Episode 16
“Aaaagh!”
A scream tore through the air.
I felt this was coming. But the party leader didn’t listen to me.
Kang Hyun-jun shook his head. He had warned them about the ambush, but both Han Seok and the rest of the party had treated him with icy indifference. They said Hyun-jun was talented, and Ye-seul seemed to think highly of him, but in their eyes he was still only a C-Class Hunter. They had brushed off his warning as nothing worth worrying about. The result was bloodshed.
“Oppa! The front line!”
It collapsed.
Tanker Lee Jin-seok had been neutralized, and the hunter wielding the longsword had gone down with him. With that, the vanguard had lost its role entirely.
The ambushers are twelve Shadow Swordsmen.
Shadow Swordsmen were demon beasts classified as B-Class elites. Twelve of them had launched a surprise attack, so the party had no choice but to be in mortal danger. If not for Han Seok, the A-Class magic hunter, they would already have been wiped out.
“Kh-hk!”
Even with Han Seok’s support, the fighter who had been holding the front alone coughed up blood and fell. Now the Shadow Swordsmen’s attention turned to the rear line, where Han Seok, Hyun-jun, and Ye-seul stood.
Five left.
Thanks to the efforts of the vanguard and Han Seok, seven had already been brought down. But the situation was still far from good. The rear line’s combat strength was desperate. There was an A-Class hunter present, yes, but he was a mage, and his limits were obvious. Ye-seul was a support hunter, so she could not contribute much in direct combat. That left Hyun-jun as the only remaining fighter.
Then I carry this.
He raised his sword and shield. At that instant, a voice rang out.
-As the will of Dantzig, the One Who Failed to Protect, takes root within you, you will not fall as long as there is someone you must protect.
As the voice echoed in his ear, an unfathomable power surged through his entire body.
“K-Kang Hyun-jun!”
Ye-seul’s voice rang out, thick with panic. It was obvious why. Hyun-jun had suddenly shot forward like a bullet.
“If you keep that up, you’ll die—”
Han Seok’s warning never finished. He had already seen a C-Class Hunter smash the face of a B-Class elite demon beast with a shield.
“W-What the hell...”
The precision with which Hyun-jun struck with the shield and, in the same motion, drove his sword in to destroy the core was not something any C-Class Hunter should have been capable of.
This can’t be explained by a second awakening. This is a matter of real combat experience...
Han Seok’s gaze on Hyun-jun wavered. In an instant, one Shadow Swordsman had been taken out. The others realized Hyun-jun was a dangerous enemy and raised their blades toward him.
Four left.
One Shadow Swordsman closed the distance in a blink. Hyun-jun lifted his shield. Carthago’s blessing was absent, but the Shield of Grudges he had obtained from defeating the Skeleton Champion cleanly intercepted the pitch-black sword strike.
“I’ll support you!”
Han Seok’s voice came from behind him. Thanks to Hyun-jun drawing aggro, the space around Han Seok and Ye-seul was clear.
“Wind Cutter!”
The hastily completed attack spell went for the Shadow Swordsman. But a B-Class elite demon beast was not so easy an opponent. The black blade blocked the wind’s edge. Yet it was not fast enough to defend against Hyun-jun’s sword that followed. When the B-Class weapon Ye-seul had lent him shattered the core, the Shadow Swordsman’s body, made of mana and shadow, scattered away without resistance.
Three left. This is nothing.
No C-Class Hunter would ever describe three B-Class elite demon beasts as “nothing,” even with an A-Class mage backing him up. It took less than twenty minutes to finish off the three Shadow Swordsmen. Han Seok, watching from the side, was stunned into admiration. But the raid still was not over. This was where it truly began.
“The boss is moving!”
The boss, which had been observing the battle from the darkness, finally began to act.
Protect it no matter what!
Someone’s voice scraped across his ears. He could not tell for certain, but it was probably that past life named Dantzig. Hyun-jun raised his shield and drew up his mana, calling forth the blessing.
-Carthago’s righteous shield protects you. As long as the great guardian stands with you, nothing can threaten you.
Now the Aura Shield was clear and bright as well. With Han Seok’s support added on top, this was manageable.
An assassin of darkness, huh...
It was a demon beast ranked among the upper end even within the A-Class. With the boss bonus on top of that, it would not be an easy opponent.
-Hashashin’s insidious laughter warns you of danger.
Bang!
“Khk!”
A heavy impact surged through the shield. For an ordinary C-Class Hunter, that strike would have shattered every bone in the left arm holding the shield. But Hyun-jun endured it.
