Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 57
Chapter 57: Episode 16. Breeding Species (1)
Korea, Japan, and the rest of the world were surprised.
No monster had escaped a dungeon and moved to another dungeon before in the past. The damage that the move had resulted in was tremendous. In addition, the monster army, which included Lyches, was very powerful.
That wasn’t all.
There was an undefeatable figure in the army, a stunningly beautiful, long-eared woman who called herself the owner of the dungeon!
Her appearance changed many things.
Many expected that someone must have been living on the top floor of the dungeon. They made wild guesses on whom that would be and suspected that it could be a god, a king of the underworld, or even an alien. Some even said that if one reached the top floor, he or she would transcend beyond limits and reach the “truth.” It was no surprise that so many people were interested in the top floor of the dungeon.
However, no one had expected that whatever that was on the top floor would reveal herself.
Everyone focused on the message that the owner of the dungeon left behind.
The owner had said, “Get to the top floor, and I will show you the truth of the world.”
The world’s greatest scholars studied and analyzed what the truth could be. However, their analyses were nothing but vague words.
Two days later, an even more startling spectacle took place between Korea and Japan.
There was a strong wave of Mana and the appearance of a Wall of Light. Many people in Korea and Japan were shocked.
They said things like, “It’s a sign of the end of the world,” or “Be ready for his coming!”
Some even believed that the end had finally come.
Even those who weren’t used to magic could feel the strong waves of Mana and held their chests tight. The awakened heroes, who were very familiar with Mana, couldn’t fall asleep for three days and nights straight because of the strong impacts from the waves.
Everyone wondered what had happened in the two dungeons, but they didn’t have the power to find out the cause.
Then a group of people began to worship the owner of the dungeon as a “god.” People tended to be fearful and obedient when it came to unknowns, so it was foreseeable that some would turn into zealots.
In the meantime, Japan held Korea accountable for the mess.
It was such nonsense, but Japan blamed Korea for the monsters that came out from the dungeon in Korea and reached Japan.
Japan wanted Korea to pay for the tremendous damages. However, Korea was already too busy recovering the damages that it had from the monsters, so it ignored Japan’s requests.
Japan decided to redirect the public’s anxiety towards hatred for Korea. They used propaganda to portray Korea as the bad guy, and the relationship between the two countries couldn’t do anything but deteriorate.
The pain went away after a few months, but the public was still very dejected. Thousands of people had died overnight, crimes broke out, and the domestic production rate dropped dramatically.
It was now time for a new breakthrough to shake things up.
The leadership in Korea chose the awakened heroes for that job.
“A herd of Orcs 500 feet to the left!”
“Guarders, move forward! Close-distance dealers make arcs! Long-range dealers get ready for skills!”
“Don’t trust healers too much! Put your safety first! But don’t let the ranks fall apart!”
They were on the fourth floor of the Korean dungeon.
About a hundred awakened heroes were fighting a herd of Orcs with their weapons.
The heroes would have attacked places other than the fourth floor first, but they didn’t have any other choice to shake things up quickly in Korea under the rapid growth of awakened heroes.
Upon seeing the overwhelming monster corps, the awakened heroes felt both extreme fear and a tickling sensation at the same time.
A warrior had to grow.
The awakened heroes had hopes that one day, they would overpower those monsters and even the master of the dungeon.
As a result, the five well-known guilds created raid units. The total number was exactly 120! Each guild sent 24 guild members. On the way to the fourth floor, the units had lost about 20 members. However, they were now at the end of the fourth floor.
Despite this, there were too many Orcs on the fourth floor. All of the monsters that they could find were Orcs.
The awakened heroes had grown, too. The finest heroes could fight Orcs in one-on-one combat.
The awakened heroes on the fourth floor, which numbered about one hundred, were the best of all.
A small number of Orcs wasn’t a problem for them.
However, Orcs moved in herds that ranged from about twenty to even a hundred. Such a large number of Orcs were hard to defeat, even for the awakened heroes. They couldn’t find out where such a large number of Orcs were coming from and became frustrated.
“There’s a way to the fifth floor! If we defeat these Orcs, we will reach a realm that no one has ever been to before!”
