Something is Wrong
“Are you sure he's really okay?”
I double-checked with the government official just in case.
He had already gone through various tests,
and after receiving all kinds of treatments, his physical condition was supposedly perfect.
“We have already completed the tests.”
“Already?”
“Of course. Clearing the floor won't be an issue.”
Since they said they had already cleared up to the 9th floor,
we decided to test our teamwork there.
We sat down together on the chairs in the entry zone.
And then.
“Enter Babel Tower.”
Along with the sound of everyone whispering the command,
Whoosh!
the now-familiar sensation of entering the tower washed over me.
When I came to my senses and looked around,
...It's a defense map.
Bridges stretched out in all directions,
and in the center, a blue egg rested inside a small nest.
Whatever it was, it seemed this egg was what we had to protect this time.
Crackle...!
Something like an electric current was flowing across its surface.
If we failed to protect it properly,
something terrifying might happen.
“R-Rabbits?!”
At the sound of Woo Jumin's startled voice, I turned my head.
I saw a rabbit beyond the bridge.
It was fluffy,
a plump rabbit with snow-white fur.
Why is there a rabbit here...?
As I stared at it with a puzzled expression,
Hop!
Hop!
from somewhere, one by one,
more rabbits began to appear.
“What kind of gimmick is this?”
Are they trying to make us let our guard down?
Clack.
Far from letting her guard down,
Cha Yerin immediately drew her hammer and stared straight ahead.
“Mr. Taepyeong.”
“Yes?”
“I think you should get ready.”
Cha Yerin had a very tense look on her face.
However, I still didn't understand what was going on.
“Those are just rabbits...”
“Look over there.”
I looked in the direction she pointed with the tip of her hammer.
Kyu?
The rabbit from earlier was standing there all by itself.
Tilting its head side to side.
“It's just a rabbit.”
Instead of answering, Cha Yerin activated the magic stone in the center of her hammer.
Hummm!
As a wave of energy began to ripple from the center of the hammer,
Tilt?
Tilt?
Tilt?
...the rabbit's head, which had been tilting...
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
...began to twist in only one direction.
Creeeak!
And eventually, it spun a full three hundred and sixty degrees.
Screeech...
The rabbit, its neck completely twisted, let out a bizarre sound.
“...”
“...”
“...”
We watched the scene in stunned silence.
Skrr...
And a moment later,
Riiiiiiip!
starting from its mouth, the rabbit's skin split open,
peeling off all at once.
Bulge...
Bulge! Bulge!
The bright red flesh exposed beneath the peeled skin
began to swell, dripping with blood.
The rabbit grew larger and larger.
No,
the thing that used to be a rabbit.
From the bulging flesh,
the two buck teeth—the signature trait of a rabbit—
grew abnormally sharp and massive.
Squish.
Squish.
And then,
Riiip!
Rip!
Pop! Riiip!
the rabbits all around began to burst open.
“Yeah, those definitely aren't rabbits.”
I muttered, dumbfounded.
Masses of flesh that could no longer be called rabbits
filled the field beyond the bridge.
Grrr.
Growl.
Skre.
Making bizarre noises, the monsters waited at the bridge for the start signal.
“They're Murdocks.”
As if she had encountered them before,
Cha Yerin spoke with a voice full of resentment.
“Ah!”
Hearing the name brought it back immediately.
A parasitic monster.
Because they mimic different creatures every time,
it was impossible to know what they actually looked like.
This time, it was rabbits.
“Well, they shouldn't be too difficult.”
“True. Though they are quite persistent...”
I glanced at Jumin.
He looked deeply shocked
by the sight of the rabbits shedding their skin all at once.
“Jumin.”
“...Y-Yes, Hunter-nim!”
Hunter-nim, my foot.
“Just call me Hyung.”
“Y-Yes, Hyung!”
“Get your debuffs ready.”
If we were facing Murdocks, a debuff would be incredibly useful.
All we had to do was stop them from regenerating.
*Shring.*
I drew the Elf's Sword.
Rumble...
And at the same time, the bridge began to lower.
Once the bridge was fully down, the Murdocks would charge like mad.
Flash!
Armed with sharp teeth adapted from the rabbits,
seeing nothing but teeth on raw, skinless red flesh
made even my stomach churn a little.
Why was it that
killing skinless rabbits felt more disgusting than killing zombies?
Skre...
Screeech...!
Scritch, scratch!
The rabbits—no, the Murdocks—stomped their feet.
I'll have to watch out for those teeth.
A single graze could tear a wrist right off.
In a way, these types of monsters were more annoying than those wielding weapons.
“Tsk.”
I clicked my tongue,
measuring the distance between us.
Then I spoke to Jumin.
“As soon as we run, hit the Murdocks with a debuff.”
“U-Understood...!”
The loan sharks who forced him into this must have been far worse than the Association.
Not better.
So Jumin couldn't be lacking in skill.
The only reason he looked so timid
was likely due to the environment he had grown up in.
I needed to help him build some confidence.
Without confidence,
even the things you're good at will fall apart.
“Hunter Cha.”
“Yes.”
In contrast, Cha Yerin's voice was brimming with confidence.
Ever since her sister recovered her health, Cha Yerin had noticeably brightened up.
“Please cover me.”
“Of course.”
After exchanging glances with Cha Yerin,
Three.
Two.
One.
Dash!
We dashed forward, moving faster than the stomping Murdocks.
Rumble...
Leaping onto the bridge that hadn't fully lowered yet,
Whoosh!
