Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 159

?He should be in hell—wait, no, he is already a God. Anyway, it is certain that he is an evil God.?

‘Yeah, he looks like one. That’s not something a good guy would ever do.’

?He must be a God deeply related to death, Master?

Reable was fundamentally different from humans, and it was not just in matters of opinion. He said that he ‘liked’ humans, but it was by no means a tender emotion such as love for humanity. It was the kind of ‘like’ people meant when they said they liked curry or cake.

?You did well when you stipulated in the contract that he is to kill only scumbag criminals who deserve the death penalty, Master. You did a really good job.?

Cheok-Liang repeated that several times.

Reable looked at Ji-Cheok with his bright red eyes and smiled.

“I’m loving your expression, Mr. Um~”

“...” “Now, let me show you.”

As Reable gestured with his hands, the two Giant Undead Warriors walked forward. They walked out of the safety zone and through the passageway made of clustered pipes. Steam erupted, and an enemy appeared from the other side of the passageway.

It was a Battle Golem. Ji-Cheok could clearly see the gears turning inside the quadrupedal monster’s body. It was about two meters tall and looked like a dog or a horse, something like that. However, the Undead warriors were over four meters tall.

‘Their weight classes are too different!’

Woong.

The Battle Golem’s eyes—or whatever devices they were that looked like eyes—glowed red. It actually fired laser beams at the Undead!

Pew~ Pew~

The laser hit the Giant Undead Warriors, but surprisingly, it did nothing whatsoever.

Thump! Thump!

The giants approached the Golem. Both of them raised their arm that was holding the mace and struck down.

Bam!

The Golem was crushed to pieces in one blow.

‘That… That’s way too strong!’

“See~? Even if it’s a dungeon with inorganic monsters like this, it’s not that difficult~ Fun fact, the warriors also gain experience like the Hunters! Isn’t that amazing?”

As Reable snapped his fingers, the two warriors did a Zero Two Dance. Ji-Cheok couldn’t believe that he was seeing their bone armor flutter like a skirt with his own two eyes.

‘This madman is dangerous.’

Although Ji-Cheok thought that Reable’s heaviest guns were cynical jokes and dark comedy, the latter’s essence was still from the Abyss, which made him completely different from humans. Now, Ji-Cheok understood the danger Ji-Han was talking about. Knowledge was indeed the greatest weapon, but Reable’s knowledge was a double-edged sword.

* * *

As they casually strolled through the dungeon, Reable sighed.

“As expected~ Automatic dolls without their master are useless~ They’re so weak!”

The automatic dolls he was talking about were the Golems. Reable sometimes used words unfamiliar to the two brothers, terms that were not used by the System.

‘Is it because he’s technically a God?’

Leaving behind a long trail of automatic dolls, they continued to move forward. As they were going forward, Reable cast additional spells on the Giant Undead Warriors.

?He is definitely not using skills. He is using magic spells. The majority of mankind only uses skills, and it is almost impossible to develop or train new abilities.?

‘But we can increase our proficiency level.’

?It is not the same thing. Increasing proficiency merely means improving one’s ability to use the same skill. That is a different concept from being able to use magic freely the way he does.?

As Cheok-Liang said, Reable was using his knowledge and applying it as magic spells. For that reason, the two Undead warriors had now become incomparably stronger than when they were first created.

“Bertum. Bertum. Zeksenik. Zeknik.”

“‘Bertum’ means intruder. And the words after that mean something like ‘removal’ or ‘incineration’. These monsters are Security Golems, so it’s natural for them to say things like that,” Reable said.

The new monsters were bipedal Golems that looked like humans. These three-meter-tall Golems with Tesla coils attached to their shoulders showered them with lightning attacks. On the other side, there were the Giant Undead Warriors whose bodies were overflowing with black mana. Their appearance alone was threatening. The Undead warriors walked toward the monsters, blocking the lightning attacks with their shields, and smashed the Golems mercilessly. Then, they took out the Golems’ Cores and chewed on them.

Crack.

“It’s like the skill Absorption! Undead monsters often use it, right? They can use that to steal the power of inorganic monsters. Isn’t it cool?” Reable said.

‘Damn. I could exchange them for money… What a waste.’

But when he calmly thought about it, it was actually beneficial that Reable could become powerful that way. Golem Cores were not that expensive in the first place, and it was rather helpful if Reable could easily supply energy to his warriors with the Golem Cores. Most Hunters had trouble with their mana recovery, but if Reable could use this method, it was likely not a problem for him.

?That is a neat trick from Reable, Master. It is different from your ways.?

‘Of course, I have the [Spontaneous Absorption], but it’s a supplementary skill. If I just used that skill by itself, it wouldn’t be very effective.’

They continued their journey. The [Tomb of the Broken Machines] was basically a maze with passageways that looked like they came out of a steampunk movie. There was a key that came out after going around the maze and defeating the Golems along the way. They needed the key to move on to the next stage. However, when they arrived at the [Door], they still didn’t have the key with them. The [Door] was a very thick shielding door.

‘Damn. Do we need to go back?’

“Do you want me to try and open the door? I think I can do it with my Chronicler skills,” Mu-Cheok said.

“You? You think you can do it?”

“My skills are really, really versatile.”

‘I guess he could use a word like [Open] to do it.’

“Whoa, why are you trying to use your skills when you have that much muscle?” Reable said.

He wiggled his finger.

‘What is that madman saying?’

