Chapter 168: The Temptress

‘Eh?’

Javin looked at the man in confusion as he picked up the artifacts, gold, and Moon’s Wheat that dropped from the monsters, with excitement on his face. He did not leave even a single gold at all. She felt flustered, but she quickly wiped the expression off of her face and said, “May I ask you for a favor?”

“A favor?”

“Yes. I overslept, so the party that I was supposed to go with to Ructo’s Tomb had left me behind. If you’re on your way to Ructo’s Tomb, would you mind letting me tag along?”

The mobs that loiter around in this path were all difficult to handle compared to other mobs at the same level. In addition, there were a lot of traps around this area, so those who passed through this path were usually players who were heading to Ructo’s Tomb. Javin knew this for a fact so she shamelessly raised the request.

However, Minhyuk did not respond positively to her. He knew that it was better for him to walk this path alone.

Javin hurriedly persuaded him. She said, “The mobs in this path are a lot harder to deal with than what you think. You’ll be in trouble if you get cornered. Besides, I’m a pretty good tanker myself. I’ll pull the mobs aggro and block them for you. Ah! I’ll give you all the gold and artifacts that drop. We don’t have to party if you want~”

Minhyuk was not interested in her company at all. However, the things that would drop, to be exact, the Moon’s Wheat attracted his attention more. Once the Moon’s Wheat dropped through her, he would be able to make more delicious spicy mixed noodles! However, Minhyuk thought,?‘She will give up all the drops no matter how much it is? That’s a bit weird...’

Minhyuk understood the part about the artifacts. However, if they did not party, then she would not get any experience as well. Minhyuk nodded in agreement reluctantly, even though he was quite suspicious of her motives. In fact, whether he was suspicious or not, he knew himself well and he was confident in his own skills and abilities. He was sure that he could handle it, even if he was betrayed by such a person.

“I understand. I have an aggro ability so I’ll lead the way. Also, I’m in the middle of a leveling spree, is that fine with you?”

Minhyuk wanted to shoot with the bow as much as he could while he was on his way to the tomb to raise his DEX. Therefore, he wanted to be clear about it.

Javin grinned when she heard his words. She said, “Yes~ It’s fine.”

***

‘It…it’s not fine at all...! Someone…?please?stop this crazy bastard!’

Javin was going crazy. There were currently around 20 Owl Bears and Harpies flocking in front of her. This was because Minhyuk had used?Gryphon’s Cry, attracting almost all of the monsters in their vicinity.

“Kyaak!” Javin shrieked. She had already used all of her tanker’s skills, but it was still quite hard for her to keep the monsters at bay.

As for Minhyuk...

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh━

…he was still hunting the mobs easily by pulling his bow hard from behind her, hitting them straight through their vital points.

[You have gained 1 DEX.]

[You have leveled up.]

“I leveled up again! Yeah!”

‘...Shit, you f*cker!’

Javin was clearly the only one suffering, while Minhyuk gathered all of the EXP. She was only able to maintain and hold back the mobs to a certain extent thanks to Minhyuk’s hit rate, which let him kill the mobs in just one hit.

Gulp, gulp━

After the hunt ended, Javin raised a bottle of recovery potion with her trembling hands as she celebrated her survival. The tanker class generally had passive skills that would reduce their cooldown periods and reduce the need for recovery potions. In fact, she was one of the few, rare tankers that had the shortest cooldown periods, among other tankers of the same level. However, even this intensity was too much for her. She quietly looked back once her throat was finally moistened by the recovery potion.

“Oh, aren’t there a lot of artifacts and gold??Kgghk, Moon’s Wheat!”

Javin watched as Minhyuk picked up all of the gold, artifacts, and Moon’s Wheat that dropped. Once he finished picking up all the drops...

“That... C…can we take a b…bit of a break...”

“Bbiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”

“Hey, you shi...”

“Shi...?”

“Orodamin?C?”

She looked like she was already on the verge of tears once she saw the monsters running towards them.

“Oh. That’s delicious. Haha. I’m grateful to you, you’re working so hard to tank, just so I can hunt easily. I feel a bit sorry but…”

Javin brightened when she heard his words. Then, she turned to look at the incoming monsters and said, “Ah. Then, the item distribution...”

“But, you’re still supposed to keep your promises,” Minhyuk said.

He was someone that kept all of the promises that he had made, so he expected that others would also do the same. Besides, it was Javin that told him that herself, right? She was also getting some EXP from here. On top of that, she was aware that she would not be able to go through this path alone. There were definitely not many other players around, so if she went without Minhyuk, she would surely die even before she arrived at Ructo’s Tomb. Also, Minhyuk was using this opportunity to confirm something.

