Chapter 83 – The Frost Turtle (４)

An utterly overwhelming display of combat.

Watching Gijun fight, they were struck dumb for a long, long moment.

Even the Guild Master would be shocked.

That’s what they thought.

If Hera ever saw Gijun’s true fighting style, she’d be even more astonished.

And that was the truth.

Hera had never witnessed a proper battle scene from Gijun firsthand.

After all, while he and Amalta fought Kremton, the General of the Underworld, she had been locked in battle with Isabel.

What Hera had witnessed were only fragments of Gijun’s combat.

And even those fragments alone had been enough to draw streams of praise from her — praise that left her mouth dry.

‘Once this man surfaces…’

She’d thought it then.

Soon, this man would surface.

‘A talent too brilliant to hide.’

The Saint Guild was doing its utmost to keep him concealed, but how long could they really manage that?

A gem in a sack — it always pokes through.

In the end, extraordinary beings always claw their way into the light.

‘It might shake everything.’

And the day that man’s presence broke the surface,

the vast world of Real Spirit would surely tremble to its core.

*

Gijun weaved through the rain of ice blades, blocked, parried, and stubbornly held his ground.

‘Already past fifty percent.’

Having weathered the entire barrage of frozen blades, the absorption rate of the Sain-geom had now broken past the half-mark.

‘Just one or two more rounds.’

He’d hit fifty percent with two skills — just one or two more attacks would get him to full absorption. The math was that clear.

And then.

‘Here it comes.’

The Frost Ancient Turtle stirred again.

‘This time it’s the shell.’

A new pattern, distinct from the ones before, was about to begin.

‘How many patterns does this thing have?’

He’d have preferred a repeat, honestly.

His nerves couldn’t help but tighten.

He’d gotten the hint, made it this far — dying now would be a bitter waste.

‘It’s starting.’

In that moment, the creature’s new pattern activated.

This pattern was…

‘What is this?’

Nothing changed.

Its shell simply radiated an eerie light.

No projectiles flew. No movement from the beast.

‘…No.’

But Gijun wasn’t deceived.

Invisible didn’t mean nonexistent.

He could never afford to forget the possibility of some unforeseen pattern beginning.

Then—

[Master!]

Libre’s urgent voice struck Gijun’s ears.

His eyes went wide in an instant.

‘As I thought.’

The creature’s pattern had already begun.

And that pattern was—

‘Beneath my feet.’

A colossal vortex of Magic Power was surging upward from under Gijun’s feet.

The moment he sensed it, he moved.

Shiiiiing!

Gijun shot forward at incredible speed.

‘Still not enough.’

But he still couldn’t escape the churning Mana.

He pushed himself faster.

The very instant he cleared the edge of that roiling field of power—

Crackkk—!

Fissures split the thick sheet of ice.

And with them, something burst up from beneath.

KWAANNG!

“…Crazy.”

It was, quite literally, condensed Magic Power itself.

Compressed with such ferocity that it shattered meters-thick ice and erupted violently toward the sky.

‘Another second slower and I’d have been caught.’

The fact that he’d dodged at all was already bordering on a miracle.

But he’d gained something from it, too.

“…Eighty percent.”

The absorption rate had shot up to eighty percent in an instant.

More importantly, it wasn’t over yet.

“Here it comes again.”

Right now, Mana began to churn once more from beneath Jun’s feet.

“Dodge this one, and it’s complete.”

Jun moved again.

A moment later, from the very spot where he’d been standing, a violently condensed blast of Mana erupted and surged toward the sky.

And now.

[Sain-geom has absorbed the cold.]

– Absorption Rate: 100%

The moment the absorption rate hit 100%.

Thrum!

The Sain-geom shuddered violently.

It quaked with such fury it seemed ready to burst open at any second.

“…Ah.”

In that instant, as the Sain-geom was completed, Jun understood.

“So that’s it.”

The pillar that had first appeared.

From that pillar, a transparent energy stretched out toward the Frozen Ancient Turtle.

And that transparent energy was forming a barrier around the creature’s body.

“That’s the secret.”

In that moment, he’d unlocked the secret behind the creature’s complete immunity to both physical and magical Damage.

“So that means I have to destroy the pillars.”

Jun picked up speed and dashed toward the pillar.

With one surge, he unleashed the cold energy condensed within the Sain-geom directly at the pillar.

Flash!

The moment the burst of blue light from the Sain-geom touched the pillar.

Crack-crunch!

The entire pillar froze solid.

And then it exploded.

Boom! Krak-krak-krak-BOOM!

One pillar was completely destroyed.

“Let’s go again.”

That meant it was just a matter of repetition.

He had to gather the cold again and shatter the pillars one by one.

*

Rumble-grumble!

“Got it.”

At last, Jun managed to destroy all five pillars.

“That wasn’t as hard as I thought.”

The creature had a total of five patterns.

And once he’d memorized those five patterns, gathering the cold was no longer all that difficult.

Now, after gathering the cold at such speed and destroying every pillar….

Schzz!

The transparent barrier enveloping the creature’s body vanished.

[The Frozen Ancient Turtle’s immunity status has been lifted!]

A message appeared before the eyes of everyone present.

“M-My goodness….”

Watching Jun pull off something so absurd, the Saint Guild Members couldn’t help but let out another gasp of awe.

They’d lost count of how many times they’d been shocked already.

