Chapter 59

“If we just watch out for the poison, the difficulty itself is easy.”

“That’s because you’re a ranged attacker.”

“Anyway.”

Cutting off the conversation like that, Jaeha began walking inside. After hunting while walking slowly for about two hours, Jaeha and Seungho were able to reach the wave room.

“Looks like a wave room.”

Enormous trees surrounded the area. And in front of Jaeha and Seungho, there was a single opening, as if inviting them in.

“You going in?”

“Might as well try. If we just spam magic from the middle, it should be manageable.”

“True enough.”

Saying that, Jaeha walked inside with Seungho. The interior looked like a colosseum made entirely of wood.

“Alright.”

Jaeha quietly surveyed his surroundings, smiled, and walked to the center. The moment he arrived at the center, monsters began pouring out with a thumping sound.

Jaeha then pulled out his gun and started firing wildly in every direction.

* * *

“Good. Just as expected.”

Nodding, Jaeha smiled.

“Let’s try taking down the boss. We haven’t used the antidote potions yet anyway.”

Taking down the boss with just a gun wouldn’t be easy. That’s why Jaeha was carefully considering using his sword as well. Besides, he had antidote potions, so as long as he didn’t take a direct hit, he’d be fine.

“You staying here?”

“Nah. I’ll go in and hang out in a corner, maybe cast some magic.”

“Sure.”

With that, Jaeha entered the boss room with Seungho. Inside the boss room was a giant scorpion with a dark purple, almost black carapace.

The moment Jaeha and Seungho entered, the giant scorpion rose from its crouched position. Then it lifted its massive pincers and tail.

“Stay in the corner. If aggro pulls to your side, it’ll get annoying.”

“Don’t worry.”

Nodding, Jaeha immediately approached the Darkin. As Jaeha drew near, the Darkin raised its lying body.

Krawr!

Then it let out a loud cry and charged at Jaeha. Jaeha kept his eyes fixed on the Darkin’s tail as it rushed toward him. The Darkin possessed deadly poison, but it could only release it from its tail.

‘I just need to watch the tail.’

Thinking that, Jaeha dodged the Darkin’s attacks and fired magic-infused bullets from his gun at the tail and the joints where the carapace connected.

Krawr!

The Darkin began letting out pained cries, and Jaeha smiled as he started the hunt in earnest.

* * *

“Phew.”

“Whoa, that thing’s really tough.”

“Magic ready?”

“Ready.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll circle around to the back so the tail is visible from the front. When I give the signal, hit the spot where the tail connects to the body with magic.”

“Got it.”

With that, Jaeha deliberately moved flashily in front of the Darkin to draw its attention, striking its carapace with his sword.

He kept provoking it like that, and before long, the Darkin, thoroughly enraged, began spewing poison wildly.

Jaeha then guided his body backward so Seungho could take position behind the Darkin, and not long after, the Darkin turned around.

“Now.”

The moment Jaeha gave the signal, Seungho immediately used a skill at the Darkin. The skill he used was Mad Wind, a 4th-circle attack magic. The Darkin’s tail was severed clean off by the spell.

“Hmph.”

Jaeha immediately leaped backward and began unloading magic into the severed stump where the tail had been. The Darkin couldn’t hold out much longer and soon met its death.

“Whew…… good work.”

“You too.”

“That carapace is seriously tough. Maybe I should’ve just used Reverse Gravity to pin it down and then gone to town on it.”

“That would’ve been easier.”

“Well, if we catch another one, I’ll try it that way.”

Saying that, Jaeha approached the Darkin’s corpse. Standing before it, he sliced open the back with his sword.

Splitting the back open without much difficulty, Jaeha rummaged through the body with his sword, and before long, he found the Darkin’s poison sac.

Then, pulling a large glass bottle from his Inventory, Jaeha punctured the poison sac and drained the poison into the bottle. As the bottle was nearly full, Jaeha grabbed the poison sac with his hand.

“Ah!”

At that moment, the Darkin’s poison sac burst in Jaeha’s hand, spraying poison toward his body. Jaeha immediately dropped the sac and pulled back, but the poison had already seeped into his skin.

[You have been poisoned.]

[The poison’s toxicity is too powerful.]

[The fire energy within your body slows the spread of the poison.]

Jaeha’s eyes flew wide open, and he immediately drank an antidote potion from his Inventory.

‘Why? Last time I even soaked my hand in water mixed with Darkin poison and infused it with mana.’

This wasn’t the time to worry about that. Jaeha checked his status right away. As he drank the antidote potion, another window appeared before his eyes.

[The poison’s level overwhelms the potion’s level. Detoxification has been canceled.]

‘Bullshit.’

Jaeha thought for a moment, then tapped his body’s pressure points with his fingers to slow the poison’s spread. After that, he set down the poison sac, stored the bottled Darkin poison in his Inventory, and spoke to Seungho behind him.

“I’ve been poisoned.”

“I figured, since you drank an antidote potion. You okay?”

“No. Not at all.”

