Chapter 38

The party began to reveal its true nature as soon as they entered the dungeon and engaged in their first battle.

The first opponents were a group of skeletons.

The scale was similar to what the previous party had faced.

However, the battle was tougher than the last party.

It wasn’t an equipment issue.

As Amon had assessed at the entrance, the party’s equipment was quite high-level for beginners.

Compared to Paul’s party, it was lacking, but it was overkill for skeletons.

Yet, despite the quality of the equipment, the users were utterly incompetent.

“Let’s go!”

The Orc Tanker charged in without even saying where he was going.

In Paul’s party, Tori, the tanker, focused on taking out shield bearers and disrupting the enemy formation to allow the machine gunner to shine.

But this party’s Orc Tanker was different.

“Hahaha! That one’s neck is mine!”

He ignored the shield bearers and charged straight into the middle of the skeleton horde.

Then, like a movie protagonist, he started smashing the skeletons.

As a result, the party was left without a tanker and had to face the skeleton stronghold alone.

It would have been understandable if he had instantly taken out the commander.

But his charge was pointless as he was busy bullying regular soldiers in the middle of the enemy ranks, while the commander leisurely attacked the stronghold from a safe distance.

“Tch! Come back!”

Amon shouted while protecting the rear in place of the tanker.

He deflected bone spears and kicked shield bearers, barely managing to protect the rear.

While forcibly holding back the skeletons, Amon’s eyes quickly scanned the battlefield.

It was full of gaps.

The mage was chanting with her eyes closed, completely ignoring evasion.

The tanker was taking hits unnecessarily in the middle of the enemy ranks.

In this situation, the only ones Amon could rely on were the machine gunner and the rifle gunner.

Since the tanker was in the middle of the enemy ranks, machine gun fire was out of the question.

So, Amon called the party leader, the rifle gunner.

“Humph! Can you snipe the commander?”

He shouted while beheading an approaching skeleton and stomping on its spine and skull.

Fortunately, Humph’s response was affirmative.

“I can!”

“Then, when I give the signal, please take the shot!”

Amon charged toward the enemy ranks.

Swinging his twin swords, Amon recklessly charged into the middle of the enemy ranks, cutting down all the shield bearers between Humph and the commander.

He skipped the step of crushing the heads and spines, so they started to rise again, but Amon reached the commander faster.

Amon jumped high above the commander’s head and shouted.

“Now!”

Bang!

A single bullet pierced the skeleton commander’s skull.

The skull shattered, and the commander’s body staggered.

Amon landed on the headless commander and stomped on its spine, crushing it.

Crack!

With its spine and head destroyed, the skeleton commander could no longer rise.

Of course, the remaining skeletons didn’t turn to ash just because the commander was gone.

But the tricky thing about skeletons was that, despite being monsters, they formed ranks, though individually they weren’t that strong.

Right after the commander was defeated, as Amon had intended, the formation began to collapse.

But even in the weakened offensive, Amon didn’t forget his role as the vanguard.

He returned to the party to protect the rear.

But before he could reach the rear, an unusual sound was heard.

“Dodge on your own!”

With the commander gone and the shield bearers’ formation broken, the machine gunner, who had been quiet, started firing.

‘Damn it!’

Cursing inwardly, Amon immediately dropped to the ground.

Ratatatat!

With a deafening noise, the machine gun spewed fire.

The sound of numerous bones shattering echoed above Amon’s head.

He endured for a few seconds as bone fragments rained down on him.

Finally, the machine gun stopped.

In the corridor filled with bone fragments, the beastman holding the machine gun whistled and said.

“Whew~ That felt good.”

Paul wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Amon and the Orc Tanker rose from the pile of bone fragments and protested to Paul.

“What the hell are you doing!”

“Hey, are you crazy!”

But the beastman ignored their protests.

“You’re the vanguard, so your skin should be tough, right? Quit whining over this.”

The vanguards’ veins popped on their foreheads.

But before they could express their anger, the skeletons began to revive.

Seeing this, Amon recalled the previous party’s method.

‘Right. Paul always finished them off.’

Skeletons would endlessly revive unless their spines and heads were destroyed.

But it wasn’t feasible to destroy the spines and heads of dozens of skeletons, so the finishing was always Paul’s job.

Amon looked at this party’s mage.

Just then, the elf girl finished her chant and activated her magic.

