IDWGT 5

Chapter 5

“Hey! Wake up! Wake up, I said!”

[Kuu… woo? Kuu!]

Only after I shook him did Dark finally come to his senses and bolt upright. And looking at the guy staring blankly as if wondering what had happened, I couldn’t help but feel an inexplicable sense of unease.

‘No. It can’t be.’

I took Dark and moved to a different hunting ground.

This time, I had him fight a slime-type level 15 monster called a Puring.

Dark, whose damaged body had somehow become intact—perhaps due to some self-recovery ability—charged at the Puring just like before and delivered a body slam.

This time too, things were fine up to that point.

The problem was that was the end of it.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

After successfully landing the body slam, he just stood there again and got beaten mercilessly.

The same thing happened at the next hunting ground, and the one after that.

He attempted a body slam and then got pummeled, and out of ten attempts, the only successes were the first two.

Still, he wasn’t completely stupid—he seemed to have figured out on his own how to curl up while being repeatedly beaten. But…

I wasn’t happy about it at all!

With a serious expression, I asked Dark, whose body was now riddled with holes:

“You’re not telling me the only attack you know is body slam, are you?”

[Kuu!]

“…Please tell me that’s not true.”

[Kuu! Kuu!]

Watching Dark hop up and down in place, seemingly delighted by my question, I eventually hung my head.

‘Some jackpot…….’

To think that what I thought was a jackpot item was just junk.

That sense of loss was beyond words.

After several more attempts, I finally concluded that Dark’s combat ability was zero. Along with that, I completely wiped away any expectations I had for the guy.

This one was neither more nor less than junk—absolutely unworthy of being called a Gigantes.

Watching his combat was so frustrating that I was about to step in myself when I suddenly recalled that Gigantes could be mounted, and I tried mounting him.

And would you believe it—a message plainly stating “Mounting Not Possible” popped up.

In my irritation, I left him behind at the hunting ground, but somehow he figured it out and came all the way back to find me. This time with a message saying “Item Abandonment Not Possible.”

I even tried hiding, but it only delayed how long it took him to find me.

With things as they were, there was no other way. Dragging him around was like carrying around luggage, so I just stuffed him into my inventory.

And I erased all memory of Dark from my mind. I didn’t have the luxury to cling to that.

“At this rate, I might really starve to death.”

I’d leveled up quite a bit from hunting over the past two months, but I’d barely made any money.

To hunt and make money, several conditions were necessary. The most important of these was which hunting ground you chose—meaning some hunting grounds were profitable and others weren’t.

Over the past two months, I’d mostly hunted in unprofitable hunting grounds.

Part of it was that I aimed to hunt a variety of monsters, but the main reason was that there were more unprofitable hunting grounds than profitable ones.

Of course, the biggest reason I couldn’t make money was the expensive repair costs from the quest penalty, but still.

Now that the penalty was gone, I sought out a profitable hunting ground: the ‘Territory of the Rebels.’

The Territory of the Rebels was a level 150 hunting ground, a vast expanse of ruined city.

As the name suggested, it was a place where groups opposing the kingdom were stationed, and it was famous among users as a hunting ground to avoid because monsters frequently aggroed (added).

“Add” here referred to situations where unplanned monsters joined combat due to variables you couldn’t handle.

Once an add occurred, they swarmed in like ants, so even users who had reached their 3rd class advancement would party up and still frequently get wiped out—that was this place, the Territory of the Rebels.

“In my case too, when I first came here, I had to log out several times.”

But thanks to stubbornly persevering, I’d built up know-how, and now I could hunt with almost no deaths. In a way, this kind of know-how was the real asset a dark gamer should possess.

“Shall we get started?”

I hid behind a collapsed wall and carefully poked my head out to check the rebel patrolman making his rounds.

The biggest reason hunting was difficult in the Territory of the Rebels was those level 110 patrolmen.

Their field of view was so wide that the chance of being spotted was high, and even if you were hunting with preparation, they were fast on their feet and would quickly run off to bring allies.

Above all, from the moment they spotted an enemy to the moment they died, they screamed at the top of their lungs that an intruder had entered, making them quite the troublesome opponent.

‘I struggled quite a bit because of them too.’

The moment one patrolman passed, I dashed inside. Then I entered a collapsed mansion I’d scouted beforehand and checked the state of the door.

‘Good, opening and closing shouldn’t be a problem.’

The next task was pressing myself flat against the wall by the door and listening closely.

Before long, I heard footsteps approaching, and I began counting down in my head.

One, two, three!

‘Now!’

I spun around and quickly thrust out my left hand, grabbing whatever my fingertips caught and pulling with all my might. And at the same time as I slammed it to the floor, I hastily shut the open door.

The patrolman who’d been dragged inside by my hand wore a bewildered expression, as if he couldn’t properly understand the situation.

I gave him a grin.

“Hunting begins.”

Before combat, I bit my lip. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth, and in that state, I activated a skill.

“Blood Mark.”

[Skill ‘Blood Mark’ is activated.]

[Attack speed +30%, movement speed +20% for 5 minutes.]

[Health continuously decreases for the duration of the skill.]

Simultaneously with the skill activation, my greatsword swung.

With the buff effect of Blood Mark increasing attack speed by 30 percent, a strike so fast it was hard to believe it came from a greatsword shot out.

