Chapter 100

Chapter 100

With James Hunter’s booming shout, a shield—smaller than the previous ones—unfurled in front of him. *Kwaaang!* From far off, the lump of metal shot toward him collided with the blue barrier. *Kkigik, gigigik…!* Even after slamming into the barrier, the ‘Knight’ showed no sign of giving up.

The bastard kept charging even while blocked by the barrier. *Gigik, kkigigik…* And sure enough, the blue barrier couldn’t withstand its charge and shattered with a sound like breaking glass, scattering in all directions. The ‘Knight’ didn’t miss the opening. Its metal body shot toward James Hunter in an instant.

“Eep!”

With a strangely endearing exclamation, *kwaang!* The ‘Knight’s’ body, which had been hurtling toward James Hunter, lurched sideways. The thing that had struck the Knight’s body was an arrow so massive it might as well have been called a spear.

And the one who had fired that massive arrow, Hunter Joo Minjeong, stood beside the wyvern she had just taken down herself, holding a bow as tall as she was. She immediately shouted at James Hunter.

“I’m gonna use a skill, so you handle the aggro!”

At those words, Hunter Joo Minjeong’s form seemed to melt into thin air and vanished. The moment she disappeared, James Hunter raised his shield again and charged at the ‘Knight.’ *Thud!* The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out loudly. The ‘Knight’ used its ‘Shield’ to block James Hunter’s strike, then tried to attack him again with its own body.

But.

*Thunk!* An attack came from the empty air where there was clearly no one. One side of the bastard’s helmet caved in as if struck by something. But it wasn’t just once. *Thunk! Thwunk, thunk!* Attacks kept coming from the empty air where there was clearly nothing. Each time, the ‘Knight’ was shoved this way and that, following the direction of the blows.

*Thunk, thwunk, thunk…!*

*—Wooooooong!*

Had it gotten angry from the relentless attacks? Inside its armor, the red ‘core’ began to move its mana. And immediately, three silver magic circles formed around it. The moment James Hunter saw those circles, he shouted urgently.

“It’s trying to summon ‘Swords’! Everyone, brace yourselves!”

Just as he said, the silver summoning circles conjured three ‘Swords’ in an instant. One of the three swords shot toward James Hunter, another toward us, and the last one soared above the ‘Knight’s’ head and began firing beams in all directions like a shotgun.

“Deploy shield!!”

With James Hunter’s desperate shout, a blue barrier shot up. The barrier safely blocked both the laser beams pouring in from afar and the strike from the ‘Sword’ aimed at us. But not those outside the barrier’s range.

James Hunter managed to dodge the sword aimed at him, but he seemed unable to avoid the laser beams fired by the sword above the ‘Knight’s’ head. Gripping his right shoulder with his other hand, he retreated while evading the ‘Knight’s’ attacks, making his way to where Hunter Joo Minjeong was.

“Ah, shit…! No, no swearing, gotta hold it in.”

“Are you alright?”

“Worry about yourself instead of me! I just got my stealth skill canceled trying to dodge that thing!”

The bow in Hunter Joo Minjeong’s hand vanished, and a crossbow appeared on the back of her hand in its place. She immediately began firing arrows, aiming for the gaps in the Knight’s armor as it charged at them.

*Thunk, thunk thunk!*

But the Knight twisted or turned its body, nullifying her attacks, and raised its shield again. Moreover, the swords the ‘Knight’ had summoned weren’t idle either. The three ‘Swords’ were still aiming their blades at the blue barrier that remained intact.

“Ugh, seriously! Why are these mobs so annoyingly tough?!”

“I’ll lure it, so you use your stealth skill again—”

“That’s on cooldown!”

At Hunter Joo Minjeong’s irritated shout, the ‘Knight’ took a stance. But then, in an instant.

“Both of you.”

A flash of gold.

“Please lower your heads for a moment.”

*Kwaaaaang!* A golden light shot from somewhere too far to gauge, consuming the three swords that had been aiming their blades at the blue barrier from afar. Hunter Joo Minjeong and James Hunter slowly lifted their heads, which they had each lowered. Golden mana in the form of flames devoured the three swords as they twisted their bodies in a final act of resistance.

“Whoa.”

At the same time as a small exclamation escaped Hunter Joo Minjeong’s lips, a silver light shot out from afar this time. *Kwaang!* A blow that split the air and tore through the ground swallowed the ‘Knight’ that had been taking a charging stance toward them. The ‘Knight’ tried to resist the massive mana that had suddenly engulfed it, but it couldn’t overcome the force of the mana that crushed and devoured it whole.

