Taking advantage of the moment when Choi Gang-han’s powerful declaration silenced everyone, a hunter cautiously added his words.
“For now, I will endure as much as possible with my shelter ability.”
“How long can you maintain the option that disrupts detection abilities?”
“Well… if you generously provide enough mana stones to sustain the ‘period of non-existence,’ I could manage a week. And I’m soon finishing the turret installation. I could send Creeper Guards to their demise without them even noticing.”
The ability that made even the First Escalon difficult to perceive belonged to a rookie S-rank hunter and was called the skill [Shelter].
“Haha, it’s nice to have a shelter user around; it makes everything quite comfortable. Showering during a hunt is quite the luxury.”
“The young hunters these days have some fascinating abilities. In no time, they might even transform into robots.”
“Now that would be an ability I’d love to see.”
Equipped with a protective ability that suited its class name, the defensive facility known as the turret was so efficient that it drew envy from other hunters in one go.
“Hmph… it’s just a parlor trick in front of that guy.”
Kang Yeon-su, who had fought relying solely on her body without any special abilities, grumbled in frustration and suddenly remembered the armored skeleton, fiddling with the ‘note of greetings.’
“I wonder when I’ll get to use it… I strangely want to see that skeleton. Why is that?”
Lying flat on the ground, Kang Yeon-su envisioned the monster named Il-wol, which even appeared in her dreams.
Although encountering it wouldn’t lead to anything specific, it was indeed strange for it to manifest in her dreams.
“Skeleton, huh…”
With the collapse of the world’s balance came a singularity that even faintly connected ties that could not continue.
*
Morning of the fourth day of the hunt dawned.
We followed the same hunting routine as the first day, maintaining stable results for three days.
Selecting and defeating appropriate monsters, then saving villagers from demon beasts was, in some ways, a straightforward task.
The thought that we needed to maintain this routine for at least another two weeks still felt distant, yet time had already passed quickly.
Of course, there hadn’t been no changes within the hunt team.
The casualties from the third team entered the three-digit range in just three days, and several parties had been shattered.
Even with a guide present, the news left the comrades puzzled but with serious expressions.
“The flow is better than expected…”
However, Shin Young-ah assessed the atmosphere as not so bad. The damage was not as great as anticipated.
Even she, who had projected a sharp aura on the first day, began to view the situation positively, which significantly eased the mood.
“I heard that the first team defeated two elite soldiers yesterday.”
And positive signals kept coming in. There was news that Yeon-su had made significant contributions in capturing Escalon.
“Wow… as expected, Yeon-su!”
“You finally caught it!”
“But isn’t that a bit early compared to the plan? I thought we were supposed to approach the main body cautiously.”
“Right… taking a hit on the main body is the priority. But for some reason, the elite soldiers are reported to be moving out of their assigned areas. The moment the elite soldiers were defeated, the Great Beast’s main body must have begun ‘birthing’.”
Now speaking casually with her comrades, Shin Young-ah was met with a worried question from Yeon-hee.
“In the end, won’t it just reduce our power?”
“The biggest worry for the teams one and two was… whether the elite soldiers would leave the main body and head south or north. But… we’ve confirmed through analyzing their actions that such a thing won’t happen. So… it alleviates a significant concern.”
“Aha—”
We shared the information simply and moved on to the hunt.
I again separated from the group to scout the surroundings.
In three days, I had obtained about 250 mana stones.
Still, Creeper Guards were swarming the area without signs of letting up.
I wondered how a single Great Beast could devour a country, but during the hunt, I realized that the Devouring Creeper possessed that level of capability.
“The term ‘national destruction level Great Beast’ does not understate it. It may be hard to recover from this.”
Given the situation, it’s understandable that I worried more about the aftermath of defeating the Great Beast. Now that I was here, it felt real. This country… had certainly reached a level that couldn’t rise alone.
But thinking about our goals, there wasn’t anything bad about it.
– The journey to find the [Elixir] hidden by the ‘Trickster God’ would be long and arduous.
