Lee Yeon-hee’s body reacted before the message about her being able to be resurrected even finished.
“Il-wol! Help! Ugh—huh—”
As she screamed for someone with a voice that barely came out, the trio stopped bothering Cha Jin-hyuk and turned to look at her.
“What is she saying?”
“Oh, oppa. Let’s just kill her too, okay? I’ll do it?”
“Shut up! Just hold on a second. Something’s off—”
While they were momentarily bickering,
Wooooo─
Clunk─!
“What was that?”
“A door?”
A gigantic door opened in mid-air, and the moment an armored existence appeared, they realized something was wrong.
*
From the moment the door opened and Il-wol stepped into the outer world, he sensed something strange.
‘Why was I summoned in mid-air?’
Il-wol quickly expanded his senses.
He was able to grasp the movements of every living being in the vicinity down to the millimeter.
‘What are those things? Why does Cha Jin-hyuk look like that? And why is Yeon-hee crying?’
The trio was stabbing the bloodied Cha Jin-hyuk while Yeon-hee was screaming at them to die.
As Il-wol fell from the air, he quickly assessed the situation and concluded.
‘It’s those bug-like things!’
But because he was somewhat detached from the battlefield, he could analyze the situation more calmly.
‘All three of them… have changed in some way. Their stats have improved by around 7%. How is that possible in just a few hours?’
That could be the cause of the mess.
‘A druid capable of partial transformation, an assassin type, and a tanker with [Provocation] and [War Cry]. I need to take out the assassin first.’
Il-wol remembered checking their abilities when he first encountered them.
While the details made it seem like they had completely different jobs, they were all melee types, and ambushing the woman who could respond fastest to his speed was priority.
They looked clearly flustered, so a surprise attack should be quite effective.
In a moment’s time, Il-wol finished his calculations and made eye contact with the now bloodshot Yeon-hee.
She looked at him desperately with her hands clasped together.
Pududududu—
‘Why were you crying while I wasn’t here… you, you son of a bitch!!’
The sight of her face, looking more distressed than ever, and her hood, cut by something sharp, filled Il-wol’s mind with boiling rage.
Without even consciously activating it, Il-wol transformed into [Combat type] in an instant.
Clank—crack—
Whoosh—
His sleek armor transformed into a rough, fiery armor, and red flames erupted from within him as if an incarnation of fire had descended.
[Calm]
Thanks to the slight calm, he maintained a bit of consciousness and activated [Special Strong Acid] while simultaneously unleashing his movement skill.
Crackle—
Blue lightning erupted from the soles of his feet, spreading in all directions.
At the same time, he summoned the minion ‘Gori’ and sent it toward Cha Jin-hyuk.
“Please.”
“Beet!”
All this happened in the split second the trio realized Il-wol was there.
“W-what!!”
Choi Seong-woong clearly sensed someone in armor had appeared in mid-air.
But that figure vanished in the blink of an eye.
A speed so insane that even an B-rank Hunter couldn’t follow.
Crackle—whoosh—!
In the space where the strange existence had been, only faint traces of lightning and flame remained, and soon a demon-like figure that looked like it had come from a hell of fire revealed itself behind Ji-yeon.
Ji-yeon was the most agile among the trio and had high attack power but was the weakest in defense and health as an assassin-type hunter.
Did the now flaming demon identify that in that brief moment?
“O-oppa—”
Ji-yeon instinctively felt death looming behind her and whispered softly.
Bang!
At that moment, an acid ball burst from Ji-yeon’s neck, and thick smoke billowed up.
“Ugh—”
Gurgle──!
The well-sharpened great sword severed her neck, which melted through the acid ball, with a single, final scream.
– You have obtained a Fragment of Corrupted Life Potion. (7/100)
‘Huh?! What’s this? Isn’t this the reward I got after killing that mutant that swallowed the evolution stone?’
Now Il-wol understood the situation.
Ji-yeon’s severed head, engulfed in flames, rose into the air.
“Ew? Aaaah!! Damn it!”
“Ahhh! Ji-yeon!”
The two looked on in shock as their companion was killed in the blink of an eye.
Having faced countless death situations where their party members had fallen since rising to B-rank, they thought they were prepared for anything. But facing a monster from which even the slightest fluctuation in movement was indiscernible was beyond their imagination.
