Chapter 321. Dawn (2)
In an instant, my skin is burning.
‘Ah, thinking about it, this reminds me of that knight I saw before.’
Szzzzt….
The aftermath of the skill activation made the lightning sorcerer’s concealed blade stretch to the sky, looking somewhat like a friendly cat caught in static electricity.
But the impact of his abilities was definitely no joke.
‘Now that I think about it, that S-Class Hunter named Enzo… He was called ‘Zeus’ by the news back home.’
His unchanged form matches that mythological name after all…
As Ki-ryeo’s skin was scorched by the artificial lightning, he immediately assessed the situation.
‘This isn’t someone I can just stall for time against!’
Honestly, if he had been even 0.5 seconds slower in detecting the Earthling’s attack, his entire head would have been charred by now.
So what to do about this crisis?
‘If I save my items, I’ll end up boiling soup on a ferry across the Jordan River!’
Swish.
In that moment, the man’s third eye moved downward.
Even with a slight enhancement, his awakening level was still below D-Class.
But there was a reason he had survived in that weak body, as predicted by Enzo.
Zzzzztt.
‘Ugh, honestly, I wanted to keep my chance until the very end!’
Ki-ryeo sprang into action immediately.
The issue was the web of red lines surrounding him.
A necklace-type equipment that absorbs the wearer’s power and projects a spell.
So the comparison to the underworld’s shroud is completely different from this magic.
If he decided to manipulate it with the hand wrapped in black glossy leather gloves…
-!!
The S-Class in the corridor quickly recognized that his prey was moving.
Unable to predict what the enemy would do, he decided to relentlessly attack Kim Ki-ryeo for now.
But that shouldn’t have happened.
Enzo had to run away.
“Ugh!”
The color-drained fake blond mage was also targeting the opposing life.
You can’t hurt a person recklessly.
You can’t kill a person recklessly.
Modern people learn these fundamental truths carefully from a young age.
Except for this one soul in this place.
No, the man named Ki-ryeo didn’t even consider the being before him as an equal.
“Gkh…?!”
Despite being reincarnated in this body, his soul’s identity consists of arrogance and a unique attitude that makes him act superior.
The Alphauri struck back.
Absorbing the powerful red net nearby with the [Gloves of Midnight], he sent it back to the caster, thanks to its function.
‘As expected of an S-Class Hunter, his reaction time is quick!’
Of course, he was also mindful that it would be better if the bars acted lethally.
‘Because he moved so quickly, the position got a bit off.’
The web that had once contained an adult man of 179 cm shrank down to the size of a basketball returning to the fray.
But that small net, which seemed only capable of trapping a lark, still emitted a considerable amount of power due to its placement.
“──────!”
Ki-ryeo targeted the line to loop around the enemy’s skull and chest area.
The enemy, taking the form of Brooklyn Morgan, gasped in horror.
Thanks to his superhuman physical abilities, he could reduce some of the damage, but Enzo’s neck and the lower part of his lungs got completely snagged by the web’s real line.
Thus, he couldn’t even let out a proper scream.
Thud!
The enemy clutched his neck, falling down painfully, evidently in great discomfort.
Forced out of the barrier, it was only natural for him to sustain additional injuries in the process.
Blood constantly oozed from his throat like a wounded apple sliced with a knife. Furthermore, Enzo’s chest was in even worse condition.
‘My respiratory system is wrecked.’
Gasping like a patient suffering from excessive sputum secretion, the S-Class Hunter sweated profusely.
‘The target was originally my brain, but…’
With his lungs, also known as the heart of a mage, torn apart, how could he complete the spell?
It made his correct judgement seem pointless. Enzo ultimately rolled his eyes back and couldn’t help but stop all struggles. He fainted from the pain.
‘Well, at least I got a good outcome.’
However, the cruel outsider couldn’t believe the enemy had been incapacitated and made a small insurance.
‘Who said I should initiate, huh? This is price I pay for how I’ve been oppressed!’
Tap, tap, tap.
The great mage hastily pulled out a green longsword and stabbed at the enemy’s wound.
Ki-ryeo dishonorably utilized the epic-class item he possessed and successfully coated the enemy with venom before swiftly turning on his heel.
‘Now let’s join the other victims.’
From the perspective of a weakling, beasts weren’t their only problem.
Encountering a one-eyed A-Class monster alone outside the gate would spell big trouble.
Thus, Ki-ryeo hurried back in the direction of the Korean Hunters.
But just a few seconds later…
‘Huh?’
Ki-ryeo froze in shock at one side of the corridor.
‘What?!’
He felt something strange from that direction since the start of his sprint.
‘Wha… what is this?’
