AWOST 08

Chapter 08

However.

[To appraise another person, reaching Level 200 is mandatory. It is impossible at your current level.]

The attempt was canceled because my level was too low.

But now I knew it was possible.

‘If I appraise a person, does that mean I can see the information in their status window?’

The notification ended there, leaving me with nothing but curiosity.

It seemed that the scope of Appraisal was far broader than I had originally thought.

In any case, it was something that would naturally be resolved once I leveled up, so I decided to look into it again when I reached Level 200.

In the meantime.

Beep-beep. Beep.

Ding-a-ling.

“I’m back!”

Rakiss had returned.

I thought it would take him some time to get used to the door lock, but unlike a medieval man, he was surprisingly skilled at operating it.

The plastic bag he was carrying contained the cup noodles and instant rice I had asked him to buy on the way back.

And judging by the bills in one of his hands, it seemed he had properly received the change as well.

“Was the trip okay?”

“Yes! There were no problems! I memorized the roads perfectly, so there was no need for a taxi! The foundation of physical training is running! I intend to walk or run whenever possible!”

“Fine, do whatever is comfortable for you. Now, then…”

I decided to give Rakiss his next mission.

He had vastly more energy than I did.

The longer I stayed at home, the more energy I recovered, but Rakiss was the opposite type.

He was the kind of person who needed to go outside.

So I planned to put him to work a little more.

“I’ll tell you the location of another Open Dungeon. As for how to get there…”

I used my house as the starting point and showed him a printed map of the surrounding area.

I explained the route one step at a time, and Rakiss nodded each time, memorizing the path.

I wondered whether one explanation would really be enough.

“Do you know how to get there?”

“Yes! I have memorized it!”

“Really?”

“Even so, I have never once lost my position as the finest knight of the Special Forces! My memory is not a problem!”

“Come to think of it… I keep forgetting.”

Apparently, I seemed worried because Rakiss gave me the impression of being a bit of a klutz.

But Rakiss had been the elite force of the Aslan Empire’s Knights, and even among them, he had stood head and shoulders above the rest.

If he couldn’t even remember something this simple, he never would have reached that position in the first place.

I felt a little sorry for underestimating him.

So I patted Rakiss on the shoulder and gave him a little carrot of my own.

“If you come back safely, I’ll make you some ramen with rice mixed in. So eat enough inside the dungeon to fill your stomach.”

“Oh! Really? If it’s something prepared by my master, anything would taste delicious! I’m looking forward to ramen with rice as well!”

“Just call it rabap.”

“Rabap! Thank you!”

“Just kill the strongest one in the dungeon you’re going to. You don’t need to bother with the little ones. The recommended level is 175, so I guess you can consider it a little higher than last time.”

Right now, because my level was so low, killing even a single boss-class monster would make my level shoot up.

If Rakiss started running all over the place killing even the small monsters, he might attract a lot of attention.

Eventually, there was no avoiding people learning about him, but I wanted to delay that moment as much as possible.

“Yes! Then I’ll be going!”

Auto-hunting started.

He had just returned home and left again without even having time to catch his breath, yet his face was filled with nothing but a smile.

Right.

It wasn’t because I was an evil master that I worked him like this.

Rakiss was simply the kind of guy who enjoyed being worked this hard.

…Even I wondered if that was just my cruel justification as his master, but in any case, that was how I sent Rakiss off.

While the auto-hunting was underway.

I planned to gather information about the Tower of the Overlord from home.

There wasn’t much information about the middle and upper floors of the tower.

But there were plenty of stories posted on the community about the ‘Lower Floors,’ the classification for floors below 30.

Climbing the tower was one thing, but thoroughly studying the places I planned to visit in advance was also important.

I had seen too many examples around me.

Hunters who became overly confident simply because they had awakened, only to lose their lives far too easily.

Every hunter had only one life.

I wanted to avoid dying pointlessly—or losing Rakiss—because I had overlooked something I could have been careful about if I had studied beforehand.

Clunk.

I sat down in my gaming chair.

It had been incredibly soft when I first bought it.

But after sitting in it for years and treating it rather roughly, I could hear signs that it was beginning to fall apart.

Before starting my research on the Tower of the Overlord, I decided to order a decent gaming chair first.

To me, a chair was a companion almost like a bed, since it occupied such a huge part of my daily life.

