The Vito Warrior's Weakness
The even more astonishing part was the sheer volume of training combined with that intense focus. Once Kim Jun started practicing, he immersed himself completely—most of the time, he wouldn't even hear people calling out to him.
He'd forget not just the place, but the time itself.
If he hit a wall, he'd camp out in the guildhouse, pulling all-nighters until he cracked the problem. Go Cheolmin had seen that relentless effort and once said:
"Considering the quantity and quality of his training, his growth rate might actually be on the slow side. That's how I see it. Anyone who trains like that would get at least this strong. If they could manage that kind of practice, that is."
Why was that coming to mind now?
Yeom Sang-taek recalled the Fungmaseo and cast Speed Up with his right hand alone.
The first stage of magic's four phases—image structuring—wasn't difficult.
The problem was mana placement. He'd always used both hands, his whole body, to position the mana. Just like in his trial runs, the mana failed to hold its delicate structure, colliding and collapsing.
The backlash made his right hand tremble violently, knocking the frying pan on the counter.
It clattered loudly to the floor below.
"What's wrong?"
"...Nothing."
Yeom Sang-taek gripped his right wrist tightly with his left hand.
Was it too soon to learn the Fungmaseo? The book from the Crazy Buffer—also the grimoire mastered by Moon's buffer, Mun Hyo-rin—needed to be perfected if he wanted to break his limits and help the team.
Just then, Kim Jun landed lightly on the kitchen floor. He glanced at the wall connecting to the cafeteria and shushed them with a finger to his lips.
The room fell instantly silent.
Kim Jun gripped the Cheonroegeom and headed to the kitchen entrance, scanning the nearby wall and cafeteria.
Then the wall exploded, shards flying everywhere.
A bowling-ball-sized clump of earth—Spitera—punched through the hole. Jeong Taek-su slipped in behind it, pushing his Armani Special sunglasses down the bridge of his nose as he eyed Kim Jun, then the others.
"Bingo. Found you."
Kim Jun backed up, shielding Lee Taeseop and Yeom Sang-taek. Jo Beom-gu and Yoon Cheolhui stood behind them.
"...V-Vito Warrior?"
Lee Taeseop recognized him.
Jeong Taek-su grinned.
Before joining Medici Team, no one had recognized him no matter how much he shone in dungeon raids. To be precise, it was after he joined Medici... after he started flaunting his personality with all sorts of items... that people grasped the value of "Vito Warrior" Jeong Taek-su.
Vito Warrior—at first, he'd thought it a tacky nickname.
It meant a warrior wielding flying earth, but it sounded like "fertilizer" or "puking your guts out," which he hated.
Now it rang like praise.
"Nice to meet you. Especially you, Kim Jun. You have no idea how much I've wanted to see you."
Jeong Taek-su waved at Kim Jun.
"Mind if I ask how you found us?"
Kim Jun's voice stayed calm.
"Thanks to this guy."
Jeong Taek-su playfully pulled out his Legio from his pocket.
He'd used the dungeon item that points to gates to track them down? Kim Jun tilted his head.
"Before you summoned it and cut the power, Spitera had wrapped around the Cheonroegeom. Some of it absorbed the sword's energy, and I used that to find you. Clear enough?"
"You sure talk smooth."
Kim Jun realized that even if they escaped by sheer luck, the Vito Warrior would chase them down. There was only one way: fight and take down this tanker.
"Let me explain what I'm gonna do next. I'm killing you. Then the guys behind you."
"Does it have to be like that?"
Framed as a villain's accomplice without doing anything wrong, Lee Taeseop was on the verge of exploding with injustice.
"You still don't get it? I'm disappointed. Really."
Jeong Taek-su surged toward Lee Taeseop like the wind. As he reached out, Spitera morphed into a fist aimed at him.
The Cheonroegeom struck Spitera.
Papap!
The scattered earth, sparked by electricity, flew back to its master and reformed into a single mass.
"What a sword. Too bad it picked the wrong owner."
Spitera stretched like a whip and lunged.
