“Go for it! We’ll push forward slowly!”
Before I could even finish my sentence, it seemed like Yeon-hee had already figured out what I was planning.
Leaving her encouragement behind, I closely followed Hyun Jung-seob.
Before I knew it, the main hunters, including Park Jin-gon and Shin Young-ah, began to follow him too.
‘Still, seeing the hunters who came to support silently following along, it looks like the public evaluation of Hyun Jung-seob isn’t bad.’
– “Support hunters, please step back for a moment! It may be dangerous if you enter Hyun Jung-seob’s attack range──!!”
At someone’s booming shout, the supporting troops fanned out widely, charging toward the otherworldly beings that were guarding the asymbiotic species’ leader.
Park Jin-gon hesitated for a second, but honestly, even just gaining experience from coordinating with Hyun Jung-seob was a big win.
[Kwaaaah──!!]
The leader of the asymbiotic species let out a horrible scream as Hyun Jung-seob made the first strike with explosive physical ability.
Though he narrowly avoided the initial attack, he took a knee to the side from Hyun Jung-seob’s follow-up.
” cough─!!”
[Cool—!]
It was a rare sight of both the attacker and the victim vomiting blood at the same time.
Before their blood could even hit the ground, an overwhelming exchange continued that was almost impossible to follow with the eyes.
Cha cha cha cha cha cha──!
Kwah kwah bang!!
The claws of the asymbiotic species fitted to the dorsal side and Hyun Jung-seob’s sword collided dozens of times, creating golden sparks that exploded like fireworks.
‘Looks like I can learn something from this. Hyun Jung-seob isn’t stopping the asymbiotic species from pulling him into close combat.’
Keeping a keen watch on their battle, I was gathering my magical power from a slightly distant spot.
The magical power I recovered from defeating monsters had reached its limit.
I fiercely compressed the nearly three thousand magical energies into one spot.
‘Sometimes you have to take risks!’
I felt a sense of pressure that made my fingers twist, leaving me worried about whether I could aim properly, but with ‘Ran’ helping me from the side, I managed to lock my aim steadily.
With her white wings wrapped around my fingers, ‘Ran’ was gently closing her eyes.
She usually looked cute, but at this moment, there was an overwhelming sense of sacredness about her.
‘Always grateful.’
(What, suddenly what?! Concentrate.)
‘Don’t be shy now!’
[Flame Shot – Dance of the Wind]
The blazing red flames left my hand.
A line of scarlet flame was drawn along the path woven by the spirit of the wind.
──────
And that line struck precisely into the head of the asymbiotic species leader, who was clashing mindlessly with Hyun Jung-seob.
Kwaaah──!!
‘Got it!!’
Puff ─!
“Huh?!! What!!”
As the monster’s eyes that had been glaring deadly at him moments ago disappeared, Hyun Jung-seob was taken aback and stepped back involuntarily.
[Ughhh─!!]
And the asymbiotic species leader, whose right head had completely exploded from the flame shot, reached out his hand to immediately freeze his head and surged into the air.
‘Wow… he froze his own head? What a quick response!’
I never imagined he would freeze his head to stop the bleeding.
‘Wait, 1/3 of his head just exploded, and yet why is he still alive?!’
Moreover, something worm-like was wriggling and glowing from the blown-off head, slowly and visibly healing.
‘I guess I need to abandon the thought that he’s human. He’s just a monster, right? Are they really not going to classify him as such?’
Whether it was due to the power of the spirits or not, it was a sight that immensely defied the laws of nature.
– What the heck kind of guy is this…?!
Hyun Jung-seob was briefly thrown off by this unexpected visitor but quickly regained his composure and chased after him.
– Where do you think you’re running off to!!
His shout, filled with rage, drew the attention of the hunters.
– Is the contest already decided?!
– Incredible! They say he’s the real leader of Ilseom…
‘No, that was me doing that.’
– Stand down!!
Despite being in a situation that seemed like he’d created, it was natural for Hyun Jung-seob to pursue. Without my help, it was only a matter of time before he overwhelmed the monster, so I didn’t mind.
‘But that guy can’t fly. What to do?’
