Damn System

Episode 38

Chapter 9 Capitalism (2)

His hands were busy and hectic, but fortunately the second battle also ended without major injuries.

It was all about getting bitten on the thigh.

Fighting, cleansing, he was distracted, but this was on the good side.

I emptied the potion to recover my injuries and elemental magic and then went forward again.

It’s been 30 minutes since the mission started.

The height of the plant gradually decreased, and at some point it was barely sticking its head out above the water.

It is out of the colony of lotus leaves with thorns.

Unlike before, my vision was clear.

Unknown grass growing sparsely, muddy ground, and a swamp with unknown depth stretched out all the way.

It was foggy, so I couldn’t see very far.

Still, my eyes were open, so I felt cool inside.

‘I don’t know what’s beyond the grass, so I want it.’

Without magic detection, the mental pressure would have been severe.

It is an unpleasant field in many ways.

The fishy smell is annoying, and the ground on which to stand is poor.

‘If the other guys come, I’ll have a hard time.’

This was not a good environment for a group of people to gather and fight.

‘It must be an advantage to have more hands than me since I’m coming to the party.’

I clicked my tongue as I organized the enemy information in the guidebook.

The magic within the detection range began to rush in.

This time, I could clearly see the water splitting as the monsters moved.

“Tsk.”

What I feared happened.

‘Seventeen, eighteen.’

The number of monsters continues to increase.

This time, I might have to endure a fairly large blood loss.

‘The attribute magic power is about half.’

If the distribution is good, I think I can solve this battle.

Believe it or not, they didn’t take long.

I swung my longsword and cut the body in half as it jumped out of the water.

Then, he retreated to the side to avoid the guys who rushed at him one after another.

“Suck!”

Suddenly, I stepped on something soft and my foot slipped.

There was a splash, a sound, and my feet fell into the water.

In the process, the soil I stepped on collapsed, revealing the object buried under it.

My eyes were unknowingly taken away, but I didn’t have time to take a closer look.

Because there were four of them swimming through the current at the same time.

I hit the head of the first one that arrived with the spear I received during the tutorial.

As soon as I pulled my foot out of the water, three came out of the swamp on the right.

In an instant, they soared to the height of my shoulders.

I lowered my stance and applied magic to the long sword in my right hand.

I swung it over my head and pumped magic into my left leg.

I was bitten on the thigh and calf by the guys who came out from the left by a short distance.

“Kuk.”

When three monsters broke in half in the air and poured out black blood.

With the dagger in my left hand, I was cutting the throat of the monster clinging to my thigh.

Next is the one hanging from the left calf.

I held the dagger backwards and pierced the monster’s skull at once.

But it’s too early to be relieved.

Even at this moment, the number of monsters affected by magic detection is increasing.

There are more people rushing at me than the corpses of the people I killed.

“These troublesome bastards!”

One person, one person, if you look at it separately, the power is not great.

It can be crushed even with bare hands.

However, when those insignificant bastards passed 30, it became too much for them.

I had no choice but to use elemental magic to get rid of the guys who were aiming for my gap.

It wasn’t enough to burn it all at once, but it was enough to stiffen it.

Thanks to this, I was able to earn a little time and clean up the crocodile monster.

“Hook, hook.”

There were quite a few wounds, but there were no dangerous moments.

However, the consumption of stamina was more severe than the level 2 mission. Because I had to move constantly.

I straightened up and took a rough breath.

The peculiar smell of black blood was mixed with the fishy liquid, giving off a disgusting smell that made you feel sick.

At first glance, there were well over 30 bodies of monsters floating around where I was standing.

I already knew the approximate number from magic detection.

Seeing the number of dead guys with my own eyes made me sick.

‘I heard there is no business in Daguri.’

After dealing with more than 30 people alone, the elemental magic ran out again.

I drank the potion as soon as the battle was over.

He generously poured potions even on the wounds from the monster bites.

The wound started to heal, but my expression wasn’t very good.

‘I need a proper attack or wide area skill.’

or throw a party

‘If the physical continues to stagnate, it’s impossible to go over to level 4 alone.’

As he clicked his tongue and brushed his hair, black blood trickled down.

I moved to a place where there were few monster corpses, and roughly washed my face and head.

Eventually, the place I headed to was the place where I had escaped from the lotus leaf colony.

I lowered my posture and checked my surroundings, and soon I found what I was looking for.

The one I stepped on when the third battle began.

“also… … .”

I didn’t see it wrong.

I gritted my teeth and turned the half-buried thing in the mud with my dagger.

The white bones visible inside the rotten flesh, and the broken fingernails at the tips.

It was clearly a human hand, with flesh swollen and rotting in the water.

“ha… … .”

I stared at my rotting hand, then looked up at the sky with a heavy sigh.

There were still two blue moons standing there.

‘I’m the first player to come to a mission without a barrier.’

So the owner of this hand is not the player.

Perhaps, he is a person who lives in a world other than Earth.

As I recalled the gold coin I found during the 2nd level mission, the assumptions floating around in my head became clear.

‘Civilization and people exist in this world.’

