Chapter 39

While Euntae drew their aggro, Siyoon sprinted straight toward the Smart Farm’s cultivation facility.

There was no time to hesitate.

He had to finish everything before the situation escalated any further.

“One of them is heading for the cultivation facility. Requesting immediate reinforcements.”

“No need for capture. I repeat. Execute on sight.”

Many hunters had their attention drawn to Euntae.

But this was essentially the enemy’s home turf.

Hunters pursuing Siyoon from every direction closed in, shrinking the space around him.

‘Already being surrounded.’

Siyoon furrowed his brow.

Their response was remarkably fast.

At this rate, being completely encircled was only a matter of time.

He couldn’t entirely avoid combat, but he needed to minimize it as much as possible.

To break through the encirclement, Siyoon stacked Enhancement on his legs.

[ Enhancing ‘Legs’. ]

[ Leg strength further increases. ]

[ Speed increases even further. ]

[ Legs are currently in a stacked Enhancement state. ]

[ Fatigue accumulates rapidly in the enhanced area. ]

Bursting strength flooded into his stack-enhanced legs.

Legs were what supported his entire body, yet they felt impossibly light.

Likely due to the increased leg strength.

Tukwang!

In that state, Siyoon kicked the ground violently.

His body shot forward as if sliding across ice.

The hunters’ encirclement gradually fell behind as Siyoon’s speed suddenly surged.

“The intruder’s speed has increased further. Direction: cultivation facility.”

“We need to stop him before he reaches the facility. Requesting long-range interception.”

A hunter trailing behind radioed someone.

At that moment, eight arrows arced through the air from afar, converging on him.

‘An archer with a skill specialized in long-range sniping.’

In that instant, Siyoon Enhanced his eyes.

With heightened dynamic vision and eyesight, he tracked the arrows precisely.

The arrows subtly shifted direction in response to his movements.

Meaning they had some degree of homing capability.

Moreover, frost clung to the arrowheads, radiating cold.

Getting hit or deflecting them would likely result in being frozen solid.

Siyoon made his judgment in a flash.

‘Dodging and deflecting are both out of the question.’

Two countermeasures eliminated in an instant.

But that didn’t mean there was no way.

Hwirik.

Siyoon drew the sniper rifle slung across his back.

The hunter sneered at Siyoon aiming his gun toward the incoming arrows.

“Pointless effort. Is that supposed to be a death struggle?”

No matter how skilled he was, he was in the middle of a pursuit.

Hitting incoming arrows while running was nearly impossible.

Besides, he had one gun against eight arrows.

Blocking all of them was impossible from the start. That was his assumption.

But his expectations were shattered in an instant.

Tutututung.

The trigger pulled in rapid succession.

Eight rounds fired in intervals so brief they felt like automatic fire.

Literally in the blink of an eye.

But the shock didn’t end there.

Pakang!

His bullets struck all eight arrows, shooting them down.

It was impossible.

Reading arrow trajectories and precisely shooting them down mid-pursuit this intense?

Easier said than done—factoring in environmental conditions, it was nearly impossible.

And those were ice arrows.

They froze and pierced through any obstacles, and froze targets on contact.

But Siyoon’s bullets completely negated them.

At least on par with the ice arrows.

Or perhaps possessing even greater destructive power.

Of course, all of this came from the power of Siyoon’s equipment.

Auto-correction, aiming assistance, and enhanced bullet penetration.

Combined, they could overwhelm most Gunners.

‘Intercepting them mid-flight was the right call after all.’

Through the scope, Siyoon watched the arrows shatter alongside bursts of ice.

The moment the bullets made contact, ice erupted and scattered in all directions.

Trying to awkwardly deflect or dodge would have been disastrous.

But there was no room for relief here.

He’d neutralized the attack, but the archer was still pursuing and hadn’t been dealt with.

Another volley would come.

He needed to deal with the rest and breach the cultivation facility before then.

“Did you really think you could attack Haind’s Smart Farm and walk away unscathed?”

Just then, a hunter who had silently closed in from the side swung his sword.

His senses sharpened by combat and Enhancement, Siyoon snapped his head around.

He had already sensed which direction the approach came from.

Kkigigik!

Siyoon deflected the sword, letting it slide along the barrel.

Pulling the gun inward, he simultaneously kicked the hunter’s knee with his enhanced leg strength.

Udeuk.

“Kagh!”

A kick powerful enough to shatter a hardened hunter’s bone.

Enhancing his legs had also increased his physical strength.

Shaking off the man, Siyoon found himself nearly at the cultivation facility.

The problem was that hunters were stationed ahead, blocking the entrance.

“I repeat. No capture necessary. Orders from above—execute on site immediately.”

“Don’t let him into the cultivation facility. Stop him at all costs!”

Seureung.

Hunters drawing various bladed weapons charged at Siyoon.

Enemies both ahead and behind.

Completely surrounded.

‘Just as expected.’

He hadn’t expected to waltz into the cultivation facility without resistance.

This level of opposition fell well within his expectations.

Siyoon calmly assessed the dozens of weapons aimed his way.

* * *

He was completely surrounded.

They vastly outnumbered him.

But as always, a brilliant move was within reach.

That move lay in Siyoon’s skill: Enhancement.

Hwik.

Siyoon swung his dagger toward the front.

A straightforward attack path.

Naturally, it was a feint.

He never expected such a basic strike to deal damage.

He was after one thing.

Their attention.

‘There it is.’

Siyoon confirmed the hunters’ focus had locked onto the dagger.

A horizontal slash with zero variables—utterly predictable.

The hunters watching it were probably running through every possible interpretation.

What could this attack possibly mean?

Was there something hidden behind it?

