Chapter 180
Chapter 180
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 180
Chapter Title: Gathering Rankers (2)
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“Huuuup!”
Bong Jae-young filled his lungs with air and held his breath as he bolted forward.
He wrapped his body in layer upon layer of protective energy.
“Huh?”
“Where are you going?!”
“Iron Fist! What the hell are you doing? You’re not trying to bail on us alone, are you?”
The panicked voices of the other survivors came from behind him.
‘Not my problem.’
Bong Jae-young clamped his mouth shut and kept running.
A twinge of guilt pricked at him.
But how many hunters had died in dungeons searching for their conscience?
Life was way more important than a moment of shame.
‘Just gotta punch through this goddamn fog.’
The green mist surrounding him was a kind of acidic poison.
It hadn’t been there before.
Over the three days heading toward the center, it had slowly built up until now it filled every direction.
If it weren’t for this fog, they probably wouldn’t be lost in a place like this.
‘Here I go!’
Thud! Thud-thud-thud!
Bong Jae-young didn’t stop sprinting even through the deadly poison.
Sizzle! Sss!
The acidic poison that could reduce flesh to ash on contact battered his energy barrier.
“Grrraaah!”
Eyes bulging, Bong Jae-young ignored the mist and charged on.
‘My body and energy are like steel! This is nothing...!’
He’d just bulldoze through.
Would the energy of world rank 101 fail against this poison?
Sss! Sizzle!
His entire field of vision was already dyed jade-green.
He couldn’t see a thing.
No idea what obstacles lay ahead.
Still.
Boom! Bang!
True to his Iron Fist moniker, Bong Jae-young swung his fists wildly, barreling forward like a brute.
How much time passed like that?
“What’s this?”
A mocking voice reached his ears.
He froze.
Bong Jae-young halted his run.
“You didn’t seriously slink away alone like a coward, did you?”
The unfamiliar tone of a foreign man.
“Who the fuck are you!”
Whoosh!
Bong Jae-young swung a fist toward the voice.
Pure instinct.
He felt the lethal hostility dripping from that voice with every fiber of his being.
But.
“Whoa, what a sloppy punch.”
His fist sliced through empty air.
“For someone who forced his way through the formation, pretty disappointing.”
In that instant.
Boom!
Something unknown slammed into Bong Jae-young’s ribs with devastating force.
“Guh, guhuk?”
The pain surging into his gut surpassed anything he’d felt since becoming a ranker.
But Bong Jae-young was a hunter whose body was forged like iron, not just his fists.
He gritted his teeth against the agony and assessed the situation.
‘What the hell is this guy?’
He even wondered if it was Joo Dong-hoon.
But the voice didn’t match.
‘Then...’
Bong Jae-young’s pupils trembled.
“‘Gotham’...?”
The criminal syndicate he’d heard about endlessly from the survivors over the past three days?
As Bong Jae-young scanned his surroundings in confusion.
“Hey, you know us?”
Clap-clap-clap!
A man emerged from the fog along with the sound of applause.
A Russian man with eyes dyed jade-green.
“You knew about us and still charged in without fear?”
Behind him.
Dozens of hunters began appearing one by one.
‘That bitch...!’
Among them was the Russian woman who’d posed as a survivor, the trickster.
“Damn it!”
Realizing he’d been completely played, Bong Jae-young shouted.
“You criminal bastards! What do you want from me? Why pull this shit?”
“Hmm? What we want? You’re the one who led hunters here saying you’d attack us.”
The man grinned as he spoke.
“And you call us criminals? Why ask criminals why they commit crimes...? Well, because we’re criminals, duh?”
Just looking at the jade bugs crawling over his body made it easy to guess who he was.
World rank 69, Insect King Andrei.
“Kekeke, it’s hilarious. Rank 101 storms in and all he says is, ‘Why are you doing this?’”
The blond man standing behind him was.
World rank 79, The Ruthless Jima.
“Seriously, what a joke, kekeke.”
The Russian woman stepped forward from behind Jima, barely containing her laughter.
“Acting all gentlemanly, saying he’d handle everything—how pathetic was that?”
Her rank was 110.
Thunder Step Tima.
And others besides.
132, 150, 181, 192, 255, 291.
What made Gotham terrifying was how densely packed it was with rankers like this.
“Shit... fuck.”
Bong Jae-young’s eyelashes quivered.
‘No chance here.’
One-on-one, he might find an opening.
But surrounded by this many rankers, no ideas came to mind.
And moreover.
Around them.
- Grrr rumble!
- Grr...
Dozens—no, hundreds—of those blood-eyed monsters from before encircled them.
Each one looked S-grade or higher at a glance.
Bong Jae-young bowed his head.
“What... are you gonna do with me?”
“Do with you? Why ask?”
Andrei smirked.
He could tell from the smaller voice that Bong Jae-young was scared shitless.
He continued.
“By any chance.”
Step, step.
Andrei circled the rigid Bong Jae-young with a leisurely expression.
“You’re seriously asking out of curiosity.”
“...What.”
Cold sweat trickled down Bong Jae-young’s nape.
His movements.
The bugs crawling on his body.
His twitching fingertips.
Nothing escaped his notice.
“You’re not thinking you can escape alive from here, are you? Nah, no way. If you are, just bury that thought deep.”
“What?”
Bong Jae-young’s heart sank.
He caught the whiff of a true psychopath in Andrei’s voice.
Gotham’s rankers snickered at the sight.
“Kekekeke, this is fun.”
“Guy looks dumb as hell asking ‘What?’—why’s it so funny?”
“Rankers are just people too. Fear conquers all, right?”
The rankers laughed as they began stepping back one by one.
