Chapter 480 – 480. The Spooky Water Park
480. The Spooky Water Park
“Go Jun! Let’s back off! It’s different from yesterday! The boss monster has changed!”
“…Please retreat immediately! The capture of this erosion-type dungeon ends here! The situation has changed! The boss monster that was originally here was a B-rank King Slime! Not that thing! Please retreat now!”
But it was already too late.
From the lake-like swimming pool, its body soared upwards.
It was a dragon made of water. It didn’t seem to have any intention of letting us go.
‘……A Water Dragon?’
I called it that without thinking, but there was no such monster as a Water Dragon. That meant it was a monster that had appeared here for the first time. It looked like a dragon, but it probably wasn’t actually a dragon.
“N-no way…!”
One of the female hunters was in shock. I didn’t know her name, but I knew she had a special tool for identifying the monster’s status and information. The hunters, including me, perked up our ears and focused on what she was saying.
Of course, the Water Dragon didn’t wait for us, but Han Ah-young created a huge ice shield, blocking its charge. Frosty water splashed everywhere.
“That’s a fusion! It’s a fusion of a ghost, a waterman, and a King Slime! And at the center… what is this?”
“It’s probably the dungeon core. The dungeon core was originally inside the King Slime. I can’t believe things got this messed up in just one day….”
Jang Go-jun took out his equipment for the first time.
Two long sticks. They looked like simple iron bars stretched out into two long pieces. There were hunters who used staffs, but those were so basic they couldn’t even be called weapons.
But soon, the shape of the sticks began to change.
They turned into a pair of gleaming, sharp-edged swords.
‘That’s Jang Go-jun’s ability, shape-shifting.’
It was the ability to temporarily change the shape of objects. However, the durability of the object didn’t change. Even if you turned mud into a hammer, it would still just be a lump of mud.
“Hunters! Listen up! As things stand, we’ll take it down here! Association members, please stand by in case of an emergency! Fortunately, this is a place with water! Ah-young has the elemental advantage! Ah-young! Can’t you freeze it?!”
“I’ve already tried, but it’s impossible to freeze it completely. At best, I can freeze the surface to reduce its mobility. It has high mana resistance!”
The Water Dragon jumped into the air. It was aiming for us, who hadn’t yet secured our battle positions.
“Ha-rin!!”
Han Ah-young shouted. Han Ha-rin bit her lip tightly and used gravity manipulation. She changed the direction of gravity from down to sideways. She was turning the direction of the Water Dragon, which probably weighed hundreds of tons.
It was a success. The Water Dragon flew sideways and crashed into the ground. Jang Go-jun swung his dual swords, which had been imbued with sword energy, over the Water Dragon’s body.
Blood trickled down Han Ha-rin’s nose.
“Senior! Are you okay?!”
I grabbed her staggering arm and supported her.
“…I’m fine. I used too much power at once. I can use my ability again after a short rest. You do what you need to do.”
“Yes, Senior. I’ll take that thing’s head, so please stay back.”
“……Be careful.”
“Yes.”
I gripped my Hwaryeon Blades tightly and ran towards the Water Dragon that had fallen to the ground. It had just come out of the lake swimming pool. I couldn’t miss this opportunity.
‘I can’t kill it in one go, but… I can wound it.’
Whirr! Sword energy blazed.
But I didn’t get the chance to swing my sword.
Han Ah-young created a huge chunk of ice in the sky and dropped it on the Water Dragon’s head. Its head shattered, and water splashed everywhere.
‘…She created that huge chunk of ice in less than 10 seconds? Is that what it takes to be an S-rank candidate?’
This was actually the first time I’d seen Han Ah-young’s skills, and I could genuinely understand why she was said to be a future S-rank hunter.
But the situation wasn’t over.
The Water Dragon’s body split into hundreds of mini Water Dragons, each about 3 meters in size.
“The dungeon core wasn’t in its head! One of those things has the dungeon core! We have to destroy the dungeon core!”
