Chapter 118

“…Unexpected. I didn’t think you’d all make it back alive without a Healer.”

“…….”

“The rest of them are dead. They weren’t of much help anyway. Do you need more explanation?”

Eunchan delivered the news of the two deaths nonchalantly, but Taewoon’s vigilance did not waver in the slightest.

No matter how he thought about it, the story didn’t add up.

“I don’t believe a mediocre Level 5-rank mage could have broken through the sector alone. Conversely, if he possessed the skill to do so, there would be no reason to let his comrades die, would there?”

Taewoon’s question was valid, and the party members, agreeing with his thought, began to silently glare at Eunchan while drawing their weapons.

At this, Eunchan let out a low, chuckling laugh.

“Right. You’re correct. I killed them. I figured it was about time I needed some reinforcements.”

Eunchan admitted to his crime with utter composure. However, that simultaneously meant he had no intention of letting anyone present leave alive.

‘Against this person… does he actually have the confidence to win?’

Though he pretended otherwise, the opponent was also probing Taewoon’s party.

Since they had perfectly cleared the sector in a dungeon of this difficulty without a Healer, he might be feeling a certain degree of caution.

And that meant.

‘He might be hiding his full power, but it means there isn’t an overwhelming gap between us!’

At the very least, he wouldn’t be as strong as someone like Hongyeon. For some reason, Taewoon felt certain of that.

“You seem to have some skill. But with a party composition as flimsy as that… it won’t be difficult to deal with you.”

Following Eunchan’s gesture, a distortion of Magical Power occurred in the air, and strange spectral entities began to reveal themselves.

And at the forefront were the faces of the two people who had been with them until recently.

“You bastard! Don’t tell me…”

“Ha, look at this disgusting piece of trash. Is he a complete lunatic?”

At the atrocious act of killing his own party members and turning them into his pawns, the entire group expressed intense hostility and began preparing for battle against Eunchan.

They had effectively recognized each other as complete enemies.

The hooded woman was no exception; a chilling Magical Power flowed from the sword held in her hand.

‘The four of us prefer close-quarters combat, and he… can he actually use the abilities of the dead as well?’

If that were the case, it would be quite troublesome. It meant he could form a more organized party than Taewoon’s group, even while alone.

‘If the combat power is similar, the difference in composition balance and sustainability cannot be ignored.’

The opponent likely knew this, which was why he had maintained such a confident attitude throughout.

‘But…’

That didn’t mean Taewoon intended to go down easily. Soon, Taewoon, who had placed the Wax Mask over his face, slammed the spear he was holding hard into the ground.

“…Pierce them, Barata.”

Stems of the earth-piercing tree erupted from the ground, targeting Eunchan with terrifying momentum, and the field of vision was covered by the massive vines.

Taking advantage of that gap, Hyeeun and Taegil, having received the signal, began to close the distance in sync with Taewoon through the obscured vision.

‘He’s a magic-type Hunter; there’s no reason to fight the spirits while leaving the main body exposed!’

Taewoon and Taegil were Vanguards possessing high mobility and sharp strikes, and Hyeeun was a Hunter classified as an assassin.

Therefore, the best strategy was to leverage those strengths from the start.

Hyeeun threw daggers, embedding them into various parts of the extending tree vines, and from those points, characters made of Magical Power began to leak out.

Simultaneously, Taegil, who had momentarily turned his body into mist, utilized the gaps in vision to approach Eunchan.

“Now, do it!”

Hyeeun’s binding spell instantly engulfed Eunchan, and Taegil, timing it perfectly, returned his mist-like body to its original form.

It was a perfect link between the three performed in a critical moment, but Eunchan merely hardened his expression without a hint of panic, simply tapping the ground with his staff.

“Such an obvious trick.”

A cracking sound, like air being sliced, echoed, and the positions of the summoned spirits and Eunchan began to shuffle chaotically.

‘Damn! He can swap positions with his summons?’

The spirit of the party leader, Jinwook, who had swapped places with Eunchan, began to clash with Taegil, whose surprise attack had failed, and Hyeeun, surrounded by spirits, signaled Taewoon for help with her eyes.

‘His location is…’

While hurriedly supporting Hyeeun’s flank, Taewoon used Thousand-League Perception to read the presence, but Eunchan’s energy could not be felt inside the stone chamber.

‘Damn it, he summoned a swap-spirit near the passage from the beginning.’

With this, the party was surrounded by his spirits, and Eunchan was able to target Taewoon’s group easily while securing a safe distance.

The spirits before them were of a considerable level, but naturally, that couldn’t be the extent of his abilities.

He surely possessed powerful means of attack, and the current combat structure could be seen as extremely dangerous.

However.

‘…Huh?’

He realized that Eunchan wasn’t the only one whose presence he couldn’t feel.

