hotmtlnovel Chapter 115
Chapter 115
1.
Kim Chang-sik was confident.
“The monsters that spawn in this dungeon are snakes. They're highly venomous and slither around silently, very dangerous. If it were me, I’d be especially wary of the ceiling.”
Dungeon boss, Medusa.
The numerous snakes she controls,
spilling out from every corner of the dungeon,
forming a horrific snake pit.
That was the theme of the Myeongho-dong Gate's core dungeon.
Despite knowing all this, the reason they hadn’t fully raided the dungeon yet was simple.
‘Why would anyone destroy a gate in our territory?’
If they closed the dungeon, the gate would close as well,
and if the gate closed, they wouldn’t make any money.
The guild’s primary income source was the gates.
How much mana stone they could extract from their owned gates directly affected the guild's financial situation.
Even the gates that were closed would eventually reappear nearby,
and if it was in another guild’s jurisdiction in a neighboring district,
it would be like throwing away all their efforts.
“They’ve eaten quite a bit, it seems.”
“They must’ve spun the wheel hundreds of times, judging by their knowledge of where to find them.”
“It’s nice that it’s easy, though.”
The Asan Guild’s raiders took it lightly.
The more familiar they were with the dungeon, the less they cared about the immoral reputation they earned for delaying the raid. They didn’t care about that stigma.
“As expected, the snakes are all huddled together.”
“Can we make snake wine from the mana stones here?”
“This is perfect. It seems even better than our gate.”
The raiders moved forward confidently through the dungeon.
Then, they discovered something that startled them.
“Armor!”
“Is this loot?”
“Move aside. I found it first!”
A high-quality, finely crafted cloth armor, seemingly made by a master artisan, lay there.
The appearance of a finished piece of loot in the dungeon, a rare find, caused the raiders to start fighting each other over it.
“Idiots. Just stand there and watch.”
“Ugh!”
“Damn you...”
As they were paralyzed, the raider, Lee Jin-goo, mocked his teammates and grabbed the armor.
He grimaced and opened his palm.
“What’s this sticky feeling? It’s like a spider’s web.”
He didn’t like the armor.
He thought about abandoning it, but as he turned, he saw his paralyzed teammates desperately trying to say something with their eyes wide open, and he couldn’t help but chuckle.
“What are you all so surprised about? It’s not like it’s your first time. It’ll wear off in a minute.”
His teammates weren’t surprised by his ability,
they were shocked by the armor suddenly springing to life and attacking Lee Jin-goo.
Crack!
“Ahhh!”
The armor overwhelmed Lee Jin-goo,
the sticky cloth armor binding him as if it were alive,
forcing him into the "Living Armor."
The armor, controlling his body, moved as though it was alive,
and Lee Jin-goo, still paralyzed, placed his hand on one of his teammate’s heads.
Crunch.
Crack!
Without a second thought, Hae Eung-eung grabbed the snake.
It was an insane act, considering how aggressive dungeon snakes were, but there was no hesitation.
The snake immediately flicked its tongue and bared its fangs, but...
“Hisss?”
[Blessing]
[Animal Friends]: Increases the chance to befriend all animal-type creatures.
The snake hesitated when confronted with the 100-level charm and the synergy of the Animal Friends skill, significantly lowering its aggression.
“Hisss (If you offer the delicious-looking women behind you as sacrifices, I’ll be your friend.)”
The dungeon snake seemed to show a friendly gesture.
Hae Eung-eung didn’t recognize the gesture.
She wasn’t a druid or a snake charmer.
Without hesitation, she threw the snake toward the armor.
The armor immediately opened wide and swallowed it.
The dungeon snake, which had shown affection to the human, was tragically consumed by the Living Armor.
“Ugh! Living Armor!”
“It’s a monster disguised as a rare item!”
Once again, Hae Eung-eung’s extraordinary sensory ability detected the danger in advance.
Even when faced with women, children, or the elderly, her carefulness as a martial artist was undeniable—
no matter how convincing the armor looked, it couldn’t escape her senses.
‘In the martial world, concealing one’s energy was fundamental.’
Just as an ordinary person would hide their energy and approach recklessly,
the targets would be swiftly ambushed.
The mercenaries from the Shao Wang Sect, known for their deadly precision,
would hide their will and inner energy so well that they were nearly impossible to detect.
Their ability to blend in was one of the reasons why the Shao Wang Sect assassins were so dangerous.
‘The Shao Wang was capable of even concealing life signs, a terrifying assassin himself.’
When she was forced to flee the martial world,
her head was worth a fortune, and the world’s assassins pursued her relentlessly.
Some, like the Shao Wang Sect, took part in the hunt directly after the news of the Poison King’s death.
She was startled when a body that seemed confirmed dead rose again right after the corpse was turned away.
But compared to that, she knew how inadequate the Living Armor was as an assassin.
‘Also, this energy... there’s a thin thread connecting somewhere.’
At the end of the thin thread of energy,
there would be the creator of the Living Armor.
The creator was, of course, stronger than their creations.
[Shall we do some training before moving on?]
As Hae Eung-eung extended her notebook,
Nina focused more intensely than ever before,
executing her ability enhancement and amplification with a single strike that pierced the Living Armor’s mana stone.
Nana-se, finding more Living Armor in a different passage, destroyed the wall with one hand, blocking the path.
The two of them smiled brightly and asked as the Living Armor’s remains lay in pieces.
“What training?”
“The enemies aren’t visible.”
Before they could be trained, they ended the situation first.
The results of the training were far from what Hae Eung-eung had intended.
She realized that Nina and Nana-se were avoiding the training.
‘If they find regular mobs boring, they’ll probably go straight for the boss.’
Nina and Nana-se, unaware that Hae Eung-eung was leading them directly to the boss, celebrated their escape from the immediate danger.
“Yay!”
“It’s exciting♪”
They high-fived in front of the cameraman, pleased with themselves.