Dungeon Predator (WN)
chapter-64

Kang Oh opened the stone gate and was met by a vast rectangular space.

There were coffins standing along the walls, as well as mummies completely encased in time-worn bandages laying dormant within them.

The mummies were also holding crescent-shaped scimitars as well.

"One, two, three, four... There are twenty-one of them," Eder counted.

"That one's the boss and the rest look like his minions."

Kang Oh pointed at the coffin in front.

The twenty coffins and the mummies within them were the same.

However, the coffin that Kang Oh had pointed towards was different; it was much larger and more ornate than the other coffins.

The mummy within it looked different as well.

Firstly, it was wearing a white-plumed turban on its head and held a red scimitar that blazed with flame.

"It seems that way," Grano agreed.

"One boss mummy and twenty mummy minions, huh..."

Kang Oh smiled.

It would be a fun fight.

"Mr. Grano, do you know anything about this boss mummy?" Kang Oh asked.

"The mummies are likely Beskamen I's guards."

"His guards?"

"Yes. In the era of the Beskamen Kingdom, when a king dies his guards are entombed along with him."

"What a load of shit."

That meant that these innocent soldiers were buried alive!

Kang Oh shook his head.

"Indeed," Grano agreed.

Human sacrifice, human trafficking, human experimentation, etc. These were all strictly banned under continental law.

Of course, even if they weren't banned, they were still something that one human should never do to another.

"In any case, there are no records of them anymore, even if we know who they are. Therefore, I have nothing more to add," Grano said.

"I understand."

Kang Oh formulated a plan based on his knowledge of mummies.

"To my knowledge, mummies have the ability to revive themselves," Kang Oh said.

"Revive themselves?" Eder asked.

"Yeah. If you kill them they then start to return to their original state."

"Then how do we kill them?"

Since they'd just keep coming back if they killed them.

"They can only revive themselves once, so you just need to kill them twice. But here's the kicker; when they revive, their abilities are either heightened or they get a special skill."

"I understand."

"Oh, and Eder."

"Yes?"

"Mummies are a type of undead, so don't use your curses against them."

Mummies were undead monsters. Therefore, curses would have the opposite effect on them and actually strengthen them instead.

"Ahem. I understand."

Eder looked disappointed.

He was a Curse Knight, but he would be forced to only use his skills as a knight this time.

"Oh and here."

Kang Oh retrieved the bull shield he'd acquired from Arumode and passed it to Eder.

Back when he'd given Eder his four-colored skull shield, he'd taken back the bull shield.

"What's this for?" Eder asked.

"I told you. You can't use curses. That shield's a no-go either."

Kang Oh pointed at Eder's four-colored skull shield.

"Ah."

When attacked, the four-colored skull shield had a fixed chance of afflicting its attacker with one of its four curses.

It would prove a hindrance against the mummies.

Therefore, Eder traded the four-colored skull shield with the Graham Bull Shield.

"Ugh, it's heavy."

Compared to the four-colored skull shield, the Graham Bull Shield was not only heavier, but also weaker in terms of abilities.

Still, it couldn't be helped.

"Hmm. It looks like we're all set, so let's do this!"

Kang Oh had first seen mummies in a movie.

But now that he'd gotten the chance to fight them face-to-face, he felt like he was the protagonist of a movie.

'Well, I guess that's why you play games.'

Stamp.

Kang Oh took a step forward.

The second he entered the room, the mummies opened their eyes and exited their coffins one or two at a time.

Guooh.

The mummies, having finally awakened from their long slumber, murmured and twirled their necks round and round.

[Beskamen I's Guard Captain, Amil, has awoken.]

Amil was the boss monster that wore the white-plumed turban!

As Grano had predicted, Amil and the rest of these mummies were unfortunately a part of Beskamen I's guard, and were entombed with their dead king.

"Kill... the... intruders..." Amil ordered.

He spoke sparsely, his voice akin to the sound of a defective radio.

"Kill..."

"Ki...ll."

The mummies repeated the word 'kill' and approached Kang Oh's party.

The battle against the mummies had begun.

* * *

At first, the mummies approached them slowly, but then, rushed towards them all of a sudden.

Unlike their inarticulate speech, they were extremely quick and agile.

One mummy slashed at Kang Oh's throat with its scimitar.

Rather than avoid it, Kang Oh swung downwards with his own blade.

Slash!

A white line was formed following the trajectory of his blade.

However, the mummy was able to do the same.

'Slash?'

Kang Oh was slightly surprised. It could use Slash too.

Clang!

Sword and scimitar clashed; the mummy lost the contest of strength and its scimitar flew out of its hand.

Kang Oh seized that opportunity and thrust his sword into its heart.

Stab!

With its heart pierced, the mummy spilled shards of light, retreated, and fell.

"The mummies can use combat skills, so be careful," Kang Oh yelled, rather than giving chase.

"I know," Eder deflected a scimitar with his mace and said.

He had just blocked a mummy's 'Heart Thrust' with his shield.

Grano was still outside of the mummies' attack range, so rather than reply, he prepared a spell.

"Kill..."

Several mummies swung their scimitars at Kang Oh.

Kang Oh kicked off the floor and retreated. Several scimitars swung where he had once been.

"Hmm."

Kang Oh briefly regained his breath and glanced at Amil.

Amil had merely taken a single step out of his coffin and was doing nothing but observing the battle.

"He's an observer-type," Kang Oh muttered.

'If he's an observer-type, then... Could it be...?'

Kang Oh recalled the Spider Queen, Alishi.

Alishi too, was an observer-type boss, but became stronger the more her minions were killed.

If that's the case, then wouldn't the same apply to Amil as well?

That's what he thought at least.

"I should make sure first."

Kang Oh moved once more.

He swiftly got between the mummies and swung his sword as if he were a spinning top.