The view at the end of the path was completely different from what he had seen earlier.
This dungeon was structured like a tight ‘path’ resembling an ant nest.
But the room, which should have been a broad space, had transformed—before him appeared a garden glowing vibrantly as if something large had happened.
‘Did they swap out only the open area at the end while the tunnel remains intact?’
Swish.
The Alphauri mage sharpened his senses and carefully scrutinized the surroundings.
‘It’s true. The room rotated. It looks like a boss room has appeared like an elevator…’
Situations became easily understood.
‘The sky’s color has changed.’
Just a moment ago, the ceiling, dark as the deep night of Earth without a single light source, changed to a bluish hue in the blink of an eye.
For a gate, it’s quite needlessly detailed in its time passage.
Moreover, compared to the changes occurring on this planet, the scenery shifts in the dungeon were alarmingly rapid.
‘They’ve thrown in a bothersome event. Every little detail like this could critically influence the攻略 process.’
This gate seemed to be linked to the characteristics of the false sun present in that high ceiling.
Ki-ryeo resumed his halted steps.
Swipe.
For now, as he’d noticed when he was initially captured.
The remaining fragments of the beasts had created their own safe zones within the dungeon.
Yet Ki-ryeo felt a momentary tilt of his head while pursuing that safety zone.
‘Why go through such effort to establish a base in the dungeon? What do they expect to gain by bursting this aside from a drop in the KOSPI?’
It was exactly such questions that lingered in his mind.
However, as the gate’s depths suddenly revealed themselves before his eyes, everything finally clicked into place.
‘Oh, wow.’
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Without needing to strain his focus, he heard the clear sounds echoing from the other side.
‘For some reason…’
The transformed scenery at the end of the second floor felt like he had obtained information he didn’t want to know.
The area covered with brown and some white plants, like a giant flower bud shyly leaning over its heart amongst the autumn garden.
‘It’s the boss of the dungeon.’
Because of the density of entities, the one-eyed puppy that was once pushed away was now present, though he wasn’t sure of its origins.
But the great mage at least recognized the creature before him.
What’s more, they had a pre-existing acknowledgment between them.
Covered in a soft-textured hide, the creature was none other than a carnivorous ‘animal’, described using the label of the PIXY company frequently utilized on Earth.
[Sunflower]
[Grade: A]
[Description: A leader constantly protected by numerous medium-sized four-legged monsters hidden in the field. Largely inactive.]
It seemed rather weak for a boss of an A-Class dungeon at first glance.
If only they could deal with the pesky moths converging around, they could easily smash the stationary flower.
So could a sorcerer like Jeong Ha-seong, known for his extensive spell range, clean this place up with as much ease as chewing gum?
‘This is insane.’
This was true only under the assumption that the said leader hadn’t moved from the field where it first appeared.
Yet sometimes the world has surprises.
If you look closely near you, you might find an axolotl.
That animal, known as a Mexican salamander, can live its entire life without undergoing complete metamorphosis, holding onto its tadpole appearance depending on its environment.
This is termed neoteny.
However, should a lack of a distinguishable differentiating factor and a series of processes prompt the axolotl to move its habitat, its physical appearance and functions would entirely transform.
Why is it called a salamander?
‘Could those beasts…’
And what was the reason the dungeon boss having the name that expresses sun-seeking was categorized as such in Alphauri.
【Sunflower Facing the Star】
[Grade: S]
[Description: This creature has been confirmed to grow into an adult state almost instantly if it escapes from its area of emergence.
The cause is the environmental disparity between its feeding territory and the ki-simche-invaded planet, and if it senses danger such as feeding location damage or nutrient deficiency, it emerges into the presence of actual solar energy, dramatically growing to consume nearby enemies without discrimination for species continuity before it dies during the birthing process.]
[Observed Reward Item Table]
[① (Limited after escaping) Elixir of Immortality…….]
According to information previously verified in Alphauri, that monster was hiding in this true form.
One could compare it to Hwa-won, where the power inside and outside the dungeon seemed drastically different.
Aside from sorting out unnecessary research outcomes, this was enough to grasp a rough outline.
[① (Limited after escaping) Elixir of Immortality]
The said monster would only spit out precious spoils when it transformed under specific conditions.
So the mages of Alphauri painstakingly bred this lifeform. Would Earthlings’ judgment differ?
‘It’s a 100% certainty. There’s nothing else to pinpoint about the beasts’ motives. And now I see clear evidence of barriers that were obviously influenced by human hand. If someone else tried to tackle it in the middle, that’d be a big deal.’
Emerging substances from another world that perfectly prevent aging.
This allowed the alien mage to fully comprehend the intentions of the enemies that had occupied Korea’s gates.
