Unkillable No More
Thwack!
Lee Taepyeong's crescent sword pierced straight through the head of the snake statue.
Screeech!
At the same time, the snake statue writhed its entire body.
Splurt!
It spat out Tenjin's arm, which it had been biting.
Thud!
Tenjin collapsed to the ground.
"What in the...!"
Ignoring Choi Muryeong's shout, Taepyeong pulled out his crescent sword.
The snake was not yet dead.
Blood pooled around its fangs began to flow, and the snake slowly raised its head once more.
Flash!
The bloodstones embedded in the snake's eyes glowed.
Hiss!
With a bizarre shriek, the snake statue stood tall.
Its stone body writhed as it rose and slithered out of the doorway.
"What did you just do?!"
At Han Sion's shout, Taepyeong replied calmly.
"I can kill it."
Han Sion gasped in shock at Taepyeong's shameless response.
He can kill it? What kind of crazy nonsense is this?!
But Taepyeong's words were the truth.
Thanks to the effect of Execution Eye, Taepyeong had seen the snake statue's weakness from the very beginning.
Aside from its two eyes, there was another core deep inside its throat.
If he destroyed that core, the snake statue would die.
Why didn't anyone else think of killing it in the first place?
Stab!
Taepyeong drove his crescent sword between the snake statue's scales once again.
Clatter!
Stone scales crumbled and fell.
And at the same time...
Ah, right.
Taepyeong realized.
They don't have defense ignore.
Indeed.
The reason Taepyeong's attacks worked on the snake statue was because of his skill, Heavenly Strike.
It allowed the user's attacks to completely ignore the target's defense.
Just as he had been able to kill the immortal tagger in the tag map, the snake statue was also vulnerable to Taepyeong's attacks due to the effect of Heavenly Strike.
Naturally, the other hunters had no choice but to be utterly bewildered.
However, Choi Muryeong was the first to grasp the situation.
"Take Tenjin inside!" he commanded, drawing his own swords.
"Are you serious?!"
Ban Haeyeong slung the collapsed Tenjin over her shoulder and quickly threw herself through the closing door.
"Han Sion, you too!"
"...Understood!"
Han Sion also dove inside the door at Choi Muryeong's command.
Grrrrind...
Now, barely a hand span of space remained.
Gurgle...
Having already consumed Tenjin's blood, the snake statue healed its wounds and opened its mouth again.
Hiss!!!
"What is your plan?" Choi Muryeong asked, aligning his swords with a sharp whoosh to take a defensive stance.
Taepyeong stared at the red spot glowing vividly thanks to Execution Eye and spoke.
"The weakness is inside its throat."
"Then..."
"We have to break the core inside to kill it."
Taepyeong adjusted his grip on his crescent sword.
"You should go inside too, Hunter Choi."
Taepyeong glanced back at Choi Muryeong.
"Your attacks won't work on it anyway."
"..."
It was a humiliating statement in a way, but Choi Muryeong was not a man to feel humiliated by a statement of fact.
"I will still provide cover."
"Well, if you insist."
Stab!
Slash!
Thud!
Crunch!
Taepyeong began to stab the snake statue in a frenzy.
Stone scales chipped away.
However, even after stripping the stone scales and stabbing, it seemed the crescent sword could not reach the core.
In that case, there was only one way.
He had to crawl inside its throat and pierce the core.
Taepyeong realized this halfway through.
Simply dealing damage was useless.
But...
This is a bit risky...
If he crawled into the snake statue's throat, he would surely be bitten in half.
If so...
"Hunter Choi."
"Yes."
"Let me borrow a sword."
"That is impossible."
"Why? Are you being stingy?"
"It is a bound item."
Damn it!
Taepyeong clicked his tongue and backed away.
Crash!
The snake statue lunged at the spot he had just occupied.
Perhaps Tenjin's blood was highly nutritious, because its stone scales were regenerating rapidly.
Ultimately...
"Then I'll need your cooperation."
Taepyeong grabbed Choi Muryeong's hand.
Even if it was a bound item, he could use it if he borrowed the owner's hand.
"On three."
"Understood."
"One."
Hiss!
"Two."
Hiss!!!
"Three!"
With the final count, Choi Muryeong's sword wedged into the snake statue's mouth.
To be precise, it jammed between its open jaws.
Hiss?!
And there, clearly visible deep inside the throat...
Flash!
The glowing core.
"You're dead."
Taepyeong muttered quietly and crawled right into the snake's throat.
Crunch!
Did it realize what was happening?
The snake statue tried to clamp its mouth shut.
Clang!
Just then...
Clash!
Choi Muryeong jammed his remaining swords into the snake statue's mouth.
Screeech!
The mouth refused to close.
Taepyeong gripped his crescent sword tightly.
And then...
Clang!!!
The blade struck the blood-soaked core.
Crack...
Creeeak...
Cracks slowly spread across the core, and blood began to seep out.
Shatter!
And then...
Spurt!!!
The core shattered completely, spraying blood everywhere.
Even as he was drenched in the pouring hot blood, Taepyeong did not withdraw his sword.
Clatter!
Once all the blood had sprayed out, the snake statue turned completely back to solid stone.
When Choi Muryeong pulled out his swords...
Crumble!
The snake statue collapsed into a pile of rubble.
"Phew..."
