Kim Songcheol’s party arrived at a certain Forest. Kim Songcheol increased the output of his Board and soared up once.

He flew up over 7 meters in one go, and the surroundings came into clear view.

‘Hmm.’

It was indeed an abnormally wide Forest.

If you go up this high from a flat terrain, you usually get to see the next terrain a little.

But the Forest stretched out as if it were endless.

“It’s incredibly wide. It looks like it’s several times larger than other terrains.”

Setsu, who had flown up into the sky, flew down beside him and said.

A D-grade Dungeon has a structure where terrains of similar size repeat like a puzzle. But this Forest felt like a large, round piece had been firmly embedded within the puzzle.

It was more than 10 times the size of a normal terrain.

“It’s in here anyway. We’ll meet it eventually.”

The Celestial Spirit Maiden took the lead. The three Hunters began to advance through the Forest.

Even considering it was a Dungeon, it was a very peculiar Forest. There were luminous flowers, and none of the trees grew straight; they were all twisted.

The leaves were either extremely large or extremely small.

It was as if someone’s dream had been directly transplanted here.

“When we encounter it, confirmation comes first.”

The Celestial Spirit Maiden said again.

They didn’t know what abilities the last boss possessed.

This was because its abilities changed each time.

It had unpredictable patterns, such as growing gigantic or launching mental attacks.

On top of that, powerful physical abilities were a basic option.

Apparently, its physical abilities were also not to be underestimated.

Kim Songcheol’s party traversed the Forest quite quickly.

The Celestial Spirit Maiden was simply fast, Kim Songcheol rode his Board, and Setsu flew.

The two Martial Artists following behind were also able to keep up with the Celestial Spirit Maiden. They weren’t useless in combat, but they shouldn’t help.

Because then they would have to share the rewards. Combat records are left on the gemstone, so it couldn’t be faked.

“…We met it sooner than I thought.”

The Celestial Spirit Maiden, who had been running for a while, gradually slowed down and then stopped completely.

A creature was sitting on a rock up ahead.

It was humanoid, but it couldn’t be called human.

This was because its entire body was densely covered in silver scales.

That was the Field Boss, Baria.

The Foe sat on a rock, gazing at its raised hand. A large butterfly sat on its fingertip, flapping its wings.

For a Field Boss, it was a rather poetic sight.

The Celestial Spirit Maiden twisted the corners of her mouth as if with disdain.

Aura began to rise from her body.

Perhaps sensing it, The Foe slowly raised its hand to send the butterfly flying, then leaped down from the rock.

It was about 3 meters tall. For a Field Boss, it was a small size.

The Foe looked at the three Hunters with glowing yellow eyes. A yellow gemstone was conspicuously embedded between its eyes.

Its face was also covered in scales, and it had no nose or mouth.

It was at that moment.

Rupture!

The Celestial Spirit Maiden and Baria simultaneously charged at each other.

Kim Songcheol and Setsu, instead, retreated.

Rupture crackle!

The Celestial Spirit Maiden unleashed streams of Black Energy and swung her fist.

They exchanged dozens of blows in an instant. A battle of equals continued.

It was then.

The moment the Black Energy flowing from the Celestial Spirit Maiden’s entire body grew denser.

Boom!

Her fist struck The Foe’s chest. The impact caused the air to explode in all directions.

The Foe was thrown backward as if hit by a cannonball. It only stopped after knocking down several trees and crashing into a rock.

The Foe stood up abruptly, showing no sign of pain, and charged at the Celestial Spirit Maiden again.

“I’ll fight you as much as you want!”

The Celestial Spirit Maiden shouted, her eyes gleaming.

It was then.

A Magic Circle formed in front of Baria, and an Arc Linear was fired towards the Celestial Spirit Maiden.

The red-hot beam aimed at the Celestial Spirit Maiden and approached rapidly.

It was Baria’s magic, not Kim Songcheol’s, that was used.

And it was Kim Songcheol’s magic.

‘No…!’

The Celestial Spirit Maiden didn’t know about Arc Linear. That was not something to be blocked head-on.

From the moment Baria’s Magic Circle formed, Kim Songcheol had already begun to respond.

Overloading his nervous system with Over Brain, he cast the same Arc Linear.

Kim Songcheol cast it a bit later, but it wasn’t too late.

Rupture crackle crackle!

The Arc Linears collided in mid-air. The moment the beams met, they scattered into hundreds of fragments, devastating the surroundings.

