Crushing Blow was equipped in the card slot, slowing the speed of the rapid strikes. Despite being in a fear-induced state, the boss began to twitch its limbs, showing a will to somehow defend or evade.

However, the continuous barrage of blows didn’t just maintain the fear-induced state. The Stun Seed had a mere 5% chance of activation. One couldn’t simply understand this as meaning it would definitely occur once if struck twenty times. But what if that number became fifty times, or a hundred times? At least one occurrence was bound to happen. And precisely that low-probability stun state now occurred for the boss.

Jun-sang had been continuously unleashing punches, but when the boss’s limbs, which had been twitching and showing a will to defend or evade, suddenly froze, he abruptly stopped his fist.

One second.

And two seconds.

When it briefly lost consciousness and then opened its eyes again, the boss saw a glowing white fist descending towards its head. It instinctively tried to block with its hands, but by then, Jun-sang’s mercilessly delivered fist had already exploded on the boss’s face.

KYAAAAAAAA!

It wasn’t a full charge, nor was it fully amplified by the Martial Artist Combo, but even the Berserker Combo’s Stage 2 charge had enough power to strike the boss’s brain, hidden beneath its tough scales.

Gazing at the boss, which had fallen into a state of concussion, Jun-sang quietly said again, “Martial Artist.”

The cards in the slots quickly ejected, and new cards were equipped. Frenzy, Counter, Shoulder Charge, Crushing Blow. Along with these, the spirits of the wolves and the powerful bear combined, activating the combo card ‘Dark Martial Artist of the Underground Fighting Arena’!

Jun-sang activated Crushing Blow, tensing all the muscles in his body that were still hot from the impact of the Stage 2 charge Crushing Blow.

WHOOSH, WHOOSH, WHOOSH!

The heat emanating from Jun-sang’s body resonated with the atmosphere and fluctuated.

One second passed,

Then two seconds,

And finally, three seconds, completing the full charge.

Even in its dazed state from the concussion, the boss saw Jun-sang’s fist, which was on top of its body, falling towards it like a giant meteor.

There was no time to scream,

No time to reach out and push him away.

All the boss could do was widen its eyes and open its mouth, praying that its tough scales would withstand this blow.

CRASH!

The monsters fighting the wolves on the outskirts of the village suddenly experienced a strange phenomenon where the ground beneath their feet shook with a loud boom. And, unconsciously turning their heads, they could see a cloud of dust rising near the boss’s dwelling.

Within that dust cloud, Jun-sang was quietly enduring the after-effects of using the full-charge Crushing Blow, and at his feet lay the boss, its head brutally crushed, its limbs stretched out.

“Hoo… cough! cough!”

Jun-sang, who had been habitually taking deep breaths, coughed repeatedly as he inhaled the thick dust. Though the swamp ground was always faintly damp with mist, the intense energy Jun-sang unleashed instantly vaporized the moisture it contained, creating this thick dust. Who would believe that such a phenomenon was created by a mere human’s punch?

“Whew…”

Once his body had recovered to some extent, Jun-sang found Seeds within the boss’s pulverized head. And as he was about to stand up… the boss’s black scales suddenly caught his eye. Despite taking a full-charge Crushing Blow enhanced by the Martial Artist Combo, they were only slightly crushed, still maintaining their form, which made him feel it would be a waste to simply leave them behind.

Jun-sang stared at the boss’s corpse for a moment, then opened his inventory and put it inside.

And around that time, the iguana-headed monsters, finally noticing the anomaly, approached, searching through the thick dust. Although the after-effects of using the full-charge Crushing Blow still remained, his increased regeneration rate was rapidly healing the overload on his body even at this very moment, and that alone was enough to deal with these mere mobs.

Screech?

The iguana-headed monster, who had been holding a spear and quickly aimed it at a shadowy figure that suddenly appeared before its eyes, lost its balance as the extended spear was suddenly yanked, and was dragged along. In a blink of an eye, it was hit by a powerful punch that crushed its head, leading to its death.

Jun-sang picked up the short spear he had taken from the monster and threw it at the nearest monster. If it were a distant target, it might miss, but at such close range, there was no reason for it to. Starting with the monster whose body was instantly pierced by the short spear, emitting a deflating sound from its lungs as it collapsed, Jun-sang burst out of the thick dust and began to crush the monsters. When the Dire Wolf and the other two wolves arrived late to block their retreat, the monsters had no choice but to be utterly annihilated, unable to even escape to the water.

“Phew…”

Only after eliminating all the monsters in the village did Jun-sang catch his breath and allow his overloaded body to rest. He had thought the quest would be more difficult than the previous one since it was a five-person quest, but it felt easier, which made Jun-sang slightly wonder why.

However, Jun-sang had overlooked the fact that the boss encountered in the village defense was part of a hidden quest, meaning it was usually bypassed rather than confronted. Furthermore, these iguana-headed monsters he encountered were originally primarily found in areas with some depth of water or deep, muddy swamps, not dry land. Considering that they hid in such places to launch surprise attacks and that the swamp was surprisingly vast, five players would have been somewhat insufficient unless it was an exceptional individual like Jun-sang.

Anyway, after clearing out the village of monsters, Jun-sang searched the village for anything worth taking as spoils but couldn’t find anything particularly valuable. After recovering Seeds from the monsters’ heads, Jun-sang returned to Ilmaren, who had been anxiously waiting outside the village.

“D-did you win?”

“…”

As he nodded silently, Ilmaren gasped, circled around Jun-sang, and then landed on his shoulder as if finding her designated seat. As Ilmaren settled on his shoulder, Jun-sang quietly asked, “Are there any places nearby where poisonous herbs bloom?”