Or perhaps it was a preparatory stance for some skill.

Thoughts like these.

But once they confirmed there was nothing more, their focus would shift to Siyoon himself.

To cut him down immediately.

The attention concentrated on the dagger would thin out.

That moment would be his opening.

[ Enhancing ‘Dagger’ with ‘Skill: Enhancement’. ]

Siyoon Enhanced the dagger.

From +1 to +2.

Then from +2 to +3.

The Enhancement level surged rapidly—until it hit its endpoint.

[ Enhancement has failed. ]

Kwaaaaang!

The dagger failed Enhancement and exploded instantly.

The most brilliant move he could make in this situation.

“Kuaaaagh!”

“Aaaagh!”

Hunters caught in the blast were thrown back, their bodies contorting.

Some had body parts blown apart and obliterated entirely.

Seeing the vanguard effortlessly taken out, the hunters charging from behind faltered in confusion.

‘They can’t make sense of what just happened.’

From their perspective, the dagger Siyoon was holding had simply exploded.

Even if he’d used a skill, an object with no mechanism exploding was—

Not something easily predicted.

Siyoon shook off the hand that had endured the explosion.

The dagger was gone without a trace.

Pain surged in, but thanks to the Patience of Nature, recovery was swift.

Siyoon plunged through the momentarily weakened front line.

Hunters swung their weapons to block him.

Naturally, charging through would leave him riddled like a honeycomb.

Even with a gap opened, he still had to push through enemy lines.

But there wasn’t enough time to sustain a prolonged fight.

Euntae was undoubtedly a skilled mercenary and hunter.

But with all the aggro drawn to him, backup from that direction was out of the question.

More than anything, lingering here risked additional reinforcements arriving.

‘Need to clear them all at once and move on.’

Surrounded by numerous hunters at close range, Siyoon’s choice was surprisingly simple.

Self-destruction.

It would hurt like hell, but he could handle it.

He had the Patience of Nature and enhanced recovery potions.

Dalgak.

Siyoon grabbed three stones hidden in his pocket.

And just as before, rapidly Enhanced them.

Confusion spread across the hunters’ faces at the sight of the stones.

It didn’t matter.

‘Keep being confused.’

That’ll be the last thread you cling to.

Siyoon smiled coldly.

* * *

Kwang, kwang, kwaaaaang!!

The moment Enhancement failed, the stones in Siyoon’s hands detonated.

Firepower exceeding that of conventional bombs engulfed the surroundings.

Fierce flames erupted in an instant.

“Kuaaaaagh!!”

“Aaaaaah!”

Screams of hunters caught in the blasts echoed from every direction.

A man cursed as he watched black smoke billowing upward.

“Crazy bastard… self-destructing at the very end.”

“You kept getting in my way, so I got sick of it.”

Heumchik.

The cursing man’s pupils trembled.

Through the smoke of the explosions, Siyoon emerged, walking slowly.

“How…”

The man wore an expression of disbelief that Siyoon was still alive.

Hardly surprising—three consecutive explosions had just gone off.

More than half the hunters were injured. It was a natural reaction.

Siyoon didn’t bother answering the question.

There was no need.

‘That definitely hurt a lot.’

The skin on Siyoon’s hands had been seared red raw by the explosions.

Other hunters caught in the blast had lost limbs or died outright.

The reason he remained this intact was thanks to Enhancement and the Patience of Nature.

Enhancement improved the function of body parts while also increasing defense.

Combined with the Patience of Nature’s pain reduction and enhanced healing.

It was enough to endure.

‘Still, the results were significant.’

He’d taken the damage but positioned himself at the center of their formation before detonating.

As a result, finding an uninjured hunter was now a challenge.

The tables had turned.

It was Siyoon’s turn to hunt them.

Seupat.

“When did you get here—!”

Siyoon closed the distance to the man in a flash.

Perhaps he hadn’t expected Siyoon to be this fast even after surviving the same explosions.

The frantic swing of his mace betrayed his bewilderment.

[ Enhancing ‘Hand’. ]

[ Attack power increases. ]

Teong!

Siyoon Enhanced his hands instantly. He knocked the man’s wrist aside with the back of his hand.

Simultaneously, he drove the heel of his palm upward into the man’s jaw.

The jaw shattered, and the impact sent the man reeling.

Without hesitation, Siyoon crushed his skull with a knife-hand strike.

Eujeojeok.

The skull’s destruction sent cranial pressure skyrocketing, popping the eyeballs out.

He snapped the neck of a hunter lunging from the side with a kick.

When blades thrust at him, he deflected with the sniper rifle’s barrel.

Other times, he condensed wind to a single point and pierced through skulls.

Once the momentum shifted, the battle became almost entirely one-sided.

“You son of a bitch!”

Just then, a hunter fired a pistol at Siyoon from point-blank range.

But Siyoon had the Wind of Horus.

Pyeok.

“Keureuk…”

The bullet’s trajectory warped at an absurd angle, embedding itself in another hunter’s neck instead.

In that opening, Siyoon closed in on the hunter, killed him, and snatched the pistol.

“Not bad.”

A familiar grip.

Perhaps because he’d used a pistol when he first started as a hunter, it fit his hand like an old friend.

Though he had no intention of actually using it.

[ Enhancement has failed. ]

Kwaaaaang!

Siyoon pretended to aim the pistol at the charging man—then detonated it.

The man died instantly, caught point-blank by the explosion.

One by one, hunters fell to Siyoon’s hands, again and again.

Eventually, none of those who had faced him remained standing.

“About done here.”

But he couldn’t afford to take his time.

More hunters were rushing toward him from the distance.

Before they arrived, Siyoon headed deeper into the cultivation facility.