Chapter 154
Chapter 154
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 154
Chapter Title: Just One
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sometimes in movies or comics, there are protagonists like that.
They knowingly walk into the enemy's trap with their own feet.
Or they watch suspiciously as the enemy drags out time to complete some shady plan, finding it intriguing and deliberately waiting.
Jeong-hyeon had never been able to empathize with why those protagonists did such crazy things when simply enjoying the story.
But now, watching the Lizardmen’s behavior, he could somewhat understand.
*I'm curious, huh.*
Seeing the shamans busily doing something, he was genuinely wondering what would happen once they finished.
Of course, nine times out of ten, it would be some strengthening ritual for the warriors.
Otherwise, there was no reason for them to shift their stance so drastically.
He didn't know how close the ritual was to completion, but the best course was to interrupt it as quickly as possible.
Jeong-hyeon nodded once and drew the Onyx dagger from his bosom.
The warriors' eyes sharpened even more.
They seemed to be on high alert, remembering how badly they'd been hurt by the dagger earlier.
"Try blocking it if you can."
*Thwip—*
Jeong-hyeon threw the dagger without a care.
The warriors, ready to throw themselves in front to block it from reaching the shamans, flinched at the sight.
But that was it.
The dagger was already flying over their heads.
No way it would hit the shamans like that.
It wasn't as if the dagger had eyes, and judging by the force behind it, it had clearly veered off course badly.
But,
*Crack—*
"Kerruk—"
Making a mockery of their relief, the dagger Jeong-hyeon threw pierced the back of the head of the one dancing fervently in the center of the shaman group.
"Hirelerele!"
The warriors went into absolute chaos.
It clearly wasn't aimed at anyone.
One moment it seemed to drop straight down, and like magic, it had severed a shaman's breath.
"Kirruk, kirruk!"
The shamans were just as panicked.
Of all things, the one handling the most crucial role in the ritual had died.
One of the shamans glared fiercely at the warriors before stepping into the center itself, taking over the role and starting to dance.
"Hirruk!"
The lead warrior bellowed a shout.
The plan to buy time and keep them from approaching the shamans needed revision.
He didn't know what trickery was used, but it surely wasn't luck.
The foe had targeted the shamans precisely with the dagger.
In that case, close combat was better.
"Hirruk!"
"Hirruk!"
At the lead warrior's command, the warriors charged at Jeong-hyeon all at once.
Was this the right call?
Though he'd issued the direct assault order, unease lingered in the lead warrior's mind.
It felt less like the right judgment and more like an unavoidable one.
And the lead warrior's instinct wasn't far off.
*Thud—*
Halberd versus pickaxe.
Naturally, for the warriors wielding the longer halberds, maintaining distance was advantageous.
In other words, Jeong-hyeon had to close that distance.
*Not bad fighters, these guys.*
He'd maintained a dismissive attitude throughout, but in truth, the Lizardman warriors showed considerable skill in group combat.
Even now, they knew exactly how to surround and attack a lone opponent like Jeong-hyeon.
They positioned themselves to cover each other, showing few openings.
It wasn't easy to target their legs like before.
But if there were no openings, he just had to create them.
Throwing skill and pickaxe.
And beyond that, Jeong-hyeon had one more card left to play.
*Shoo—*
Mana Bolts generated around Jeong-hyeon.
The best way to create an opening was to strike with an attack the enemy couldn't even imagine.
They must have gained some confidence now that his throwing skill, which had instilled fear, and his pickaxe, with its devastating power, were tied up.
Then suddenly firing Mana Bolts?
Even if Mana Bolt wasn't the most powerful spell, it would be enough to startle them.
*Pak-pak-pak—*
"Hirr!"
Jeong-hyeon's prediction hit the mark.
The warriors visibly panicked at the unexpected magic.
It was only natural for their tightly coordinated halberds to waver.
Jeong-hyeon didn't miss the gap.
Spotting an unusually wide opening—perhaps by chance—he slipped right through without hesitation.
Then he swung the pickaxe with all his might.
*Roar—*
It was even enchanted with fire magic.
Pure destructive power might favor neutral magic, but the situation was different now.
With neutral magic, it was hard to tell at a glance whether it was magic's effect or just Jeong-hyeon brute-forcing it.
Fire magic, on the other hand, was instantly recognizable as magic and boasted overwhelming intimidation compared to other attributes.
Just seeing flames wrap around the weapon was enough to intimidate the opponent.
*Crunch—*
The vigorously swung pickaxe not only pierced one warrior's side but also staggered the one next to it.
One warrior collapsed without even screaming, its guts roasted by the pickaxe's tear.
*Tap—*
Jeong-hyeon didn't spare the others a glance as he dashed forward.
If they'd charged in organized squads instead of a single line, it would have been a headache.
Fortunately, now that he'd broken through them, it was completely open ground.
There was no way they could stop him from reaching the shamans.
"Hiruk!"
Warrior cries close to screams echoed from behind, but that was all.
Jeong-hyeon didn't look back as he raced toward the shamans.
The ones who had been engrossed in their ritual moments ago froze at the sight of him bursting through the warriors, halting their actions and backing away hesitantly.
That alone meant the ritual had essentially failed.
The damage was already severe from the death of the one that had been dancing.
"Now let's end this."
At any rate, Jeong-hyeon had finally reached the shamans.
For a mere third wave, it had been excessively troublesome.
The space where the Lizardman shamans had just been shaking rattles, dancing, and performing rituals with prayers.
It transformed into a blood-soaked slaughterhouse in an instant under Jeong-hyeon's hand.
*Crunch— Crack—*
Jeong-hyeon smashed the heads of the two shamans sitting closest to him.
"Kirruk!"
The others shuddered at the sight, turning to flee in all directions.
"Whoa, you can't do that."
