Chapter 86: How Strange
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 86: How Strange
“H-Hey.”
Just a moment ago, this overwhelming pressure hadn't been there.
Saaaa….
A chilling mist of purple mana settled heavily onto the floor. Dark violet flames wrapped around his body as if to incinerate everything, yet there was no sound of anything burning.
Aside from a slight flickering whenever a faint breeze blew, there was no smell of smoke, nor even the slightest crackle.
The one thing the hunter could tell was that the flames were only friendly toward Yoo Eon. The heat was so intense he could feel it even from a distance; that much was obvious.
“Damn it… a great hunter is supposed to be picky about the requests they take. I guess I never did become a great hunter.”
Human Hunter Lugus ripped the bracelet from his wrist, shoved it into his mouth, and crushed it with his molars.
“Huuuph…!!”
A narcotic awakening agent. It drastically enhanced the user’s concentration, mental processing speed, and overall physical abilities for a short period. Additionally, it had the effect of significantly boosting one's mana-related capabilities.
Despite the severe aftereffects and the fact that it was a blatant criminal act, those demerits were nothing compared to the penalty of ‘dying if I don’t use it.’
“Here I come…!”
The moment Lugus steadied his stance, drew his sword, and took his first step toward Yoo Eon—
“Gah…?!”
His entire body was paralyzed in an instant. His toes froze, and the tip of his blade stopped mid-air. After a second had passed, Lugus realized what had happened.
‘The Evil Eye’s paralysis attack…!’
Though he made his living hunting people for illegal money, his individual combat prowess was high, and he possessed the knowledge of an experienced explorer.
He knew this was the power of the minions of the Lich, the boss of the 2nd Stratum. The moment he broke free from the paralysis, he threw himself to the side.
Immediately, a magic attack of overwhelming destructive power surged toward the spot where Lugus had been standing.
Zzzzzzt—!!
The purple ray melted the stone tiles and incinerated the moss on the walls the instant it passed. But the assault didn't end there. Familiar-looking tridents came flying toward him in rapid succession.
“Urgh…!”
K-Boom—!!
The spears, thrown effortlessly with one hand, boasted enough power to shatter the stone walls they embedded themselves into. Lugus narrowly dodged the spears pouring from Yoo Eon’s hands, but dodging alone wouldn't keep him alive.
Crackle…
“What?!”
Bang! Boom—!!!
A magic attack from a Skeleton Mage. Of course, its power was enhanced to a level incomparable to the original. The dark violet fireballs exploded the moment they touched the walls, shaking the very earth. They left behind scorching embers, beginning to restrict his escape routes.
Even when Lugus used a skill to hide his presence, the vision of the Direwolf Alpha, which could track traces of mana, saw right through him. The Umbra Valkyrie’s vision constantly tracked Lugus’s movements, throwing spears at his predicted escape points, while a massive bombardment from the Skeleton Mage rained down roughly every five seconds.
‘Fuck…! My eardrums burst.’
Despite using the awakening agent, his mana was rapidly depleting from the frantic evasion. Blood trickled from his ears as his eardrums ruptured from the thunderous explosions.
Yet, the reason Yoo Eon hadn't moved a single step was clear.
‘He’s read my entire plan…?’
The current Yoo Eon, who had lost consciousness, was more cautious than anyone when it came to hunting. He was, in essence, the collective manifestation of ‘beasts.’
Using the Enchant Artifact on his right middle finger, Lugus could slice Yoo Eon’s throat in one go—if only he could get close enough. Of course, it was uncertain if even that would kill the current Yoo Eon.
However, choosing not to even try would be a decision he’d regret in the face of certain death.
‘I have no choice but to try…!’
Squeezing out every last drop of mana left in his body, Lugus activated a skill he rarely used. A super-acceleration skill with circuits engraved from the soles of his feet to below his knees. It granted a speed even Lugus himself couldn't fully control, and it came with a high cost.
Wooooom….
The moment he felt mana pooling in his feet, Lugus’s body shot forward like a bullet.
“Die—!!”
In that split second, the mana from the Enchant Artifact enveloped Lugus’s pitch-black sword, granting it the cutting power to cleave even a cliff in two.
Slice—
He struck hard against Yoo Eon’s neck, which was heavily protected by black scales.
Thud—!!!
Unable to properly decelerate from his extreme speed, Lugus’s entire body slammed into the opposite wall. Sliding down from the dented stone surface, Lugus managed to stay alive, though at the cost of both legs and his left arm.
‘No open fractures…! If I can just slow the bleeding and wait for my mana to recover…!’
Even in a situation where the pain made it hard to speak, he was a professional hunter, checking his condition and planning his next move.
However, there was something he didn't know.
“Fuck… what the hell is that…?!!”
From Yoo Eon’s neck, which had been cleanly severed, something began to wriggle. At a glance, it looked like a mouth; at another, it looked like the moving entrails of a living creature.
Slowly but without hesitation, an unidentified mass of red flesh crawled across the floor and swallowed Yoo Eon’s severed body.
