Chapter 70
Chapter 70
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Intruder (2)
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Come to think of it.
The world is truly unfair.
Just for possessing great power.
Or simply for climbing to the ranker position first.
Everyone has to hold their breath in that person's presence. They must not step forward.
Even if one's potential surpasses that person, it's the same.
'Because I'm still weak.'
It was the law of the strong.
A world where the strong wield absolute power over the weak.
Some might call it unjust.
They might shout that if the strong trample every budding sprout just because they got strong first, how can those sprouts grow?
'But.'
That's how the world has always been.
From primordial nature to socialism or capitalism.
It has followed the law of the jungle.
That's why I didn't feel wronged.
When I made the 「Demir Workshop」 known to the world.
When I told Gi So-yul that I would stand on my own.
I always kept moments like this in mind.
"Come on, then."
I'll fight you.
No matter what hardships you've endured to become a ranker.
I'm also a hunter who's overcome many adversities.
Even if my legs are shaking and my whole body is drenched in cold sweat.
"Taeyang!"
I won't just take it lying down.
"Taeyang Strike! Blast it everywhere!"
"Your command!"
Taeyang kicked off the ground and leaped into the air.
Then he thrust his spear in all directions.
Flash!
The sunlight infused in the spear flashed like a strobe light.
This was meant to cut off the shadows that the Shadow Walker used.
"Using petty tricks."
The Shadow Walker began to move.
At an incredible speed, too fast to catch with the eye.
So I just closed my eyes.
It seemed better to sense the flow of 'ki' rather than rely on sight.
"You think I can't handle one of you just because I can't use shadows?"
Swoosh!
At the sudden surge of 'ki', I instinctively twisted my body.
Splash!
Blood spurted from my forearm.
It stung.
Red blood and a deeply gouged wound.
The Shadow Walker's blade had barely grazed past.
My heart sank.
'If my reaction had been even a little slower.'
No, more than that.
Wasn't I wrapped in Air Shield?
As expected of a ranker.
He sliced through the max-level shield like cutting tofu.
['Bone5' uses the skill, 'Air Shield' (Lv.Max).]
Bone5 quickly replenished the shield.
Bone4 also stuck close to my body and raised his shield.
['Bone4' uses the skill, 'Intermediate Taunt' (Lv.6).]
"Taunt skill? Low level."
The Shadow Walker's voice echoed from all directions.
That meant he was circling around me at tremendous speed.
"Taunt only means something when used by a tank who can withstand the damage."
Boom!
A heavy impact hit Bone4's shield.
"Fragile. So fragile."
"Bone5!"
['Bone5' uses the skill, 'Fireball' (Lv.Max).]
['Bone5' uses the skill, 'Fire Field' (Lv.4).]
To keep him from approaching, I scattered Bone5's mana.
Whoosh! Swoosh!
Eldrin was also carefully sniping, one shot at a time, to hinder his movements.
"......"
I didn't back down.
Feeling all the skeletons' movements, I controlled each one precisely.
Even if I died today.
I wanted to fight without regrets.
"You're not even a ranker, yet you resist?"
Swoosh!
The Shadow Walker's body split into two.
One real, one illusion, but.
Both were dangerous.
"Man, you've been yapping nonstop since earlier."
I muttered.
Honestly, it felt a bit lame.
It wasn't that I was looking down on rankers.
I'd met rankers in the top 100.
And lately, I'd seen beings beyond rankers multiple times.
So when the Shadow Walker opened his mouth, it felt oddly uncomfortable.
Like my heart wouldn't accept it?
"What?"
"You're a ranker, fine. But now that you're after my life, what? Resisting when you're not even a ranker? What is this, some middle-school syndrome patient?"
['Bone5' uses the skill, 'Haste' (Lv.4).]
Vmmm!
Bone5's skill buffed me and all the Bones.
['Eldrin' uses the skill, 'Viper Fang Arrow' (Lv.4).]
Whoosh! Swoosh!
Eldrin fired poison arrows.
"In Taeyang or Eldrin's world, you'd be extra-level trash. Just shut up and fight quietly."
Absolutely.
I wouldn't go down easily.
* * *
"Hoo."
Step, step.
"It's all over."
Apgujeong-dong roadside.
Gazing at the full moon hanging round in the dark night sky, Gi So-yul let out a soft sigh.
After clearing the A-rank dungeon, Minotaur's Palace.
Upon returning to Seoul, Gi So-yul immediately announced her S-rank weapon to the media.
The deep ink-black 'Dagger for Assassins' (S-rank).
Naturally, Parang Guild Master Ki Pa-rang threw a fit.
- Hey, my little sister Soyul? I'm really worried as your brother about where you've been putting your mind lately. Announcing your weapon info? You didn't even tell me? Why are you suddenly doing something you never did?
From scolding her for blabbing the info.
- What? Suddenly leaving Parang? You haven't been taking drugs lately, have you?
To her 'resignation request' thrown at Parang.
- Wow, my sister has gone completely mad. She's totally possessed. Which fox spirit is it? Is it that Joo Dong-hoon fox? Huh? Should I go there and rip off all those tails to snap you out of it?
Ki Pa-rang shook his head and stuck out his tongue.
'You shouldn't have put in that no-side-job clause.'
Anyway.
That dragged on for about two weeks.
Ki Pa-rang's resistance was fiercer than expected.
And her own stubbornness wasn't weak either.
Of course, this proved her stubbornness was even stronger.
'But I have to do what needs doing.'
To the guild.
To that person.
She couldn't cause more harm.
The moment she volunteered as bodyguard and joined Joo Dong-hoon's side.
She felt she wouldn't be able to handle guild duties anymore.
- Look at this. That person just makes S-rank weapons like this?
