Chapter 61

Chapter 61

 

The disc unleashed from Ha-kyung’s sword swept through the enemy formation.

It looked as if some thirty-meter grinder had started spinning.

Before that overwhelming power, the Skull Pikers were reduced to cuts of sashimi.

CRASH-CRUNCH-CRUNCH—!

“SKREEEEK!”

“SCREEEEECH!”

Every bastard that had rushed at Ha-kyung was ground apart.

With a single attack, he had sliced through dozens of them.

And they were monsters five meters long.

Now, only a few near the front line remained.

Ha-kyung stared down at Crimson Edge with a dazed expression.

‘What’s this? Why did it suddenly get a new option?’

Until now, Ha-kyung had handled countless artifacts.

He had owned eight of them himself, hadn’t he?

But not once had a second option ever been created.

Then this had to be a unique trait of Crimson Edge.

Ha-kyung realized he had obtained an incredible item for only 70 billion won.

‘This is a jackpot, isn’t it?’

A strange thrill seemed to tickle his heart.

He suddenly thought of the Snowstorm Sword Choi Hyun-ki had offered him.

At first, he had been slightly tempted.

Even if it cost 250 billion won, it would not have mattered if he was going to use it himself.

It would have been worth the money.

But compared to Crimson Edge as it was now, it felt deeply lacking.

The chance that it had a hidden second option was extremely low.

“Holy shit……. What was that?”

Then, suddenly, someone’s voice reached him.

Ha-kyung started to turn his head without thinking, then stopped.

The team members in the rear line were whispering among themselves.

“Did you see that disc just now? It was way bigger than the one in the AI raid.”

“Has he been hiding his strength until now?”

“No, is there any need for him to do that?”

“It isn’t impossible. Until now, there’s only been one raid the Undying One failed to clear.”

“And that was an Extreme-grade medium-sized dungeon. It was on the Upper Floors, but it was harder than this place.”

“Why on earth did our Master mess with someone like that?”

The last line seemed to come from a Raiders guild member.

The level of the Raid Team Ryu Jeong-hwan had assembled was very high.

Yet even to Awakened like them, Ha-kyung’s strength appeared quite shocking.

‘This feels really strange.’

Ha-kyung did not trust the Raiders Guild.

That was why he had decided to fight while excluding healer support.

And yet, unexpectedly, they seemed fairly decent.

They could even say their Guild Master was strange, like Park Jun-ho did.

Perhaps because he had heard something so unexpected, Ha-kyung felt needlessly awkward.

‘They really are top-tier Awakened, so they don’t blindly follow their Master.’

It was probably because they would be treated well wherever they went.

Thanks to Ha-kyung’s tremendous performance, the battle ended quickly.

Once even the remaining monsters had been dealt with, Ryu Jeong-hwan’s voice came through.

—We traded blows a little too violently from the beginning. Good work, everyone. Let us start with maintenance.

The team members skillfully collected the loot.

It was no different just because this was an Unfathomable-grade dungeon of The Void.

Even the highest-ranking Awakened had to move with their own hands.

A dungeon raid was not a leisure sport.

While Ha-kyung was in the middle of helping with the butchering work, John approached and whispered in his ear.

“Hey, Unkillable God Bro.”

“Pick one. Either Unkillable or Immortal.”

“I’ll call you whatever I feel like. I’m the only person who calls you that anyway.”

“That’s true. But why did you call me?”

“What was that just now? It wasn’t like that before.”

He seemed to be talking about Crimson Edge’s Projectile Enhancement.

The team members had no choice but to let it pass.

They did not really know what kind of abilities Ha-kyung had.

But John was different.

Since he was always with him, he was one of the people who knew Ha-kyung best.

“I knew I couldn’t fool you, John. Crimson Edge had one more hidden option.”

“An artifact with two abilities? Then even if it’s Unknown Grade, it would easily go over 200 billion.”

“Normally, it wouldn’t manifest. It was newly born after entering my hands.”

“Still, if that guy finds out, he’s going to be pretty pissed.”

“Probably?”

John smiled meaningfully.

Ha-kyung did not understand what on earth this man was doing.

At least, not until John opened his mouth.

“Delete my wife’s number.”

“What? Out of nowhere?”

“Bro, you keep tattling even about pointless stuff. Do you know how much trouble that puts me in? Deal?”

“Do we really have to go this far? And that gesture really doesn’t suit you. Stop pretending to be American already.”

