Chapter 17

Chapter 17.

 

A black body shaped like a human.

Instead of hands, the thing had what looked like clubs attached to both arms.

It seemed to go around smashing everything with them.

Just like now.

FWHOOOOM—! BOOM!

With a deafening blast, the cliff collapsed.

It was the exact spot where the Great Sage’s party—

the tanker and the ranged dealers—had been standing.

It was a desperate, life-or-death moment, but fortunately, they did not die.

That was thanks to the rope of Abyss Refinement Lee Ha-kyung had extended.

“Mm.”

A low groan slipped from his mouth.

The combined weight of three awakened ones easily exceeded three hundred kilograms.

But things felt a little different from when he had saved Black Water’s guild members.

For one thing, there was one fewer person this time.

And more importantly, Lee Ha-kyung was vastly stronger now than he had been back then.

Even without the Great Sage’s help, he pulled the team members up with ease.

“Hah!”

Swoosh! Thud!

At last, the tanker who had barely escaped death made an awkward expression.

“Th-thank you.”

How awkward must it be to be saved by the very person whose abilities you had doubted?

But Lee Ha-kyung genuinely did not care.

Whether the Great Sage’s party welcomed him or not,

he was confident he could overturn their entire opinion of him.

Turning to look at the Obsidian Titan, he said, “If we do not move now, we might end up buried under a pile of rocks. Let us go.”

“I will guide us.”

The Great Sage moved to the front.

It was a fairly impressive sight.

Healers were few in number,

and because they played such a vital role in raid teams, they were treated like nobility.

On top of that, it was not a position especially suited to taking the lead.

Their physical ability and defenses were relatively low.

And yet the Great Sage had volunteered to guide them.

Lee Ha-kyung could easily guess why.

‘They must have some way to avoid danger.’

An awakened one’s role was determined by the first skill they received.

But that did not mean it was completely fixed.

Depending on what artifacts they obtained, they could adapt quite a bit.

Lee Ha-kyung himself could practically fill the role of an off-tank at this point.

The Great Sage moved through the gaps in the collapsed cliff, searching out a path.

They were choosing positions that slipped neatly out of the Obsidian Titan’s line of sight.

Even so, Lee Ha-kyung could not shake his unease.

‘This does not feel right.’

For some reason, it felt as though their movements had already been read.

Sure enough, the Obsidian Titan attacked again.

THOOOM—!

“Ugh!”

The Great Sage’s body was flung far into the distance.

It had been a sudden, unexpected strike.

It was a close call, but not fatal.

That was only because Lee Ha-kyung had used Abyss Refinement to pull them back.

Whirl! Grab!

“Gasp! Hah! Thank you.”

“I think it would be better if I take the lead.”

“You do not know where we are going. Will that be all right?”

“For now, getting out of danger comes first.”

“All right.”

Once the Great Sage agreed, Lee Ha-kyung began moving in earnest.

He did not follow the outer edge of the cliff.

Instead, he cut straight through the center so the Obsidian Titan could not detect them.

The narrow space was uncomfortable, and one wrong step could send them plunging hundreds of meters down.

But this way, at least, they would not be attacked.

As expected, no further blows came.

Lee Ha-kyung immediately crossed a massive mountain of broken stone.

Watching his flawless guidance, the Great Sage clicked their tongue in admiration.

“You do not seem to be using a skill, and yet you are remarkably good at finding a route.”

“That is what comes of wandering the Pit of the Abyss for a long time.”

Of course, the real reason Lee Ha-kyung could do this was Soul Brand.

Its sharpened senses warned him about danger.

But there was no need to explain that.

Lee Ha-kyung lashed out at a pile of rock with Abyss Refinement.

THOOM—!

The gray-white energy wrapped around his fist shattered the enormous boulder.

The moment they passed through the small opening, it felt as though the pressure crushing his chest had finally lifted.

They had finally escaped the collapsed stone mountain.

But Lee Ha-kyung could not smile.

‘This feeling…?’

The moment he lifted his head, he saw a pair of glowing red eyes.

Crouched down, looking directly at him, was the Obsidian Titan.

Lee Ha-kyung muttered bitterly,

“So it predicted our escape route and got here ahead of us.”

“It is persistent.”

“I do not think we can just shake it off.”

“In that case….”

“We fight.”

The Great Sage nodded.

Lee Ha-kyung glanced at the other team members.

Fortunately, none of them looked paralyzed with fear or sunk in despair.

It seemed the Great Sage had not been lying about assembling an elite team.

Even so, the situation was not especially promising.

Raids on Unknown-rank dungeons and above usually involved thirty awakened ones.

The same was true for field bosses.

“Get back!”

The tanker rushed forward and raised his shield.

A moment later, the Obsidian Titan’s club came crashing down.

BOOOOM!

The ground shook from the tremendous impact, but the tanker rose back up unharmed.

Then he steadily began building aggro.

Thanks to that, Lee Ha-kyung was able to settle into position much more easily.

‘It is bigger than the Fusion Tyrant, but it does not seem stronger.’

Most likely, it was an Unknown-rank monster.

If that was the case, five people should still be enough to bring it down.

After all, Lee Ha-kyung had already cleared an Incomprehensible-rank dungeon in The Void.

Before long, the tanker’s shout came through the Whisperer.

—You can move in now.

From here on out, it was showtime for the melee damage dealer.

Lee Ha-kyung first checked the positions of his teammates.

He needed to shatter the outer shell at the right angle to make things easier for the ranged dealers.

Drawing his karambit, he unfolded Abyss Refinement.

FWOOSH—!

Gray-white flames rose along a blade more than three meters long.

Lee Ha-kyung moved toward the Obsidian Titan’s left flank.