Hyun Jung-seob was diligently following the asymbiotic species fleeing into the sky with the power of the spirits.
But at this rate, it would be difficult to land a follow-up blow.
When forming a party focused on knights, you usually include a support magician with [Fly] skill, but there were none with such abilities visible on this battlefield.
In the end, I took to the sky and began binding the fleeing creature one after another.
The highest-grade magical circuit had already been activated, so there were no restrictions on activating abilities.
[Chain of Flame]
[Transformed Green Binding]
[Ugh?!]
The creature, stumbling and fleeing, was suddenly bound in midair and trembled with shock.
[Kwaaaah!! Kyaaah!!]
The leader of the asymbiotic species, revealing his sharp fangs, went mad barking toward me, who was hiding all along.
Perhaps because I had allowed a lethal attack and was in recovery, he couldn’t properly resist the binding.
‘Well done to have detected my presence. But it’s too late. Kid!’
His face was filled with rage, despair, and deep resentment.
‘What are you looking at!’
[Thunderhorn]
Zzzzzzzzz───!!
[Ughhh!!]
Struck by the lightning after the binding, the monster finally crashed to the ground.
Thud──!!
And at the moment he fell, I swung my sword perfectly through his neck like the wind.
Thump─!
It was the futile end of the supreme being leading thousands of asymbiotic species and monsters.
– Wooooaaaah!!
– I caught it!! Hyun Jung-seob has defeated a boss monster all by himself!!
– Not bad, huh? That old man!
‘Hah, still, Hyun Jung-seob is for real. He finished it so neatly—huh? Wait a second. Why is this coming to me…?’
But then a message I didn’t expect tilted my head.
– You have defeated the ‘Master Asymbiotic Species’!
‘Huh… so it counted as me killing it? Why?’
That means my contribution was the highest…
‘Though the flame shot landed a decisive hit, Hyun Jung-seob must’ve been the one who tired him out the most. He dealt the finishing blow.’
Just then, the system message scratched where I was itchy with questions.
– You dealt a critical attack to ‘Master Asymbiotic Species’ multiple times.
– The consciousness of ‘Master Asymbiotic Species’ was entirely directed toward you.
‘Aah, I see. Even while fighting Hyun Jung-seob, he was only thinking about me… wait, that’s a bit scary, isn’t it?’
Well, it doesn’t matter since he’s dead anyway.
– The animosity toward you from the ‘Asymbiotic Species’ increases significantly!
– The risk of being detected while in hiding by ‘Asymbiotic Species’ slightly increases.
– The damage taken from ‘Asymbiotic Species’ increases by 10%.
‘Seriously… don’t give me hidden events like this.’
– Experience points have greatly increased!
– You have gained the ‘Ice Tower’ quest.
– Move to ‘Ice Tower’, defeat ‘Crystal Road’, and acquire the potential of ice attribute magic!
– Your level has increased. Choose three stat increases.
‘I could gain ice attribute magic… could I become like Noh Ha-yoon!’
After a brief cheer, I invested stats into agility, wisdom, and sense, and then dove back into the battlefield.
A bit further away, there was a clamor of celebrating people praising Hyun Jung-seob for defeating the asymbiotic species leader, but I must not forget the situation at hand — it was a dungeon break.
‘Gotta catch at least one more monster so they can’t leave, their fate is sealed.’
“What in the world is this…?”
Hyun Jung-seob, having no message appear confirming he defeated the creature, looked greatly puzzled. It felt oddly familiar.
“Clang—”
“Tap tap!!”
‘Right, let’s work hard!!’
“Beep—!!”
After that, I led my minion troops as I moved toward the gate, the source of the dungeon break, to continue the fight.
Since our allies were at the Ilseom main base, we could afford to relax. Yeon-hee, for some time now, had become a trustworthy ally I could lean on instead of someone I needed to protect.
We battled for another solid two hours and finally reached a spot where the gate was clearly visible.
– The activity of [Obsession] has ended!
