BOOM!!!
“-Ghk……!”
“S-Sucheol?!”
The thugs’ eyes widened.
One of their companions had suddenly been sent flying right before them.
Had Dojin attacked him?
He had.
Then what had he attacked with?
A sword? An arrow? A hammer?
All wrong.
The attack that had struck the thug named Sucheol was……
“D-Dodge!”
“You son of a bitch!”
……one of the boulders currently rolling down the Arena’s slope.
‘What the hell?!’
Hong Jingu ground his teeth from behind his group.
He had never expected this.
‘I’m Earth Attribute! That’s why I was confident when we came to a falling-rock Arena!’
Hong Jingu’s calculations themselves had not been wrong.
An Arena with unusual terrain or a Quest involving rocks, like this one, was extremely advantageous to an Earth-Attribute Player.
The only problem was—they had not logged into this Arena to clear the Quest.
Even now, the incessantly appearing notification windows were becoming irritating.
Falling Rocks Destroyed: 2/300
Falling Rocks Destroyed: 5/300
Falling Rocks Destroyed: 7/300
Most of the falling rocks were soft enough to break simply by blocking them.
“These damn notifications are so fucking noisy!”
The Tank spat out a curse.
Hong Jingu agreed.
Just as he was about to nod……
BOOM!
“Urgh!”
Another falling rock came flying in from the side!
Again!
“You bastard!!”
At the end of the direction the thugs glared toward with murderous eyes stood Dojin.
“Still not ready? You guys seem a little slow.”
As he spoke, Dojin kicked another falling rock and sent it flying.
BOOM!
“Agh!”
No.
Not one.
Two.
He had hidden a smaller rock behind a large one and kicked them in succession.
“…….”
Watching the thugs, who had already lost the initiative and were now too busy defending themselves to do anything but howl in anger, Dojin sank into thought.
‘So this is why this Arena is unpopular.’
Even if this was the Tutorial Season, when everyone cared only about obtaining Mana Stones and Gold, a Player could still earn plenty of Gold by putting on an impressive and spectacular stream.
But what if a Low-Grade Arena offered neither desirable rewards nor any opportunity to look impressive?
Would Players whose primary goal was making money bother logging into it?
Boulders had been continuously spawning above the slope and rolling downward ever since the Quest began.
Their sizes varied, as did their hardness.
Because of that, even if a Player failed to block or dodge one, there was little risk of serious injury.
Instead……
THUD!
“Ghk!”
A fairly large rock dropped directly onto the head of the Hunter Player, who had been watching Dojin for an opportunity to counterattack.
Fortunately, it was soft sandstone, so there was no chance that a Player with greater durability than an ordinary person would be injured.
He merely ended up completely covered in fragments of shattered sandstone.
“Pfft!”
The sight was ridiculous enough to make even the other thugs burst out laughing.
“Hey! Don’t laugh!”
The Hunter Player shouted, unable to see properly because stone dust had gotten into his eyes.
As though it had been waiting for that exact moment, a fist-sized stone struck him squarely in the face.
“-Ghk……!”
“Oh, sorry.”
Dojin mocked the Hunter thug, whose nose was completely smashed and whose face was now covered in blood.
Fragile falling rocks such as sandstone were useful as distractions.
The occasional hard rocks mixed among them were useful as weapons.
“I’m having too much fun using the Arena Quest against you.”
Dojin meant every word.
And before his regression, this had been common sense to him.
Once Arenas became Dungeons and the final safeguard protecting Players’ lives disappeared, skilled Players began using every aspect of the surrounding terrain to survive.
‘I thought bastards who ignore Quests and use Arenas for crimes might be a little different, but I guess they haven’t reached that level yet.’
Then again, thinking back on it, Quests during the Tutorial Season had all been fairly straightforward.
That was when—
“Move aside up front!”
Hong Jingu’s voice rang out.
At last, the Earth-Attribute Mage Player began moving.
“!”
Hong Jingu was a Lv.48 Mage on the verge of reaching C-Grade.
By now, the magic he could use had already developed across multiple areas, including offense, defense, and support.
‘Though that doesn’t mean he’s good at all of them.’
