Chapter 39

Level Up IlDanSimPanGwan – Chapter 39 (39/227)

Chapter 39: Manners Make the Man (2)

“Kiiiiiik!”

A shrill scream pierced the ears.

Dark thought-forms that vaguely resembled human shapes were charging forward, and Ail, standing before them, swung his sword with all his might.

Whooshhh!

As he cleaved through the first one rushing at him, the white flames attached to his longsword engulfed the others.

The undead evil-attribute creatures took critical damage from Ail’s flame-imbued holy sword.

Crack!

Currently, this place where Ail was busily hunting was Ingol Forest, a level 17 hunting ground.

The forest, located on the edge of Blanche Plateau, was filled with pitch-black darkness.

This area, teeming with decaying thought-form monsters, was marked as an avoided hunting spot due to the bizarre appearances of its monsters.

The creatures, emitting ghostly cold vibes as they moved, received many complaints for being too slippery and unpleasant.

But that was just the opinion of many people; not everyone felt the same way.

For Ail, who was often said to have lost all sense of fear, it was actually a good thing. Fewer competitors meant a more comfortable hunting environment, and a comfortable environment led to faster leveling up.

Kwaaak!

After cutting down the last thought-form that charged until the end, Ail kicked its collapsing body aside.

“Hmm, melting away nicely,” Ail muttered, drunk on his own damage output.

Even before obtaining the IlDanSimPanGwan class, he knew it was the most optimized job for beating evil-aligned monsters.

Combined with Lu’s blessing that boosted all his battle stats and the Madness stat exclusive to Apostles, it was only natural that his hunting efficiency skyrocketed.

‘Oops, went too far again.’

Checking the map, Ail retraced his steps.

While chasing after drops, he had strayed from his original planned hunting route.

Though he was currently focused on hunting, his main goal was still the boss monster Batora, and he needed to stick to the path that would let him encounter the guy first.

Someone might ask why he didn’t just go straight to hunt when there were no other players around, but Batora was an exception even among avoided targets.

The reason? The items dropped by Batora.

Since defeating him often yielded great equipment, many players willingly endured entering this unpopular hunting ground just for the chance to fight him.

Unlike regular monsters that were ignored, Batora attracted so much attention that some players came specifically to farm him multiple times before leaving, creating fierce competition among players.

However, due to the nature of the boss being formed from condensed forest thoughts, it took about three hours to respawn after being defeated, which couldn’t keep up with player demand.

Because of this, while it was usually possible to hunt in peace, it was also a place where player conflicts frequently occurred.

‘Definitely need to be careful here.’

While keeping an eye on his surroundings, Ail continued checking his position.

In these large random-spawn hunting grounds, whoever discovers and attacks the boss first typically claims it.

For smaller hunting grounds or guild-level boss fights, they sometimes draw lots to determine turn order to prevent chaos, but that didn’t apply here.

Simply put, whoever finds the boss first gets it.

While moving to the next point, Ail suddenly thought of the Goddess of Light ‘Lu’.

Since sending her the message last time, she hadn’t contacted him at all.

He had expected her to give him a quest midway like when he got into trouble with other players in the Forbidden Ruins, but the goddess remained silent.

‘Is sending a message too precious now?’

She had used up all her influence appointing him as an Apostle.

Probably the believers of the Light Church, including himself, needed to become more active again to accumulate influence for ‘Lu’, and only then would she be able to freely intervene in this world.

“Aaaaah!”

Suddenly, a scream came from Ail’s right side as he was walking.

Since there were no NPCs in Ingol Forest and the thought-form monsters couldn’t make such sounds, it was definitely a player getting attacked.

Without hesitation, Ail started running.

Whether it was the awaited boss appearing or some dangerous variable like a PK user showing up, quickly assessing the situation was the priority.

Breaking through the bushes, Ail arrived at the source of the scream and froze in place.

“This is…”

A three-person party lay dead on the ground, already lifeless without any chance for Ail to save them.

“Grroooowr…”

One thought-form creature standing over the bodies growled lowly.

