Thumbs Up, Level Up Chapter 201

“Human?”

“Food.”

“Hunter?”

“Teeth!”

The boss monster looked like a giant, curled centipede or a snake from a distance.

Since it was curled up, the exact length and thickness of its body could not be determined. However, one thing was certain. This thing merely looked like a centipede from a distance. There was no way that it was an actual centipede or anything like that.

It was a horrifying being woven together from countless others. A variety of limbs were attached to its body, including both human arms and legs and limbs belonging to other random mammals, amphibians, and insects.

It was hideous.

It almost looked as if someone had stitched up all kinds of living things into a single centipede-like being. It had eight human faces in random places on the head, and they all spoke different words.

[You have been critically impacted by seeing something indescribably disgusting.]

[You have been struck by a negative mental influence!]

When you’re just trying to make great content at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

[You blocked it with your mental resistance skills.]

With the help of the blessings from Seong Kwang and the power of the shield he had brought out, the mental attack was nullified. However, even just looking at it was extremely unpleasant and made Ji-Cheok want to close his eyes or look away. This held true for his companions as well.

‘Wow…. What the… How the…’

But for some reason, there was a person who was not affected by this at all.

“Woooow~ Look at that cheap Chimera! Alright then, I’ll attack first!”

Snap!

Reable snapped his fingers to order his Abominations to attack. His Undead rushed mercilessly toward the [Fused Mutant] boss monster.

In response, the creature stretched its body. It was approximately fifteen meters long and two meters thick.

“Hungry. Food.”

“Corpse? Gone bad?”

“Cook it. Burn it.”

The multiple mouths on its head poured out many skills at the same time.

“Wrath of the Flame King.” “Summon Sunlight.” “World of Flames” “Spirit of Fire.” “Flame Explosion.” “Flame Shield.” “Burning Hand.” “Heatwave Hammer.”

As expected, it was crazy for multiple skills to come at them at once. In addition, this boss monster had intelligence, unlike the other mutants in the cave. It actually used eight fire-type skills! Divine power and fire-type skills were effective against the Undead, so it was an appropriate choice for the enemy.

Fortunately, the Abominations had received the [Silph’s Blessing] from Ji-Cheok, as well as [Fortitude] and [Hardening] Words from Mu-Cheok. The [Silph’s Blessing] was a basic skill and it was not very strong, but [Fortitude] and [Hardening] were truly powerful!

Boom!

Fire-type sills rained down on more than twenty Abominations, but the Undead succeeded in blocking the attacks with only minor burns.

“Gaahh!”

The Abominations grabbed the enemy and bit it. Even the boss monster couldn’t move as twenty-one giant Abominations clung to it.

‘That’s incredible!’

“Hunter Um Ji-Cheok.”

“Got it!”

Ji-Cheok pulled out his swords and poured his Qi into them. The Qi was gradually compressed and turned into a brilliant light. It was the Augmented Qi! And since it was circulating through his swords, it naturally became Augmented Sword Qi.

Sensing Ji-Cheok’s power, the boss monster looked at him.

“Threat. Danger.”

“Attack. That. Danger.”

“Fear. No. That.”

“Look at meee!!!” Ji-Byeok shouted as she ran toward the enemy.

The eight faces of the boss monster looked at Ji-Byeok. At the same time, a light flashed near its head. It was trying to use its skills!

In that instant, Ha-Na and Mu-Cheok, who had received buffs from Seong Kwang, fired all they had at the boss.

“Starlight Arrow!”

“Mana Bullet Rapid Fire!”

The terrifying attacks hit the enemy right on the head. However, although the boss monster was spilling its bodily fluids everywhere, its bones and flesh did not break or fall off. This was a high-level dungeon indeed.

Ha-Na and Mu-Cheok’s skill came to an end and its gaze turned to them.

Meanwhile, Ji-Cheok just stood there in silence and slowly gathered his Augmented Qi. His swords grew little by little in both length and power.

Roar!

Vermillion Augmented Qi in one hand, and cerulean Augmented Qi in the other.

When both of them became over five meters in length, Ji-Han gave the signal.

“Let’s go.”

His hand flashed, and an instant later, the movement of everything around him, including himself, slowed down to a crawl.

However, it was not that his ability affected his surroundings. Rather, Ji-Han’s ability was a buff meant for a single person: Ji-Cheok.

[Transcendent Time Acceleration].

It felt as if Ji-Cheok was the only one moving in a world where time had stopped.

In that state, Ji-Cheok dashed forward. He covered tens of meters in one leap, and then jumped up to the head of the [Fused Mutant]. Then, without hesitation, he slashed downward with both his swords.

He named the Augmented Qi with maximized Yang energy that flowed through the Sun Sword [Extreme Yang Augmented Qi]. Correspondingly, he named the Augmented Qi with maximized Yin energy that flowed through the Moon Sword [Extreme Yin Augmented Qi].

When the blade of [Extreme Yang Augmented Qi] touched the boss monster, it went through with no resistance, the flesh in its path incinerated and vanquished as if it were cut and cauterized with a laser. The blade smoothly passed through the thick body like a hot knife through butter.

The [Extreme Yin Augmented Qi] was a little different. As the Moon Sword made contact with the boss, everything that was in close proximity to the blade was instantly turned into ice and shattered into small pieces.

Ji-Cheok’s team members could not hear the sound of the monster’s body breaking apart because they were still existing in slow-motion, while Ji-Cheok chopped down the monster faster than the speed of sound. His attacks cut the boss clean into three pieces. The Abominations that were in the way were also cut into pieces as collateral damage.

Then, time started to flow normally again.