- Plus, remember? In a month, he's going to the Dungeon Maker on our recommendation.
- If he comes back alive, he'll be a ranker too.
- If I join him and grow, it benefits Parang too, right?
- You'd gain a solid ally. I'm just saying, thinking about the future is good.
All these were what Gi So-yul said to persuade Ki Pa-rang.
And now.
Having obtained everything, Gi So-yul walked proudly.
Toward the 「Demir Workshop」.
'But......'
What should she say?
Another soft sigh escaped her lips.
Then she muttered.
'Will you let me be your bodyguard again......?'
Crazy.
Gi So-yul shook her head vigorously.
Goosebumps rose all over her body.
Ask him to let her?
It was nonsense.
Words that could never come from her mouth.
"Haa."
Without a doubt.
This moment was harder for Gi So-yul than any dungeon in the world.
It wasn't like she'd begged before, but going back and saying she'd protect him.
Didn't it look pathetic?
'It might be me just drinking my own kimchi soup.'
She'd said it back then.
That she wanted to stand alone.
Yeah.
That's why she was hesitating.
What if he wasn't particularly welcoming?
"......"
Hm?
It was then.
She sensed traces of a familiar aura nearby.
Quite unique......
Yet similar to her own unique ability.
"Shadow Walker?"
Gi So-yul's mind raced.
Shadow Walker was affiliated with the Ohseong Group.
For such a person to appear in Apgujeong-dong?
"......"
At that moment.
Gi So-yul's eyes turned cold as frost.
Swoosh!
Her figure vanished into the air.
Faster than the blink of an eye.
* * *
"......"
The Shadow Walker furrowed one brow.
"What is this...... now?"
Every single skeleton felt off.
And they kept coming back to life no matter how many times he killed them.
Especially the shield one.
Because of its taunt skill, he kept targeting it, but it revived endlessly.
It was annoyingly persistent.
'And.'
They were multiplying?
Every time a skeleton died and revived, it called in more minions.
They were weak, but the numbers kept pushing, making it slightly overwhelming.
'If only there were shadows.'
His epithet was Shadow Walker.
The one who walks beneath shadows.
But because of that sun spear guy and the bow Bone, he couldn't find any shadows at all.
He could only rely on his physical prowess.
'Hah.'
Of course, he felt no sense of crisis.
Just irritation from the fight dragging on.
"No matter how much light you emit, as long as the whole world isn't filled with light, shadows are inevitable."
The Shadow Walker moved wildly.
In that motion, he found openings and struck them.
Crack!
With every swing of his hands and feet, skeletons shattered like sand.
It was like light leaking.
Flash!
In the pure white light, grown shadows began devouring the light bit by bit, like a solar eclipse.
"Shadow Field."
He muttered curtly.
"A skill that artificially creates shadows."
As expected of a ranker.
No hunter exposed to such an obvious weakness could make the ranker list.
"I'm done going easy on you, Demir Workshop Master."
"Hoo, that was pretty clever."
Slowly.
The shadows grew, encroaching on the light from Taeyang.
"But saying 'I'm done going easy' sounds kinda chuunibyou, doesn't it? Felt like you weren't holding back earlier."
"Shut up, you talk even after death!"
Swoosh!
The Shadow Walker melted into the shadows.
"......"
Good.
If rattling his ranker composure even a little by baring my teeth.
I had to keep talking.
To win, I'd do anything.
"Honestly, you disgust me, Shadow Walker."
['Bone4' uses the skill, 'Intermediate Taunt' (Lv.6).]
Crack!
Bone4 crumbled again.
The Shadow Walker had attacked from the shadows.
"Wearing that ranker title everyone yearns for, yet committing evil for mere money, scum like you."
[Uses the skill, 'Great Skeleton Summon' (B-rank).]
[Uses 10 stamina.]
['Bone4' appears.]
Rustle!
But as long as there was stamina, Bone4 regenerated.
"You strut around calling yourselves noble rankers, but scum like you are just hitmen, human trash, nothing more, nothing less."
[Hunter: Joo Dong-hoon]
[Epithet: Skeleton Lord]
[Stamina: 50/220]
Remaining stamina: 50.
Boom!
Bone4 slammed his shield into the ground again.
With unyielding resolve to offer his body anytime to protect his master.
"By my standards, you're not a ranker, not human, just a pathetic beast unable to control its desires. Trash."
"Shut that mouth!"
That instant.
Swoosh!
In front of Bone4 and behind me.
Two Shadow Walkers emerged simultaneously.
Leaping into the air, they gripped swords in both hands and cleaved down at our crowns.
'This......'
I panicked.
I saw his intent.
Striking Bone4's taunt and my main body with a timed gap.
A clever move.
"Master!"
"Master! Dodge!"
Eldrin and Taeyang.
Bone1 and Bone5 hurriedly used their stamina to respond, but that was it.
"......"
I bit my lip.
I instinctively knew.
There was no way to block that ranker's attack.
'Not yet.'
Frustrating.
If only I had a little more time.
If I'd reached A-rank, or gotten a bit closer to full mastery.
Wouldn't things be different?
Grit!
But I didn't give up.
As I glared at him, grinding my teeth.
Boom!
A massive roar shook the building.
Something flashed up from below like lightning, kicking the two figures at light speed.
"Guh, guh...... urk!"
The force of the kick was so immense.
He was pinned to the wall, writhing like a bug, unable to do anything.
And behind me.
"Dong-hoon-ssi."
With the familiar peony scent and a faint breath.
"I'm sorry. I was too late."
Ah.
A being who could kick a rank 720 ranker flat.
Among such beings, one who called me 'Dong-hoon-ssi'?
I knew only one.
Dark Emperor Gi So-yul.
One of Korea's 37 rankers.
The world rank 379 ranker had arrived.