The Flame That Devours Evil

The explosion hit like a thunderclap. 'That necklace must have a cooldown too.' The detection stone Nargul had used at the end of the Dungeon of Nargul was much larger than this one, which let me make that educated guess.

The bastard pulled a long, club-like donpa from his subspace — a weapon with handles stretching out on both sides. If it wasn't that weapon, then one of his other abilities definitely had an effect that could paralyze people for a certain amount of time.

Oh Seung-je turned his body toward Yeonhee instead of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the obviously dangerous four-man team. The moment he made that meaningful movement—

Shhhk—

I had been waiting for him to react. The instant his attention locked completely onto Yeonhee, I sprang forward in a single leap.

To mark him as quickly as possible, I had shortened my daggers to their smallest form. I drove them into the gaps of his armor.

Thud! Thud! Shunk—!

"Kuh-heok—?! You bastard!!"

Crunch—!

'Oh?'

I rapidly struck with both hands, planting four marks before retreating to Yeonhee's side. Swish—

'Whistle— Even while dodging my attack aimed at his eyes, he counterattacked instantly. Not bad. He's got decent senses.'

His counterattack had blown off part of my left shoulder. A message about resisting his skill floated up.

"Kuheek— Kek—! Uuugh...!"

Blood gushed from the gaps in his armor. Six marks had now accumulated, and the flames burning within him had grown enormous.

Only then did he seem to notice the marks. He looked at the ones floating above his shoulder and recoiled in horror.

"What the—fuck! What the hell is this?!"

"?!! It's that guy!! Everyone, put on your Color!"

The moment the four-man team saw Oh Seung-je's stealth break and his form revealed, they reacted instantly.

Tadadad—!

The four of them cloaked their bodies in the ability they had used during the Mimic event — the one they called Color. Their movements became as swift as swallows skimming low over the ground.

Oh Seung-je had taken a serious wound from me, and after seeing the explosive acceleration of the four who had joined the fight, he must have judged the situation was bad. He immediately activated his artifact.

Whooooosh—

The moment it activated, wing-shaped whirlwinds flapped behind his legs. He shot away from the four-man team's coordinated assault like lightning and began fleeing into the distance.

"What the— What the hell is that guy?! He's way faster than us?!"

"It's an artifact! Chase him!"

"We have to catch him before his stealth reactivates!!"

The four-man team left afterimages as they vanished after him. I expanded my senses and leisurely watched the chase between Oh Seung-je and the four, waiting for the moment when other parties would get involved.

'I need to make sure they don't realize the explosion came from me.'

One of the iron rules among hunters was to never easily reveal your skills to others. No matter how many days we'd teamed up with the four, there was no need to let the members of the assassin organization Veil know that Flame Explosion was my ability.

"Ilwol? Can you still detonate those marks even if they fall off?"

"Clack clack clack!!"

"Ooh— As expected. You've got a whole plan, huh."

It was a technique I could trigger anytime within the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠range of my senses. We held hands and walked casually in the direction the bastard had fled, like we were on a stroll. Before long, the distance between us and him had grown to over three kilometers.

'Time to blow it up.'

I used the reward from the 'Summoner's Helper' achievement — which I'd gained after forming a deeper bond with Yeonhee — to level ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up Flame Explosion.

Once again, the attack power had risen dramatically, and the ability to destroy maximum health had doubled to a whopping 500.

'Whoa... Did reaching level 5 give it such a big boost? Five hundred health would be near-instant death even for a top-tier B-grade dealer, right?'

The overwhelming power of the skill made one side of my head throb, and on top of that, a new ability — location tracking — had been added.

'If I land even one Flame Explosion, I can track their location...? At this rate, I'm going to have no choice but to pour everything into this skill.'

It was an incredibly useful ability when an enemy survived the blast and ran away like this. Of course, if it was a monster that could survive Flame Explosion and still escape, that in itself would be a massive headache.

'Just how far does this Flame Explosion go?'

I was starting to feel a little afraid. Was this really a skill I could handle?

I waved the skill description away and refocused on Oh Seung-je. Luckily, three parties were clustered together right in the direction he was fleeing. I waited for the moment when about twenty hunters overlapped just enough, then activated Flame Explosion.

Of course, I had adjusted it with the intent of not harming the other hunters. Such delicate control would be nearly impossible without sensory abilities.

Ziiiiiiing——

Along with the skill activation, a sharp tearing sound pierced the ears and echoed for several kilometers. Then—

KWAAAAAAAAAAANG———!!

A tremendous explosion followed. From the far side of the dungeon, a massive pillar of black flame shot into the sky, incinerating an enormous amount of swamp in a spectacular display.

"Whoaaaaaaa—! Waaaaah—"

Yeonhee stared at the flame pillar still soaring into the sky with her mouth wide open, completely mesmerized.

"It's so pretty—"

'From this far away, it really is a spectacular sight.'

For some reason, it made me crave popcorn.

Boom boom boom boom—!

