Chapter 52

Chapter 52

 

The expedition party, formed in an unexpected turn of events, was advancing toward the Gate.

Park Jun-ho kept expressing his anxiety.

“This is really the right thing to do, yes? Lee Ha-kyung made the proper judgment, right?”

“Why are you acting like this after coming all the way here? It’s already too late to turn back.”

“I’m acting like this because I’m anxious.”

“You ignored the Captain’s orders before. Why is someone so bold acting like this now?”

“Ahem! Why do you keep bringing up the past......?”

“Because it left quite an impression.”

Then Seo Jun-hyuk, who had been walking behind him, scolded him.

It seemed some emotional resentment toward Park Jun-ho still remained.

It could not be helped.

It was true that the Raiders Guild members’ idiotic behavior had made the battle harder.

Then Lee Ha-kyung, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped.

“Something is strange.”

“Pardon?”

“I could clearly see the Abyss Core from far away, but it’s gone now.”

“What is that?”

“The source causing the Gate Break.”

“Is... is that confirmed information?”

“It is only a guess, but there is a high probability.”

“If you are right, Captain, this is a truly incredible discovery.”

Seo Jun-hyuk clenched his fist.

His eyes were like those of a reporter who had discovered a scoop.

Very little was known about Gate Breaks.

If they could determine their cause, responding to them would become much easier.

While they were wandering through the dense fog.

THOOM! THOOM!

A heavy vibration was suddenly felt.

Lee Ha-kyung quickly hid behind the remains of a building.

Then a gigantic form brushed right past them.

That was probably the third wave.

After all, the second wave had been a feast of countless medium and small monsters.

Park Jun-ho and Seo Jun-hyuk let out sighs of relief.

“Whew! If not for you, Captain, we would have been caught and killed long ago.”

“I know. Because of the fog’s sensory blockage, I can’t feel anything, so I have no idea how he is avoiding them.”

They had done nothing but snap at each other, yet they got along well at times like this.

While the two of them looked at Lee Ha-kyung in wonder.

He was seeing through the fog.

‘Something is strange. It feels like someone is watching us.’

The transcendent senses of Soul Brand were quietly sounding an alarm.

Lee Ha-kyung did not carelessly overlook even the faintest signal.

He was walking while observing everything carefully.

Then suddenly, goosebumps ran down his back.

Because he had realized that there were four people in the party.

Lee Ha-kyung secretly drew his karambit.

‘Since when? No, more importantly....... Who is it?’

Strangely, he could not recognize the faces of his companions.

Seo Jun-hyuk and Park Jun-ho.

And one other person.

That third bastard had to be the source of this strange situation.

Stop.

Lee Ha-kyung stopped walking.

He closed his eyes altogether.

And yet, no one voiced any question.

At that very moment.

Lee Ha-kyung realized it.

‘It wasn’t that one bastard secretly slipped in. This entire thing is a design.’

In that case, he had to be even more careful with his actions.

He slowly turned around.

Then, staring into empty air where there was nothing, he said,

“What did you do to my companions?”

He had not simply guessed where his opponent might be.

The sense of Soul Brand that Lee Ha-kyung, for convenience’s sake, called the thermal imaging function.

A whitish form had briefly appeared within it.

Soon, a gloomy voice burrowed into Lee Ha-kyung’s mind.

―I was wondering how you were moving by following the Core’s reactions, but as expected, you are no ordinary bastard.

Something pitch-black abruptly appeared within the fog.

It stood roughly two meters tall.

A gaunt torso barely covered by rags.

It had a shape similar to a human’s, but its head was distinctly different.

It looked like several broad lumps of flesh, like wasp nests, stacked on top of one another.

Its form was very similar to a faceless monster from a film.

It had a horrifying appearance, but Lee Ha-kyung was not shaken in the slightest.

“Cut the bullshit and answer my question.”

―Those small fry? They are probably wandering somewhere in the fog. Just like you were a moment ago.

“At least they do not seem to be dead.”

―This is hardly the time to worry about bastards like them.

Shhhhh!