“Forward!”
Fighting Orcs, the awakened heroes could watch their statistics improve dramatically. They were improving very quickly on lower floors, even before they reached the fifth. Based on the experiences and statistics, they would be able to even grow faster once they reached the fifth floor.
Screech!
About 80 Orcs appeared.
The awakened heroes were determined to defeat the Orcs that had just appeared first.
“My sister, I don’t feel good.”
“Everything is all right. You’ve made it this far.”
“The unit leader should have been here with us. Where the hell did he go?”
They were on their way to the fifth floor, climbing the stairs.
When Yoo Eunhye grumbled, Lee Jihye nodded slightly as if she agreed.
Not only the two ladies but also the rest of Devil Hunters were part of this conquest.
“My sister, I have a quick question about our unit leader. After he stopped the second monster wave… Where did he go?”
On the very day when the master of the dungeon acknowledged the unit leader of the Devil Hunter attack unit as the ‘strongest awakened hero,’ the unit leader disappeared as though he had evaporated.
His sudden disappearance created a lot of confusion, but he hadn’t been seen since then.
Lee Jihye shrugged her shoulders. “Well, he’s like Hong Gildong. He’ll show up suddenly one day.”
“Even so, he threw us away. I’m very frustrated.”
When the monster wave came, the unit leader hadn’t allowed Yoo Eunhye and Lee Jihye to join the attack unit. They were angry with his decision, but they couldn’t disobey. They stayed put, though frustrated.
“I guess he didn’t allow us because we weren’t good enough?”
“Haha! Only a handful of people in the guild are better than me now!” Yoo Eunhye had improved dramatically since joining the camp.
She had gone through changes in her skills, and she had focused on training.
“Yeah, you have a big head.” Lee Jihye grinned.
All of the awakened heroes entered the fifth floor without much trouble.
Yoo Eunhye shook her head. “The fifth floor isn’t much different from the other floors.”
“The dungeon will look more or less the same. It will look like a cave until the very top floor.”
One of the attack unit leaders of the Mithril Guild raised his hand. “It’s very muddy out there. Please be careful when you’re moving…”
Bang!
Something happened at that moment.
What seemed to be piles of mud started to merge together.
Soon, the chunks of mud transformed into Mud Golems.
Everyone was lost at the sight of such a transformation and remained silent throughout the process.
Boom!
Bang!
More Mud Golems started to appear here and there.
A Puppet suddenly appeared in front of the Golems. The awakened heroes then came back to their senses.
“Get ready for battle! Stay in formation!”
Eventually, the hundred awakened heroes had no choice but to retreat.
Despite the small number, the monsters were much stronger than the Orcs. The awakened heroes might have broken through had they only fought the Mud Golems and Puppets. However, Harpies who appeared from the air seriously damaged them.
The awakened heroes thought if they progressed further, they wouldn’t make it back out.
They decided to fall back.
When the awakened heroes finally escaped the dungeon, only half of them remained.
However, the magical armor and items they found on the fourth floor were definitely better than those found on the third floor. The fifth floor became known as “The Place of Despair,” but the heroes still had hope.
At least they learned what types of monsters were on the fifth floor. The awakened heroes believed that they would be able to break through if they were a little bit stronger and prepared a better strategy.
The deaths of their colleagues motivated the awakened heroes, and they looked very determined.
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Shah! Shah!
I quietly grabbed a Naga youngling by its throat.
A Naga had the upper body of a human and the lower body of a snake. It was very poisonous, so grabbing it by its throat was very dangerous.
However, that didn’t apply to me.
Shah—!
A young Naga, barely three months old, twisted its body around. The young Naga tried to attack me with its tongue.
Next to him were several other younglings, all of them growing up at about the same speed.
“I don’t see anything strange yet.”
I swept my hand over my chin.
I had bred several different monsters that were suitable for the dungeon in Korea. However, nothing had worked out up to that point. These Naga younglings had cost 7,500 points each, but they were just like any other monster.
For some species, most younglings died before they become adults. A good example was Pyroks. Younglings of such species were cheaper than adults. However, Naga younglings cost the same number of points as adults.