“Are you struggling to open a door because you don’t have a key? Well, fret no more! Call for help and I shall answer!”

The Undead warriors stepped forward. They took out the Golem Cores they had collected so far and put a few into their mouths. Then, the black mana in their bodies gradually increased. Overflowing with energy to the point where Ji-Cheok couldn’t even see their original bodies, they went straight to the door and grabbed it with all of their hands.

Roar.

They used the power of the black mana as dark flames soared from their bodies. A moment later, the brothers witnessed something downright absurd.

Crack. Crack.

The thick, armored door was bent and distorted.

“How is that possible…?”

The huge metal vault door that even level 80 Hunters could not open by force was crumpling like some sort of cooking foil. This meant that the strength of the warriors had already far surpassed that of a Hunter at level 80.

“Voilà~ Is this what you wanted?” Reable said.

“Hyung, that guy is crazy! You should be extra careful with him,” Mu-Cheok said.

“You don’t say.”

Ji-Cheok knew that if this Reable guy was not properly controlled, it was impossible to know what kind of disaster he could create.

“Alright, let’s go in—”

Boom!

A flash of light burst out from the passageway inside the shielding door. The light struck the two Undead warriors. They didn’t take much damage, but fireballs flew out from the other side of the door and exploded around them.

Boom!

Then, the door started to open by itself.

Ji-Cheok could hear people talking in awkward Korean from behind the door. It sounded as if they were using cheap translation skills.

“Are not Koreans known for doing things quickly? Am tired of waiting.”

“Shut up, Jack.”

“Tom, you always tell me to shut up.”

“Mr. Jack, Mr. Tom. How about focus on what is in front.”

“Mr. Park, don’t worry~ We’re pros~ This is nothing.”

Six Hunters who were fully equipped with items walked out from the door.

‘There are Hunters who came in before us?’

“These bastards… I think they bribed a government official to let them in before us…” Mu-Cheok said.

He was right. Access to dungeons was managed by the government to prevent shady things from happening inside. Logically, the fact that they were in the dungeon before Ji-Cheok and the gang meant that bribing a government official was the only possible explanation.

Furthermore, there was another peculiar thing: they were waiting for Ji-Cheok beyond the door. Since normal Hunters could not open and close the door without a key, it was clear that they had some special way to open and close the door, just like how Mu-Cheok had tried to open it with his skill.

Put together, these things meant that the enemies in front of them were not to be taken lightly.

‘And the limit on the number of people who can enter here is not in our favor…’

“But how did you know we’d be here?”

“Hahahaha! That's because we snatch your application to enter before you submitted it. Just like in our country, you buy anything with the right amount of money!”

“Jack, shut up.”

“What? Am gonna kill all anyway.”

There were two Hunters in the front, one a white male and the other a Latino male. From their conversation, the Latino male’s name seemed to be Tom. They were looking at Ji-Cheok calmly, and the white male shrugged lightly as if he owned the room.

The Latino man carried a staff and was of average build. The white male was clad in heavy armor, had a muscular body, and held a mace in each hand.

Behind them, there were three Hunters with firearms and one with a staff. All of them looked Korean.

“Hey, Likes Man~ Name’s Jack. I’m gonna crush you and kil—”

Before Jack finished talking, waves of strange power came from Reable and covered the surrounding area. Ji-Cheok had no idea what kind of power it was, but it was ominous and unpleasant.

‘Are they going to interpret this as a threat?’

Just as Ji-Cheok was thinking that…

“ATTACK!”

Ji-Cheok saw the guys with guns in the back raising their weapons. He also circulated his Qi and felt Mu-Cheok next to him quickly drawing out his two pistols. Then, the enemies opened fire.

Ji-Cheok used his mana to move his shadow and place it in front of him and his brother.

Ting! Ting! Ting!

The shadow barrier blocked the enemies’ mana bullets.

This was the second time someone was trying to assassinate Ji-Cheok.

‘Maybe this time they’re from the companies in the potion industry.’

?Master, I will cover you.?

Cheok-Liang jumped from his neck into the shadow. Since he could use Ji-Cheok’s skills to some extent, he hid in the shadows. Meanwhile, a familiar voice spoke next to him.

“Wow~ That hurts. That really hurts. But I get it now. One thing's for certain,” Reable said.

He was full of bullet holes, and dark blood came out of them. His clothes, which weren’t remotely suitable for battle, were torn here and there and riddled with holes.

‘This crazy guy… He’s okay, even if he looks like a piece of swiss cheese. Wait, what was that mana wave from before?’

Finally, the barrage of bullets stopped. Just as Ji-Cheok took a cautious peek at his opponents, the enemies were also looking at Reable with puzzled expressions.

“You…are the bad guys trying to kill my Master! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

Reable laughed like a lunatic. The way he was literally bending backward while he laughed was like something out of a B-grade horror movie.

“ARGH!”

He looked weird, but the enemy’s condition was even stranger. Everyone grabbed their heads and staggered as if in pain. It was not just enemies—Mu-Cheok was also in pain.

‘Could that laughter itself be a mental attack?! Was that mana wave just preparation for his attack? Wait… it’s not the time to worry about that!’

Ji-Cheok made his shadow wider and reached into it to pull out the Guardian of Hope. He then tossed the shield into the air.

Woong.

The Guardian of Hope glowed as it protected Mu-Cheok. Mu-Cheok took a deep breath and relaxed.

“Damn it, I should buy some mental defense items for this kind of occasion.”