‘Ma Gwang-jin…’
If Shin Young-ah didn’t leak any information, it means he was closely observing me during the battle. To figure out my abilities with just that much is truly impressive. People are indeed people.
“It seems the boundary we’re standing on is exactly within his detection range.”
As Yeon-hee started explaining, Ma Gwang-jin and Yoo Min-jeong lowered their stances and listened intently. They were working hard to absorb the opinion of a hunter who had barely crossed into B-rank. Their attitude was far too open to be that of an S-rank hunter, so I raised my evaluation of them once more.
“I like people like this.”
“Currently, around thirty hunters from team 1 are restrained by Escalon, and…”
I began passing all the information I could gather to Yeon-hee, who relayed it verbatim.
“What?! Don’t tell me Hyeon Il-hwan and Kang Yeon-su are among them?”
“That’s hard to believe. What about hunters from other countries?”
While Yeon-hee was speaking, the two people couldn’t hold back and interjected.
“Hyeon Il-hwan, Kang Yeon-su, Gu Sang-min, and… one unidentified sorcerer are among the restrained hunters. The rest are fainted on the ground.”
“Wha-what?! All of them? No one left behind?”
“Yup…”
“This is insane…”
“Are they all taken down…?”
The two looked utterly incredulous, but Yeon-hee continued the conversation.
“There are a few hunters from other countries as well. But they are also fainted…”
“There are only a few foreign hunters? I heard there were over a hundred from China… what the hell happened? No way?!”
“It’s clear there must have been a scuffle! Idiots! They should’ve caught all the monsters and handled their business!”
The two seemed to think that foreign hunters backstabbed them and messed everything up. If not, they’d assume the current situation simply made no sense.
“The four directly restrained by Escalon seem to have severely limited magic power, effectively making them retired. And…”
“And?”
“Escalon appears to be near Transcendent level. Given his extremely unstable magic power, it seems he has sustained quite a bit of damage.”
“──?!!”
In an instant, the two were rendered speechless. A transcendent rank? A monster born from a great beast?
“We need to make a quick decision. Gu Sang-min is gnawing on his own finger right now.”
The two didn’t ponder for long.
Ma Gwang-jin silently questioned Yoo Min-jeong with his expression, who briefly closed her eyes and murmured.
“The remaining uses of the ‘Tangle of Verdancy’ is… now just one time. I once had a chance to test my ability with ‘Sang-gun’, and I could keep them bound for only about 1.2 seconds. If I think back to that time, this time it’d be around 1 second.”
‘A Transcendent Sang-gun… is there someone connected to that side?’
Nevertheless, confirming that Yoo Min-jeong could bind him with her skill was positive news. Just one second would mean…
Starting with [Flame Shot], pouring out all the dagger bones, then closing in swiftly to thrust in [Flame Cut].
‘Will that work? No, marking him is clearly out of the question.’
In the first place, hitting his main body with a Flame Cut is impossible since I’d have to keep up with the movements of a monster several ranks above me. Moreover, he was heavily armored with a tough exterior.
To break through that, I would need to land an all-out attack. Even if I got lucky with a few marks through Flame Shot and dagger bones, adding more than twenty marks with swordsmanship is no easy feat.
‘Even assuming my attack succeeded, it’d be tough. No matter how much [Disparate Fury] increases my attack power, I doubt a Flame Explosion alone could deal a significant blow. Self-detonation might be the only option? How many lives would that cost me?’
Of course, I had no way to calculate that accurately, and we needed to act first.
“Le, let’s hurry and make a pact!”
“Got it. Just sign here.”
Even amidst all this, the two were hurriedly signing the pact. In this battle, their abilities would likely include ultimate techniques they hadn’t shown before.
So, it was only natural to hastily bring up the pact for secrecy.
‘That’s good for me.’
Once Yeon-hee scribbled her signature, Ma Gwang-jin swiftly tucked the pact into Space and stated his role clearly.
“I’ll draw their attention first.”
Clear in his role, Ma Gwang-jin continued, “Alright. Timing will be up to each of you. When I bind them, we all attack at once.”
