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Translator: penny
Chapter: 175
Chapter Title: Dracalon's Scales
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Once, I'd seen a myth-grade shield made from [Dracalon's Scales]. It was truly incredible.
It barely had a scratch even from heavy attacks, and in the final trial, it successfully blocked the Destruction Dragon's breath multiple times.
'Blocking the breath several times—that's the key.'
The Destruction Dragon wielded various magics, but its breath was by far the most terrifying. Just thinking about that blaze massacring hundreds in a single burst still sent chills down my spine.
-Aaaah!
-S-Save…
By sheer luck—truly insane luck—I'd dodged that breath seven times thanks to the extreme speed from maxing out agility and fortune that even now seemed utterly mad.
'My party can't dodge the breath. Blocking it is the best option.'
That's where this [Dracalon's Scales] would come in handy.
Of course, I could use it right away.
Sure, without the craftsmanship to make a proper shield, I'd just tie some on crudely, but no attack in the upcoming trials would pierce these scales anyway.
'The downside? It's pretty heavy.'
We packed plenty into the inventory and subspace for now.
"Gonna cut off more?"
"Of course."
This was an apocalypse-grade monster. Its carapace wouldn't fetch chump change. So I summoned the shopkeeper via letter envelope to sell some, but…
[Merchant Possessed Funds: 4,000,000]
'Huh? There's a purchase limit now?'
-And one more thing. There's a patch. From now on, the shopkeeper's buying limit will be capped.
I recalled the conversation I'd had one-on-one with the administrator.
They'd said they'd set a max sell limit per shopkeeper, and sure enough, they'd closed that loophole.
"Hah? What the hell. A patch right now?"
"That's too much!"
Tell me about it.
But what could we do? I sold what scales I could. Just eight pieces the size of our group filled the 4 million points.
An absolutely staggering price.
If I'd stripped and sold the scales from this 400-meter monster, I couldn't even imagine the fortune.
"Hey, really can't sell more?"
"Nope. Shopkeeper's funds are at 0 points already."
"Just try. Maybe it shows 0 but the points still come through."
Shin Seo-yeon whined, so I tried, but no dice.
"Nooooo! My mooooney."
What could we do? The administrator said no. Don't sweat it too much. Time was tight anyway.
Cutting the scales had already taken a ton of time, and far more presences were gathering beyond the forest than before.
We had to escape before the real dangerous ones showed up.
"Dickhead! Summon another merchant and sell to them! That should work!"
"Yeah!"
The two kids sparkled with excitement at the idea, but I shot it down flat.
"Huh?! Why not?"
"Not enough letter envelopes."
"Oh?"
One for summoning Merrill from the monster farm.
One for Im Ah-rin.
One for the current summon.
So I only had seven left.
Exactly matching our party size.
I planned to save them for emergencies, regrettable as it was.
"Tch, guess no choice then."
Thankfully, pragmatic Shin Seo-yeon accepted it readily. The rest always followed my lead anyway, and Joo Ah-hyun and Kim Yu-rim smartly stayed quiet.
'Good. Got the essentials. Time to move.'
Just as we were about to pull out.
"Hold up, is that a shopkeeper you guys have right now?"
Presences approached, and about twenty people appeared, eyeing our general store owner.
"Whoa, a shopkeeper here?"
"Perfect. Gotta browse for something to beat this heat."
What a pain… No time for these lazy bastards.
"Yeah, fuck off. It's ours. Who said you could use it? Scram."
Shin Seo-yeon drew the line hard and hoisted the shopkeeper. The people flipped out.
"A shopkeeper isn't yours or mine!"
"Hah, always these assholes. Treating public goods like their property."
"Selfish pricks! Stop hogging and hand it over!"
They strutted forward like they had the right to take it. I was about to step in, but someone beat me to it.
Shing. Han So-hee stepped ahead and leveled her sword.
"Huh? Wh-What? You wanna go?!"
"R-Right when we gotta team up, you wanna fight us? Y-You're idiots!"
Her [Magic Engineering Sword] screamed high-end at a glance, so even their twenty-two numbers hesitated, backing off without raising their voices.
"We summoned this merchant with our ability. We use it as we please. Got a problem?"
"...."
"Want to use a shop? Summon your own."
They had nothing to say, just grinding their teeth in frustration.
Was it really worth getting that mad over?
Some people act like their stuff got stolen even when it's not theirs.
It was a mindset so brazen it gave me goosebumps.
"St-Still!"
Ah, right—not the time.
I quickly donned my [Magic Engineering Glasses] and scanned around.
[Velkoz's Magic Engineering Glasses - Analyze: Glasses made with magic engineering. Increases intelligence by 10 and displays threat levels of enemies. Usable 3 times per day.]