“You... you took a hit from the Dark Assassin?”
Han Seok stared in disbelief. Sorry, but this was no time to stand around admiring things with that kind of leisure!
“Han Seok! Support him! Ye-seul, use Bless!”
“Wind Cutter!”
“Bless!”
The wind blades surged toward the Dark Assassin, and Ye-seul canceled the Haste buff she had been maintaining to cast Bless, a higher-tier all-round buff instead.
At that moment, Carthago’s and Dantzig’s blessings were both still active. Once Ye-seul’s Bless was added on top, his body felt lighter and stronger all at once, and confidence began to well up inside him.
“Wind Cutter!”
Han Seok’s attack spell came storming at the Dark Assassin. Even for an A-Class hunter, repeatedly casting high-tier magic placed a heavy burden on his mana. Hyun-jun could tell at a glance that Han Seok was pushing himself too hard.
To think an upper-tier A-Class demon beast, with boss enhancement on top of it, would be this strong...
This was beyond expectation. He had heard rumors that A-Class demon beasts were powerful, but not to this extent. Then again, he had never actually fought one before, so he could hardly have known better.
Protect it. No matter what!
The voice kept coming. From a single exchange, he had grasped the Dark Assassin’s overwhelming strength, but he still did not think he would lose.
I’m not alone right now.
Past lives were with him.
“W-Wind Cutter!”
Wind blades poured down. The Dark Assassin gave ground swiftly, executing a perfect evasion.
“S-Sorry!”
“It’s fine. I’ll handle it.”
Han Seok had reached his limit now. Hyun-jun could barely feel any mana left in him. If Han Seok had not been throwing out well-timed attack spells while the Dark Assassin traded those brief exchanges with him, Hyun-jun might not have been able to hold out at all.
“Ye-seul. How long can you keep the buff up?”
This was the important question. Even with Carthago’s and Dantzig’s blessings, Ye-seul’s Bless was showing a level of efficiency that could not be ignored.
“At most five more minutes. Sorry.”
“Five minutes is enough.”
“Eh...?”
As Hyun-jun turned his head and answered in a voice full of certainty, Ye-seul’s eyes wavered.
He’s saying five minutes is enough against an upper-tier A-Class demon beast with boss enhancement...? Even if he’s a second awakening, this is...
Before Ye-seul’s thought could even finish, Hyun-jun shot toward the Dark Assassin like a bullet. Rather than swinging his sword, he smashed into it with the shield reinforced by aura.
Bang!
The Dark Assassin raised its dagger to defend, but it could not fully disperse the heavy force behind the shield, and its stance shattered. Hyun-jun did not miss the opening. He stepped back a single quick pace, then recovered the shield. And then, once again, shield bash!
Bang!
This time, it took the hit head-on. The Dark Assassin staggered hard and was forced back.
“Han Seok!”
An opening! But...
I don’t have enough attack power.
If he could use an Aura Blade, it would have been different. But not yet. It was impossible.
“Aaaagh! Wind Cutter!”
The wind blade went for the Dark Assassin. It looked like an attack spell Han Seok had scraped together with every last scrap of his remaining mana. The flying wind blade shredded the Dark Assassin’s upper body. It seemed unable to defend because Hyun-jun’s powerful shield bash had broken its stance.
The Dark Assassin collapsed helplessly in pieces, leaving behind a mana stone as it vanished.
Seeing that, Hyun-jun also withdrew the blessings.
“W-We won...”
Han Seok’s voice trembled. They had defeated the boss of a B-Class elite dungeon while half the party, no, two-thirds of their main combat force had been incapacitated.
“Y-You’re a second awakening...”
Han Seok still looked shocked. He had only ever heard about the value of a second awakening, but this was the first time he had seen it with his own eyes.
If Kang Hyun-jun joined our team...
The thought flashed through him that they might even be able to threaten the unshakable No. 1 regular raid team in Korea, Joseon.
“Ugh...”
“Damn it, I’m dying here...”
The groans of the party members snapped Han Seok out of his daze. Ye-seul hurriedly treated them with emergency medicine.
“I’m heading out first. Take your time with the transfer.”
It looked like emergency treatment would take a while, so Hyun-jun returned to his studio room first. Not long after, a message arrived saying the payment had been deposited.
Fifty million won... That’s more than I expected.
He had made an impact, but he had not expected them to pay him this well. Considering there were six party members, it was a generous amount. Thanks to that, he could go to bed in a very good mood.
And as always, he opened his eyes in a dream.
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