Instinctively, they had no choice but to turn and flee.
[Wall of Fire]
“Ugh!”
Whoosh—
But the wall of flames densely surrounded them, waiting.
It was nothing they could simply blink and rush through. Attempting to push through recklessly and getting hit with the status ailment [Burn] would only worsen the situation.
When they hesitated, blocked by the wall,
Thud—!
Ji-yeon’s head fell to the ground, rolling toward the wall of flames, igniting in an instant and releasing a terrible stench.
“Damn it!!”
The overwhelming heat made it feel like their bodies were about to melt as Ji-yeon’s burning head overlapped in their minds, forcing them to turn again.
They were veterans who had endured countless trials since becoming B-rank.
The momentary shock of being blocked by the wall of fire was fleeting.
Without any signal to each other, the two synchronized perfectly and leaped into the air, unleashing their most powerful skills against the burning demon.
[Provocative Thorn] [Ferocious Slam]
[Form Change – Moonlight Beast] [Form Change – Blood-Cutting Claw]
Choi Seong-woong’s warhammer looked quite hefty, and elongated silver claws shot out to tear into Il-wol’s head and lower body.
However, the man’s provocation as he charged was thwarted by [Calm] and had no effect. By that time, the determination behind the man’s attack was already dissipating.
Il-wol slightly tilted his head as he watched them.
‘Hmm… why do they look so pathetic?’
No, it was definitely an attack that was powerful enough that he shouldn’t have been able to think leisurely, one that could potentially damage his health beyond his defenses.
But having just seen that ‘Residue of Chaos’ immensely powerful monster, it didn’t seem threatening at all. He could almost take a hit and gauge its strength.
But vigilance was vital.
Let’s try to restrain the woman first.
[Chain of Flame]
As soon as his magic manifested, a gigantic chain of flames swirled and swiftly coiled around the rushing woman’s body.
Crash─!
“Ahhhhh! It’s hot!”
Boom! Bang─!
The chain of flame greedily wrapped around the woman who had tumbled uselessly to the ground.
At the same time, the man’s attack used [Phantom Dash] to evade easily before spitting [Special Strong Acid] at Il-wol’s face.
“Yikes!”
The man startled at the acid ball and twisted his body to dodge, falling down to the ground.
He scrambled on all fours to put distance but unfortunately ran straight into the Lizardman 1 that Yeon-hee had just summoned.
“Churrrrr!”
Whack! Thud!
He could end up sprawled on the ground, unable to rise, taking the blows from the summoned creature.
Lizardman 1 was ablaze in red, with dozens of thorny spikes protruding sharply toward the sky.
[Frenzy]
This was a newly awakened ability from evolving earlier.
The Lizardman 1 attacked the man incessantly with a club given by Ddung-i from the hidden dungeon not long ago, fueled by Yeon-hee’s emotions.
[Frenzy] was a skill that drastically increased physical abilities while rapidly consuming health, effectively a suicide skill.
Kwahwahwahwah—!
The man was managing to fend off the attacks from the frenzy state summons while lying down but was quickly restricted in his movements due to the relentless barrage.
– Uwoooooo!!
– The warrior’s roar inspires his allies!
– Strength +9
Just then, Dotti 1 was summoned and let out its roar.
As the additional summoned creatures began to sandwich the man from every direction.
– When the mana amount dips below 100, the mana recovery rate increases by 50%.
With Il-wol’s appearance, Lee Yeon-hee received the magic recovery buff, finally able to catch her breath.
Glancing around the battlefield, Il-wol thought.
‘This… ended way too easily.’
Of course, it was a near-ambush and the trio were a bit tired, but he never expected the power gap to be this minimal.
Il-wol turned away from the man and looked at the woman.
“Uwaaaah! Ugh!”
Even while being restrained and burning heavily from the Chain of Flame, the woman hunter was desperately trying to break free.
‘She can hold on quite well, huh?’
Despite being a druid, who typically had high resistance against restraints, she wasn’t breaking free easily.
‘That guy that caused chaos was just way too absurd. [Chain of Flame]. Impressive, right?’
From the looks of it, she wouldn’t be able to last for several minutes as cracks began to form in the chains, but he was very satisfied.
Was it possible to securely restrain someone for almost a minute during battle? Additionally, continuously draining health made it an outright cheating skill.
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