Chapter 271
Chapter 271
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 271
Chapter Title: Nuclear Breath
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“Damn it, Choi Yu-i! What the hell is this?!”
Sea Guild’s assault captain Gong Soo-hwan shouted with a panicked expression.
It was just that their guide had touched the statue to check it out.
[Someone has touched the ‘Two-Headed Statue’!]
[Special condition achieved!]
[Boss of the dungeon, ‘Twin Head Ogre’ (SS-grade), appears!]
And with those messages, the dungeon had started shaking.
“I-I don’t know! That statue must’ve been the trigger for the boss!”
“You idiot...! You should’ve checked it properly!”
A curse flew from Gong Soo-hwan’s mouth.
There was nothing they could do.
They had been hunting ogres nonstop for about a week without rest.
Even for these veterans, there had been plenty of close calls.
And now, they were about to face the boss without proper regrouping.
On top of that.
“SS-grade?!”
“Grades go that high?”
“Captain! It’s SS-grade! Should we go for it? Or bail?”
It felt like a golden opportunity had dropped into their laps.
But it reeked of an opportunity they couldn’t handle.
“...Hey, I think we’re screwed.”
The moment Choi Yu-i, standing there dumbfounded in front of the statue, swallowed hard.
Kugu gagaga!
An enormous ogre burst up from the ground.
Its body was about three times larger than the ones before, and it had two heads.
- Groooar!
- Graaaar!
The four glowing red eyes brimmed with murderous bloodlust.
And that wasn’t all.
Protruding fangs, bumpy tentacles sprouting from its skin, dripping viscous fluids.
“H-Hiiiik...!”
Choi Yu-i’s legs gave out, and she collapsed.
It wasn’t just its horrifying appearance.
The ogre’s overwhelming presence was so intense it stole their breath away.
“C-Crazy...”
“Choi Yu-i! Snap out of it and fall back!”
Gong Soo-hwan yelled.
“And you two tanks! What are you doing? Get up front now!”
But.
“You want me to tank that thing?”
“I can’t! Shield or not, one hit from that club and my bones are dust!”
The tanks were in full panic.
“You worthless bastards!”
But they didn’t even need the tanks to step up.
Because.
- Groooargh!
The ogre, eyes flashing, swung its club straight at the shield-bearers.
Swaaaaash!
The air screamed as the club whistled through.
And that was it.
The moment it collided with one tank’s shield, defense meant nothing.
Kwaaaang!
Swept along its trajectory, the tank slammed into the cave wall.
“Guh.”
The struck tank’s mouth opened with a gurgling sound.
“Gaa aaaa aah!”
He screamed as his throat burst open.
Just as he’d said, his bones were shattered.
Even an S-grade hunter couldn’t endure the agony of pulverized bones.
“F-Fuck.”
The remaining tank trembled.
Kung!
He slammed his shield into the ground and activated a skill.
Woooong!
A protective skill enveloped the whole party in defense.
But.
Swaaaaash!
One swing from the rampaging ogre tore it apart like paper.
“Guh, kehuk!”
The backlash spewed blood from the tank’s mouth.
The tanks neutralized in just two hits.
Shing, shing shing!
Gong Soo-hwan’s archery and the front-line dealers’ slashes tried to deal some damage.
But they barely scratched the ogre’s tough hide.
A total deadlock.
“No way... This can’t be...”
Gong Soo-hwan’s voice shook.
His spirit was broken.
This was.
A situation where no matter what you tried, you couldn’t do a damn thing!
It felt like being one of eight ants that had to team up just to face a human.
Hell, smashing a rock with an egg might be easier.
“We... We climbed all this way... Why an SS-grade, of all things...”
They were all S-grade hunters.
Owners of gleaming golden badges that made passersby stare in envy.
How many trials had they overcome to reach this point?
“Kyaaak! Captain!”
“U-Uwaaaah!”
Dealer Gi-hyeon’s body floated into the air.
His gut took a direct hit from the ogre’s forepaw swipe, and he clutched his belly, vomiting.
“U-Uwek! Kueeek!”
Ranged dealers Ji-han and Ji-ho crumpled to the ground.
Like mice facing a cat.
All they could do was.
Grip their shaking weapons and pray for a painless death.
- Growl! Growl!
- Groooar! Groooar!
The Twin Head Ogre bellowed triumphantly at the Sea Guild members.
A roar of joy at conquering tasty prey.
With the prey combat-incapable, it was time to feast.
Drip.
Gong Soo-hwan squeezed his eyes shut at the sticky saliva drooling from the ogre’s jagged fangs.
It was his fault.
For dragging these fools into an S-grade dungeon under his incompetent leadership.
But what could he do.
Blaming his greed and impatience, apologizing to them—it was too late.
‘Please, in your next life, live in a peaceful world...’
As Gong Soo-hwan prayed silently to some unknown god, letting go of everything.
- Growl?
- G-Groooar?
Something.
A cry different from before rang out.
If the previous ones were the snarls of a savage predator, this one sounded slightly bewildered?
“...?”
Gong Soo-hwan, eyes closed, cracked them open.
Something caught in his blurry vision.
A man wearing a familiar mask.
And his summon, the black lizard.
“Y-You’re...?”
Gong Soo-hwan stared blankly.
How was this summoner still alive?
Had he survived alone in this ogre-infested field for a week?
“Nice to see you. Anyway, that boss.”
The man pointed at the Twin Head Ogre with a finger right then.
“Doesn’t look like you’re gonna take it down, so mind if I do?”
“...”
Gong Soo-hwan gawked at the man.
What?
He’s gonna handle that monstrosity?
Is he serious, or just farting hot air?