“Then what do we do?”

“First…… ugh.”

Just as he was about to say something, blood surged up into Jaeha’s mouth. He spat it out, saw that the blood was black and dead, and spoke.

“Straight home…… ugh.”

“Got it.”

Seungho approached Jaeha.

“Mind if I carry you?”

At Jaeha’s words, Seungho hoisted him onto his back and immediately sprinted toward the dungeon entrance.

After exiting the dungeon, Seungho headed straight for the airport and paid a hefty sum to secure plane tickets. Once aboard the plane, Seungho asked Jaeha.

“How’s your body?”

“Hoo…… I’m suppressing it with mana. I can hold out if I circulate my energy. But just in case, make sure no one gets near us.”

“Already bought every seat on the plane.”

“Good.”

With that, Jaeha walked over to a seat and began circulating his energy. Meanwhile, Seungho spoke to the flight attendants.

“There’s a chance a deadly poison could spread, so please don’t come near this area.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said don’t come near.”

“Oh, yes. Understood.”

Then Seungho watched Jaeha with worried eyes.

Chapter 6

After barely making it home, Seungho laid Jaeha down in his room. Realizing he’d arrived, Jaeha paused his energy circulation for a moment and spoke to Seungho.

“Call Sia.”

“Yeah.”

Then he resumed circulating his energy. He was suppressing the poison’s power using an enormous amount of mana—enough to last five cycles of sixty years. That was the only reason the poison hadn’t spread further.

‘The fire energy from Five Elements Art isn’t nearly enough.’

On top of that, he’d used all his fire energy just to slow the poison’s spread, so there was none left.

‘Salamander. Can you give me some energy?’

<Can’t do that.>

Jaeha let out a sigh and waited for Sia. Before long, a clattering sound announced Sia’s arrival as she entered the room. As soon as Sia came in, Jaeha spoke.

“Sia. Do you have any antidote potions stronger than the ones I made?”

“No, I don’t. That’s the highest level.”

At her words, Jaeha quietly drew up his energy and resumed circulation. He thought hard as he did.

‘What should I do.’

Jaeha mulled it over for about ten minutes. Then he spoke.

“Just in case the poison leaks out, Seungho, leave this house and stay somewhere for a few days.”

“You sure that’s okay?”

“I heard Hajin-hyung bought a place nearby, so go there. Don’t worry about me. I’ll contact you once I’m better.”

“Alright.”

Once Seungho left the house, Jaeha immediately opened his Inventory and pulled out a large number of needles. Then he spoke to Sia.

“I can’t stop circulating my energy anymore. Sia, take my clothes off.”

“Yes.”

Sia approached Jaeha and removed his clothes. Once he was fully undressed, Jaeha called out to Sylph.

‘Sylph.’

<Yeah.>

‘From now on, insert needles where I tell you. I’ll tell you exactly where and how deep to put each one.’

<Got it.>

Then Jaeha told Sylph where his pressure points were and began using the needles to block the poisonous energy in his body. Once dozens of needles were embedded in his flesh, he stopped circulating his energy.

“Hoo.”

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah.”

Then Jaeha immediately used acupuncture.

[You have used Energy-Sealing Acupuncture.]

As the acupuncture took effect, Jaeha felt the poisonous energy grow calmer and let out a sigh of relief. Once the energy inside his body was frozen, he stopped his breathing exercises.

“Didn’t the antidote potion work?”

“No. Apparently the poison is on a higher level than that.”

“Then what do we do?”

“We make a choice.”

“A choice?”

“I need to obtain something strong enough to overcome the poison’s energy.”

“Something that can overcome the poison?”

“Right.”

“What could possibly beat a lethal poison that even antidote potions can’t handle?”

Jaeha mulled it over, then nodded.

“I think I’ll need to burn the poison away using fire energy. Looking at it that way, there’s nothing for it but the Blazing Sun Art.”

“The Blazing Sun Art……”

“Yeah. I swore twice that I’d never end up this helpless again, and yet here I am.”

“Master, not knowing what will happen is simply part of life. Please don’t be so disheartened.”

“No. It’s because I was weak. Because I was foolish.”

As he said this, Jaeha spoke to Sia.

“Open the MuTube app on my cell phone, then search for martial arts in the search bar.”

“Yes.”

Unfortunately, Jaeha couldn’t move because of the needles stuck in his body. So he had Sia do this and that for him.

Sia kept staring at the phone and scrolling through it. Before long, Sia’s eyes went wide, and she said something to Jaeha.

“How about this?”

“[Zhurong, God of Fire]?”

“It says Zhurong was a being revered as the god of fire in ancient China. As you can see, the content is a documentary.”

“Let’s go with that. I don’t know if I’ll get a martial art out of it, but at least some kind of fire-handling skill should come of it.”

At Jaeha’s words, Sia immediately played the video and positioned it so Jaeha could watch easily. The video was longer than expected. As it began playing, Jaeha watched with his senses on high alert, making sure the poisonous energy didn’t spread.