The quest to find the [Elixir].
– First, meet the conditions to step onto the path leading to the traces of the True Ancestor.
– Defeat the Great Beast Devouring Creeper and prove your qualification.
The very first step was to defeat the Devouring Creeper.
– The hunt for the Great Beast Devouring Creeper is in progress…
Because I was already recognized as being on that quest.
Proving my qualification didn’t solely depend on defeating the main body, which was truly a relief.
So, I could boldly discard some risky options among various scenarios.
Creak—
After a while of moving, I reached my destination.
‘Is today where I stop…’
Now I had shortened the distance to the main body, and if I went a bit further, I would be entering the territory of the elite soldiers, ‘Escalon.’
I needed to operate along our party’s route without crossing this line.
Boom──!
“Rrrr…”
Less than an hour after the hunt began, I had already obtained ten mana stones.
‘What a good start.’
Just then, as I was planning to use the ‘Gori’ units to care for the villagers,
Creak- Kwooooom!
‘Hm—?!!’
An unfamiliar presence was detected within my sensory range.
An overwhelming sense of presence that was on a different level from ordinary soldiers.
‘Creeper Escalon…?! How did it get here?’
It hadn’t entered the sensory range from outside.
It had suddenly risen from 7 kilometers away.
Unless it was a teleportation user, there would be only one way to suddenly appear.
‘The main body must have done something!’
I heard that the Devouring Creeper lacked offensive capabilities but possessed various special abilities.
‘If it truly has the ability to send elite soldiers anywhere within its territory… this would be bad…’
Moreover, hundreds of ‘Creeper Guards’ were gathering around it.
Those who had fiercely protected their territory were now rushing over to show their loyalty to ‘Escalon.’
It was ugly and horrifying.
‘Damn…!!’
I pulled out a signal flare from the space and shot it high into the sky.
Boom──! Pop—!!
The red smoke vividly spread across the blue sky.
The signal I had sent when I first encountered the ‘Tooth’ in the Gu Chang Ro Dungeon Break.
Once someone with an ordinary strong heart sees it, they will immediately start making a retreat.
‘What to do now…’
And now, it was time to make a choice.
Should I return to Yeon-hee right away?
Or should I test my strength against it?
‘As expected… I can’t just return to Yeon-hee right now. No matter where that monster heads, it will be a disaster. I have to buy some time by myself!’
Yeon-hee was relatively far from it.
In contrast, many parties were densely gathered in close proximity to that monster, and they were just beginning to confirm the signal flare I launched.
[Lightning Step]
Creak—
A huge variable. A dangerously significant variable.
A new ability of the main body that I had never heard of even in my previous life.
“······Wooo?”
As I stealthily moved alongside the hundreds of Creeper Guards approaching it, the moment the overwhelmingly powerful being turned its head and recognized me, I pushed off the ground and halted.
Swoosh—
“······ Wooo-!”
‘What the hell is that? A cow head…?’
A monster with a horrifying appearance, halfway between a cow and a human’s face.
Its entire body was covered in muscles as hard as steel, standing at a height of three meters.
It carried a giant club even bigger than its own body on its shoulder, looking at me with an intrigued gaze.
‘… It had been concealing all its presence, yet it easily found me…’
Though I couldn’t gauge accurately, it was undoubtedly a strong person who had crossed into the S-rank. An incredibly sensitive creature at that.
“Wooo…? Hehe-!”
I completely dropped my stealth.
“Muh-giii…”
“Ugh…”
Even as I revealed myself, the Creeper Guards stood frozen like statues, staring only at the horned ‘Escalon.’
I already knew that the later-born Escalons were weaker.
Just how many times had this monster been born?
– Hunting the ‘twenty-ninth child’ of the Great Beast Devouring Creeper is in progress…
‘Numbering 29… the 29th is like this? Crazy…’
I had heard that lower numbers were at the end of A-rank, but that was evidently inaccurate information. This one was clear S-rank, radiating a presence comparable to Cha Mu-yeol of the White Knight Guild.
