Bang- Ba-bang-!

There was a large explosive sound that rang out as well as a white flash of light that covered the desert zone.

• Leader of Luspel Empire’s Knights ‘Hellaim’ has used skill ‘Flash of Destruction’.

• Critical damage has been dealt!

• Vitality has been reduced by 28733!

• Defensive Power has been temporarily reduced by 40%.

The DarkRuna Guild members, who pompously charged towards the Luspel Empire’s knights, truly began to fall apart.

“Sollin, by the looks of it, I think we’ve made a mistake!”

Sollin’s expression crumpled.

“Damn it, how are empire knights this strong?”

Of course, if they were the average standard of empire knights, the DarkRuna Guild wouldn’t have been slaughtered this gruesomely.

No, they would have almost been equal.

However, the problem was that the ones they disturbed were not normal empire knights, but the royal guards that were under direct control from the King.

On top of their average level being 170, Hellaim, who, although they didn’t know his exact level, was definitely well over lv 200, was simply a disaster to the DarkRuna Guild users.

“I was a little disappointed to just return like this, but to have met some Kaimon rookies, this turned out well just in time!”

Like a fish that met water, Hellaim went around the battleground swinging his greatsword around.

Whoong- Whoong-!

Even just from hearing, the horror of the sound of the air splitting could be felt.

The moment they were struck with the outrageous lump of metal, which was as almost as tall as an adult male, the DarkRuna Guild members, who were not yet even lv 140, turned black just like that and disappeared.

Bang-!

A sound too extreme and blunt to be considered something coming from being hit by a sword could be heard, and the guild members that were attacked were blown far back and turned into a grey light.

Plop-.

While looking at about five or six of her guild members die in an instant right in front of her eyes, Sollin fiddled with the sword she received from Ilahan.

‘Even if I were to use the Summoning magic right now, there probably wouldn’t be any use, right?’

No matter how high of a level the Summoning Magic that was on the sword was, it seemed inadequate to face that monster-like knight that ran around wildly carrying a greatsword the size of a tree-trunk.

Sollin opened her mouth.

“Leo, I think we have no choice.”

“What are you saying?”

“Even if we were to run away right now, we’ll be annihilated.”

The guild member called Leo nodded their head.

“That’s true.”

Sollin unsheathed the sword as she continued her words.

“Since it’s already like this, we’ll kill a couple of them at least and die in battle cleanly.”

At her words, Leo sighed deeply.

“Ha, in order to restore a level, it will take on average a couple of days… However, there’s nothing we can do.”

Ta-tat- Tat-!

Sollin quickly charged forward and began to face the knights of Luspel, and following her, Leo also ran into the battlefield.

However, Hellaim’s knights were too strong for them to face.

10 minutes later from then.

There was not one DarkRuna Guild user that remained on top of the desert, and the battle ended blandly.

“They had quite dogged spirits. Based on the fact that they weren’t afraid of death.”

Hellaim mumbled as he carried his greatsword.

Stomp- Stomp-.

The dozen people of the DarkRuna Guild were annihilated like that without having been able to kill even one knight.

However, this was an obvious result.

On top of the difference in fighting power for each individual being far superior, there were close to two times the number of knights, so in a way, it was to the point that even lasting 10 minutes was admirable.

* * *

Keu-reu-reu-reu-reu.

A growl so loud it gave off the illusion that the whole dungeon was shaking was heard.

The thing that appeared in front of Ian’s party was literally a giant, golden lizard.

At the enormous presence that didn’t lack in size even when compared to King Holdream of the giant, god-like people, Herz swallowed audibly as he opened his mouth.

“What, what the hell is that, Jinsung? I think that dragon is the Golden Turtle Dragon that Bbakbbak was talking about earlier.”

Jinsung nodded his head, as his gaze turned towards the mouth of the lizard that appeared in front of him.

The Cintamani was being held in the mouth of the giant lizard.

Kyaoooh!

The yellow lizard that bore through the stone wall and appeared roared loudly, and the party flinched as they took a step back.

