Chapter 25 – Giant’s Canyon (3)

Serin pulled the bow to its limit. And while everyone’s gaze was focused on the arrow tip, she let loose the shot.

“Pew~”

The Arrow flew off to the distance with a satisfying sound.

‘Stab’

It pierced through one of the two heads of an Ettin.

“Graah!”

The remaining head scanned its surroundings and then spotted the four hunters. It came charging towards the hunters in anger. Xian Wang shouted in response.

“Pulling successful. Brace yourselves!”

Raj stood in front of the other hunters and shouted while banging on his shield.

“Here! Come at me!”

The Ettin, overflowing with rage, swung his club down as he charged.

‘I can’t dodge this’

Raj made a judgement call and decided to raise his shield and shout

“Iron wall of Anvil!”

The Lion shaped runes etched into his shield grew bright, and the shield doubled in size; as if hiding Raj behind a castle wall.

When the Ettin’s club collided with the wall, it shattered into pieces after a loud ‘crack’.

Raj flinched slightly, but most of the momentum was cancelled out. Xian Wang stabbed the Ettin, who stood stunned for a moment from the recoil, in the chest.

“Gaaa...”

And Santiago passed by Xian, muttering the words

“Slice and Dice”

The Daggers in his hands began to spin on their own; resembling a drill. Santiago dashed towards the Ettin and violently stabbed the monster.

The Ettin stepped back in response to Santiago’s savage attack

‘Pew~’

The remaining head was hit by an arrow, which penetrated deep into its skull. The Ettin collapsed on the spot.

“Amazing...”

Xian Wang held the spear with his armpits and applauded his teammates. The others in his party were extremely strong.

Raj, who was in charge of the defense of his team, had an excellent Shield, Endurance, and a high number of Recovery Potions.

Santiago was agile and wielded a pair of (Heroic tier or higher) Daggers.

And nothing needed to be said about the Gold Medalist Archer Serin, who controlled the start and the end of every fight with her incredibly accurate snipes.

Despite the fact that the Magician Kei had run off alone without a trace, the raid proceeded without a hitch thanks to the other three hunters.

Xian Wang was able to reach this chapter thanks to being carried to the end of each Raid by exceptionally powerful individuals, but it appeared that teammates in this chapter were better still.

Once the fight was over, Raj stood up with his regular sized shield and asked

“Hey Operator, what’s my current HP?”

[HP: 7932/9200]

“Alright, alert me when it drops below a third of the total health so that I can drink potions.”

[Understood.]

Xian Wang was shocked.

“Your Health is above 9000?”

Raj shrugged.

“I mean... If you’re going to fight as the vanguard, then I think having high health is standard. In exchange, my offensive power is pretty low.”

Serin glanced at him and suggested

“Please make sure you max out your HP before facing the Boss monster. You never know what will happen.”

“Sure thing, pretty lady.”

Raj pretended to stroke his mustache and stole glances at Serin’s figure. Xian didn’t know if the person in question noticed, but he did.

Xian didn’t like it, so he decided to change the subject.

“By the way, I wonder where that Mage has gone off to?”

Santiago twirled his dagger skillfully as he responded.

“Who knows, maybe he got scared and ran off.”

Xian looked back at the direction they came from. He didn’t see anybody. The only thing he saw was piles of dead bodies.

The Canyon was straight as an arrow. The Mage was neither ahead nor behind them; he was nowhere to be seen.

“I’m fairly sure we will be fine at dealing with the normal monsters, but...will it be alright fighting the boss mob with just us four?”

Xian had raised a reasonable concern to which Raj replied,

“Well... We won’t know until we butt heads, right? It’s not like we can just run away because we don’t think we can do it. You know what this tin can always says.”

Raj tapped the Cube following him.

“Complete the objective. Or you will die.”

Santiago laughed with a high-pitched snicker. Serin didn’t respond. Xian let his shoulders drop.

“I guess... you’re right after all.”

Xian clapped his hands again.

“Then let’s get going.”

Ahead, an Ogre could be seen standing alone.

Once again, everyone’s eyes were on Serin’s bow and arrow.

‘Pew~’

Serin’s arrows flew off into the distance and landed on the Ogre’s head. The Ogre turned with the arrow still stuck in his head, glaring at the hunters. Filled with rage, he charged towards them. Raj stepped forward to deal with him.

“Bring it on you beast!”

Raj taunted the Monster to draw attention while the other three worked together to kill it. Using this strategy, the four hunters made their way through the Canyon, slowly and steadily.

*

“Grah!”

The Ogre angrily swung its mace.

‘Woosh, woosh’

The mace swinging in the air sounded threatening. Even Sungjin, who had invested many points into Endurance, would be reduced to a bloody pulp if he took several hits.

‘IF it hits that is.’

Sungjin was no longer at a level where a normal mob could hit him with a simple attack. Sungjin easily dodged the Mace and swung his ‘Moon Specter’ twice while evading the attacks.

The Ogre’s blood spewed out of an ‘X’ shaped cut on his chest, and it fell on its back.

“Krah!”

Two more clubs were swung at Sungjin. One was swung by a two-headed Ettin, and the other was swung by a hairy Giant Trogg.

