“Kyahhhhh!”
Terrified, Lumina screamed and dashed past me in a flash.
Now that I thought about it, Lumina’s physical aptitude was two ranks higher than mine—she had a D, while I was an F.
Telling her to follow me felt a little embarrassing in hindsight.
“Lumina! Don’t run ahead! You’ll get lost and that’s dangerous!”
At my shout, Lumina quickly slowed down and came back to my side.
“And you don’t need to be so scared. The monsters here are all super slow.”
As I spoke while running, Lumina glanced over her shoulder.
“Y-You’re right. At this speed, we’re not really in danger of getting caught.”
The creatures in the Catacombs were all undead—Skeletons, Mummies, or Zombies.
The fastest one was about as quick as I was right now.
“But just a moment ago... why’d you do that?”
She asked as we ran through the narrow corridor connecting the rooms.
“You woke up the monsters on purpose?”
“Yeah…”
“You’ll see soon.”
At that moment, the corridor ended.
It opened into a new room.
“Lumina, head in first. Then go through the eastern corridor and wait for me there.”
I raised a hand and pointed toward the room ahead.
“O-Okay!”
Though her expression was still confused, Lumina didn’t argue and followed my instructions.
A moment later, after entering the room, I dropped a Low-Grade Spike Bomb in the center, then turned toward the corridor where Lumina was waiting and ran.
The instant I entered the hallway—
Boom!
The Spike Bomb exploded behind me.
“Again!?”
Lumina shrieked, staring past me.
The groans of a chorus of undead echoed toward us.
“All right, let’s go.”
I grabbed Lumina’s wrist and sprinted down the corridor.
In the next room, I repeated the same process again.
“A-Are you sure this isn’t too many monsters, even if they’re slower than us!?”
Lumina looked back and cried out in a tearful voice.
I glanced back too, and saw dozens of undead chasing us.
“Yeah, you’re right. If they catch us, we’ll probably end up like them.”
“Eeeek!”
It was meant as a joke, but Lumina practically had a seizure.
“We’re almost there.”
“W-Where exactly are we going??”
“Someplace good.”
I led her through four more rooms.
I didn’t throw any more bombs.
But even though the monsters were slow to crawl out of their coffins, since we’d passed by them, they were now all trailing behind us.
They should be showing up any second now.
Thanks to my Hunter’s magic, I wasn’t physically tired, but I did worry a little—what if I missed it by mistake?
As I was thinking that, we entered the eighth room.
And there, under the entrance leading to the corridor ahead, I saw several skulls lying scattered on the ground.
Found it!
I turned to Lumina, who was pale as a sheet.
“Lumina, dash down that hallway and stop in front of the first room you see!”
“Huh? Yein, what about you?”
“I’ll catch up right after!”
“O-Okay!”
Lumina picked up speed and raced down the corridor.
Following behind her, I pulled a few icons out of my inventory.
Then, materializing them, I dropped them at regular intervals along the corridor floor.
Clink-clank!
Crack!
The sound of clattering bones echoed from behind.
“Grooaaaar…”
“Graaaghhh…”
A swarm of undead monsters surged toward me as I stood my ground.
Once I saw them cramming into the narrow hallway, I turned and ran toward where Lumina was waiting.
“Y-Yein! Hurry!!”
Lumina, standing at the open entrance of a crypt, called out to me desperately.
“It’s fine.”
I smiled and said,
“They’re not going to catch us.”
“Huh?”
Lumina blinked, her face full of confusion—then it happened.
Keeeeeeee!
A piercing sound tore through the corridor as a blast of icy blue light filled the space.
An intense chill rushed in, like the air of an industrial freezer.
I stopped in place and looked back.
Over twenty undead monsters had frozen solid, their bodies covered in thick white frost.
“Wha—!?”
Lumina gaped, her mouth hanging open.
The frozen monsters shattered into pieces and collapsed in a heap.
“Grooooar…”
“Kaah!”
“Yein! There’s more coming!!”
Lumina shook my arm frantically.
More monsters that had been stuck behind their frozen allies began stepping over the shattered remains to get to us.
“Well, they’re just going to die too.”
“Huh?”
Keeeeeeee!
The moment I spoke, another wave of blue light and freezing air surged through the corridor.
This time it’s about fifteen of them. I should space them out a bit more next time.
I quickly counted the frozen monsters.
A few seconds later, they too shattered and fell—and so did the ones behind them.
“Wooooow…”
Lumina stared at the scene, completely dazed.
Before long, more than eighty undead monsters had been reduced to shards littering the corridor floor.
And then, a familiar voice echoed in my head.
[Your Hunter Level has increased.]
“Ah!!”
Lumina shouted.
“M-My level went up!”
“With that kind of monster herding, it’d be weird if it didn’t.”
I checked my stats as I spoke.
My level had increased from 3 to 4. My HP rose from 15 to 20, and my MP from 9 to 12.
Attack, defense, HP and MP recovery, agility, resistance—all of them had increased according to my aptitudes.
“H-Hunting monsters like this… I never imagined it. Nearly a hundred of them, just like that… Yein, you’re amazing!”
Lumina beamed, her face glowing.
“This only works in the Catacombs.”
I replied as I approached the monster remains.
Slow monsters like these, clustered together in narrow corridors, were perfect targets for long-range area attacks.
In my case, I didn’t have any special abilities or skills that could do that, so I used Cold Mines instead.
But it didn’t have to be Cold Mines.
The undead on the first floor of the Catacombs had no resistance to physical or elemental damage, so anything—Spike Bombs, Fire Orbs—would work.
“And saying they’re gone isn’t quite right.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
I planted four more Cold Mines, spacing them out a little more than before.
Then I stepped back to stand next to Lumina.
Clack clack.
