The Old Man Is So Good at Acting Like a Loser

＜ 5. The Strongest Challenger (3) ＞

“I don’t know what this is… in English. The more you swing this hammer, the stronger it grows.”

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Not befitting the berserker-like appearance from before, Marco was bewildered. As soon as Andrea heard Marco’s words, an idea came to mind.

‘Hammer Mastery!’

Mastery, a unique skill that gives you an advantage when handling a specific weapon. It was one of the skills that you can easily acquire when strengthening your summons.

However, it was common for masteries to stick to the main weapon that the summoned person had previously dealt with. Andrea asked with a puzzled expression.

“Mr. Marco, was the hammer the main weapon you used in the war?”

“No. When I was a soldier, I mainly fought with a spear…”

Andrea thought so too. Otherwise, there would be no way the strengthened Marco would be holding a spear.

‘Then why does Marco have the Hammer Mastery?’

“By any chance, did you use a hammer before you went to war? Or there was an impressive incident about the hammer.”

Marco thought hard. Then, as if he knew something, he opened his mouth.

“I’ve never used a hammer… but my daughter has…”

“?”

“…No, no. It’s a bit too much to say because it’s a very personal memory.”

Andrea wondered what had happened, but didn’t ask any further because Marco’s expression looked very disturbed.

It was a good thing anyway. Because I knew that if Marco held a hammer, he would make a hundred. Unfortunately, it was a limited item, so I had to leave the Earth Shredder’s Hammer behind.

‘If you have a chance to get a weapon, you’ll have to prioritize the hammer. As soon as I get it, I’ll give it to Mr. Marco.’

Andrea and Marco went back into the hall and sat down on the railing. Andrea told Marco the outline of her current situation.

“You skipped the 10th floor? How is that possible?”

“It’s magic, what. In a dungeon, you can come to a completely different space by passing through a blue door floating in the air.”

“In this dungeon, the deeper you go, the slower the time outside, right? If that’s the case…it’s a good thing it’s sorted out.”

Andrea shook her head.

“The situation is not that simple. Originally, there are monsters that are incomparably stronger than normal monsters, called boss monsters, on the multiplier of 10. However, because we skipped from the 9th floor to the 19th floor, we had to deal with the 20th floor boss instead of the 10th floor boss.”

“…The monster on the 20th floor is much stronger than the monster on the 10th floor, and we are infinitely weaker in comparison, is that what you mean?”

“Exactly.”

“Still, if you work hard and I pick up this hammer and use my strength, won’t it somehow work out?”

“That hammer… I’m sorry, but you have to leave it behind. It’s a weapon that can only be used on this floor, so I can’t carry it.”

A look of disappointment was evident on Marco’s face. Andrea pretended not to notice and continued.

“Besides, boss monsters are not at that level. It may be near impossible for us to physically match.”

“Then what should we do?”

“What can I do? I still have to go to the 20th floor.”

“Isn’t it possible to go backwards to the 18th floor?”

It wasn’t completely impossible to reverse the dungeon. But that’s only possible when you get a special artifact. Andrea nodded slowly.

“Yes.”

“… what a beggar-like place.”

“I’m glad you know now.”

Andrea finished the conversation and was lost in thought. Up to the 19th floor was managed, but dealing with the boss monster on the 20th floor was a completely different problem.

The 19th floor was actually a floor that would not be easy to break without Marco. Going to the 20th floor now, barely enough to break through here, and hoping for safety was beyond a fluke and hoping for a miracle.

And blindly heading to the 20th floor in hopes of a miracle didn’t suit Andrea’s temperament.

Andrea first carefully examined the weapons she possessed and the ways in which they could be used.

After that, I guessed the number of boss monsters that could appear on the 20th floor. And Marco was acquainted with each monster’s weakness, strategy, and pattern.

Marco was fed up with the endless strategy lecture.

“No, how on earth are you memorizing all of that?”

“Since I just lived, I learned to memorize it in verse.”

“Oh, that’s amazing… But after listening to it, there are attacks that seem almost impossible to avoid, so what should I do with them?”

“It just has to be right.”

I wonder if that was the only thing that was unreasonable in the dungeon, but Marco looked quite discouraged.

“I really wonder who created this space.”

“That goes for me too.”

The preparations are over. After memorizing all the strategies once again, Andrea and Marco moved on to the next floor.

The passage leading to the next floor was behind the seat where the podium used to be. Marco looked back several times as he walked, wondering if he was sorry for leaving the hammer behind.

In dungeons, it is common to go down to go to the next floor, but sometimes you have to go up to go to the next floor. That was the case now.

A spiral staircase stretching endlessly toward the sky. Andrea looked up far up, her mind dizzy.

Marco called him.

“There is something you like.”

I almost forgot about it. Andrea approached the treasure chest that came out as a reward for this floor.

What came out was two cards and some gold.

‘[Normal] Flame Strike (1 cost): Your next physical attack gains the fire property. 10% chance to burn the enemy on hit.’

‘[Rare] Summon Golden Slime (0 Cost): Summons a one-time, golden slime.’

Both were obscure cards. The flame hit wasn’t good because it didn’t deal additional damage, and the golden slime summon was a bad card.