However, just then, Kaizar opened his mouth.

“That isn’t the Golden Turtle Dragon.”

Ian’s head naturally turned towards him.

“Hm? You’re saying it’s not the Golden Turtle Dragon? Is it a monster that you know, retainer?”

Kaizar nodded his head.

“It’s much larger than what I remember, but if my memory is right, this is a Sand Drake. It’s a central continent monster that’s about lv 200.”

However, because the presence felt was incredible, Ian tilted his head.

“It looks much stronger than the Teranodon that’s a lv 200 monster.”

Kaizar opened his mouth again.

“That probably… I think is because of the Cintamani that’s being held in its mouth.”

“The Cintamani?”

“That’s right. I think it wanted to absorb the energy of that Cintamani and become a dragon. Based on its size, it seems it has absorbed quite a bit of its strength already.”

Kaizar unsheathed his sword as he walked forward.

As he did so, Ian wore a flustered expression.

“Retainer, this is too reckless! If you just go in like that!”

At that, Hoonie, who was standing in the back with a sour expression, mumbled.

“Is he worrying about that monster because he has no person to worry about?”

Ballam, who stood next to him, nodded his head in agreement.

• Unless Immortal presents himself in a tangible form, I think it’s impossible to kill that guy, Hoonie.

“Hmph!”

Either way, as Kaizar stepped forward, the lizard got into an even more offensive stance, and even the rest of the party, including Ian, couldn’t do anything else but prepare for battle.

And the drake, who discovered the party getting closer and closer, opened his mouth wide.

Whooong-!

Fiolan, who discovered that, shouted.

“It’s Breath! Dodge it!”

A large vortex swirled inside the drake’s mouth as the desert sand began to be sucked in.

Ian quickly let out a command to Bbookbbook.

“Bbookbbook, Curtain of Water!”

Bboo-bbook-!

As Ian spread out his hand while shouting, a stream of water poured out from Bbookbbook’s mouth.

Kwaaah-!

The stream of water flew out and formed a large curtain right in front of the drake.

And the drake’s breath spurted out.

Hwaaak-!

However, the drake’s Sand Breath was completely blocked off by the Curtain of Water that Bbookbbook spread out, and it dispersed into the air on the spot. The talisman item ‘Turtle Spirit’ that was received from Bbakbbak was already equipped onto Bbookbbook, and because of that, it was an Inherent Ability that he could use.

“Ooh…!”

Herz gave a thumbs-up as he let out an exclamation.

Kaizar also grinned as he lifted his sword.

“Good job, Lord guy. You were quite useful.”

Ian’s expression scrunched up as he responded.

“What do you mean I was useful? It was perfect!”

Bbook- Bboo-bbook-!

After smirking, Kaizar stomped his foot as he powerfully jumped forward.

And with that as the trigger, the battle with the Sand Drake began.

“Yoohyun, go up front first!”

“Got it!”

Herz shot forward as he started up his most top-ranked defensive skill.

• User ‘Herz’ has used skill ‘Divine Protection’.

• User ‘Herz’s Defensive Power and Vitality has tripled temporarily.

• For the duration of ‘Divine Protection’, the Vitality and Defensive Power of nearby party members of User ‘Herz’ will increase by 20%.

Ian’s command continued.

“Healers, please focus all heals on Herz, and Fiolan, please start casting magic!”

“Okay!”

Herz, who was already close to reaching the drake, followed up with a provoking skill.

• User ‘Herz’ has used skill ‘Rage of the Knight’.

• User ‘Herz’s Defensive Power has increased by 1200.

• All monsters within a 50-metre radius have begun to attack User ‘Herz’.

Following that, the gaze of the drake, who was facing Kaizar, moved towards Herz.

Bang- Ba-bang-!

A type of sand wind that was shot out from the mouth of the drake hit Herz’s shield.

• The Sand Drake has used Inherent Ability ‘Sand Spear’.

• User ‘Herz’s Vitality has been reduced by 12,650.

