‘…… Damn it! I almost died there?!’
It was an attack sharp enough to precisely aim for the core of my head.
‘What incredible swordsmanship. A thrust with this level of power…’
I could also see an unidentified vortex emanating from his body.
It seemed that the ridiculously fast movement I couldn’t even catch in my sight was due to that ability.
‘Wait, he wasn’t using his full strength until now? No way…’
From what I felt, he was indeed exerting maximum effort while being cautious of me. But such a drastic change meant…
‘I remember now. But wasn’t that ability supposed to activate only briefly when in a near-death state?’
If that technique was an active skill he could use without significant restrictions, I had to change my mindset.
To counter that, I prepared a combination of the Lightning Step I just used and a reckless charge while looking for an opportunity.
‘Hmm…’
As I quickly redirected my senses, thankfully, we were overwhelmingly dominating the monsters in areas other than my fight.
It was clear the performance of our newly acquired weapons was vastly superior to the buffs they had received.
Obviously. Even a casual swing would probably make their armor burst apart.
‘Hah— alright. As long as I do well-‘
Just as I took a long breath and was about to launch my attack…
‘W-What the hell is this?’
I felt someone forcibly stirring the shared space we were in.
This disturbance was typically a sensation felt when passing through a gate’s portal, but the difference was that it was being deliberately done by someone.
Whooooosh─
Soon, a gigantic portal began to form on one side of our shared space.
Behind the flickering portal, three faint dolls shimmered.
Three hulking figures wrapped in robes… familiar shapes I had seen before.
“What the…?!”
“Shit! What the hell is that!”
“We need to clean these up quickly—! Hurry!”
My companions realized something was happening and began to take desperate actions in their attacks.
However, just because we were dominating the fight didn’t mean we could drastically reduce the Skeleton Knight forces, so it wasn’t easy to act as we wished, and the battle between the two groups naturally fell into a stalemate.
‘Have I only reduced them to about a hundred since I killed the first with a bomb…?’
No, considering the enemy’s increased combat power, it might actually be a pretty good outcome.
The portal widened its presence instantly.
Numerous monsters were detected. And to have a third force appear at a time when the outcome of the battle was still uncertain was truly one of the worst situations I could imagine.
We weren’t the only ones panicking.
The Skeleton Knight, who had been battling the Celestial Legion, was staring at the portal with a blue glow of possession.
In his gaze, there was clearly a mix of hatred and hostility, making the hunters on the battlefield gulp involuntarily.
‘…… Damn it……’
[Nargulrrruuu─]
‘……’
Nargul.
It was undoubtedly one of the beings at the ruler tier of this dungeon that opened that portal.
Having not one, but three rulers of an E-rank final dungeon gathering was unimaginable under normal circumstances.
They were using a portal to arrive in an instant, a distance that would normally take two days to run.
‘If three Narguls gather, they can pull off such tricks…’
How they pinpointed this location in an instant baffled me, but the existence of the Skeleton Knight beside me quickly resolved my uncertainty.
‘Did this bastard use his aura to find us? Nothing works. Damn it!’
The undead hordes were already staggering through the generated portal. The Skeleton Knight glanced at me while mumbling something as he looked momentarily at the monsters.
[Suoooorr─]
From the feeling, it seemed he was suggesting we stop what we were doing and deal with those first, but I shrugged and pointed at the portal.
The Skeleton Knight nodded and turned his gaze away from me. Did he think I had agreed?
I quickly approached Yeon-hee and relayed the message, and through her, the rapidly transferred information filled the people with both surprise and hope as they closely monitored the Skeleton Knight forces.
We couldn’t just believe what the leader of the faction we had just fought said and rush forward, so we waited for them to make a move.
Ignoring our movements, the Skeleton Knight pointed at the portal and ordered a full charge.
“Kwoooooo──!!”
Though numbers were slightly reduced, the momentum of the upgraded undead was relentless.
“Eek-! What?! Are we really going to team up with those things?”
Arin seemed incredulous yet took measured steps toward the portal.
Of course, other companions and summoned creatures were also with her.
We had to launch a full-on assault before Nargul’s minions completely came through the portal.
Whooooosh─
“Damn it! The portal is getting wider!”
“How many Narguls are there, anyway?”
“Thank goodness they still can’t cross over yet.”
Nargul was only acting to connect the space beyond the portal, not crossing over himself.
Just maintaining it must be overwhelming. No matter how many of these guys gathered, there were limits to what they could do.
The Skeleton Knight had already engaged the massive undead army that had come over and was fighting fiercely. Following the Skeleton Knight, I tossed every bomb I had remaining into the air toward the portal.
Kaboom—!
The pesky undead moving along the narrow portal got caught in the blasts, scattering bone fragments everywhere, and at that moment, Nargul, maintaining the portal, glared at me as if he wanted to kill me.
‘What are you gonna do about it? Come in and try!’