- Grr rumble!
- Grr rumble...
At the same time, the monsters slowly advanced.
Like starving wild beasts who’d spotted prey.
“Hey.”
Andrei grinned.
“Beat these guys. Who knows? Maybe I’ll let you live.”
“......”
Bong Jae-young clenched his fists.
“But probably not. Heh, seems like you don’t know these kids. I’m about to scatter some Malicious Gu...”
“Malicious Gu...? What’s that.”
“You’ll find out when you feel it. Anyway, good luck.”
Ignoring Bong Jae-young, Andrei turned his back.
- Grr...
The monsters’ movements accelerated all at once.
“Damn it.”
Now, in the clearing outside the fog.
Only Bong Jae-young and the monsters remained.
* * *
“Hey, Andrei.”
The Ruthless, Jima, asked.
“Yeah?”
“Fine, whatever with that idiot. But what about the guy waiting outside?”
“That Skeleton King or whatever?”
“Yeah, he’s not even coming this way. And somehow, he’s clearing out all the fog you scattered.”
“Oh, that.”
Andrei nodded.
“It’s fine. Actually, perfect.”
The white fog outside was gas spewed by the gu insects.
It was lethal only when separated from the gu, so he’d dispersed it outward.
If someone cleared it all, he’d even thank them.
“The fog kept making the big ones run off, which was a bummer anyway.”
“No, but still, it’s suspicious. Once you enter a dungeon, you pick center or exit. But he’s just sitting there? Word is he’s training with skeletons or some shit?”
“Hmm.”
Andrei tapped his chin.
“So, what’s your point?”
“We smash him! He’s just rank 78. The girl next to him’s like 151. We’ve got the edge—why not just go kill them?”
“Yeah, no.”
“Ugh.”
Jima sighed in frustration.
That was always Andrei’s problem.
“You’re saying we can’t fight outside the formation again?”
“Hold on a bit.”
Andrei muttered, glancing up and to the left.
Surprisingly.
A ghostly old man floated there—shimmering.
From before.
One of the fortuitous encounters from the immeasurable dungeon.
Banner King Dang Hwi-pyeong.
His gu poison arts were magnificent.
Just scattering it could enslave people.
The ultimate chemical weapon, right?
Plus.
His ideals aligned with Andrei’s in many ways.
‘If you’re a man, dominate at least one world.’
Andrei wanted to start with his homeland, Russia, and become the supreme ruler of the globe.
Dang Hwi-pyeong had dreamed of world unification through gu poison.
But Earth was vast, full of powerhouses.
So they had to prepare slowly.
‘Leaving the formation.’
Only when ready to face the whole world.
“But...”
It was then that the ghost floating in the air, Dang Hwi-pyeong, muttered.
‘Yes, Elder.’
Andrei subtly bowed his head.
Dang knew too much to skip formalities.
“For the past few days... I’ve smelled something ominous. A truly foul stench.”
‘What... do you mean?’
“...Never mind. Forget it. It can’t be.”
Dang Hwi-pyeong uttered those meaningful words and slowly closed his eyes again.
* * *
Shoooo...
“Mm.”
I groaned with my eyes closed.
Around my cross-legged body.
Whoosh! Whoooosh!
The Poison Fog that had swelled my body until now welcomed me back fiercely, like asking where I’d been.
“Easy, buddy. It’s fine. Come on in slow.”
As expected.
More comfortable inside me than in unknown lands?
Its size had nearly doubled.
But absorbing it posed no issue.
Hunters were under the system’s control.
And the system spoke to me.
[Skill: Immunity to All Poisons]
[Grade: S]
[Effect 1: Resist all poisons in the world.]
[Effect 2: Comprehend all poisons in the world.]
[Effect 3: Manipulate all poisons in the world.]
It could resist every poison in this world.
“Woooah!”
“The fog’s disappearing!”
“Amazing!”
The remaining survivors cheered.
Like castaways on a desert island spotting a rescue ship—I felt proud too.
“...Incredible.”
“How does he handle that poison? Couldn’t even get close without gagging.”
Kwon So-ye and Im Su-jin shook their heads in awe.
“......”
Especially Gi So-yul.
She still wore an expression of utter disbelief.
Well.
She’d experienced the horrific Poison Fog firsthand in Theme 1.
She knew its terror better than most.
It took about 30 minutes for all the Poison Fog to enter my body.
“Thank you, Skeleton King! We’ll never forget this kindness!”
“We’re heading out now—take care, Ranker!”
“Sob sob, thank you. Thank you.”
After safely sending the survivors through the exit, I.
“Alright.”
Cracked my neck and stretched.
“Time to get moving?”
I loosened the knotted muscles from sitting cross-legged.
‘The Elder said.’
Take only the Poison Fog marinated in gu farts, and the formation’s solved.
Of course, that solves just the formation.
The rest, I’d handle myself from here.
‘Gotham, was it?’
Honestly, the request from the Association President was already done.
Choi Tae-seung only asked to rescue domestic missing persons.
I could head back home now with no complaints.
I wasn’t a volunteer or world police.
Did I really need to tangle with a dangerous crime group?
‘But.’
Dang Hwi-pyeong piqued my curiosity a bit.
Maybe because he was from the Elder’s old world?
‘Plus.’
Insect King at rank 69?
Catching him would be a legit chance to climb the rankings.
“You’re leaving now?”
“You’re really going to fight those guys?”
As the Association’s two rankers asked.
An unknown message popped into my view.
[The Guide invites you to the ‘Chatroom.’]
[‘Chatroom’ Name - Dragon Slayer Classmates]
[Members (6/7)]
‘Hm...?’
Capu?
Chatroom?
What’s this?