I bought ten Naga younglings only because I wanted to see how the Mana would affect them while growing up. In addition, I bought twenty adult Nagas… My only hopes were those that would breed soon.
I let go of the Naga youngling that I had grabbed by the throat and proceeded to the next floor.
The Nagas were on the twelfth floor, while werewolves were breeding on the thirteenth floor.
They were giant wolves whose bodies were as long as seven feet, covered with purplish hair.
The wolves could walk on two feet, and their hair grew straight out, just like a lion’s mane. Werewolves were intermediate monsters at the same Level 3 as Nagas and Dark Elves. However, they were more aggressive than the other two.
“Yelp!”
As soon as I showed up, the Werewolves who were wandering around suddenly lowered their ears. I went to the nest of Werewolves and lifted up a recently born cub.
Female Werewolves were very protective. However, they couldn’t help but watch me cuddle the cub with heavy hearts.
“Well… I don’t know yet.”
In the nest were three Werewolf cubs.
None of them looked like mutants. They were normal Werewolves, and they were growing at a similar pace as any other Werewolves. It was a shame that none of the cubs were outstanding.
I shook my head and moved to the next place.
I arrived on the fourteenth floor.
Lizard Men and Trolls lived on this floor.
The two species didn’t get along with each other, meaning they often fought with each other.
Despite the fuss, I put them on the same floor in the hopes that the frequent fights would somehow result in stronger mutants.
The two species had not started mating, and they were very few in numbers. I didn’t have an infinite amount of points, and I could put thirty of them in at most at a time.
‘If there are competitors, monsters reproduce 1.5 times faster. However, the problem is that the death rate also increases along with the reproduction rate.’
I also couldn’t spot any extraordinary mutants on this floor.
Perhaps I was expecting too much in such a short period of time? I had checked all of the breeding sites every day, but I couldn’t find any species that matched the Mana frequency of the dungeon.
Perhaps none of the species that I had, which included Nagas, Werewolves, Lizard Men, and Trolls, matched the frequency of Mana.
I clicked my tongue and then proceeded to the fifteenth floor, where Dark Elves dwelled.
Dark Elves had planted the Tree of World, which turned the fifteenth floor into a vast forest in just a few days.
I went a little deeper and opened up my Mana.
“Dark Elves, come meet the Dungeon Master!” Soon, Julium, the chief of Dark Elves, ran out and saluted me.
Behind him were several other Dark Elves.
“Where did the rest go?” I could only see very few Dark Elves.
I asked Juliam, wondering, and he answered, “Other Dark Elves are moving woods, which will be used to build hoses for Dwarves on the seventh floor. The rest are working hard on planting the Tree of World.”
“Planting the Tree of World will not be easy. The seeds can create forests, but most of them often die without bearing the Tree of World.”
Only one monster had been able to plant the Tree of World in my previous life. That monster was Archduke Oculus.
The Tree of World alone had made his dungeon impenetrable.
The tree-made monsters grew and reproduced much faster. It also created the Spirit of Earth, which guarded the Tree of World.
Above all, the Tree of World dramatically increased the chances of mutations for monsters, especially anomalies. The tree would transform a dungeon into the perfect fortress.
Oculus kept the knowledge of how to grow the Tree of World to himself. He didn’t even tell his subordinate Dukes his knowhow. Many tried to grow the Tree of World afterward, but none of them succeeded.
That meant that I didn’t know how to grow the Tree of World, either.
‘If I am lucky enough, the tree will grow.’
The higher the expectations were, the deeper the disappointment became. I gave up on growing the Tree of World from the beginning.
“I will try my best to grow the Tree of World,” said Julian in a very serious tone.
Dark Elves were elves, after all.
If they could grow the Tree of World, they would be extremely proud of it.
There were only two Trees of World in the entire Devildom. Only the most powerful Dark Elves were allowed to live near the trees, and these Dark Elves in front of me were those who were prohibited.
Such a condition made Krithli even more valuable to the Dark Elves.
Anyways, if the Dark Elves succeeded in growing the Tree of World, they would directly benefit from the tree.
I could understand the reason that they were so drawn to growing to the tree.