The moment his opponent finished speaking.

Lee Ha-kyung felt an overwhelming sense of danger.

It was as though dozens of invisible blades were carving into his stomach.

He instinctively threw himself away.

At first, he retreated only one step.

However, he could not shake off the sense of danger, so he kept moving backward.

Tap, tap, tap! Step!

Only when the blade-like killing intent disappeared did he finally stop.

An astonishing phenomenon had appeared where Lee Ha-kyung had been standing moments ago.

Large pits had been formed there before he knew it.

Cold sweat trickled down Lee Ha-kyung’s spine.

‘There was no presence at all, yet the power is enormous. If not for Soul Brand, I would have been done for already.’

As far as he could roughly guess.

It seemed to be a skill that erased everything around the target point.

In the shape of a sphere with a diameter of three meters.

His opponent stood atop a jagged piece of rebar jutting from the collapsed Wall.

It was standing on the narrow space at the very tip.

Yet there was not even the slightest sway.

It looked like a martial arts master standing atop a tree branch.

As though it were asking whether Lee Ha-kyung could feel the difference in power.

Lee Ha-kyung adjusted his stance.

Then his opponent’s gloomy voice immediately came to him.

―Not only did you find the location of the Core, you even dodged my attack? I truly cannot understand this. Where did a bastard like you come from?

All of this was thanks to Soul Brand.

A special sense that grew together with Lee Ha-kyung.

It was a skill born from the title The Ultimate Escapee.

But there was no reason to explain such details to the enemy.

Lee Ha-kyung focused his mind.

‘It’s a type different from any enemy I’ve fought until now.’

The final form of an assassin.

That was exactly the feeling it gave off.

Once again, he felt as though blades were being thrust into his stomach.

Lee Ha-kyung immediately kicked off the ground.

Tap, tap, tap!

This time, he did not retreat.

Instead, he rushed forward.

Of course, he did not charge straight ahead.

His opponent’s attack might be a projectile, after all.

He moved diagonally.

Then he began running along the collapsed wall as if it were flat ground.

Dadadadat! Swish!

There was no presence at all, but Lee Ha-kyung could feel it.

‘His skill is striking the spot where I just was. If I hesitate even a little, I’m really dead.’

He glanced back.

Sure enough.

The remains of the Wall had been hollowed out in dents.

Even though they were clearly the places Lee Ha-kyung had been stepping on moments ago.

He leaped greatly toward his opponent.

Then a long arc formed on the wasp-nest-like bastard’s head.

As though it were smiling.

―There is no prey easier than one floating in the air.

Swish!

A maddening sense of danger swept over him.

His opponent would clearly predict Lee Ha-kyung’s movement and attack.

In a way, it was a reckless attempt.

There was no reason to expose a weakness by deliberately making a long leap.

However, Lee Ha-kyung was smiling in triumph.

[Crosswind activated]

[Two-Stage Midair Leap is now possible]

Tap! Swoosh!

Something terrifying brushed past Lee Ha-kyung’s side.

If not for Crosswind, it probably would have struck him directly.

When Lee Ha-kyung changed direction in midair, his opponent’s face twitched.

Its agitation was unmistakable.

Lee Ha-kyung swung his karambit just like that.

[Abyss Challenger’s Authority, ‘Compression,’ increases the density of Abyss Energy]

Tze-kyoong―!

Right now, there was no time to use Kin-Eater.

So the one he chose was Compression Soul-Sever.

Its power might be lower, but its speed was overwhelming.

A gray-white flash embroidered the air.

And Lee Ha-kyung’s karambit cut his opponent’s neck precisely.

SLICKK!

A thrilling sensation passed through his grip.

Lee Ha-kyung was certain.

His irregular attack, changing direction in midair, had worked properly.

He was certain he had severed his opponent’s life cleanly.

However, in the next instant, a tremendous impact shook his entire body.

THWAAAAANG!

“Keuhuk!”

With a groan, Lee Ha-kyung was flung far away.

He could not even tell what had struck him.

