Dungeon Defense- Magically Upgrade

by Elan Wang

  I could feel the heat from its body radiating onto my face.

  Then his nasty sharp claws rushed toward me as he swiped his monster hand.

  Swoosh!

  I just threw the girl I had been pulling along into an open door of a nearby shop.

  “Kyaaa!”

  Crash!

  The girl crashed into the building and I rebounded away from the force of my own push.

  Sqeaaak!

  That was the sound of the monster pulling its sharp claw from out of the ground I had been just moments before. Shit. How the hell am I supposed to run away from this…

  Bang!

  Just then, a vehicle right in front of me flipped over on top me. On reflex, I jumped and curled myself into a protective ball. What else could I do? I’m not a damn basketball player so I couldn’t really jump over the car now could I? The least I could do was get as low and small as possible so I could hopefully have a smaller mass to get hit by.

  Crash!

  Crrraaah!

  I thought I should roll out of the way but the impact of the car crashing down was so strong that when I came to, I had already involuntarily rolled away.

  Euk. Damn. I probably broke something somewhere. I just know it.

  Creeaaak!

  Crash!

  Then another car came toward me and hit me before hitting a wall. Imagine my annoyance when I saw that the driver had his stupid eyes closed the moment he plowed into me. I don’t know what he was doing while he was driving, but it seemed he probably didn’t even see the monster chasing after me.

  “Euuk..”

  I got to my feet painfully. I turned to look back on the car that hit me but the driver had his head atop the steering wheel and remained motionless. He probably died. And if he didn’t, the monster would likely kill him.

  I watched as the monster headed towards the broken car and felt all sorts of selfish giddiness overwhelming my insides. Should I run. If I run right now I could probably live.

  “Shit!”

  Instead of away, I ran towards the car. If I just left this situation and the driver was alive, he would be doomed for sure. I couldn’t do that in good conscience. I had to get that monster’s attention no matter what.

  But how?

  Can I even kill that thing?

  Creaaak!

  Squeaaak!

  A bunch of cars began crashing into one another nearby. It became a chain collision.

  Crash! Honk! Crash!

  Then the last car in that chain spun in a circle several times before hitting the monster.

  CRASH!

  The monster was thrown upon impact with a loud noise. No matter how strong a monster is, a car must weigh a minimum of 1 ton. Of course if something like that slams into you, it would throw you.

  “What…”

  Stomp! Stomp!

  I stared on as one car after another began to pile upon the monster.

  Slam! Crash!

  Screeech!

  When I shook my head and looked carefully, I saw that the monster was collapsed on the ground with black blood flowing from his mouth. A truck with a bunch of crap on its truckbed was resting atop the monster with its front wheel still spinning. I could see that the driver of the truck was still in shock.

  Screech!

  I could now see the monster trying futilely to get out from under the vehicle, but he was not in good enough shape to do so. The resilience and recovery ability of a monster is not to be laughed at, however. Without more attacks, especially attacks to his vitals, there was no doubt that he would recover very soon.

  I hurriedly looked around me. Whether it was luck that the cars had slammed into it or kindness from the drivers, it didn’t matter now. What I needed now was something that I could use to kill it.

  I needed a hunter. It didn’t matter if he was armed with a sword or a gun, I just needed someone who could kill this thing.

  “Shiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!!”

  There was none. Everyone had run away. Amazing. That was fast. And no one who can rid of this monster in sight. After running through all options, I came to just one conclusion. I had to do it.

  I tried to think of just how I could do that. I was just a porter. I was able to witness a lot of monster killings. Though they are ridiculously hard to kill, it was definitely possible. If you cut their throat or brain, they would die.

  I couldn’t possibly try to cut that thing’s throat at my skill level. The only thing I could do was try make some kind of damage to its brain. And I knew just how to do it.

  There were many many different kinds of monsters. Though their heart can be anywhere on the body depending on the variation, the brain is always in the same place. I guess this is true for all living things. Probably because the eyes are needed to identify dangers quickly, and the brain needs to be close to the eyes to communicate these signals quickly enough to do something about it. Now the bigger the monster, the closer the brain needs to be to the eyes to lessen the signal distance.

  Huff. Huff.

  My breathing was ragged. I kicked off a sharp piece of window from a broken car door. Would this work?

  I’m a porter that doesn’t even have 1 skillbook. Though I probably have more experience than most, I just don’t have the skills to kill a monster. But there was no time to waste.

  “Ahhhh!”

  I ran towards the monster that was now squirming enough to almost be able to come out from under the truck that was pinning it.

  Then I stabbed at its neck with the broken shard.

  Thunk!

  The first stab bounced off. As soon as the sharp glass hit its cheek, it just bounced right off without doing any damage at all.

  Gnash!

  The monster had outstretched its neck and came towards me with its sharp teeth. It caught me by surprise and I came down with the sharp shard one more time.

  Stab!

  Though it was by reflect, this time was a success. My stab had landed the sucker right in the eye.

