Vol 9 Chapter 4

ACT 4 Radun

“Deimos, block the other side!”

Clatter, clatter! Deimos’ bones shook as he ran. He slid on the icy path, turned and raised his shield. Something bumped into the shield as a blurry form emerged in the darkness. They disappeared again but it was clearly a mongoose. It was a mongoose with black fur.

“That’s it. We ran it down. Dedric, lure the other mongooses and gain some time.”

“Understood Master. I’ll leave it to you.”

Dedric provoked three mongooses by shaking his hips. Meanwhile Ark stood and blocked the other side of the passage.

“Mind’s Eye!”

It suddenly became dark. But in a moment, sound waves just like the sonar waves used by deep sea submarines emerged and he clearly saw the shape of the passage. It was the special effect of his rare ring, Mind’s Eye.  When the sonar scanned an area, he immediately knew where the black mongoose was. On one side was Deimos and since Ark was blocking the way, the mongoose used a special skill called ‘Shadow’ to hide its body in a crack. It was aiming for a chance to escape.

‘This time I won’t miss!’

Ark had spent 2 weeks exploring the cave and making his map. His primary goal had been to complete the Mongoose Essence collection. While sweeping through the cave and fighting mongooses, he had seen several with different attributes such as the one with blue fur or the mongoose with yellow fur…….they each possessed a different attribute that matched them. In addition, they were never alone. He was lucky that he accidentally caught the first fire mongoose by itself. Usually he would have a life and death battle with four or five mongooses. Of course, at first he couldn’t handle it. So he used the system where Dedric and Deimos lured the special mongooses while he fought the normal mob and ran away using ‘Sprint’ if he was close to dying. The battles were always like walking a thin plank of ice. But over time he managed to raise his levels. Not only that, his skill levels also become better and he became more accustomed to using Gwisal’s sword.

‘Without the Sword-Hand Combat skill, I wouldn’t be able to use random weapons.’

Ark knew that he hadn’t used 100% of Gwisal’s attack power. It had different characteristics from a normal sword or dagger. Of course he needed time to adapt to the characteristics after changing weapons. It was the ‘Adaptation’ system. After he changed weapons, the impact was too intense and unexpected. But once he continued to use Gwisal’s sword, he could sense the attacks become increasingly stronger. And he also corrected the disruption to his balance that he felt when he first used it. Thanks to that, Ark was able to use 100% of Gwisal’s damage and there was no discomfort when he used kicks. He used Gwisal’s sword like a razor while the kick would deal a terrible blow!

Ark used that combination and had fun fighting the monsters. So 2 left……..after fire, he had collected 4 more mongoose essences, the Earth, Wind, Ice and Lightning. And now the special mongoose in front of him had the darkness attribute.

‘Damn, haven’t I already wasted a few days because of this guy?’

He had found the mongoose with the darkness attribute a few days ago. However, this mongoose was different from the ones with other attributes. While Ark was fighting the normal mobs, the dark mongoose hid using ‘Shadow’ and fled. It was irritating because its ‘Shadow’ skill was different from stealth. Unless it attacked first, ‘Shadow’ wouldn’t be released even if Ark managed to hit it. Because of that, Ark repeatedly missed it and then he would spend several hours searching for the mongoose again. It happened 5 times before Ark finally managed to corner it.

‘The duration of Mind’s Eye is 1 minute. It must be a quick fight!’

“Demonic Opening!”

Kiiyaaaaaak-!

The seal on Gwisal’s sword was loosened and the demons appeared on the blade. Ark quickly narrowed the distance and struck the mongoose in the side with Dark Blade.

Keeeek!

The darkness mongoose fell down. But once he finished hitting it, the shape was once again assimilated into the darkness thanks to ‘Shadow.’

“Dark Dance!”

Ark ran close using fast movements and continuously used the chain skill Dark Strike. The darkness mongoose was a professional in escaping so it was faster than the other mongooses. But its attack and defense was lower than a normal mongoose. Once he caught it, it was just a matter of time before the mongoose would be defeated. Its health quickly decreased as it was hit by the sword. The mongoose felt the crisis and used ‘Darkness,’ but Ark was impervious to the magic since he was using Mind’s Eye. Ark captured the mongoose and persistently swung his sword. When the mongoose was driven to a critical condition, Ark’s vision suddenly became lighter and the shape of the mongoose disappeared. One minute had passed and the effects of ‘Mind’s Eye’ disappeared.

“Sheesh, I almost caught it…….!”

At the same time, he couldn’t hear the sound of footsteps anyone. The mongoose was cunning and killed the sound of its footsteps once Ark clearly couldn’t see it anymore.

‘I don’t want to spend another few hours searching. Where is it?’

Ark surveyed the area. Deimos was blocking the entrance so there was no room for the mongoose to squeeze past. It might be thinking of going to the relatively wide side where Ark was. However, he couldn’t just blindly swing his sword. If he moved in the wrong direction then it would run away.

‘Only one chance……then……..’

“Where are you hiding? You beep-beep-beep bastard!”

Ark’s voice echoed through the cave. Intermediate ‘Intimidation’! Some icy powder instantly dropped a few metres away. Ark’s eyes started glittering.

“There you are, Sprint!”

Ark shot forward like an arrow and swung his sword. There was an exhilarating feeling in his fingertips. At the same time, some blood appeared in an empty space. And slowly the black fur of the mongoose was revealed…….the mongoose let out a groan as it was split in half.

“That’s it, I finally got it!”

“M-Master. Please help me. It is impossible anymore!”

Then Dedric came flying from the other side. His wings were torn by the mongooses and he was in a critical condition.

“Good work. You can rest now. Deimos, let’s go!”

Ark grinned and rushed forward with Deimos.

“Eyes of the Cat!”

He spent 2 weeks in the ice cave. During that time, he’s killed thousands of mongooses. Every time he killed 100 of the same monsters, he received an addition 5% on the special effect of Eyes of the Cat. After hunting thousands of them, the probability of the enemy’s attack being foretold by ‘Line Designation’ was 70%. When the mongoose lifted its arm, a solid red line appeared on Ark’s chest like a laser. Ark instantly turned his body and the mongoose’s arm shot past him. He also brought down his sword at the same time and dealt a critical hit, cutting off the arm.

“Yes, it’s a success!”

He had cut off a part of the enemy’s body. It was a new skill he learned after ‘Drastic Measures’ reached intermediate. It was possible to instantly kill them when the enemy was in a critical condition! Furthermore, the amount of experience and probability of dropping a magic item increased by 1.2. Once he levelled the skill then wouldn’t he receive even more experience and items? It was indeed a rare skill that could only be learnt with a two-handed sword. Ark couldn’t miss the opportunity. After that, Ark kept on trying to use Drastic Measures whenever a mongoose was in a critical condition.  But the probability of success wasn’t high and it was a difficult skill to grow.

‘But I have 60 skill points!’

Ark invested 40 of the 60 skill points and raised ‘Drastic Measures’ to intermediate.

Drastic Measures一Sword cutting into two (Intermediate, Passive 100/300): When using this technique, your blade has become sharper.  The probability of cutting two pieces at once has risen.