Chapter 167

Choi Hyeon saw the crack starting from her fingertips and quickly turned to go back to her companions. The pain radiating from her fingertips was clearly the same pain she had felt before. She frowned deeply. She hadn’t gone that far, so she would probably be fine. As she was about to pass through the black trees and return, she heard a rustling sound from somewhere. Choi Hyeon immediately pulled back. Crack! A sharp foreleg flew to the spot where she had been before she moved. And the monster hidden behind the tree slowly began to reveal itself. Choi Hyeon furrowed her brow.

“It always has to show up at times like this.”

She gripped her sword tightly with her cracked right hand. Crackle, a sound of another crack was heard, and a pain like her forearm was being torn spread throughout her body. Choi gritted her teeth. She glanced down and saw that the crack had reached her forearm.

“Get out of the way!”

Choi Hyeon swung her sword widely from top to bottom.

Kaga-gak- With the sound of a hard shell breaking, the monster split in half. But at the same time, the crack that had reached Choi Hyeon’s forearm instantly split and spread to her shoulder. She screamed, clutching her arm, and collapsed to the ground. The monster, cut in half, was still wriggling on the ground. She raised her sword with bloodshot eyes. And began to hack the Entity into pieces. Annoyance surged through her. She thought it had been quiet, but of all times, now. She ground her teeth. The more she put strength into her body, the more the cracks spread throughout her entire body, and she didn’t know what to do. She shouted, calling her companions.

“Nara Shim!”

She thought they would be able to hear her since she wasn’t that far away.

“Taeyang Kang! Taehyeok Sa!”

She sat there silently, gasping for breath. And before long, her companions, who had heard her voice, appeared.

“You…”

Taehyeok Sa, Yeonhan Kim, and Myeongok Shin frowned as soon as they saw her condition. Choi Hyeon looked up at them quietly. Taeyang Kang rushed over to Choi Hyeon, but couldn’t bring himself to touch her, only staring at her cracked arm.

“W-what’s going on?”

“Shedding.”

“Shed skin? What do you mean, shed skin?”

“It’s just how it is.”

Taehyeok Sa approached Cho-i and asked,

“Can I touch it?”

“No, no.”

Cho-i Hyeon staggered to her feet. She gritted her teeth. The fact that she was starting to shed her skin at such a time made her incredibly annoyed. But there was definitely a way to fix this.

“We’re moving forward. It’ll take time to fully molt anyway.”

“Won’t even a brush of clothing against your body be painful?”

“So, should we just stand around in this situation?”

Cho-i Hyeon frowned. According to her last experience, it took several hours to shed her skin. But now, those hours were too precious to waste. She chose to move. Pain was familiar anyway. A grinding sound was heard as she gritted her teeth.

“I’m going to use the skill I got when I fought Gihyeon Park.”

“That one?”

“Yes. And I won’t stop until all my skin is shed. You can’t stop either.”

“Why are you moving so fiercely?”

She smiled savagely. Her exposed fangs were sharp.

“I can’t fall behind the others. And I’ll use everything I can. Understand?”

Cho-i Hyeon immediately activated her skill.

[Skill, Pain Sensation, is activated!] [Your stats are temporarily increased. Pain Sensation becomes doubly sensitive. Your stats are temporarily fixed by the amount of pain received!] [Measuring pain intensity…] [Additional stats + 89145…]

“Follow me closely.”

With her temporarily increased stats, she began to sense the presence of monsters. And from ahead, she heard the rustling of monsters. She ran towards that direction. At that moment, a burning pain began to rise from her legs.

[Measuring pain intensity…] [Additional stats + 93101…]

She bit her teeth so hard they almost bled. But she didn’t stop, instead leaping towards where the monsters were. Her companions followed urgently behind her. Chasing after her, Myeongok Shin asked,

“It’s true you can’t use the painkill skill right now, isn’t it?”

“That’s right.”

Taehyeok Sa replied with a frown. Taeyang Kang came to his side and asked,

“What exactly is going on? Why is Cho-i Hyeon like this?”

“Cho-i Hyeon’s body has been evolving in ways we don’t understand ever since she obtained the hidden item. This shedding is one of them.”

“She looks like she’s in pain.”

“She is. She said it feels like her flesh is being sliced with a knife.”

While the two were having a serious conversation, Cho-i Hyeon, who was running alone, encountered a monster. She raised her sword and charged at the monster. Unlike the large red mantises they had fought so far, these entities had one more leg each. And a sharp, horn-like or protuberance-like object protruded from their heads.

“Die!”

Cho-i Hyeon brought her sword down. The horned mantis raised its front legs to block the sword, but with a *kaga-ga-gak*, its arm was severed by her sword. The companions, who had stopped nearby for a moment, observed the monster.