At that moment, Darkness Strike activated. A black wave in the shape of a savage beast swept through the mummies.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

The mummies were unable to withstand the impact and rolled onto the floor.

Then...

Grano followed up with an attack of his own.

He was finished casting and subsequently, six powerful water cannons shot out of his orb.

Torrent!

Whoosh!

The water cannons swept through the tumbling mummies.

Those caught within the water cannons were smashed into the walls.

Guoh.

Those unaffected by Kang Oh or Grano's attacks charged at Grano.

They weren't idiots; they were trying to take out the mage first.

"You cannot pass!"

Eder stood in front of Grano.

He pushed the mummies away with his Heavy Blow and his shield.

Kang Oh used that opportunity to attack one of the mummies.

A chop, a cut, a thrust, a slash!

The mummy blocked Kang Oh's initial attack, but it wasn't able to defend against Kang Oh's quickening assault.

Ultimately, his Slash cut through its body.

Slash had left a wound in the middle of its body.

Jab, jab, jab!

Kang Oh thrust his demon sword repeatedly as if he were jabbing.

The tip of his blade touched the wound.

Gush.

Red shards spilled from its body, signaling that he'd landed a critical hit, and the mummy fell to the floor.

[You have defeated a member of Beskman I's guard.]

A glistening sphere of liquid, resembling a soap bubble, left the mummy's body and flew to Amil.

The surface of the drop reflected the sight of Kang Oh's attack.

'Could it be?'

Kang Oh suddenly remembered something.

In Warlord, there was a giant ant called Calcion.

It was considered the worst raid boss in the history of Warlord and was widely considered to be impossible to beat by the playerbase.

The reason it was considered the worst raid boss in history was simple.

No matter how the players formed their parties, Calcion was able to respond.

In other words, if the raid team heavily leaned towards damage dealers, then Calcion would reflect physical and magical attacks.

Conversely, if the raid team consisted of several healers, then it would spew gastric liquid that reduced healing.

It would be even worse if the raid team was well balanced, since Calcion would then react to everything appropriately.

Therefore, parties failed the raid several times over and went crazy over it.

Yet, a party of five was able to defeat this impregnable boss.

Kang Oh was, of course, part of that party.

The way they went about defeating Calcion was simple.

Calcion lay dormant within a cocoon in the inner depths of the dungeon and would hatch when players approached.

In order to reach Calcion, the raid team would be forced to fight their way through the various ants within the Ant's Nest dungeon.

However, the party he was a part of had managed to escape the ants' notice and entered Calcion's chambers without killing a single ant.

Once it noticed intruders had entered its chambers, the giant ant, Calcion, hatched.

However, Calcion was much too weak.

Moreover, it didn't really respond well to his party's attacks back then.

Truthfully, Calcion and the ants within the Ant's Nest were connected via a communications network.

Therefore, as the ants fought, their enemies' combat data would be sent to Calcion, and Calcion would adapt its body appropriately to deal with these attackers.

However, his party had attacked it without killing a single ant, thereby not allowing Calcion to receive any combat data. Thus, they were able to take it down with ease.

Anyway!

Amil was similar to Calcion, and that bead that escaped from the mummies' body was likely Kang Oh's combat data.

'If this goes on, it'll get dangerous for us.'

It felt like a siren was going off in his ear.

The more he, Eder, and Grano took down the mummies, the harder it would be to take down Amil.

Fortunately, it seemed as though Amil would only receive the combat data upon the mummy's death, unlike Calcion.

If that's the case...

"Eder, Mr. Grano. Please stop attacking. You cannot kill the mummies!" Kang Oh yelled.

"Excuse me?"

"What are you talking about?"

Grano and Eder looked at him strangely.

"Basically..."

At that moment...

The once dead mummy revived itself.

[A member of Beskamen I's guard has revived.]

[It is going Berserk.]

The mummy stood up. A red hue glowed from its dried up eyes.

'Berserk!'

Normally, monsters would only go Berserk when their HP dropped below 10% and when they entered this state, their strength and speed would increase sharply.

However, the mummy had gone Berserk by reviving. Obviously, its HP was at 100%!

'If all twenty of these mummies were to go Berserk and all that combat data was transmitted to Amil, then...'

Kang Oh envisioned the worst possible scenario.

Ultimately, he made his decision.

"Everyone, retreat. Hurry and get out," Kang Oh yelled and began running.

He began running towards the stone gate.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Man, why are you doing this?"

Grano and Eder looked at him completely perplexed.

"Hurry!" Kang Oh strongly yelled once more.

Then he added, "Retreat. If you do, I'll pay you!"

At the prospect of money, both Grano and Eder's expressions changed.

'If he's willing to give us money, then the situation must be dire.'

'Indeed. We have to go now.'

Grano and Eder instantly exchanged glances.

Grano formed a Water Wall and then began to run with Eder right beside him.

"Heok, heok."

"Haa, hak!"

Because they ran as hard as they could, they were able to escape past the gate.

The mummies chased them all the way to the stone gate, but they didn't follow them past it.

The mummies watched as Kang Oh's party retreated into the distance and returned to their coffins.

"You can stop now," Kang Oh said.

"Hoo, hoo."

"Haa."

Eder and Grano finally got a chance to catch their breath.

"What is the matter?" Grano asked.

"That's what I'm saying..."

Kang Oh began to explain everything he'd learned.

He talked about Calcion, the bead that came out of the mummy's body, the mummy's Berserk state upon revival, as well as the observer-type Amil, who gradually became stronger as the fight progressed.

"I see."

When he was finished, Grano and Eder could completely understand where he was coming from.

"Then what are we going to do now?" Grano asked.

"I have a plan."

There was no monster that was unbeatable!

Kang Oh's eyes gleamed.