“Hmm… Nothing should happen, right?”

I considered continuing to monitor Rakiss, but if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to focus on gathering information, so I abandoned the thought.

After observing Rakiss for a while, I was certain he wasn’t the type to pick fights with people first or attract unnecessary attention.

There probably wouldn’t be any major variables.

So.

I slipped on my headset.

I played Playlist No. 1, filled with the classical music I enjoyed listening to.

Then.

Click. Click.

I began focusing in earnest on searching for information.

It was time to lose myself in the monitor.

At the same time.

After leaving the house, Rakiss tilted his head as heat slowly rose from within his body.

People here kept talking about heavy snowfall and extreme cold, but compared to the northern region of the Aslan Empire, this was honestly like a warm spring day.

“It’s too hot…”

Rakiss was from the northern region of the Empire.

His body, accustomed to extreme cold, perceived moderate cold as heat.

And since he naturally had a lot of body heat to begin with, he felt that if he kept going like this, he would become exhausted from sweating.

So.

Clank. Clank!

He removed all of his armor.

Summoned creatures also had a dedicated inventory, so storing the armor was no problem.

Then he changed into the short-sleeved shirt and shorts Lee Yeon had given him to wear at home.

“Hehe. This is so cute.”

There were bear characters printed in the center of the short-sleeved shirt and on both sides of the shorts’ pockets.

They had adorable faces that made you want to bite them, yellow bodies, and, strangely enough, wore nothing but red tops.

If such a creature really existed, it was cute enough that he would want to raise it himself.

Whoosh!

A bitterly cold wind blew.

But for Rakiss, this was finally starting to feel cool enough.

And now that his body felt considerably lighter.

He remembered the morning runs he had never missed during his days in the Special Forces.

He vividly remembered the days when he had needed to run for at least two hours before he could truly feel the satisfaction of a proper run.

Tap! Tap!

“Whew! Now this finally feels like training.”

He ran according to the map he had memorized.

Thanks to Lee Yeon’s detailed explanation, he had absolutely no trouble finding his way.

“My master is so thoughtful. He really is an incredibly charming person.”

From the very first moment Rakiss saw Lee Yeon, he had thought he had found a good master.

Although Lee Yeon looked expressionless on the outside and sometimes seemed irritable, he was a kind person with a deep heart.

“Erasing even his pain is the reason for my existence. I need to stay sharp and live for my master!”

With that resolve.

He crossed several blocks in an instant.

When had it started?

Rakiss gradually became aware of the concentrated attention being directed toward him.

At one point, a child looked at him curiously and spoke to him.

“Mister! Aren’t you cold?”

The question seemed perfectly natural.

The child was completely bundled up in a padded jacket, scarf, and hat.

From Rakiss’s perspective, he wondered if the child could even breathe like that.

He slightly slowed his running pace and answered.

“Not at all! This much is nothing for the Aslan—no, it’s not even remotely cold! It’s actually very refreshing! Mister is fine, so don’t worry!”

“Wow…! That’s amazing!”

“You must always stay healthy!”

By the time they said goodbye, Rakiss had already run quite far away from the child.

He didn’t even hear what the child shouted afterward.

“Cold weather is precisely what’s good for strengthening the body and maintaining health. The people of this world are far too weak, aren’t they?”

It was an honest assessment.

He vividly remembered his master, Lee Yeon, being startled by even the slightest breeze and curling up from the cold.

No matter how he thought about it, the people of this world seemed rather fragile.

“I’m almost there.”

Before he knew it, he was near the Open Dungeon.

He considered changing back into his armor.

But this was much more comfortable.

If his opponent was extremely powerful, he would consider wearing heavy armor.

But according to Lee Yeon, the dungeon’s recommended level was only slightly higher than last time.

If it was only a little stronger than the Orc King he had fought yesterday, there was no need to wear heavy armor.

So.

“Let’s go!”

Wearing the matching top and bottom set with a large yellow bear character printed on it, Rakiss entered the dungeon.

Since these were clothes Lee Yeon often wore himself, Rakiss figured there was no problem with wearing them while roaming through the dungeon.

Some time later.

“What the hell? Who is that?”

Open Dungeon, Kakuar Mountains.

One of the hunters from ‘Myeonghak,’ a guild based in Anyang City that specialized in conquering this place, stood up from his resting spot.

