Chapter 429: Midday Nightmare (2)
Me, and I and Yoohyun as well, all held our breath at once. Even with my mind in turmoil, my body still moved like a Hunter’s. Thanks to the high pile of presents—or rather, the rocks now—and their cover, Rauchitas had not noticed us yet. A monster with enough power to be called the King of the Cursed Poison Dragon species was, fittingly, careless too.
If something caught its eye, it attacked, but it did not actively search its surroundings. That was why, back then, Yoohyun had been able to tell me to hide.
“Hyung.”
As though he had never been shaken at all, Yoohyun’s expression became coldly calm. My little brother continued in a low voice.
“It looks like the exit is blocked too. So don’t move from here and—”
“There’s a way.”
This rotten brat, thinking of rushing in alone again. Even the current Yoohyun would probably be quasi-SS-rank. So with the doubled skill and with us acting as shields, it wasn’t a hopeless fight. …If that lizard bastard wasn’t getting a dungeon buff, that was.
So then—
[Nightmare is applied.]
A message window suddenly appeared. The rookie? But the feeling was strange. My nightmare had already appeared, so what now—
“Ugh…….”
“Yoohyun?”
The me from before the regression called my little brother urgently. His voice was kept very low, but the shock in it was plain. I hurriedly turned around, only to find Yoohyun’s body limp in my arms.
“What is this, all of a sudden? Yoohyun? What’s wrong?”
“My body… won’t…….”
Yoohyun spoke with difficulty.
“I have no… strength. My waist… I think I’ve completely lost all feeling.”
…The last sight of my little brother rose before my eyes. Is this it? But we hadn’t even been attacked yet.
“Hyung, you have to avoid—”
“You’re not in pain? Hey, you too, come here. Maybe Curse Resistance will work.”
This isn’t a curse. But I went over anyway. My fingertips trembled faintly. Thankfully, it seemed Yoohyun was only paralyzed; nothing beyond that was wrong. No wounds, no pain.
“…It looks like they’re trying to stop Yoohyun from interfering.”
“What? Don’t tell me…….”
The me from before the regression, quick to catch on, turned to look at Rauchitas, only the top of its head visible in the distance. His expression darkened heavily.
“…So it was that bastard.”
“Yeah.”
“Here.”
“…Yeah.”
[It is midday.]
The message window appeared again. As expected, it felt strange somehow.
[Nightmare is weakened.]
Along with the message, a faint mist seeped in.
-Krrrk.
Mist wrapped itself once around the massive body of the cursed poison dragon, then dispersed and vanished. Weakened? Then maybe— I used the Sprout skill on Rauchitas.
[1st-grade cursed poison dragon species – Dragon King of Poison and Curses, Rauchitas (Midday Nightmare)
Current stat rank: S (Weakened)
Awakening possible stat rank: SS~SSS
Optimized initial skills
Dragon Species Ruler (L) acquired (weakened to SSS-rank)
Endless Dragon’s Curse (SSS) acquired (weakened to SS-rank)
Overflowing Poison Mist (SSS) acquired (weakened to SS-rank)
Arrogant King’s Roar (SS) acquired (weakened to S-rank)
Boiling Breath (SS) acquired (weakened to S-rank)
Regeneration (S) acquired (weakened to A-rank)]
Just as expected, the stats were monstrous. It felt like it was above the Rauchitas I had faced. Diarma had said he’d sent me to a suitably weak one, after all.
But every single one of those values had weakened attached to it. The skill ranks had each dropped by one stage, and the stats had probably fallen by more than two.
An upper-tier S-rank boss monster.
Something the current Han Yoohyun could have handled without much difficulty. The problem was that Yoohyun couldn’t move.
“That bastard’s dropped to S-rank.”
At my words, the me from before the regression used the Sprout skill too.
“…Curse and poison probably won’t work on us anyway. Even so, the stats are still S-rank.”
“Dragon Species Ruler doesn’t seem to be an attack skill, and aside from the poison curse, it can’t even leave a scratch.”
We could easily block those with Eunhye. The problem was how to attack. The me from before the regression looked at me as though blaming me.
“How do you not have a single attack skill. With a status window like that.”
“You think I’m not resentful too?”
Dragon Slayer, Perfect Caregiver, Miracle Rookie, Veteran F-rank, Unfindable. All the skills tied to my titles came in droves, but every single one of them was resistance, support, or special-purpose. Lullaby and Pat-Pat were the same. It felt wasteful, but should I buy an attack skill? The problem was that I didn’t have enough points to buy an upper-rank attack skill. Even a mid-rank one was too expensive for me.
“Let’s do the math.”
