Chapter 8: Magic Combat Tactics

Se-hyeon was inwardly surprised by the devastating power of his full-scale attack, but his gaze soon shifted to the Elite Kobold standing in the distance.

“Huh, so the Elite is still alive?”

The first strike had targeted the densest cluster of minions, leaving the leader relatively unscathed. The second strike had detonated right next to it. Despite taking a massive shockwave, the fact that it was still standing proved that an Elite was indeed a cut above the rest.

Out of the hundred-strong swarm, only about twenty remained, including the leader. After assessing the situation, Se-hyeon activated Boots of Wind.

‘Time to test my Magic Combat Tactics.’

He had only practiced this for about an hour at the simulation center. Honestly, he could have finished this easily by just manifesting five Shadow Orbs and controlling them from a distance. However, he wanted to test the synergy of the boots and combat magic in a real environment. Simulations and real dungeons were different beasts altogether.

‘Boots of Wind!’

Se-hyeon hovered slightly off the ground and shot forward with explosive speed.

Swaaaaaaak!

‘Shadow Orb!’

He manifested three orbs. This was the maximum number he could precisely control while maintaining high-speed maneuverability with the boots.

Whish! Boom! — Screee! Whish! Bang! — Yelp!

Zigzagging through the cavern at high speeds, Se-hyeon cleared the path-blocking Kobolds with his orbs. As soon as one orb detonated, he instantly recast it, maintaining a constant orbit of three projectiles around him.

‘It feels different from the simulation, but it’s definitely doable.’

In the simulator, the lack of actual stakes meant less tension. Here, despite his overwhelming power, the reality of the dungeon sharpened his focus and heightened his senses.

Boom! Crash!

The Elite Kobold finally came into full view.

‘Found you!’

An Elite monster is generally equivalent to a standard monster from a dungeon two ranks higher. In this case, an Elite Kobold was roughly on par with an Orc, the common inhabitant of D-rank dungeons.

Se-hyeon began circling the Elite at high speed, launching his orbs.

Swaaaaaak!

He fired the three orbs in rapid succession. Even while moving at a blur, his control remained surgical.

— KRAAAA!

The Elite Kobold wasn’t going down without a fight. It waited until the orbs were inches away before lunging forward, hoping the projectiles would simply strike the ground behind it.

Thud!

The Elite propelled itself off the earth, dodging the initial trajectory and pivoting to charge straight at Se-hyeon. Despite being twice the size of a normal Kobold, its movements were incredibly agile. It closed the gap in an instant—or so it thought.

‘Nice try!’

Swoooooosh!

With a sharp bank, Se-hyeon pulled away, widening the gap. Simultaneously, the three orbs that the Elite thought would hit the ground swerved mid-air. Because he only had to manage three, Se-hyeon was able to micro-manage their pathing even while moving. They curved sharply and chased the Elite’s back.

BOOM! KA-BOOM! BANG!

The three Shadow Orbs slammed into the Elite Kobold’s spine.

— GURRRRRGH!

In reality, the Elite had died the moment the second orb hit. Se-hyeon knew from his registration test that two orbs could kill a virtual Orc; he had only used three to test his limit in active combat.

Slide.

Se-hyeon deactivated the boots and touched down, looking at the smoking corpse of the Elite.

“Not bad… but to make combat smoother, I need to increase the number of orbs I can micro-manage while moving.”

In an F-rank dungeon against Kobolds, three was plenty. But in D-rank or higher mid-tier dungeons, it might not be enough. As he mused, something on the ground caught his eye.

‘Oh?’

Next to the Elite’s corpse lay an item.

“A drop?”

Standard monsters rarely dropped anything other than their hides and stones, but Elites and Bosses occasionally dropped loot.

“A bracelet.”

It was a bracelet with an unusual pattern. He’d need an appraiser to be sure, but it likely provided a stat boost. Most artifacts from F-rank dungeons boosted a specific stat by 2 or 3 points. Still, even that was worth a significant amount of money.

He pocketed the loot and surveyed the room. The remaining stragglers had been cleaned up by the other hunters. Not a single living Kobold remained.