Of course, Jeong-hyeon wasn't about to let them.
*Thwip—*
With no one left to interfere, every toss of the recoverable Black dagger felled another shaman without fail.
Not content with that, when he embedded the pickaxe in one's back, the warriors he'd left behind swung their halberds a step too late.
"Hirr!"
But they weren't forming the same formation as before to charge.
They were just attacking haphazardly, whoever recovered first.
*Something's off.*
On top of that, the power behind their attacks felt much weaker than before.
In truth, it was rebound from the strengthening ritual being canceled midway, but Jeong-hyeon had no way of knowing.
At any rate, they were easier to handle now, so he had no reason to complain.
He deflected a thrusting halberd in one motion and crushed the warrior's head.
*Two left?*
Recovering the pickaxe from its skull-pierced head, he scanned the surroundings.
There had been eight shamans performing the ritual.
He'd killed six somehow, and the two farthest from him were desperately trying to flee into the forest.
Even if they escaped into the woods, Jeong-hyeon would catch them, but re-entering that dense thicket of trees wasn't exactly pleasant for him either.
Jeong-hyeon simply drew two Onyx daggers.
He'd already been able to control up to three daggers near-perfectly before.
With his throwing skill upgraded, two was no different from one.
*Thwip—*
Two daggers flew, but the sound they made was identical to one.
They pierced the backs of the two fleeing shamans in perfect sync.
All that remained were the escort warriors staring vacantly at their fallen shamans.
"So, want to keep fighting?"
Jeong-hyeon turned to them with a relaxed expression.
He'd asked if they wanted to continue, but in truth, they had no choices left.
This was a Mission Gate.
Hunters had to fight until they cleared the mission or died, and it wasn't much different for the monsters.
As expected, the warriors didn't show the disgrace of fleeing.
"Hirr······."
Instead, they gripped their halberds, clinging to their fading will.
"Yeah, that's more like it."
Jeong-hyeon welcomed it.
He'd planned to start from here and methodically take them out from the rear anyway.
*Tap—*
This time, Jeong-hyeon charged first.
In the Lizardman warriors' vertically slit pupils, his figure rapidly grew larger.
***
"Whew······. Feels like this isn't human work."
Jeong-hyeon sighed, voicing his complaint while sitting.
Compared to when they first entered, the sanctuary and its surroundings had become near ruins.
The muddy water was noticeably red with blood, and the encircling trees had all snapped or toppled from powerful magic and equally fierce attacks.
"Right? Lizardman warriors numbering 300. Even for a Mission Gate······."
Yun-ho nodded in agreement.
The party had just repelled the fourth wave.
The fourth wave consisted of warriors and shamans as well.
Numbering a whopping 300.
It wasn't even surprising anymore.
This was practically war.
The silver lining was that after eliminating all the shamans, the warriors had noticeably weakened.
Without that, the fights would have been far harder.
"This time, they really came from behind."
Ji-hee shook her head wearily, recalling the earlier situation.
In the fourth wave, as Jeong-hyeon had feared, attacks came not from the entrance but elsewhere.
Though it was regular Lizardmen rather than warriors, and only about ten of them, it could have been fatal if they'd fully let their guard down.
Fortunately, Ji-hee had kept Jeong-hyeon's instructions in mind and caught them the moment they were detected.
"At any rate, this should be the final wave now."
"Ugh, if this isn't the last one, we're done for!"
When Jeong-hyeon casually mentioned it, Yeon-hee flopped back onto the sticky ground without a care and yelled.
The first and second waves had been manageable, but the third and fourth had been desperate struggles to reach the fifth.
No one had said it was the last, but the party's fatigue was at its absolute worst—they couldn't imagine more after this.
200, 300—facing that many monsters up close was suffocating.
Considering that in normal gates, they usually handled just over ten Lizardmen at a time, the fact they hadn't collapsed yet was remarkable.
No, the fact that no one had died was sheer luck.
*Can't drag it out any longer. It's dangerous.*
Jeong-hyeon felt they were reaching their limit.
During the fourth wave, while he was intercepting shamans, tank Su-chan had taken a serious injury at the sanctuary.
It was near the end of the fight, so Yeon-hee managed the rest, but it wasn't a good sign.
On top of that, Jeong-hyeon's condition wasn't great.
In this wave, the shamans had focused curses on him, and though killing them lifted the curses, his body hadn't fully recovered.
If he could quantify his max condition, it felt like the peak he could reach after rest had plummeted.
*Ji-hee seems to be struggling now too.*
The biggest reason he could confidently leave the sanctuary—Ji-hee's complexion had rapidly worsened.
After the third wave, she'd taken another Trait Stabilizer.
Even if it stabilized traits, the consecutive doses must have put severe strain on her body.
From any angle, the party had hit its limit.
"But······ at this rate, next is 400 warriors, right?"
Su-chan grimaced, still in pain despite Yun-ho's healing just finishing, and asked.
The party members' faces darkened in an instant.
No one voiced it, but the worst-case scenario was clear.
Su-chan was right.
After 200 and 300, 400 was the natural progression.
And it was a number that made winning feel doubtful.
"If it really is······ I won't go out. I'll fight here with you all."
Jeong-hyeon said gravely.
Intercepting shamans was important, but ignoring the sanctuary made no sense.
With Su-chan injured and the front line weakened, he had no choice but to reinforce them.
The other members couldn't object to Jeong-hyeon's tactical shift.
They all knew the situation was too dire to insist on sticking to the original plan.
Thus, their precious rest time passed with unbearable heaviness.
Finally, the fifth wave began.
And at the presence it brought, Jeong-hyeon's eyes widened simultaneously with the others.
The number of appearing monsters far exceeded everyone's expectations.
"······One?"
The fifth wave consisted of just a single one.