‘Even if I summon a golden slime, I can’t do anything about it, and all I can do is split it up and use it as a meat shield…’

‘Golden Slime Summon’ was a very paradoxical card. Although the grade was rare, the drop rate was lower than that of unique, and it was of little use compared to its rarity.

There was even a ‘disposable’ keyword that disappears permanently once used, so it was difficult to even try to research how to use it. Hyeon Jeong, too, remembers being disappointed when he first saw this card.

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Not taking it at all was an option. However, Andrea eventually chose one of them after pondering for a long time.

Before I knew it, Marco was approaching me. Marco looked down at Andrea and said.

“how? Did you come up with anything useful for catching monsters?”

“No, it was a joke. You can’t just hope for good things every time.”

Then Andrea asked if it would be nice to go back to the card while climbing the stairs, since I didn’t have to bother with the purchase. Marco shook his head.

“It’s such a high staircase, wouldn’t it be better to have a friend? Let’s go up together step by step.”

Andrea nodded and started climbing the stairs with Marco.

While climbing the stairs, there was no other conversation between the two. It was because the stairs were so long that Andrea couldn’t afford to answer under her strength.

Instead, Andrea ruminated on the boss on the 20th floor, and the more she thought about it, the more she felt like she was being dragged to the slaughterhouse. Opponents who question whether they can win.

Fear grew as his breathing quickened. Various thoughts ran dizzy inside Andrea.

‘What will happen if I die?’

Until now, I thought that if I died, everything would be over. But the more I thought about it, the more unclear everything was.

‘Due to the nature of roguelike games, it’s true that [the character you’ve been raising] is deleted when you die. But [character] doesn’t disappear from the character creation window, right? If I die here… will only my spirit disappear and [Andrea] go back to the past and climb the dungeon?’

It was a terrifying assumption, but not an improbable one. Andrea was getting deeper into her thoughts.

‘Then who dwells in [Andrea’s] mind at that time? Are you really Andrea? Or someone from another reality? I’d rather feel a little more comfortable if someone told me that it’s over forever after I die… but I can’t figure it out…’

‘Do I really have to explore dungeons in the first place? It’s true that I want to go back to my original world, but do I have to go… even at the risk of disappearing forever?’

Andrea realized that she had lost a lot of confidence.

It was only true that he had extensive knowledge about dungeons. However, as I realized while facing the danger of dying, the dungeon was not a space where everything could be controlled only with knowledge.

However, Andrea soon regained her senses.

‘No, what are you thinking about before an important battle? Wake. If you stop climbing dungeons anyway, you will have to live confined to one space for the rest of your life. I need to figure out who put me here. And···.’

Then Andrea stumbled. The moment he lost weight and was about to fall down the stairs, Marco grabbed his hand and held him.

“Be careful!”

“···Oh, thank you.”

“Are your legs weak? If you don’t want to get rid of the corpse, I’d better stand in the back.”

‘…I have to help this man, who doesn’t know whether he has a good or bad personality, meet his daughter.’

It took about thirty minutes to reach the end of the stairs. Andrea gasped for breath, but Marco seemed to be in good shape.

Marco said while pushing Andrea, who stumbled, from behind.

“I thought my physical strength would have improved a bit because my body was getting stronger, but I still have a long way to go!”

“Hook, hook, this isn’t about my stamina, it’s Marco-san…”

Andrea was about to say something, but stopped. It was obvious that Marco would reply that he was normal and that you were a weakling.

As I climbed the last staircase, a huge door caught my eye. It was a door with wave patterns, runes, human faces and monsters engraved in relief.

There is a boss monster behind it.

Andrea leaned against the door and took a break. It was time for the last inspection.

Marco didn’t budge even after climbing the stairs for a long time, and his weapons were all in good condition. Andrea reverse summoned Marco back to the card.

‘Okay, let’s not lose the determination we had when Marco said he would eat me if I became a corpse.’

If I rested for a long time, I would have more thoughts. As soon as Andrea’s rapid breathing returned to normal, she pushed hard on the huge door.

‘No matter how bad it is, I’d rather die.’

A huge room was revealed.

The room looked like a banquet hall that had long ago decayed.

There were very few intact items. The walls, which were once brilliant, had become hideous with gold leaf peeling off here and there. Tables made of high-quality hardwood were also scattered on the floor, shattered without a doubt.

The only thing close to its original form is a huge crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. However, the landscape illuminated by the light has long since lost its former glory. Broken furniture, dried bloodstains, and yellow bones made us guess what had happened in the banquet hall.

At the far end of the banquet hall were fancy chairs. A skeleton carved out of gold and a cushion that was discolored and sunken. A skeleton wearing a crown was sitting on the chair.

And in front of it was a huge armor protecting the throne.

As I faced the armor, the door closed and a narration was heard.

‘tutelar. A knight of misfortune who could not protect the king. The moment the king was assassinated at the banquet hall, all he could do was slaughter the rebels. But that didn’t mean the dead king would return.’

‘His honor has already rusted and his body has all rotted away. But when someone comes to the banquet hall, he still draws a huge sword to defend the skeletal king.’

I’m going to go to the middle of the day.

There was the sound of rusty joints colliding. It was the sound of living armor moving.

Andrea closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Recalling the enemy’s pattern in my head so as not to get confused.

The moment Andrea opened her eyes again, turn 1 began.

＜ 5. The Strongest Challenger (3) ＞ End