Chapter 65

Shit, there’s not enough time to finish the damn spell!

Do-Jin swore inwardly.

The attack pattern was way more intense than he’d expected. However, there was no time to sit around complaining. This bastard had already looped back and was winding up for another strike.

“Alright then. Let’s see who dies first.”

[Electric Shock]

Sparks cracked out of his hand before the creature even surfaced and Do-Jin fired without hesitation. A sharp boom followed as Zrark burst out of the water. From the side, it looked as if this jumbo fish had jumped into the spell on purpose. That was how perfectly it landed.

No matter how fast it is, the second it jumps out of the water, its path gets locked into a straight line.

As long as Do-Jin remembered this, it was easy for him to mess with the thing.

After surviving the first charge, he had already adapted to Zrark’s speed. He sliced away at it little by little with precise strikes and flawless dodging. It threw everything it had at him, blasting water cannons and firing clusters of condensed projectiles, but nothing landed. Do-Jin dismantled every attack with clean, efficient counters.

After minutes had passed, Do-Jin told himself,

It’s almost done

.

Zrark’s glow was starting to fade. It had been afflicted with Wedge of Drain for some time now and worn out by its nonstop lunging. On top of that, every time it leaped, it got zapped by lightning.

“Of course. You weren’t planning on dying quiet, were you?”

Under the surface, Zrark stopped moving. It was gathering power for one last, desperate attack. Do-Jin felt the shift and started getting ready.

As the water began to surge, Zrark unleashed every drop of its Spirit Power and summoned a massive wave that was big enough to submerge the entire island Do-Jin was standing on. There was nowhere to run, but because the wave was so wide, it wasn’t very strong. Even a basic Rock Shield would’ve been enough to carve out a safe space.

Do-Jin didn’t bother casting it.

That bastard knows damn well this slow, half-assed wave isn’t gonna touch me. It’s trying to force an opening and bait me in, huh...?

Do-Jin responded by firing up his Magic Circuits, preparing to cast a spell that required significantly more mana and took longer to complete than Electric Shock. The gap between the two spells wasn’t subtle, and even Zrark was fully aware of the difference.

Believing that Do-Jin was preparing a defensive spell against the wave, it picked up speed and went in for a finishing blow.

“You really tried to think it through, but giving a mage time to cast is the worst thing you could’ve done, stupid fish...”

[Flash Lance]

Do-Jin took his time to pack the spell full of mana and boost its power. The Tier 4 light-element attack spell burst from his hand with a flash. At that exact moment, Zrark exploded out of the wave. There was no point in dodging the wave, as it would’ve just gotten him swept up anyway at this speed. However, he wasn’t afraid since the lance of light would definitely reach the fish before the wave got to him.

Fwoooosh

!

Already on the brink of death, Zrark slammed into the spear midair. With a sharp crack, its translucent body broke apart into pieces. Fragments of blue light scattered like shards of glass. The only thing that remained was the skeleton of the Ancient Fish.

It couldn’t stop its momentum and ended up flying straight toward where Do-Jin was standing. Zrark had twitched just before the moment of death. That small, final movement was the only reason the skeleton had veered off and missed him by inches.

I almost fucking died!

His heart dropped for a second, but he didn’t let it show on his face.

No way I’m gonna lose my cool after pulling off such a clean kill.

Do-Jin hadn’t accounted for the bones resisting the spell. If he’d been alone, he would’ve let out a sigh or two, but with some idiot flailing around watching from a distance, he had to keep his composure all the way to the end.

With a straight face, Do-Jin casually glanced at Zrark’s bones as they slid past him. Almost at the same time, the wave, which was weakened by Zrark’s death, washed over his feet and fizzled out.

Letting out a short breath, he thought with glee,

This fight’ll look freaking great on camera.

***

“Did something happen? I mean...

what

happened over here? Why are you soaking wet?” Do-Jin asked with a puzzled look after seeing Theresa completely drenched.

“What do you think happened? She jumped into the water without thinking because you looked like you were in danger, then she suddenly remembered she can’t swim. So she started flailing around and barely made herself back up,” Soso answered from the side, sounding completely unimpressed.

Theresa glared, her face flushing with irritation. “That’s not it! Warriors aren’t supposed to know how to swim in the first place, okay? You try jumping into a lake while wearing armor! You just sink straight down like a rock!”

“Why would I jump into water while wearing armor? I’m not a complete idiot,” Soso shot back.

She made a split-second decision, thinking he was in real danger, and jumped in right when Zrark first charged at Do-Jin. Having neither skills nor traits related to swimming, Theresa sank like dead weight the second she hit the water. Luckily, she had managed to grab the end of Soso’s staff in time. If she had jumped even a little farther or a second later, she would’ve drowned on the spot.

Her mood dipped for half a second before rebounding like nothing happened. Unfazed by Soso’s jab, Theresa shifted into full dramatic commentator mode.

