Player Farming in the Dragon’s Lair - Chapter 114

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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114
A message appeared: the first Wave was beginning.
Level 400 monsters—mutant enhanced Ogres—circled the stage, gradually revealing themselves.
Lee Woo-jin, cloaked in Absolute Concealment, remained undetected by the Ogres. They fixed their attention instead on Barbatos at the stage’s center, shrieking as they charged forward.
—Graaaaaaaah!
*Hiss.*
Barbatos smiled like a predator who’d spotted prey—a savage, feral thing—before throwing a single punch at the incoming Ogres.
*Crash!*
Though both were muscle-bound monstrosities, Barbatos’s frame dwarfed the Ogres by several times over, and the force behind her strike was staggering.
—Graagh?!
With each punch, the Ogres simply burst apart.
Barbatos moved like a wild horse set loose, her combat fluid and violent.
Each punch she threw was that of a heavyweight boxer at full tilt.
Left hook, right hook.
Every punch that landed cracked like artillery fire.
The Ogres flew backward in waves.
Lee Woo-jin watched in genuine amazement.
*Crash!*
Round one ended.
Round two began at once, and a hundred Ogres appeared.
‘Her body’s shrinking. I’m sure of it.’
Lee Woo-jin noticed Barbatos’s musculature seemed to be receding. As time passed, his suspicion hardened into certainty.
Her towering frame—over three meters—had dwindled to barely two meters, and her facial features were softening, the sharp jaw line growing gentler.
The muscles that had seemed ready to burst were deflating like pricked balloons, visibly contracting before his eyes.
Yet the force of her punches hadn’t diminished.
Each blow still carried tremendous weight; the artillery-fire crack of impact persisted with every Ogre she struck down.
And the Ogres still fell in a single hit.
By the final round, Barbatos’s imposing muscularity had vanished entirely, replaced by the figure of a beautiful woman—the sort you’d see in film or manga.
Her ears came to a point, and her skin was a deep bronze, as though tanned.
—Graaaaaaaah!
The last Ogre exploded under a one-punch blow from Barbatos.
[Bonus Stage cleared.]
[Clear time: 9 minutes 47 seconds.]
[A remarkable record.]
[You receive a Premium Diamond Necklace as reward.]
For some reason, the reward went to Lee Woo-jin.
[Premium Diamond Necklace]
– Grade: S
– Description: A beautiful necklace set with the continent’s finest diamonds. Selling to a merchant yields 1,000,000 Coins.
He was taken aback.
A million Coins.
‘This should go to Barbatos.’
She was the one who cleared the Bonus Stage, after all.
Lee Woo-jin had merely watched safely from the sidelines, cloaked in Absolute Concealment.
*Hisssss……*
The heat of battle hadn’t yet faded from her.
White steam rose in wisps from Barbatos’s entire body.
Her hair, which she usually wore in short twin braids, had come undone during the fighting and now hung past her shoulders in loose strands.
What she’d thought was short hair now appeared long because her shrunken head made it look longer by proportion.
The flower she’d worn in her hair had fallen to the ground during combat and lay trampled into a pulp, while her one-piece dress was now baggy and dragging across the ground, wholly failing to serve its purpose.
Lee Woo-jin approached her.
“Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“……I’m fine.”
“I’m sorry?”
Barbatos lowered her head sharply.
“Please…… don’t look at how wretched I am.”
Fighting the Ogres had forced her to expend the dark magic needed to maintain her appearance. Her true form had been exposed—hideous, nothing like her usual self.
Painful memories rose to the surface.
—Did you see? Barbatos, I mean. After she won the contest, when she dropped the Transformation…… she was actually really ugly. No muscles at all.
—No kidding. I thought that was probably her real form, honestly. Pretty disillusioning.
Barbatos maintained her Transformation form continuously after that.
It was poor value in terms of Dark Magic Power consumption, but preferable to displaying her hideous true face.
As time passed and the Miss Demon Contest was held repeatedly, Barbatos continued to claim first place, and no one remembered her original form any longer.
She had sworn never to show her true self to anyone again.
Yet here she was, forced to reveal her most grotesque form to the very target of her Seduction Scheme.
The operation had ended in failure.
He must be laughing at her.
‘Go ahead. Laugh,’ she thought bitterly.
Barbatos decided to rest briefly, recover her Dark Magic Power, and then retransform to return to the Calamity Cult.
For now, she would have to maintain this form no matter what.
“What do you mean, not pretty?”
“…?”
Barbatos stared at Lee Woo-jin in surprise.
Lee Woo-jin tilted his head with genuine bewilderment.
“You’re beautiful.”
“…Ah, I see. Don’t worry—you needn’t flatter me. I have no intention of killing you. Speak your mind freely; I won’t hold it against you.”