As Kim Jun swung down to sever the middle, it coiled around the blade like a snake. Jeong Taek-su laughed, swinging his arm—Spitera hurled Kim Jun, still gripping the Cheonroegeom, into the cafeteria.
Kim Jun crashed onto a table, smashing chairs beneath him.
"Stay put. Move, and you die."
Jeong Taek-su warned, glaring at Lee Taeseop, Yeom Sang-taek, and the others, then stepped into the cafeteria. Spitera sharpened into a spear and plunged at Kim Jun's chest.
Kim Jun rolled away desperately.
Spitera stabbed holes in the floor as it pursued.
"Hahaha, you're a real worm. Rolling skills are top-notch, though."
Slapping the floor with laughter, Kim Jun barely stood using Mokhonbo Dang's curve, escaping Spitera's range.
"Mokhonbo Dang, huh. Decent. For a student level."
A chunk of Spitera dropped, sliding under Jeong Taek-su's shoe. It morphed into a dark brown orb and spun furiously.
"How's this?"
Jeong Taek-su shot forward like he was on roller skates.
Kim Jun dodged with Mokhonbo Tan, but Jeong Taek-su curved smoothly and closed in fast.
The pointed Spitera grazed his cheek. Skin split, blood flowed—no time to wipe it.
Wounds bloomed on arms, legs, shoulders.
Blood mixed with sweat, clotting hard. Fresh cuts layered more blood on top.
Kim Jun chained Tan, Po, Dang nonstop to barely evade lethal blows. He realized Jeong Taek-su could end him anytime but was toying with him on purpose.
He's the real deal. This is a Ju Shin Raider's power.
"That all you got? Step it up."
Kim Jun frowned at Jeong Taek-su, hand on hip, strutting like a peacock.
I've seen that pose somewhere. Oh, right! The videos! One of the seven hundred the master had me analyze—he was in it.
The smug face, item-wrapped body, flying earth guarding its owner.
Why hadn't he remembered?
He wasn't Medici Team back then! Preconceptions had blocked the memory.
A plan formed.
A slim chance, but he had to execute. With luck, he'd be the one laughing last.
"Let my comrades go unharmed, and the sword's yours."
"What?"
Kim Jun held the Cheonroegeom with both hands, offering it forward. He ignored the pain in his left arm.
"Comrades? Hilarious. Those guys? Even guards. Fine, whatever. Why should I? Kill you, kill them, take the sword. Done."
Jeong Taek-su chuckled, pointing at Lee Taeseop, Yeom Sang-taek, and the others glaring from the kitchen.
"I can summon this sword from anywhere. Or send it anywhere. What if I ship it to Yeon Family's inner sanctum? Think you could find it?"
Kim Jun met Jeong Taek-su's eyes coolly, bluffing his gamble.
"This bastard's got guts!"
He'd seen the Cheonroegeom vanish with his own eyes—no doubting Kim Jun now. Grinding his teeth, Jeong Taek-su whipped his head toward Yeom Sang-taek and the rest.
Even if released, surviving Yoo Gwanho's Jackknife would be tough.
"You lot, scram."
"We can't do that!"
"Sang-taek."
Kim Jun called.
"No way! This isn't right!"
"Do your job."
"My job?"
In that instant, Yeom Sang-taek got it. Fetch the guild master and Pink Team, fast.
"Three seconds to vanish. Or... you die. One!"
Yeom Sang-taek dragged a resisting Lee Taeseop and the others the opposite way. Just before the corner, he mouthed silently: Be right back!
As their footsteps faded, Kim Jun slowly knelt, raising the Cheonroegeom with both hands.
Jeong Taek-su approached, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
The Kim Jun he knew didn't quit. Sacrifice a treasure like that for comrades? Easily?
No way. He's got a trick. Ambush when I close in? Smart play. But easy?
Spitera whipped out, coiling around Kim Jun's neck and hurling him toward a corridor door.
Smashing tables and chairs, Kim Jun bounced into the opposite office. Reflexively, he thrust his left hand up. Shattered bone screamed, but he caught the Magic Creeper bursting from the shadows.
Angry Root's tendril wrapped his hand like an octopus leg.