‘Those sorcerers intentionally blew up this dungeon to fatten up the boss!’
It was truly a peak exemplar of selfish motivations.
‘Good God. They’re acting just like the rulers of some oceanic creatures. These damned lunatics kill people because of magic studies!’
Whether the capital of a half-alien nation falls is of no concern to them; they only care to grab the drugs while it’s evident.
‘But then again, it’s true that the Alphauri were prone to such thought, causing all sorts of problems…’
Discovering the gate’s boss.
It took about a minute to organize all those thoughts.
Ki-ryeo concluded through this sequence of reasoning.
‘Then I just need to kill that boss while it’s still in the larval stage.’
I have to somehow summon Jeong Ha-seong and Seo Esther to remove the instigator.
Now at the level of E-Class Hunter, he was not in a situation able to deal with an advanced monster.
Thus, Ki-ryeo looked for a way to move to another level.
‘Huh?’
The moment he found a hidden passage that led to the lower floor somewhere behind the boss.
Suddenly, all the hair on his body stood on end.
Thud, thud, rumble…
Such a sound echoed in the quiet cave all of a sudden.
“What the hell…!”
How did you even survive?
He couldn’t even voice such questions.
As he turned his head, he found the opponent already close.
Without even engaging in a dialogue like characters in a play who conveniently appear, the opponent shot out a spell right away.
‘Aww!’
What overwhelming firepower.
The negotiation he’d seen from the lightning sorcerer in Japan looked like child’s play compared to the intense plasma that soon engulfed one of the blond man’s legs.
To be precise, he narrowly missed being caught in the skill’s radial range.
‘Right. The barrier of [Divine Tree Sapling] has been shattered, so why wouldn’t it happen!’
Sure enough, even grazing it results in severe injury.
Ki-ryeo looked down at his leg, which got severely burned from the right kneecap down to the shin.
‘Wait, the right side?’
Come to think of it, that painful spot felt familiar. Upon deep thought, he speculated whether something had else got messed up.
‘Oh my God.’
He didn’t have the luxury of time to dwell on idle thoughts.
Holding on with great effort with his burning leg, he stood his ground, but what he saw in the direction the attack had come from was a horrifying sight.
Thud, drip…
Blood dripped, sticky enough to be seen, pooling from his neck.
Enzo Chiano, who appeared once more, had a deep wound at his neck that looked like a gazelle bitten by a lion, and the chest wound seemed to have no significant improvement either.
Actually, it looked even worse than before.
‘Huh?’
The item known as [Doppelgänger’s Jealousy] was excellent for concealing identity but inherently suffered from a few deficiencies due to physical changes.
‘Is just hiding the face enough?’
Now, the alien was facing a big man like a bear.
Enzo Chiano had dropped that childish facade and merely wore a bone mask on top of his head.
In other words, his characteristic awakened frame was now fully revealed.
-……
Grrk. Grrk.
Despite his compromised respiratory system making horrendous sounds, Enzo approached this spot as if the pain was nonexistent, filled with rage.
It was evident he was in very poor condition.
‘A target so slow he couldn’t even hit something properly.’
But how could even that state be more serious than someone with an awakening level of 33Aw?
With that web-like aggressive barrier, he had pierced his internal organs, and beyond that, the front of his neck had been carved out.
As seen, a mere potion wouldn’t suffice for immediate healing.
But Kim Ki-ryeo sensed his defeat simply from the fact that he couldn’t finish the fake beast off.
If it just so happened to randomly spray its area spells with its eyes closed, he was done for.
Cough, ugh…
But then.
Now, Enzo, who could only emit animal-like roars, summoned a thin electrical beam attacking one particular spot as if he couldn’t yet use his more powerful spells.
Zap!
At that very moment, the blond Hunter was doing his utmost to evade.
Then the situation abruptly changed.
Bang!
The intense noise of high-heat plasma expanding through the air surged like no other!
“-!!”
The now clarified focus of Enzo was abruptly knocked back by the explosion of flames nearby.
Instinctively, living beings recoil and avoid contact with hot things.
‘What…?!’
There was only one person in this dungeon wielding strong spells capable of knocking back an S-Class Hunter in one blow.
“Mr. Kim Hunter!”
“Ki-ryeo!”
Jeong Ha-seong and Seo Esther appeared in the corridor of this layer.
More precisely, they had used a previously hidden transverse passage across the boss while driving away the remnants and low-ranked monsters with the power of their curses.
But what could have happened?
‘Wait, hold on. No way those primitive folks could orchestrate the situation this quickly, could they?’
They were undoubtedly bound by the same number of S-Class Hunters from abroad, weren’t they?