Lumina, who had been looking at me, turned toward the sound of bones rattling.
“Gasp!”
Her face went pale again.
Bones and chunks of flesh that had been scattered across the floor began to twitch—and then reassemble themselves.
“W-What the heck is that…?!”
“They’re undead. They don’t die.”
The undead on the first floor of the Catacombs couldn’t truly be killed.
You could knock them down, but after a certain amount of time, they would reanimate—just like now.
Soon, the first wave of fallen monsters had fully regenerated and began to walk toward us again.
Keeeeeeee!
And were frozen all over again.
“…”
Lumina stood frozen, as if she'd been turned to ice herself.
“That’s why, as long as I have enough materials, I can farm experience points endlessly.”
I spoke while staring at the second wave of undead preparing to resurrect behind the fallen ones.
“Th-That’s actually possible?”
“It must be, or why would I be doing this?”
“This isn’t a dream, is it?”
“Want me to pinch your cheek?”
“…Okay.”
I was joking, but—
I reached out and pinched Lumina’s cheek with the tip of my finger.
“Ow!!”
Her soft, squishy cheek compressed under my fingers, and her squeal echoed down the corridor.
“Ugh… yeah, it’s real…”
“I’m going to keep repeating this until I run out of bombs, so use your Invisibility and hide.”
I said to Lumina, who was now rubbing her cheek.
“Invisibility? But your bombs knock out the monsters the moment they get up. Why would you need me?”
“Because if I get lucky, I might need your help.”
“If you get lucky…?”
I could see Lumina’s expression turn puzzled again.
“Please.”
“U-Understood.”
She nodded, and then vanished as if she’d turned completely invisible.
If only I had that skill too, things would be a lot easier.
I couldn’t help but feel bitter about having possessed Nam Yein instead of the protagonist character.
About three minutes later, I had used up all my Cold Mines and switched to Spike Bombs.
“Lumina, I’m throwing Spike Bombs from now on, so whatever you do, stay away from the monsters and keep behind me.”
There was no reply. Apparently, even speaking would break her Invisibility.
That made sense—it was the same in the game: using Invisibility meant no dialogue would trigger.
Clatter, clatter, clatter.
The sound of bones rattling echoed.
The remains of the first wave of undead—already taken down five times—began to tremble again.
But this time, something felt off.
They were shaking more violently than before.
The vibrations grew stronger until every bone on the floor was shuddering.
Ah!
I felt my lips curl into a grin.
Bingo.
“Lumina.”
I spoke to where Lumina should be nearby.
“Something different is about to spawn over there. The moment it appears, slash the backs of its knees with your dagger. Try to get both if you can.”
No reply, of course.
Roughly two seconds passed.
Then it appeared.
Clatter, clatter. Click, click. Crack!!
A massive skeleton emerged with a chorus of bone-clashing noises, having absorbed all the surrounding remains.
Blue flames flickered in its empty eye sockets, and it stood over 2.5 meters tall.
A Mad Skeleton.
A rare monster that sometimes spawned when farming undead in the Catacombs. The developers likely added it to stop players from farming experience too easily—it was an Easter egg kind of monster, one you couldn’t meet through normal combat.
The first time I encountered it in the Catacombs, I completely panicked.
It had a massive health pool and high attack power—way too strong to defeat by conventional means.
Later, using an item that analyzed monster stats, I discovered that the Mad Skeleton was Level 25.
Considering the recommended level for the first floor of the Catacombs was between 4 and 7, that meant it wasn’t meant to be taken down through normal methods.
But even the Mad Skeleton had a strategy.
Slash!!
A sharp slicing sound rang out as the Mad Skeleton fell forward.
Standing behind it was Lumina, holding a dagger.
As expected—Invisibility strike.
Even the Mad Skeleton wasn’t immune to it.
“Lumina! This way! Watch out for its arms!”
I shouted, and Lumina quickly dashed over to where I was.
As expected, the fallen Mad Skeleton swung its arms, trying to grab her, but Lumina had anticipated it and leapt away, dodging perfectly.
“Haa… haa…!”
She was breathing hard, likely from the adrenaline, even though the run had been short.
“Nice work, Lumina. Now follow me.”
I led her into the room behind us.
“Th-This place…?”
Lumina’s eyes widened at the sight inside.
Instead of the eerie purple glow and stone coffins, the room was lit with a warm apricot-colored light, and a pure white stone altar stood in the center.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Loud pounding echoed from behind us, and we turned in unison.
“Kyahhh!”
Lumina screamed.
The upper half of the Mad Skeleton was crawling toward us, dragging itself forward with both arms.
It was straight out of a horror movie.
“Lumina, put your hand here.”
I placed my hand on the altar and looked at her. She quickly laid her hand on top of mine.
Immediately, a bright light burst out from the altar.
The radiant glow filled the entire room and extended toward the crawling Mad Skeleton.
Crack-crack-crack!!
The bones that made up the creature shuddered violently, like brittle branches in the wind.
I didn’t let up—I hurled Low-Grade Fire Orbs at it one after another.
After all 18 of them were spent, I switched to Spike Bombs and kept throwing.
By the time I had used up 15 of them—
The Mad Skeleton finally stopped moving and collapsed completely.
Its scattered bones turned to white ash and vanished altogether.
[Your Hunter Level has increased.]
[Your Hunter Level has increased.]
[Your Hunter Level has increased.]
[Your Hunter Level has increased.]
[Your Hunter Level has increased.]
[Your Hunter Level has increased.]
[Your Hunter Level has increased.]
The same voice echoed in my head like a broken record.
“Wh-Wh-WHAAA!?”
As Lumina gawked in disbelief, I smiled.
As expected of the Mad Skeleton.
What a jackpot.
(End of Chapter)