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It was easy to aim right at the golem’s core.
Jinhyuk swung his bat with both hands and hit exactly at the center of the golem’s chest.
However, the power that he gave was only enough to damage the armor that covered the golem’s chest.
The level of this middle boss was 120.
Kang Jinhyuk’s current level was 55.
Even though his bat has significantly high-performance thanks to its enchantment, it wasn’t enough to fill the level gap of more than twice his own.
He would’ve been able to defeat the opponent had it been a regular monster, but this one was a middle boss.
It’s way better and advanced than most regular monsters, so the golem was not to be taken lightly.
“Fxxk.”
The golem quickly regained his balance and raised his sword.
The sword was lifted way above his head, and it’s obvious who it’s aiming for.
Jinhyuk tried to quickly retreat and avoid the sword that wants to cut him in half.
However, Lucia’s words stopped him.
“Don’t falter and go hit him again!”
“Eh?”
It was a ridiculous thing to tell him not to back down when a sword the size of a house is falling over his head.
Would Jinhyuk risk his life and believe the words of a person he met not even a day ago?
Jinhyuk took on the gamble.
But of course, he doesn’t want to risk his life.
He thought that since he was wearing an armor made by the dwarf, he’d only get fatally injured instead of dying.
If he survives, he could just use the potion that he bought to regain health.
“Ey, whatever!”
Jinhyuk gritted his teeth and dashed towards the enemy.
The more he ran, the closer the sword fell down on him. It felt like a suicide mission.
And then…
An arrow from behind hit the golem’s sword.
If the arrow hadn’t hit the sword, Jinhyuk would’ve been cut right there and then.
Jinhyuk calmed down his shaken heart and focused on quickly swinging his bat.
“Cover me!”
Hit!
A cool smashing sound resonated when the bat hit the golem’s core.
With the shattered core, the magnificent golem began to collapse.
Jinhyuk too collapsed on the spot and tried catching his breath.
“Hoo… I thought I was gonna die.”
It took a very huge leap of courage to do such a thing. Even if he knew that the armor would protect him.
Jinhyuk’s hands trembled like crazy even after the situation settled down.
He saw Lucia approaching, but the tremors couldn’t be stopped voluntarily.
“If you’re that scared then you should’ve retreated.”
Lucia thought that Jinhyuk was an experienced fighter.
But seeing him in this state now, she realized that her assumption was wrong.
“Nothing bad would’ve happened if you retreated first.”
“That’s what I said…”
Come to think of it, it was a gamble that he didn’t necessarily need to take.
It was a high-risk situation with very little chance of succeeding. On top of that, his life was on the line.
Nevertheless, there was a reason why Jinhyuk decided to attack.
“Well, I thought that we would get more in sync now that I put my trust in you.”
Once they both calmed down, Lucia decided to modify their operational plan accordingly.
If this event didn’t happen, Lucia would’ve continued to move through while keeping in mind that Jinhyuk doesn’t trust her and that he’d definitely put his life above anything else.
Jinhyuk didn’t want that.
It wasn’t right at all to not have trust in each other.
Lucia realized Jinhyuk’s intentions.
“I quite like you.”
Of course, she meant as a colleague.
Jinhyuk wasn’t idiotic enough to interpret it as any other thing.
“What did you say your name was?”
“Kang Jinhyuk.”
“Stop speaking politely. Talk to me casually”
“Eh?”
She offered for him to talk to her casually in recognition of Jinhyuk’s skills.
However, Jinhyuk couldn’t accept such a proposition.
“That’s a bit…”
“Why? Is it too burdensome?”
“No, it’s not that. I think it’s a bit inappropriate to speak casually to someone way older than me.”
Jinhyuk suddenly had goosebumps. It felt like he said something he shouldn’t have.
He looked up and saw Lucia’s face.
Instead of her usual expressionless face, her stare felt like it carried a thousand daggers.
Jinhyuk thought that since she’s a half-elf, she would’ve lived way longer than humans. It seems like his assumption made Lucia shiver in disgust.
“…What did you just say?”
The purpose of her question was to make Jinhyuk think carefully and correct what he just said.
Jinhyuk doesn’t want to imagine what would happen if he says the wrong words now.
* * *
Jinhyuk corrected himself, saying that he should’ve said ‘someone with much more experience’ instead of referring to her age.
Mixing and coming up with ridiculous excuses made him sweat buckets.
Afraid that he might make another slip of the tongue, he kept his mouth shut as they continued their journey.
Lucia also remained silent.
The cold and awkward atmosphere was unpleasant for Jinhyuk.
He thought of ways to relieve the atmosphere, and he eventually took out an item from his inventory.
“Do you want to have some of this?”
Lucia looked at the chocolate bar because she felt hungry too.
“’Do you want some of this?’ is what you said?”
However, she was more interested in what Jinhyuk just said.
Lucia glared at Jinhyuk, now that she knows that the latter talks to her politely because he thinks that she’s ‘way older’ than him.
“A-ah, I mean… Want some?”
“….”
Lucia took the chocolate bar that Jinhyuk was holding.
She opened the packaging at once and took a bite.
Jinhyuk did not miss her reaction. Lucia’s eyes widened in surprise.