Turning its head toward Ail, this one was different from the other black thought-forms, its entire body wrapped in bluish light.

‘So, an Elite Monster.’

Instantly recognizing the creature’s identity, Ail raised his sword calmly.

Called Elite Monsters, Mutants, or Champion Monsters, these guys are stronger than regular monsters but don’t quite reach boss status.

They rarely appear in each hunting ground, treated as sub-bosses, often looking similar to regular monsters and charging in with them, making them harder to spot compared to bosses.

If unlucky, you could die unexpectedly while letting your guard down.

[The shockwave of ‘Belug’ spreads!]

[Debuff, ‘Cower’ state activated!]

[Debuf, ‘Severe Cower’ state activated!]

Belug, the elite monster of Ingol Forest.

This guy was the main reason Ingol Forest became an avoided hunting spot.

Just from the debuffs alone, you can tell he’s a tough opponent.

Being the only monster in this area with 20% physical resistance, combined with fast speed and annoying attack patterns, made him frustrating.

Though nowhere near the insane physical resistance Gahar had, simply having resistance at this level was irritating, and the constant severe cower debuff prevented fighting at full capacity.

If you accidentally encounter him while fighting a boss, it’s almost impossible to survive.

Ail was actually grateful to meet him now.

‘But the real problem is something else.’

Above all, what made fighting him problematic was the stingy rewards.

Compared to the difficulty, the experience gained was noticeably low, and the item drops were equally bad.

No matter how many Belugs you kill, unless you get lucky with extremely rare drops, you won’t get proper rewards.

Among nearby players, he was openly regarded as a nuisance intentionally ruining boss runs.

But there was one person who thought differently – Ail.

He actually wanted to welcome the elite monster with open arms.

The reasons were simple.

First, he was starting from a much more advantageous position than other players.

[Skill effect ‘Fanatical Martyr’ nullifies abnormal status effects!]

[Debuff ‘Cower’ canceled!]

[Debuff ‘Severe Cower’ canceled!]

And second, an excellent stat supplier had come to him.

[Skill ‘Heresy Designation’ effect activated!]

[Passive ‘Blade of Hatred’ activated!]

[All damage against heresy increased by 25%!]

The mark of heresy that appeared above Belug’s head.

Normally only applicable to boss monsters, most elite monsters didn’t receive the heresy designation, but as an Apostle, Ail could designate even elite monsters as heretics.

Meaning killing him would raise his stats like killing a normal boss monster.

Ka-ga-ga-kach!

The blue light thought-form’s claw narrowly missed Ail, splintering bark and leaving deep marks on the tree trunk.

Trying to strike at the creature’s opening in that moment, Ail saw its body twitch and the direction it was facing suddenly changed.

His slash aimed at the side was easily blocked, and the creature immediately followed up with continuous attacks.

Unpredictable and rapid combos.

But Ail flowed with Belug’s attacks, calmly stepping back.

Simultaneously activating his counter skill.

In an instant, Ail spun around and drove his sword powerfully into the creature’s back.

Kwaak!

Ail’s longsword pierced through the thought-form’s back and protruded from the front.

“Kiiiiiiik!”

The thought-form writhed while enveloped in white flames.

Though it had around 20% physical resistance, the direct hit combined with the holy fire on his sword wasn’t affected by resistance.

It took additional attribute damage, and the ongoing fire damage from the flames sticking to its body was an extra bonus.

The ‘Burn’ status effect from Holy Fire lasted only 5 seconds.

It wasn’t long enough to be fatal to an elite monster.

The flames burning its flesh dimmed as time passed, but Belug’s health was still plentiful.

However, as soon as the flames faded, another of Ail’s attacks hit the mark, restarting the burn status.

“Kieeeek!”

The smell of burning decayed flesh assaulted the nose.

Once again engulfed in flames, Belug wildly swung its flaming arm in rage, but Ail leaped back to create distance.

Keeping Belug in a burn state but avoiding close combat was intentional.

Because triggering the creature’s special pattern required staying too close for too long.

If there’s a tricky pattern, just avoid triggering it. Now it’s just a matter of slowly cooking him.