[Calamity Mantis (SS Rank)]

“Damn, an SS-Rank monster already.”

“Cho-i Hyeon might be able to handle it somehow.”

But before he could finish, Taeyang Kang generated hundreds of icicles and hurled them at the monster fighting Cho-i Hyeon. Fortunately, since Taeyang Kang was SS-Rank, his attack was effective. The icicles pierced the hard shell and embedded themselves deep into the flesh. Red blood began to flow profusely. However, the monster shook its body once and dislodged all the icicles.

“Wait, it’s regenerating!”

“Damn it, this is getting troublesome.”

Dongju Kim immediately drew his sword and charged forward. He swung his sword directly at the back of the Entity’s neck, which seemed to be its weak spot. Kaga-ga-gak. A sharp sound struck his ears, but his attack was ineffective. It only left a slight scratch on the shell of its neck. Dongju Kim gritted his teeth and activated a skill.

[Skill, Single-Sword Strike is activated!]
[Attack power increases by 8%, and accuracy improves!]

Then, Nara Shim stepped forward.

“Take this from me too!”

[Skill, attack power increase is activated!]
[The attack power of a specific target increases by 18%!]

Kugeugeuk, kkeuk. With Nara Shim’s buff, the shell cracked. Cho-i Hyeon furrowed her brow, held her sword vertically, and Dongju Kim struck the cracked spot in one swift motion. Jeojeojeok, the sound of her body cracking again echoed. She gritted her teeth and trembled, then gripped her sword tightly. She bit her tongue to somehow maintain her sanity. The headless Mantis couldn’t regenerate its head, so it flailed wildly, unable to find its direction, swinging its seven legs in all directions. Everyone stepped back a few paces to avoid the Entity, and only Cho-i Hyeon quickly dodged the legs and plunged inward. Kadeuk Kwajijik-! She then thrust her sword into its relatively soft belly and powerfully slashed downwards. Instantly, its entrails spilled out and poured over her. She felt excruciating pain, as if her skin was being ripped, just from the sensation of the soft entrails brushing against her. But to avoid screaming, she gritted her teeth and swung her sword again. The gaping hole in its belly was empty, and it was not difficult to cut through what was left of the shell. Cho-i Hyeon was in immense pain, but at the same time, she was also the strongest. The Mantis, cut in half, writhed on the floor.

“They’re trying to reattach.”

Nara Shim said with a disgusted expression.

“It would have been good if Gihyeon Park were here.”

Taehyeok Sa had a regretful look. Because Gihyeon Park would surely have burned everything away. But there was a way even here.

“Taeyang Kang.”

When Cho-i Hyeon called, Taeyang Kang, as if understanding, froze the fragmented corpse of the Mantis. The frozen pieces soon stopped moving. Cracks had now reached Cho-i Hyeon’s neck. It was obvious that her clothes underneath were also shattered into a mess.

“…Let’s go.”

“Are you really going to be okay?”

“SS-Rank monsters will start appearing from now on. So it’s better if I exert maximum power in this state.”

“…Don’t overdo it.”

Taeyang Kang said to her. Cho-i Hyeon furrowed her brow. Overdo it? What’s overdoing it? I’ve always lived like this. She shook her head at his words. She thought it would be better to use herself this way if she could be useful anyway.

“I’m fine.”

She didn’t hesitate. And she began to move, chasing the presence of another monster. Everyone looked at her retreating figure with dark expressions.

* * *

Clang! Clash! Crunch!
As they went further in, the number of monsters increased. S+ Rank to SS-Rank monsters were mixed in, keeping the group incredibly busy. Cho-i Hyeon was tanking at the very front, cutting down monsters with a single stroke, while Dongju Kim and Yeonhan Kim stepped up to support Cho-i.
Taeyang Kang dealt damage to the monsters from a distance with icicles and blizzards, and Taehyeok Sa protected the healers and buffers, preventing monsters from getting too close to the group.

“Gasp, pant…”

Fortunately, there were no major injuries yet, but Cho-i Hyeon’s condition was visibly worsening. Her unfocused eyes wandered aimlessly, and cracks had already spread to her face, with shed skin falling off like glass shards.

“Aaah!”

She screamed when a mantis-type monster’s foreleg brushed her shoulder. It would have been fine if it was just a simple stab, but the pain, as if her entire body was being mutilated, combined with the injury, made that spot burn with agony.
Everyone turned their heads at her scream.

“Cho-i Hyeon!”

Taeyang Kang stepped forward and slashed off the head of the monster she was fighting with his spear. He then slammed it down to pin it to the floor and approached her, reaching out his hand.

“Don’t touch me!”

She refused Taeyang Kang’s touch, knowing that even a small contact would be painful right now.