With the ability of the Transcendent, I really thought it was all going to end like this.
Drum drum drum──!
“Uh?!”
But my expectations shattered within seconds.
The massive body of the monster suddenly lifted off the ground, and two small legs sprouted beneath its torso!
‘?!’
It stomped on the ground with its newly formed feet, bouncing a few times in place as if to test their durability.
‘No way, that crazy monster… How many phases does it have?!’
Boom─! Boom─!!
Every time it jumped, I felt like the world was about to collapse.
“What, what is that bastard doing?”
The monster, which had been causing earthquakes, suddenly turned around and started to flee.
“Uh?! Th-that thing!”
“Stop it!”
“Don’t tell me? Is it trying to escape the barrier? No way! We have to catch it!”
“But we can’t attack, everyone!!”
All the hunters present, including Kim Seon-min, were startled and tried to block its path, but it pushed forward with its immense mass, increasing its speed.
With its huge black slime body only having feet, the bizarre sight of it scrambling away made the hunters stifle their laughter, but they didn’t loosen their tension.
“Damn it! If it keeps this up, it’s going to get out of the barrier!! Bind!! Bind!!”
“Debuffers, hurry!!”
We were following Kang Yeon-su, and in response to Yeon-su’s shout, the supporters immediately activated all sorts of debuffs, including binding skills.
Crash──!
The thing that had been bouncing and running hundreds of meters face-planted into the ground as hundreds of skills hit it. Of course, ‘face’ was a loose term in its case.
The fallen monster was barely held in place, but the moment it was struck by magic, I noticed that its body had subtly increased in size.
‘What…?! It’s not just absorbing attack skills?!’
And it seemed I wasn’t the only one who felt this; the hunters shouted in alarm.
– Is there really a monster this insane? It absorbs any skill, doesn’t it?
– What do we do? It’s shrunk a lot, but at this rate, we might as well launch a full attack…?
– If we do that, it might produce another monster like before, and then we’ll really have no way out!
– Damn! It can absorb even support skills? That means it can take in all skills activated by magic power, right?
Moreover, as it moved, Kim Seon-min’s ability began to falter, and more than half of the bugs covering its massive body had disappeared.
“Ugh-!”
Rustle rustle—
Insect Sorcerer Kim Seon-min reached out to the remaining bugs, muttering something, and soon the bugs began to spit out long threads, firmly securing the monster to the ground.
‘No way… Did it transform the bugs into entirely different ones?!’
It had altered millions of bugs in both form and essence.
‘It’s a monster. That person is more of a monster than the beast itself.’
I genuinely thought that.
While I was blankly staring at the Transcendent, Yeon-hee whispered to me, keeping a watchful eye on the surroundings.
(Il-wol, if something unexpected happens, I’ll take care of my own safety. You do what you can. If you get too tied up with me, we won’t be able to move forward.)
…Nod.
Yeon-hee’s whisper was unexpectedly shocking.
‘Is that so…’
I thought I believed in her abilities, but I had started to act protectively around her again at some point.
(Just like how I absorbed the smoke earlier, if the opportunity arises, do what you need. Don’t worry about me, okay? I have Yeon-su Unnie with me, and if it comes down to it, I can escape with the earring.)
“Clap clap clap.”
(I just have a bad feeling about this.)
Nod—
It was definitely a sign that it wouldn’t end this way.
The monster, while absorbing the binding skills, coiled its body again, preparing for something, and no one could tell if it was about to explode or what it was preparing for, leaving everyone in a frenzy.
“There’s no gap this time! This isn’t the cannon attack from before!! What should we do?”
Many people voiced their thoughts, but there was no consensus, and as the hunters split off chaotically, Kim Seon-min shouted urgently.
“This… This can’t be…?! It’s trying to absorb my bugs too?!”
“?!”
Kim Seon-min’s power was extremely unique and alien, and since it had been effective without issue until now, we couldn’t help but be shocked.
“It’s going to absorb my ability!!”
Kim Seon-min quickly canceled the skill, and fortunately, it hadn’t absorbed any more power from the monster.
However, the sticky threads that had bound the monster disappeared into its body.
Now the monster was in a situation where it could escape at any moment.
“Whew- Hoo… Withdrawing my power in the middle of all this was tough.”
Kim Seon-min exhaled roughly, spitting out a significant amount of fluid.
‘It must be hard for you… Magic, body, space. I should be grateful that you’ve done this much under three heavy restrictions.’
Separately from my gratitude, the fact that the Transcendent’s departure was becoming evident was a clear bad sign.
“I’ll do what I can until my strength wanes. But soon it will retreat to my territory.”
“Thank you! Your efforts have made a big difference, Senior!”
Park Yong-hwan replied firmly, and indeed, thanks to the Transcendent, we were able to turn the tide in our favor. I was simply grateful.
Even Kim Seon-min offered advice to Park Yong-hwan, who bore the heavy responsibility.
“If I’m sure of what I feel… that guy’s power won’t be limited to what we see. The ability to absorb my bugs was something it clearly couldn’t do before… though it looks slow on the outside, it’s evolving quickly. It’s definitely hiding something inside. Proceed with caution.”
“Y-Yes…! Thank you!”
That single comment was decisive.
The hunters held a meeting again, but no one could come up with an idea beyond Kim Seon-min’s warning.
In the end, they decided to surround the monster once more, waiting for additional personnel to arrive.
