Chapter 166

It was a forest. A completely red forest. Black trees stood everywhere, and abundant red leaves, as if soaked in blood, bloomed richly. As soon as Cho-i Hyeon saw the sight, she thought of Mantis Forest. Ah, what I saw last time has been upgraded. She looked around. No monsters were visible yet.

“I’ll keep going forward.”

“The other Hunters will probably split into teams too. Are we going north?”

Cho-i Hyeon nodded and walked forward. It was eerie. It felt like a land where nothing lived. There was no vitality in the leaves, and the tree trunks looked black and rotten. She furrowed her brows, gripped her shield and weapon tightly, and slowly walked forward. Rustle- Just then, she heard something moving. Cho-i Hyeon stopped abruptly, and so did her companions behind her. Thump, thump. With a loud sound, something emerged, pushing through the red leaves.

“…it’s big for a mantis-type monster, yeah.”

“Why, it’s smaller than the Ancient King’s Bones we fought last time.”

“That’s true.”

Taehyeok Sa bared his teeth and smiled. What appeared before them was a mantis-type monster, approximately 5 meters tall. As the entity appeared, all the Hunters immediately formed a line. Cho-i Hyeon stepped forward. Clang-clang-clang! She clashed her Sword and Shield to draw aggro, then lunged at the monster, swinging her sword. Crash! The sword was blocked by its massive foreleg. Cho-i Hyeon shifted her gaze to check the entity’s rank.

[Cursed Mantis (S-grade)]

Starting with an S-Rank monster, it was certainly an EX-Rank dungeon. She swung her sword a few more times. All attacks were blocked, but the mantis’s attention was definitely on her. She moved behind the entity, turning the monster’s head. This allowed her party members to attack the back of its head. Crunch-smash. Taeyang Kang’s icicle was the first to appear in the air. Then it shot directly at the monster’s head. Thud! It shattered the entity’s head shell and embedded itself inside its skull. An unknown liquid oozed from the mantis’s head. However. Boom! The giant foreleg striking at Cho-i Hyeon did not stop. Taeyang Kang gripped his spear, flustered.

“It’s still moving even with its head crushed?”

“That’s how they are! Turn its body to dust!”

“Leave that to me.”

Taehyeok Sa stepped forward. Taehyeok Sa used Telekinesis to begin crushing the mantis’s hard body. Snap, grunt, crunch. Gruesome sounds were heard. The mantis’s body, its head pierced, slowly began to crumple and compress. Crack, thud! And eventually, it shrunk to the size of a soccer ball and dropped to the floor with a thud. Cho-i Hyeon nudged the entity with her foot, a disgusted look on her face.

“Why do you always have to compress them like this? Everything inside bursts out and leaks everywhere.”

Indeed, as it shrunk to the size of a soccer ball, liquids and chunks, whether internal organs or something else, were oozing out. Taehyeok Sa shrugged. Cho-i Hyeon kicked the entity far away.

“It doesn’t seem like there’s only one around here, so let’s look for more.”

“I think it’s better to avoid scattering. The ranks appearing aren’t easy to deal with.”

Myeongok Shin nodded. Yeonhan Kim and Dongju Kim also expressed their agreement and began searching the vicinity. Before long, they discovered a cluster of monsters. The problem was that more than ten S-Rank monsters, similar to the one before, were gathered in one place. Cho-i Hyeon immediately tensed her shoulders and cast a skill.

[Casting skill, Sanity Paralysis!]

“Follow closely so you don’t miss anything.”

“Understood.”

She immediately leaped into the midst of the monsters. Recognizing this, countless forelegs from the monsters rained down on her mercilessly. She blocked the entities with her shield and took hits as she plunged into the center. Then she let out a shout. -! With a shriek, all the mantises’ heads turned towards Cho-i Hyeon. For Cho-i Hyeon now, S-Rank creatures were no problem. She swung her sword, slicing through the entities’ torsos and severing their forelegs in half. She cut open their bellies and thrust her sword further into the exposed organs, splitting them in two.

“Dongju Kim!”

“Okay!”

Then Dongju Kim and Yeonhan Kim climbed onto the mantises, who had their backs to them, and swung their swords from top to bottom. Clang! Crunch, the shell was hard and didn’t penetrate easily, but they forced the blades into the shell.

“Isn’t this not a mantis!?”

Dongju Kim said with a dissatisfied expression. Well, with its red color and hard shell, it might feel that way. Cho-i Hyeon chuckled in that situation and severed the waist of the monster that had its foreleg embedded in her shoulder. Taeyang Kang raised his spear, piercing the neck of a nearby mantis and freezing it solid. Then he struck the frozen creature, shattering it into pieces. Suui Kim, who was A+ Rank, was.

“I’m going!”

“Please!”

[Using skill attack power increase! The attack power of a specific target increases by 18%!] [Using skill agility increase! The agility of a specific target increases by 18%!]

