“Wait…?! That guy reacted! Quick, support!”
Seeing the monster stimulated by Hyeon Joong-gil, Park Yong-hwan swiftly fired a signal flare.
At the same time, support-type hunters began unleashing their skills on Jo Gi-man and Hyeon Joong-gil, and the presence of the two, having absorbed all possible buffs, was so overwhelming that even Kang Yeon-su was left in awe.
“Hmph! Let’s see how well they can handle it by themselves.”
“Yeah.”
Kang Yeon-su, who had exhausted a lot of energy from the earlier one-on-one fight, took a stand at the forefront, acting as a shield for the hunters.
Moments later, Jo Gi-man’s [Heavenly Thunder Strike] was activated in the sky, emitting a brilliant light.
[BOOOOOO?!]
As the monster sensed something unusual happening, it thrashing around desperately. Yet, upon seeing Hyeon Joong-gil, who was firmly positioned in front of it, it seemed to resign and ceased its movements.
GRROOOWWWL────!!
Countless streaks of red lightning began to descend from the far sky to a single point.
Each of those lightning bolts had a destructive power comparable to a typical S-rank hunter’s ultimate move.
The sight of over a thousand lightning bolts, each as thick as an ogre, falling from the sky, was like the hand of a god reaching out to the monster, and soon, the powerful lightning began to shred the black creature’s body apart.
GRROOOWWWL──!! GRRROOOW!
[……!!]
With explosions echoing loudly, one could almost imagine the sound of the world flipping upside down.
The monster couldn’t even scream in pain, merely shuddering in response to the incoming strikes.
With various parts of its body gnawed at by Kim Seon-min’s abilities, the creature was molded into a shape ideal for absorbing the lightning. As time went by, its exterior began to rupture, emitting thick smoke, and its size started to shrink.
From the enormous backlash of magical power, hunters outside the protective shield of S-rank hunters clutched their chests and collapsed.
– Uwaaaah…!
– S-save me…!
However, the remaining hunters couldn’t spare a glance at their fallen comrades.
They seemed too shocked by Jo Gi-man’s overwhelming combat power, merely opening and closing their mouths.
I, too, was completely rooted in place, stunned as I tried to gauge Jo Gi-man’s capabilities.
‘… Is that [Heavenly Thunder Strike]? It’s much stronger than I remembered… Has that guy’s growth accelerated too?’
Feeling complex emotions from experiencing the strength of my foe firsthand, I couldn’t think of anything else as Hyeon Joong-gil made his next move.
Swish—
‘Wow……’
His movements were as fluid as water yet as solid as steel; light as the wind, yet heavy as a rock.
─────────
I did sense he had made a move, but I couldn’t see or feel it.
Then, a perfectly straight line was carved precisely through the now reduced body of the monster, which had shrunk to a fifth of its original size.
[BOOOOOO─?]
The strike was so swift that even the monster could hardly grasp what had happened.
SHOOOSH─!
[?!]
Its body began to split neatly down the middle.
But that was just the beginning.
[Ilseom (一閃) ─ Heavenly Path (天上道)]
Hyeon Joong-gil shouted out as if he were synchronizing with Jo Gi-man.
At that moment, his body trembled violently as countless sword energies began to slice through the creature’s split form.
The number of strikes was uncountable, and the monster’s body remained suspended in the air, mutilated, until a colossal explosion erupted, leaving no trace behind.
The incredibly beautiful line forged by the sword.
Some of the swordsmen under its influence even shed tears.
But I was surprised for a different reason.
‘Oh?! [Flame Explosion] activated automatically?’
The final explosion was undoubtedly my skill.
Since Hyeon Joong-gil was finishing it off, I couldn’t dare to join in, so I stayed still.
Although the black flames didn’t shoot up into the sky, it was definitely [Flame Explosion].
Then a message popped into my mind, giving me certainty.
– You contributed slightly to the defeat of the monster ‘Cursed Ancient Ruin Queen Slime’!
With the message, light continued to emanate from my body, and I hurriedly activated [Stealth] to avoid the gazes of others.
– Experience points are skyrocketing!
– Level up!
– Level up!
– Level up!
…
‘Wh-wh-where will it stop?’
Although it was a powerful monster, just hitting one [Flame Explosion] allowed me to level up six times.
‘Haha… what is this…’
It seemed the gap between the monster and me was just too vast, leading to this situation.
I scratched my head in an awkward daze.
But that wasn’t the end of the rewards.
– You participated in the monster subjugation for the first time.
– The trait [Thievery] has temporarily increased significantly.
– You temporarily steal the possibility of ‘Cursed Ancient Ruin Queen Slime’.
– Skill 【Essence Devouring】 has greatly increased!
‘……?!’
[Thievery] didn’t steal a skill; it took something else instead.
I didn’t know what possible aspect I had snatched from that Queen Slime creature, but it certainly shared common ground with the ‘absorption’ aspect of 【Essence Devouring】.
【Essence Devouring】
– Absorb parts of the body of living and dead beings and analyze their essence to create a ‘Large Minion’.
– Recovers 50 magic power and health upon consumption.