Far in the distance, hundreds of drones were flying in the sky.
Perhaps the fate of our capital was at stake.
The entire nation would surely be watching this place.
The hunters continued to share the current situation with other hunters waiting outside the barrier and urgently communicated the need to summon additional Transcendents.
– I’ve already contacted several places, so please hold on a bit longer!
The problem was that we kept receiving the same responses.
The monster was still gathering energy.
Its body, shrinking more and more, was feeling increasingly unsettling.
Just a moment ago, I could clearly sense inside its body, but after it curled up, it seemed to block my senses, leaving me unable to make any assessments.
‘Who would have thought it would be this difficult to take down a single monster?’
I remembered being cursed with the abilities of a Great Beast in my previous life and getting trapped in a maze with Hyeon Joong-gil. When we finally got out, the odds had already turned against the hunters.
Despite that, being a non-combatant, I couldn’t participate in the fight.
I could only watch from a distance as Hyeon Joong-gil fought valiantly like a movie.
But now, even though this creature was clearly of a lesser caliber than the Great Beast from my past life, it was still this strong. The future felt bleak, and I wondered if this was a world made for living beings at all.
‘But the mark is still alive. It seems that can’t be absorbed. No, is it just not being recognized? It took a while for it to understand Kim Seon-min’s bugs after all.’
Five smaller Flame Marks flickered atop the monster’s gigantic body.
Every time I tried to approach, it responded, deliberately taking a stance that clearly showed it was aware of me.
‘This is going to be tough. Just avoiding its close-range attacks will make it hard to get close. In the end, this is all I have… It feels insurmountable.’
I pulled out a small dagger made from the bones I had crafted during my spare time.
In reality, calling it a dagger might be misleading—it was more akin to a short blade or a stiletto.
As I had progressed in my Job Change, the bone attacks had been upgraded to occasionally bear Flame Marks, but the four daggers I first used against the monster hadn’t even left a single mark.
This was all I had to put my hopes on.
“It seems like it’s going to take much longer than I thought…”
“Tap…”
Time passed endlessly, and as night fell and the long dawn transitioned to the next morning, the standoff continued.
Yeon-hee had leaned against my knee and dozed off, shifting her position to rest her shoulder.
Arin, released from the spatial confinement, had finally regained her condition.
And with a monster before us that could awaken at any moment, we were all slowly exhausting.
“Ugh… How much longer do we have to stay like this?”
“The monster is still quiet… If it falls asleep like that, it’ll be even worse, right?”
“Exactly. Just like in China. Areas where ‘Necro Squal’ fell asleep were completely shut down. The damage was immense. That place was one of the smaller regions of China, but we’re in the capital.”
“Right….”
“Ugh… Damn! This is so frustrating!”
Having held it together for so long, Yeon-su suddenly exploded in frustration, saying she had never seen anything like this before, and Yeon-hee was soothing her anger.
“But you two looked really close last night; don’t get too chummy in front of a solo like me.”
“I agree with that!”
“What? Ah, th-this….”
“Just kidding. Why are you getting so flustered over a joke?”
“Ah… Y-yeah. Hehe…”
We exchanged such trivial jokes while munching on beef jerky for breakfast, when the voice from the loudspeaker drew Kang Yeon-su’s attention first.
– ……… Jo Gi-man of the White Knight Guild and Hyeon Joong-gil of Ilseom Guild are coming to assist, so please hold on a little longer-!
– Waaaaah!!
– With those two, we certainly have nothing to fear!
Hearing the news, everyone applauded in unison.
‘…… It’s finally coming. Showing up late doesn’t change the fact that he’s acting like the protagonist.’
I tightened my grip with the thought that what was destined to come was indeed coming.
One of the reasons I wanted to flee was the increasing possibility that Jo Gi-man would participate, and now I was going to face him.
But I was with Kang Yeon-su, and Hyeon Joong-gil was also coming, so the worst-case scenario shouldn’t happen.
And exactly 40 minutes later.
It would usually be the time we’d be preparing to enter the dungeon; Jo Gi-man arrived at the scene first.
“Ugh… Jo Gi-man…”
Yeon-hee, with rarely opened eyes, glared at Jo Gi-man, approaching from afar.
And I had been doing my best to withdraw my senses to reduce my presence since earlier.
‘I don’t know how much this will help, but I hope it works.’
I just hoped the [Low-level Recognition Interference] I received from defeating the monster ‘Bogle’ would be effective.
Step by step—
He walked closer.
Long, slashed eyes, a face that seemed to wear a blank smile.
He walked confidently, slightly raising his shoulders.
With a pretty tall stature, he naturally towered over the people, and his demeanor exhibited an irritating sense of superiority.
As Jo Gi-man arrived, the attention of all the hunters turned to him.
Once a rank F hunter who had floundered for years, he had suddenly explosively grown after a second awakening.
In just a few years, he had become the head of the leading guild in Korea, considered a super powerhouse by several Transcendents, who hesitated to even guarantee victory against him.
It was natural for feelings of envy, jealousy, fear, and rivalry to overflow all at once.
‘Feeling all proud of the applause, huh? Damn bastard… You must have fooled Yeon-hee.’
I had to suppress my emotions as much as possible, but it was unavoidable—seeing that jerk made my blood boil.
The sensation of the dagger he had buried in my head was still vivid.
As the applauded Jo Gi-man approached, for some reason, he came directly towards us.
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