Unlike the nearby Open Dungeon, Kakuar Ruins, this area shared the same regional name but contained quite a few dangerous monsters.

That was why experience as a veteran mattered more here than the numerical value of one’s level.

The average level of Myeonghak’s hunters was 150.

[Recommended Level: 175]

They were below the dungeon’s recommended level.

But thanks to the incredible teamwork they had built up over a long period, they were still having plenty of success here.

“Who’s that blond guy?”

The hunter’s words immediately drew the attention of all the guild members toward the blond man.

His appearance clearly marked him as a foreigner.

They couldn’t tell whether he was European or American, but there was absolutely no chance of mistaking him for a Korean.

At that moment.

The leader of Myeonghak clicked his tongue after looking at the blond man’s appearance.

“Is he insane? Even full armor wouldn’t be enough, so what the hell is he doing wearing character pajamas? Is there something wrong with him?”

But his clothes weren’t the biggest problem.

It was where the blond man was heading.

The Myeonghak guild members, who knew the internal terrain like the backs of their hands, immediately sensed what was about to happen.

“Boss. If he keeps going down that path, he’ll run into a Kadaryl Mantis, right? If you get cut by those front legs coated in Kadaryl metal, your head—or anything else—will be sliced right off.”

“Exactly.”

The Kadaryl Mantis.

Not only was it a monster that even these veterans feared.

Even hunters above Level 500 would hesitate to face one alone.

It was a praying mantis classified as a ‘sub-boss monster.’

The sharp portions of its front legs were coated with a metal called Kadaryl.

The metal’s cutting edge was extraordinarily sharp.

And the Kadaryl Mantis could infuse it with mana, making its cutting power even more terrifying.

Normally, they didn’t interfere with other people’s actions.

But the Myeonghak guild members were kindhearted enough that they couldn’t simply ignore someone they thought was about to get hurt.

One of the guild members stepped forward.

“Excuse me…!”

“…Yes?”

They were somewhat far apart.

But since the guild member’s voice was loud and clear, communicating wasn’t difficult.

“You didn’t come here to go jogging, did you?”

“Go jogging? Why would a fish be here?”

“No! Not that! Jogging!”

“I don’t know what that is, but nice to meet you!”

First attempt at communication: failed.

During the brief exchange, the blond man had already covered a much greater distance than expected.

The guild member shouted urgently.

“It’s dangerous to go that way alone! Even we don’t dare go any farther, which is why we stopped here! If you’re alone, you’re definitely going to die!”

“Ah! It’s fine! Please don’t worry!”

“Uh…?”

Ignoring the warning, the man disappeared.

Every guild member stood up.

If they left him alone, the result was painfully obvious.

They didn’t intend to fight in his place.

But they wanted to stop him somehow before he encountered the Kadaryl Mantis.

Once he entered the bamboo forest, it wouldn’t be long before he encountered one.

If he was unlucky, he could even run into one right at the entrance.

“…Damn it! Stop being stubborn and get out of there!”

Watching someone walk in to die for no reason left everyone anxious and helpless.

Meanwhile, the blond man had already entered the bamboo forest.

“Shit.”

Everyone could see it.

The mantis wandering near the entrance of the bamboo forest and the blond man had come face-to-face.

At the same time.

Gooooo!

The Kadaryl Mantis let out a strange roar and charged toward the blond man.

But.

“…What is he doing?”

The man simply stood there.

He had suddenly frozen in place.

“It’s over. He’s done.”

Someone muttered.

From the looks of it, the moment he saw the Kadaryl Mantis, he had been overwhelmed by its intimidating presence and gone into a panic.

Tap! Tap!

In an instant, the distance between the Kadaryl Mantis and the blond man disappeared.

The Kadaryl Mantis raised its body threateningly and swung its front leg, filled with terrifying cutting power, intending to slice the man’s head off.

But in the next moment.

Kshiiiiing…!

A crying sound rang out.

Was it the sound of a sword crying?

Or the sound of the wind?

Along with that strange, completely out-of-place sound.

Slash!

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The Kadaryl Mantis’s two front legs and head, caught in the aura, fell to the ground like ripe apples.

At that moment.

“Holy shit, what the hell…!”

“He one-shotted a sub-boss?”