It wasn’t enough to just say that Seo Jun-Ho was strong. He handled the blood kobolds like he was taking candy from a baby. They were mere ants to him.

‘He’s strong...’ 

Hakan couldn’t help but stare. Seo Jun-Ho’s body moved unpredictably, like a beast’s. Sometimes, his halberd would seem heavy and crude like an axe, but other times it would move swiftly and gracefully like a spear. He killed dozens of blood kobolds in no time. 

‘Two in the front, one on the left, three on the right…’ 

Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes swept his surroundings, analyzing the battlefield. By the time he processed the information, his body was already moving. 

Stab! 

Cruel Executioner flashed like lightning, piercing through the hearts of two blood kobolds. He twisted his wrist, swinging to the left and burying the axehead into the ribs of another. 

Woosh! 

It didn’t even have time to scream as it died. He kicked his right leg out, hitting one blood kobold in the stomach and causing it to fly back into another. 

Crash!

“Now that’s what I call an InSec kick.”[1]

He raised the halberd over his head and brought it down, crushing the skulls of two blood kobolds. 

Crack! 

“...” He looked around. Not even a single blood kobold was left. 

“You really…” Hakan trailed off. After working as a mercenary for 30 years, he had met many powerful people, some on a similar level as Seo Jun-Ho. However, all of them had been knights or Players that were around level 80. 

‘Normal standards can’t be applied to him…’ 

Occasionally, people like him would appear out of nowhere, as if they had fallen from the sky after being blessed by the heavens with unbelievable talent. They were often called geniuses. 

“Seo Jun-Ho...” Hakan stopped his train of thought. All he knew was that this man had saved his life and that he was indebted to him. “Thank you, truly. If it weren’t for you, this place would have become my grave.”

Seo Jun-Ho grinned at Hakan’s sincere gratitude. “Isn’t it too early to think that way? You’re pretty handy with the crossbow too.”

“Haha. Thank you for saying that.” Hakan shook his head. “But this made me realize that I’m old now. I’m more suitable to live in the safe confines of a city than to be out on the field at my age. Once this is over, I’m going to retire from being a mercenary. And once Sophia is…”

“Wait…” Seo Jun-Ho held up his hand. In movies and novels, people who said those things would always die. “I’ll listen to the rest once we’re safely out of the Dungeon.”

“Goodness, how foolish of me. I was too hasty.” It wasn’t over yet, but seeing Seo Jun-Ho’s skills made Hakan feel like they had already conquered the Dungeon. “Let us be on our way,” he said, lifting the lantern.

There were many different paths, but the two of them were experienced enough that they didn’t need to worry about losing their way. 

The blood kobolds were no longer a problem either. Every single one that they encountered was cut down by Seo Jun-Ho’s halbert. About 40 minutes later, their stench had disappeared almost completely.

“I don’t smell them anymore,” Hakan commented.

“I think most of the blood kobolds in the Dungeon are dead by now,” Seo Jun-Ho replied. He had killed over 80 blood kobolds so far. It would be more surprising if any of them were still alive. 

‘Not bad.’ 

The blood kobolds’ levels ranged from 60 to 65, so he reached level 40 after killing eighty of them. 

“Huh? Stop!” Hakan called out. Seo Jun-Ho turned around, only to find that Hakan had put the lantern down and was groping around the floor. A moment later, there was a loud click, and the floor in front of them collapsed. 

“...A booby trap,” Seo Jun-Ho whispered. He swallowed. The hole was three meters deep and was covered in dozens of sharp spikes. It had already claimed ten blood kobolds. 

“That’s a nasty one.”

“...” Seo Jun-Ho was too shocked to say anything. His unwavering confidence had almost been his downfall this time. 

‘I let my guard down because I couldn’t sense any more kobolds, but…’

He hadn’t expected the place to be bobby trapped. He couldn’t sense the trap with his sharp senses because it wasn’t something that was alive.

“Dungeons truly are dangerous. I could’ve gotten seriously injured if it weren’t for you,” Seo Jun-Ho said with gratitude.

“I understand. But people as strong as you tend to fall for traps more easily. You must never let your guard down inside a Dungeon.” No matter how skilled Seo Jun-Ho was, he wouldn’t be able to escape unscathed from a trap like that. “Whoever designed this tomb is quite despicable. That trap is just foul...” 

Hakan stood back up. “I guess I can finally be useful.”

“Don’t say that. I would’ve fallen into quite a pinch without you.”

“Haha, thank you for saying that. To be honest, finding and dismantling traps is my area of expertise. Would you like me to teach you?” he asked. 