“Anyway, that was seriously badass. Insane! I’ve never seen anything like that in real life before, I swear. You just shot up like an arrow and dodged at the last second. Not just dodging, you caught the timing perfectly and fired off a spell right in its face!”

Theresa turned to Soso with a big grin and started nudging her as if she were demanding backup.

Soso gave her a look of mild disgust, but after glancing back at Do-Jin, she sighed and admitted, “Well... it wasn’t bad. That much is true.”

“

Kyaaaah

!” Theresa let out a satisfied breath, like a middle-aged uncle at a barbecue.

“You probably don’t know this, Mr. Mage, but Soso over here doesn’t hand out compliments. If she says ‘Not bad...’ and then follows it up with ‘That is true,’ it’s solid praise! Practically the highest she’s given anyone in the past five years, mhm,” she said, nodding at her analysis before shooting him a thumbs up.

Do-Jin felt a little awkward as she kept going from start to finish, all praise and no pause. He tried to find something to say and ended up going with the safest response possible.

“Uh... thank you.”

When it came to compliments, simple gratitude was always the best answer.

***

Ten days had passed since the death of Zrark. During those ten days, Do-Jin had been relentlessly clearing out monsters in the Lavre Lake Underwater Cave. While he continued grinding through the dungeon, the spawn rate of named monsters began to accelerate.

Four new named monsters had already appeared, each one with a unique look and dangerous abilities. There was the Rock Catfish, the Mud Spirit, the Stalactite Golem, and the Twisted Water Serpent. They might have looked impressive and intimidating to anyone else, but not Do-Jin.

Same old faces

...

Every time a named monster spawned, Do-Jin calmly issued instructions. With a team composed of a warrior, a priest, and a mage, the party crushed every named monster that showed up. There was no hesitation, no wasted effort.

Five named monsters have appeared so far. That means the dungeon boss is up next. I seriously hope a Spirit Essence drops this time.

Do-Jin felt a growing sense of tension. He wasn’t worried about the battle itself. What had him on edge was the reward. If the item he needed didn’t drop, all this grinding would have been for nothing. For first-time clears, the system guaranteed that one high-grade item would drop, selected from the boss’s loot table. However, there was no guarantee that it would be the exact item he wanted.

Only one item from the same tier gets picked at random. The odds are probably around one in ten.

Or I could get one from a hidden quest reward instead.

Spirit Essences weren’t considered particularly rare as hidden quest rewards. However, Do-Jin needed one desperately at the moment because the very first world event in LOST was about to begin. In that event, the Spirit Essence could end up being his hidden trump card.

[Dungeon Boss Monster Spirit Dragon’s Remains has awakened from its deep slumber.]

“There it is.”

Whether his prayer had reached the system or it was just incredible timing, the boss appeared right on cue. As for whether the item he wanted would actually drop, he wouldn’t know until he cut open the boss and saw for himself.

Do-Jin quietly lit a mana cigarette and let the smoke roll out as he stabilized the mana in his body.

***

“B-boss?”

Theresa jumped in surprise when the boss monster message popped up.

Do-Jin glanced at her and said calmly, “Check the messages below that one instead.”

Theresa shifted her eyes upward, scrolling through the air with her gaze. Soso’s eyes followed the same motion.

[You have absorbed the energy of two water-type named monsters.]

[You can now use the dungeon-exclusive skill Water Shield (Lv. 2).]

[You have absorbed the energy of three earth-element named monsters.]

[You can now use the dungeon-exclusive skill Sealing Stalactites (Lv. 3).]

The two of them stared at the unfamiliar messages with puzzled expressions.

“I’m guessing this is the reason we summoned and killed all those named monsters,” Do-Jin said. “It was to unlock these skills for the final boss fight.”

At that, both Theresa and Soso checked the detailed descriptions of the new skills.

[

Water Shield: Personal

]

Creates a water-element shield that lasts for three seconds.

Cooldown: 30 seconds

[

Sealing Stalactites: Party

]

Current uses available: 1

Each time the boss monster takes a certain amount of damage, one use of Sealing Stalactites will be charged. This skill deals significant fixed damage and inflicts stacking seal energy on the boss monster.

These were special skills usable only within the dungeon. Even at a glance, it was obvious which one was for defense and which one was for offense. The water element was meant to protect and earth was meant to strike.

“So this is what we’re supposed to use to take it down.” Theresa seemed to understand now, nodding to herself.

Soso turned to Do-Jin and asked, “Once we beat this thing, the dungeon’s done, right?”

He nodded at her in confirmation.

Seeming satisfied, she said flatly, “Good. I was getting sick of this place. I’ve been waiting for it to be over.”

“Are you not nervous? It’s still a boss fight,” Do-Jin asked, half out of curiosity.

Soso replied without hesitation, “You’re the one doing the work anyway. Based on everything I’ve seen so far, I doubt it’ll be any different just because it’s a boss. Don’t you agree?”

Her deadpan delivery made Do-Jin let out a faint, bitter laugh. “I’ll do my best.”

That was really the only answer he could give.