Chapter 178 – Poisonous Insect Dungeon (2)

-If the Hero had accepted the throne offered to him, none of this would have happened.

So said Kei, the already-dead leader of the Villains.

There was a flaw in his logic.

But no one pointed it out.

The Hero had achieved the unification of the continent, and though factions had not completely vanished, peace was maintained.

But anyone who had lived through the war knew that this peace would not last forever.

What if the Hero, who had achieved such a great feat, had ascended as the Hero-King?

None of the Seven Kingdoms would have dared to oppose him.

Who would dare raise a sword against the man who had confronted the Seven Kingdoms with his own forces and ultimately demonstrated his supremacy?

The Hero returned to his own world without any greed, and while the Seven Kingdoms upheld the peace treaty, they once again began to dream of future conquests.

It was like a fox ruling a forest without a tiger.

The result was a multitude of tragedies.

Many people died, and many tragedies occurred.

To make matters worse, the Demon King Gamigin was summoned.

Most of those now called Villains had made contracts with her, seeking to be granted power.

Even their leader, Kei, had done so.

But Seol Ji-hoon chose not to.

The Demon King was no different.

She was just another invader with a different name.

Seol Ji-hoon had been biding his time, conserving his strength for the day of revolution that Kei had spoken of.

But he couldn’t just sit idly by.

In the time he had left, he needed to train himself.

He sought out a guild to hunt in dungeons, but no one would take him, a man with no credentials.

Here, a healer was nothing more than a support who could barely restore HP.

Of course, he was different. But no one would acknowledge that.

He started again from the very bottom, raising his synchronization rate.

And he awakened another power: the Knight.

Finally, Seol Ji-hoon’s efforts began to pay off, and his talent started to take shape.

He grew at a steep pace and soon achieved S-rank. But that wasn’t the end.

Somewhere on this Earth, those damn bastards were surely walking around unscathed.

-Our enemy is everything in this place.

That’s what Kei had said.

-Are you going to say that the son of some nouveau riche who got wealthy off the blood and sweat of others is innocent?

It was these modern people who created the 100 Mages in the first place.

The weapons they made, the food they produced, had nurtured and strengthened the hateful enemy.

Kei was dead.

He had spoken of starting a revolution, yet he had achieved nothing.

His empty death felt uncomfortably close to his own fate, leaving a bitter taste.

Seol Ji-hoon checked his overall physical condition.

He had used a fair amount of mana, but it didn’t matter.

A prolonged fight against the Hero was unlikely anyway. He had experienced that for certain last time.

A swift, decisive battle.

Protect the entire body with sturdy armor, then bait the opponent into carelessness. Exploit that small opening as the key to victory.

That was the only way he could survive.

“Why don’t you take off that ridiculous bear mask? There’s no one here to see you.”

Now that he had become a hero, it was natural for him to be conscious of others’ gazes.

“Not running away?”

The Hero in the bear costume asked.

The flash of light from his eyes every time he spoke felt like a rather tasteless hobby.

“Why would I run?”

Seol Ji-hoon said with a smile.

The blades of the Twin Driver in his right hand pulsed with mana, emitting a brilliant light.

“Not when there’s a bonus in front of me that could drop more experience and better items than the boss.”

“To hear you talk, one might think you’re strong.”

S-rank. And the strongest tanker.

Of course, he was strong. But when the Hero said something like that, it didn’t sound like a joke.

“You never know until you try, right?”

Seol Ji-hoon began to walk slowly. Then he started to run.

Running away without a backward glance just because the opponent was overwhelmingly stronger didn’t suit his personality.

The leader who would start the revolution was dead, and he couldn’t move forward without defeating the Hero blocking his path.

There was no retreat.

There was only one thing that worried him.

Instead of leaving late, he had wanted some form of revenge. He just felt sorry that he couldn’t even get that revenge before going to his family.

*Zzzzzat!*

Seol Ji-hoon’s Twin Driver flew forward, seeming to detonate the air in an instant.

*Clang! Zzzzzat!*

The Hero parried the Twin Driver with a black blade.

The blade, on which a constellation was beginning to be etched, and the mana-amplifying Twin Driver clashed, creating a deafening noise.

“Aegis.”

As Seol Ji-hoon uttered the activation word, the pre-stored skill pattern embroidered itself chaotically in the air, summoning a shield of light.

Again, and again.