“Is that alright?” Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes sparkled with interest. No matter how high he had risen, there was always something left for him to learn. As Confucius said in the Analects, when three men walk together, there would always be a teacher among them.[2] He nodded and replied, “I’ll be in your care, then.”

“It’s not very complicated. You just need to memorize a few things.” Hakan took the lead from then on. He managed to sniff out every trap and disarm them. Seo Jun-Ho would sometimes look over his shoulder and ask him questions. 

“Now, this is how you disarm this one. You press this button… See how it activates?”

“So I just need to turn it in this order?”

“You’re quite clever. That’s right, you just need to remember the order.”

Seo Jun-Ho’s knowledge grew, but he didn’t gain a skill. 

‘Well, it’s not that surprising; I can’t always be that lucky.’

Every time Hakan disarmed a trap, it felt like they were a step closer to clearing the Dungeon. When he deactivated the sixteenth one, they found themselves in front of a large door. 

“They laid traps until the very end,” Hakan muttered.

“I supposed they must have considered the psychological aspect too.” Seo Jun-Ho pointed out.

“That’s right. Though there’s not much of a point with people like you,” Hakan quipped. 

Hakan originally thought that Seo Jun-Ho only told him that he wanted to learn more about traps from him just to humor him, but the Player had taken his lessons seriously.

‘I wonder what I could do if I use this knowledge in conjunction with my Frost skill.’ 

Seo Jun-Ho was already trying to come up with different ideas on how to utilize his abilities. 

“The things you taught me today may end up saving my life one day.”

“Ahaha! I’ll feel honored if that happens.” Hakan chuckled as he looked toward the door. The knob was broken, and he sensed that someone else was inside. 

“...I sense a kobold,” Seo Jun-Ho whispered. He could only sense one, but its aura was much more dangerous than the other ones they had encountered so far in this Dungeon. “We need to be careful, so please stay near the entrance.”

“Alright…” 

As Seo Jun-Ho walked forward, Hakan waited by the door. 

“Can you give me some light?”

Hakan complied, washing the room with light and letting it shine down on a platinum coffin. On top of it was the Five-Colored Goddess Statue, which glowed faintly in the dark. 

“T-the statue!” Hakan exclaimed. 

Seo Jun-Ho glanced toward one of the corners. A pair of bright red eyes stared at him through the darkness. As the figure started to stand, it seemed as if it was growing in real time.

“Grrrrrrr…”

The kobold stepped slowly out of the darkness. Hakan gasped as he shone his lantern toward it. 

“W-What in the world…?” He trailed off.

“It looks like it’s at least 2 meters tall.” It was so big that Seo Jun-Ho had to crane his neck to look at it properly. Its body was taut with muscles that seemed like they would explode at any moment. 

And most disturbingly, its pupils were rolling around... 

“C-Contractor. Its eyes scare me,” the Frost Queen couldn’t help but comment.

“Yeah. This one must be more rabid than the others.”

“B-Be careful! It isn’t normal!” Hakan called out. He wasn’t wrong. 

“Monster information,” Seo Jun-Ho whispered. 

Just as Players could get information on a Gate on Earth, they could also read a monster’s stats in Frontier. A window appeared…

[Blood Kobold Champion Injected with Demonic Energy LV. 83]

The monster’s name alone gave him three key points. 

‘Injected with demonic energy…?’ 

This implied that someone else had injected demonic energy into it. Seo Jun-Ho’s eyebrows furrowed. 

‘I’ll have to look into that later.’

The rest was intuitive…  

‘Blood Kobold Champion - as expected, it’s a fighter. Since it’s level 83, its stats are probably higher than most level 90 Players.’ 

It might be a little tedious, but he didn’t feel particularly concerned. As long as he had his weapon aura, he would be able to cut it down eventually. Still, he wouldn’t let himself get careless. 

‘It looks even more rabid than the other ones… I should finish this quickly. Booster.’ 

Seo Jun-Ho raised Cruel Executioner and dashed toward the monster as he activated Booster. His body started to warm up, and a black aura covered his halberd that he swung toward the Blood Kobold Champion’s head. It took him two seconds for him to reach it. 

‘You won’t even feel it, monster.’ 

But just as the halberd came down on its head, its pupils stopped moving, focusing on the blade of the halberd. Then, it looked at him. 

‘…Wait, it saw through my attack?’ Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes widened. 

“S-Seo Jun-Ho!”

A beastly hand covered his face, filling his nostrils with a stench.

1. Reference to the League of Legends technique with Lee Sin. ☜

2. That there is always something to learn from everyone. ☜