Booming crash!

Nothingness was cut away, and the ground was overturned. Still, he blocked it. That was important.

“Copy!”

Kim Songcheol shouted.

But another Arc Linear was fired, aiming for Setsu. The real target was Setsu, and the attack was precisely aimed at Kim Songcheol’s delay.

Not only the Magic, but even the way of using Magic was the same as Kim Songcheol’s.

That precise timing was difficult for Kim Songcheol himself to respond to.

He had just finished Over Brain.

Even for Kim Songcheol, a momentary gap was created.

He hastily Casted Arc Linear, but the moment he fired it, he instinctively knew.

That it was already too late.

Kim Songcheol’s Arc Linear, which flew a moment too late, struck the side, but it only served to cut off the middle.

A part of the already fired Arc Linear flew towards Setsu, who hastily created a large cube in front of her to block it.

“Get out of the way!”

The moment Kim Songcheol shouted loudly.

Crack…!

With an eerie noise, a red beam pierced through the Green Light cube.

Splash!

Blood splattered over the cube.

“Aargh!”

Setsu’s scream echoed through the Forest.

Kim Songcheol’s eyes gleamed. That eerie light was fully directed at The Foe.

Boom!

At that moment, the Celestial Spirit Maiden was struck by The Foe’s fist and flew backward as if shot.

She slid backward with her feet on the ground, then stopped, kicking up dust.

Baria’s posture, extending a fist in the distance, was exactly the same as the Celestial Spirit Maiden’s.

Kim Songcheol raised his hand towards the Celestial Spirit Maiden, who was running straight ahead.

“I’ll handle this. Check on Setsu.”

At that subdued tone, the Celestial Spirit Maiden stopped dead in her tracks.

Normally, she would have been stubborn, but this time she didn’t say a word.

It was probably because she saw Kim Songcheol’s expression.

She ran towards the back.

Kim Songcheol got off the Board.

He was regretting it.

He shouldn’t have learned Arc Linear.

If he had known that murderous Magic would fall into the enemy’s hands, he wouldn’t have learned it.

What he thought was the best, turned out to be the worst.

Kim Songcheol was so annoyed that he let out a bitter laugh.

Of all people, that guy with the Copy Ability.

And himself, who was the cause of this situation.

“”

Oneness appeared behind Kim Songcheol’s back. Baria playfully pulled out an identical Oneness from within his body and placed it in the same spot as Kim Songcheol’s.

The two Onenesses radiated golden light as if competing. The Oneness itself was no different, only the users were.

“…You try to copy this too.”

A magic circle formed in front of Kim Songcheol.

Baria also created a magic circle.

Initially, they were identical, but Kim Songcheol’s magic circle gradually changed.

A part of it crumbled and was replaced by light.

But Baria’s remained clear.

He couldn’t copy ‘that power’ of Kim Songcheol’s.

“You can’t do it. Don’t act so cocky.”

Suddenly, Arc Linears were fired from the two magic circles, aiming at each other.

Kim Songcheol’s Arc Linear was several times thicker than Baria’s.

The moment the two red light beams collided in mid-air, Baria’s shattered into pieces and scattered in all directions, while Kim Songcheol’s Arc Linear, boasting immense power, shot towards Baria.

Baria even drew upon Setsu’s ability to create a green light shield, but…

Crack…!

With a small, yet chilling sound, the Arc Linear easily vaporized the shield and, not stopping there, swept away Baria’s upper body.

More than half of his upper body, from the left shoulder, was gone.

His neck was barely attached to his right shoulder.

That small connection couldn’t bear the weight of his head and slowly bent. As his head fell, the yellow light in his eyes flickered.

Thud…!

Soon, his body collapsed, and his head fell to the ground. His yellow eyes flickered once and then went dark.

It was then that Kim Songcheol, holding his forehead, swayed once.

He managed to walk a few steps and leaned against a tree.

His head was spinning, and he felt nauseous.

But it wasn’t enough to make him collapse.

Even amidst that, he adjusted the output. Only to the point where it would be impossible to block.

“…Setsu!”

Kim Songcheol opened his eyes with difficulty and called out the name.

A moment of silence.

All sorts of ominous thoughts raced through his mind.

But soon, the Celestial Spirit Maiden appeared with Setsu, pushing through the bushes.

“Don’t worry. I’m fine.”

Setsu had taken off his hoodie and was holding it around his shoulder. Blood was visible on the hoodie.