‘Time to harvest. Vitality Absorption!’

Swoooooosh!

Faint trails of light rose from the sea of corpses, flowing into his ring. The light from the Elite Kobold was noticeably brighter, and—interestingly—the corpses of the six hunters who had fallen during the wave emitted a similar intensity.

[Absorbing residual vitality from 105 [Kobold] corpses, 1 [Elite Kobold] corpse, and 6 [Awakened] corpses.]

Se-hyeon checked the growth rate.

Magic Ring [Zelostan] [Growth: 3.12%]

It had surpassed 3%. The Elite and the fallen Awakened had provided a much larger boost than expected. Given that the Boss was still alive, he was on track to blow past his initial estimates for this dungeon.

He walked slowly toward the regrouped hunters.

“T-thank you so much.” “Phew, we’re alive because of you. Honestly, you look like a high-ranker… why are you in an F-rank dungeon?” “You were incredible! What rank are you, anyway?”

The survivors, finally catching their breath, showered him with gratitude.

“I’m glad I could help,” Se-hyeon replied with a polite smile.

A man who looked like a Tanker stepped forward. “I’m Choi Min-cheol from the Xenon Guild. We were about to abandon the dungeon, but you saved us.”

Xenon wasn’t a top-ten guild, but it was a respectable mid-sized organization. In this world, your guild affiliation often carried as much weight as your personal rank.

“Don’t mention it,” Se-hyeon said. “Anyway, since it’s over, let’s settle the business. I assume I have the rights to the Kobolds I killed?”

He wanted to settle the ownership issue immediately. Money and loot were sensitive topics that could turn ugly if left unresolved.

“Well, that’s…” “Actually…”

The other hunters hesitated. Now that the danger had passed, greed was starting to seep back in. Se-hyeon’s expression darkened slightly.

“Do you have a problem with that?”

He had just ended a wave single-handedly. His presence was intimidating enough that no one dared to openly complain.

“No, it’s not a problem, it’s just…” “Some of the ones we were already fighting got mixed in there… Hahaha.”

As the hunters grumbled about their “shares,” Choi Min-cheol barked at them.

“What are you all doing?! If it weren’t for this man, we would have lost the whole dungeon! Most of you were seconds away from death. We should be paying him a rescue fee, not haggling over his kills! Have some shame!”

“Hey! Who’s haggling? We’re just saying we did some of the work!” one hunter shot back. “Exactly. And who are you to talk? Just because you’re Xenon doesn’t mean you own our shares.”

Despite the grumbling, they didn’t push too hard. The Xenon Guild’s name carried enough weight to keep them in check. Choi Min-cheol ignored them and turned back to Se-hyeon.

“You’re Awakened Jang Se-hyeon, right?”

Se-hyeon blinked. “You know me?”

“Ah, I saw you with that other group earlier and asked them.” He must have talked to Hong Dae-cheol’s party. “Since you saved us, my party is officially handing over all our kills to you as well.”

That was another 5 or 6 Kobolds. Se-hyeon looked at him suspiciously. He didn’t think this was out of the goodness of his heart.

“Your party’s kills too? You don’t have to do that.”

“In exchange—if you’re up for it—would you be interested in raiding the Boss with us?”

There it was.

“The Boss?”

Se-hyeon was interested. He needed the boss’s vitality for the ring anyway.

“As you know,” Min-cheol continued, “it’s almost impossible for E-ranks to take down a Boss. Usually, we clear the minions and call in a D-rank team to finish the job. But the real money is in the Boss kill.”

A dungeon Boss is always significantly stronger than the average rank of the dungeon. An F-rank Boss usually required a D-rank team. E-ranks could try, but it usually ended in a wipe. With Se-hyeon there, the dream of a Boss kill was suddenly within reach for Min-cheol.

“The Boss… that does sound tempting.”

“With the power you just showed, I don’t think it would be a problem. If you have the energy left, let’s take it down together.”

Min-cheol swallowed hard. Even with Se-hyeon, a Boss raid was a life-or-death gamble. To get a share of the rewards, Min-cheol’s team would have to contribute, which meant putting themselves on the front line.