“...”

Javin was speechless. She thought,?‘D…does he know that I wanted to PK him?’

Javin quickly shook her head. That did not make any sense at all. First of all, whenever she PK-ed, she was careful not to overstay her welcome. Then, was he an acquaintance of a person that she killed before? No, then it should have been him that approached her first, instead of her approaching him, if that was the case. Furthermore, if he knew that she was going to PK him, why did he let her accompany him? That did not make sense at all. Why? There were always risks of ambush, but there was only one type of person that would allow such a risk.

‘Then, it means that he’s an extremely strong person.’

However, Javin knew that archers were much more vulnerable than the close-combat classes. After all, they would already risk themselves by letting enemies near them, since they take a lot of time?nocking?their arrows and pulling their bows. In conclusion...

‘Is he just a crazy bastard?’

No, she still had a chance. After they finished another round of hunting, Javin looked back at him again. She untied some of the strings on her clothes to let her chest stand out a bit more and said, “Phew. Hunting... Makes you feel hot...”

After she said that, she turned around, only to see Minhyuk smiling happily while he made spicy mixed noodles, with some steamed dumplings on top of it. Javin quietly sat beside him as she tried to lean her head on his shoulders as naturally as she could. Before she could even do so, Minhyuk had already scurried away.

“What are you doing?”

“Just for a bit. I’m too tired, so let me lean on you for a bit.”

Minhyuk’s expression slowly crumpled. It was as if he was looking at her in both distaste and hate. Then, Minhyuk pulled a silver pot out of his inventory, then he turned it upside down and tapped it.

“Then, put your head on here and rest until I finish eating all of these.”

“...Yes.”

Javin’s expression looked like she did not expect things to go this way. She quietly leaned her head against the silver pot and curled her body up.

‘Right now, why am I... lying on a silver pot like this...’

Everyone would laugh at her if they saw her appearance right now. However, Minhyuk did not care about her or how she felt, he just started eating. There were chopped lettuce, sliced cucumbers, as well as chopped kimchi on top of his spicy mixed noodles. The noodles were showing a red and glossy sheen. It was so appetizing that he started drooling just by looking at it.

Minhyuk quickly grabbed his chopsticks and stirred the contents of his bowl. Then, he lifted the bowl and pushed the noodles into his mouth.

“Sluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurp!”

As soon as Minhyuk bit on the noodles, he could taste the sweet and sour flavor of the spicy broth that seeped into the noodles. He could also feel the texture and flavor of the vegetables that were mixed well into the dish.

The first bite of the noodles was sweet. After around two to three bites, a tingling sensation started to appear in his mouth. Once Minhyuk’s mouth started to tingle from the sourness and spiciness of the dish, he picked up a round and plump dumpling and bit into it. The savory juices of the minced meat and vegetables inside the dumpling spread slowly in his mouth and soothed his tingling mouth.

“Sluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurp!”

Minhyuk finished the bowl of the spicy mixed noodles. At this moment, he felt that accompanying Javin and getting the Moon’s Wheat that dropped from the monsters were the best thing that could happen on this trip.

Since Javin never acquired the drops, it meant that she would never meet the requirements and conditions for the completion of the quest for the collection of Moon’s Wheat. As long as she struck a mob just once, it meant that a Moon’s Wheat would drop because of the quest. If Minhyuk accompanied her during that time and picked up the drops, then he would be able to acquire Moon’s Wheat indefinitely.

Javin, on the other hand, was gulping her saliva after watching Minhyuk’s mukbang.

“Uhmm. You know...?”

“Yes?”

“Can I have some too?”

“I already ate it all... I’m sorry.”

Javin felt devastated when she saw the empty bowl. That was when she realized…

‘H…he’s definitely a natural-born eunuch...’

“Hey, don’t you think that I’m pretty? The people around me always say that...”

“Saying that with your own mouth...” Minhyuk said, looking at her incredulously. Then, as if reciting from a Korean textbook, he said, “Ah. You’re so, so, so beautiful. I even thought that a fairy had come down from the heavens. Oh my goodness! My heart almost dropped when I saw your beauty.”

“...”

Javin knew that he was just humoring her by saying this. She glared at him with gritted teeth.

‘This damn bastard! I’ll PK you if you so much as let your guard down for a bit.’

Javin was the one that wanted to PK him and get his bow, but one way or another, it seemed like she was the one who got hurt in the process. She realized that she needed to find another way.

