“Then let’s go.”
Jiho nodded. Tae Woong placed his hand on top of the door. As he did so, a thin red light spread out like blood vessels from the center of his hand. It was a sight beautiful, yet creepy.
When the light had reached the edges of the door.
The door, which was made of a large boulder, moved on its own without a sound, defying the laws of physics.
Past the door, there was not a single bit of light: the room was completely dark as if someone had covered it in squid ink.
No, just saying that there is no light cannot fully explain all that is inside.
The two could instinctively sense a great darkness curled up and breathing quietly deep inside.
Darkness.
And the things that are associated with darkness.
Despair, jealousy, hatred, fear, illness, death….
The evils trapped inside Pandora’s box before she opened it were all locked up deep inside the dungeon. And the two people had just unknowingly opened that box.
“F*ck….”
Tae Woong’s voice, which had just been full of fighting spirit, had completely died down. His body was shaking.
Of course, Jiho wasn’t much better.
“OOF….”
The monster’s despair and fear invaded Jiho’s mind. It whispered that there was no other choice but to give up here.
There’s no way to defeat this monster.
This monster was not an S-rank. It might even be higher than an SS-rank.
A monster that has never been seen before. It has a strange form with no obvious weaknesses. And on top of that, the monster has a mind-invasion skill that destroys a person’s resolve from the very root…
There’s no way they can fight this.
The terrifyingly high rank was a problem itself, but the fear that the monster gave off made it so that the two of them couldn’t even do anything.
Screeeek.
It sounded like someone was scratching a plate of metal with their fingernails. The hair-raising sound forced Jiho and Tae Woong, who had been paralyzed by fear, to move.
Jiho’s instinct to live was roused awake as if he had been splashed by a douse of cold water. However, his body still refused to move the way he wanted it to.
‘Stop acting foolishly and move!’
He had decided that this would be his final act as a hunter, not his final act of his life. He can’t cower foolishly here and just wait for his death to come.
Jiho tried to force his shaking body to move. His trembling fingers twitched slightly at Jiho’s command before finally breaking free. As they did so, the rest of Jiho’s body also regained its freedom.
Although it felt like a lot of time had passed, it had only been a couple of seconds. Jiho looked back at Tae Woong who was still paralyzed in place. Jiho gathered all of his strength and threw his body.
CRACK!
A shockwave shot from the great darkness to the place the two had just been standing at. If Jiho hadn’t grabbed Tae Woong and threw themselves, their bodies would’ve been split in two.
“HEY! SEON TAE WOONG!”
Jiho clenched his teeth and slapped the unconscious Tae Woong on the face. Even though a crisp sound was made, Tae Woong’s eyes were still unfocused.
Tae Woong couldn’t extricate himself from the fear.
It is actually nearly impossible to wake up from a mind-invasion skill by oneself if the user’s rank is higher. It was a miracle that Jiho, whose rank is much lower, was able to free himself so easily.
There was no time to wake Tae Woong up slowly. Jiho grabbed Tae Woong and ran while yelling:
“Wake up, Seon Tae Woong! That’s darkness! If you light up the surroundings, it’ll disappear!”
Even in this situation, Jiho didn’t lose hope.
Darkness is pushed by light. Before the advent of technology, the thing that had lit up people’s nights was flames.
Though the monster was much stronger than expected, Seon Tae Woong still has the advantage.
If Seon Tae Woong wakes up.
Jiho narrowly avoided the attacks while holding onto Tae Woong, who was still unconscious. Jiho took out a potion. Because there was no time to feed it to Tae Woong, Jiho smashed the bottle on top of Tae Woong’s head.
After he had done so with two bottles, Tae Woong’s eyes started to regain clarity.
“Uh, uh….”
Tae Woong, who was still slightly dazed, made indecipherable sounds before looking at Jiho and frowning.
Because he was trying to protect Tae Woong, who is their main combative force, Jiho’s body was littered with injuries. The arm that was holding Tae Woong was particularly injured. Blood was dripping down from the wound.
“Sh*t.”
Tae Woong’s pride made it hard for him to apologize. Tae Woong pushed Jiho away and stood up straight.
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah.”
Tae Woong turned his eyes forward after receiving a short answer from Jiho. Although he still has his defenses up because of his pride, it seems that Tae Woong is completely awake now.
[Wall of Flames.]
When Tae Woong used that skill, a wall of flames that was two times taller than a person shot up. With this skill, the strength of the boss monster’s attacks significantly weakened.
BOOM!
Still, the power was strong enough to be life-threatening if it touched them.
In order to defend against the boss monster that was still hiding in the back, Tae Woong kept the wall up. Then, he stomped his foot on the ground.
Multiple thin, bright threads of mana spread from his foot in all directions. The lines quickly reached deep inside the room.
[Ignite.]
Tae Woong inputted a strong stream mana into the thin lines before using his skill. He combined [Ignite], his most basic skill, with the other skill he just used.