Before long, its core seemed to break, and it began to disappear into light particles.

“Can’t you handle a single mob like this?”

“Hey, you son of a… That one was already half-finished by me and this guy here, you know?”

While James Hunter and Joo Minjeong had been dealing with the ‘Knight’ and the ‘Wyvern,’ Jeong Seojin and Adam Rogers seemed to have succeeded in taking down the two ‘Dragons.’ They finished off the ‘Shields’ lingering nearby, then checked on Joo Minjeong and James Hunter before coming over to where I was.

“We’ve taken down the mid-gate ‘Dragons,’ so we’re almost at the destination now, Seohee.”

Adam shook the dark red blood off the golden sword he was holding, then immediately came to my side and reported the progress.

“So now it’s just the place where the final boss is… exactly, just the gate left?”

“Yes. Of course, monsters like ‘Swords,’ ‘Shields,’ ‘Knights,’ or ‘Wyverns’ will still pop up along the way, but we can handle those easily enough.”

“Ugh, must be nice for you. Me and this guy here were rolling around because we couldn’t even handle one of those easily.”

Hunter Joo Minjeong, who had somehow taken a spot next to me alongside Jeong Seojin, muttered in a discontented tone. I had nothing to say, so I just forced an awkward smile. In fact, Adam had just blown away an opponent that even S-Rank Hunters Joo Minjeong and James Hunter had struggled with—even if they weren’t injured—in a single strike.

‘Even though it’s just a single plus… the gap is this huge.’

Even though I already knew that the higher the rank, the bigger the difference a single plus made, it was still surprising. While I was inwardly marveling at the power Adam and Jeong Seojin had shown, James Hunter, who had been heading toward his subordinates, called out to us.

“I can see the gate in the distance! We’ll be entering the gate directly, so please prepare yourselves!”

Just as he said, far off beyond the passageway ahead, the shape of the ‘gate’ that Adam had explained to me was coming into view.

* * *

“Whoa……”

Three hours to reach the mid-gate, one hour spent resting after clearing the mid-gate, and another three hours to get from there to here. After a total of seven hours, the final gate we arrived at was incredibly majestic. I stared blankly at the sight before me, half-dazed.

“It really feels like someone just plopped an entire castle down here.”

The ‘gate’ leading to where the final boss was took the form of a massive castle door. I took a step back and silently stared at the gate. The enormous door, engraved with a Western-style dragon pattern, and the walls surrounding it were as tall as a three- or four-story building.

‘Ah, that must be it.’

In front of the gate, glowing a vivid red, a single sword—anyone would guess it was the legendary Caliburn—was stuck into a rough rock. Even though we were inside a dungeon, under a clear blue sky that stood out vividly, the golden sword possessed a presence worthy of a legendary blade.

“That must be Caliburn.”

Just then, a voice that seemed to share the same impression as mine came from beside me. It was Hunter Joo Minjeong. She approached me, putting the bow she’d used to smash the wyvern’s head into her Inventory, and stared at Caliburn.

“It’s prettier than I thought, huh? …Or should I say pretty? At least, it doesn’t look like something a great legendary king would have used.”

“…It looks familiar.”

“……?”

It was Jeong Seojin who answered Hunter Joo Minjeong’s exclamation as she came up next to me. Jeong Seojin’s eyes, narrowed as if to get a better look at the sword of judgment stuck in the rock far away, held a different hue than usual. Thanks to that, I realized he was using ‘Eye of Tamine.’

“Jeong Seojin.”

I reflexively grabbed his arm. As soon as I caught him, Jeong Seojin withdrew ‘Taminae’s Eye’ and looked at me. I shook my head gently. It hadn’t even been a week since I’d heard that he’d once gone blind from overusing ‘Taminae’s Eye.’ I didn’t want to see him use that skill if I could help it.

“…Seriously. Even though you’re mad at me.”

“That’s one thing, and this is another.”

It was true that I still had unresolved feelings toward him, but at the same time, it was also true that I was worried about him. Fortunately, Jeong Seojin listened to me this time. He withdrew his gaze from Caliburn and instead stared at Adam, who was standing behind us.

“So now Yoon Seohee just needs to pull that thing out?”

“Yes, that’s correct. However, the advance party has gone ahead to check for any traps in the vicinity, so we would appreciate it if you could wait just a moment.”

As Adam said, the advance party was heading toward the area around Caliburn to search for any potential traps. James Hunter and his men had scattered in all directions, inspecting every nook and cranny, and the sight of them reminded me of mine-sweeping operations I’d seen a few times on TV.