Record of a Thousand Lives - Chapter 168

[The zombies have bitten through a crazed dwarf’s neck and killed him.]

[The Skull Knight has cut down 12 crazed dwarves.]

[The witches’ requiem has stunned the crazed dwarves…]

Numerous consecutive messages popped up on Kang Yoon-Soo’s wrist device as the undead filled the narrow mineshaft and went into a frenzy to eliminate their enemies. The crazed dwarves resisted and fought back against the invaders, but they were overwhelmed by the sheer number of undead charging at them.

‘It was a smart decision to divide them up into groups,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

The mineshaft was not so narrow that it was impossible for a large group to move about in, so it was definitely unable to accommodate a seven-thousand-strong undead legion all at once. That was why Kang Yoon-Soo had divided his party members and the undead among each of the shafts that sprawled out all across the mine like a maze. At that moment, the dwarves in the other shafts were probably being massacred by the undead as well.

Sukeok!

“Aaak!”

Dozens of dwarves lost their heads in a single swing of the Death General Kalriven’s sword. The Death General not only had excellent leadership and command skills, but also exceptional proficiency with the sword.

‘I wasn’t able to check its level before because of our huge level gap, but it seems Kalriven is around Level 400 right now,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

Kalriven was much stronger than the boss monster of an ordinary ruin, making it a very strong and dependable ally.

Kang Yoon-Soo also joined the fray, leaping in with his magic sword and halberd in either hand.

“Dance of Death,” he muttered, activating a skill that became stronger the more enemies he faced at once. He left behind a trail of blood in the air whenever he swung his weapons, the heads of his enemies falling continuously in his wake.

[You have dealt the final blow to a dying dwarf.]

[You have obtained additional experience points.]

[You have dealt continuous final blows to your enemies!]

Kang Yoon-Soo went around the battlefield, focusing only on dealing the final blows to any dying dwarves damaged by the undead.

Kalriven could not hide its awe at the skills its master displayed, exclaiming, “As expected of my lord! I have never seen anyone so skilled at dealing only the final blow in my life! Such a realistic and shrewd fighting style!”

“Wuhahaha! I know you’re already dead, but why don’t you taste death one more time?!” a dwarf exclaimed, charging at Kalriven.

Kwachik!

Kalriven stabbed the charging dwarf with its sword without even looking over, then said, “My lord, you have grown much stronger than when I met you. I am certain that I will be able to teach you much more powerful swordsmanship now.”

“I’ll spice my meat with your blood! Wuhahaha!” a crazed dwarf exclaimed, charging at Kang Yoon-Soo.

Pukeok!

“Euuk!”

Kang Yoon-Soo kicked the dwarf in the chin and skewered him with his halberd. He then nodded and said, “Teach me now.”

Thus, he continued to cut down the charging dwarves while learning a new sword skill from Kalriven.

The Death General swung its sword and cut down three dwarves at once, then said, “The speed at which my lord has learned that sword skill is awe-inspiring! It is almost as if someone already taught it to my lord before!”

[You have received a new swordsmanship technique from the Death General Kalriven.]

[Abyssal Sword has evolved into Annihilation Slash.]

[Annihilation Slash]

Skill Level: 1 (00.00%)

Energy Consumption: 20%

An advanced sword skill developed by Death General Kalriven. It channels the inner strength of the user to cut down their enemies. When facing a foe much more powerful than the user, the user’s energy consumption will decrease and their sword will be surrounded with a powerful ghostly aura when the user successfully performs chain attacks.

However, the user’s sword will chip and crack if they fail to connect three attacks or use this skill on a weaker foe.

+The durability of the user’s sword will randomly drop every time the skill is used.

The Annihilation Slash was much more powerful than the Abyssal Sword, but it decreased the user’s sword’s durability. It was a powerful skill, but it was burdensome to use continuously.

“I think we have killed most of the dwarves in this shaft, my lord,” Kalriven said as it shook the blood off its sword.

More allies than enemies had fallen in the skirmish, but there were still a lot of undead left.

Kang Yoon-Soo looked at the minerals that the dwarves had been excavating and thought, ‘It’s not easy mining these in the Kolod Abandoned Mine.’

It was possible to mine many rare and high-quality minerals in the Kolod Abandoned Mine, but it had been abandoned because of the sheer difficulty of extracting them from the hard rocks of the mine.

‘It’s still possible for the dwarves to mine these out on the first floor,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought. However, the rocks started becoming more absurdly hard the deeper they were. ‘It’s impossible to mine them unless the miner is extremely strong.’

Of course, the deeper parts of the abandoned mine were still undeveloped and contained an immense quantity of rare minerals.