“Enchant!”

“??”

While Amon doubted his ears, her magic power imbued Amon and the other party members’ weapons.

Surprisingly, this was reality.

The mage, who had started chanting at the beginning of the battle, had just now cast Enchant at the end of the battle.

‘Damn it, this elf bitch!’

Amon glared at the mage in shock.

The mage seemed unaware of her mistake.

With her finger on her lips and a puzzled expression, she looked at Amon, making his blood boil.

But soon, the scene unfolding before him made him understand the whole situation.

“What are you doing, Amon? Hurry up and move.”

The men who had received her Enchant started finishing off the skeletons one by one.

Amon couldn’t believe his eyes.

Bang! Bang!

The gunners were finishing off the skeletons with their magic-imbued guns.

“???”

It would have been understandable if the Orc Tanker, the vanguard, finished them off with a mace, or if the rear guard stomped on them.

Under the premise of not considering time and efficiency, there was no harm in conserving the mage’s magic power.

But why were they using bullets to finish them off?

‘Do these idiots not understand that bullets are consumables?’

In the dungeon, bullets had to be conserved as much as possible.

There was no one to resupply them inside, and a gunner without bullets would become dead weight.

But they seemed unaware of this fact.

‘Crazy…’

At that point, Amon had already labeled this party as a bunch of incompetents.

Grumbling inwardly, Amon got to work.

While working, the mage didn’t lift a finger, only flapping her mouth.

“Fighting! Do your best!”

The encouragement from the beautiful elf didn’t give him strength.

On the contrary, it only raised his blood pressure.

But unlike Amon, the other men seemed different.

The machine gunner, the Orc Tanker, and the party leader, the rifle gunner.

They eagerly got to work to earn her attention.

They even used bullets to finish the job, just to impress her.

Once the work was done…

“The one who defeated the most skeletons this time was… Paul!”

The elf was picking the best player.

Seeing this, it was clear why this party was in such a state.

‘Damn it. She’s the queen bee.’

Unaware of Amon’s thoughts, the elf flirted with him.

She seemed intent on wrapping him around her finger, but it only backfired.

Amon recoiled and distanced himself from her.

The other men, misunderstanding the situation, started showing competitive spirit toward Amon.

“Damn it…”

Amon sighed and wiped his face.

Meanwhile, the leader, who had been searching the skeleton horde for loot, pulled something out and put it in his bag.

After repeating this a few times, the party leader shook his head and returned to the party.

Amon’s eyes narrowed.

But before he could question it, the party leader said something that couldn’t be ignored.

“If you’re rested, let’s move!”

“???”

Hearing his order, numerous question marks popped up above Amon’s head.

They’re leaving right away?

What about weapon checks? Ammo checks? What about checking for injuries? Shouldn’t the mage check her remaining magic power?

And most importantly, what about feedback?

Amon asked, wondering if the party leader had forgotten.

But the entire party looked at Amon as if he were strange.

The party leader spoke.

“Do you check your sword after every battle?”

“Of course.”

Swords don’t have infinite durability like in games.

They needed to be checked when there was time after a battle.

But that answer seemed to irritate the party leader.

“Wow, I’ve never seen such a tedious person.”

“??”

“Then when will you meet the daily quota? If you check after every battle, when will you level up? You won’t even meet the daily quota, you fool.”

Amon clenched his teeth.

He wanted to retort.

Paul’s party, which was far better than this one, always gave feedback and checked their weapons after every battle.

But they were a mid-tier party with some savings.

In contrast, this party was a beginner party living hand to mouth.

The value of time felt by Paul’s party and this party was bound to be different.

So, he could understand their perspective.

But only under the premise that this party wasn’t a bunch of incompetents.

‘If I stay with these idiots, I’ll definitely die.’

There were already three incompetents, and the party leader didn’t even check weapons or give feedback to the party members.

And on top of that, he was secretly embezzling loot.

He was sure of it.

Four incompetents confirmed.

Amon’s decision was quick.

“I’m done here.”

Whether he’d get his legs digested by slimes like the previous vanguard,

get his skull cracked by monsters,

or get his back broken in a queen bee dispute.

The future looked bleak if he stayed with this party.

He hadn’t grown attached to the party anyway.

It didn’t matter where he died.

But the party leader didn’t let him go easily.

