The level 5 Treasure Eater roamed the underground in search of higher level treasures.

However, the Treasure Eater’s standards had risen as it leveled up, and there weren't many items that it considered treasures. Still, Thunder Lasting had dropped to level 3 and evolved into an even greater level 4 weapon, the Lightning Tooth, which was enticing enough to draw the Treasure Eater’s attention.

[Lv5 Treasure Eater]

It wasn't a level 4 Treasure Eater, but a level 5 one! Lee Shin-Woo knew he would meet its kind again one day, but he didn't think he'd have to fight one that was two levels higher than him...

Despite feeling slightly concerned, Lee Shin-Woo greeted the Treasure Eater with unmistakable excitement and joy.

"Hey, Steve!"

[Guwoooooooooooh!]

[The Treasure Eater used Shriek of the Dead. Those exposed to this shriek momentarily fall into a state of frenzy and fear.]

[Invisible Heart nullifies the effects of Shriek of the Dead.]

The Treasure Eater responded to his friendly greeting with Shriek of the Dead. How rude, he thought.

Meanwhile, Jin spoke through gritted teeth, "You learned that yelling skill from something like that weird bug, right?"

"Yep. You holding up?"

"Yeah, somehow..."

Lee Shin-Woo naturally wasn't affected by the scream, and Jin wasn't, either. It wasn't because they were undead, or because Jin was a horse, it was thanks to his Horseback Riding skill; their connection, however superficial it was, had shielded Jin from the shriek.

In other words, the negative status Jin should've received was shared with Lee Shin-Woo, and in the process, ended up nullified by Invisible Heart.

[Gooooooooooh!]

Seeing its shriek fail seemed to have pissed off the Treasure Eater. It charged toward them while the Golems rolled to the sides to move out of its way. It was as if they were saying, 'It's not our problem. Take care of it amongst yourselves through a fight or a battle to the death!’

“How the hell are you going to fight that idiot?” Jin asked with an edge of urgency in his tone.

Those Golems have a higher IQ than I thought, Lee Shin-Woo nodded approvingly as he responded, "Hmm... I'll think about it after getting some more info."

Level 2 Treasure Eaters didn't have any special abilities aside from Shriek of the Dead and Roar of Healing, while the level 3 Treasure Eater he encountered possessed the outrageously powerful Flames of Resentment rather than Roar of Healing—Actually, it might have both, but Lee Shin-Woo hadn’t seen it use the healing skill when they were fighting—Therefore, Lee Shin-Woo had no way of knowing what skills the level 5 Treasure Eater possessed other than Shriek of the Dead.

It may have all of those abilities, or it may have something even more outrageous. Since this was his first encounter with a level 5 monster, and an elite one at that, he couldn’t know for sure.

"Would you maintain our distance from it? Can you do it for me?"

"Yeah, that's not a problem."

Treasure Eaters tended to have high magic and endurance. In other words, compared to its size, its speed and strength weren’t very impressive. Of course, it was a level 5 monster, so its stats would be amplified accordingly. Jin’s agility was extraordinarily high even at level 4, though, so there was no way the Treasure Eater would be able to catch him.

That didn’t change even with Lee Shin-Woo riding on his back. Jin galloped across the rugged highlands as if he was speeding through flat plains and leisurely widened the distance between them and the Treasure Eater!

[Guooooooooooh!]

"Yes, yes. I'm over here. Catapult!"

[Kuhaaaaaahk!]

For starters, Lee Shin-Woo needed to figure out whether Catapult would be effective against the Treasure Eater. Moving as quickly as possible, he launched his index finger at the Treasure Eater, but it immediately let out a horrific shriek, and the flying bone exploded midair.

He had expected the Treasure Eater to evade it or block it, but this was completely beyond his expectations!

“Please don’t learn that skill unless you want to destroy my eardrums,” Jin spoke in disgust while running.