Still, thankfully, it was just his shoulder.

The cube had pierced through instantly, but he had managed to react somewhat. There was a reason the Celestial Spirit Maiden had brought him.

“How badly are you hurt?”

Kim Songcheol took his hand off the tree and turned towards Setsu.

“Some flesh flew off, but…”

The Celestial Spirit Maiden said it was nothing, but for Kim Songcheol, it was a big deal.

“Flesh…? Let me see.”

When he slightly opened the hoodie covering the wound, a piece of flesh from his shoulder was gone, as if someone had bitten it off.

“That’s a serious injury.”

“I’m really fine. It’ll heal if I put some medicine on it.”

“Even the muscle is gone, and you say it’s nothing…”

Kim Songcheol didn’t believe that it was fine. It wasn’t just a small piece of flesh; his shoulder was deeply ruptured. This was an injury that surpassed human regeneration capabilities.

“No, seriously, I just need to apply the medicine.”

Setsu added a few explanations to prove he was serious.

Indeed, in his world, there was medicine that promoted regeneration.

Of course, immediate recovery wasn’t possible, but if he consistently applied the medicine, the flesh would completely grow back within a month.

Only after hearing that did Kim Songcheol’s expression relax.

His constantly pounding heart gradually calmed down.

He had truly considered the worst-case scenario.

Setsu’s death, that is.

It was truly fortunate that it ended like this.

“First, put on the medicine.”

The Celestial Spirit Maiden gestured to the martial artists and walked towards Baria’s corpse.

The martial artists immediately took out a tin can from their bags and approached.

Inside the tin can was a thick, blackish medicine, and as soon as the lid was opened, a bitter smell stung their noses.

“Wh-what is this?”

Setsu flinched and took a step back. It was a smell he had never encountered before.

“It’s a wound healing ointment.”

“Can I really apply this…?”

“Of course.”

One martial artist held Setsu, while another scooped up a generous amount of the wound healing ointment and thickly applied it to his shoulder.

“Ugh… huh?”

Setsu was about to scream but then his eyes widened as he looked at his shoulder. The thick, blackish medicine was already on the wound, but strangely, he felt no pain.

“Why doesn’t it hurt?”

“There’s no need for it to hurt. It’s a medicine that’s thousands of years old, so you can assume it has most functions covered.”

The martial artist smiled and skillfully wrapped a bandage around him.

Meanwhile, the Celestial Spirit Maiden was looking down at Baria’s corpse.

‘Amazing.’

His upper body was gone without a trace. She couldn’t even begin to guess how it had happened.

‘…Was he serious?’

She suddenly remembered what Kim Songcheol had said.

‘If I do it properly, I can’t guarantee I won’t kill him.’

Kim Songcheol had definitely said that.

She had thought it was half a joke.

After seeing this, I had no choice but to believe it was real.

The Celestial Spirit Maiden gathered Dark Heavenly Energy in her hand and pulled out a yellow gemstone. Baria’s already dead body was not as hard as it was when she was alive.

With this, all three keys were gathered.

All that remained was to open the Upper Gate.

The Celestial Spirit Maiden returned to Kim Songcheol. He was leaning against the Nothingness. Killing Baria seemed to have been a shock to him as well.

The Celestial Spirit Maiden offered the yellow gemstone to Kim Songcheol.

Kim Songcheol had all the gemstones. It was safer to entrust them to him in many ways.

“We finally gathered them all.”

Kim Songcheol wiped the sweat from his forehead and took out the two gemstones from his bag.

Three gemstones rolled around on his hands.

“Now we just need to open the Upper Gate. Let’s go. It’s not far.”

“No, let’s rest a bit. No one is fine right now except you. You sit down too.”

Kim Songcheol pointed to the right seat. Setsu was already sitting on his left.

But the Celestial Spirit Maiden didn’t feel like sprawling out and sitting down.

She simply calmed her anxious heart.

The Upper Gate isn’t going anywhere.

It would be good to rest a bit.

Instead of sitting on the floor, the Celestial Spirit Maiden stood, leaning against the Nothingness.

That was all.

After sitting there for an hour, Kim Songcheol put his hands on the floor and stood up.

“Shall we go?”

His headache had subsided a bit now. He was able to move.

Setsu also got up from her seat, sensing the mood. She was wounded, but it didn’t hurt. The anesthetic effect of the Wound Healing Ointment was excellent.

It was time to head to the Altar to open the Upper Gate.