  ***

  Sirens

  I could hear sirens in the background. I stepped just a bit away from the monster’s slain body and just collapsed to the ground right then and there.

  The thing had finally stopped squirming. I think it’s finally dead. I couldn’t really believe it. To think that I had killed it with my own hands.

  I balled my hands into two tight fists.

  I killed it.

  “What? Did this bastard die already?”

  Right then, someone spoke as if truly annoyed. He had a sturdy build dressed in a black armor with a like colored sword. You could tell he was a hunter with just one look.

  “It could very well still be alive. Go cut it’s throat out to be safe.”

  The girl standing next to him responded. She was dressed in a tight red armor accented with leather, and she was beautiful. The girl I had just rescued was nothing compared to this one.

  “Shit. How boring.”

  The guy mumbled as he headed towards the dead monster wielding his sword. With a small “swish” sound, he had easily cut off the monster’s head. Judging from how the blood merely leaked instead of squirt out, I could tell it was already dead.

  “It is dead,”

  “Damn. How dare he die from just being hit by a truck. I guess it was bad luck for him.”

  As he kicked at the rolling head while walking away, his eyes fell on me for the first time and said.

  “Civilian? Don’t worry. I killed the monster so there is no more danger here.”

  “If you were honest, you didn’t really kill it though.”

  The girl laughed.

  “What does it matter. I cut off its head so it’s the same thing as me killing it.”

  If a monster dies, its body leaves nothing but its essence. It usually takes about 10 minutes, but no one knows what this essence would be. The higher the level, usually, they would drop more useful items and better ores. If you gather up the ores and refine them, you could end up either w
ith something plentiful or something really rare. The most common ore would be the Monazite. You could get about 1,000 dollars for about 10kg of this.

  Very rarely, a monster will drop a weapon, armor, or skillbook. If they drop something like this, you could exchange it for lord know how much.

  Obviously the people who get to keep these dropped items are the ones who kill the monster. It seemed that the couple had purposely cut off the monster’s head just so they could lay claim to the dropped items.

  But I’m not an idiot who will let someone take what belongs to me right in front of me.

  “’I’m sorry but I’m the one who killed it.”

  “What?”

  The guy stared at me as if he couldn’t believe what I was saying. It was obvious to anyone that I was not a hunter with just one look at me. I didn’t have any weapon on me and didn’t even look like I’d be any good in a fight. Of course I did do my daily squats. But that doesn’t really help in killing a monster now does it.

  “Then this glass…you did it?”

  The girl in the leather pulled out the glass from the monster’s eye. I nodded my head. I could see a sort of curiosity spark in the girl’s expression. Then she asked me a question that didn’t really seem like a question but more like a demand…

  “How could someone like you who isn’t even a hunter slay this huge monster?”

  “Can’t you tell just from looking? He was pretty much already down from being hit by a slew of cars. All he did was stab it in the eye.”

  The guy said with annoyance.

  If I were honest with myself, his answer was spot on so I couldn’t really say anything. I just nodded again quietly. As soon as I nodded, the curiosity in her face disappeared instantly. I felt a tinge of regret. I thought about maybe concocting a lie in a split second before thinking better of it.

  “What can you expect from a civilian?”

  “No. I just thought maybe. Nevermind.”

  The girl made a small laugh. To think that they would say all this right in front of me. Rude as hell. Rude rude rude.

  Unfortunately, I could tell that even with all their rudeness they had the skill to back it up. Sword, armor, it was all expensive stuff. Nothing cheap. At the very least, it was level 5 quality.

  But I didn’t sit there looking at them in awe. If they had level 5 gear in their mid twenties, there were only to ways they could have acquired it. Either they had a lot of money, or their parents had a lot of money. That’s it. Good for you.

  They were probably the son and daughter of a rich family. A great new world this is. Where if you just have money, you can acquire the skillbook and items you need to become strong without any effort at all. Did you know there is also a beauty skillbook? But something like that is super rare and sought after so it probably costs a couple million dollars.

  Then if you just buy a bunch of skillbooks, you could become super duper ultra powerful right? Luckily this isn’t the case. There is a catch. A person can only use and have one skillbook at a time. If someone gets a new skillbook, the abilities of the first skillbook disappear. If you had a beauty skillbook, then you just return back to your normal self and if you had an attack-related skillbook, then that skill would disappear instantly to be replaced by your new skill.

  Then can a person only have the ability to retain one skillbook at a time? No. You guessed it. A skillbook appeared that can expand a person’s ability to retain more than one skillbook. This skillbook pretty much never appears as a drop item. They can be found, however, at the hunter’s market – the On/Off line. It probably sells for about a billion dollars at least.

  Surprised? It’s true.

  Other things at the On/Offline go on sale at one point or another, but this particular skillbook is famous for never going on sale. That’s how expensive, important, and rare it is. This is something that someone like me could never even hope to lay my eyes on. If I had that kind of money in the first place, why the hell would I bother being a hunter?

  A billion dollars. If I had that much money, there was something I want to do.