Double as the natural enemy of Rauchitas, then double again with Veteran F-rank. That still wasn’t enough. We needed something more.
“…By the way, can we apply one more to each other?”
If that worked, it would be doubled all over again.
“Shouldn’t it? Then do we have to fight while holding hands?”
“Since you and I are the same person, it feels like it ought to count as contact even without touching. Hey, wait—if you apply the already doubled skill and then double it again, wouldn’t that work?”
Rauchitas’s Natural Enemy was SS-rank, so that one wouldn’t work, but if we took the Veteran title and made it quadruple, then handed over that quadrupled skill again… how many times over would that be? In theory, it felt possible.
“Let’s just try it first. Use the buff skill on me. With Veteran.”
I carefully laid Yoohyun down from my arms, then reached my hand toward myself. The skill was shared.
[Veteran F-rank(S)
A superhuman with F-rank Hunter experience raised to its extreme.
The effect of the attack-type skills you possess is doubled (stacked state: quadrupled)]
It worked—we successfully stacked the effect! I sucked in a short breath, and this time I passed the Veteran title over to the me from before the regression. Then, by manipulating mana, we shared each other’s skills again, and the two of us both obtained the Veteran title in a doubly stacked state.
It was a trick only possible because I and I were both different beings and the same being at once.
[Veteran F-rank(S)
A superhuman with F-rank Hunter experience raised to its extreme.
The effect of the attack-type skills you possess is doubled (stacked state: sixfold)]
It was a shame it wasn’t eightfold, but it was still a full sixfold. And on top of that, there was Rauchitas’s Natural Enemy too. I and I swallowed dryly at the same time.
“With this much, even if it’s only C-rank— no, D-rank.”
“It’ll work.”
Even a D-rank attack skill would be able to show an effect above S-rank. I hurriedly opened the point shop. All sorts of attack skills were lined up, but because they weren’t suited to me, the prices were disgustingly high. That’s why I’d given up before, but now even D-rank would be enough. That much I could buy. A D-rank attack skill.
[Strong Thrust (D)]
A simple thrusting attack skill. It was also the cheapest among D-rank offensive skills. Probably because it had no special effect whatsoever. But right now, I didn’t need anything fancy. This was enough.
I purchased the attack skill and shared it with the me from before the regression.
“Isn’t this one a skill that needs a weapon?”
“I’ve got one. A sturdy one.”
The sturdiest weapon in the world. Instead, I handed the Lynx Gun over to my past self. Just like with Eunhye, it was possible to use the bound item Lynx Gun too. After checking our equipment and splitting up our items—
“Then.”
“Shall we?”
As we rose, Yoohyun struggled to push himself up on one arm.
“H-hyung. No… what are you trying to do, please…….”
We turned to look at him. We smiled at him at the same time, telling him to relax.
“Don’t worry, Yoohyun.”
“Hyung absolutely won’t die.”
“This hyung is kind of strong right now.”
“Strong enough to kill that lizard bastard.”
This time, strong enough to protect my little brother and pierce the dragon’s head. We brought the still-anxious Yoohyun to the far end of the cave. We soothed him, telling him not to worry.
“You’ve got a barrier skill, right? Keep that up.”
“Hyung…….”
“This is your birthday cake.”
The me from before the regression set the cake box down beside Yoohyun, who was leaning against the wall.
“It’s been a while, so let’s light the candles too. We’ll eat it together.”
“Hey, that’s totally a death fla—”
“Shut up. You jinx.”
No, normally if you openly say this sort of thing is a death flag, it’s actually more reassuring. If you say it out loud, it can’t become foreshadowing.
Leaving my little brother behind us, we turned back around. Inside my chest there was a heavy, solid fullness. I put the SS-rank handcuffs on and transformed Eunhye. It became a spear with a long chain attached. Since I couldn’t let it leave my hand, I wound the chain tightly around my wrist and tied it there. Unless the lizard bastard grabbed me and carefully undid the knot with the tip of his claws, there was no chance it would come loose.
Then I threw the A-rank spear from my inventory to the me from before the regression.
“Fear Resistance really is nice. I’m not scared at all.”
“It’s L-rank, after all. Why would a little thing like that be scary?”
We moved forward side by side. Climbing over the boulders and down the other side, Rauchitas finally turned one of its heads toward us.
-Grrrrr.
The three dragon heads rose high. Ferocious eyes stared at us, then for some reason flinched.
[The effect of the Dragon Species Ruler skill is nullified by the Dragon Slayer title!]
A welcome message window appeared. Since there wasn’t just one Dragon Slayer title but two, Rauchitas couldn’t bring itself to charge us carelessly and instead took a step back.