Sungjin crouched and covered himself with Sael’s Breath before shouting

“Solidify!”

The moment his command was uttered, the mantle froze in place. The clubs landed on him, but

“Dong~”

A dull sound rang out as if the clubs had hit a thick steel plate. The attack did not hurt Sungjin at all.

‘That’s useful.’

Sungjin stood up and faced the enemies. The ‘Sael’s Breath’ resumed fluttering in the wind.

“Kuaaa!”

“Uraa!”

The two giants lift their clubs again, but Sungjin’s blade flashed twice.

‘Woosh’

‘Woosh’

And the arms holding the clubs were cut off (each with a thickness of a man’s waist.)

The now disarmed monsters tried to swat Sungjin, but it was in vain. They were unable to land a blow on him. In just a few seconds, the two giants let out a deep groan and collapsed.

The combat ended, and so Sungjin hopped on top of the Ogre’s stomach with one leg and surveyed the area.

In the distance, he could see the main boss “Pach and Cho’Roch”. Sungjin checked behind him. He saw nothing but a field of corpses littering the Canyon. Sungjin called to the Operator.

“Operator, time?”

[39 Minutes 58 Seconds remaining.]

‘I already got to the main boss and still have about 40 minutes left... I guess I am in no rush to use the ‘Treasure Hunter’ title anytime soon.’

Sungjin hopped off the stomach of the giant. He held his hand out towards the giant’s corpse and shouted an incantation.

“Awaken and become my slave! Rise of the Dead!”

The Ogre stood up as if nothing had happened and took his place behind Sungjin. Sungjin looked up at him for a moment. It was the first time Sungjin had ever used this spell.

“Operator, how do I control him?”

[Undead monsters raised by “Rise of the Dead” will respond to verbal commands.]

Sungjin decided to try it out.

“Follow me for now”

The Ogre responded in a lower and flatter tone than when he was alive.

“Kraa...”

It followed Sungjin. Very. Slowly. Sungjin looked back and saw that he was walking sluggishly towards him.

“What the... Why is it so slow?”

Sungjin walked back towards the undead Giant. He took a look around. Once he confirmed that all the enemies were dead, he spread his arms wide.

“Hit me”

“Grah~”

The Ogre lifted up his club and swung down. Of course, the movement was extremely slow.

‘Woosh’

Sungjin slightly tilted his body and easily evaded the strike. The Ogre seemed several times slower than when it was alive.

‘... I guess my magic power is too low.’

His spell was nowhere near as powerful as ‘that person’ from his previous life.

When ‘That person’ cast Rise of the Dead, the resulting undead revived stronger than the original. Sungjin looked over to the boss ‘Pach and Cho’Roch’.

‘I can’t even use it as a meat shield at this level.’

Sungjin pointed at the giant.

“Go back to being dead.”

“Gaah...”

The Ogre zombie fell over again, unmoving. Sungjin stared at the Ogre for a moment.

“Ah, right...”

Sungjin recalled that he had a strange looking bell in his pocket by the name ‘Manyata’. He took it out.

“Operator, does this item affect revived undead as well?”

[It does.]

‘I should try it next time.’

He put the bell back.

“Current mana?”

[MP: 1090/3990]

‘Frostbite’ and ‘Rise of the Dead’ cost 790 and 1580 respectively. He had enough for a Frostbite, and a little short to use Rise of the Dead.

He had reached the boss without considering his MP level.

‘I should try to be better at managing my mana in the future.’

Sungjin pointed at the Ettin’s corpse and said

“Lich’s Beckoning”

The Lich’s Finger, which was previously wrapped around his ring finger, slithered its way up to his knuckle and beckoned twice. A blue mist-like light emerged from the corpse and was sucked into his outstretched finger. Even though the process was meant to help Sungjin recover lost mana, he felt slightly uncomfortable.

“Operator, Mana?”

[MP: 3990/3990]

“Mmm. Ok.”

Sungjin walked towards the hall where the boss was waiting.

‘Pach and Cho’Roch’ was an Ogre with two heads like that of an Ettin. The boss saw the approaching hunter and yelled at him simultaneously.

“Come, Human!” “It’s a Human!”

[Warning! Boss]

[Ogre Mage ‘Pach and Cho’Roch’ has appeared!]

The Cube rang out with an announcement.

“Mage? What do you mean? I am a warrior!” “I am a powerful mage!”

The head holding a large club yelled in anger, and the skinnier head on the left nodded happily.

Sungjin didn’t know who was Pach and who was Cho’Roch. But momentarily, they looked at each other and yelled at the same time.

“What are you talking about? We’re a warrior!” “What the hell are you talking about? We’re obviously a Mage!”

“You should listen to your elders!” “What do you mean? I am older one!”

“What?” “It’s obviously me who’s older. My head came out first!”

Sungjin shook his head.

‘They’re exactly the same as last time... Loud and annoying.’

Sungjin drew out his sword. The boss brothers finally turned their attentions to him and said the same things for the first time.

“You dare challenge us?”

“I’ll Kill you! Puny human!” “I’ll Kill you! Puny human!”