The message that popped up was a system message that Ian, the party leader, could only see.

While looking at the damage value that was seen in the message, Ian was astonished.

‘Wow… Even though he coated himself with Defensive Power buffs like that, over 10 thousand damage still comes through.’

Starting from when Bbookbbook’s Curtain of Water was used to block off the breath, the battle proceeded effectively like flowing water, but it didn’t finish that easily.

The drake’s Offensive Power was strong as well, but it seems as it appeared as a boss-type monster, its Vitality was incredible, to the point it made them speechless.

• Retainer ‘Kaizar’ has dealt critical damage to the ‘Sand Drake’!

• The ‘Sand Drake’s Vitality has been reduced by 27,767.

• The ‘Sand Drake’s Vitality has been reduced by 15,755.

Even Fiolan, who continuously poured out her magic, was astonished.

“Wow, how can its endurance be so strong? My mana’s going to be depleted soon…”

Herz also agreed.

“My buff effects will end soon as well! I’m still continuously getting healed, but once my defensive buffs disappear, I think I’m going to die horribly from just a couple hits…”

While attacking the drake’s flank with Ly, Ian mumbled internally.

‘If the royal guards were here, then we would have already caught him.’

However, as it was more important to attack even once more during the time he spent being disappointed over Hellaim, who had already left to face the Kaimon Empire army at the front, Ian worked his hands without rest.

Pung- Pu-pung-!

The battle continued on narrowly.

Herz’s Vitality continuously went back and forth from 20-30%, and if even one of the Vitality recovering skills of the healers were cancelled, the battle cycle that could completely collapse continued on like that.

However, not one of the party members lost their focus and diligently endured it.

“We’re almost there!”

Just like the shouts of someone, the Sand Drake’s Vitality gauge bar began to blink faster and faster, and Ian squeezed out as much attack speed as he could.

• The ‘Sand Drake’s Vitality has been reduced by 9824.

• The ‘Sand Drake’s Vitality has been reduced by 915.

• The ‘Sand Drake’s Vitality has been reduced by 4975.

At the attacks that were constantly poured out, the drake seemed to be distressed as it roared towards the air.

Kyaaooh!

And shortly after, the body of the giant lizard slowly crumbled to towards the sand floor.

Along with that, the body of the Sand Drake slowly turned into a grey light.

In the end, they had succeeded in killing the Sand Drake.

Thud-!

Along with a heavy sound that was enough to shake the ground, a system message popped up in front of all of the guild members.

• You have successfully killed the Hidden Boss Monster, the ‘Sand Drake’.

• You have obtained 5,587,798 EXP.

• As you are the first to kill the ‘Sand Drake’, your Fame has increased by 30 thousand.

• You have obtained the title ‘Drake Slayer’.

As the difficult battle, where they could have truly been annihilated from even just one mistake, ended, a reward fitting of that returned to the party members, and they all wore broad smiles.

“Wow, look at the EXP. It’s incredible!”

Fiolan obtained a Heroic-rank magic wand and was all smiles.

“I won a prize, jackpot!”

“Fiolan, what did you get?”

“A wand that’s better than the staff that I was using!”

“Ooh!”

While everybody was excited over the success of the boss monster hunt, a couple more messages popped up additionally for Ian.

• You have successfully interrupted the evolution of the Sand Drake.

• The Cintamani of the Golden Turtle Dragon has found its strength again.

Along with the message, the Cintamani floated up into the air.

And as the giant body of the Sand Drake shrunk, a white light came out of it and was sucked into the Cintamani.

And the Cintamani, which had a hazy glow, began to shine brightly.

Ian walked towards the Cintamani.

Both of his eyes were shining.

‘I’ve interrupted the evolution, you say?’

Judging from the system messages, it seemed like that Cintamani was the medium to evolution.

Ian’s gaze turned towards Bbookbbook.

‘Then that means…?’

Bbookbbook stared back at Ian, who was staring at him with a sticky gaze, with an expression saying as if he didn’t understand his reasoning.

Bboo-ook-?