“Then pay the penalty.”

“What penalty? We didn’t even sign a contract.”

“In all my years, I’ve never seen a guy like you. Didn’t you read the rules when you joined the party? It’s there because of guys like you who try to run away.”

Amon tilted his head.

There was no such clause, was there?

Amon, who carefully read the terms and conditions, had even checked casebooks to fully understand the rules.

And there was no penalty clause.

While he was wondering if he had forgotten something, the party leader, thinking Amon had conceded, held out his hand and demanded money.

“$4,000.”

“Huh?”

“$1,000 per person for four people.”

Amon was speechless at the audacity.

Did he seriously think his daily wage was worth $1,000?

Looking at that shameless face, he was sure.

‘He’s just an idiot.’

He had blurted it out, thinking Amon hadn’t read the rules.

If that was the case, Amon had something to say.

“You must have misread the clause. If there’s discord among party members and one leaves, the clause states that only the profits up to that point are distributed.”

“What do you know—”

Amon showed him a PDF file filled with clauses on his phone.

The clause he pointed to was indeed there.

“Such tactics don’t work in modern society, sir.”

With evidence in hand, the party leader had nothing to say.

Thus, Amon decided to bid farewell to the party.

However, before parting, there was one thing he wanted to clarify.

“I believe the items in your pocket are also my share.”

“W-what are you talking about…”

Did he think he wouldn’t notice?

Thanks to the party members being distracted by the queen bee elf, embezzling had been easy until now.

But Amon had zero interest in the elf.

So, when the party leader shook his head as if nothing had happened when he joined the group, it was ridiculous.

Amon was someone who knew how to exercise his rights.

Like the party leader, he held out his hand and demanded his share.

The party leader sweated and glanced at the other party members.

Even the party members who found out about his embezzlement didn’t side with him.

The party leader looked at Amon again.

Amon’s other hand was resting on the sword at his waist.

Realizing there was no way out, the party leader begged pitifully.

Switching from informal speech to honorifics.

“You’re rich anyway. Can’t you spare us some?”

“Us?”

“…”

“What ‘us’? It’s just you.”

Amon, finding it ridiculous, slightly drew his sword.

Faced with the cold blade, the party leader, unable to do anything, finally shouted his story.

“I have a sick sibling. The vanguard whose legs were digested by slimes last time. For that child’s sake…”

But Amon had no interest in his sob story.

“Enough noise. Just give me my share.”

“You can call D4C for a party you just met, but you’re greedy for a $10 magic stone!”

“I spent too much money back then, so my balance is a bit tight.”

Of course, that wasn’t the case.

Amon was kind enough to spend 100 million for someone he just met, but that was a reward for the rare kindness in this cyberpunk world.

He wasn’t a pushover to show kindness after being treated like trash.

Rather, if treated like trash, he would respond accordingly.

Even if this squabble only got him $10, he had to take it out of spite.

The party leader, grinding his teeth, threw the magic stone at Amon.

“Take this and drop dead, you Scrooge bastard.”

Amon took the magic stone and turned away.

Still, out of some faith, he asked their intentions before parting.

“Will you come back with me, or will you continue deeper on your own?”

Knowing their place, they chose to return with Amon.

“Coward bastard.”

Amon shrugged at the party leader’s sharp voice from behind.

As Amon led the way, a quarrel broke out behind him.

“Give back the money you’ve taken so far.”

“This was the first time! Really, believe me.”

“How can I believe that?”

“I told you, it’s for my sibling.”

Hearing this, Amon’s lips twisted.

How could they believe that?

Meanwhile, the queen bee elf tried to mediate between them, attempting to take control.

Amon led the incompetent party out of the dungeon.

Before parting, Amon bid farewell to the party.

“It was nice meeting you.”

“Get lost, you hypocrite bastard. *Spit*.”

His last goodwill was trampled.

Amon wasn’t in a great mood either, but he decided to forget it, thinking he had stepped in crap.

And the next day.

“Mr. Amon. This is the police. Could you open the door?”

“What’s the matter?”

“Was the party leader of the party you were with yesterday named Humph?”

“Yes, but…”

“He was found dead yesterday. We’re investigating the possibility of homicide. Could you cooperate?”

Hearing the police officer’s voice through the intercom, Amon sighed deeply.

It seemed like nothing ever went smoothly.

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