I jumped.
Slash!
As I swung my sword in a smooth arc,
Death Slash
Screeech!!!!
Skreeeech!!!!
The Murdocks' screams echoed through the air.
The true value of Death Slash
lay in its ability to instantly kill targets whose health fell below 30%.
The debuff...
Honestly, it wasn't a skill meant to be used as an opening attack.
Still, I had used Death Slash hoping to capitalize on the debuff,
but not a single one died.
...Are the Murdocks stronger than I thought?
Or was it just because they were at full health?
Splaaaaat!
Even so, blood sprayed out in satisfying torrents.
Showered in the fountain of blood,
I glanced back.
I checked on Jumin.
He had his eyes squeezed shut,
pressing his fingers together in a strange pose.
Sweat dripped down his face.
A faint, deep green wind began to blow from him.
Is it hard for him because there are too many targets?
Along with that brief question,
Slash!
I swung the Elf's Sword once more.
Splurt!
Blood sprayed again.
The ones in the very front row had their bodies sliced halfway through, dangling precariously.
Screeech...!
Yet, they still didn't die.
What's going on?
This was strange.
Even with the debuff active,
if they had been hit by Death Slash twice,
at least a few of them should have been torn to shreds.
For them to endure this much...
It makes no sense.
Indeed.
It made absolutely no sense.
This was only the 9th floor.
The monsters appearing here were only numerous,
not strong.
The map was designed that way from the start.
Yet,
the Murdocks were holding out abnormally well.
Far from being debuffed,
it was as if they had been buffed.
Still, three cuts should do it.
One.
Two.
Three.
After using Death Slash three times, the heads of about fifty Murdocks finally flew off.
Bulge!
Bulge! Bulge!
The bulging of the halved lumps of flesh was quite bothersome,
but I was too busy testing my new skill to pay it much mind.
However...
...Something is definitely wrong.
I felt an uneasy sensation.
It felt as though Death Slash was becoming less and less effective as time went on.
Even though behind me,
Jumin was constantly casting his debuffs.
Three times.
No, four times.
By the end of the wave,
I had to use Death Slash five times just to bring the Murdocks down.
This was ridiculous.
It wasn't like the Elf's Sword was dulling over time.
Clang!!!
I looked over at Cha Yerin.
Her situation didn't seem much different from mine.
“Ugh...”
How annoying!
I kicked away several Murdocks that were lunging at Cha Yerin's hammer,
Thwack!!!
sending them flying.
Stab!
Stab!
Stab!
Then, I personally drove my sword into their heads, killing them one by one.
Killing Time
“Sigh...”
Since all the Murdocks were already dead, it was useless.
I wiped away my sweat and looked back.
Cha Yerin was catching her breath,
while Jumin looked as if he had just taken a shower, completely drenched in sweat.
“Are you okay?”
Jumin's face was pale.
“T-T-This is my first time experiencing something like this...”
Jumin stammered, sounding defensive.
“I didn't mean that. I'm asking if your body is okay.”
When I asked again,
*Nod, nod!*
only then did Jumin nod.
It seemed things hadn't gone as he planned.
He looked on the verge of tears.
This was troublesome.
I should ask them to find someone else...
If his debuffs were this ineffective,
there was no point in bringing him along.
He would only be a hindrance.
To carry someone just out of pity...
the Tower was not that forgiving.
It was unfortunate, but a trash-tier debuffer...
“...”
Perhaps Jumin thought the same,
as he remained silent during the time left before the next wave.
“Is your stamina okay?”
“Yes, I'm fine.”
Still, receiving heals from Yu In-seok made me feel a bit better.
Matching the incoming heals,
I tried to focus on my dantian to catch my breath,
but it felt like I still couldn't quite manage it on my own.
Rumble...
And the next wave began immediately.
Kyu?
Once again, rabbits appeared,
Riiip!
bursting open,
Skre!
Screeech!
and the red Murdocks bared their sharp teeth.
“Let's go.”
I exchanged glances with Cha Yerin,
Dash!
and dashed forward.
However,
Skre!
Screeech!
“Huh?”
This time, something was different about them.
The Murdocks couldn't even think of attacking me.
Screaming in agony,
they began to thrash around in place.
*No way.*
I immediately looked back.
Jumin, still sweating profusely,
had his eyes tightly shut,
muttering something with his fingers twisted.
The deep green wind swirling around him had grown much thicker.
*Did it work?*
Did the debuff actually land properly this time?
*If so, that changes things.*
Instead of trying to kill them
carefully one by one,
I grinned and raised my sword high.
And then,
Shring!!!
I immediately swung Death Slash at the front row.
Skreeeech!!!
Squeak!
The Murdocks shrieked.
Splurt!
Once again, hot blood sprayed.
*That felt good.*
Was the debuff finally taking effect?
Anyway, this time it went well—
Bulge!
Bulge! Bulge!
But...
“...Huh?”
What unfolded before my eyes was completely different from what I had expected.
Bulge!
Bulge!
Bulge!
The severed corpses of the Murdocks
bulged and crawled along the floor, beginning to merge with one another.
“What the hell is this?”
Even for a trash-tier debuff, how could this happen?
Skre! Squeak!
The atmosphere was different from the zombie horde.
Back then, a new boss monster had appeared.
This wasn't that kind of phase.
Squish!
Squish!
The bulging pieces of flesh gathered and rapidly fused together.
“Oh, shit...”
Something was definitely wrong.