One corner of Dojin’s mouth rose.
From the moment he logged into the Arena and the Quest began, Dojin had been observing both his surroundings and the thugs’ reactions.
‘Hong Jingu stayed at the very back, the Tank stood at the front, and the Hunter and Assassin stood side by side in front of Hong Jingu.’
That meant they intended to focus entirely on Dojin while paying little attention to the rocks falling during the Quest.
‘They probably decided that since this is a Low-Grade Arena Quest, the falling rocks wouldn’t be particularly dangerous.’
At first glance, the plan seemed flawless.
The obstacle they had failed to account for was Dojin himself.
The thugs had probably assumed they could handle the occasional hard falling rock without much trouble.
But what if those rocks were infused with aura?
CRACK!!! CRASH!
“W-What?! How did……?!”
Hong Jingu screamed in shock.
It was a perfectly natural reaction.
“My is as hard as steel…… and it shattered just from being hit by a rock?!”
***
An offensive Skill commonly used by Earth-Attribute Mage Players.
By the time someone reached the upper reaches of D-Grade, they could create spears regardless of whether the material was soil or rock, and their hardness was indeed comparable to steel, just as Hong Jingu claimed.
But even steel was little more than paper before aura.
“Damn it…… !”
After taking several hits, the thugs finally seemed to realize that the rocks Dojin hurled were far more dangerous than the natural falling rocks.
Hong Jingu appeared to abandon attacking and focus entirely on reinforcing his defensive wall.
Instead, the other Players began moving.
Apparently having decided to simply endure the falling rocks, the Tank slowly advanced toward Dojin with his shield raised.
And behind him……?
‘Gone?’
Dojin’s green eyes gleamed coldly.
There had been four thugs when the fight began.
At some point, their number had dropped to three.
The remaining one was……?
CLANG!
A sudden ambush.
“……Tch!”
A dagger moving through empty air.
And the Player holding that dagger.
“So the Assassin was your actual attacker?”
“……!”
As its name suggested, the Assassin Class specialized in ambushing opponents.
That also meant that aside from concealment Skills, nearly all of its capabilities lagged far behind those of other Classes.
And if he was only E-Grade?
“He’s basically just an ordinary person using an invisibility Item…… You’re trying hard.”
At the same time, Dojin briefly glanced down at his arm.
The arm that had just blocked the Assassin’s dagger.
‘My suit is torn, and it’s turned black…… He coated the blade with poison.’
Hong Jingu and the other thugs ground their teeth at the sight.
“What the hell? Why didn’t the attack work?”
“Was he wearing armor underneath?”
“Damn it!”
“…….”
Their deduction was reasonable.
But the truth was different.
It was the effect of <Minion Armament (C)>.
‘This is even better than I expected…….’
During the Tutorial Season, Players could only fully use their abilities after logging into an Arena.
That applied both to the physical abilities beyond ordinary humans granted by enhanced Stats and to Skills.
And the moment Dojin logged into the Arena, he had activated one particular Skill.
‘My prediction was right.’
The Skill Dojin had used was <Minion Armament (C)>.
It was the reward he had obtained for clearing the Quest in the Under Arena .
Although his suit concealed it from view—
Dojin’s entire body was currently protected by armor formed from a Crow Skeleton he had summoned.
Since this was merely a test, he had brought out only a single Minion to use with the Skill.
But it would undoubtedly prove useful in future Under Arena Quests and all manner of combat situations.
‘Anyway, right now…….’
Dojin turned his gaze back toward the thug Players before him.
At the same time, the Assassin clicked his tongue and tried to activate his concealment Skill again.
GRAB!
“……?!”
Dojin seized the Assassin by the collar, causing his concealment to fail.
“W-What?”
The thug Assassin’s eyes widened.
Inwardly, however, he was practically screaming.
‘I can’t! This bastard’s holding onto me, so I can’t use !’
It was the pitiful cry of an E-Grade Player.
If this Assassin had focused on leveling, or if he had Awakened earlier and raised to at least C-Grade, even the current D-Grade Dojin might have been in danger.
But—
‘He’s leaking mana everywhere like that. How could I possibly fail to notice him?’