But although his eyes flashed, the Nargul trio didn’t take any action.
Even more so.
‘What? They can’t even resurrect monsters right now?’
It seemed they were so burdened just maintaining the portal that they couldn’t utilize Nargul’s greatest advantage. But did they really need to hit this place? It couldn’t be just to capture us.
‘I can’t let this opportunity slip by!’
Whooosh─
I prepared a condensed Fireball that I had used on the Blue-eyed Organization with the Evil-Infused Crystal.
As I watched the Skeleton Knight battling in the air, I readied the Fireball that I couldn’t use just moments ago.
The Fireball stacked in my left hand soon grew into a massive sphere, rising like a small sun in the sky.
[Harghuuuu──!]
But regardless of what I was doing, Nargul and the Skeleton Knight were busy engaging in a horrific scream contest back and forth.
Whether they were oblivious to my attack or thought they could simply ignore it.
Even though they were at a distance they could not directly engage in combat, both were screaming in a horrendous way, as if competing. Ugh— so annoying! You guys!
What they were up to was none of my concern.
Just by the title attached to the dungeon, I had a rough idea of the story; however, since I had the responsibility to take them all out, I could only wish they’d continue fighting each other.
‘Still a bit disappointing, though?’
It was a signature attack, yet they didn’t give it even a moment of attention. That really ticked me off.
Kuwaaa─
The massive sphere of fire, big enough to be a tent twice the size of the one I shared with Yeon-hee, began to fall from the ceiling of the shared space at my gesture.
The leaders of the undead and the rest of the lowly minions startled and raised their heads, finally feeling the heat from above.
[……!]
‘Boom.’
Kaboom—!
With an enormous explosion, the Fireball that erupted at the portal entrance exerted influence over a range of dozens of meters, obliterating the heads of two Giant Skeletons that were part of Nargul’s forces in an instant.
‘Hah, those giant bastards. I barely killed them with my dagger.’
The stacked Fireball was indeed a move worthy of being called a finishing blow. Although it was the second time I used it, it never failed to astonish me.
“Wow…”
“That’s really a monster…”
“What kind of magic power does it take to execute an attack like that? It looks like a stacked Fireball… even High-Rank Hunters would struggle to try that.”
“But is that really a Fireball?”
Everyone added their own comments, expressing their astonishment at my finishing move, and I finally felt a sense of satisfaction.
All my party members, except Yeon-hee, were also taken aback by the sight of this technique, their mouths agape.
“Now’s the time! Follow me—!”
Yeom Tae-seok, who had only been known for saying “Follow me,” was the only one not mentally disturbed by my attack, and the timing of his charge was quite on point.
He coated every nearby melee Hunter with auras of dedication and, wielding a mace and a club in both hands, began to spin like a top, sweeping the enemies away.
‘Impressive. Has he rejuvenated?’
Of course, the reason Yeom Tae-seok and the Hunters could go wild was thanks to Ham Eun-young, who kept supporting them from behind, and Noh Ha-yoon, who froze the enemies with [Ice Field], restricting their movements.
Of course, I couldn’t fall behind either.
Though using big moves consecutively felt taxing, I attempted to condense once more for another Fireball.
As I prepared a large technique for the second time in a row, my magic power quickly approached empty.
But thanks to the feature of the high-grade magic circuit, my magic was refilled.
Gathering up the accumulated magic once more, I threw a massive fireball toward the portal.
Sizzles—
KAAAAM─!
However, just as the fireball flew beautifully, it suddenly distorted, altering its trajectory and exploded midway.
[Tzwooor─]
‘Damn those Nargul bastards!’
They had used [Arcane Deflection] to alter the trajectory of my Fireball. No way could a single one of them perform such high-tier magic alone.
‘Just as I thought!’
I could see the three Narguls glaring at me, their hands joined together. They had even let go of the portal’s maintenance.
Noticing the clearly diminished amount of my magic power indicated that this was no easy task for them either.
As they tried to alter the path of my magic, the Narguls were caught off guard by the rapidly shrinking portal and unwittingly released their grip.
‘They altered that, huh?’
I felt somewhat dazed at the realization that I had wasted my most powerful move. Today, I was being surprised more than once.
A creature that possessed the abilities of both a necromancer and magic; what kind of world could still harbor such things?
… Damn it! Dirty bastards! Ptooey!
– Kyaaaaa! Hot-! Aah—! Ugh…!
The Fireball, which had deviated from its intended path, exploded in an unexpected location, ultimately injuring the only archer among the Hunters, a woman, as her arm was scorched and blistered.
Grasping her arm, which was still blazing hot, she fell to the ground, rolling around in agony.
I immediately rushed to her side and poured Irmana’s water over her flaming arm.
The flames that wouldn’t extinguish extinguished in an instant.
However, even that brief moment resulted in severe burns, and blisters the size of my fist began to rise up all over her arm.
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