"Kiyot! Die, human!"
Kaang!
The Mine Kobolds threw their pickaxes, weapons imbued with their combination skill. Lokan knew he could never be vigilant against this attack.
"Dash."
When a throwing attack carrying powerful energy, enhanced by a skill combination, flew from the narrow mine passage, even Lokan could not afford to ignore it. He focused entirely on evasion. He could have used Force to block it, but with more than one or two enemies to deal with, there was no reason to take unnecessary damage.
"Lethal Strike!"
The skill he unleashed was Fatal Strike (which he named Lethal Blow). For a moment, Lokan's body vanished and then reappeared directly in front of the primary attacker. He struck with a colossal power, like a falling mountain!
[Critical!]
The head of the Kobold, also called a buttman (due to their appearance), was instantly split along with its helmet. The helmet was more of a hard hat, but its defensive rating was far superior to anything found in the first city. However, even this defense could not withstand Lokan's attack power.
"Feels so good!"
The sensation of the helmet and skull splitting simultaneously was heavy and satisfying on his fingertips. It was incomparable to the previous monsters that fell like a pile of straw. Instead of shivering from the sheer thrill, Lokan lunged at the other Mine Kobolds who were drawing their close-range weapons.
After throwing their pickaxes—their combination skill—they defaulted to normal melee combat.
"Yeah, try to resist with all your might!"
But having lost their most dangerous combination skill, they were no match for Lokan. Though they were 10 levels higher, Lokan's fighting power was already superior. Moreover, he knew all their fighting patterns, leaving only a one-sided slaughter.
"Kuh hun!"
The Mine Kobolds boasted high Strength and Agility, but that was precisely their problem. Since neither statistic was overwhelmingly dominant, they had to clash directly with Lokan's weapon, and the Kobolds suffered losses every single time. If they attempted to parry, their weapon would be sent flying; if they blocked, their knees would buckle. Some even tried to bite with their exposed, sharp teeth, but Lokan's response was harsh.
"Guard!"
Whoosh! Hood!
The skill he activated was Guard, which raised his defense, but his action was a flawless attack. He swung his forearm and slapped one of the charging Kobolds across the mouth. Naturally, his skin was not pierced. Instead, the force shattered the Kobold's teeth, which scattered in the air.
"Heh heh! Quietly give me the item!"
[You have acquired a blue mineral.]
Thus, the quest items piled up quickly. The Mine Kobolds typically held a strong advantage in the mine terrain, and users who had just arrived at the Crossroads usually found them very difficult to deal with. But Lokan was already a monster whose power was rarely seen at his level.
Though the Mine Kobolds had a relatively fast respawn time, Lokan hunted even faster, pushing deeper and deeper into the passages.
Of course, Lokan couldn't hunt indefinitely without rest. While he easily dodged the Kobolds' combination skills, he had to hunt at a speed that prevented other groups from joining the battle, meaning his mana was being depleted faster than his vitality. For this reason, Lokan utilized the gaps in the movement lines, recovering his mana in hiding before proceeding further inside.
'I think it's time for him to come out…'
That was the moment. Deep inside, the boss monster was in the middle of urging the Mine Kobolds.
[Mining Officer Kimoty] [Lv 115]
"Kuruk! Hurry up! We need to mine as many as possible before the muscle pigs arrive!"
He didn't even have to ask who the "muscle pig" was. It was obviously the Dwarves, as the mine itself originally belonged to them.
'That was probably the material to make the mana ingot,'Lokan mused, observing the piles of minerals essential for the production of high-grade items due to their high mana conductivity. He quickly devised a plan.
No matter how strong Lokan was, it was unreasonable for him to charge into an area where there were more than ten Mine Koboldsand a boss monster.
If so, what was the optimal strategy?
'I'll have to pull him out.'
The method was simple: lure as many opponents away as possible.
'Stealth.'
Lokan disappeared using his Stealth skill and approached the center of the group. Although using Stealth was risky with such a level difference, Lokan had the experience and the sense of distance to perfectly measure the gap. He approached, maintaining a reasonable distance, and quickly grabbed a target: a cart full of the blue minerals they had mined.
"Come on, let's go!"
From Strike to Charge, to Dash. Lokan mobilized all his skills, pushing the cart and bursting into a full sprint. His movement was so sudden and swift that even the Mine Kobolds couldn't react properly.
"Hold on, hold on! Don't let him run away!"
If they lost the cart now, after having so little time, it would be extremely difficult for them to achieve their goal. When the named monster, Kimoty, realized the danger and screamed, the Mine Kobolds threw their pickaxes all at once and began chasing Lokan.
'Okay,' he thought.
Even while sprinting, Lokan glanced back and smiled with determination. Most of the Mine Kobolds were in hot pursuit, but the Mining Officer was simply staring in dismay. With all his minions chasing Lokan, no one was left to guard the empty mining yard.
"That's it. Escape, Stealth, Dash."
Lokan, who had been sprinting until he felt he had gained sufficient distance from his pursuers, suddenly detached himself from the cart. He gave the wagon one final shove along the rails toward the entrance and then doubled back, hiding in the shadows of the cave.
The Mine Kobolds, whose attention was entirely focused on the runaway cart, passed right by the hidden Lokan. The moment he believed they had all run past him, he boldly released his Stealth and started sprinting towards the boss.
"Come on, we don't have time! Let's finish this quickly! Heh heh heh heh heh!"
A roar filled the deep part of the cave. The Mana Energy contained in his Cry of Madness combination skill instantly stopped Kimoty's nerve cells from acting. Dazed, the officer couldn't even think to take action, only staring at Lokan's axe flying toward him.