At some point, the hooded woman had also disappeared from the stone chamber, and soon, a noise accompanied by a powerful Explosion began to echo from the outer passage.

‘Fast! Did she predict his move in advance?’

The woman had likely identified the nature of the spirit Eunchan had summoned in the passage and immediately tracked it down.

If so, the rest of them simply had to support her movement.

“Leave that side to her; I think we just need to hold the spirits inside the stone chamber!”

“Okay, leave it to me!”

“Damn, I get the idea, but will she be enough on her own?”

“It’ll be fine! She didn’t look like someone who would be defeated easily!”

Considering the battle the woman had shown against the Mirror Cubes or monsters even stronger than them, there was likely no ordinary way to shake her off or suppress her.

【Condition Fulfilled】

【Cinema Skill: The Red Man】

‘Flying Ring Step!’

Stepping with mysterious footwork in an instant, Taewoon approached the spirit of the party leader, Jinwook, and cast the seventh technique of the Soul-Chasing Eight Ghost Spear to shatter that sturdy defense.

“Alright, take this!”

Taking advantage of the opening, Taegil raised his longsword and aimed for Jinwook’s head, and with a thunderous roar, marks as if the surroundings had been clawed by giant talons appeared.

“Kugh! Did we take him down?”

Jinwook’s form, having taken a critical hit, distorted and collapsed, but soon a black sphere formed there and began to slowly restore its original shape.

“Damn it, these things can regenerate too?”

“Their Magical Power won’t be infinite, but it’s useless if we can’t catch the main body!”

As soon as Taegil and Hyeeun shouted, another thunderous roar echoed, the wall of the stone chamber exploded, and fragments flew in all directions.

“Kyaak!”

“Wh-what the hell!”

The two of them recoiled in horror as they were touched by the black flames leaking through the gap, and the hooded woman, who had been lying amidst the debris, stood up with a composed air and began to walk forward, holding her sword once more.

‘Her wounds… are regenerating…’

The woman clearly looked as though her body was torn in various places with blood flowing, but she was recovering at a rapid pace due to the red Magical Power steam that seemed to evaporate.

Furthermore, just as Taewoon had felt before, the woman’s Magical Power was increasing in intensity and density, expanding her presence.

“Ugh… what a monster of a woman.”

Eunchan, appearing beyond the exploded wall, seemed to have avoided major injury, but at the same time, he could not hide his distorted expression.

He seemed to be in a state of panic because the woman’s combat power had exceeded his expectations.

“…Damn it, I have to admit it. I certainly can’t handle all of you alone.”

“Hmph, you only realized that now?”

“Shut up! If it had been a group of people at your level, I wouldn’t have struggled this much.”

Eunchan’s distorted gaze fixed strongly on the woman, then shifted slightly toward Taewoon.

And finally, he targeted Taegil, who was holding his longsword with an indifferent expression.

“…Fine, you’ll do.”

“What?”

Taegil glared with a look of absurdity, but Eunchan ignored it completely and raised his staff, pointing it at Taegil.

Then.

“What!”

A tentacle-shaped spirit hiding in Taegil’s shadow restrained him and began to emit a dark light.

‘This is…’

Taewoon, noticing the anomaly quickly, moved, but unfortunately, he was one step too late.

In the blink of an eye, Eunchan and Taegil vanished and reappeared in front of the entrance to the Boss Room, and soon the entrance opened with a dull thud.

“Wh-what, are you crazy?”

“Well… if doing it alone is impossible, this is the only method left.”

Along with the struggling Taegil, who was surging with Magical Power, Eunchan vanished into the Boss Room, leaving Taewoon’s party to stare in bewilderment.

‘Damn it! He intends to use the Boss’s presence to create a chaotic brawl, is that it?’

It was an absurd idea, but honestly, it was a very effective means.

Especially since the abilities Eunchan had shown so far seemed suited for such a fight.

If a chaotic battle broke out as he intended, Taewoon’s party could not guarantee victory either.

“What are we going to do? I have a bad feeling about this…”

“…….”

“To be cold about it, there is the option of waiting here.”

No matter how skilled Eunchan was, it couldn’t be easy to face the boss of a dungeon of this level alone.

If Eunchan failed the raid, Taewoon’s party would be able to challenge the Boss Room with the remaining three of them intact.

However, Hyeeun, who had suggested it, didn’t seem to want to stick to that opinion.

“…I don’t mind. No matter what trap he’s set, I have no intention of falling for it easily.”

Taewoon took a slight step forward, and the hooded woman followed behind him without much hesitation.

At that, Hyeeun, relaxing her hardened expression, moved quickly and took the lead.

“…Alright, that’s how it should be.”

Staring at the Boss Room entrance that began to reveal itself again with a dull noise, Taewoon’s party slowly stepped inside.