I Became the Weakest Summon of the Genius Summoner

Chapter 30. Unattainable

For a moment, my mind was completely captivated as I blankly admired her figure.

The unknown jewel emitting a green light from the necklace matched so well with her dark black hair and pale white skin.

"This must be really expensive, right? Ilwol, can I really accept something like this?"

She genuinely seemed to worry if she should keep it, as she fiddled with the necklace. Then she took a step towards me and gently hugged me.

"Thank you..."

Thump-thump—

The sound of her heart beating made it feel like my own heart was pounding.

An earnest and poignant emotion I had never felt before swirled in a corner of my heart for a moment.

Unconsciously, I brought my hand to her cheek, slowly caressing downwards and lightly supported her chin.

"Ah..."

Her purple eyes visibly stirred. If I were human, the next action would have been to move my lips toward her face.

However, seeing the reflection of a skull holding a deep darkness in her eyes, any warmth I felt was abruptly cooled, as if cold water had been poured over my heart.

Placing my hand, which was floundering aimlessly, on her head, I gently patted her.

"Hehehe... I like it..."

I wasn't sure what exactly she liked, but from the way she squirmed, it was clear that she was satisfied with the moment.

We stayed close for quite some time until an unwelcome guest interrupted us.

Woof! Arf! Woof-woof!

'Damn dog... really...'

(Tear apart! Tear apart!)

The strange atmosphere returned to normal, thanks to the unruly antics of Woof-woof, who was trying fiercely to separate Lee Yeon-hee and me.

Crunch— crunch—

And soon, Woof-woof's show of devouring Big Boar bones began.

(Leg bone, the best!)

'Despite always getting bones from me, you never say thank you.'

(Leg bone, the best!)

'Ungrateful thing...'

After watching Woof-woof for a moment, we began to discuss the ominous event that had occurred earlier.

"Let's pass over why the kobold acted like that since we don't know. But have you thought about what to do from now on?"

Nod—

"Despite all that, I plan to continue summoning the kobold."

"Clack-clack-clack!!"

"Is that what you think too, Ilwol? If possible, let's minimize contact with people. Also, ignore any suspicious sounds in the dungeon and just keep moving. Now that I think about it, recent events started from us eavesdropping on conversations."

'True— those were the cases. But it's hard to resist when you hear such sounds.'

"Of course, when we go to the Fire Monkey Dungeon, it'll be hard to use the kobold because we'll need to party up, but it should be okay if we get a few more summons before going."

Nod—

Though she might seem hesitant, her approach to handling things never deviated from sound reasoning.

"To do that, we'll have to spend a little more time with the Big Boars. It's still a bit tough to handle them."

'That's true. Especially because we're short on frontline fighters; Lee Yeon-hee needs partners to tank for her to attack steadily, even if they're scarecrows like the kobold.'

"And 'Lan' will be tough to bring out unless it's a crisis. Even wearing the artifact, I can't use it in every battle. Even considering investing in recovery stat is still hard to justify."

Nod, nod—

Since there wasn't much difference from my thoughts, I kept nodding.

'Tomorrow, as we move around, we need to look over different routes and try to find any hidden places.'

Gurgle—

In the midst of the conversation, Woof-woof began to poop out mana stones.

Today, he pooped out three low-grade mana stones, clearly indicating the level of the conversion skill was rising.

'Ah, I want to do it too, but there's no way.'

Despite holding a bone in my hand and trying various gestures, I couldn't find a way.

Woof-woof! Arf-arf!

Woof-woof looked at me with a triumphant expression, which was exceedingly annoying.

"Hehehe— shall Woof-woof sleep with me today? I can now maintain at least one Woof-woof."

'What about me?'

Woof! Woof! Grrrr—

Looking into the crescent-moon-shaped eyes of the mutt made a murderous impulse rise within me for a moment. Lee Yeon-hee, who was staring at me, muttered.

"Il-Ilwol, you are, um... anyway, see you tomorrow!"

"Clack-clack-clack..."

Lee Yeon-hee, sounding like she was making a quick escape, carried Woof-woof and swiftly went into the room.

'Sigh— Might as well practice.'

Whoosh— whoosh—

And the next day.

Attempting to find hidden places in the Big Boar Dungeon but couldn't find anything remotely similar.

With the success of capturing five Big Boars, ten Goblins, and three slimes, we had to be satisfied with reaping the profit of about 350,000 won that day.

Achieving such a daily income as an F-rank hunter was truly astonishing, and I couldn't deny that it was largely thanks to me.

And together, we each managed to level up one more level.