After regaining his posture in midair, he landed quite steadily.

Even so, it was not as if there had been no result at all.

[Encountered the Core Guardian, Silent Ruin]

Because he had finally learned his opponent’s identity.

Lee Ha-kyung focused on the words Core Guardian.

‘So that bastard must have hidden the Core.’

In that case, he had no choice but to fight, win, and find its whereabouts.

Lee Ha-kyung quietly stared at Silent Ruin.

His opponent was a humanoid monster roughly two meters tall.

It was correct to view this not as a Boss Raid, but as One-on-One Combat.

He had thought the Ranking Tournament was nothing more than meaningless ranking by order.

But now that he saw this, that did not seem to be the case.

The experience from back then would prove quite useful.

Lee Ha-kyung gripped his karambit tightly.

‘Judging from the energy it gives off, it seems to easily exceed most Unfathomable-Grade monsters. If so?’

It was probably around a small-scale Extreme Grade.

It seemed stronger than the Guardian he had seen in the Abyss of Proliferation.

To think he had to face a bastard like that one-on-one.

It was a moment when he regretted the absence of Seo Jun-hyuk and Park Jun-ho’s support.

Of course, just because Lee Ha-kyung was alone, it did not mean he had no chance of winning.

‘Let’s steal its Abyss Energy with Kin-Eater and operate as economically as possible.’

[Kin-Eater skill target set]

[Target: Silent Ruin]

Piiiiing―!

A ringing in his ears, more desolate than ever before, brushed past him.

***

Meanwhile, Seo Jun-hyuk and Park Jun-ho were lost.

It was because they had lost their sense of direction in the dense fog.

On top of that, their growing impatience made it even harder to judge.

Seo Jun-hyuk shook his head from side to side.

“I can’t even begin to guess where we are.”

“Try a little harder. You said you had gone around with Lee Ha-kyung a few times.”

“How am I supposed to imitate someone else’s sharp eye just because of that? It’s not as if he taught me something separately.”

“You could have learned by watching over his shoulder.”

“Does finding one’s way in the Abyss seem like such a simple skill to you?”

“No, but why have you been so curt since earlier? We’re both lost together.”

In truth, Park Jun-ho’s protest was justified.

If one were to argue about it, he was far more senior.

Park Jun-ho was a 1.5-Generation Awakened.

Seo Jun-hyuk was nothing more than a promising prospect.

There was nearly a twenty-year age gap between them.

This seemed a little too much.

Perhaps realizing something was wrong, Seo Jun-hyuk scratched the back of his head.

“You’re right. Why was I being so prickly?”

“How am I supposed to answer that?”

“I think it’s because you are from the Raiders Guild. Your reputation is quite notorious.”

“Ah, damn it......”

This time as well, the thing tormenting Park Jun-ho was his affiliation.

He had heard something similar from Lee Ha-kyung, too.

It could not simply be dismissed as something only younger Awakened did 

Were young people the only ones who looked at the Raiders Guild with disfavor?

A deep sense of skepticism muddled Park Jun-ho’s mind.

While they trudged through the fog.

A sudden, intense sensation awakened both of their minds.

THOOOOM!

“Uh?”

“Hup?”

The fog scattered along with a heavy Shockwave.

They had been bickering, but unexpectedly, Seo Jun-hyuk and Park Jun-ho’s reactions were similar.

Like meerkats, in fact.

The two stretched their heads out and stared into the air.

Then they realized the identity of what had pierced through the air.

Seo Jun-hyuk and Park Jun-ho shouted at the same time.

“L-Lee Ha-kyung?”

Then each of them showed an opposite reaction.

First, Seo Jun-hyuk tried to cast a support skill right away.

On the other hand, Park Jun-ho turned around and tried to run, only to come to an abrupt stop.

“Ah, fuck......”

The Raiders Guild’s Passive No. 1.

Running Away had come out before he knew it.

The words Lee Ha-kyung had said about thugs and the like circled through Park Jun-ho’s mind.

Park Jun-ho was far too afraid to look back at Seo Jun-hyuk.