The Way of Life for a Terminal S-Class Hunter - C60
$60
“It’s because of the hatchling.”
As the situation finally became clear, I couldn’t help but sigh.
“Monsters extremely conceal their presence until they give birth and let their offspring stand on their own. Among them, it’s said that fire attribute monsters have a greater love for their children than other species.”
It was truly the worst outcome created by a series of coincidences.
“We’re doomed. How did it come to this?”
With a sudden scream, Byun Gyeongju, who had fallen into panic, sat down on the floor, tears dripping. It was an action that caused ripples while everyone was trying to maintain their sanity.
“We shouldn’t panic. First, let’s retreat…”
But Byun Gyeongju’s body changed like liquid and started to melt away. People forgot to move the frontline back and stood still at the sight of this strange phenomenon.
“This is…?”
In the place where the foreign substance had melted away on the floor was Kwon Ho-jun.
How could Ho-jun…?
He was a psychic, but he didn’t have the ability to control minds enough to deceive our guild members, and he had never even had a transformation skill.
“What’s going on?”
“I… I just wanted to be recognized… This shouldn’t be happening… This can’t be…”
There weren’t many transformation wizards strong enough to deceive us. Moreover, it was questionable how Ho-jun had contracted with such a person.
Boom.
“We need to evacuate immediately!”
There were many unknowns left, but there was no time to identify the exact cause. The Red Dragon approaching from behind was more dangerous than the Ho-jun in front of us now. We could feel the massive wingbeats approaching, collapsing the cave.
Bang, boom.
“Move faster, please!”
Lee Seokju shouted as he turned rocks into bombs to block the Red Dragon’s pursuit path. I practically carried Ho-jun and applied Wind Speed to all team members.
“At this speed, we’ll be caught in two minutes.”
“Juhee, can you enhance Seokju’s bombs in the air?”
“I’ll try!”
[B-rank skill, Wind Speed is used. The tailwind pushes your back. This skill is explosively activated with the protection of magical power.]
“Ho-jun, why on earth did you come here?”
“This can’t be happening!”
Ho-jun wasn’t coming to his senses at all. It was the shock commonly experienced by novice hunters in dungeons. If this symptom persisted, it would be difficult to get a proper answer.
Whoosh.
“We’re being caught up. In forty seconds!”
Even though we were increasing our speed, the dragon’s pace in catching up to us wasn’t slowing down, but rather getting faster. Even its wingbeats were no different from attacks, easily dealing with the barriers Lee Seokju had created.
Wooooong.
The roar heard only during typhoons drew closer.
“Escaping is impossible. Let’s gradually reduce speed and prepare to confront the dragon!”
Following my order, the team members slowly reduced their pace. At the end, we stopped and faced the direction from which the dragon was approaching.
“Lee Hye, keep moving back. You need to go to a range where you can barely heal us. Halo, please support and protect Lee Hye so she doesn’t get hurt. Please send me your visions as images.”
It was the vision transmission skill Halo had used in the previous dungeon. It might be difficult for everyone, but it should be possible to send it to just me.
“Yes!”
In our team, I was both the tank and the main dealer. My motto was that attack is the best defense, but in front of a monster with stronger attack power than me, I was worried if I could keep everyone safe.
No, it’s not a matter of whether I can or can’t. I must protect them.
“Ho-jun, please go back as far as possible too. Go further back than Lee Hye, but stay within Halo’s protection range.”
I recalled videos of top-ranked guilds in the world handling dragons. Implementing that exactly was too much for me alone. After all, didn’t that guild include four S-rank hunters?
‘If only Seo-heon were here…!’
Even knowing that making assumptions about what wouldn’t happen wouldn’t improve anything, I couldn’t help but think that way. Instead of obsessing over stopping these thoughts, I decided to quickly make plans and cover negative thoughts with other ideas.
The best method is… to endure. Since this creature is controlling the dungeon now, if we distract it with battle, Team A might be able to find us.
[S-rank skill, Sword of Immortality is used. Through skill linkage, the S-rank item Excalibur has been summoned.]
I gripped the sword tightly. Sweat formed on the handle from tension.
“Seo-heon, save me.”
I heard Ho-jun mumbling softly from afar.