The sight of him dismantling those terrifying patterns one by one, even from a distance, was nothing short of a jaw-dropping talent.

‘If only someone like that were in our guild….’

How much time did it take just to analyze and dismantle a Boss Monster’s patterns?

Simply identifying the patterns wasn’t the problem.

Getting the pattern down, making sure every team member knew it cold, and executing the takedown without a single misstep—

that normally took anywhere from a week or two to several months.

“But in a single day.”

And less than an hour to grasp the whole pattern and see straight through it — that overwhelming talent was

downright envy-inducing just to watch.

“Thank god he’s not an enemy.”

The thought crossed his mind, unbidden.

Thank god that man was on their side, not against them.

Horpa clenched his fist.

Just as Guild Master Hera had said.

“We need to help him.”

Even if they couldn’t recruit him into the guild,

it was enough — more than enough — that the man felt grateful to them.

“We’ll join in too.”

“Please, we’re counting on you!”

The moment Gijun gave his consent, they were moving again.

“From now on, focus your attacks on its head!”

Its head.

Even at a glance, it looked like the creature’s weak point.

“Understood!”

And so the battle resumed.

*

Grrrraaahhh—!

The Ancient Frost Turtle.

The beast let out a bellow.

“It looks exhausted!”

Horpa shouted.

No exaggeration.

Right now, the Ancient Frost Turtle was bleeding from every part of its body.

‘This thing’s really earning its keep.’

The Sain-geom was doing its part here too.

Even after smashing through the pillars, the Sain-geom kept absorbing the chill.

And each time it absorbed that cold, it fired the frost right back at the creature.

Every hit from its own ice made the beast writhe in agony.

Honestly, the Sain-geom had dealt several times more damage to it than Gijun’s magic had.

On top of that, the Superhumans from the Saint guild were bringing overwhelming firepower too.

The two archers in particular were unleashing a brutal hail of shots.

Right now, it was no different.

Five arrows crackling with electricity sank into the creature’s forehead all at once, and

at the same moment, arcs of current exploded across its entire body.

CRACKLE-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

As it twisted and thrashed in pain, the other archer loosed an arrow too.

His specialty was poison.

The venom-tipped arrow pierced the Ancient Frost Turtle’s head.

Its whole body was already blackened, thoroughly infected by the poison.

Not that Gijun’s magic was taking a back seat.

Gijun was putting on a fierce showing too.

His spear-form Fireball hammered into every part of the beast’s body,

and his magic tormented the Ancient Frost Turtle without relent — its shell was already starting to melt.

As if that wasn’t enough —

Strong Wind carved countless wounds across the creature’s hide,

and the poison archer’s arrows punched through those very wounds, sinking the venom deeper and deeper into the beast’s body.

They’d been holding out for nearly an hour now.

Resistance and stamina that would make your tongue hang out.

‘Almost over now.’

Gijun felt it.

That bastard’s tenacious stamina was finally showing its limits.

That was when it happened.

Kyaaaah!

The creature roared.

Then it pulled back into its shell.

“…Huh?”

Those who’d been braced for its next attack, wound tight with tension, faltered in confusion.

It wasn’t pressing the assault.

Instead, it had completely hidden itself inside its carapace.

And that wasn’t all.

[The Frost Ancient Turtle begins recovering its Stamina.]

The message appeared the instant it had withdrawn.

“What?”

“What the hell is this bullshit!”

The Saints Superhumans cried out, bewildered.

How much effort had they poured into getting this far?

The archers, and even Horpa the tank, were running on fumes — their MP nearly bottomed out.

And now it was recovering Stamina?

If that happened, they were screwed.

As mentioned, MP was scraping the dregs.

And even setting MP aside, their focus was crumbling toward its limit.

That was only to be expected.

They’d been dodging an untrained Boss Monster’s patterns on nothing but instinct and gut feeling.

Without Gijun’s Strong Wind backing them, at least two of them would’ve been game over by now!

“What do we do!”

“Damn it….”

orpa couldn’t answer his Guild Members’ questions easily.

But then.

No.’

Gijun’s eyes flashed.

[Master, are you seeing this?]

Libre seemed to have spotted what Gijun was looking at.

The core revealed itself.’

That was exactly it.

Gijun’s eyes had lit up because the moment the creature hid and began recovering—

its core showed itself.

We never needed to kill it in the first place.’

That was right.

As they already knew, this Quest wasn’t about defeating the creature.

It was about sealing its core inside the Sain-geom.

And right now is when its core is exposed.’

With its Stamina dropped below a certain threshold,

As it hid in its shell and began recovery — that was the moment its core appeared.

At the same time, Gijun sensed this was the window to complete the Quest.

Move.’

He had to act now.

If he delayed even a moment and the thing fully recovered its Stamina, its core would vanish again.

When all their effort so far might go up in smoke.

adak!

Gijun stomped forward.

“G-Master Gijun…!”

orpa called out in surprise.

But he shut his mouth.

He must have found something we don’t see.’

That was what he thought.

They themselves saw nothing.

That genius must have found something we can’t see.

And now…

Thwack!

Gijun launched himself into the air.

And brought the sword in his hand straight down into the center of the beast’s shell.

Squelch!

Gijun’s sword pierced the creature’s carapace as smoothly as cutting through a sponge, sinking deep inside.

“…!!!”