‘This looks good.’

Since this was only the opening strike, he held back his other skills.

It was still early in the fight, and if he pushed too hard, aggro might shift to him.

A moment later, Lee Ha-kyung’s Abyss Refinement slammed into the Obsidian Titan’s body.

THUD—!

But his attack had absolutely no effect.

All it did was leave his hand throbbing.

The Obsidian Titan did not even notice.

Naturally, the flank he had been aiming for was completely unharmed.

‘That thing is disgustingly tough.’

If even he could not break through the shell, then the ranged dealers’ attacks would be useless.

After all, even Abyss Refinement could not penetrate it.

In the end, he intensified his assault.

‘Let us see if I can break it somehow.’

[Kin-Eater Skill Target Set]

[Target: Obsidian Titan]

PEEEING—!

A sharp sound cut across his ears.

Then a faint pain spread through Lee Ha-kyung’s entire body.

It was not the excruciating agony he had felt before.

That was because the amount of abyss energy he could handle had increased.

A faint smile touched his lips.

‘A higher level really does make life easier in every way.’

Right now, he was much stronger than he had been when he challenged Ultimate Abyss.

How wonderful it would have been if he had possessed this strength back then.

He might even have been able to protect his comrades.

But Lee Ha-kyung shook his head.

‘Do not waste time on useless thoughts.’

The truth was, his current level owed a great deal to Soul Brand.

Without the sacrifice of those precious to him, he never would have reached this point.

Clearing away those stray thoughts, Lee Ha-kyung fixed his eyes on the Obsidian Titan.

The thing was still blindly pummeling only the tanker.

The timing was still good.

Lee Ha-kyung unleashed Soul-Sever.

HMMMMM—!

The blade, now stretched to six meters, burned brightly.

Then his slash struck the Obsidian Titan’s flank once more.

KZZZZANG!

A screeching blast tore through the air,

and the Obsidian Titan’s body lurched.

Chunks of black debris began raining down from it.

Landing on the ground, Lee Ha-kyung quickly gathered his abyss energy back under control.

‘Good. Easy enough.’

Kin-Eater and Soul-Sever together.

Normally, that would have placed an enormous burden on him.

But his Refinement Rank was now Stage 3.

It was a realm one could reach only after spending nearly twenty years buried in the Abyss.

Having shattered the shell, Lee Ha-kyung moved to retreat.

But then—

“GROOOOAR—!”

The Obsidian Titan’s red eyes locked directly onto him.

In an instant, he felt a terrifying sense of danger.

As if one moment of hesitation would be enough to get his entire body crushed.

Lee Ha-kyung immediately threw himself to the side.

ZZZHWOOONG—! KWAKWAKWAKWAK!

Just as expected, a red beam slammed down with horrifying force.

A trench fifteen meters wide was carved into the ground.

The power behind it was monstrous.

Lee Ha-kyung clicked his tongue without thinking.

‘That was close. Still, at least I accomplished what I came for.’

His strike had shattered the Obsidian Titan’s flank.

A thick section of stone had broken away, exposing the red flesh beneath.

Now ranged attacks should be able to land properly.

Lee Ha-kyung expected the raid to proceed smoothly from here.

But the Obsidian Titan instantly overturned the team’s expectations.

BOOM! RUMBLE!

Its club-like hands came crashing down again and again.

Lee Ha-kyung had no choice but to hurl himself around frantically.

The Obsidian Titan had ignored the tanker completely and come straight for him.

He had been cornered.

‘If it is determined to chase me, there is no way to run.’

Its stride was simply too large to begin with.

No matter how hard he ran, it would catch him in a single step.

That was why the presence of a tanker was absolute.

Lee Ha-kyung deflected the Obsidian Titan’s attacks as much as possible.

If he failed to disperse the impact, he would be crushed to death on the spot.

KZZANG—! BOOM! KZZANG—! BANG!

Lee Ha-kyung’s tanking was no different from walking a tightrope.

It was a situation that allowed for no mistakes at all.

—P-please hold on just a little longer!

The tanker’s panicked voice came through.

He sounded as though he was doing everything he could, but the aggro would not shift.

Apparently, Lee Ha-kyung’s attacks had gone beyond the taunt threshold.

‘And on top of that, I do not see any angle to finish this quickly.’

In situations like this, pouring on even more damage could sometimes be the best answer.

All he had to do was bring it down somehow.

But that was easier said than done.

The Obsidian Titan had turned its whole body around by a full one hundred eighty degrees.

That meant the ranged dealers could no longer properly target its weak point.

And circling all the way around to the other side would take far too much time.

Lee Ha-kyung stared at the Obsidian Titan’s left flank.

‘I am the only one who can target that spot.’

He glanced at the system messages.

[Reactive Magic Armor Activated]

[Converts impact into mana]

Reactive Magic Armor charged in an instant.

That was thanks to the Obsidian Titan’s heavy blows.

Soon, Lee Ha-kyung’s blade became engulfed in dark crimson flames.

His mana and abyss energy had mixed in nearly equal measure.

A searing pain ran down his arm, then vanished in an instant.

[Cloak of Command Activated]

[You are immune to pain]

Now he was ready.

Lee Ha-kyung watched the Obsidian Titan closely.

He was waiting for the moment it raised its left arm.

“Hah!”

With a sharp shout, his body shot forward.

A dark crimson streak pierced straight through the Obsidian Titan’s abdomen.

KWAAAH—! SHHK!

At that exact moment,

everything froze as though time itself had stopped.

[Field Boss, Obsidian Titan Defeated]

[Reward granted: ‘Titan Mace’]

The tanker, who had been frantically trying to cast taunt skills, muttered blankly,

“What exactly did I just see?”