The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 47

47. Sometimes Getting Stronger (2)

Kim Woo-jae paced anxiously.

‘That bastard Seo Min-sung, why isn’t he contacting me?’

They were supposed to signal every 20 minutes to confirm everything was okay. But the signal that should have arrived five minutes ago hadn’t come.

Could he have been caught already?

‘Damn it, I need to get the Mark of the Owner.’

The reason Kim Woo-jae bothered to wake up Han Yu-jin and threaten him was none other than the taming item for the Fire Mane Lion cub, the Mark of the Owner. If Han Yu-jin boarded the ship with the mark in his inventory, it would be untouchable. But if he could get it beforehand, he could make a hefty profit from the mark.

It was a cub of an S-Class dungeon boss monster. Even if he handed it over as is, he could get extra money, but if he took out the Mark of Taming, he could sell it separately for a much higher price. The value was too great to ignore.

‘If I hide that there’s no time and threaten to leave him cursed for another hour…’

Wouldn’t he hand it over willingly? Han Yu-jin was acting tough, but he was practically a regular person with almost no dungeon experience. He must be completely out of it from the curse he was experiencing for the first time.

Bang!

“Did you have a good time!”

Kim Woo-jae shouted forcefully and flung the door open. He saw Han Yu-jin huddled against the wall, collapsed. Despite hearing the noise, he didn’t move at all.

It was a curse that wouldn’t even let him faint. Had he completely run out of energy to even twitch?

Kim Woo-jae approached Han Yu-jin without much thought. Then, he nudged his huddled back with the tip of his shoe.

“I know you’re awake—”

Swish!

Suddenly, a black tentacle shot out, slicing through the darkness.

“Ugh!”

The tentacle wrapped around Kim Woo-jae’s ankle and began to secrete poison. Kim Woo-jae panicked as the poison melted his sock and seeped into his skin, pulling his leg back with all his might.

Snap!

The tentacle, unable to withstand the strength of a B-Class hunter, snapped, and Kim Woo-jae staggered. He quickly turned around, his eyes meeting the sight of a giant reptile waving its tentacles.

“There was definitely a collar—!”

– Groooowl!

Kreke lurched forward, its dark body shaking, charging towards Kim Woo-jae. The chain connected to the collar was lying far away.

A wave of poison hit him, and Kim Woo-jae frantically pulled out a shield from his inventory.

Thwack!

“Kuh-ack!”

A knife pierced Kim Woo-jae’s ankle, precisely where the poison had weakened it. At the same time, Kreke slammed its body against the shield.

“Kuh-ugh!”

Kim Woo-jae slid backward and collapsed. Seeing the tentacles flying at him in quick succession, he quickly rolled across the floor instead of getting up.

It was an unexpected ambush, but he was still an experienced B-Class hunter. With quick judgment, Kim Woo-jae created distance and stood up, spraying potion on his ankle.

“You fucking bastards!”

Kim Woo-jae shouted, veins popping out of his neck.

He noticed Han Yu-jin moving. But he never dreamed that an F-Class stat with no attack skills, sealed inventory, would dare to attack.

“You’re just a C-Class dungeon monster!”

He had taken quite a bit of damage, but it was just a combination of a C-Class and an F-Class stat. Even if one of his legs was cut off, he wouldn’t lose.

Kim Woo-jae drew a greatsword. He pointed the sharp blade forward and activated a skill.

Swish, several tentacles filled with poison flew towards Kim Woo-jae. However, they were easily cut off under the greatly swung greatsword.

Then, Kim Woo-jae leaped towards the monster. The blade fell straight down, instantly tearing through the thick black hide.

– Groan.

With a weak groan, the black reptile’s body slumped. Kim Woo-jae, breathing out in anger, turned to look at Han Yu-jin, who was sitting blankly.

“You son of a bitch!”

Kim Woo-jae growled and put the sword back into his inventory. If he had a weapon in his hand, he wouldn’t be able to control himself and would end up hacking that bastard to pieces.

“Damn it, this bastard! You can only grow a tamed baby monster—”

Even if it was a precious item, it just needed to be alive. Just as he was about to shout that he would break all his limbs,

“Cough!”

Kim Woo-jae’s body collapsed forward with excruciating pain that shook his entire body.

* * *

– Groooowl.

Blackie twitched in his death throes.

There was a glimmer of hope, but it ended up like this after all.

And soon.

[The effect of the title ‘Perfect Nurturer’ is activated.

Nurturer sub-skill – Last Gratitude

The skills and stats of the monster ‘Blackie’ are transferred with twice the efficiency.

