Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Summit Slaughter
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Thud, roll...
"What...?"
As the arrow rain ceased, a fallen hobgoblin's head rolled right up to their feet.
It wore a smiling face.
It had clearly died without even realizing it had been decapitated.
Gulp. Manager Gu and the team leaders swallowed dryly and lifted their heads.
High above on the sheer cliff.
The faint silhouette of a boy facing off against dozens of monsters came into view.
"What kind of sorcery is that?"
They had seen Jae-hyeok scaling the cliff.
But they'd been too busy deflecting arrows to watch all the way through.
Somehow, he'd already reached the top, and none of them could figure out how.
'Does he have a flight-type artifact or skill?'
Even if House Kang had fallen, it was still a ducal house.
It wouldn't be strange if he possessed rare treasures.
Team Leader Seol and Team Leader Baek exchanged glances, their eyes filled with a strange mix of emotions.
Manager Gu, on the other hand, charged straight ahead.
"Hurry up! If that kid dies, we're as good as dead too!"
Hobgoblin arrows were occasionally laced with magic. There might be a shaman-type monster behind them, or worst case, summoned monsters.
"You lot, follow me! Quick!"
Manager Gu, who had begun scaling the cliff, urged on the staff milling about halfway up.
The support players snapped to attention and cast acceleration buffs like Haste on their comrades.
But the cliff's gradient grew steeper the closer they got to the top. The buffs did little to help them pick up speed.
"How the hell did that kid...?"
Kee-yek! Kii-yaaah!!
Whether it was a battle cry, a scream, or a cheer of triumph, the hobgoblins' eerie shrieks grew louder by the second.
The canyon's umbrella-like rim blocked their view, making it impossible to assess the situation.
No one knew if Jae-hyeok was still fighting or if he'd already been killed and devoured.
"Everyone, stick tight to the cliff. I'm blasting through."
Manager Gu Bu-seong's drawn sword began to emit a pure white glow.
A B-rank player.
Jae-hyeok had hunted them relatively easily, but both times he'd exploited moments of carelessness.
The Sword Ghost. Yoon Sang-ho.
Neither had even gotten a chance to use skills, let alone land a proper attack, against Jae-hyeok.
"Glorious Blade."
Top 15 percent strength.
The prowess of a B-rank player, respected wherever they went, defied common sense.
Rumble!!
A white sword beam surged dozens of meters into the air, slicing through a section of the cliff.
***
Splat-!
Only after five of their comrades' heads had fallen.
Kee-ik!
Did the hobgoblins finally hesitate.
They had finally realized that every time the young human yanked his sword from its sheath, a comrade's head *inevitably* flew into the sky, red blood splattering across the world.
Leaping down from trees to strike from above, using their small stature for ambushes from below, or sneaking up silently from behind—none of it worked.
Jae-hyeok's scabbard shifted positions constantly, and the arcs of his quick draws were utterly free.
Kang Family Iaido, maximizing the advantages of the curve-bladed sword.
The ultimate strike he had honed to cut down his enemies contained subtleties that wild monsters relying solely on physical prowess could never handle.
Kiruk! Kiririk!!
When a particularly massive hobgoblin among the muscle-bound pack bellowed something, the group retreated in unison.
They tossed aside their swords and scrambled to retrieve the bows they'd discarded earlier.
They'd judged close combat a disadvantage.
"You should've kept a better hold on them from the start. Picking them up now won't help."
Jae-hyeok planted his leading foot, sinking into the ground, and instantly appeared at the side of a hobgoblin grabbing for a bow.
Focus and explosion.
Using the Kang Family Mana Operation Method, he had leaped across fifteen meters in a single bound.
Kee-yek!
To the hobgoblin, it looked like the young human had teleported out of nowhere.
Jae-hyeok quick-drew, slicing off the panicking creature's head, resheathed while spinning, blocked an ambush with his scabbard, and quick-drew again.
Another hobgoblin met its end.
[Level up.]
Already two levels gained.
Hobgoblins were level 40.
As borderline C-rank monsters, they provided massive experience.
The vast majority of players never experienced growth this fast.
Slicing down monsters double your level without even using skills was simply impossible.
A full-force sword swing wouldn't even scratch their hide.
But Jae-hyeok had maxed his stats before awakening.
Right after awakening, he'd achieved legendary and astonishing feats in succession.
Above all, he possessed the passive skill [All Master].
Attack power, accuracy, defense, evasion.
The four most crucial combat stats were permanently boosted by 10 percent.
Thanks to the effects of [Knightly Virtue of Valor and Loyalty, Praying Mantis Iron], his attack power rose another 10 percent against higher-level foes.
He wasn't outmatched by C-rank monsters.