Kang Yoon-Soo only placed the rare minerals in his backpack as he continued walking. When he reached the end of the mine, he found stairs leading to the lower level. The other party members arrived later, accompanied by the undead they had been grouped with.

“It’s quite dark despite these lamps hanging on the walls,” Shaneth remarked. She flicked her fingers and the flames in the lamps grew stronger.

Henrick rubbed his chin and said, “Wow, you’re able to control flames that don’t belong to you now?”

“It’s only by a little bit, but I can make them burn brighter,” Shaneth replied.

Meanwhile, Iris was pushing a minecart. She said, “Kang Yoon-Soo, I brought the beautiful stones as you instructed.”

Henrick furrowed his brow and said, “Why are you pushing it yourself? You could’ve asked the undead that went with you.”

“Omo, Henrick. The undead should be tired from fighting all day, and it is still daylight outside so I cannot use my powers now. I should help out like this, at least,” Iris replied.

Henrick scoffed and said, “I never imagined someone would tell me that the undead could get tired.”

Iris lectured Henrick, “Sometimes it is not the body, but rather the mind that gets tired. The undead are not disposable, you know?”

“Clack! Clack! Clack!” The skeletons that were with her clacked in agreement.

Kalriven smiled and said, “You are quite a kind-hearted lady.”

“Kalriven is also a very dependable and trustworthy knight,” Iris said in response.

“Trustworthy? I am an undead being,” Kalriven said.

Iris tilted her head in confusion and asked, “Why does that matter?”

“People all treat the undead as monsters,” Kalriven replied.

“Is that so? Well, I am actually a monster as well,” Iris said.

Kalriven could not hide the awe on its face as it exclaimed, “My lord! This lady has the qualifications to be your concubine!”

“Kang Yoon-Soo, what’s a concubine?” Iris asked innocently.

“Let’s go! Hurry up!” Shaneth exclaimed suddenly, interrupting the conversation.

Kang Yoon-Soo put the minerals each group had brought back into his backpack.

[39 Top-Quality Mineral]

[41 High-Grade Ruby Ore]

[58 High-Grade Sapphire Ore]

[72 Unknown Minerals (Blacksmithing Level 6 and above is required to identify this mineral)]

They were minerals that would be difficult to find even if a whole company scoured through an ordinary mine from top to bottom. Having even small quantities of such rare minerals mixed into a weapon or a piece of defensive equipment would greatly boost their attack or defense. It would also be possible to increase special stats, such as magic resistance, if the precious stones were refined and added to a piece of equipment.

‘The quality of the ore we’ve gotten on the first floor alone is already really good,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

The original miners would have profited greatly if they employed the dwarves in the Kolod Mine to begin with. Of course, the idea had likely not even crossed their minds, and they had ended up shuttering the mine in the end.

The party went down to the next level. Behind them, a long line of undead waited for their turn to descend down the stairs.

As he walked at the forefront, Kang Yoon-Soo suddenly stopped.

“Why did you stop?” Henrick asked.

“We have enemies ahead,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Hmm… I don’t sense anything, but it should be right if you’re the one saying it,” Henrick grumbled as he pulled Rick out of his summoning box. He cursed, “Damn it, it’s going to be very difficult to control a doll in this tight, narrow space.”

Rick suddenly looked up at Henrick and asked, “Does Henrick dislike controlling me?”

“What? Do you think I like it?” Henrick grumbled in response.

Rick squinted for a moment before a message popped up.

[Your words have hurt Rick’s feelings.]

[Rick is trying not to show it, but she is slightly disappointed in you.]

Sanity: -3

Current Sanity: 22

*Rick will go insane if her sanity drops to zero.

“Euk…” Henrick groaned at the message.

“It seems you’ll have to sing another lullaby soon,” Shaneth said.

Iris suddenly shook her head and said, “I am still surprised that the drunken song Henrick sang could be considered a lullaby…”

A flock of four-winged bats, monsters that inhabited the first floor of the abandoned mine, suddenly appeared.

“Kyaaakaaah!”

The Abandoned Mine Bats flew around the narrow shaft and rushed toward the party.

Kang Yoon-Soo commanded the undead to charge ahead and attack the bats in order to minimize casualties, but the Abandoned Mine Bats’ leathery hide was as tough as steel. The bats could replenish their health even after being attacked by the party members and the undead by sucking blood.

‘This is taking too long,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought. He drew his magic sword and halberd and rushed toward the front, and the flock of bats flocked toward him.

“My lord!” Kalriven shouted.

Kang Yoon-Soo gripped his sword tightly.

[The Vampire Lord’s Magic Sword has sucked the blood of its owner.]

[The Vampire Lord’s swordsmanship has been activated!]

