#19
Swish-
The moment he noticed, something flew at him from behind. Ha-seong grabbed the pig’s scruff and leaped backward.
Squeak. The pig made a strange sound. After safely landing on the ground, he put the pig down. He must have really been out of practice with Hunter work. To not notice that there was a monster right behind him, one that emanated the aura of a boss.
“At least it saved me some trouble.”
Ha-seong quickly examined the large creature. So that wasn’t hard tree bark but the creature’s hide and scales.
What had just flown toward Ha-seong’s back was, he now realized, the creature’s tail. The creature seemed to start becoming aware of them too, slowly opening its eyes. A face that looked like a giant boulder, red pupils in vertically slit eyes. Whether you looked at it upside down or right side up, that was clearly the form of a crocodile. An incredibly large one at that.
Whether it had been sleeping, the crocodile blinked its eyes a few times, then slowly moved its large body. The surrounding grass was all swept away by its bulk.
[Oh, it’s huge……]
Perhaps because it was the same animal-type monster, the pig, overwhelmed by the creature’s size, hid behind Ha-seong’s leg and only peeked its head out. Ha-seong slowly observed the enemy’s movements. The opponent seemed to be doing the same, as the monster didn’t rashly attack but appeared to be exploring Ha-seong from various angles. Seeing how it was threateningly swishing its tail, there was no doubt it was conscious of them.
The monster’s main attacks and characteristics were still unknown territory, but judging from his long experience and its current posture, that tail was undoubtedly its main weapon. If so, cutting off that tail would make neutralization possible, but the problem was his intuition that it wouldn’t be easy. Even now, the enemy’s pupils were busily moving around.
It wouldn’t be too difficult for Ha-seong to block the monster’s vision and cut off its tail. The problem was that to do so, he’d have to fight using skills. The risk was too great. In the end, Ha-seong decided to use the method he’d thought of earlier with no other choice. A way for Ha-seong to neutralize the creature without using attack skills.
“Hey, pig.”
Ha-seong called to the pig while still not taking his eyes off the creature, but the pig seemed frightened and was clinging tightly to Ha-seong’s leg.
“Hey.”
Ha-seong eventually detached the pig from his leg and stepped back a bit further. Since the monster also seemed to still be observing their movements, it seemed like he could buy some time as long as he didn’t make any threatening attacks first.
[Yes?]
“If a pig and a crocodile fight, who wins?”
It was a joke that didn’t fit this situation. The pig tilted its head, wondering why this person was suddenly acting like this.
[Obviously the crocodile wins! Crocodiles are predators and pigs are just pigs……]
“What if it fights a wild boar?”
[That’s also obviously……!]
The pig, about to confidently shout “The wild boar would get eaten!” like answering a quiz, suddenly shut its mouth with a gasp. Ha-seong wasn’t someone who would crack useless jokes in a situation like this. Then that wasn’t a joke…… The dungeon boss that appeared before them was a crocodile, and he was……
A wild boar.
[I absolutely don’t want to.]
The pig shook its head vigorously while being held by Ha-seong.
“How do you know what I’m going to say to refuse already?”
[You’re going to tell me to fight! Absolutely not. I’m just a lowly low-grade monster!]
The pig screamed desperately. He was just now learning that its voice could be this loud. Ha-seong gently extended the hand gripping the pig’s scruff.
“Why do you say it won’t work without even trying? You can’t live life being so negative.”
The pig now started hiccupping and sniffling as if about to cry. It looked a bit pitiful, but there was no choice. The brilliant plan that had just occurred to him required this pig’s existence, and he couldn’t think of any other method.
“Pig, you have to pay for all the cabbage you’ve eaten at our house.”
As he said that, the pig screamed something more, but Ha-seong ignored it and lightly placed his hand on the pig’s body. And a few seconds later.
“Well then, good luck, pig.”
[Ah! Save the pig!]
Ha-seong threw the pig forward just like that, right toward the monster’s front.
[Sniff, Ha-seong-nim is a demon……]
The pig was sniffling when the monster started growling and making sounds. The pig swallowed its saliva and sent pitiful looks toward the monster. It was trying to say that it was just an insignificant low-grade monster, that it had been deceived by the evil Hunter who tamed it, and that it wouldn’t taste good even if eaten, but in the monster’s eyes, the pig just looked like an opponent that had come to fight it.
The crocodile opened its mouth wide and approached the pig with large steps.
[Ahhhhh……]
The pig stepped backward, but it was already too late to escape from the monster’s sight. Right. So this is how pig life ends. If I had known this would happen, I should have eaten my fill of more cabbage.
The pig squeezed its eyes shut, but it seemed like it should at least make one last struggle. Even if it was a low-grade monster, it was still a ‘Fire-breathing Wild Boar’! It should at least breathe fire before dying to have some dignity when facing its kin.
The pig steeled its resolve and opened its mouth wide, tensing its body. Even if it breathed fire, it would only be able to burn about one of the monster’s legs at most, with power that wouldn’t even register, but it seemed like it should do at least this much to have no regrets.