Yoo Min-jeong planned to add another effect to her existing abilities.
“After the attack, no looking back, just run away. We must rescue as many people as possible.”
It seemed Ma Gwang-jin was judging that catching the monster wouldn’t be possible for us. Yeon-hee, who was next to him, said she would summon creatures to support Ma Gwang-jin and maximize that effect.
“We’ll take care of rescuing the hostages!”
“Can you handle that?”
“Yes!”
Of course, I planned to use minions to sneak people out.
‘If only I had the ability to draw out Ran’s potentials, it would be much easier. What a shame.’
It seems Ran ran out of energy and couldn’t be summoned back for some time now.
‘Noh Ha-yoon… is just fine protecting the castle with Yeon-hee.’
If what [Foreseeing] showed me was truly right, I needed to treat Noh Ha-yoon with care. Of course, there was no guarantee things would play out exactly as I saw it.
“That’s good. Keep sending out summons to create confusion. In the end, he’s just a single entity. He can’t help but show a gap.”
“Let’s go! If we delay any longer, that mad monster won’t hold back and will start eating people.”
Finally, we charged forward.
– KRAAAAHHHHH──!!
Before long, Escalon spotted us and let out a fierce roar as if to say we should come at him.
‘Jim!!’
The Jim carrying me quickly charged forward and activated [Provocation], and as expected, Escalon reacted fiercely to the provocation.
The reason for provoking from a distance was to make sure Escalon took his eyes off the captured hunters, and it seemed to have worked somewhat.
As we closed the 200-meter gap to Escalon, Yeon-hee summoned Castle to once again divert its attention.
KUUUUUNG──!!
Castle loomed over Escalon, overshadowing it in size. It seemed to be the first time Escalon encountered such a massive foe, judging by its peculiar gaze.
– Umph! Umpf!
– ..!!
The four restrained hunters seemed to convey a message to us as they rushed to their rescue.
‘… They keep looking at the ground. Are they perhaps talking about roots buried underground by that monster?’
Even separated from Escalon’s body, the branches buried underground were lying in wait.
Although it seemed to be an evolution of my root chaining skill, it fundamentally aimed to stay hidden underground and ambush us.
I placed my palm on the ground and focused my senses.
‘Let the image of water seeping into the ground take shape…’
I pushed [Wall of Fire], which burns a wide area, into the cracks sprawling beneath the ground.
FLAIREEE──
Soon, the flames ignited fiercely, swiftly spreading towards Escalon’s hidden roots, triggering consecutive explosions.
PFFFFTTTH───!!
Hot energy erupted from beneath the ground several times, and at last, the ambushed Escalon’s roots could no longer contain themselves and began to shoot upwards.
“Be careful of attacks coming from underground! Unlike the previous Creeper Guard’s, these are coming from dozens of meters deep!!”
Yeon-hee shouted as she and Noh Ha-yoon entered through Castle’s body, and Ma Gwang-jin raised his hand to signal he understood.
“Are you… could you possibly be the Fire Sorcerer…?”
‘That girl is quite sharp.’
Upon sensing the fiery energy I had just extended underground, Yoo Min-jeong wore a look of disbelief. It was as though she had maintained that expression throughout the day, I wondered if that was just her natural face.
‘Pact. Obey.’
As I brought my index finger to my lips, Yoo Min-jeong hastily covered her mouth, showing her shock.
I thought she was just a B-rank hunter’s summoned creature, yet she was a Fire Sorcerer capable of high-level magic like [Meteor] and [Flame Shot]. No wonder she’d be surprised.
Well, even finding out now, since we had made a pact, I couldn’t share this with the others.
I simply nodded lightly and dashed to the side.
“CHULKA PHRA!”
“KRROOOAAAAAH!!!”
“GRRRUUURRRRNNNG!!”
Shortly after, the three Alpha-Rank summoned creatures and all my other summons appeared and surged toward Escalon following Ma Gwang-jin.
Even while we charged, Escalon showed patience, unwilling to break away from the captured hunters, but as he saw Castle approaching—something troubling—he finally lost his patience and charged forth.
DUNK DUNK DUNK──!