Suddenly, a brilliant idea passed through her mind. She thought,?‘...There should be some of our guild members in the tomb, right?’

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Javin did not have the confidence to kill this man if she went after him alone. However, it would be a different matter if it was with her guild members in the tomb. Just as she was thinking of contacting her guild, their guild chatting suddenly became active.

[Baren: Ha... I never thought that the player named Black Dragon would be so strong.]

[Guild Master Crone: I think it’s because of the monster that he has. I’m sure it’s something out of the ordinary. From now on, pursue and track that Black Dragon.]

‘I can’t go and get help in the guild chat now.’

All the guild members were concentrating on chasing the man named Black Dragon, so she knew that she could not just shamelessly ask for help for her personal matters. She decided to send a whisper to someone.

[Javin: Buckle, there’s a player that has a bow which I think is epic. Can you help me kill him in the tomb?]

[Buckle: Oh. An epic artifact? If I’m welcome, sure. But, aren’t you going to do it yourself, Javin...?]

Javin quickly explained the ins and outs of her situation. When Buckle saw her explanation, he could not help but feel shocked.

[Buckle: When you tried to lean on his shoulders, he pulled out a pot and told you to lie on it? OMG...]

Then, Buckle continued to say...

[Buckle: Then, we should give that punk a taste of hell. It won’t be that difficult if he’s an archer. What’s his level?]

[Javin: He looks to be around Level 370.]

[Buckle: Yep. I understand. Come quickly.]

[Javin: Yep ^^!!]

Javin originally did not want to go to the tomb, but her target was a bit annoying this time. However, Buckle and the other guild members were all players at Level 370 too.

“Doesn’t the dungeon we’re going to require us to be in a five-member party?”

Minhyuk nodded.

“Yes.”

“One person left our party because of something urgent. Would you like to party with us?”

Minhyuk looked like he thought about it deeply, before nodding happily at her. Anyway, he would still need to find party members once he arrived there.

“Yeah.”

After getting his confirmation, Javin and Minhyuk began to move again.

***

Bachran Guild’s Guild Master Crone, thought,?‘Black Dragon... The monster that he has is clearly legendary, no, perhaps maybe even above it?’

Just as he was talking about that a whisper came in.

[Lark: Crone, I found a hint about the second disaster artifact.]

The words caught Crone’s attention. Aside from being the GM of Bachran Guild, he was also a part of Black Stone. He might be a guild master, but in front of the members of Black Stone, he was nothing. However, he was still skeptical about the information that was given to him.

‘Why did he let me know about this?’

Crone knew about the disaster artifacts, but he was wondering why Lark sent him a whisper like that.

[Lark: The hint is in Ructo’s Tomb which is being managed by Bachran Guild.]

“...!”

Crone’s eyes widened in surprise as he waited for Lark’s explanation.

[Lark: The millstone that will come out when you clear the trial. That’s the second artifact.]

“The millstone...?”

Crone clenched his fists tightly. A lot of people knew about the information about the millstone. It was a millstone that would give the person twice the yield with just a turn. It was the only humble, shabby-looking millstone in the world that had special abilities to produce the most delicious food with the first grind.

‘That millstone is a disaster artifact?’

Crone’s mouth widened in a grin. This meant that he had an opportunity to make a great contribution just by obtaining this disaster artifact. Without wasting any time, he quickly sent a whisper to Buckle, a guild member that was currently in the Tomb.

[Crone: Buckle.]

[Buckle: Buckle’s whisper is currently turned off.]

Crone’s brows furrowed.

‘Maybe I should enter the tomb myself?’

***

Buckle’s eyes quickly locked on to the person that came in with Javin. He was the player with the bow and was called Minhyuk.

‘That bow is epic...’

Buckle usually accompanied other players in a party and PK-ed them. However, he was not able to do it much recently. It was because he did not have much time as he was concentrating on clearing Ructo’s Tomb. However, this epic-ranked bow had changed his plans. It was worth hundreds of millions in cash, so he definitely needed to do this.

“Hello.”

“Yes. Hello.”

After finishing their greetings, Buckle sent him a party invitation. As soon as Minhyuk accepted the request…

‘Huh...?’

Buckle checked Minhyuk’s information after he had accepted the party request. He could not help but do a double take when he saw the information.

‘What’s this?’

Javin had clearly told him that his level was approximately at Level 370. However, that was not the case at all.

[Minhyuk / Level 305]

1. This is a parody of Oronamin C, a vitamin C drink