– Advanced Mana Stone x 517, Supreme Mana Stone x 2, Rune of Absorption (Advanced) x4, Rune of Absorption (Intermediate) x2, Rune of Protection (Intermediate) x 3, Rune of Ice (Rare) x 2, Blood Mosquito’s Blood Gem x36, Minescarabe’s Golden Shell x 43, Frizkana’s Ice Crystal x 19
Most of the monster horde had been Blood Mosquitos, but since I focused on taking down Minescarabes and Frizkana, I could gather quite a bit of materials.
‘Hmm… At least the variants of the mosquito were plentiful. The ingredients for Killbard seem to drop in a decent balance.’
Looking at the recipe for Killbard, the amounts of ingredients differed slightly, but it seemed like there wouldn’t be an issue since ice crystals were required in relatively smaller quantities.
It looks like I took down nearly 500 monsters and the asymbiotic species leader.
Thanks to this, my body was covered in melted ice.
Zhuhuh—
– Status anomaly [Freeze] is being rapidly released.
– Your body cannot be affected by the status anomaly [Frostbite].
‘Hahaha, skeletons are invincible.’
In the first place, skeleton types have high resistance to [Freeze], and immunity to [Frostbite], so despite taking out more than a hundred asymbiotic species and Frizkana, I felt no hardship whatsoever.
On the contrary, many hunters who headed toward the gate around the same time were now far behind, no longer in sight.
‘That’s how troublesome asymbiotic species and Frizkana must be. By the way, what’s that over there…?’
I arrived at the gate ahead of everyone and had all my subordinates tucked away into the space.
It couldn’t be helped. The overwhelming destructive aura from within the gate made it seem like something was about to burst out at any moment.
Inside the gate, there was a path that ended in a blue glow; it looked like the way leading to the core of Crystalride.
‘Usually I’d cautiously gauge things out and escape, but…’
– The energy of the void has been detected.
– A fourth-tier dimensional channel has been discovered!
– You are already progressing on the ‘Ice Tower’ quest. It will integrate with your job change quest, and the sealed ‘Sacrifice’ ability will be released.
– Would you like to challenge the hidden quest?
‘So it can have overlapping quests. I’m glad I can use [Blast of Madness], but…’
The massive aura sensed from the gate was preventing me from taking a step inside easily.
‘But I’ll have to do it. It’s a shame I can’t do it with Ran, but I can’t stray too far from Yeon-hee.’
Through an invisible thread connecting me and Yeon-hee, I expressed my will to temporarily step away from her.
This was possible due to our relationship as summoner and summoned creature.
[……..!!]
‘Hmm…! Alright. Since I got the go-ahead, shall I go?’
I unleashed various skills, passing through the throng of monsters surrounding the gate, and thrust myself into the hidden dungeon.
* * *
“Huh— it’s been a while.”
Once again, I found myself in the hidden dungeon of the Ilseom Guild.
However, many things about the environment had changed since the last time I came here.
‘It’s gotten much colder. The plants are covered in frost.’
It had previously been just slightly humid, but it was entirely the opposite now.
‘Hmm— I get a feeling. It doesn’t seem that far away, does it? Has the terrain changed too?’
The starting point where I had entered before was completely different from this one.
On my mental map, it appeared to be much further along than the hidden dungeon where I had taken on the variant of the Blood Mosquito.
‘Good. Let’s handle this quickly and return to Yeon-hee.’
I made my way to a deeper area where multiple strong auras were gathered.
‘Just how many are there…?’
The system showed that a ton of forces called ‘Masters of Asymbiotic Species’ had congregated deep inside.
‘There are surely more than twenty of them. Crazy… how the heck am I supposed to get through that.’
The first asymbiotic species leader I encountered was extremely sensitive and had even gone for the first strike once he spotted me in hiding.
Additionally, I received several penalties for taking him down, so things were likely even harder now.
Even if I passage through their midst using stealth and movement skills, I had no confidence in not getting detected.
‘Hah— what is this? There’s not a single easy job around. I can’t even do quests freely. No, wait, I shouldn’t be thinking about giving up already.’
I stood still and concentrated my mind.
‘Just now I wasn’t perfect because it was during battle. If I deliberately hide my presence, things could turn out different.’
Hoo───
Moral energy surged up.
Activating the abilities to erase my presence one by one, I began to feel like I was becoming a non-existent being.
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