Thud.

The boss’s corpse collapsed into pieces. It was a giant monster, but Ji-Cheok couldn’t feel any vitality from it.

[You have cleared the mini dungeon!]

[The rewards will be distributed according to the level of contribution.]

[1st place is Um Ji-Cheok with 52,467 points.]

[You have cleared the quest.]

[Your quest rewards are being distributed.]

Since Ji-Cheok killed it in one shot, he was first place again.

“Wow~ I can never beat you, Um Ji-Cheok.”

Ji-Byeok was in second place. She smiled mischievously, clearly not in a bad mood even though she had been once more surpassed by Ji-Cheok.

Woong.

A shiny object emerged from the boss monster’s severed body. It was like a shard of jewel, the size of a human head.

[You have received the [Fragment of a God] as your quest reward.]

[Fragment of a God]

[Class: ???

Type: ???

A fragment of the God that governs Forest Shade and Bloodshed. It is a piece of the essence of a God that was destroyed and fragmented after a conflict with another God. The holder can feel it constantly radiating vitality.

Function: The holder can use the skill [Eating].]

[Eating]

[Class: Infinity

Whatever you eat, you can gain some of its power.]

The description was really weird.

‘It says by eating anything… What does that mean? It’s a bit different from Recovery by Eating, but I think this should be the original skill.’

And the class of this skill was Infinity.

‘Infinity…? It’s my first time actually seeing it, but I know what it is. It’s the next rank after Legendary. This is amazing! I would’ve never guessed that I would obtain such a skill in the dungeon… Wow~’

«That is great, Master. This skill… The applications of this skill are endless!»

‘For example?’

«Since you are raising a World Tree, if you eat the fruit using the skill, you will surely be able to obtain powerful abilities. Besides that, the uses are endless.»

‘You are right. The skill really does say ‘whatever you eat.’ That’s crazy. Why would something like this come out from a mini dungeon? No, I should think of it the other way around. Since the dungeon was made to be cleared, so that means…’

«It likely means that you cannot clear the dungeon without this skill, Master.»

‘Yeah, that’s true.’

Someone tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hyung, what are you thinking about so deeply?” Mu-Cheok asked.

“Huh? Oh, sorry. I was thinking about that thing.”

When Ji-Cheok pointed at the Fragment of a God, Mu-Cheok also turned his gaze and looked at the floating item.

“I don’t have any detection skills, so I don’t know… What about it?”

“The skill it offers is crazy.”

“Um Ji-Cheok,” Ji-Han said.

“Ah, yes.”

“Please put that in your Shadow Pouch. Also, please put this boss monster’s corpse in it as well. Today, we will rest here. First thing tomorrow, we are going back to the Tama people at the Fortress of the Rocky Mountain.”

“Got it.”

Without saying anything, Ji-Cheok put the boss monster’s corpse and the Fragment of the God into his Shadow Pouch.

The boss monster had been rather easy to deal with… But something felt strange.

* * *

After hunting, they took a rest. They even had a drink. Most people would have thought them insane for casually eating and drinking inside a dungeon, but it was okay for them. They were in a boss room, after all. The boss room had essentially become a safe area after they had killed the boss monster. Ji-Cheok had heard that it was common for Hunters to camp in the boss room of a mini dungeon when exploring a Wide-area Dungeon like this one.

Since there was nothing to worry about, they took advantage of it. He took out inflatable bathtubs from the Shadow Pouch, filled them with water using his household magic, and heated the water with a magic spell as well. It was a dungeon bath! He prepared one tub for the men and one for the women, and he even installed a screen between them.

After taking a long bath and rest, they left the mini dungeon. They were heading toward the Fortress of the Rocky Mountain, where the Tama people resided. However, what awaited them was not a welcome party.

Boom! Boom!

Tremendous explosions resounded from afar, and they could see thick smoke coming from the mountain.

The Fortress of the Rocky Mountain was under attack.

* * *

‘Just as expected. It’s going completely differently from all the other timelines,’ Ji-Han thought while looking at Ji-Cheok.

The attack on the Fortress of the Rock Mountain was an absolute first. The Tama never attacked other factions, and their defense was solid, so the other two factions also rarely attacked them. Even if one of them decided to attack the Tama, it would only happen far in the future. They had never been under attack at this point in time in any of the timelines.

‘The future is becoming more and more distorted. That’s good for everyone, but…’

Ji-Han looked at the mountain in the distance.

The mana he felt from there was very strong and had many different wavelengths. It meant that many people were fighting there.

‘Did the two factions attack at the same time? That is something that never happened before.’

He could feel the power of all three factions from the mountain.

Ji-Han’s eyes narrowed.

‘The barrier ability of Macaw of the White Charcoal and the geological advantage of the fortress are both very strong. Even if the two factions made an alliance, their casualties would be catastrophic. Yet, they attacked anyway… Why?’

Ji-Han tried to stitch together the pieces of information in his head, but still couldn’t figure it out. This was all because of the singularity—that small variable that caused many, many changes.

The Gods had told him that not even they could control someone like Um Ji-Cheok. That was why he had always died very early in the other timelines. However, in this timeline, Ji-Cheok had been kept alive for a long time already, and fate was changing rapidly because of him.

‘Then… From here on, I have to take actions that I have not taken in the past. First…’

Ji-Han’s gaze returned to Ji-Cheok.

‘We should save the Tama first.’

“Judging by the mana wavelengths, I am assuming that hundreds of people are fighting. The Fortress of the Rock Mountain is bound to be dangerous, so we are going to go full force from now on.”

An illusory image of cogwheels appeared behind him.