[You are now able to use the sword skills of the Vampire Lord.]

Kang Yoon-Soo gathered blood at the tip of his magic sword and shouted, “Dance of Death.”

Sukeok! Sukeok! Sukeok! Sukeok!

The magic sword and halberd unleashed a barrage of attacks against the Abandoned Mine Bats, but the stubborn bats were unrelenting even in the face of such a powerful attack. Kang Yoon-Soo jumped into the air, kicking off the bats in midair to reach their rear line. Soon, he reached the leader of the bats, which was hanging upside down from the ceiling.

“Kyaaahkaaaahk!” The Boss Bat screeched, darting toward Kang Yoon-Soo in an attempt to scratch him with its razor-sharp claws.

“Pyrokinesis!”

Peok!

Shaneth and Rick threw a fireball and a rock respectively, hitting the Boss Bat.

Kang Yoon-Soo jumped up high and simultaneously stabbed his magic sword and halberd into each of the boss monster’s wings. Then, he viciously bit into the Boss Bat’s neck. He sank his teeth into the bat’s dirty neck and sucked its blood.

“Kyahkaak! Kyahaak?”

[You have drunk the blood of a 400-year-old Abandoned Mine Bat.]

[Your lifespan has been extended by 3 months.]

[You are now susceptible to various diseases from drinking dirty blood.]

[You have turned the tables by sucking the blood of a monster that spent all of its life sucking its enemies’ blood.]

[The levels of your skills related to blood-sucking have increased.]

[The power of your Vampire Lord’s Magic Sword has increased.]

Kang Yoon-Soo had obtained the skill to drain blood after defeating the Vampire Lord, Argoric. The drain ability he had gotten was much more powerful than a normal drain skill, and he could drain an immense amount of blood because the skill was already mastered.

“Kyaaahk…!” The Boss Bat struggled as its entire body was sucked dry like a mummy by Kang Yoon-Soo.

The other Abandoned Mine Bats lost their will to fight upon seeing their leader’s defeat, fleeing as quickly as they could. However, they were all massacred the moment they turned around and tried to run away.

“Henrick,” the blood-soaked Rick said as she ran toward Henrick and buried her face in his stomach.

Henrick’s face crumpled as he asked, “What are you doing? It’s gross…”

“I want to get a class too,” Rick replied.

Rick’s growth would depend on what kind of class she obtained, and she could potentially become the strongest battle doll on the continent with the right class.

“Hoo, is that so?” Henrick asked, wiping the blood off her face with his handkerchief. He continued, “I see you’ve finally grown up. That’s right, it’s not good to be jobless[1], after all.”

“I don’t know what class I should get, though. Henrick, why don’t you choose for me instead?” Rick asked.

“Hmm… What do you think of that?” Henrick asked while pointing at a pickaxe on the ground.

Rick shook her head and replied, “I don’t want to be a miner. I want to do what I love for the rest of my life.”

“What do you want to do?” Henrick asked.

“Murder,” Rick replied with an innocent expression.

“Why don’t you change your likes and dislikes first…” Henrick muttered in response.

Rick tapped her lips and began to think earnestly, then asked, “Should I be a drunkard then?”

“No,” Kang Yoon-Soo said, immediately shooting her idea down.

They continued deeper into the abandoned mine.

There were no monsters starting from the second floor, but the entire mine was linked together like a complicated maze. There were numerous traps installed to ward off any intruders, and it would be impossible for an intruder to leave the mine alive if they lost their way.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo walked briskly forward without any hesitation, consistently following the fastest way through the maze.

It was when they reached the twelfth floor that Shaneth remarked, “This mine is quite deep. It would have been impossible for anyone to make it this deep underground, let alone human miners.”

“This wasn’t made by the miners,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Then who made it?” Shaneth asked with a confused expression.

“The owner of the mine,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Owner?” Shaneth asked again.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo did not reply any further.

Shaneth tilted her head in confusion and said, “It seems as if there’s no end in sight even if we keep going down, though. I wonder how many floors this mine has…?”

“More than two hundred floors,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Huh…?” Shaneth exclaimed, doubting her ears.

“I haven’t been lower than the two hundredth floor,” Kang Yoon-Soo added.

Shaneth’s face turned ghastly pale before she asked, “Please don’t tell me you plan to go all the way down to the two hundredth floor…?”

“No,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

Shaneth let out a sigh of relief. However, Kang Yoon-Soo suddenly added, “I plan to go all the way down to the mantle.”

“To the mantle…?” Shaneth repeated as the color drained from her face once again.

1. The Korean word for ‘class’ is the same as the word for ‘job’. So the joke was to say that someone without a class was jobless. ☜