“What’s this thing made of?”
“I’m not exactly sure, but it’s mostly just cocoa powder and almonds.”
“I’ve never heard of those things. It must be food that only exists from where you’re from.”
Lucia reached out her hand to Jinhyuk as soon as she finished eating the chocolate bar.
“You want some more?”
“Yea. Quickly.”
There weren’t a lot of sweet foods from where Lucia’s from, so the taste of chocolate gave her a pleasant shock.
But even so, finishing three boxes of chocolate bar was unusual too.
How can she eat that much casually?
Jinhyuk wondered where those calories go.
Seeing that her arms and legs are quite thin, there’s only one place that he thought of.
“Euhm!”
Jnhyuk coughed and shook off his thoughts.
Unknowingly, they had arrived at the boss room. Lucia looked at Jinhyuk strangely.
“What are you doing? You nervous?”
“Ah, no. It’s nothing.”
Jinhyuk avoided her gaze, but Lucia still stared right at him.
He felt very embarrassed as if he was caught doing something bad. But when he looked at her, he just saw her reaching out her hand again.
“Why?”
“Why do you think? Give me some more.”
“You mean the chocolate bar? That was the last one.”
“What?!”
Jinhyuk was shocked at Lucia’s shouts.
He didn’t expect her to react so intensely.
“Stop joking around and give me some.”
“There’s really none left. You ate everything that I bought.”
“So go back and get me some more!”
Lucia looked like a soldier who was deprived of his food ration.
It looks like she changed completely after having a taste of the choco pie.
She was showing more intense actions and saying more intense words.
Lucia belatedly became conscious of her own behavior.
“I-I’m sorry. I guess something shifted in me.”
Her judgment became blurred because of the sweet food that she had for the first time.
Lucia herself didn’t understand why she reacted that way.
She succeeded in soothing herself and keeping her cool, but her body still craved for the sweet treat.
It’s a fact that Lucia herself doesn’t know of, but what happened was because of the elven blood that flows through her body.
The reason why elves generally live in the forest and survive with only fruit and water, was because their bodies were conditioned by years of experience.
Elves can obtain sufficient energy with just a small intake of sugar, so eating such sweet human food elicited a strange reaction from her body.
That reaction is none other than ‘apetite’.
‘I’m going crazy.’
Her first time eating such a large amount of sugar made her apetite burst at once.
The strength that it takes to resist it at this moment is similar to those with addiction problems trying not to relapse.
“Hey, this won’t do. Let’s call it a day and then you get me some more of that thing. In exchange, I’ll teach you something useful.”
“Something useful?”
“Do you know what ‘Aura’ is?”
“Aura?”
“If you don’t know then watch closely. I’ll show it to you myself.”
Before Jinhyuk could say anything, Lucia opened a huge door and led him into the room.
Jinhyuk hurriedly followed her, when suddenly…
The darkroom became illuminated with a bright light as if someone had commanded it.
Inside the spacious and secluded room, a single stone statue was seen in the middle.
As if sensing the footsteps of Jinhyuk and Lucia, the stone statue began to move with a sound similar to crying.
“Geuuuu.”
The stone statue was wearing an armor and equipped with swords and shields. Its appearance was several times more sophisticated than any other golem he had ever seen.
Although, the statue looked quite ancient; as if it was mere decoration rather than a thing that can fight.
Lucia pulled her bow before the statue rushed at them.
“I’ll only show you once so you watch closely.”
Jinhyuk witnessed Lucia’s arrow tip suddenly shine in a bright, blue glow.
The light became stronger and stronger as if it was gathering strength. The moment Lucia let go of the bowstring, a booming sound resonated.
“Boom!”
The arrow hit the statue with a sound that was similar to a bomb exploding.
The left arm of the statue which held its armor blew up.
The stone statue stared blankly at its body, perhaps in disbelief of what just happened.
“G-geeuuu.”
The same was true for Jinhyuk, who had no idea what he just witnessed.
He was shocked to see a part of the stone statue easily crushed like that, as if it was made of clay.
Only then did Jinhyuk realize that Lucia had been saving her strength.
Jinhyuk wouldn’t have any chance to gain EXP and level up if Lucia were to defeat all the enemies in one shot. He realized that now.
“What are you doing?”
Lucia smiled, pointing to the dying stone statue.
Maybe it’s because he saw her true skills with his own eyes.
When he saw that smile, he felt shivers travel down his spine.
“You should finish it up.”
Killing the statue would earn him a huge amount of experience.
However, Jinhyuk wanted to ask her something first.
“How did you do that just now?”
“Well, what do you think? I put my Aura in the arrow.”
“Aura…? Can you use it for things other than arrows?”
“Of course.”
Jinhyuk’s eyes sparkled when he heard her answer.
That power made it possible for a small arrow to deal great damage to a huge stone statue.
If he could use that for his, he’d never run out of power like he did earlier with the middle boss.
Lucia noticed that Jinhyuk was interested in this ‘Aura’ thing.
“What do you think? Wanna learn it?”
Jinhyuk didn’t have to think about it.
He nodded his head up and down right away.
There’s no way he wouldn’t want to learn a skill that gave a missile-level firepower to an ordinary arrow.