Chapter 1193 – 1193. Test
I found him.
He was sitting on a rock, cloaked. His black hair, reaching his shoulders, was curly, and his eyes were sunken. He saw us and lowered the wooden flute he had been holding to his mouth.
“B-Rank Hunter Sung Yu-jin, and Ha Seung-hee of Sejin Group. Is that right?”
He spoke in a sharp voice, his Korean sounding somewhat awkward. Perhaps he was making it sound awkward on purpose.
“You came here knowing who we are, so why are you confirming it?”
“I once killed an innocent hunter who wasn’t my target. I believed he was the target. But he wasn’t. All Korean faces look similar.”
“I’m Sung Yu-jin. Who are you?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“You son of a bitch!”
I swung my Hwaryeon Flying Daggers at him. The sword energy sliced through the air. He took a step back and easily dodged the sword energy.
Seeing his movements, I clicked my tongue. He was at least B-Rank.
“You’re quick to anger.”
“Is that what a killer should say?”
“Calm down. I have no intention of killing you.”
“Is that a joke? We almost died because of you.”
“So, did you die? The Fog Snake attack was my greeting. Knowing that you, a B-Rank Hunter, were there, I knew that hundreds of Fog Snakes wouldn’t be able to do anything to you.”
“That was a shitty greeting. What country are you from?”
“……”
He shut his mouth. It seemed he intended to keep any information about himself a secret.
‘If he really didn’t intend to kill us and just manipulated the Fog Snakes to attack us… then his goal was probably to weaken me, even a little.’
Of course, I didn’t believe him. I remained on guard.
‘…What country is he from? Not Southeast Asia… more like China or Japan… or maybe he’s even Korean. He’s just making his Korean sound awkward on purpose.’
I stopped thinking. Suspicion led to more suspicion. Continuing these thoughts wouldn’t help. The answer was right in front of me anyway. I just needed to catch him and interrogate him.
His gaze turned to Ha Seung-hee.
“I only want one thing. The potion that grows plants instantly. If you give me that potion, I won’t bother you. We can leave this dungeon without any trouble.”
“No trouble my ass.”
The moment we handed over HB-1, Ha Seung-hee’s plans and dreams would be shattered. I didn’t want that. Ha Seung-hee had risked her own body and made a deal with me for her ambition. That was one of the reasons she was so attractive. If we gave in to him here, her value and charm would be diminished.
‘A split second.’
I pushed off the ground with all my might and leaped forward. His eyes followed me a beat too late. He hadn’t fully grasped my movements.
He gripped the wooden flute tightly in both hands. The red blade of the Hwaryeon Flying Dagger fell on his right shoulder.
Clang!
A shockwave erupted. My body was thrown backward. I spun in the air and landed on the ground.
‘…Wind?’
I had seen it just before the shockwave. The presence of wind surrounding his body. The wind was protecting him.
He brought the wooden flute to his lips.
Fzzzt.
Electricity crackled on my body.
Immediately after, a bolt of lightning fell from the sky towards him. He didn’t even glance at the lightning. He didn’t dodge it either. The wind armor protecting his body blocked the lightning.
‘Is it a wind manipulation ability like Jin Se-young’s?’
He played the wooden flute.
It wasn’t the unpleasant sound he made when he controlled the Fog Snakes. It was music. The wind that passed through the flute became music, and the music penetrated my ears and into my head.
“Aaaah!”
Ha Seung-hee screamed, clutching her ears. Losing her balance, she staggered and collapsed to the ground, her eyes tightly shut.
“You bastard! What did you do!”
I had to save Ha Seung-hee first.
I gathered lightning in my fist.
Yeongcheon Style (影天流) Ultimate Technique (極技) Scattered Lightning (散雷).
I scattered the lightning into the air. The lightning writhed and spread in all directions. The mana that had been fluctuating in the space was driven out by the Scattered Lightning and disappeared. Ha Seung-hee, who had been covering her ears, lowered her hands. Her expression was more relaxed than before.
“Did you temporarily drive out the mana around here? Impressive.”
He spoke bluntly and began playing the flute again.
The sound was different from before. The wind surrounding his body expanded rapidly, as if being expelled. The wind moved in time with the music.
I glanced at Ha Seung-hee, who was still sprawled out. It was impossible to protect her from the wind, which was invisible and moved freely in straight or curved lines.
‘Stormbreaker.’
The Great Spear was summoned in front of me. I grabbed the Great Spear with one hand and threw it at Ha Seung-hee. She was startled. She reached out her hand as if to block the Great Spear. The Great Spear broke into pieces just before piercing her hand, then attached to her body, becoming armor.
I acknowledged Stormbreaker’s defensive power. With this, I could worry less about Ha Seung-hee.
“…Yu-jin, if it was something like this, you should have told me beforehand. I thought you were trying to kill me.”
“There wasn’t time.”
The wind blew.
The skin on my hand holding the sword was cut by the wind, and drops of blood splattered. I quickly moved my mana to strengthen my body.
“Senior, this is armor, but it’s surprisingly comfortable. It doesn’t feel like armor. Would you sell it to me?”
“No. I only have one.”