"Queek!Frenzy!"
Then, the officer suddenly snapped back to his senses and sprinted away on all fours. He had narrowly moved out of the direct attack range.
"Sheesh!"
Due to the quick recovery, Lokan hit only air, but it was not without a good harvest: he had forced the boss monster to put one of its own combination skills on cooldown. Furthermore, the opportunity to attack was not entirely lost. Lokan immediately followed up and attempted another full-power assault.
"Rush of Destruction!"
If the officer was a rabid dog, Lokan was like an enraged bull. He rushed forward with his shoulder leading, looking as if he was about to crush everything standing in his way.
"The Whip of Obedience!"
As the distance rapidly narrowed, the officer gave up on escaping. Instead, he quickly shifted to the offensive and unleashed the whip that was tied around his waist. It was a skill that inflicted horrendous pain, designed to make the opponent submit to the will of the officer.
But the opponent was the wrong one. The compatibility of skills was completely mismatched. Rush of Destruction was a skill that greatly amplified not only destructive power but also defensive power. Effortlessly enduring the stinging blow, Lokan slammed into the officer's chest.
The officer's armor must have been high-quality, as the creature—who looked as though he would stretch out like a flattened frog—rolled his body and managed to endure the impact.
"Cook!"
"Ugh, holding out for a while, are you?"
But that was the end of the resistance. The officer, who had relied on the ever-changing attack method of his whip, was no match for Lokan. Before the whip could coil like a snake, Lokan's Battle Axe reached him.
"Force, Strike!"
It is often said that the rigid (剛) must be confronted with the yielding (柔) and the changing (變), but that is only true when the power levels are balanced to a certain extent. In the face of overwhelming power, strategy and technique are merely leftover efforts.
Lokan's Battle Axe, imbued with the amplifying power of Force, ripped apart Kimoty, the Mining Officer's small body.
"Good start," Lokan observed.
It was a good start in many ways. His strategy had worked perfectly, and he had succeeded in single-handedly destroying a Named Monster (Boss) in the tertiary city. This was a feat that usually failed several times, even when attempted by a coordinated party. Since Lokan had much work to do alone in the future, all of this felt incredibly encouraging.
"I will be back soon."
After confirming that his combination skills were as powerful as he thought, and that his ability was sufficient even in the tertiary city, Lokan took a deep breath. As he saw the Mine Kobolds who had disappeared slowly starting to return, he gripped the Battle Axe tightly once again.
"Where can I test my limits? Berserk!"
This time, he plunged right into the middle of the enemy line, intending to push himself to his absolute limit.
"Crazy."
In that moment, Lokan truly thought he might struggle. Although the basic combination skills of the Mine Kobolds were poor, they were still Level 110 monsters, and they naturally gained an advantage in the mine terrain.
However, the combination of Critical Strike and Berserk was devastating. Or rather, it was insane.
"I didn't expect it to this extent yet…"
Because the Mine Kobolds were not humanoids, the base critical strike chance of his basic attacks was 30%. But by defeating enemies in a row, this rose to 40%, and when he used Fatal Strike, the critical strike chance was 90%, with the damage soaring to nearly 8 times his base attack.
Was there any reason for Lokan, who gained immortality, infinite mana, and up to 8× attack power, to suffer even a little against creatures he could easily match even without using any buffs?
The Rush of Destruction charge, ignoring even the combination skills of the boss monster, pulverized every enemy it passed by like a mouse being struck, and the Fatal Blow split them in two.
"Cancel!"
[Not enough vitality. If you do not recover to 9% of your maximum health within 10 seconds, you may die.]
After slaughtering them all and canceling Berserk, Lokan quickly pulled out his medium stamina potion, drank some, and sprinkled the rest on his wounded areas. Although he had wiped them out with overwhelming attack power, he had initially received significant damage from the Mining Officer's combination skill, and level 100+ Mine Kobolds did not simply stand there and die.
"I think this is where it was."
When he checked his inventory, he had acquired all fifty blue minerals, the exact condition for completing the quest. Even though he could use a return scroll now to report his achievements and claim the rewards for killing the boss monster, Lokan didn't.
Instead, he moved deeper into the mine, using Stealth, even though it was technically dangerous.
'Bingo.'
And he found them: the inhabitants who originally guarded this mine. The Dwarves who couldn't escape had been locked up in iron cages.
Shudder!
Lokan approached without delay and opened the door of the iron cage. The 'unknown key' he got from looting Kimoty transformed into a 'temporary prison key' and fit the lock perfectly.
"A Human came to save us?"
"Where are the brothers!"
"Ah, thanks anyway!"
Released from the cage, the Dwarves were momentarily thrilled, then each grabbed their tools and ran toward the entrance. If he let them go, they would return to the Crossroads on their own.
'I'm glad it's not an escort quest,' he thought with relief.
If it had been a quest to escort them out, it would have been troublesome, but he didn't care since they would simply disappear like ghosts once they left the mine. Lokan then returned to the Crossroads using his Return Scroll.
'Isn't this 100% achievement rate, and then some?'Lokan thought, confidently.
The acquired minerals were not roughly mined, but collected from the Kobolds. He had not only slaughtered all those who occupied the mine but also rescued the imprisoned Dwarves. Though the Dwarves would likely be taken away again since there were no warriors to occupy and protect the mine permanently, Lokan was confident in the extra effort he had made. Lokan smiled broadly as he recalled the rewards he could get through their favor.
Except for the players, all Dwarves are advanced blacksmiths. What kind of magnificent reward could he truly get from them?