An item that shows enemy strength relative to me in rainbow colors.
From red-orange-yellow-green-blue-indigo-violet—redder means more dangerous, violet safer.
Not as detailed as [Full Appraisal], but great for instantly gauging if foes are stronger or weaker.
It only detected living beings like monsters and players, ignoring bushes or corpses, which showed as transparent.
Even highlighting hidden threats in foliage by color, it let me spot strong enemies with one sweep. Total game-changer.
The problem was…
'Shit.'
Indigo everywhere. Shades of indigo blanketed the surrounding forest.
Rustle-
The players arguing with Shin Seo-yeon were all the weakest violet.
The mystery monsters encircling us from the forest, biding their time, were mostly indigo.
Some blue mixed in.
The blue was faint and distant at first, but closing in, growing larger.
'Escape routes?'
I scanned fast for paths. Damn—fully surrounded. No clean way out.
"Why's it so empty around here?"
"Yeah. Weren't there tons searching earlier?"
People were starting to sense something off. The monsters prioritized hunting those farthest from Dracalon's corpse.
Rustle-
Rustle-rustle-
"Huh? Something in the bushes just now?"
And now they'd reached us. Closing in despite Dracalon's proximity? Not mere scavengers.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, someone burst from the forest screaming.
"Please, help m—!"
His final words.
Snap. A massive beak shot from the underbrush and vanished.
The man charging toward us, begging for life, got snatched without a scream and dragged back in.
Witnessing it from 50 meters away, the crowd went silent for a beat.
"Kyaaah! Kyaaaaah!"
Then screams in unison.
"Wh-What was that?!"
"B-Bird?"
"A bird?!"
"Head was huge! Beak bigger than a person!"
Panic erupted.
Their twenty-two shrieks drew everyone from the head area, but numbers had dropped from 1,326 to around 500.
"What happened?!"
"Th-That was…!"
Rustle-
The bushes shook again.
A leaf bigger than a person rustled massively.
Just that sway explained the prior screams to the latecomers.
"What the hell is that?!"
"What was that just now…?"
"Seok-woo hyung! Pull everyone back now!"
Kim Jin-woo, yakking with the women's group about newbie training, jumped into damage control. A early-thirties exec-looking guy by him fired his ability skyward.
Fire affinity like Shin Seo-yeon—a fireball soared up and boomed!
A signal flare to recall the search teams.
But I knew better.
"Wh-Why's no one coming?"
"Hyung! Fire another signal!"
"Uh, yeah!"
Over 70% of the searchers were already hunted, survivors getting picked off frantically.
They'd bought us time to regroup like this.
"R-Run the other way…"
The Chinese guys tried a clever reverse, but the opposite bushes surged, snatching the frontrunners into reptilian maws.
"Gaaah!"
"S-Save me!"
"Eek! Th-That side's blocked too!"
"B-Back around!"
Thus, around 500 survivors clustered at Dracalon's back, warily guarding all sides.
"Wh-What's going on?! How'd it turn to shit?!"
"Wasn't Rank 3 guild here? Thought we'd be out today?!"
The despairing mob blamed others. Infuriating just to watch, but Kim Jin-woo had some star quality, apparently.
"Everyone, calm down. Nothing's certain yet. Get a grip."
He took their gripes with a smile. And they bought it, just like that.
What a farce. How'd clowns like these reach the fourth trial?
Having soothed the crowd, Kim Jin-woo headed toward the [Cheongbang] crew.
"Hao Zifeng, know anything?"
"…Think I'd be here if I did? None of our guys who went out came back. These 32 are it."
"Damn, none of ours either."
Jeju Alliance still had over 200 thanks to promo work, but their elites were long monster chow.
Just lazy newbies left, clueless on teamwork.
"Got a good escape plan?"
"Dumb question, Kim Jin-woo. Think we'd still be stuck if we did?"
Truth was, a forced breakthrough now could save over half, but with no scouts returning, guild leaders couldn't assess squat.
"W-We checked everywhere. Fully surrounded."
Some sharp-eyed [Human Hunters] scanned around with grim faces.
'Hundreds of them, roughly.'
They prowled the bushes, sniffing blood excitedly, eyeing us tasty morsels near Dracalon while wary of it.
"Wh-What now, Min-jun?"
The Saintess turned to me, my party arrayed protectively around her and Shin Seo-yeon, awaiting orders.
Escape wasn't impossible, honestly.
But there had to be a better way.
'Oh, right—forgot to open this.'
I pulled an item from inventory. A palm-sized box.
[Prophet's Coffer: Resets at each new trial. Using it yields one helpful item for that trial.]
'Got it as a gift. Better use it first.'
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