A monster among monsters that had subdued our nation’s strongest.
It seemed he had repeatedly exhausted and recovered today, leading to his unstable flow of magic power.
Yet, the monster’s expression was filled with confidence.
‘Good. Gori and Jim, rescue the people first.’
[GRRRRRRRK!!]
“PEEEEEEET!!”
I commanded the minions to swiftly evacuate the fainted people and activated Stealth mode.
The Gori squad extending from my hand was spreading into the sky.
“PEET???!!!”
But as the Gori squad flying above Escalon crossed a certain threshold, they began to explode one by one, literally blasted in half.
‘What is this? Something’s off?’
Suddenly, I hit the brakes.
Expanding the wave of my senses into the sky, I discovered that nearly invisible thin threads were strung like spider webs above.
‘So that was a skill too! Thankfully, it doesn’t seem to be set on the ground.’
It’s typical to set those kinds of traps on the ground, but did he account for possible aerial attacks?
‘Seems to be a meticulous sort, but… weird.’
I signaled to Ma Gwang-jin and the summoned creatures that it was safe, and we resumed moving, quickly spreading out in all directions facing Escalon, who had lifted countless tree branches into the air.
KWAH KWAH KWAH KWAH KWAH KWAH KWAH KABOOM───!!!
Dire Wolves, Lizardman 1, and the flying summons attempted to dodge the monster’s attack but were all obliterated the instant they reacted.
Through the billowing dust cloud, Ma Gwang-jin charged ahead first to face the creature.
“Mn?”
Escalon, despite my stealth, easily picked me out and tilted its head in suspicion.
But soon, it turned its gaze away from me and stared directly at Ma Gwang-jin.
If I were Escalon, I would’ve done the same thing.
‘That works for me.’
Moments later, the one-on-one duel between Escalon and Ma Gwang-jin began.
Though Escalon possessed overwhelming physical capability, Ma Gwang-jin’s peculiar footwork and evasion skills did not allow for easy hits.
“Wow…!! This…! A monster…! There’s really one in this world!!”
In the meanwhile, while Ma Gwang-jin showcased a bit of pride in his skills, he moved as if trying to exploit any attack openings Escalon might have.
But I could tell that this was about the limit of what Ma Gwang-jin could pull off.
It wouldn’t last long, drawing in attention and dodging like that.
Other hunters would have had similar experiences.
FLAARRR─
I gathered the condensed flames into my fingertip and shot them at his back.
BANG─!
[Flame Shot]
The blazing line of flame flew toward Escalon, destined to hit.
WHOOSH─
BOOOOM─!!
But the tendril he extended morphed into a shield, effortlessly absorbing the Flame Shot.
At the same time, Escalon sliced the flaming tendril away.
SHWACK─
New tendrils sprouted from the cut, making it a nuisance of a monster to fight.
‘Does he have eyes in the back of his head too?’
I thought the timing was perfect, but there was a reason that Yeon-su and Hyeon Il-hwan fell.
Simultaneously, the summoned creatures responding to Yeon-hee’s call unleashed [Provocation], causing Escalon’s focus to momentarily waver, which Ma Gwang-jin and Yoo Min-jeong seized upon.
If it could be shaken by skills of that level, the binds would definitely work.
The summoned creatures rushed in one after another.
The storm of tendrils intensified.
One swing of a branch decapitated the heads of our summons effortlessly.
Watching how perfectly synchronized his attack patterns were with an impeccable defense, I couldn’t help but admire Escalon.
‘Perfect… a complete battle machine…’
Of course, I wasn’t just admiring.
I activated [Weasel’s Step] and successfully slipped through a tiny gap where the summons fell like flies, getting very close to Escalon’s main body.
Now, as soon as Yoo Min-jeong activated her binding, I’d be ready to gloriously perish together with [Blast of Madness].
At this distance, I could definitely deal a deadly blow, so I hesitated not in self-detonating.
Madness──
“Khrrr…?! Hieek!”
‘Oh??’
But suddenly, Escalon, who had nonchalantly ignored me earlier, looked startled at my activation of the skill and vanished from my sight in an instant.
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