After experiencing several recent events, a cautious suspicion arose that perhaps Ho-jun wasn’t as important to Seo-heon as I thought.
Nevertheless, Ho-jun was the person Seo-heon had chosen as his partner.
I must protect him.
At least, he would be more necessary to Seo-heon than me, who was about to die soon.
“Let’s all endure together. Team A will surely join us. I’ll be the first to block.”
Lee Seokju and Kim Juhee stood right behind me, looking dependable. They were strong people who could immediately regain their composure even in a crisis.
In comparison, I felt pathetic.
Even in this situation, I was struggling because I didn’t want to be hated. When I imagined Seo-heon embracing an injured Ho-jun and looking at me with resentful eyes, one corner of my heart ached sharply. I’d rather die than see such a scene.
[You have 372 days of life force remaining.]
I ignored the glowing red status window and gripped the burning sword strongly.
[S-rank skill, Flame of Life is used. While the flame burns, you can exert your skills at 200%. As a skill penalty, your life force is reduced by 1 day.]
To protect the lover of the person I’m in unrequited love with.
Actually, it didn’t seem so bad to die like this protecting him. At some point, I had started to think of death as a means of finding peace.
“The first attack is coming soon!”
The Red Dragon’s attack pattern was broadly divided into three types and had a routine. If the goal was to defeat it, the priority would be to prevent it from implementing this pattern, and if the goal was to endure, appropriate defense measures should be used. We were the latter.
“It will mainly attack using its tail. I’ll block that.”
The first attack is flailing its tail with spikes embedded in it. Then it attacks recklessly using its feet and claws, and finishes with a breath of fire.
It sounds simple when put into words, but each attack was of an intensity that was overwhelming for humans to face, and the detailed movements were incredibly complex. Rather than trying to express such intricate details verbally, we had to move according to what we felt in the moment.
It’s even trickier because it’s the same attribute.
If I were only playing the tank role, having the same attribute would have been an advantage. However, now we were critically short on people who could deal attacks.
“Uhyeon, I’ll now transmit the vision to your head. You need to maintain concentration, and I can’t foresee all futures.”
Having Halo was a blessing in disguise.
“Okay.”
What was about to happen flashed before my eyes like a black and white movie. It was so fast it was hard to read with the eyes, but strangely, I understood what would happen in a few seconds.
“When I block the tail’s movement with my sword, immediately reinforce it. The direction is to the right, so throw bombs there.”
The dragon, seemingly uncomfortable with the narrow cave, folded its wings and entered combat stance. Large monsters were often difficult to defeat and powerful, but they also took more time to prepare their attacks. The first attack would come exactly twenty seconds later.
Is this not enough?
In the vision scattered before my eyes, I saw myself being knocked down, unable to block the first attack. I could barely protect my body, but the recoil from the dragon’s movement resulted in people in the rear getting hurt as well. I gritted my teeth.
To change this…
[S-rank skill, Flame of Life is enhanced and used. While the flame burns, you can exert all skills at 500%. As a skill penalty, your life force is reduced by 10 days.]
The vision instantly changed to a different scene.
So this much is needed to even pretend to block it.
[S-rank skill, Sword of Immortality is used. Through skill linkage, Excalibur responds.]
Finally, the Red Dragon’s tail moved. The gesture of moving with the intent to attack us was truly destructive. It was reminiscent of past natural disasters.
In an instant, with just a slight movement, even the trained hunters behind me staggered from the wind pressure.
“Hup.”
‘I can’t let it move more than this.’
My sword clashed with the dragon’s tail studded with uneven spikes.
[A-rank skill, Song of Flames is used. While the song continues, everything touched by your sword’s aura will be burned away.]
“Ugh.”
Even though it was just a part of the dragon, just its tail easily exceeded three times my body size. Knowing that this action was like throwing an egg at a rock, I still had to be David facing Goliath right now.
Bang!
Excalibur hummed and spewed fire more intensely. Sparks flew as power condensed between the tail and the blade. The forces barely balanced, but I couldn’t let my guard down.
‘If the balance breaks even slightly, it’s over.’
[A-rank skill, Song of Flames is enhanced. This skill is explosively activated with the protection of magical power.]
Even though I was using the maximum power I could muster, my hands were still trembling.