The only downside?
'My total mana is too low.'
As Professor Lee So-young had said, the mana operation method worked on a principle similar to skills.
They both consumed mana pooled in the dantian.
The Kang Family Mana Operation Method, in particular, concentrated mana in specific body parts before detonating it to enhance physical abilities.
It consumed mana at 100 percent efficiency.
Sometimes, it guzzled even more than skills, depending on the amount concentrated.
And right now, Jae-hyeok was burning through massive chunks of mana with every leading step or quick draw.
To drain a hobgoblin's life force in one strike and cleave through their tough muscles and bones, he needed to amp up his quick draw's power.
'If Lightning Sword went off every time, I wouldn't need to...'
Until now, he'd managed because leveling up restored his mana.
But at level 22 now, he'd need to hunt even more hobgoblins to level again.
He had to ration his mana.
'Time to fight like a proper player.'
Kkirik!
Just then, an elite hobgoblin commanding the pack from the rear nocked an arrow.
Jae-hyeok hurled his sword without hesitation.
Kiyaaak!
The elite hobgoblin shrieked in agony as the curve blade embedded in its forehead.
Startled, it dropped its bow and arrow but didn't die.
It lived up to its size. Its life force seemed double that of the others.
Enraged, it yanked out the curve blade and roared.
At once, the hobgoblins' red eyes flashed as they scooped up their swords again and charged Jae-hyeok.
Every one of them grinning.
Mocking the young human who had discarded his own sword.
Jae-hyeok snorted and let the detached scabbard from his belt drop like a bell.
[Two Scythes that Stop the Cart]
Delivers a powerful attack to the target. Power increases the higher the target's level.
A skill.
The power that elevated players beyond human limits.
From either side of the scabbard embedded in the hobgoblin's skull, two auras erupted in scythe shapes, bursting the upper bodies of enemies in range like watermelons.
As advertised, tremendous power.
Mana cost was only 100, so low burden.
But cooldown was a whopping 3 minutes.
Relying solely on skills was a last resort.
Jae-hyeok drew and swung [High Inquisitor Alus's Dagger] with his left hand.
Slice!
True to its epic grade, it parted the hobgoblin's tough muscle and bone like tofu.
But its short reach meant he had to get in close to hit vitals.
Instead, Jae-hyeok stepped back, widening the gap.
Dodging the pack's onslaught like a herd of dogs, he stabbed at their wrists and the backs of their hands.
Each flash of silver dagger light made hobgoblins drop their swords.
Kiyaaak!!
As all its underlings lost one hand and faltered, the berserk elite charged.
Swinging Jae-hyeok's own curve blade in place of its old sword.
Jae-hyeok, as if waiting, pulled three pouches from his bosom and tossed them.
Not the lead weights from before his awakening.
Poison pouches he'd made by mixing sand with toxin from the [Leech King's Ring].
Boom boom boom!!
The elite hobgoblin contemptuously slashed the incoming pouches.
Whoosh!!
Pitch-black sand poured out.
The elite, doused head-on, melted without a scream. Nearby hobgoblins writhed on the ground, howling.
"That's item carry for you."
Jae-hyeok stomped a leading foot, whipping up wind that spread the poison sand wider.
Every surviving hobgoblin was poisoned, drooling spit and blood.
Jae-hyeok waited silently until all the sand settled.
Then, retrieving his curve blade, he leisurely patrolled the battlefield.
He slit the throats of any still standing with the dagger, stabbed the fallen ones with the curve blade.
[Level up.]
[Level up.]
Soon, every hobgoblin was dead.
Achieving level 24, Jae-hyeok finally began wiping the blood, poison, and grime from his curve blade and dagger.
"......"
The Iron Guild staff, who had barely reached the cliff top, stood with mouths agape.
A boy humming a tune, dozens of corpses at his back.
It was a sight that went beyond awe-inspiring—straight into spine-chilling.
Jae-hyeok beckoned to them as they trembled and swallowed dryly.
"Take a look at these guys. Every one wearing a ring, all identical in shape and size like mass-produced goods? Can monsters make stuff like this?"
"Hmm..."
Rushing over at the boy's gesture, they groaned.
"There's a magic circle engraved inside the rings."
"Summoned monsters. Player-summoned."
"They targeted us from the start. But a player summoning nearly twenty C-rank monsters...?"
Manager Gu, deeming the situation dire, hurried his staff.
"No time to dawdle. We need to get out of here."
"Wait."
Jae-hyeok halted the Iron Guild staff eager to leave.
Had he found another crucial clue?
Tense to the extreme, they listened as Jae-hyeok made an offer.
"Want to buy these bodies? Cheap."
"......"