Mana traveled through the lines like it was a fuse, exploding with much more power than when Tae Woong had just launched it into the air earlier. Like fireworks exploding in the sky, his attack was accompanied by a deafening sound.
CRACK CRACK CRACK!
Under the exploding fireworks, the darkness finally revealed itself.
The boss monster that they had thought was a formless body of darkness was curled up in the middle of the room like a large boulder.
There was no arm or leg that the monster could move. Instead, there was one large, closed eye and hundreds of mouths all over its body.
Form revealed, the boss monster shuddered. As he did so, the hundreds of mouths moved at once.
[Clack Clack Clack!]
The wave of sounds created by the mouths turned into a large shockwave that barreled towards them.
“B-rank!”
“UGH!”
Jiho was barely able to avoid the attack. Despite him being careful, the attack that flew over was much faster than before.
“It looks like it changed its attack pattern! Concentrate!”
“I’m concentrating, okay?!”
Jiho was bothered by the fact that a person who had just been paralyzed by fear was nagging him. Angered, Jiho yelled at him before concentrating back on the monster.
The darkness that had covered the room didn’t appear again.
Seon Tae Woong took out a mana potion and drank it while he continued to attack the monster. Whenever the flames exploded on its body, the monster’s mouths screamed. As the number of mouths decreased, the power of the attacks also decreased.
Cornering the monster was going smoothly. However, there was still a bad feeling.
When the number of mouths had fallen below half.
The tightly shut eyelid slowly slid open, revealing the eye beneath it.
A pitch black iris with no white. A bloody red pupil that was stretched vertically like that of a goat.
When the pupil lit up, so did the black iris shine dark red. At the same time, the mouths that had been screaming whispered into the ear.
[Jiho–ya.]
The voice was the same as Joo Yiwon’s for some reason.
His voice was the same as usual. No, his voice was not just closer and warmer than usual, but saccharine sweet.
[It’s okay, Jiho.]
[You can rest now.]
[Stay still.]
[You’re tired, right?]
Jiho scrunched his face in disgust when he heard the voice that was trying to tempt him.
“What kind of bullsh*t is this?”
Monsters that invade people’s minds usually take the form of the person the victim likes the most or is weakest to. But for Jiho, the voice of his annoying childhood friend and former rival has little effect on him.
Seon Tae Woong’s situation, on the other hand, was different. Once again, Tae Woong fell into a daze with the monster’s skill.
“Come on!”
Again?
Jiho took the potion bottle that he already had in his hand and slammed it down on Seon Tae Woong’s head in annoyance. However, like before, Tae Woong’s consciousness didn’t return with just one hit.
Jiho picked up Tae Woong as he avoided the attacks again and cracked two more bottles on top of Seon Tae Woong’s head. Only after that did Seon Tae Woong’s eyes gain a hint of clarity.
“Wake, up…!”
Jiho clenched his teeth and cracked another potion bottle. Tae Woong’s eyes finally regained complete clarity. Tae Woong’s expression changed to one of horror when he realized what had happened.
“You….”
“Do it on your own now….”
Jiho coughed and threw up a clump of blood.
Jiho couldn’t avoid the faster attacks while holding Tae Woong. And so, he had no choice but to block the attacks with his body.
Although he didn’t get hit face-on, he could still hear the sound of his bones breaking. If he isn’t treated quickly, he will probably die soon.
“You, why are you doing so much for me….” Seon Tae Woong mumbled in confusion.
Jiho didn’t have the strength to answer him.
Tae Woong seemed to have the wrong idea about something. Jiho didn’t save Tae Woong because he liked him.
It’s just that this is much more advantageous.
Keeping Seon Tae Woong in the best condition gives them a higher chance of defeating the boss monster, even if that means that Shin Jiho, who has no chance of killing the monster, has to sacrifice his own body.
But Jiho isn’t conscious enough to tell Tae Woong that he shouldn’t feel so touched over this. Jiho’s field of vision was flooded with red before darkness finally returned. His end was approaching.
‘This is…the end.’
With this, it is over.
Now that the end was approaching, all of Jiho’s worries disappeared. Strangely, he felt calm.
If he’s lucky and Seon Tae Woong somehow kills the opponent quickly, Jiho might be able to survive.
Of course, there’s no way he’s that lucky….
Isn’t it better for one to die than both?
Though the end result isn’t perfect, it’s enough that one person survives. If he did this much, didn’t he do enough?
Yeah, this is enough.
| Is this really enough? |
Suddenly, a weird sentence appeared in front of Jiho.
LaZ Bird Corner
Happy Pocky Day! Author-nim posted a Pocky Day update on Twitter: HERE.
Joo Yiwon, who makes Pepero by hand (Confident in his skills)
Shin Jiho, who puts in a special order for expensive Pepero (Doesn’t want to mess it up)
When traditional methods don’t work, use the head. – Shin Jiho, probably
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