His playing became more intense. In response, the wind also became stronger.
‘Heavenly Eye.’
[Heavenly Eye (天眼) is opened.]
I could see the mana mixed in the wind. It was the cause of the wind. The wind and mana were spreading in time with the flute’s sound.
I raised my sword. Woooong. The Hwaryeon Flying Dagger trembled. Blue sword energy swirled around the red blade.
Even if the wind was formless, I could cut it if I could see it.
I swung the sword down.
The wind in front of me disappeared. A path opened. Without hesitation, I jumped into the path.
I saw his startled face. His trembling eyes reflected me. His fingers frantically played the flute.
A wind barrier was created. What I needed to cut was not the wind, but the flow of mana.
‘There.’
I swung my sword. The wind barrier easily disappeared.
Piiiiiiiiii!
A sharp sound rang out. The ground beneath my feet rose up. Thanks to the Heavenly Eye, I noticed it in advance. I narrowly avoided the rising ground and ran towards him.
‘A split second.’
The surroundings slowed down.
I identified the starting point of the wind armor surrounding his body. His wind armor started from his chest.
‘His ability isn’t wind, but sound. He controls wind, earth, monsters, and people with sound. There must be a condition.’
I realized that the source of the wind armor was his heartbeat. That constant, subtle sound was maintaining the wind armor.
‘This guy underestimated me too much. I may be B-Rank, but my skills aren’t just B-Rank.’
I swung my sword towards his shoulder.
The wind armor tried to push the blade away. A shockwave erupted. I knew it was coming, but I couldn’t be stopped. I forcibly resisted and applied force, and the sword pierced the wind armor, cutting straight through his right shoulder.
“Kuh…”
He swallowed the scream that was about to escape.
‘…Huh?’
He hadn’t swallowed the scream.
He was gathering the scream. His Adam’s apple twitched several times, and his chest swelled. Then, he opened his mouth wide and screamed.
“Kaaaaaaah!”
The sound soon became physical force. I was thrown backward along with the surrounding trees and rolled on the ground.
It was okay. This was just a minor bruise. I got up.
Vines sprouted from beside my feet and grabbed my ankles.
“…Monsters?”
I lifted my foot and tore off the vines.
Kwakwakakang!
Red flower buds popped out of the ground. A giant flower, reaching 3 meters, bloomed. The flower was full of sharp teeth, and twenty vine tentacles swept around like whips from below.
Alax.
A plant-type monster.
The boss-level monster of this dungeon.
Piiik! Piriririt, piririk!
He continued to play the flute. In response, Alax approached me. Alax was also being controlled by him.
Tsk. I clicked my tongue. While Alax was approaching, he was getting further away. He was planning to hold me back with Alax and escape.
‘It’s hard to kill a boss monster in one go… but if I let him get away, the information about HB-1 will be revealed to the world.’
Which was more urgent?
There was no need to hesitate. I ignored Alax and ran towards him. Alax’s vines aimed for my back.
Pajik.
Just as I was about to burn Alax’s vines with lightning, Ha Seung-hee appeared behind me and cut the vines with her invisible claws.
“Catch that man. I’ll take care of this monster.”
“It’s a boss monster, are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“This armor is really good. I feel so powerful wearing it.”
Stormbreaker’s performance depended on the owner’s skill.
Ha Seung-hee was wearing Stormbreaker, but I was still the owner. That meant Stormbreaker was being maintained by my mana, and its performance was slightly lower than when I wore it myself.
And that was enough to easily handle Alax.
“I’m counting on you.”
I left Alax to her and chased after the fleeing man.
‘Acceleration.’
Even with acceleration, it wasn’t easy to catch him. He was almost flying using the wind. He was also changing the traces on the ground to throw me off. If it weren’t for the Heavenly Eye, I might have been tricked.
‘He won’t be able to run far with his arm cut.’
The distance was getting closer. I could see his back with my naked eye.
Yeongcheon Style (影天流) Lightning Flash (雷閃).
I launched sword energy imbued with lightning. The sword energy cut through the branches blocking its path and reached his back. He coughed up blood and collapsed. His wooden flute rolled on the dirt floor.
“Now it seems we can have a conversation.”
I approached him. I kicked his side, which was on the ground, and made him lie face up.
“Cough, cough!”
He coughed and spat out blood. His face was turning black. I frowned. I had cut off his right arm and slashed his back with sword energy, but for a hunter, these injuries weren’t life-threatening. He had skills above a B-Rank hunter.
“Did you take poison?”
“I… can’t give… information.”
Even if I had a potion, I couldn’t heal him. Potions couldn’t remove poison. An antidote? He wouldn’t carry an easy poison for suicide that a general-purpose antidote would work on. Besides, his heart was already destroyed. He had destroyed his heart using his own ability. Poison and heart destruction. He could use both. He was a meticulous guy.
“Why go this far? You can’t use the money you’ve saved if you die. Or is there a reason you have to go this far?”
“You… will not… get any information.”
“I saw your face. Your corpse will tell a lot. Do you know about DNA testing?”
“My information… is nowhere. I exist… yet I do not.”
He died.