She had assumed he was flattering her to save his own skin.
But that was a grave miscalculation on her part.
Because to Lee Woo-jin, Barbatos truly was beautiful.
“I’m speaking genuinely. You really are beautiful.”
“Don’t mock me. I despise those who flatter so cheaply. If this isn’t flattery, then tell me—what exactly is beautiful about my current form? You can’t, can you? Because there’s…”
“Your hair is like fine silk. Your nose is graceful, your eyes are large, and your lashes are long. Your lips are supple. Your shoulders are delicate, and your skin is smooth. Your voice is captivating. And…”
“S-stop! Stop right there!”
Barbatos flushed deeply.
What kind of man was he?
“I haven’t even finished yet.”
“If you say another word, I’ll die of embarrassment! What’s wrong with your head? Look at these puny arms—no muscle at all! Utterly pathetic! And this voice—it’s no longer deep and commanding; it’s grating and shrill, isn’t it? Surely you see how grotesque I am—one hit would snap my fragile bones like twigs!”
Lee Woo-jin calmly met her gaze.
But Barbatos hated seeing her own reflection in his eyes, so she lowered her head.
Lee Woo-jin stepped closer.
Then he showed her the necklace.
“This came as a reward. Would you mind if I put it around your neck?”
“What? Are you mocking me to the bitter end? Pearl before swine! A necklace like this, with my current appearance…”
“Suits you perfectly.”
He fastened the necklace and stepped back.
Lee Woo-jin pulled out his smartphone, switched to selfie mode, placed it in Barbatos’s hands, then covered her hand with his own and angled the phone to show the necklace around her neck.
“What do you think? Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“…”
“Thank you for protecting me.”
In that moment, Barbatos was seized by an inexplicable flutter in her chest.
Her reflection appeared faintly in the phone’s camera.
She could see it.
Her own face, flushed and burning with warmth.
“…Are you saying my current form is prettier?”
Lee Woo-jin shook his head.
“Ah, I knew it! This form is hideou—”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what?”
“I think both forms are beautiful.”
Lee Woo-jin generally respected individual preferences.
After all, beauty is subjective by nature, varying from person to person and shifting across time and circumstance.
Besides, he found the imposing figure of Barbatos—fighting those ogres to protect him—equally captivating in her own right.
“…Do you really mean that?”
“Yes.”
Barbatos thrust the smartphone back at him with a whoosh.
She didn’t look at her reflection in the camera, but she didn’t need to.
“I’m leaving!”
Crack!
Opening a dimensional rift, Barbatos fled as if her life depended on it.
Lee Woo-jin didn’t even manage to bid her a proper farewell.
‘Oh, I meant to pack you some food.’
He scratched his cheek.
“What is it?”
Then.
[The God of Life observes you and remarks that you’re quite skilled at handling women.]
[The God of Adventure nods vigorously in agreement, saying you must have been incredibly popular back in the day.]
Lee Woo-jin froze.
“I…”
I’m actually a total novice.
* * *
Thump-thump-thump!
Heavy footsteps echoed through the corridor.
The sound of someone passing through the hallway of the Calamity Cult building.
Paimon and Buer, realizing Barbatos had returned, rushed forward and cut her off.
“Barbatos!”
But even called out to, she didn’t stop—she was heading for the exit of the Calamity Cult.
Since they needed to find out what had happened, Paimon and Buer refused to back down and blocked her path.
Barbatos kept her head down, shoulders hunched.
Paimon spoke up.
“If you’re back, you should report to the Apostle Society! What happened? Did the seduction scheme work?”
“…”
Paimon and Buer felt uneasy.
If she’d fallen for the seduction scheme, then Barbatos—backed by Lee Woo-jin’s power—would become the real seat of authority.
‘But what is that necklace?’
A glittering diamond necklace hung around her thick neck.
Her neck was so wide that the necklace fit more like a choker.
“…The seduction scheme failed.”
Paimon and Buer felt relieved at those words.
But they didn’t let it show on their faces, instead laughing awkwardly.
“Ha ha! Well, these things happen.”
“But how did the chairman… ah, no. Lee Woo-jin wasn’t taken in by your seduction scheme? Impressive.”
Barbatos couldn’t bring herself to say it.
That it was she who had fallen for the seduction scheme instead.
Though of course Lee Woo-jin had never even entertained such thoughts in the first place.
A Player Farming in Dragon Lair (Ongoing Serialization)
Author | Gaebyeok S
Publisher | Kim Joo-hyung
Published by | JPlusmedia Co., Ltd.
Marketing | Han Jae-hyeok
Address | 401, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Acetech Tower 8th)
Email | [email protected]
Website | www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Gaebyeok S 2026
※ This work is published by JPlusmedia Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder, and no part of its contents may be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and the author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal liability.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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