=====

【Skeleton Soldier Ilwol - Lv.16】

Strength: 49
Agility: 44(+3)
Stamina: 47(+3)
Intelligence: 24
Magic Power:: 41(+3)
Resistance: 1
Sense: 21
Recovery: 5

=====

With the allocated stats, I kept Agility and Stamina, and invested the rest in Magic Power.

Unfortunately, I couldn't absorb any traits from the Big Boar; perhaps those boars didn't have any traits to begin with.

Perhaps they lived solely on their naturally good physique and charge ability?

Anyway, Lee Yeon-hee finally reached level 20 and became an E-rank hunter.

Upon reaching E-rank, she would receive monthly government support based on her hunting record, and gain various medical benefits.

However, receiving also requires giving.

"They said I have to be involved in a level 1 disaster."

"....."

Level 1 disasters usually involve rescue or recovery operations from natural disasters.

But occasionally, there's a need to draft forces to prevent monster breaks.

The number of dungeons continues to increase, but the rate of awakeners hasn't increased at the same pace.

Even in urban areas, dungeon breaks occur several times a year.

Though such dungeons typically erupt with monsters of champion rank or higher.

"They said to maintain hunter status, I need to participate at least once in every three calls for emergency situations."

Nod—

'From 2019, dungeon breaks started becoming frequent... I guess an incident will happen soon. Was there anything significant around this time?'

SuBing Park, Changseongdae Subway Station, eveland Warehouse, Kuchangno 3rd Road Sinkhole...

More than ten events came to mind at once. Among them, the Kuchangno Sinkhole incident in 2020 was the largest that year.

'I remember almost all hunters in Seoul being called there...'

In that incident, a massive sinkhole appeared, and due to two types of monsters that crawled out continuously from it, not only D and E-rank hunters who went for initial containment, but also a significant number of C-rank hunters following them were lost.

'Is it in half a month... Not much time left.'

"And they said it'd take a week for Ilwol's armor to be ready since they are backloged with orders."

'I would think so. Even a simple leather armor needs a craftsman's touch.'

Brrrr—

"Oh? It's already here! Level 1. Multiple transformed slimes appearing in sewer... I think I'll skip this one, it's far away too."

Nod—

Monsters aren't created only by dungeon breaks.

Like the current case, monsters can also spontaneously manifest due to the rising concentration of mana in the atmosphere.

Fortunately, these are mostly low-ranked and pose no significant threat. At most, you'd find slimes or fog-like gaseous monsters known as Pooques.

"Alright, shall we open some summon scrolls today~"

"Clack-clack-clack!!"

'Please let it be a Goblin, a slime wouldn't be too bad either.'

Whirrr—

And then, after a while, a low-rank portal opened, and what crawled out was—

'An ironclad beetle...'

Rustle-rustle—

It makes a loud sound, but it's really slow-moving.

It's about the size of a motorcycle helmet, something that could startle those who dislike bugs.

"Oh! I've seen this online!! So this is also a summon?"

Fortunately, Lee Yeon-hee didn't seem to be someone repulsed by such things.

This bug-type monster, often found in lower-grade dungeons, would raise its elytra sky-high during danger to intimidate adversaries.

True to its name, the back shell is quite tough, and it's probably hard even for me to damage it with my current attack power.

However, if flipped over, its belly is vulnerable, making it easy to defeat.

Just be careful to avoid its jaws or the sharp edge of the raised elytra while trying to turn it over...

'Indeed, grey summoning scrolls do have their drawbacks. The kobold seem like a better choice, don't they?'

"Let's call it Clack-clack since its back is hard! This time, I won't give in!!"

"Clack..."

Did she hold onto that?

"Anyway, let's see what Clack-clack can do, even though I have a general idea. Hmm—"

Closing her eyes briefly and then reopening them, Lee Yeon-hee spoke.

"Its trait is 【Cower】, and the skill is 【Body Expansion】... I doubt it'll be useful in a fight—hmm."

'I guess just make it crouch beside Lee Yeon-hee then.'

"Let's see it in action! Clack-clack— Body Expansion!!"

At Lee Yeon-hee's command, the ironclad beetle raised the elytra from its tail and let out a frightening sound, rattling aggressively.

'Indeed, it's an unsettling sound. But that's about it.'

Though I had to focus my senses to hear it loudly, Lee Yeon-hee seemed so averse to the sound that she quickly gestured for it to stop.

"Wow— this could actually be useful for keeping monsters at bay, couldn't it?"

'Is it that effective? Ho... it might really come in handy.'

TL's Corner:
Clacky, meet Clack-clack.
Also, the so-called conversation between Yeon-hee and Clacky is just Yeon-hee speaking and Clacky nodding.