“John isn’t pretending to be American. John was born in America. But Bro keeps saying John is pretending to be American, so John is having a hard time. Hmph! Hmph!”

“Aaaagh! All right, so please stop. I’m seriously begging you.”

“Heh heh! I have finally accomplished my objective.”

“Wow! That mental attack was brutal.”

As expected, John was an unimaginably powerful enemy.

Ha-kyung vigorously scratched the goosebumps on his arms.

After the butchering work ended and they were resting, Ryu Jeong-hwan approached him this time and spoke.

While making his characteristic gesture of pushing up his glasses with his index finger.

“That was a truly impressive blow.”

“You’re too kind.”

“Not at all. I am glad I tried contacting you after hearing what Choi Hyun-ki had to say, Mr. Ha-kyung.”

“Huh? He recommended me? That can’t be right.”

“He said you had mixed your basic decency into rice soup and eaten it, but your skill was real. In my view, Choi Hyun-ki is the one with even less decency.”

“Mm. In any case, thank you.”

Ha-kyung was about to agree, then quickly changed the subject.

Wasn’t Ryu Jeong-hwan from the same generation as Choi Hyun-ki?

Joining in to curse him for no reason would only make Ha-kyung look bad.

At times like this, saying less was the correct answer.

Then Ryu Jeong-hwan smiled with satisfaction, left one remark behind, and walked away.

“I look forward to working with you from here on.”

“Ah, yes.”

It was a manner of speaking that suddenly reminded him of the Master of Death Hound.

Mad Dog Kang Woo-jin.

Ryu Jeong-hwan barely showed any change in expression.

He was someone who spoke as dryly as a machine.

Yet once in a while, old-fashioned formal speech slipped out.

It was probably because he was older than he appeared.

Just as Ha-kyung was sitting still and trying to rest, someone suddenly spoke to him.

“You’re amazing.”

“Pardon?”

“When the Master says that much, it’s actually incredible praise.”

It was a ranged damage dealer from Sharp Force.

He was looking at Ha-kyung with a hint of awe.

As he had just said, Ryu Jeong-hwan seemed to be extremely sparing with praise.

Of course, it did not particularly hit home for Ha-kyung himself.

‘I haven’t dealt with him much, after all.’

After taking a brief rest, the Raid Team began exploring the dungeon again.

The Abyss of the Deep Sea was far more dangerous than they had expected.

It was also an exceedingly peculiar place.

The liquid filling the inside slowed their movements.

On top of that, unexpected traps lurked here as well.

WHIP! THUMP!

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Fucking save me!”

Just like now.

John, who had been walking ahead, suddenly began being dragged into the coral.

Something like seaweed had shot out.

It was practically kidnapping John.

Ha-kyung moved reflexively and swung Crimson Edge.

SLASH—!

‘Was I too late?’

He really had moved as fast as he possibly could.

But perhaps because his movements had become so slow, it felt as if it took an age just to cut the seaweed.

Contrary to Ha-kyung’s worries, John managed to stop just in time.

“Whoa! I-I almost died.”

“Are you okay?”

“Thanks, Bro. Damn! Look at this bastard’s vicious maw.”

Ha-kyung stretched his neck out and carefully examined the place John was pointing at.

Then he saw something strange between the coral.

It resembled a clam.

But countless teeth lined its edges.

It looked almost like a giant Venus flytrap.

If someone was bitten by something like that, their entire body would be crushed to pieces.

John shuddered with a horrified expression.

“I hate this place so much, Bro.”

“I feel the same way. Please be careful.”

“My weapon is a flail, so even if I know, it doesn’t help.”

“You should have carried at least one bladed weapon as a backup.”

“You T-type bastard?”

While Ha-kyung and John were bickering, wails began breaking out from all over the place.

It seemed several people had fallen victim to the living seaweed and the giant clam traps.

Perhaps because their responses were good, the damage was not severe.

Still, they could not help becoming mentally worn down.

The fear of not knowing what would burst out from where.

Fear made people passive.

Then Ryu Jeong-hwan’s voice came through the Whisperer.

—If you discover a coral cluster, stop first and report it.

—There are two at two o’clock.

—Fall back. The ranged damage dealers will handle them.

When the front line moved to the left, several arrows immediately flew in.

Soon, a roar exploded from that spot.

WHIZZ, WHIZZ, WHIZZ! BOOOOM—!

