Beware Of Stagnation Than Slow Growth (2)

Before entering the third passage, I gathered the group and asked for one opinion.

“You’ve probably felt it from the two tries: the dungeon’s difficulty will increase. If we keep going like this, it could become quite hard. Of course, if Hazel steps in, she can handle it easily, fold or split space. But then the chance of getting attribute cores and enhancement stones drops, and you won’t gain experience.”

“……”

“There is a way to collect items and proceed comfortably even without Hazel stepping in.”

“…Yes?”

“I’ll step forward. I’ll clear everything out first, and you follow behind and just perform the butchering—quickly that’ll count as the achievement needed to found the legion.”

For a moment, the members’ faces hardened. Their pride was undoubtedly hurt.

But no representative dared rebel just because of wounded pride.

“I’d like us to confront it directly. Of course, Mr Kim Han should be prepared for emergencies, but that’s my opinion,” Lee Hyo-ju said.

Lee Hyo-ju’s words started it—everyone volunteered to try.

“Alright. But first, Hugo, Simon, Inex.”

“Yes!”

I took out equipment from the inventory and laid one before each of the three.

Telling the three who stared blankly to put them on, I met the transcendent and finished discussing today’s schedule before returning.

Originally I planned to give them the gear a bit later—at least by the next passage. If they start relying on equipment, their combat sense will never improve.

But because their armor was shredded yesterday and Hugo’s sword was half-broken, I couldn’t avoid handing out the prepared gear.

The three men’s eyes shone brightly at my return, like a system message saying, ‘Loyalty is MAX.’

I snorted and said.

“Let’s go.”

The Myryan that appeared in this passage were, disappointingly for the group, two types: Wind and Earth. In truth, there was never just one type roaming.

Especially the wind-type Myryan flew along the cave ceiling like worker ants, startling the party.

The women, especially Lee Hyo-ju, screamed sharply and squealed in disgust.

Ironically, perhaps as revenge for making her scream, Lee Hyo-ju’s attacks became even fiercer.

Against the high defense of earth-type Myryan, attacking joints was useless; only pure magic or high-purity divine power worked.

The number of Myryan seemed about 1.5 times that of the previous two passages, and the members couldn’t easily adapt to attacks from both air and ground.

So Hazel and I had to step in intermittently until, with time and repeated battles, everyone got used to the Myryan patterns.

The standout in this passage was Lee Hyo-ju.

Her shadow arts, especially the top-tier Song of Light, sternly punished the audacity of Myryan that bared their bellies and dove from the air.

Simon, wearing upgraded gear, took the role of dealing decisive blows to earth-type Myryan. Arun assisted with transmutation magic. Their coordination grew flawless.

Hazel’s use of space became increasingly precise, and Mae Young-ryeong’s absurdly strong Healing grew even more overpowered.

Sometimes the numbers overwhelmed them so much that the members all retreated while one person ran wild alone.

At one point we had to fight nine Myryan: we were handling three when six more appeared.

If the new gear hadn’t been there, or if I had been late to jump in, or if Hazel’s severance had been a bit slower, Hugo might have been crippled and Inex might have had his left arm torn off and been rifled through a Myryan’s belly.

We faced a gigantic Myryan bearing both earth and wind attributes.

In the fight with that huge, tough Myryan, Hugo fainted from broken ribs and Inex was moved to the rear with both arms broken.

“Gravity.”

Kwoong―!

No representative approached the Myryan slammed to the ground by gravity magic.

Arun and Simon exhausted themselves trying to squeeze mana to drop the mid-boss.

Lee Hyo-ju also collapsed, clutching her head from a headache caused by excessive use of power.

Mae Young-ryeong had used up all the spells stored in her cards.

Naruan no longer had any force to give.

Only Hazel remained relatively intact.

So even if we dragged the Myryan to the ground, there was no one to finish it off.

I glanced around, clicked my tongue shortly, and stepped forward.

“Hazel, protect the party.”

“Understood.”

I approached the Myryan, half-buried and thrashing in the ground.

It’s true those beasts are resistant to physical attacks. However…

‘Breakthrough Enhanced Energy’

Even Myryan couldn’t withstand the destructive Breakthrough Enhanced energy among enhanced energies; it split in half like a rotten gourd and died.

From the party’s perspective after all their efforts, it was a hollow end.

As expected, surprised voices came from the rear.

“…Whoa.”

“Damn, it’s a real monster.”

“…But why is our captain’s divine power color black?”

“Because it’s lecherous? Ack!”

Ignoring the weak members’ chatter, I quickly stripped the hide, extracted the attribute core and the attribute stone lodged in its head, and, luckily, found enhancement stones by rifling its brain.

‘If I count the enhancement stones we’ve collected so far… is it nine?’

Six were strength enhancement stones, one was a dexterity enhancement stone, and two were stamina enhancement stones.

“Tsk.”

I set up a makeshift barrier there for the tired party and we rested briefly.

Sitting to one side with enhancement stones on my palm, pondering distribution, someone came and sat on either side of me.

“Huh? Why are there four people suddenly?”

Hazel and Lee Hyo-ju on either side, and beside them Naruan and Mae Young-ryeong sat down.

“Companion, are you worrying about how to handle those?”

“Ah? Yes, that’s right.”

“Why? Can’t you decide after it’s all over?”

“Well… seeing today, I don’t think that’s a good idea…”

The beauties tilted their heads at my limited explanation, pondering.

Someone might mistake this for me enjoying a pleasant time surrounded by four beauties.

“Is that so? Then why not let each person choose?”

“Choose…”

“And Companion, why don’t you eat those enhancement stones?”

“…Me?”

Because eating them doesn’t register for me.

Of course, a strength enhancement stone raises strength by at least 5, and eating two or more would raise the stat by 1, but it’s far more efficient to give them to others.