The Creeper Guards trembled in fear… their hierarchy was undeniable.
It seems that individualism is a concept that only applies among beings of the same rank.
What the Creeper Guards showed was an absolute devotion to a superior.
As I quietly watched it and slowly gathered my magic power, it simply sat on the ground, seemingly inviting me to make a move.
It was truly arrogant and cheeky, but the difference in levels wasn’t enough to offend me.
Internally, I let out a sigh of relief, but that didn’t mean I was careless.
I was ready to activate [Manhwa Portal] at any moment, summoning all 200 units of ‘Gori’ from the space.
I had grown accustomed to handling minions, taking less than five seconds to summon them all.
“WOOOO?! Kaka-haha!”
‘Do you like it? You crazy bastard.’
The bat had a [Skeleton Bomb] held tightly in its front claws.
It was a trick I came up with after feeling limited in bringing out two hundred bombs simultaneously from the space.
Pi-pip-pip-ping──!
Additionally, I lifted dozens of bone daggers into the air above my shoulder.
As it stood, I still couldn’t move more than thirty objects at once with [Telekinesis].
But this should be sufficient to catch its attention.
“Wooooohooo!!”
As expected, it showed a delighted expression, as if watching a child’s performance.
But I instinctively reacted to the strange energy radiating from it, and hundreds of thorns erupted from my body.
‘Damn… it looks terrible. Alone and terrified, I must look pathetic.’
Of course, there was no reason to feel ashamed.
Rather, the fact that I had reacted without a moment to think about its energy was encouraging in its own way.
And even in this tense moment, I was diligently checking other parties of hunters gradually retreating to safety.
‘Alright. You too. Jim.’
[Crackling!]
Soon, a giant centipede burst from the ground, lifted me above its head, and made its signature sound.
“WOOOOO?! Wooohooo!!”
The 29th Escalon was jumping in place, clapping towards me. Perhaps there was no purer life form than it.
‘Is that enough…?’
With this, I had already achieved about 80% of what I intended.
Now I just needed to buy a bit more time… but the problem was that the Creeper Guards were slowly creeping closer to me.
“Wuoo─!!”
The ‘Escalon,’ observing me with interest, suddenly made a grotesque face and gestured to its subordinates.
In an instant, chills ran down my spine.
It harbored a will to do me harm.
[Incompatible Fury]
– Attack power increases in proportion to the gap between enemies.
In that moment, the achievement activated, and a hot energy surged like an eruption within me.
“Muh-giii!!”
As I looked at the swarm of revolting-looking monsters, I unleashed all my magic power in an instant.
[Manhwa Portal]
Instead of waiting for [Invincible] status, my body ballooned up rapidly.
From thousands of open pores, intense magic power erupted fiercely.
Pfff-Jjjj——!!
“WOOOO?!”
– You have defeated a Creeper Guard…
– You have defeated a Creeper Guard…
Messages indicating that I had defeated a Creeper Guard began to appear, but they were just a fraction of the hundreds.
‘Still, many of them seem to be severely injured. Considering those bastards have high recovery rates, I should say I’ve cut down about 30% of their total power—Huh?!’
In a moment I hadn’t even perceived, a giant fist appeared right in front of my eyes.
In a single, brutal punch, it ripped through the torso of the minion ‘Jim.’
In that short span, I accomplished many tasks almost simultaneously.
Boom—!
First, I called back the minion ‘Jim,’ which had been reduced to a near-death state.
Ka-pow—!!
I barely used all available bone thorns to block its incoming strike.
Yet the force sent me flying for quite a distance.
[Throwing Dagger]
‘Boom!’
As I defended myself, I hurled daggers and detonated the [Skeleton Bombs] I had prepared in advance.
“Beeeeee──!!”
Blaaaam──!!
The simultaneous explosion of the two hundred bombs carried by the ‘Gori’ squad filled my field of vision with brilliance.
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