Duration – 168:00]

A message window appeared, notifying the skill application. Followed by.

[The Last Gratitude (L) skill effect is doubled.]

The Lauchitas’ Nemesis skill application message window also appeared. Before I could even read it properly, Blackie’s memories were transferred.

Like the previous Last Reward, they were memories related to me.

Barely 30 minutes, a short, short memory.

Blackie was afraid of me, curious, and delighted with the C-Class mana stone powder he was trying for the first time.

He liked my voice telling him that I loved him. He thought my touch was warm. He instinctively felt that he couldn’t beat Kim Woo-jae, but he wanted to protect me.

He worried about me until the very end.

Really, it was a skill that was better off not being used.

“…I’m sorry, Blackie.”

Muttering a meaningless apology, I opened the status window. In addition to the clearly increased stats, new skills came into view.

“Damn it, this bastard! You can only grow a tamed baby monster—”

I used Thorn Trap on Kim Woo-jae, who had a distorted face.

“Cough!”

The guy who collapsed on the floor with a suffocating sound twitched.

Thorn Trap (D). A curse skill that restrains and inflicts pain on the opponent. However, it did not work if the target’s mental stat grade was two levels higher than the skill grade.

Originally, it was a skill that would not work on Kim Woo-jae, who was B-class, but now, with a double and double buff, it would be at the level of a B-class skill.

‘It’ll take some time to adapt because the amount of transferred memory is too small.’

The more memories the opponent had of me, the faster the adaptation of the transferred stats and skills. That’s why, in Yu-hyun’s case, he could use it as skillfully as the person himself.

Fortunately, the double skill effect seemed to have transferred quite a bit of information for just thirty minutes.

I closed the status window and shifted my gaze to the long, stretched-out black body.

“…This skill isn’t great after all.”

I swallowed a sigh and approached Blackie. The skin touching my palm felt colder, perhaps because of my mood.

Thanks to the mental stat double buff, it was a bearable skill, but even with a double and double buff, I still felt gloomy.

‘Our Blackie… his mental stat was quite low.’

Still, it was fortunate that Last Gratitude lasted for 7 days, Last Reward ended in 1 hour. Thanks to that, I spent several days drunk.

I took a deep breath and stood up. Turning my head, I saw Kim Woo-jae, stiff and twitching. The way he rolled his eyes and glared at me as I approached meant he was still alive.

“It doesn’t seem like there’s any reason to keep you alive, right?”

More than anything, I had to shut his mouth to avoid revealing the Last Gratitude skill. I could write a contract to keep him quiet, but was it necessary to go that far?

“Ah, my ankle hurts.”

Thanks to the increased stats, I couldn’t walk, but it still hurt. Muttering, I opened the status window again and checked the skills I had received from Blackie.

[Thorn Trap (D) – A curse that paralyzes and inflicts pain on the opponent.

Duration: 1 hour]

[Sticky Poison (C) – A powerful poison that seeps out of the skin]

[Lizard on the Wall (D) – Blends into the surrounding environment to conceal appearance]

[Scratch (D) – Powerful claw attack]

[Extending Tentacle (C) – A tentacle that extends with poison

Maximum length: 1 meter]

[Premonition of the Weak (C) – Detects opponents stronger than oneself]

Skin poison, scratch, tentacle…. The first two were okay, but could I use the tentacle? Originally, it was a skill to extend and swing the tentacles on the back.

There’s no part of my body that extends, but, um. If the maximum length is 1 meter, it’s 4 meters with the quadruple buff, um.

…I was curious.

‘…Should I use it just a little bit?’

Just a little. Extending Tentacle.

“…Ugh.”

When I used the skill, a tentacle rose from my wrist. It had a dark color different from my skin tone, as if a parasite was attached.

A poisonous tentacle that extends 4 meters would be useful, but I felt a physiological aversion to using it.

‘The most powerful skill is probably Sticky Poison.’

It’s a C-class poison with a quadruple buff. Even a decent A-class would have a hard time blocking it. Wouldn’t it be possible to poison even an S-class if they didn’t have equipment related to poison resistance? Of course, even A-class, let alone S-class, would have basic poison and curse resistance items.

“Mr. Kim Woo-jae, I’ll go find our Peace, so stay here quietly.”

I was going to kill him right away, but I decided to keep him alive in case I couldn’t find Peace. He said that most people could do anything in 30 minutes, so with a quadruple buff, even a B-class would be obedient.