Naruan’s strength was still 99, Lee Hyo-ju and Arun hadn’t reached 100, and Hugo and Inex, despite being physical attackers, were only in the 80s for strength.

“Exactly. That’s what I’m talking about.”

“I’ve already crossed a small wall so even if I eat one it won’t show. It’s better to let you or those weaklings eat them for greater effect. Hazel, could you give up an enhancement stone?”

Hazel didn’t hesitate; she nodded and agreed, so I patted her head and stood up.

As soon as we reached the entrance, the party collapsed and slept.

Relatively, I alone—who hadn’t directly fought much—stayed up by the campfire, keeping it from dying and turning over thoughts all night.

‘One passage left. And then the King.’

I picked up a twig and scribbled on the ground, organizing my thoughts.

Strength enhancement stones: 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 8

Stamina enhancement stones: 4, 6

Dexterity enhancement stone: 5

I measured them back and forth like drawing tally marks of love, and before I knew it, dawn came.

Still half-tired and scowling as they got up, I handed out a cool drink mixing mid-level potions and tonic juice and relayed today’s plan.

“Today we rest. There’s one passage left. Some may have noticed, but this time there are four types. The numbers are at least double. So rest a day and fully recover your stamina and divine power. And…”

I gave Hugo and Inex two strength stones each, Lee Hyo-ju a strength and a dexterity stone, Naruan a strength stone, and Arun and Simon stamina stones.

“Eat.”

But the party hesitated to put the stones in their mouths, glancing at Mae Young-ryeong and Hazel who hadn’t received any.

“Eat quickly and adapt to the changed strength. Tomorrow will be really tough.”

After a day of rest and adaptation, we finally entered the last passage.

And not long after entering, the members met hell.

“Keurk!”

“Aaah!!”

“Damn! Hold on!! Grease lump! Mister!”

Screams of dying came from the front…

“Healing. Recover!”

“Song of Light. Song of Heaven’s Collapse.”

“Guyas Forceful Hand.”

“Ice Cutter! Sharpness & Enlarge!”

From the rear came shouts of spells being used nonstop.

Our stats rose and gear improved, but the situation was more serious than any time since entering the dungeon.

I took the Ager Skull Bow [Unique] from my inventory and not the drab gray arrows used on Biosis before, but arrows with a strange interlace of gold and silver and nocked one.

The moment I infused divine power into the bow and arrow, my vision changed, designing and measuring a virtual trajectory.

Numbers counted above the targeted Myryan’s head, and at zero I lightly released my right hand holding the string while my left arm held the bow firmly, maintaining posture.

Whooik―!

The arrow flew into the Myryan’s gaping maw, pierced through, exited the opposite rump, and faintly thudded into the wall.

“Return.”

With no scratch, the arrow returned to my right hand; I nocked it again, aimed, and fired.

Only after repeating that five times did the battlefield finally get under control.

Just one encounter—yet that single battle left the new members slumped to the ground.

Four-attribute Myryan. The first encounter was thirteen of them.

If it weren’t for the effect of ‘Hidden Song of the Moon’—’ the first hit on a target always deals an extra 50% damage’—we might have been overwhelmed at the start.

“How was it?”

“……”

“You know what I meant yesterday, right? It looked like some thought we could just muddle through, but that attitude can harm comrades. You won’t die anyway. So fight harder; don’t set your own limits. Don’t hold back—swing your sword one more time, cast one more spell.”

“……”

“As the saying goes, ‘Take one more step on the pole’s peak’. Ten-minute rest.”

The three newcomers looked disheartened, while the existing members clenched their fists in frustration.

“Hazel.”

“Companion.”

“Engage actively in attacks, including spatial analysis. I’ll handle the flying ones, so cut open the high-defense yellow ones’ bodies. Make it easier for the vanguard to finish them off.”

“Understood. By the way, Companion, aren’t you… overdoing it?”

Who was she worrying about overexerting? For Me? The party? Probably not me.

I shook my head resolutely as if reaffirming, called Mae Young-ryeong to give a few orders, and we began to move.

It became clear that thirteen had been a small number.

The sight of nearly twenty Myryan swarming tightly was beyond disgusting—it was chilling.

Faced with the rustling sight of four subtly glowing Myryan clustered together, the two men at the front unknowingly took a step back.

‘From now on, it’s a real annoyance of a beast.’

“Retreat for now. Quietly.”

Having backed away for a long while, the party was speechless.

Were they each pondering how to break the situation, or simply in despair?

The transcendent watched us with interest.

In the long silence came a rustle, and Hazel approached.

“Companion, how should I proceed?”

“The fastest way is for either Hazel or me to step in and sweep them away. But…”

“I don’t want that.”

Inex’s heavy voice cut in from one side.

A fierce gleam flowed from his eyes, and veins bulged on the back of the hand gripping his greatsword.

“Then Hugo leads; half a step behind Hugo to his sides are Naruan and Inex; behind them are Mae Young-ryeong and I; three paces behind me are Hazel and Lee Hyo-ju; behind them Arun and Simon. The three forming the front triangle only deal with whoever is directly ahead. I’ll handle what comes from above. Hazel will deal with those flanking. Those attacking from the rear, don’t look far; don’t try to take them all at once. Tackle them one by one—each of the three handles their assigned targets. It’s better if you decide who handles what. Mae Young-ryeong, focus solely on healing.”

Was it too generic? No one among the party readily answered that they understood.

“There’s no grand plan. One by one—if you fell the ones in front, eventually there’ll be nothing before you. In cramped spaces there’s a different tactic, but it’s the same idea. If you take them one at a time, you can handle a hundred, two hundred.”

“…Understood, Companion.”

Of course that’s not all. The plan was already set, and while moving I gave Arun and Simon simple orders.