"You don't have any eardrums to destroy... Never mind, sorry. My bad. Please don't drop me."

Lee Shin-Woo desperately maintained his balance as Jin purposefully shook him. Then he pointed both hands at the Treasure Eater. Of course, he wasn’t just going to repeat the same method of attack, thinking if one finger didn’t work, he would just fire several simultaneously in the hope that one of the shots would hit the mark. No, that wasn’t his style.

"Firing!"

From his thumbs all the way to his pinkies, he had coated all ten of his fingers with flames before firing them at the Treasure Eater. However, the bones lost momentum mid-flight as if he had launched them improperly, and they fell to the ground. Steve trampled on those bones like it was mocking him before getting ready to charge...

"Self-Destruct!" Lee Shin-Woo yelled at that moment, and all ten of his finger bones exploded, hitting the Treasure Eater’s abdominal area with tremendous power.

[Kuwoooooohk!]

[Critical Hit!]

The Treasure Eater rolled onto the floor, spraying blood everywhere. Although Lee Shin-Woo was close to reaching level 4, it was still a remarkable feat for a level 3 hero to land an effective blow against a level 5 elite monster!

"Hoo, it worked..."

"You should've told me ahead of time," Jin complained.

From his past experience fighting against Treasure Eaters, Lee Shin-Woo knew that the skin covering its head and back would be the toughest, while its abdomen was its weak point. He had made his first shot with Catapult in order to gauge its abilities.

He acted as though he didn't have an effective attack against it to lull the Treasure Eater into a false sense of security. Then it was only a matter of springing the trap at the most opportune time; weren't these the basics for being a Duelist? He might not be one, but the same rule applied!

"Now... Time to run, Jin!"

"Run!? Didn’t you say running wouldn’t do us any good!?"

"Temporarily! We need to run in order to fulfill the last condition!"

Jin was surprised that Lee Shin-Woo would suddenly change his mind after landing a good hit on the Treasure Eater, but Lee Shin-Woo didn't explain at length.

Although they had managed to hurt the Treasure Eater pretty substantially, a difference of two levels was still a huge gap to bridge. It was also unlikely for them to launch an effective attack the second time with the same method; they would eventually lose by doing so repeatedly. The Treasure Eater was unfathomably tough like that.

What should they do then? The answer was the cheat skill Lee Shin-Woo had; he needed to activate Avenger.

He had attacked the Treasure Eater to satisfy the activation conditions of his skill. Inflicting damage on his enemy and taking damage from his enemy both count as being in battle!

"Tch...I got it!" Jin conceded.

He knew Lee Shin-Woo had better judgment than him regarding all things combat, so he obediently turned around and dashed away. Jin was running at his full speed, and Lee Shin-Woo had to hang on for dear life so that he wouldn't fall off!

In less than two minutes, they had reached the flatlands Lee Shin-Woo remembered seeing earlier. The message he had been waiting for also popped up at the perfect time.

[You have acquired a target for Beginner Avenger. When you meet the target again, all abilities will increase by 36%.]

"Nice, now I should be overflowing with strength...!"

Avenger was key to him fighting higher level enemies.

He was still worried since his target this time was a monster two levels higher than he was, but he had Jin now. With the support of Jin’s high agility, Lee Shin-Woo thought he might even defeat the Treasure Eater more easily than the King Slime. However…

"Is that also a skill it normally has?" Jin asked without thinking.

"Huh? ...What the hell?!"

Lee Shin-Woo turned to gape at the Treasure Eater, which was chasing after them with frightening vigor while shooting dozens of blackish whips out of its body to lash at them.

No, they weren't whips, but blood! It was lashing at them with tendrils of blood!

"Hold on tight!" Jin yelled.

"Ugh!?"

The whips were ridiculously fast compared to its main body. Jin sped up immediately, but the whips were soon upon them. They would be hit any minute now.

[You have found the target of your revenge. When you fight it, all abilities increase by 36%. Flames of Revenge receive an additional 36% increase.]