Han Ah-young shouted. The hunters rushed in and slaughtered the mini Water Dragons that were splashing and running away into the lake swimming pool.
“It’s too late! The dungeon core went into the swimming pool!”
The female hunter said. The hunters clicked their tongues and moved away from the swimming pool. The swimming pool was the enemy’s territory. The moment you accidentally fell into the swimming pool, death would be right in front of you.
The Water Dragon soared up again from the swimming pool. Its shattered head had returned to normal, and its body size was the same as before.
There were two ways to defeat it. One was to aim for and destroy the dungeon core, and the other was to eliminate all the water in this space.
‘The latter is impossible.’
It was still raining in the sky, and water was pooled everywhere in the water park. It was a truly frustrating boss monster.
Wiiiiiiiiing! Wiiiiiiiiing!
When the alarm sounded, the hunters’ faces turned pale. It was a sound they had heard several times on the way here. A tidal wave would soon come crashing in.
‘Shit!’
I ran to Han Ha-rin. The situation was the worst. The height of the wave crashing in from afar was over 10 meters. Han Ah-young was busy blocking the Water Dragon’s attacks, so the best thing to do was to run away.
‘I’ll use a space-movement scroll to send Han Ha-rin to a safe place and then Han Ah-young….’
Han Ha-rin calmly looked around at the waves crashing in from all directions. Her demeanor was completely different from the terrified hunters. Han Ha-rin had no intention of running away. She was going to fight back.
“Senior Ha-rin!”
“I’ll block it.”
Han Ha-rin rose from the ground into the sky. Her black hair fluttered intensely.
Immediately after, an earthquake occurred.
To be more precise, the aftermath of Han Ha-rin using her ability was an earthquake.
‘…Gravity is fluctuating.’
Some things were light, some were heavy, some were to the right, some were to the sky. As gravity began to rage, the 10-meter-high tidal wave couldn’t get close and shattered into pieces.
An invisible storm of gravity was smashing the tidal wave.
In the end, the tidal wave didn’t reach us, and Han Ha-rin, who had exerted her abilities beyond her limits, fell down. I caught her.
‘Han Ha-rin has gone this far… I can’t disgracefully run away.’
I took her to the female hunter. The only female hunter who could know the location of the dungeon core.
“Excuse me. Please help me.”
“Ah, yes. You want me to take care of Ha-rin, right? I’ll protect Ha-rin. We can’t just leave her after she protected us. My ability is specialized in protection, so I’m confident.”
“I’d like to ask you to do that, but… you know where the dungeon core is, right?”
“…Just a moment. I’ll try to find it. I need to concentrate, so please protect me.”
“Yes. I’ll definitely protect you.”
She put on a pair of thick-rimmed glasses from her pocket and looked at the Water Dragon. The lenses of her glasses glowed blue.
About 50 seconds later. She shouted, as if for the hunters to hear.
“The dungeon core is near its tail! The tail is inside the swimming pool!”
The hunters’ faces twisted. The Water Dragon’s body was transparent, making it difficult to tell where its tail was. The probability of hitting the dungeon core from a distance was very low. To destroy the dungeon core, we had to go inside the lake swimming pool, into its territory.
“Thank you. I’ll leave Senior Ha-rin to you.”
“Wait a minute! Are you planning to go in alone?! It’s dangerous! There will be another chance for it to come out of the swimming pool like before. Aim for that time!”
“I don’t think Ah-young or Jang Go-jun can hold out until then. If we’re not going to abandon them and run away, we have to fight now.”
The hunters’ faces turned grim. Most of them were C-rank hunters, so they must be feeling helpless.
“We’ll only die if we stay still. Let’s move. I’ll go into the swimming pool with Yu-jin. Is there anyone who will join us?”
“……I can’t stand being on the receiving end. I’ll join you.”
“Honestly, I just want to stay back and snipe… but the situation is like this.”