“Ah! Yes, there are!”

“Guide me.”

“Yes!”

Jun-sang began to wonder if the true purpose of fairies like Inia and Ilmaren wasn’t just to serve as navigators, and he re-equipped Sprint and started running again.

As Jun-sang ran, he checked the minimap and again spotted a yellow exclamation mark moving rapidly, so he changed direction.

“Huh? That’s not the way?”

“There’s a place I need to stop by briefly.”

“Oh, okay…”

Not long after, Jun-sang found a powerfully built man being chased by monsters. The man was wielding a long-handled hammer against the monsters, but being vastly outnumbered, he was wounded in several places and was ultimately fleeing. It was precisely then that Jun-sang, accompanied by three massive wolves, appeared as if out of nowhere.

Jun-sang swept through the monsters like a whirlwind with his wolves, without a word.

“Huh…”

The man could only stare blankly in surprise at Jun-sang, who, having just appeared, literally pulverized five or six monsters.

Once all the monsters were defeated, Jun-sang searched their heads for Seeds, then turned to the man and said, “Geden, right?”

“Huh? My name, no, how do you know my name?”

Geden was about to speak informally as he usually did, but upon meeting Jun-sang’s sharp eyes, he quickly corrected himself. But Jun-sang had no interest in Geden’s manner of speech from the start. His only interest was the sub-quest he would obtain through Geden.

“Ask me.”

“What? What do you mean…”

Geden was utterly bewildered by Jun-sang’s abrupt words.

“You have something to ask, don’t you?”

“…”

Overwhelmed by Jun-sang’s power as he spoke with an indifferent gaze, Geden began to explain why he was there.

“A-actually… there’s a delicious, high-quality mushroom that only grows in this swamp. I make a living by harvesting and selling it, but…”

But Jun-sang raised a hand to stop him and spoke again. “Just the main point.”

Geden wondered if it was really okay to ask, but recalling that he would be beheaded by the angry lord if he couldn’t acquire and sell the mushrooms immediately, he swallowed his pride, bowed his head, and shouted, “Please get me the mushrooms! I’ll reward you sufficiently if you help me!”

“…”

But Jun-sang didn’t answer and first checked the message on his phone.

(Sub) Geden’s Request.

• Geden is a person who harvests and sells high-quality mushrooms from the swamp, but due to the recently appeared monsters, his livelihood, and even his life, are now threatened. Help him obtain the mushrooms.

“Tsk…”

Jun-sang couldn’t help but click his tongue, finding himself in a situation where he had to go mushroom hunting instead of fighting to the death. But he couldn’t just refuse either.

“What do the mushrooms look like?”

“Ah, th-this is it.”

As Geden pulled out a large, pale brown, ginger-shaped mushroom from the backpack he was carrying, a fragrant scent gently spread. Jun-sang sniffed it and immediately called the Crimson Wolf.

“EEK!”

Geden turned pale as the large wolf suddenly approached and sniffed the mushroom in his hand.

“Hehe…”

Perhaps finding the sight amusing, Ilmaren, hidden behind Jun-sang’s head, giggled softly at Geden’s reaction. Geden, already flustered by the large red wolf, now heard something like a suppressed giggle from somewhere, and he shivered, feeling goosebumps all over his body.

Jun-sang also called the Timber Wolf and Dire Wolf to memorize the scent, then immediately gave the wolves a command. “Find it.”

The three wolves immediately scattered in all directions and, not long after, returned with their mouths covered in mud, each holding a mushroom much larger than the one Geden had shown him. If Geden’s mushroom was slightly larger than a walnut, these were larger than two adult male fists combined.

“Oh, oh!”

Geden was speechless with surprise as three of the largest mushrooms he had ever seen appeared consecutively. Jun-sang looked at Geden and asked, “Is this enough?”

At Jun-sang’s words, Geden started as if waking from a trance and said, “What? Ah… Yes! It’s enough. Thank you so much!”

Geden repeatedly bowed his head, expressing his gratitude to Jun-sang, but Jun-sang again checked his phone messages first.

(Sub) Geden’s Request.

• Geden is a person who harvests and sells high-quality mushrooms from the swamp, but due to the recently appeared monsters, his livelihood, and even his life, are now threatened. Help him obtain the mushrooms.
• Status: Complete!
• Reward: A small amount of experience, (Gold Coin)
• Would you like to claim your rewards now? (Y/n) _(Warning) Unclaimed rewards will be automatically deleted after 7 days.

Jun-sang immediately claimed the reward, but no gold coin appeared. What happened? But the answer was simple. Given that it was in parentheses, it was probably to be received directly from the quest giver, like Dian’s sword.

“…”

With that thought, Jun-sang silently extended his hand to Geden. Geden, who had been bowing in thanks, was momentarily confused when Jun-sang extended his hand, not knowing what it meant. But realizing this was a demand for payment, he quickly rummaged through his pouch, took out a gold coin, and placed it in Jun-sang’s hand.

“…”

But Jun-sang didn’t withdraw his hand and continued to just look at Geden. Unable to bear the pressure, Geden looked around nervously and took out two more gold coins from his pouch, placing them on Jun-sang’s hand.

“…”

But Jun-sang’s hand still didn’t withdraw. Geden, now almost in tears, trembled as he placed the entire pouch onto Jun-sang’s hand.

Only then did Jun-sang withdraw his extended hand, hand Geden the mushrooms, and vanish from his sight like the wind with his wolves. Geden could only stare blankly as Jun-sang disappeared into the distance.