Kuhahk!

Upon impact, clumps of rock sloughed off the stone lizard's back, revealing the pink flesh underneath!

'A weakness!'

Even without his Hyper Intuition, it was clear. Attacking that soft, delicate flesh would inflict a tremendous amount of damage!

Eder thought the same. He immediately summoned a Bone Mass above its pink skin.

"Explode!"

Bone Bomb!

Boom!

Sharp bone fragments pierced its skin, causing red shards of light to burst out.

'It really is a weak point!'

He needed to take advantage of it!

Kang Oh moved without hesitation, aiming for its pink flesh.

Shaa!

The stone lizard, who'd focused entirely on Sephiro, opened its mouth and shot rock shards at Kang Oh.

Whoosh!

Kang Oh swung his sword horizontally.

Tempest Tiger!

The golden aura blew away the shards and hit the stone lizard head-on.

Bam!

Tempest Tiger hit its head, which was completely encased in rock, so it didn't do much damage.

Whoosh!

The skill's auxiliary effect, the raging whirlwind, didn't work on it either.

Then, Kang Oh pushed through the wind and swung his sword. His target was obviously its uncovered flesh. However, it didn't show its back to him.

It moved its body around and kept shooting shards at him.

Kang Oh threw himself out of the way, avoiding the shards, and quickly got back into position. Then, he began his assault.

The stone lizard and Kang Oh clashed several times within the whirlwind.

Whizz!

Once the winds died down, Sephiro shot another arrow. The arrow gouged its pink flesh.

Kyaa!

The lizard's rock face twisted.

'I just need to draw its attention.'

Instead of attacking its weak point himself, he decided to keep it occupied so that Sephiro and Eder could get a clean shot in. It would be a lot easier for the ranged attackers, Eder and Sephiro, to get a hit in.

"C'mon, you knucklehead!" Kang Oh provoked it, and kept acting as though he were aiming for its weak point.

The stone lizard couldn't afford to ignore Kang Oh; perhaps it remembered getting hit by his Everlasting Darkness. Because of that, Eder and Sephiro were able to strike at its weak point with ease.

Occasionally, the stone lizard would open its mouth and shoot rock shards at Eder or Sephiro, but it didn't really endanger either of them.

Though the stone lizard started with a tremendous amount of HP, constantly striking at its weak point had cut it down to size. In the end, it couldn't withstand their long-ranged assault.

Kang Oh saw how much slower it'd become, and realized that the end was near. However, its eyes suddenly glowed with yellow light.

Petrifying Gaze!

[You have been affected by Petrifying Gaze.]

[Your body has begun stiffening.]

'Damn it!' Kang Oh had belatedly closed his eyes. He felt like his right arm and leg were stiffening.

He hadn't lowered his guard. This was unavoidable, a consequence of fighting a monster that he had no prior knowledge of. Fortunately, Kang Oh had comrades that could cover for his mistakes.

"Mr. Kang Oh!"

While his eyes were closed, Kang Oh could hear Eder's voice. At the same time, he felt someone's presence from behind him.

"Please eat this."

It felt like something had entered his mouth. Eder had definitely fed him one of his drugs.

[You have eaten Cyndria's Special Recovery Drug.]

[Confusion, paralysis, and petrification are undone.]

[Your resistance to status ailments has increased.]

He could feel his stiff arm and leg again.

Kang Oh slightly opened his eyes. He could see a giant bone spear protruding from the stone lizard's back.

[You have defeated a Rock Eating Stone Lizard.]

"Hoo." Kang Oh caught his breath. That could've been really bad. "Thanks, Eder."

"I'm glad I brought a few of Cyndria's Recovery Drugs." Eder had seen its gaze, so his body had stiffened too.

He had quickly eaten Cyndria's Recovery Drug, which was useful in healing status ailments, and threw a huge Bone Spear at the stone lizard. After that, he'd fed Kang Oh and Sephiro the same drug, restoring them to perfect health.

"Thank you." Sephiro expressed his gratitude as well.

"Petrifying Gaze. It won't work on me next time," Kang Oh said.

Kang Oh kept that information in his head; that stone lizards were capable of using Petrifying Gaze. From now on, whenever he fought one of them, he'd close his eyes as soon as their eyes began to glow.

"Yes. Please make sure of that. I didn't bring that many recovery drugs with me, so I can't keep using them."

"Got it."

"Then let's keep going."

Kang Oh's party continued their exploration.

* * *

The Rocking Cave only contained rock-type monsters.

There were rock lizards, rock spirits, and even ogres. The rock lizards were completely covered in rocks, while the rock spirits threw boulders at them with arms that were 5 meters large. Lastly, the ogres were, like the rock lizards, completely encased in gray rocks.

You could beat them all the same way.

Attack a single point, break the rock, and attack the pink flesh underneath. That was a weakness that all the rock-type monsters shared.

If you attack a single point, then even monsters with outrageously high defense could be defeated. However, every rock-type monster here had a trick up their sleeve, like the rock lizard's Petrifying Gaze.

When their life was in danger, rock spirits would self-destruct, and the rock ogres had two lives, requiring that you kill them twice.

"Please attack the area where my arrow lands!" Sephiro yelled.

"I'll keep it distracted! Concentrate fire on a single area!" Kang Oh said.