The corners of my mouth lifted on their own. I could feel the me beside me feeling the same satisfaction.
How much had we wanted this very sight. I wanted to stand beside him. I wanted to stand in front of him. I wanted to protect him.
I.
“It’s disgustingly huge.”
“Aim for the head. The head.”
Even if its stat rank had dropped, its size was unchanged. So stabbing the body wasn’t going to inflict a fatal wound. I know that, Han Yoojin answered.
-Kyaaaah!
Rauchitas roared loudly. Boom, boom, its massive four legs shook the cave. It definitely felt us as a threat, but our movements were absurdly slow, so it seemed confused. Our stats were still low-rank, after all. Work with that.
“Come at me, you miserable lizard bastard.”
A sharp clattering sound rang out as its scales scraped against one another, and horrifying poison started spreading. For an instant I worried about Yoohyun, but thankfully, though the poison was horribly dense, the range wasn’t all that wide. Thick poison heavy enough to leave clothes damp blackened the air in front of us.
At the same time, I used my stealth skill.
-Krrk.
Double against cursed poison dragon species. There was no way some mere S-rank lizard could detect us. Once the poison fog cleared, Rauchitas rolled all six eyes around. Keeping the right distance from the bastard as it looked around, I gripped the spear tightly.
No matter how powerful the stealth skill was, if I touched its body directly, it would notice. I had no flying skill, and I didn’t have the ability to leap up to that high head either. In other words, I had no means of attacking its head immediately. If I tried climbing its body, it would easily shake me off.
So then.
‘Hang in there.’
‘Then be ready yourself, bastard.’
This is disgusting. It’s like some kind of twin telepathy, being able to exchange words inside our heads. We need to kill this lizard and cut this off as soon as possible.
Han Yoojin’s foot stepped on the ground—no, the ceiling. The fully charged gun was aimed downward. I put force into my feet. The white muzzle glimmered faintly, then unleashed all the mana it had absorbed in one burst!
Bang!
The mana bullet fell like a meteor made of light, and—
Boom—!
It slammed hard into the leftmost of the three dragon heads, the one closest to me. As though struck by a giant hammer, Rauchitas’s head was driven down into the ground. The wound itself wasn’t all that huge. But with that—
My spear can reach it.
The instant the gun fired, I ran like mad. The dragon’s jaw dug into the floor, debris flying everywhere and the ground shaking, but I didn’t care—I leapt with all my strength.
Strong Thrust.
That simple D-rank skill activated through the translucent glass spear. Power gathered at the point of a spear that had no qualities except being extremely solid.
Double, quadruple, sixfold, and then doubled once more. Compared to the giant dragon, my arm was pitifully weak. If I put all my strength into it, I shouldn’t even be able to leave a scratch on its scales. Normally. But that arm, that hand, drove the spear straight between the dragon’s brows.
Craaack!
The scales touched by the spear point exploded in an instant. Destroying everything that blocked its path. Far too easily, like striking tofu with a club.
-Kyaaaah!
Rauchitas, having lost one head, started thrashing. My body rolled across the ground in an instant.
‘Careful!’
The me in my head shouted, and before the thought even finished, a huge footpad filled my vision. Ngh! Thanks to Eunhye I avoided being crushed, but my breath was forced out of me. Fortunately, it seemed it only felt my presence like a stone or something, because the foot soon lifted away. Instead, a wave of heat rushed over me.
-Kyaaaak!
The dragon’s breath made the air itself boil. The heat was only on the level of being very hot, but once again it became hard to breathe. If not for Silekia’s Wings, it would have been dangerous.
‘Dragon breath of SS-rank and below: effect halved.’
That was one of Silekia’s Wings’ options. Since it was an item obtained from killing a fire dragon, it had not only fire resistance but extra effects against dragon species. That effect-halving worked even against the burning air that made it difficult to breathe.
“You’re making a huge fuss when there are still two heads left!”
I sprang up from the ground, released the stealth skill, and shouted. Look at me, look at me. With the way that bastard was moving, it was impossible for us to keep up. So somehow, we had to make it stop moving.
“Everything needs its matching pair, you know. Now that there are only two left, it looks just right!”
-Kyarrrk!
“Ah, do you prefer odd numbers? Then come over here. I’ll pop the rest too!”
Come here, come here! But Rauchitas couldn’t just recklessly charge at me. Dragon Slayer’s pressure was already bad enough, and on top of that it had lost a head in an instant. It bared its teeth ferociously, but hesitated, wary of me.
How kind of it.
While I was drawing its attention, the Han Yoojin on the ceiling moved quietly. He stopped above one of the remaining two heads.
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