Seol Ji-hoon unleashed several Aegis shields at once.

*Clang, shatter!*

The Hero sliced through and shattered the light shields surrounding him in a single motion.

There was no need to conserve even a single drop of mana.

He would fight as if there were no tomorrow.

“Is this some kind of artisan spirit? Should I just break them all for you?”

The Hero’s mocking voice reached him.

He was shattering the Aegis shields as if they were glass bowls.

From Seol Ji-hoon’s perspective, it was enough to drive him mad.

Even a 3-star boss had been crushed to death by his Aegis.

‘I’ll assume he’s 6-star or higher.’

He had defeated a 6-star boss, so he wasn’t just 6-star or higher.

He had to assume he was facing an unprecedented monster, the likes of which had never appeared on Earth before.

After all, a pure 6-star boss had never appeared.

“Oh, this one was a bit tougher. Doesn’t that consume a lot of mana?”

The Hero shattered all the Aegis shields and closed the distance in an instant.

Seol Ji-hoon was calmer than he had ever been.

He hadn’t just been mindlessly throwing out his abilities.

The first time he fought the Hero, he had been careless and was defeated in an instant. But now, he was calculating everything, betting everything he had on this fight.

‘Got it.’

Seol Ji-hoon crossed his hands and clenched them.

At that moment, golden and silver lights intertwined around him and shot up above his head.

“Double Cast?”

The Hero asked.

A monster, indeed. To think he knew what Seol Ji-hoon was doing even while shattering the Aegis shields.

While using Aegis, Seol Ji-hoon had simultaneously been preparing a different skill pattern.

All skills linked to the System were patterned.

In other words, there was a set unlocking method to use a skill.

You could think of it as forming hand seals to cast a spell.

Awakened individuals connected to the System usually stored these patterns and summoned them for use.

That’s why they bothered to say the skill names.

By uttering their self-designated activation word, the pattern would be created through auto-casting, and the skill would be used.

“Your carelessness,”

While using an ability skill, Seol Ji-hoon had been simultaneously creating a manual pattern with his other hand.

It was slow because he was doing two things at once, but he drew the pattern accurately.

This was his ultimate move, the one meant to strike down the Hero.

“has given me an opportunity.”

He certainly could have bypassed the Aegis shields and attacked from the side. But an MMA fighter doesn’t guard against a grade-schooler.

And that carelessness was the only path to victory for Seol Ji-hoon.

“Punishment.”

Two opposing lights formed pillars on either side of him, creating two baby angels.

The baby angels, standing atop the pillars of light, flapped their wings and opened their eyes toward their enemy.

*Kiiiiiaaaaaaa!*

With the shriek of the twin baby angels, everything began to break and shatter.

The ground crumbled like sand and flew in all directions, and for a moment, there was nothing but a blinding light.

“Cough!”

As soon as his ultimate move ended, Seol Ji-hoon collapsed to the ground, coughing up blood.

The mana that had suffused his entire body was now gone, oxidized without a trace.

He couldn’t walk or stand properly, but he had done it.

It was a technique he couldn’t have been sure would work.

“Heh.”

The Hero wasn’t responding.

No matter what kind of monster he was, it was an attack that borrowed the power of a god.

Gods, as it turned out, were not as omnipotent as they were known to be.

They were nothing more than beings subordinate to the System.

The only thing that set them apart from humans was their ability to interfere with the System.

In gaming terms, they were like administrators.

A few hidden skills existed that borrowed the power of that System.

Everyone had a different name for them.

Seol Ji-hoon called it his finishing move. Because it was, literally, a move to ensure death.

Seol Ji-hoon smiled.

In that instant, he flinched.

The Hero’s mana… was still there.

He watched as the smoke cleared.

Standing there was the Hero, looking at him with a pitiful expression.

“How…!”

It was an extra skill that borrowed the power of a god. There was no way he could be that unscathed after taking a direct hit.

“Full health….”

“…!”

It was the kind of bluff gamers often made when their HP was full.

But Lee Hyunbin had truly taken no damage.

“You damn monster.”

Seol Ji-hoon muttered in a daze, not even realizing he’d spoken.

The enraged bear charged.

Seol Ji-hoon used his Twin Driver as a staff to get up. He had no intention of taking it lying down.

*Crack!*

A punch that seemed to momentarily blur his consciousness struck him in the face.