Taepyeong stood up, drenched in blood.
Choi Muryeong looked at him and spoke.
"It was true."
"What was?"
"...That you can kill anything."
Taepyeong smirked at those words.
"Why would I lie to you?"
"..."
Choi Muryeong silently turned his gaze away.
And then...
Ruuuumble!!!
Just like the snake statue, the gate of the Bongma Dojo crumbled into a heap of stone.
And visible beyond it...
"...H-He's alive?"
"What on earth happened?"
The Chinese hunters murmured in confusion.
"Taepyeong! You're completely covered in blood!" Ban Haeyeong, who was supporting Tenjin, cried out.
"Are you alright?" Han Sion checked on Choi Muryeong and Taepyeong.
Tenjin was still unconscious.
Taepyeong wiped his blood-smeared face with the back of his hand and spoke nonchalantly.
"Turns out it could be killed."
Jang Wonryong and the Chinese hunters gasped in shock.
"H-He killed it...?"
"Is that even possible...?"
"Isn't that guy just level 25?"
"..."
Just how?
Jang Wonryong stared at the two of them with an utterly blank expression.
Though his clenched fists were trembling, his voice feigned composure.
"...That is a relief."
The World No. 8 hunter had tried to sacrifice a healer on a special floor.
But a level 25 rookie hunter from South Korea had killed the snake statue and saved the healer.
If this news were to spread to the public...
"..."
No.
Everything that happened on a special floor was classified.
That was why the Chinese government had agreed to sacrifice a healer in the first place.
So, the public would never know that Jang Wonryong had abandoned his humanity.
Even so, Jang Wonryong's unease did not fade.
"Well, let's go."
Watching Taepyeong's back as he took the lead...
Grit.
Jang Wonryong ground his teeth unconsciously.
This is only temporary...
"Monk, are you okay?"
Even after taking potions and receiving basic healing from Han Sion, Tenjin's condition was still terrible.
"He drained his own blood while constantly self-healing, so his recovery is bound to be slow."
"Then wouldn't it be better to just send him out?"
At my words, Ban Haeyeong's eyes widened in surprise.
"If even one person leaves a special floor, it's considered a failure!"
"What? Really?"
"Yes, really."
I mean, then what? Are they saying he should just die here?
"..."
If I asked that, I felt like they would say yes, so I just kept my mouth shut.
Haha.
The monk's condition was awful, and we had to keep dragging him along?
"Will he be able to survive the boss?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
No one answered.
It was a situation where no one could guarantee anything.
"...Well, we'll just have to make do somehow."
At my words, the three of them nodded.
The Bongma Dojo was structured like a maze.
Since Jang Wonryong and the Chinese hunters had already been here, they decided to take the lead, and we followed behind.
There were traps here and there, but they were minor, making it easy to advance even while supporting Tenjin.
And then...
"Let's take a break here."
We arrived at a space that looked like a dining hall.
Bizarrely, steam was rising from freshly prepared food, as if everyone had suddenly run out in the middle of a meal.
Unopened steamers and a half-poured bottle of alcohol.
It really looked as if people had been here just a moment ago.
"Is this really safe?"
When I asked, Ban Haeyeong answered.
"They said they used this place as a rest area during the test runs too."
"Oh."
"I heard the dumplings are delicious."
"Really?"
"Let's try some too."
We sat down and began to eat the prepared food.
Just in case, Han Sion performed a basic poison check, but fortunately, nothing was detected.
"You should eat too, Tenjin."
We gave Tenjin some pumpkin porridge with rice cakes, while the rest of us gathered around and opened the various steamers.
Starting with meat dumplings, to xiaolongbao, shaomai, and more, they were filled with all kinds of dumplings.
"Oh, smells great!"
"This is surprisingly authentic."
"Don't eat too much, though."
We each picked up our chopsticks and began to eat the dumplings.
Warm, juicy dumplings bursting with flavor.
Chew, chew.
Thin skin, packed filling, and even the perfectly seasoned soy sauce.
"Mmm..."
These were the best dumplings I had ever eaten in my life.
They were on a completely different level from the ones at the local Chinese restaurant!
Sipping tea in between, we emptied several steamers, and my stomach felt satisfyingly full.
Ah.
Having a rest area like this, special floors weren't so bad after all!
Fortunately, Tenjin finished about half of his porridge.
Though his complexion was still pale, he seemed to have recovered a bit after resting.
Having finished our meal, we decided to rest a bit longer before moving out.
Since Jang Wonryong had already cleared the maze, we just had to follow him.
The problem lay outside the maze.
The end of the Bongma Dojo.
Once we arrived there, the real battle would begin.
"They're a type of ghost."
Jang Wonryong's explanation was simple.
When we reached the end of the Bongma Dojo, shadow ghosts would appear.
We had to kill all of them, and then perform a ritual to appease their restless spirits.
However, the number of shadow ghosts was overwhelming, and each individual ghost was so powerful that they had failed to clear it during both test runs.
Since China lacked a light-attribute mage, it must have been even harder for them.
That was why they had requested Choi Muryeong and Han Sion.
Certainly, with Han Sion's light-attribute magic, dealing with ghosts wouldn't be too difficult.
But...
It's a special floor. Is that really all there is to it?
Just killing the ghosts and performing a ritual?
Was that really the clear condition?
Something felt off.