Boom-
But what was this? The flames that shot out from the pig’s mouth were unimaginably huge in size. Enough to engulf the crocodile’s entire body. The crocodile, perhaps surprised by the hot fire, made crying sounds and moved its body around.
The pig that had launched the attack was also wondering what this situation was. These flames came out of my mouth right now? That’s impossible. Among its kin, no, this was firepower that would be counted among even decent fire-type monsters. Could it have suddenly become stronger? Had its attacks been enhanced in this dramatic moment?
The pig wondered if it might be a coincidence and tried breathing fire once more. Sure enough, it was the same firepower.
[Wow!]
Is this really me? Such a strong pig? After that, the pig seemed excited by its strengthened appearance and kept breathing fire repeatedly.
‘The enhancement worked better than expected.’
And Ha-seong, who was hiding behind a tree watching this scene, nodded with satisfaction. Fortunately, things were proceeding according to Ha-seong’s plan.
When he threw the pig and placed his hand on the pig’s body, Ha-seong used an enhancement skill. This was normally a skill that temporarily raised the stats of items or weapons. Come to think of it, he had this skill, so why didn’t he remember it when facing the Sword Demon? He had just wasted energy for nothing.
Anyway, at first he wondered if this skill would work on monsters too. Of course, the pig could be considered Ha-seong’s tamed property, but Ha-seong wasn’t originally a taming master and his taming skill grade was low. Still, since this was the only method available right now, he had gambled on it, and fortunately it worked well. The enhancement skill working well was probably partly due to the ant-dropping-sized bond built up from living with the pig all this time.
‘Good. Let’s move while there’s an opening.’
While the pig was excitedly breathing fire, Ha-seong planned to cut the creature’s tail. Monsters, as a rule, have vulnerable weak points. Attacking those parts would definitely neutralize them. Ha-seong slowly headed toward the back while hiding here and there so the crocodile wouldn’t notice. Fortunately, perhaps because the pig’s flames blocked its vision, it seemed to have no time to pay attention to this side.
“Something suitable……”
Ha-seong moved diligently while earnestly looking around the ground. Ha-seong didn’t have any weapons on hand right now. So he needed to find something to attack the creature’s tail with.
‘That looks good.’
What caught Ha-seong’s eye then was a stone. Appropriate size and sharp shape. Ha-seong picked up the stone that looked like a half-moon stone knife without hesitation.
[Enhancement Skill (S) is activated. Please select the attribute to enhance for this object.]
Ha-seong put all the skill points into durability without hesitation. At the same time, he arrived behind the monster. Fortunately, the crocodile didn’t even notice Ha-seong’s presence.
“I wonder if Min-chan is doing well without crying.”
Ha-seong muttered like that and without hesitation raised the stone knife high above his head and struck down hard toward the tail. The crocodile, which had been focused only on the flames, received the attack that happened in an instant and let out a pained cry.
After thrashing around like that for a few minutes, the monster’s movements began to noticeably slow down. As expected, the tail was its weak point. Ha-seong wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked down at the crocodile that was slowly lying flat on the ground.
[Ha-seong-nim!]
Then the pig, which had been excitedly putting on a fire show in front, discovered Ha-seong and ran over.
[Did you see that just now? I got super strong!]
It’s all thanks to me, he was about to tell it that, but the pig seemed really excited and kept chattering away. It went on excitedly about incomprehensible things like how it was now the strongest among pigs, how it was a cool pig.
[But that crocodile is amazing too. I breathed so much fire at it but it didn’t even burn.]
Come to think of it…… Ha-seong slightly furrowed his brow and stared at the fallen crocodile. Ha-seong’s enhancement skill had worked on the pig better than expected. If it had taken that level of flames head-on, something should have burned, but there were no such traces on the creature before his eyes. It had collapsed because Ha-seong attacked its tail, not because of the pig’s fire attacks.
There are usually two reasons why attacks don’t work. One is that the opponent is ridiculously strong, or, they have the same attribute.
“Don’t tell me this guy……”
As Ha-seong muttered lowly, the fallen crocodile’s scales began turning red and started swelling up fat. As if it was about to explode.
[Uh……]
The pig also seemed to sense something wrong and stepped back slightly. As expected, he was right. This monster’s attribute was definitely ‘fire.’ That would explain why it didn’t take as much damage from the pig’s attacks as expected.
“Shit.”
Ha-seong cursed lowly at the situation that felt like being hit from behind. The creature would explode soon. It was probably its last struggle. Once that explosion ended, the dungeon would probably collapse too. So from now on, he just needed to run as far away from here as possible to get away from the explosion, but the problem was behind Ha-seong.
‘I want to go home quickly……’
The bus with Min-chan and the people was not far from here. Not only that, but other people might be collapsed around the area too.
Ha-seong had no choice but to prepare himself. Since the situation had come to this point, he had no choice but to use skills. Spread the shield as large as possible……
While Ha-seong was lost in thought, the monster’s body suddenly began swelling rapidly. It was faster than expected. Just as he was about to use his skill.
Bang-
A vast sound that could shake the entire jungle spread out.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