“I’ll provide cover from a distance. How can I, an archer, go in there? Leave the cover to me.”
The hunters began to do their jobs. I was impressed by their teamwork. They were indeed the hunters of Suwol Guild.
I ran across the surface of the swimming pool with Gong Ji-young, heading towards the Water Dragon. The scary thing about it was its power due to its huge size and the fact that it constantly regenerated as long as there was water.
‘Han Ah-young and Jang Go-jun are doing a good job of drawing its attention. If I can just avoid its sudden movements…!’
As we got closer, I could see the shape of its tail in the swimming pool. It wasn’t still in the water, it was constantly moving, so I could see its shape.
And the blue crystal inside the tail! It was definitely the dungeon core.
“That’s the dungeon core!”
“Ji-young!”
“Yes! I’ll blow it away!”
Her fist slammed down into the water where its tail was.
Kwaaaang!
The shockwave spread throughout the swimming pool, and water gushed out. But the tail was only slightly distorted, and the dungeon core was unharmed.
“I underestimated it because it was water… its durability is beyond imagination…. At this rate… Yu-jin?!”
I activated sword energy and stabbed towards the dungeon core. But the dungeon core moved from the tail towards the body, as if mocking me.
‘Damn it. It could move? Could the dungeon core have a will of its own?’
No. It didn’t seem like it. It must have moved instinctively.
“Yu-jin! Dodge!”
An arm stretched out from the Water Dragon’s body and struck at me and Gong Ji-young.
Gong Ji-young jumped and easily dodged, but I, who was focused on the dungeon core, was a little late to react.
‘A split second!’
I jumped up, riding the slow-moving arm. Thanks to the unexpected foothold, I had another chance to aim for the dungeon core.
Thwack!
The Hwaryeon Blade pierced inside. It barely grazed the dungeon core.
‘Red Lightning!!’
Red lightning spread out from inside its body.
‘It hit!’
It hit, but only a part of the dungeon core was shattered. The dungeon core moved further up. I clicked my tongue and jumped up, stepping on its body.
Arms shot out from its body on both sides, aiming for me.
“Thank you. It was hard to go down… you pulled the dungeon core up for me.”
Jang Go-jun, who had transformed his dual swords into a greatsword imbued with sword energy, cut off the arms and swung horizontally towards the dungeon core.
“Damn it! I missed…!”
The Water Dragon’s body was cut, but the dungeon core remained intact. Just before its body reattached, I plunged inside.
‘Thanks to the Blessing of Water, I can breathe in here. I thought it was a useless skill at first… but it was a totally awesome skill.’
Of course, it wasn’t peaceful in here. I could feel a pressure that seemed like it would crush my body. Just because I could breathe didn’t mean I could last long in here.
‘Are you planning to crush me with water pressure…. Do you think I’ll just stand still!’
I kicked off the water and soared upwards.
The red blade aimed for the dungeon core. A hand of water grabbed my body, but my sword had already pierced the dungeon core.
Crack!
The dungeon core disappeared and turned into a mana stone bigger than my head. The Water Dragon’s form turned into ordinary water and fell down.
I also fell down. The height was probably about 20 meters, but the bottom was a swimming pool, and I was a hunter. If I strengthened my body with mana, diving from this height was no problem.
As I fell, I looked at the water park. The dark clouds in the sky disappeared, and the transformed structures returned to their original forms.
‘As expected, the final blow is the most thrilling!’
Splash!
•••
After reporting to the Association, we divided the rewards.
I was recognized for my contribution and earned about 3 billion won.
It was much less money than I had expected, but there was nothing I could do. Most of the monsters didn’t leave behind any valuable byproducts. A prime example was the Water Dragon. I worked hard to kill it, but there were no byproducts. What made up its body was ordinary water.
‘Damn it. If an A-rank boss monster’s byproducts had come out, I would have earned at least twice as much, even after dividing it.’