“Fuck… Fuuuuuck—!!!”
Before long, his body began to sprout anew from the neck up.
“Just die already, you monster—!!”
The physical vitality and the adrenaline-fueled numbing of pain provided by the narcotic painkillers vanished the moment he realized his death was imminent.
“Urgh…”
Finally feeling the full agony of his shattered body, Lugus slumped against the wall and died of shock. And Yoo Eon’s subconscious, having lost its target, began to move in search of the next.
* * *
“We have to find Aven quickly!”
Rubia, who was carrying Belinda on her back, replied to her words.
“H-He’s probably still alive!”
To be honest, Rubia couldn't be sure herself. She was someone who never forgot to stay humble, but even she wouldn't be confident if she had to fight that hunter directly.
And yet, the one facing him was Yoo Eon. He had a special ability that kept him from dying even after being stabbed in the heart, and he had instantly killed three criminals charging at him with an unidentified attack.
‘He was called… Yoo Eon, right?’
Why was he called by a different name? Why was the Antonio Brotherhood looking for him? Why had he hidden such power until now? There were so many things she was curious about.
The fact that he had lured the assassin in a different direction to fight one-on-one was clearly a choice made to protect the party.
Thud—!!!
Rumble—!!!
“W-What is that sound?!”
Rubia was using a strength enhancement skill, but she was naturally small, so she was wobbling all over the place. With Belinda panicking while riding piggyback, she tottered left and right.
“Hey! Stay still!”
“O-Okay…!”
Because they had chased after the other criminals, the trio was quite far from the direction Yoo Eon and the assassin had gone. They were able to increase their movement speed significantly thanks to an unexpected reinforcement, but still.
“Sir Dexter… I’m sorry for pushing you like this….”
“Not at all. If there’s trouble, I should help.”
For some reason, Arthur Dexter, who usually spent all his time sitting on the 4th floor of the Southwest Branch Guild building doing paperwork, had come down to the 2nd Stratum of the Labyrinth.
It was rare enough to see him leave the management office, let alone see him inside the Labyrinth.
Thanks to that, Belinda was riding on Rubia’s shoulders while Benjamin was being carried in Arthur Dexter’s arms as they searched for Yoo Eon.
“B-But! Sir Dexter! Why did you come into the Labyrinth?!”
“Hmm, well. I’m not quite sure myself.”
Belinda had heard that Arthur Dexter was quite eccentric, but she hadn't realized it was to this extent. The way he had wordlessly sliced the throat of a fleeing Antonio Brotherhood criminal was terrifyingly chilling.
She had worried they might get caught up in it and sliced as well, but fortunately, that didn't happen.
“It seems to be over there.”
Dexter adjusted his pace so Rubia wouldn't lose him while they searched for Yoo Eon. His detection ability, a remnant of his time as a Titanium Grade, lightly scanned a wide area. Whenever he caught even a faint human-like shape, he would immediately move to check it out.
As a result, the fact that the number of Skeleton soldiers he had cut down exceeded triple digits wasn't much of a problem, but…
“Agh! Dexter! Can’t you find him properly?!”
“My senses have grown dull, it seems.”
It was only natural for Rubia to complain while running with Belinda on her back.
“Let’s go left. This time for sure.”
“For real?!”
Arthur Dexter chose the left path at a fork in the road. He had been picking the left path so persistently that she wondered if he was just following the left-hand rule, but since she had heard he was Titanium Grade, Rubia swallowed her anger.
‘Ugh, that one-eyed guy… is he doing this on purpose because he only has his left eye left?!’
And so, at the end of the left path they followed, what they found was….
“Eek!! Hey, Dexter! It’s another dead end!!?”
“How strange.”
As expected, it was a dead end. After following the dark stairs down, they found the path blocked by broken stone debris. Rubia, now forgetting her honorifics, swung Belinda around in a fit of rage.
“Waaaaah!! Don’t use me as a weapon, Rubiaaaa!!!”
Dexter carefully set Benjamin down and approached the dead end.
“Are you just going to act all cool and say ‘How strange’ again?! I told you we should have taken the other path!”
As Rubia shouted while mimicking Dexter’s voice, Dexter raised his right hand.
“Hieee! D-Don’t hit me!”
“How strange.”
With his hand held like a blade, Dexter sliced through the stone debris in an instant. The stone wall was dismantled as easily as a knife through tofu, revealing a passage beneath.
Rumble…!
“Ack, it’s so dusty…!”
“Cough, cough… Oh! A path opened up!”
“Indeed. A path has opened.”
Without a word, Dexter stepped over the remains of the collapsed stone bricks and moved forward.
And beyond that lay a massive open space.
“Truly… truly strange.”
Walls and floors melted by heat, and golden tridents embedded in the walls along a specific path.
Purple flames emitting an eerie heat, and—
“The man I knew… didn't exactly feel like this.”
Yoo Eon, staring at Dexter with hollow eyes.
“My skill… always leads me to the heart of the matter.”
Arthur Dexter’s half-baked Future Sight activated.