Suui Kim rushed towards one mantis. And system windows popped up one after another before Cho-i Hyeon’s eyes.

[Successfully linked with supporter!] [Nara Shim] [Buff Skills Stack on Linked Attack] [Suui Kim] [Double Attack Power on Linked Attack]

Slice! His sword struck. As the sharp blade severed the Mantis’s head, Suui Kim didn’t stop there, swinging his sword down again from above. Thump! And the Mantis’s body, split in half, crashed to the floor. With the linked bonus from Nara Shim’s buff, Suui Kim was fully performing the role of an S-Rank.

“It was a good idea to bring him after all!”

Cho-i Hyeon said, striking down the Mantis’s head that had brought its maw before her. Unidentifiable liquid chunks dripped from the Entity’s head, messing up her hair. Cho-i Hyeon lifted her knee, striking the monster’s jaw upwards, then stabbed her sword into its exposed belly, slicing it in half.

“Ugh.”

Cho-i Hyeon brushed off the splatters on her body. While she was taking care of the ones in the center, the others had already cleared out the ones lingering on the periphery. Seeing how well they worked together, it seemed there wouldn’t be any major problems in the future. Cho-i Hyeon stepped forward, treading on the shattered Mantises. For now, it seemed there were only S-Rank monsters in this vicinity.

“What are the other teams doing?”

“I’m not worried about Hwayeon and Geumsin, but I am concerned about the teams with few or no S-Ranks.”

“But do we really need to worry about them?”

“Later, when there aren’t enough people, we might regret it.”

“But if they’re not helpful now, they won’t be helpful later either.”

Taehyeok Sa looked at Cho-i Hyeon with a strange expression.

“Why do you say sensible things so often these days?”

“I’ve always only said sensible things, you jerk.”

Cho-i paused, leaving the Mantis corpses below, and once again called out to the Entity in her mind.

‘Hey, hey.’

But there was still no answer. Cho-i frowned. She had a bad feeling. Had there ever been a time when there was no answer like this? Her kin had appeared as Calamities, and she should have heard their screams, but there was no sound at all. As Cho-i Hyeon stood there, merely frowning, Taeyang Kang approached and asked,

“Are you okay?”

“Oh, oh yeah, I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

Cho-i Hyeon shook her head and moved forward again. And she continued to fight the mantis monsters, which were no different from the previous ones.

“Nara Shim, buff!”

“Got it!”

“Suui Kim, take the left!”

“Okay!”

“Taehyeok Sa, don’t slack off!”

“I’ve never slacked off.”

“You’re like Zhixuan!”

“My goodness, such language.”

As they fought relentlessly, their stamina gradually dwindled. Cho-i Hyeon was fine because she was using Sanity Paralysis, but the other Hunters seemed to be losing a lot of stamina from fighting S-Ranks like herself.

“We should take a short break.”

Taehyeok Sa looked around. Yeonhan Kim and Dongju Kim, as well as Nara Shim and Suui Kim, all seemed very tired. Taeyang Kang, an SS-Rank, seemed somewhat fine, but he couldn’t be entirely unfatigued. Taehyeok Sa himself had used a lot of his abilities. Taehyeok Sa looked down at his hand. After fighting dozens of S-Ranks for the first time in a while, his hand was trembling slightly. He anticipated that the road ahead would be more challenging and chose to conserve his stamina here.

“Already?”

Cho-i Hyeon, who had monstrous stamina, asked. Taehyeok Sa nodded.

“Not everyone is like you.”

“I know that well.”

Cho-i Hyeon grumbled, kicking the monster corpses aside. She was just starting to feel warmed up, so taking a break was a bit disappointing.

“Can I go wander around on my own for a bit?”

“…Well, if it’s you.”

“I’ll be right back.”

“We’ll be setting up camp here, so go play for a little while.”

“Okay!”

As soon as Choi Hyeon answered, she pushed off the ground and leaped high. Everyone watched her retreating figure and thought, “What monstrous stamina.” Choi Hyeon ran between the trees, searching for monsters. She spotted a monster in the distance and drew her sword. Kaga-gak! Choi Hyeon flew in and cut down the monster in one swift motion, then began slaughtering the monsters she saw nearby. The Entity’s power is limitless. The Entity said that what they call Kings are gods. Ultimately, the Entity is a god of a world.

‘If something like that becomes a Calamity, it really can’t be stopped.’

If she hadn’t merged with the Entity, it would have surely become a Calamity threatening the world. That is, if, as they discussed before, being one with her meant it wasn’t affected by this dungeon. Having finished the battle, Choi Hyeon dusted off her hands. The area was filled with the fragmented corpses of monsters, like chunks of meat. But then,

“Huh?”

Choi Hyeon looked down at her hand. Something was stinging. There was a small crack on her palm.

“…Ah. Damn it, no way.”

She cursed. In this situation? No.