It was a perfect certainty that left no doubts or disagreements.

I took a deep breath and took off the top that was torn here and there from being scratched by the thorns.

Then he tore it in half and wrapped it around his decaying hand.

“eww… … .”

I felt a tingling sensation.

It is said that enough time has passed for post mortem rigor to be resolved.

It’s uncomfortable enough just to touch a dead person’s hand.

It was even creepier that the texture was not that different from the meat for soup you buy at a butcher shop.

Even so, after wrapping my hands, I took out the bag from the locker.

It was a bag containing items such as clothes and shoes in case the mission was over.

I put my hand in there and shoved the whole bag into the locker.

The reason for taking care of this gross thing was simple.

‘Let’s check properly.’

Because I wanted to make sure that this hand was really a ‘human’ hand.

However, it is too specialized to dig into alone.

‘First, I’ll tell Mr. Jonghun.’

If it is impossible in that line, ask the NIS to appraise it.

I didn’t leave the spot even after taking my hand.

Instead, I took out the spear I received during the tutorial and wrapped the remaining clothes.

A torch was made by soaking the oil in the storage box and lighting it.

From then on, the full-scale search began.

I crawled all over the floor, checking every single sign of the soil being crushed.

Thanks to this, I was able to find the footprints of monsters clustered in a certain spot.

As I followed the traces, a heterogeneous trace appeared.

“shoes… … .”

It was different from the marks crushed by webbed feet and claws.

An oval shape with a protruding front, just like the toe of a shoe.

There are so many monster footprints that only a few remain, but they definitely look like human footprints.

Kneel down next to the footprints and ponder for a moment.

I got up from my seat and brushed off the flames hanging from the window.

I started to feel the magic of the monsters behind me again.

‘First organize the mission, then check again.’

When he took out his longsword and dagger, the surface of the swamp, which was quite far away, was shaking.

‘About 90 left.’

Seven of them gathered nearby. It seemed like it would be a long night.

* * *

It was about three hours after entering the mission site that I discovered the traces of the medium.

So far I’ve killed over 80 monsters and gained over 2,000 extra mana.

When I finish the battle and move, the monsters that have found me gather one by one.

Then I hunt them down and move again.

It was a hunting pattern that had solidified over the course of several hours.

However, after the fifth battle, the monsters stopped gathering.

‘… … Why aren’t you coming?’

Maybe all the nearby monsters are dead?

I waited a little longer and decided to move.

About 30 minutes after starting the move.

One by one, I began to feel the magical powers of the monsters from afar.

I moved forward preparing for another mole hunt.

At that time, I suddenly felt a great magic power inside the detection range.

“what… … .”

Shocked by the sudden situation, I stood still in my seat.

This mana did not appear outside the detection range.

It really came out of nowhere from the inside.

When I focused on the location of the magical power, I immediately knew the reason.

‘Looks like it’s under water.’

The swamp where the crocodile monsters were hiding was not very deep.

‘At least 5, 60 cm.’

It is about 1-2m deep.

However, that guy was nestled further down, dozens of meters below.

Magic detection has a cognitive range that forms a sphere with me as the center.

It means that you can only feel the magic within a sphere with a radius of 300m in front and back, up, down, left and right.

So the range of up and down gets narrower towards the end.

That’s why it was able to suddenly appear inside the detection range.

I carefully examined the magic power that was so great that it was incomparable to the magic power of the monsters I had hunted so far.

It was to check the size at least roughly.

The target of comparison is Han Chang-sik’s magical power.

‘Is it about half?’

In numerical terms, it is four or five hundred mana.

‘It seems to be some kind of boss mob.’

Apparently, boss raids are added from level 3 onwards.

‘I’ve never had a monster’s magic power exceed 100.’

When I got there, I noticed something strange next to a boss mob.

‘What is that?’

In general, the magical energy applied to the detection technique was in the form of burning.

Ordinary people and players, monsters and even plants.

If it was a living being, it had magic in the form of shimmering flames.

But now, that magic power next to the boss mob was spinning round and round.

‘Swirl… … ?’

As I concentrated my mind, I could feel the magic movement in a little more detail.

Magic in the form of a whirlpool, next to it is a large magic power that is believed to belong to a monster.

the two were connected.

‘no.’

It is absorbing mana.

Mana is flowing from the side of the vortex towards the monster.

It was not difficult to realize what the phenomenon meant.

‘absorption?’

A monster absorbing magic like a player?

An alarm bell that only I could hear started ringing in my head.

‘What is that bastard doing right now?’

Suddenly, my expression hardened.

I hurriedly moved in the direction where I could feel the two magic powers.

Then the monsters around me showed different behavior.

Judging from what they’ve done so far, they should be aiming for me and approaching me.

They stayed in place and didn’t move.

‘why?’

This situation was not normal.

Discomfort, alertness, and nervousness.

Obviously, I was most nervous since I set foot in this mission paper.

However, the closer I got to the place where I felt a strange form of magic, the slower my heart beat.

Just like holding your breath without being noticed.

Then, suddenly, a large amount of magic power moved, causing my body to tremble.