I searched his body and found the key to the inventory seal bracelet. I took off the bracelet from my wrist and put it on his wrist. Then I took off his gloves and put them on my hands. It would be annoying to leave fingerprints.

“Then have a good time.”

I said goodbye and went outside and locked the door.

How many people are in this building? It was a pity that the Premonition of the Weak skill only detected strong opponents. Originally, the radius was not very large, but now it was quite wide. It meant that I wouldn’t be caught off guard by suddenly encountering an A-class or higher.

Not that there would be an A-class in a place like this.

‘Even if it’s an A-class, I could use Lizard on the Wall and ambush them with poison.’

My current stats were between A-class and B-class based on level 50. B-class was easy, but A-class was a bit tricky. Still, the skills were pretty good….

Crack!

“Oops.”

The doorknob in my hand was torn off with a crunch. My strength control is still clumsy. I need to adapt quickly, or else my increased stats will be exposed.

‘I have to hide it for 7 days.’

Fortunately, Hae-yeon doesn’t have a status window appraiser. Should I lock myself in my room for a week under the pretext of kidnapping sequelae [after-effects of the kidnapping]? If I use Lizard on the Wall weakly to make my presence faint, there shouldn’t be any major problems.

The period was too long, about a day, so this was also a problem.

‘What excuse should I make if I get caught?’

A passing hunter saved me and gave me a huge buff~ Even a passing dog wouldn’t believe that. There was no suitable excuse. I’ll just have to insist that it’s a misunderstanding, I’m weak!

‘Found it.’

Not Peace, but I felt the presence of people gathered together. The Premonition of the Weak skill was quiet, so they were all B-class or lower.

Holding my breath, I used the Lizard on the Wall skill.

Originally, it was a skill that only had the effect of taking on protective coloration. But now, with four times the effect, it would be impossible for them to find me.

I shouldn’t get caught unless I’m going to kill everyone I meet. Even if I kill them, well, honestly, it’s self-defense.

I quietly approached the place where I felt the presence. Fortunately, the door was half open.

“Can we really get out of here safely?”

A voice leaked out from beyond the door. It was a voice I remembered.

‘It’s the D-class I kicked.’

Looking through the crack in the door, all four of the people I saw in the training room were gathered. Only one C-class was missing.

Without dragging it out, I used Thorn Trap right away.

“Ugh!”

“What— Cough!”

The guys fell like dominoes. Perhaps because their stats were low, they trembled and soon rolled their eyes.

‘It’s really good to have attack skills.’

If only one of my L-class skills could be changed to an attack or defense type.

In case they saw me, I glanced around the room, flipping over the bodies lying on the floor. Monitors were attached to one wall, displaying videos from surveillance cameras.

There seemed to be no surveillance cameras except for the entrance, stairs, and part of the hallway. After pulling out all the wires, I picked up the bunch of keys hanging on the wall and went back outside.

After leaving the basement and going up to the first floor, I finally saw the cage where Peace was being held.

‘Peace!’

I couldn’t shout in case anyone heard, so I looked around and approached the cage. The body covered in red fur was rising and falling regularly. He didn’t seem to be hurt, and he hadn’t woken up yet.

‘There were no aftereffects from the Guardian’s Fruit.’

That disgustingly expensive powder was mainly used to capture monsters. It only worked on C-class or lower, so it wasn’t cost-effective to use for dungeon raids. Of course, it also worked on people, so I even fell asleep while helping to capture monsters.

‘The cage key doesn’t seem to be here.’

It would be strange to leave it together. None of the keys I brought fit. I could break the cage, but I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to control my strength. It was also a bit much to melt it with poison. Peace, who was defenselessly asleep, could get hurt, so it would be better to find the key.

“Wait a little longer.”

I’ll be right back.

I couldn’t search the whole place just to find one small key. I was going to go back down to the basement and grab the guys who were collapsed and ask them, but I went upstairs first. It’s better to remove any seeds of anxiety.

Fortunately, the building was two stories, and there was only one presence felt on the second floor. It was probably the last remaining C-class.

‘There are few people for a giant guild subsidiary.’

It seemed that only some people were involved in this. After all, in addition to security issues, they would have to leave Korea completely, so they would have gathered only the minimum number of people they could trust.

‘The B-class is probably the guild leader, and the C-class is probably the vice-guild leader.’

If he’s the vice-guild leader, he’ll know where the key is.

Without hesitation, I kicked the closed door with my foot. The door was badly dented and thrown open with a refreshing crash.

“Who, who is it!”

Who am I?

“I’m the victim you kidnapped.”