The swamp byproducts affected by the Flame Explosion caused dozens of chain explosions in midair. The hunters who had been near Oh Seung-je had already scattered in all directions, staring blankly at the pillar of flame in pure shock.

'Whoa— Level 5 Flame Explosion is insane. He didn't even leave a trace?'

Along with the Flame Explosion, Oh Seung-je had been completely erased from the world without leaving behind even a single fragment.

'Ooooh?! Strength went up by 15?!'

Reaching the 300s in Strength meant I could now compete with a Werewolf — the strongest C-grade solo entity — without being pushed back too much. It also meant I could fight an Orc Low-tier Warrior, who was twice as strong as an Orc Advanced Warrior, using pure stats alone.

'Ju Ye-seul gave me 10, right?'

The light mage Ju Ye-seul, who had toyed with people's deaths for fun in the Dungeon of Nargul. Killing her had given me 10 stat points. The reward this time was much higher, so a smile naturally formed on my face — but a sense of unease came with it.

'A big reward means this bastard was an even bigger piece of shit ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠than her. Wow... He really was something else.'

I clicked my tongue and carried Yeonhee to a spot a little further from the explosion site.

'Okay. Even if everything else disappears, artifacts still drop.'

The boots he had been wearing — an artifact — had been blown far away by the explosion. I picked them up, stored them in my subspace, and returned to the scene.

By the time I arrived, hunters were finally gathering one by one, exchanging stories about what the hell had just happened. Among them, the four-man team was thoroughly searching the area, hoping to find even the smallest trace of Oh Seung-je. They didn't talk much with the others.

'They talked so much when they were with us. Guess they're picky about who they speak to.'

There was a brief commotion, but since there were witnesses who had been harmed by him, proving the crime wouldn't be difficult.

"We'll confiscate all his assets and distribute them to the victims."

"I don't know if that'll be enough compensation... but at least we caught him now. That's a relief..."

We stayed until the people paralyzed by his skill recovered from the status effect, then moved on to do the boss raid. The people we had saved followed us because the entrance and exit were different — they couldn't go back the way they came.

They kept bowing to Yeonhee and the four, saying they would definitely repay us once they got out. But since we had already scanned the equipment they were wearing, we didn't expect much.

Since we'd formed a connection anyway, we included them in the boss fight. We cleared it without any trouble this time as well.

"Ah, seriously. This is too much. What kind of rotten luck is this?"

"This isn't just bad luck... Something feels off."

"......"

Black Fang, who had checked the boss reward, finally exploded in frustration.

'Intermediate Poison Rune... Four days in a row of intermediate runes from boss fights? How unlucky can you get?'

No matter how much of a low-level C-grade dungeon it was, it was cruel that not a single advanced rune had dropped. 'My luck had been good for a while. Guess luck really is a consumable resource.'

I tried to understand the situation with my own logic.

After clearing the dungeon, we had to respond to a brief investigation by Hunter Management Bureau officials because of that damn Oh Seung-je. As we quietly finished the questioning and came out, the officials and hunters were having a small argument.

"Isn't it too obvious that you're only trying to clean this up now?!"

"No... There have been so many incidents lately that we can't assign combat personnel even to C-grade cases."

"What?! You're just cherishing the high-rank hunters. I've seen articles saying there's a ton of surplus manpower, you know?"

"That's the administrative staff—"

While we and the four who had actually chased the bastard stayed quiet, the other hunters were fiercely protesting to the late-arriving bureau officials.

'They're just civil servants eating from the national budget. What crime did they commit?'

If anyone was to blame, it would be the higher-ups who coordinated the personnel allocation.

"Hoo~ It was going smoothly until the very end. Anyway, thank you for your hard work."

"Yes, you too, Mr. Black Fang."

"Um... There's one thing I'm curious about, though."

"Yes?"

"That black, ominous flame pillar. Could that have been..."

"......"

Black Fang was extremely curious about who had cast Flame Explosion. He seemed to suspect us, but when Yeonhee played dumb, he didn't press further.

After parting ways with them, it wasn't even four o'clock yet, so we naturally held hands and walked home. That was when Baek A-rin's call came in.

'Looks like her promotion test is over.'

"Ah, yes yes. Okay... Hehe... Yes. See you there then."

We decided to meet at a cafe in the bustling downtown area. There, we were able to meet A-rin for the first time in several days.

"Over here, over here!"

She greeted us with her usual bright smile. In the few days we hadn't seen her, she had grown noticeably stronger. Since I had reached level 60 and raised my rank, it was only natural that she had done the same.

However, the increase in her rank was bigger than I had expected, so I was a little surprised.

"How did it go?"

Yeonhee asked about the promotion test results the moment they met. Yeonhee usually didn't ask such sensitive questions, which showed just how much she trusted A-rin.

"I passed with flying colors~!! Kyahaang—"

Despite her cheerful expression, her condition was terrible.

'She says it was easy, but her body is pretty beat up... Just who was the examiner that they turned her into such a wreck?'