“Did you take classes about navigating a cave?” Oliver asked. “Because I didn’t pay too much attention when they were talking about caves in my classes.”
“We are in the same boat.” Jin-Woo replied. “I am just glad I always carry a marker. I bet we’ll bump into them soon enough.”
“Are you able to feel Magic Power?” Oliver asked.
“Not even that.” Jin-Woo replied. “It’s a miracle the military accepted me. I guess my physical abilities and my attitude helped me.”
“You’re incredible, Jin-Woo!” Oliver said. “I feel some Magic Power coming from up ahead. I sense multiple beings. I bet they are Muna Imps.”
Oliver and Jin-Woo ran towards the Magic Power and soon enough a few Muna Imps came into their view. Both started shooting at the Muna Impsw using their handguns. The Muna Imps tried to run towards the duo, but they were killed before even reaching them.
“There are so many Pure Magical Energy Crystals, too bad Nicole is not here.” Oliver commented as he looked at the crystals on the walls of the cave.
“Once we clear the cave from monsters, then the government can start mining the crystals.” Jin-Woo said. “I just hope we don’t run into something like the minotaur while it’s just you and me.”
The duo continued walking with their path illuminated by the Pure Magical Energy Crystals. The more they walked the more Muna Imps they encountered. So far, they had come out unscathed from every encounter.
“Damn, I am getting tired and running low on ammo. How about you?” Oliver asked, taking the Magic Stones out of the corpses of the Muna Imps.
“If the encounters continue like this, I will be out of ammo soon.” Jin-Woo responded. “Up ahead, I see light! Let’s go!”
Oliver and Jin-Woo ran towards the light and when they stepped into the chamber, they could see several puddles of water and large deposits of Pure Magical Energy Crystals. They stood at the entrance taking in the view.
“The glow given off by the crystals combined with the water made for a majestic view!” Jin-Woo took out his phone and captured the moment with its camera. “I’m glad I came on this mission!”
“Jin-Woo, activate Armor Ascension! Something is coming” Oliver’s body began to glow and after a moment he was covered in a red armored bodysuit and wearing a red helmet. “It’s coming from right above.”
“I can’t do that either!” Jin-Woo matched Oliver’s movements and stepped back. “This was supposed to be an easy in and out, two-day mission! I should have brought my armor!”
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
A red spider the size of a cow descended on the spot where Oliver and Jin-Woo were standing earlier. The spider began to launch Fireballs at the duo. Oliver dodged the Fireballs while Jin-Woo used his knife to cut down the ones launched at him. Jin-Woo used his machine gun to shoot at the spider, but it had no effect. Oliver then used Ice Magic and threw an Ice Spear, but it only made the spider angrier.
“Just like the minotaur, this spider isn’t affected by my attacks!” Jin-Woo was frustrated.
“I have an idea, if you give me five to ten minutes, I should be able to do something!” Oliver stated with confidence.
“I’ll trust you, but you better hurry because I don’t know how long I can last!” Jin-Woo started to frantically shoot at the spider with his machine gun, while Oliver hid behind a rock and took out parts and materials from his backpack. “Come here, extra-large spider!”
The spider shifted all its attention towards Jin-Woo. The spider began to launch Fireballs at him, so Jin-Woo switched to using his handgun and knife. He dodged as many Fireballs as he could and parried the ones that got too close to him. As he dodged and cut down the Fireballs, Jin-Woo looked for openings to fire his handgun. Little by little Jin-Woo could feel burn damage from being so close to the Fireballs. After a couple of minutes, the spider began attacking with its legs, so Jin-Woo could only dodge with no time to sneak in any attacks.
“This is getting exciting! I haven’t had a fun challenge in a while.” Jin-Woo smiled. “But, I won’t be able to hold out for much longer.”
Jin-Woo continued to dodge, his smile never disappearing.As time passed Jin-Woo began to slow down, eventually the spider struck Jin-Woo with one of its legs. The impact sent Jin-Woo flying and he crashed on the rock that Oliver was hiding behind. He quickly took out and drank a potion, several of his injuries were healed and his fatigue was gone. Jin-Woo ran at the spider and fired a volley with his machine gun.
“Damn it, I can’t keep up for much longer!” Jin-Woo yelled. “I wish I was stronger! But for now my current state has to be enough!”
The spider was about to unleash a big fire attack when a dark projectile the size of a knife hit the spider causing it to stagger and interrupting the attack.
“IT WORKS!!” Oliver had a smile. He was holding a weapon resembling a rifle. Oliver threw the rifle towards Jin-Woo. “Jin-Woo catch! This is an Elemental Gun that uses Magic Stones as ammo. You have about 5 shots!”
“That’s incredible!” Jin-Woo said as he caught the Elemental Gun. “This thing seems to be powerful enough!”
Jin-Woo took aim at one of the legs of the spider and shot. Upon impact, the spider’s front right leg was amputated. Jin-Woo quickly shot the remaining four rounds. After Jin-Woo was done shooting, the spider was left with three legs, and it collapsed onto the ground. The spider tried to lift itself but was unsuccessful.
“This thing is getting hot, but how do I insert Magic Stones?” Jin-Woo asked.
“There is an opening at the top, just dump at most ten small Magic Stones and make sure they are the same Element.” Oliver explained.
“I wish I had more power. Right now, I am too weak to accomplish my goals.” Jin-Woo said as he put Shadow Magic Stones into the Elemental Gun. “If I want more power, I need to survive. This is your end!”
The spider began to gather Magical Energy and Fireballs began to slowly materialize. Before the spider could launch the Fireballs, Jin-Woo shot ten times in rapid succession. After a few moments the spider stopped moving and Jin-Woo had a shocked expression.
“What is that?” Jin-Woo was staring at the corpse of the spider and extended his right arm. After a moment he retracted his arm and he glanced at his hand and then back to the spider corpse. “It’s gone.”
“Something wrong, Jin-Woo?” Oliver asked, noticing Jin-Woo’s behavior.
“Everything is fine!” Jin-Woo replied. “Let’s keep going, we must find the others.”
“Let me just take out the Magic Stone.” Oliver replied. Oliver jumped on the back of the spider corpse and cut it open. He retrieved a transparent Magic Stone the size of a golf ball. “This is weird. The Magic Stone has no energy.”
“How is that possible!?” Jin-Woo questioned. “We just killed the damn thing!!”
“I don’t have a clue. I’ll just take it and analyze it later.” Oliver replied.
“You said your previous Elemental Gun prototype came apart after two shots, how come this didn’t?” Jin-Woo asked while looking at the Elemental Gun.
“Let’s just say that Mrs. Hashimoto is going to yell at me back on Lunaria because she is going to notice some missing steel reinforced by Magical Energy from her secret stash.” Oliver replied.
“I wish you luck, my friend!” Jin-Woo looked at Oliver with eyes full of sympathy. “You’re going to need it when we get back.”
“Well, at least we managed to survive thanks to what I did!” Oliver laughed as he dispelled Armor Ascension and went back to his soldier uniform.