  I would buy a yogurt cup and just lick the yogurt off the top and throw it away.

  My dream.

  “So what you’re saying is that whatever this thing drops is yours? For a civilian, you’re not stupid.”

  The boy said this in a tired voice as if it was really a waste of his time. It seemed he didn’t want to turn around and leave empty handed after coming out all this way. But this was a rule that all hunters abided by.

  For someone who had level 5 quality equipment, I was sure they could go without a dropped item or two and be just fine. In any case, all that would drop from this monster would be a monazite or a bastnazite. Though it differs by weight, if you sold it, it’ll probably amount to 1,000 dollars if anything.

  Of course this looked to be about a level 4 monster so there was a possibility of a more expensive item. But it would be 10,000 dollars at the most. There was zero chance these guys would ignore the hunter rule for something that cost so little to them.

  “I’m a porter. That’s why I know that much.”

  “Hm….is that right? But there isn’t any witness who can say that you killed it now is there?”

  “If you don’t believe me go and watch the CCTV? You can probably see it in the car’s blackbox too,”

  “Ah, is that so?”

  The boy responded as if it were a pity and turned back around. The monster was starting to disappear.

  “Let’s go. The cops will be here soon. There’s no point in us being investigated for dallying around.”

  The girl in the red said. I could see her regular clothes under the leather armor, which meant this was a summon type armor. From what I heard, summon type armor is known to be at least over 100 million at the cheapest. Christ almighty. It makes you wonder what kind of people their parents are to just easily buy these things for their kids as if it were nothing.

  “Wait. We came all this way. We should at least see what drops before we go.”

  “So you can steal it if it’s something expensive?”

  The girl’s lip curled up a bit in derision. She obviously said it to get a rise out of him but the boy pretended he didn’t care.

  “Even if it is me, I wouldn’t do something as low as that. I’m just curious is all. Wondering what exactly would drop for Mr. Civilian Porter.”

  “Do what you want.”

  Listening to the two hunter’s conversation, I felt a bit uncomfortable and stared off at the dead body of the monster. Even though the guy said that, it still didn’t put my heart at ease. If possible, I was even hoping that something cheap would fall out.

  “Look here. Civilian. This is probably fate too so we should at least exchange names. I’m Storm Storm’s Ahn Kyubum. That girl over there is Setting Moon Sword’s Kim Sowul.”

  The word Civilian in and of itself was a neutral wors but every time he said it, it sounded like it could very well be a curse word.

  “Jeon Sangmin. Level 2 Porter.”

  “Oh? Really? That means you have some skill. If you’re a level 2 porter at that age, that means you must be pretty good right?”

  Even if I was really good, I was no Level 5 Hunter.

  “Ah ah. Don’t look at me like that. Seriously. We both know that a hunter and a porter live in two completely different worlds. Ah. Who knows. Maybe if you work hard for 10 years then you just might be able to go into a dungeon with me. You know, people at high levels don’t really use porters but I’m different. Because if there isn’t someone following behind me to pick up all my things, it gets pretty annoying you see?”

  “Thank you for thinking of me but I have no thoughts on ever entering a Level 5 dungeon. I only have one life.”

  “Did I say I was Level 5?”

  “I made an educated guess. Expensive gear on top of not being afraid in approaching a Level 4 monster – I assumed you would be Level 5 at the least.”

  “Good eye. But I coul
d also be higher than a Level 6 then, no?”

  “If you were at that level, you would never have come around all the way here for this.”

  “I guess you’re right. You’re pretty smart.”

  “Something anyone can do honestly.”

  My guess was right. Well, it’s not really something to celebrate. And having to listen to all this crap from a guy who’s probably a couple years younger than me…sheesh.

  Truth be told, there is never really a porter who would go into a dungeon higher than a level 4. Without any skill, you couldn’t hope to come out alive after going up against a level 4 monster. There is no way a hunter would give a damn about a porter’s life so your best bet was to just never put yourself in that situation in the first place. And on top of that, any use a porter can bring to a hunter is null and void at that level.

  This is because there is almost no one who enters a level 4 and up dungeon for leisure. I mean, who in their right mind would willingly go into a dungeon for fun where you could easily die from one false move. Now that I think about it, anyone who enters a level 4 dungeon is either a skilled hunter who goes there to gain a super rare item or to periodically clear a dungeon to keep it from getting congested.

  Seeing that it was so dangerous, porters were barred from entering any dungeons that were level 4 and higher. But laws are there for people who will abide by them. Those who don’t listen won’t. Every so often you will hear of a porter dying inside a high level dungeon…which makes you wonder who really enforces that law.

  “Well, if that’s the case then…”

  Ahn Kyubum just shook his shoulders and turned to look at the disappearing monster’s body once more. I shook the dirt off my butt and got up.

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “Instead of just sitting here, I should probably go and rescue those people instead.”

  I pointed to the people still passed out in the cars. The cars involved in the collision were about 7. From there only 4 people were ok and had left their vehicles while the driver of the car that had first hit me and 3 more people were still in their broken cars.