"Be careful of its Petrifying Gaze, and don't forget that the rock spirits can self-destruct!" Eder said.

In front of them were two rock lizards, and one rock spirit was behind them. It was chaos. Shrieks and cries, shards and rocks, and arrows and spells came and went.

"Focus! Kill the lizards first!"

"Yes!"

Kang Oh's party calmly took down one monster at a time. It took quite a long time, but they were able to win regardless.

"Let's move."

Kang Oh's party was back on the move. But a short while later, Kang Oh froze.

"What's the matter? Is there something here?" Eder asked.

"Yeah, that." Kang Oh pointed at the wall. More specifically, to the statue attached to the wall!

It was a statue of a boy and a dog. Once he saw it, his Hyper Intuition flared; it told him that something was suspicious about the statue, and that there was something more to it!

"Is there some sort of secret behind this statue?" Sephiro stroked the head of the boy statue.

At the same time, Waryong imitated him, placing its wings on top of the dog statue.

Then...!

Rumble!

The wall, which was attached to the statues, pushed inwards, revealing a passageway someplace else!

[You are the first to discover the hidden dungeon, Stonemason's Workroom.]

[Fame has increased.]

[Hunting in the Stonemason's Workroom yields twice the experience. Item drop rate is also doubled.]

"W-What is this?" Sephiro was shocked.

Why did the entrance of a hidden dungeon suddenly appear?

"It seems like touching both statues at the same time opens the door," Kang Oh said.

"Ah, I see." Sephiro nodded his head, and patted Waryong's head. "Good job!"

Kyaa, kyaa!

Waryong happily opened its wings, basking in Sephiro's praise.

However, the conditions were slightly different than what Kang Oh had described.

The entrance to the hidden dungeon would only reveal itself if a master and their pet touched the boy and the dog statue simultaneously. Because Waryong had copied Sephiro's actions, they were able to satisfy the conditions and open the door.

In other words, it was pure luck!

"Hehe, let's go."

"Yes."

[Entering the dungeon, Stonemason's Workroom.]

There was a stone giant inside. Its skin was tough and gray, wore a Viking helmet on its head, and there was a bushy beard on its face.

It held a hammer in one hand, and carried all sorts of crafting tools inside its belt.

[You have discovered Stonemason Dragan.]

There was a giant dog beside it. The dog, however, wasn't made of stone. Aside from its huge size, it looked exactly like a Siberian Husky.

Grr!

It snarled at Kang Oh's party and bared its teeth.

[You are the first to discover Dragan's Pet, Jet.]

The huge dog, Jet, snarled, and then Stonemason Dragan discovered them. Once he saw them, Kang Oh drew Ubist, and Eder and Sephiro prepared for battle.

However...

"Oh, we have guests?" A familiar, yet friendly voice rang out, as if it had come from the old man next door.

Hearing that, Kang Oh's party lost their will to fight.

"Mm, hello. My name is Kang Oh."

"My name is Sephiro, and this is Waryong."

"I am Eder."

"It's a pleasure. I'm Dragan. As you can see, I'm a stonemason. Anyhow..." Dragan pointed at Kang Oh's party.

"You, do you want to become this dungeon's master?"

They were shocked.

'A dungeon's master!'

"Are you this dungeon's final guardian?" Kang Oh asked.

"That's right."

"Nice!" Kang Oh beamed. 'Wow, another soul dungeon!' His face filled with excitement, he continued, "I'd like to become the dungeon's master!"

"Not you."

"What? Not me? Then who?"

"The one over there." Dragan moved his finger slightly. However, his finger was so large that it was unclear who he was pointing at.

"Me?" Eder carefully asked.

"No, the one with the young wyvern!"

"M-Me?" Sephiro's eyes widened. 'To think he'd be pointing at me!' He hadn't gotten his hopes up, as he'd been with Kang Oh.

"Yeah, you."

"You want me to become the dungeon's master?" Sephiro said, looking at him in complete disbelief.

"That's right."

"Yes, I'd like that." Sephiro beamed.

"Congratulations." Eder patted his shoulder.

"Ahem, congratulations." Kang Oh was jealous, but it didn't matter. Congratulating him was a common courtesy.

"Thank you."

"But why did you choose Sephiro?" Kang Oh asked.

"He has a good relationship with his pet. I wanted to leave this dungeon to someone who treats their pet well."

"I see."

Kang Oh already owned three soul dungeons, so he knew that the final guardians had different requirements for becoming the dungeon's master.

"Here, take this." Dragan pulled out a triangular stone. His hand was so large that it looked like a millet in his hand.

"Aah." Sephiro accepted the soul stone; he was absolutely moved. 'I've finally become a dungeon's master!'

Gyaa, gyaa!

Its master's happiness was its happiness. Waryong joyfully danced around.

"Hehehe." Dragan looked at the two contentedly and petted his companion dog, Jet. The giant Siberian Husky began rubbing his face against his hand.

"I've formally become the dungeon's master," Sephiro said after receiving a confirmation message.

"If you yell 'Dungeon Management', then the Dungeon Management window will open. With it, you can change the dungeon however you want, look over the dungeon rewards and information, etc.," Kang Oh explained. He owned three of them already, so he knew how they worked.

"Dungeon Management!" Sephiro began fiddling around with the window.

Then, Kang Oh asked, "So, what are the rewards?"