"Heh, perfect match."
Jeong Taek-su closed to three meters.
Kim Jun, waiting for that moment, hurled the Cheonroegeom at him.
Puk.
Spitera shifted to a shield, blocking it. As the sword embedded in the dark brown shield, Jeong Taek-su's gaze locked on it.
In that split second, Kim Jun closed with Mokhonbo Tan, thrusting his right hand.
Po-noe Strike targeted the solar plexus—but the Spitera blocking the sword engulfed his right hand effortlessly.
Bzzzt.
Po-noe couldn't pierce the earth. It just scorched his already burned hand worse.
"You knelt banking on that? Idiot. A truckload of you couldn't touch me..."
Mocking gleefully, Jeong Taek-su noticed Kim Jun's odd stare.
Following it down, he spotted the Angry Root clinging to his thigh—the one from Kim Jun's left hand. He flinched, commanding Spitera to rip it off, but it was faster.
The thorny vine pierced his Armani Special suit, burrowing into smooth skin, taking root.
Jeong Taek-su screamed in agony.
Then the unbelievable: his ever-protective "Vito" Spitera crumbled to the floor.
Kim Jun steadied himself against the wall, reached out—the Cheonroegeom flew to him. His charred hand nearly fumbled but gripped it.
He pressed the blade to the writhing Jeong Taek-su's throat.
Those cold eyes told Jeong Taek-su: Kim Jun knew the secret.
"H-how... did you find the joma-jin?"
To control Spitera—a unique item that grew by absorbing human blood and monster cores—one needed a special magic circle, the joma-jin, tattooed on the body.
The conditions were brutal: item affinity with the owner's constitution, installed within seven days of birth. Then expanded yearly with the child's growth—not child's play.
The excruciating process lasted until physical maturity. But once complete, Spitera became the ultimate shield and weapon.
One weakness: that magic circle.
Destroy it, and the deeply bonded mana destabilized, gutting most combat power.
"You told me."
"What?"
"You protected your thigh instinctively."
"N-no way. I hid it so well. No one was supposed to find out. How much effort I put in..."
Kim Jun hid part of the truth.
No need to spill everything to this guy.
Six years ago, in a C-rank Daegu dungeon raid, tanker Jeong Taek-su took a thorn from a Stimu-lus monster to his right thigh—right then, Spitera went dead.
He'd dodged suspicion with "mana depletion" excuses, but Kim Jun, scrutinizing the footage, noticed his thigh-heavy defense in that fight.
Back then, he hadn't linked it to Spitera—just noted "thigh" as the raider's quirk.
"If I figured it out, others already have."
"N-no, impossible."
Kim Jun slashed the Angry Root burrowed in the thigh, carving out the roots.
Blood poured from torn pants, exposing part of the thigh's joma-jin.
Jeong Taek-su glared.
Subtly, beyond Kim Jun's notice, his hand reached his belt buckle. He pressed the center lightly.
Shrrrrk!
With a sickening rasp, the belt whipped alive like a snake.
It coiled around Kim Jun's sword arm, binding it immobile. Pain from his broken left arm drew a groan as he toppled backward.
Grunting, Jeong Taek-su rose and stomped Kim Jun's gut.
"Special Tie Belt built into the suit, asshole!"
Normally hidden inside, activated by buckle—thorns emerged on success, paralyzing foes with paralium.
Kim Jun curled tight, minimizing damage.
Thud thud. Kicks rained.
"Think Spitera's my all? That's your mistake! You're good, punk. Tormenting me like this. But green. No clue on items. Should've never met me."
Panting, Jeong Taek-su pulled a gray ring from his pocket, flashing it.
"Know what this is?"
Kim Jun recognized the infinity mark.
Item types and functions were exam staples.
"Domoto Ring."
"Not a total moron."
Slipping it on, Jeong Taek-su smirked, advancing on the immobilized Kim Jun.
Kim Jun thrashed. Bound by the belt, it was futile.
Jeong Taek-su grabbed his right hand, grinning wider at the burn-agony groan. The Domoto Ring on contact began sucking his inner energy.