"Nice... Take this!"

Lee Shin-Woo clicked his tongue and retaliated with Flames of Revenge, which was amplified by Avenger; unfortunately, the whips of blood didn’t evaporate when hit by the flames. Several of them continued to lash at them with great ferocity!

"Jin, run! Run for now!"

"Damn it. If it weren't for those weird tentacles, we could've slipped away easily...!"

[Guwooooooh!]

Was it especially pissed because it had been hurt by Lee Shin-Woo, who was two levels lower? Having recovered and picked itself up, the Treasure Eater conjured dozens of whips with the blood spilling from its stomach, manipulating them while charging at Lee Shin-Woo and Jin.

Lee Shin-Woo gritted his teeth. There were way too many of them to take down one by one with his flames! But Acid Poison would consume too much mana, and its concentrated nature wouldn’t work well at this very moment, since he wasn’t making a focused attack.

"Shin-Woo!"

"Guh!"

Lee Shin-Woo was unable to keep track of the pattern of its attacks. And in his moment of panic, one of the whips latched onto his arm and wrapped around it, inflicting him with horrific pain.

The whips seemed to have the strength of the level 5 Treasure Eater, and they appeared to be unimaginably tough. Moreover, the whips were overwhelmingly faster than its main body while possessing the strength the Treasure Eater put into them. It was the first time Lee Shin-Woo experienced such an unreasonably strong ability!

"Tch... Catapult!"

"Shin-Woo!?"

Lee Shin-Woo had a hunch that even if he tried to resist, he would just end up getting dragged away by the whip, so instead, he cut his losses and launched the arm that had been grappled! For a terrible moment, it felt like the tremendous pain would've knocked him unconscious, but Lee Shin-Woo held on with his tenacious spirit alone.

[Kueeehk!]

Even Steve, who possessed that bizzare ability, hadn't expected Lee Shin-Woo to get away like this! His launched arm flew dazzlingly through the air along with the whip, hitting the other whips and turning them into a tangled mess as a result.

Lee Shin-Woo didn't miss that golden opportunity. He treated the whips like those unwanted traveling companions who refused to give him some legroom and detonated his arm without hesitation! The bone that had previously blown off the Acid Ghoul’s head exploded magnificently, burning away a good chunk of the blood whips.

[Kyaaaaaaaahk!]

"Does it hurt? It really hurts for me too! Anyway, you're always using such crazy attacks...!"

The moment the explosion swallowed up the whips before dissipating, the Treasure Eater came to a sudden halt and cried out in agony. It seemed to have taken quite a bit of damage. It would serve him well to know that the Treasure Eater would suffer as well when its whips were damaged.

"Are you alright!?" Jin asked.

"I'll be fine after applying some bone powder. Just keep an eye out for those whips and move carefully."

Jin was astonished when Lee Shin-Woo sacrificed his arm without any hesitation, but Lee Shin-Woo didn't think much of it and used the bone powder in his inventory to activate Bone Reinforcement on his shoulder. Although it cost quite a lot of bone powder, he was able to regenerate his arm without using a drop of mana.

"You're really..."

"Jin, it's moving again!"

"Ugh."

The Treasure Eater could no longer attack with its main body. Simultaneously, it conjured dozens of new whips and attacked the two while keeping half of the whips close to its body.

It was a relief that Lee Shin-Woo had hit the Treasure Eater with Flames of Revenge earlier, injuring its stomach with an explosion.

I've lost an arm already, and yet it’s only spilled blood once. Moreover, it seems able to conjure an almost countless number of whips. It truly is a level 5 elite monster...

Lee Shin-Woo would’ve run until Flames of Revenge killed the Treasure Eater, but no matter how he analyzed the situation, that didn’t seem like a viable plan.

That left Lee Shin-Woo with no other choice... He gritted his teeth and looked up at the Treasure Eater.

It was time to battle it face-to-face.