‘...No way.’
A lone survivor in an S-grade dungeon, casually facing an SS-grade monster.
There was one answer.
‘A ranker.’
Ahh.
In that instant.
Gong Soo-hwan recalled the unprecedented aura from a week ago.
The spine-chilling presence that had halted their advance.
And.
‘That aura back then was definitely...’
More terrifying than this Twin Head Ogre. More horrific.
‘Is this real? Did we really survive? Us?’
Emotion surged within him.
A tear rolled down his cheek.
The relief of a man snatched from death’s jaws.
“Please.”
Gong Soo-hwan nodded frantically.
“Take all the rewards, whatever! Just take that thing out!”
* * *
“Alright.”
I let out a soft breath and looked ahead.
Permission granted.
Now I could devour this prey without a guilty conscience.
“Vina-sa.”
- Krrrng?
“We had one last experiment to run, right?”
- Krrrng!
It nodded eagerly with a roar.
Truth be told, there was one skill I hadn’t used in all our hunts so far.
Nuclear Breath.
Why hold back?
Just check its description.
[Skill: Nuclear Breath]
[Level: 1]
[Description: Unleashes all remaining energy in a single blast mimicking the breath of a destruction dragon.]
[Warning! Everything the breath touches may be destroyed.]
[Warning! Nuclear Breath does not distinguish friend from foe.]
Who’d dare use something this terrifying lightly and risk collapsing the dungeon?
I didn’t want to cause trouble for others just to satisfy my curiosity.
‘Besides.’
Using that skill expends all of Vina-sa’s energy.
A one-shot ultimate move.
Wouldn’t it be the rule to save it for the finale before clearing the dungeon?
“Alright, get ready.”
At my command, Vina-sa slammed its front paws down—thud! thud!—and opened its maw wide.
In that moment.
Rumble rumble...
A massive surge of energy whipped up, shaking the cave.
“Wh-What...?”
“What’s this?!”
The pressure choked the air, shocking the Sea Guild members.
“How can a summon have that kind of power...?”
“No way it’s a real legendary dragon, right?”
“Now that you mention it, it does kinda look like one...!”
Curiosity burned, but this wasn’t the time.
“Everyone... Snap out of it and fall back!”
Gong Soo-hwan, first to recover, barked.
“Healthy ones, tend to the wounded!”
“Yes!”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
The hunters swiftly retreated behind Vina-sa.
Even as.
Kwagagaga...!
Vina-sa’s inner energy roiled explosively.
‘Wow.’
I whistled inwardly.
The Sea Guild hunters weren’t the only ones stunned.
I was too.
It had about 7,000 energy left, right?
Condensed into one blast, it dwarfed even my Poison Flash.
The sheer power pinned even me, standing nearby, in place.
Thus.
- Groooargh!
- Guuuu...
The ogre couldn’t flee, whimpering in place.
Overwhelmed by mere breath preparation.
Heh.
First time a monster looked pitiful.
- Krrrng!
And then.
[Destruction Dragon Vina-sa uses Nuclear Breath (Lv. 1).]
The energy gathered in its maw erupted forward as a white beam.
Shukwaaaaaang!
A deafening roar shredded the air as the beam lanced straight ahead.
And in that instant.
Do kwang!
A drumbeat thrummed in my heart.
Like the Shadow Shepherds’ tongue back then—an ultrasonic vibration beyond human hearing.
And.
Kugu gagagaga!
The beam of destruction tore and disintegrated everything in its path.
At that sight.
“...”
I couldn’t close my mouth.
“What... is this...”
Everything ahead was gone.
Eradicated, literally.
The ogre.
The cave itself.
As if that fan-shaped space ahead of Vina-sa had been void since the dawn of time.
Only pitch-black nothingness remained.
“...What the...”
“No way... What kind of power is this...? This is bullshit!”
The watching Sea Guild members’ jaws dropped.
“Not just the monster... The dungeon itself is gone?”
“And that was an SS-grade!”
They were speechless.
What the hell?
Who wields power like this?
They should know of any summoner this strong.
Yet they’d never heard of a ranker with a cute dragon.
“Wh-Who the hell are you...?”
As Gong Soo-hwan turned, eager for answers.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations!]
[Dungeon boss ‘Twin Head Ogre’ (SS-grade) defeated!]
[Dungeon cleared!]
Everyone in the dungeon’s vision flickered.
The post-clear ejection to the outside.
At the same time.
“...”
My vision filled with countless messages.
[Kim Jin-ah: Guild master! Guild master!]
[Kim Jin-ah: Seriously, you go into a dungeon and ghost us?!]
[Kim Jin-ah: The other guild members reply just fine! Ugh, so frustrating!]
[Kim Jin-ah: Guild master?]
[Kim Jin-ah: It’s chaos out there! Our guild’s deployed to the Caribbean too, but holy shit, it’s a dragon! A dragon showed up!]
[Guide: Hmm, appears on par with the previous Giant Dragon or Greed Dragon.]
[Guide: Situation looks grim.]
[Berserker: What a colossal beast.]
[Berserker: To see such a thing in my lifetime, kahahaha!]
[Kim Jin-ah: Everyone, no reckless moves—follow the Magic Tower Lord’s orders for now!]
[Kim Jin-ah: Guild master! If you see this, contact us ASAP! We’re barely holding thanks to the Tower Lord, but thousands of hunters have already died!]
....
And countless other chat logs.
All their talk pointed to one entity.
Dragon.
“What’s this?”
As I furrowed my brow in bewilderment.
- Krraaaaaar!
Vina-sa roared ferociously toward the sky.
With a savage glint unlike before.