– The abilities of the grown minion are retained even after it dies.
‘It turned from a small minion to a large one! Plus, it won’t reset the minion’s abilities?!’
Moreover, it changed from ‘consumption’ to ‘absorption.’
While that might seem like a small difference, it was a massive change for me, who faced many issues with consumption.
‘Ugh!! What good fortune is this!’
Of course, I wasn’t the only one reaping rewards.
Many who fought against the monster had likely received proper compensation.
‘With rewards like this, risk-taking is unavoidable.’
I wanted to call my adorable minion ‘Gori’ immediately, but with so many eyes on me, I had to hold back.
‘How much could that little guy have grown? But his stats would definitely have increased, right?’
Even without a heart, I felt a thumping sound echoing from somewhere.
While I was lost in thought, Yeon-hee nudged my shoulder to snap me back to reality.
“Wow! Il-wol, did you just see that? Joong-gil’s body shook a bit, and then the monster vanished!”
“Clap, Clap, Clap!!”
Back to reality, I put my rewards aside and looked at Hyeon Joong-gil’s back, thinking.
‘…… Is that really a human…?’
Well, considering they are called transcendent beings, I suppose they’ve already surpassed human limits.
Suddenly, I remembered my former master, the Legendary Wandering Hero.
He had once expressed astonishment upon hearing my description of Hyeon Joong-gil, saying there must be swordmasters of that level in this world.
From his tone, it seemed he had reached a higher realm than Hyeon Joong-gil in his life.
‘Humans can become stronger than that? How does that even happen?’
It was unimaginable at my current level.
In any case, just when I thought that even the most absurd monsters would die a hundred times over against that level of strength, the sky suddenly began to burn a vivid red, and a giant fireball came crashing down.
‘What the heck is that? Is it… [Meteor]?! Jo Gi-man, you crazy bastard! The monster just died!’
– Uwaaaah?! Th-that thing!
– Everyone, watch out!!
– Barrier…!
The small fireball grew larger and, by the time it struck the ground, it had expanded enough to engulf not only the monster but also where Hyeon Joong-gil had been.
BOOM──!!
“Gyaaaaaah—!”
“Gyaaaah!”
I wrapped my cloak around Yeon-hee and Ah-rin, and the Sword Dragon spread its wings over us, while Kang Yeon-su cast a magical barrier.
‘Ugh— that bastard is insane!’
Watching the Sword Dragon’s wings slowly melting away, I couldn’t help but curse.
Though as a hunter, it was a basic action to want to finish off an unknown monster definitively, even someone could see that was an excessive action, making me swear.
Sizzling—
The spot where the monster had been was now a giant crater, and the ground bubbled up.
A massive cloud of smoke engulfed the area.
‘Oo?! Smoke! But what’s that stone beneath the ground?’
A long stone, similar to a boulder, lay several meters below where the monster had died.
Though the tremendous magical power still swirled, preventing me from sensing it clearly, I felt no signs of life from the stone, so I quickly became distracted by the rising smoke.
Seizing the opportunity amid the obscured vision, I began to vacuum all the smoke created by the monster’s death into my pocket dimension.
‘Open up— pocket dimension!’
Thanks to my efforts, the density of the smoke quickly thinned.
Once the smoke cleared, Hyeon Joong-gil reappeared in mid-air and nodded at Jo Gi-man, seemingly understanding each other.
‘Wow— he just let that slide? Is he a Buddha?’
Jo Gi-man, seeing Hyeon Joong-gil bow his head, returned the gesture in a rare show of respect.
The hunters who nearly fell victim to the powerful magic had no choice but to swallow their rising anger, witnessing the exchange.
“……”
“I almost died, but I can’t say anything about that.”
“I guess there must’ve been a reason for him to use [Meteor]…”
The hunters were trying to understand as they pondered something they didn’t grasp.
But the reactions of several super-strong individuals, including Kang Yeon-su, were different.
“Ugh! Couldn’t you have hit more precisely? Meteor? That’s just too much!”
Kang Yeon-su’s eyes were fierce, as if he might strike Jo Gi-man.
Jo Gi-man casually brushed off the dust from his clothes and replied nonchalantly.
“I just wanted to make sure.”
“No, how many other magic spells are there that could hit a specific area…? Hah! Maybe I should just stop talking.”
Kang Yeon-su knew Jo Gi-man enjoyed being the center of attention, so he refrained from saying more.
Besides, he was the one who achieved something that they couldn’t.
So it didn’t seem right for Yeon-su to press him further.
In any case, as the battle began and ended, the grand spectacle was entirely created by Jo Gi-man, prompting everyone to cheer for him enthusiastically.
‘That final attack was clearly a waste of magical power… Surely, everyone must realize that?’
As I observed the hunters’ expressions closely, I spotted some zealots actively applauding and trying to rally others.
They were likely minions that Jo Gi-man had placed here and there long ago.
With just a few of those around, it wouldn’t take long to shift the crowd’s mood in his favor.
And I already knew, from my past experiences, that such absurd antics could wield unexpectedly significant power beyond the battlefield.
‘The psychology of the masses is terrifying.’
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