CHAPTER 81……………………………………….
The man glaring at me failed even to approach Kang Gun-hoo. That was because the three Chaos Guild members who had been hiding in the crowd stepped in front of him. He seemed furious that someone had dared to pick a fight with their guild master.
“There’s no need for that.”
If Kang Gun-hoo had truly tried to stop the guild members, they would have stepped back. But he spoke in a relaxed tone, almost humming to himself. He wasn’t being harsh; it was more like he didn’t care what they did.
“As expected, a greedy bastard won’t let go of both. In that case, I’ll have to take one of your companions with me!”
As Kang Gun-hoo had said, the opponent had no talent for gathering information.
If he knew even a little about Kang Gun-hoo, he wouldn’t be thinking about taking someone with him.
A gust of wind swirled around the man, and his massive body shot up into the air. Naturally, I expected him to attack one of the Chaos Guild members, but he was heading closer to me.
He looked my way earlier… is he coming for me now?
I instinctively drew my sword and assumed a defensive stance. But before the man even reached me, Kang Gun-hoo’s black-arrowed sword pierced his shoulder.
Thud!
“Even provocations need to be aimed carefully.”
He writhed in pain on the ground. Yet, his hatred for Kang Gun-hoo remained, and he began muttering curses and resentments.
“You… you instigated our guild to split into three… ugh, one of them died because of you.”
“What’s so important about some guy who peddled poison to kids dying in the streets? Did you think no one would notice you pretending to be good in front but doing garbage behind our backs? Even as three, you only acted close on the surface. What loyalty are you talking about, huh?”
Kang Gun-hoo lightly tapped the man’s cheek with his foot at the end of each sentence. Humiliated, the man was speechless. It seemed he was dazed at having his flaws exposed.
“I just handled my business and did a good deed at the same time. If you act like this, it’s a problem. I didn’t spare you because you’re great; I just didn’t bother to deal with you, so take care of yourself.”
Kang Gun-hoo added, “Ah, maybe it’s too late to take care of yourself,” and stomped on the man’s neck. I covered Kim Jun’s eyes with my hand.
I realized the man on the ground was a bad guy, but seeing such one-sided violence instinctively made me uncomfortable. Kang Gun-hoo, who looked like he might decapitate the man at any moment, made eye contact with me and then relaxed the foot he had raised.
“Is it okay if I don’t kill him?”
“Yes. Handle it however you want.”
Following Kang Gun-hoo’s words, one of the Chaos Guild members dragged away the unconscious man. With the guild leader down, the remaining guild members, who had been watching secretly, hesitated and stepped back. Since they were originally split into three, it seemed their leadership wasn’t very strong.
“Alright, now that we’ve shown off a bit of strength, shall we break through the Planariants?”
The stunned guild members stared at him blankly.
“Was that some kind of performance?”
The question implied that he had wanted to display the strength of both the large guild protecting ours and his own personal power, as a warning to anyone who might recklessly try to challenge them.
“Something like that.”
“What kind of performance? A performance for dealing with bad guys?”
Kim Jun grabbed my collar and asked.
“Yeah. And probably to show that no one should mess with our guild.”
Kim Jun nodded in admiration, realizing that was the meaning. I didn’t bother mentioning that the guy they had taken care of was also quite a bad guy.
“So, we go into that room? Which door should we take?”
Ryu Jisoo was calmly checking which door to enter.
I had a feeling the mission would depend on the door’s location, but actually, it was random.
I vaguely remembered that even if we chose the same door each time, the mission content could differ.
“Let’s just go for the closest one.”
I swapped my sword for Zeus’ spear. Using a sword would create a delay between hitting and destroying the Planariant’s core, giving it time to split. Using Zeus’ spear with the Blessing of Lightning was safer for burning the Planariant in one strike.
[Skill “Blessing of Lightning Lv29” pulses at your feet.]
[Zeus’ Spear reacts to the skill.]
I bent low and attacked the green-lighted Planariant at the front. Struck by the spear like a lightning bolt, the monster convulsed and burned instantly.
[B-rank heteromorphic Planariant has been defeated.]
Without reading further, I called Ryu Jisoo.
“Jisoo, attack with maximum physical strength, no skills! Jun, step back for now.”
Jun, who had been guarding formation behind us, hesitated. Sorry to Kim Jun, but poison-related skills were perfect for giving the Planariants an extra weapon.
Once we get to higher floors, Jun will have a role to play.
When there are too many enemies to handle in a single strike, we would sometimes deal enough blunt force to prevent splitting, then use paralysis poison to finish them off.
But not now. Poison isn’t very efficient in one-on-one fights.
I dodged the next Planariant and calmed Jun.
“You’ll have a chance later. Only help if it looks dangerous.”
Kim Jun reluctantly stepped back.
For a while, Kang Gun-hoo covered our guild from the side while Ryu Jisoo and I led the attack.
Ryu Jisoo sometimes failed to defeat a Planariant in one hit since he didn’t use skills. But because he didn’t use skills, any Planariants that split didn’t acquire new skills, so it wasn’t a major problem.
Seeing this makes me envy people with body-related skills. Their bodies evolve to adapt to skills, making them stronger than other hunters could even imagine.
Among them, Ryu Jisoo was exceptional, so my envy was stronger.
“The one in front of that door is using a weird skill.”
Our advance halted just before the door. As Ryu Jisoo said, a Planariant with a strange skill blocked the way.
A giant water droplet, roughly human-sized, floated around it.
“Is there a person inside that?”
Kim Jun, the last to arrive, pointed to the leftmost droplet. Indeed, a person trapped inside was struggling in distress.
“That’s a troublesome skill. Avoid the water droplets for now.”
I switched back to my sword.
We need to use it very carefully. Just enough to hit the droplet, not the person inside.
Drawing out the sharpness unique to Moon Sword techniques, the blade glowed blue and resonated. The sword’s strike destroyed the droplet without touching the person.
“Ugh… that heteromorphic attacked me with my own skill…”
The woman who emerged from the droplet had been hit by her own skill. Despite the pain, she wanted to convey the situation and stammered through her words.
“I thought I killed it when I approached, but it used my skill.”
Luckily, she had some resistance to water; otherwise, she would have fainted immediately.
“Why is it okay for her to be in the droplet?”
Ryu Jisoo helped the woman stand and asked. As he suspected, Planariants inside the droplets were fully active.
“That’s for protection. I use separate droplets for protection and attack. It’s a tricky skill…”
This meant the Planariant was intelligent enough to fully understand and replicate the skill.
“Should I take care of it?”
Kang Gun-hoo stepped forward, probably thinking it would be difficult for Ryu Jisoo and me to handle the Planariant.
“Let’s cooperate first. If we try to destroy it in one hit and collapse the door, it’ll be a mess.”
“I’m not that much of an amateur to worry about the door,” I said, assessing the Planariant and Kang Gun-hoo’s strength before nodding.
“Then Jisoo and I will prevent the droplets from forming, and Kang Gun-hoo, please deliver the final blow. That level of attack shouldn’t harm the surroundings.”
“So, cooperation, huh?”
Kang Gun-hoo, who looked ready to jump in at any moment, said it with interest.
“Yes. Jisoo, follow me closely so I can attack and pull back immediately.”
Unlike before, we didn’t need to defeat the Planariant in one strike. Using electricity improperly could create a more terrifying water-and-lightning Planariant, so we decided to stick with the sword.
Avoid contact as much as possible. Just attack the droplets, like before.
I gripped my sword firmly.