“Huk!”

The rebel patrolman tried to block with his sword in the moment.

I let out a light scoff.

“As if!”

The level difference, plus the additional damage from the increased attack speed.

It wasn’t an attack the rebel patrolman could block.

Crack!

The greatsword shattered the sword blocking its path and sliced the rebel patrolman diagonally in two from the shoulder.

“Kraaaagh!”

The rebel patrolman let out a final scream. Even in death, it was an act meant to alert others of the enemy’s intrusion.

I clicked my tongue lightly at him.

“It won’t do you any good.”

The ruins in the Territory of the Rebels had effects similar to houses in regular cities.

The difference was that without the owner’s permission, other NPCs or users couldn’t enter except in special cases—but the similarity was that when the door was closed, noises from inside didn’t leak out.

That was precisely why I could be so relaxed.

After accidentally learning this fact, I actively exploited this situation.

When I found a suitable abandoned building and eliminated patrolmen inside, since it was inside the building, other patrolmen couldn’t see what was happening, and no sound leaked out, so there was zero chance of being discovered—no problem for hunting.

But there was one thing to be careful about. If I chose too small a house, I wouldn’t be able to fight properly with my greatsword, so I had to avoid such places as much as possible.

Still, as long as I paid attention to that one thing, there was no hunting ground like this one.

After dealing with the rebel patrolman, I collected the items he dropped.

“Tch, nothing but money.”

Unfortunately, all the rebel patrolman gave was 20 silver.

It was a poor start, but the money-makers weren’t these guys anyway.

After dealing with a few more patrolmen the same way, I went deeper inside.

Then several tents appeared, and soon I spotted some welcome faces.

The level 150 or so figures had names floating above their heads: Rebel Soldier and Rebel Archer.

‘Five visible for now.’

I looked at them with a savoring smile.

Whether it was the game’s design or not, when patrolmen didn’t alert others of enemy intrusion, most of them were always in an unguarded state.

Since I’d already eliminated all the patrolmen on my way here, I dashed toward them without hesitation.

As I did, I activated Blood Mark again—its cooldown had expired—and simultaneously used an area skill.

“Mad Explosion!”

[Skill ‘Mad Explosion’ is activated.]

[3% of HP is consumed.]

[In exchange for life force, the greatsword is dyed red with the aura of a Mad Berserker.]

[Durability of equipped items decreases slightly.]

Damn self-cannibalizing skills! Kkeuk!

As the skill activated, an ominous red aura wrapped around my greatsword, and I sent that red energy flying at the group huddled together gambling.

‘Let’s see how you like a taste of this!’

Kwaaaaang!

“Kraaagh!”

“Ugh!”

“What kind of bastard is this!”

The ground struck by Mad Explosion burst apart, sending debris flying in all directions.

With a single attack, two of the five were rolling on the ground, and the remaining three staggered, seemingly also hit.

I left the two on the ground and launched a second attack at the remaining ones glaring at me with eyes mixed with panic and rage.

“Berserker Wind!”

[Skill ‘Berserker Wind’ is activated.]

[2% of HP is consumed.]

[In exchange for life force, a mad berserker’s tempest is created.]

[Durability of equipped items decreases slightly.]

The greatsword swung indiscriminately.

Calling it indiscriminate is generous—it was more like flailing around like a madman.

Shortly after, the power imbued in the greatsword by the skill activation created a tempest that swallowed the rebel soldiers.

Whiiiiing!

Shhhhhhhk!

It took less than a single breath for the rebel soldiers, their movements slowed by the tempest, to be slashed to pieces by the greatsword.

Finally, without hesitation, I turned and drove my greatsword into the bodies of the fallen ones.

“Now then, shall we collect some items? Oh ho, these came out pretty decent.”

I checked the items the guys dropped as they died.

Happily, a total of 1 gold and three items I wanted had dropped—two were Rebel Insignias and the other was an item called a Rebel’s Bundle.

[Rebel Insignia

A token proving you have defeated rebels. Bring this token to the royal castle to receive a set reward.]

[Rebel’s Bundle (Unidentified)

Opening this bundle owned by rebels allows you to obtain various spoils the rebels have collected. What’s inside absolutely cannot be confirmed before opening.]

The Rebel Insignia was an item that let you receive both royal merit points and rewards, and the Rebel’s Bundle was like a lottery ticket—a kind of side income.

I put both items into my inventory for now. Then I quickly hid inside a nearby ruined building.

Shortly after, another patrolman passed by where I’d been.

‘That was close.’

In the Territory of the Rebels, hunting itself was a race against time.

The routine was: deal with one group, sneak into a ruined mansion, catch a patrolman, and eliminate the soldiers loitering nearby—it was quite the hands-on, bothersome work, but it was worth the investment.

Once you removed the patrolmen, mob hunting became possible, giving generous experience and decent items too.

If other users found out about this method, it would undoubtedly become a fiercely competitive hunting ground.

For that reason, I had absolutely no intention of telling anyone about this hunting method—not even a little.

Avoiding the eyes of users who occasionally came here for quests, I went a bit deeper. And using the same method, I dealt with patrolmen and hunted the rest.

After running around like that for half a day, my inventory was full.

I opened the eight Rebel’s Bundles that had dropped in total, and I let out a cheer.

“Ah! Jackpot!”