Ryu Jeong-hwan had personally stepped in and smashed the traps apart.

Ha-kyung clicked his tongue without realizing it.

‘It’s a bit of a forceful method, but it’s definitely effective. But won’t monsters come swarming in if he does that?’

In lower-grade dungeons, they sometimes scraped everything clean right down to the bottom.

They had to build up combat experience, and they were close to the Gate.

But in the Abyssal Pit or The Void, they could not do that.

Supplies were limited.

Awakened were not made of iron.

If they overdid it, they might be exhausted before they even encountered the boss.

That was why most people preferred to kill the minimum number of monsters.

However, Ryu Jeong-hwan seemed to have judged the seaweed traps to be the greater danger.

RUMBLE—!

Sure enough, a strong vibration shook the entire dungeon.

It seemed a new horde of monsters was rushing in.

But for an instant, a question occurred to Ha-kyung.

“Weren’t the monsters here fish?”

“They were, weren’t they?”

“They don’t even walk, so why is the dungeon shaking?”

“Huh? You’re right.”

John seemed to find it strange as well, tilting his head again and again.

During the brief time they exchanged those words, the vibration grew even stronger.

At last, a pitch-black shadow abruptly emerged.

[Encountered Dread Reaver, Guardian of the Abyss Dungeon]

At first, Ha-kyung thought it was simply a pile of broken coral drifting around.

There were sometimes glowing lumps, too.

But up close, it was a blood-red glow the size of a midsize car.

With a tough-looking dark-blue outer shell, it resembled an anglerfish.

Its head was abnormally large.

Its trunk was squat.

That was only how it looked by comparison.

Its actual body length was enormous.

It looked as if it could easily exceed eighty meters.

Perhaps because its size was so tremendous, Ha-kyung’s expression turned sickened.

‘At that size, it could swallow us whole, couldn’t it?’

Of course, that would not be easy.

The Raid Team was in the middle of a maze-like coral zone.

Naturally, Ha-kyung thought it would be a constrained fight.

A fight where the boss gimmicks to avoid and the damage windows were clearly separated.

But Dread Reaver was a bastard that went far beyond common sense.

[Dread Reaver Ultimate Deployed: Rage Assault]

[Unstoppable wave of Abyss Energy detected]

WHOOOOOOOSH—!

Dread Reaver, which had backed away slightly, suddenly began to charge.

As if it intended to destroy the entire coral zone.

Ha-kyung understood it instinctively.

‘That bastard……. It really intends to smash everything apart.’

What kind of guardian collapsed the dungeon it was supposed to protect?

Dread Reaver was, quite literally, the thing guarding this place.

John, who faced the Ultimate at the very front, immediately spat out a curse.

“What the hell kind of insane fish is that?”

“It seems trying to destroy the coral provoked it.”

“Then what do we do now, Bro? That bastard really looks like it’s going to smash everything apart.”

“We either block it or dodge it. We have to do one of the two.”

While Ha-kyung and John spoke, Dread Reaver continued circling around the coral zone.

It had properly picked up speed now.

If it suddenly turned from there?

The entire coral zone the team members were standing on would be blown away.

Ha-kyung stopped thinking.

‘There’s no time to hesitate. Let’s try something, anything.’

With the Resonance Pillar’s drawing force, he might be able to reduce its speed a little.

He immediately struck the Resonance Pillar with Crimson Edge.

CLANG—! VMMMMM—!

[Resonance Pillar activated]

[Absorbs all nearby energy]

A steady wave cut through the current and spread outward.

Then an unexpected result occurred.

Dread Reaver, which had been racing around like mad, suddenly stopped moving.

The creature stared at the Resonance Pillar with eyes glowing blood-red.

The team members let out sighs of relief.

“Phew! Thank goodness.”

“Wow! How in the world did he stop it? He only hit a lump of metal. Why did that work?”

“Who knows? In any case, does this mean we can have a normal boss fight now?”

Ha-kyung thought the same thing.

It seemed the vibration of the Resonance Pillar had calmed Dread Reaver.

But it happened at that very moment.

“Guh!”

CHOMP! CRUNCH—!

Dread Reaver’s mouth opened impossibly wide.

Then it suddenly swallowed Ha-kyung whole.

Along with the terrain and objects around him.

Sucked in out of nowhere, Ha-kyung could only make an incredulous expression.

“Wasn’t it supposed to have calmed down?!”