“Aegi—”

He tried to use a skill, but nothing came out. He had already exhausted all his mana.

*Thwack!*

A hook and a straight landed in alternation.

Seol Ji-hoon raised his arms to guard, but it was meaningless.

‘What the…!’

His HP was plummeting.

With each hit, his mind grew distant, as if a white canvas had been placed before his eyes.

“Head.”

Even after hearing the Hero’s word, Seol Ji-hoon couldn’t block the blow to his face.

“Head.”

He raised his guard. But a punch landed deep in his stomach.

“Body.”

*Crack!*

This time, a low kick landed cleanly.

Seol Ji-hoon lost his balance and sprawled onto the floor.

His HP was already flashing red.

He had expected it, but he was no match at all.

Absolute death. An absolute powerhouse.

This was the Hero who had conquered the continent. Someone like him was not even a worthy opponent.

He was going to die.

The fear in his heart suddenly began to ease into comfort.

If anything, it was a relief.

Assaulted by overwhelming force, Seol Ji-hoon no longer tried to get up and just coughed.

“Hey.”

The bear spoke.

“This world, that world, they’re all the same. Do you get it now? Just how half-assed your thinking was.”

“….”

Seol Ji-hoon turned his head to look at the Hero.

He hadn’t finished him off.

“What are you… trying to say….”

“You’re aiming your arrows at the wrong target.”

The Hero said to the coughing Seol Ji-hoon.

He wasn’t so foolish as to not understand what his words meant.

Vile humans who don’t see other humans as human exist everywhere.

As if trying to uphold a law of conservation of villains.

“If you need a target, I’ll show you one.”

“Are you… thinking of putting me… on your ridiculous team, too?”

“What nonsense. You’re with Tushin, so you should stay with Tushin.”

With that, the Hero turned his back.

“Competition for the sake of growth is good, but creating rifts for the sake of growth is foolish.”

Seol Ji-hoon didn’t answer. There was still something he wanted to ask.

He grit his teeth and struggled to his feet.

“You’re just as half-assed. You leave the choice to others. Do you think that’s kindness? Do you think that’s respecting them? Do you think that’s peace?”

He knew it wasn’t his fault.

But he could have united the Seven Kingdoms. Yet he returned to his own world.

At Seol Ji-hoon’s question, the Hero turned his head.

“That’s why, this time, I intend to stand above everything.”

“…!”

The Hero had walked the path of supremacy but had refused to become king.

The man who had done so was now declaring his intent to rise to the top. And Seol Ji-hoon wasn’t stupid enough to not understand why he was saying this to him.

“You should be glad you caused trouble but didn’t cause an accident.”

“…?”

He couldn’t understand what the Hero meant. But he found out in the next moment.

He took something out of his inventory and rolled it across the floor.

*Thump, thump, roll.*

The rolling object was the head of a woman with short black hair.

It was the severed head of the Company Man.

The Company Man was a shadowmancer, so she wouldn’t die easily.

Even he couldn’t guarantee victory if he fought her.

The Hero’s meaning.

The Company Man had massacred people, but Seol Ji-hoon had acted purely as a Hunter.

“If you see her, tell her I’m looking for her.”

Ryu Ji-yeon’s head soon turned into shadow smoke and disappeared.

Seol Ji-hoon sat silently on the floor, watching the Hero’s back.

“Ha…”

Seol Ji-hoon laughed, feeling empty.

At that moment, he heard the sound of an impact against the boss room.

After a few more impacts, the blocked entrance to the boss room was breached.

“Ji-hoon!”

“What the fuck, why is there a bear in here?”

“There are still monsters left?”

Seol Ji-hoon was about to say it wasn’t an enemy but closed his mouth.

For some reason, his vision was blurry.

*Drip, drip.*

Tears had welled up in his eyes, blurring his surroundings.

“Wait, I’m a person… Who shoots a blow dart… at someone who’s talking?”

The Hero, trying to clear up the misunderstanding while taking off his bear mask, was attacked with a blow dart, which triggered a bad memory.

“Agh! This bear bastard is strong as hell!”

“What kind of bear throws a one-two jab! Ugh!”

The dungeon was collapsing.

His guildmates, who had come to save him, a Villain, despite the danger, no longer looked like insects.

They were his comrades.

Seol Ji-hoon no longer remained seated; he stood up.

It seemed it was still too early to go see his family.