Clinging to the Weakness
Park Pil-lip and the other hunters weren't pushovers by any means.
Though their ranks fell short of Cha Ye-ji's, their experience was visibly far superior.
If I hadn't hidden my presence with Stealth in that split second while they were distracted by her injury and taken out one C-rank hunter, things might have gotten dicey.
But in reality, I hadn't been in any real danger.
By reducing their numbers and devouring that C-rank hunter, I'd replenished the energy for Gluttony that I'd been sorely missing.
It wasn't fully digested—just a quick top-up of urgent energy—so the efficiency wasn't great, but it was enough to heal my wounds.
Unlike me, who'd recovered completely, they had to worry about their injured comrade, Cha Ye-ji.
A glaring weakness out in the open.
The hunters guarding her weren't easy prey, but an opponent with such an obvious vulnerability wasn't exactly formidable either.
All I had to do was relentlessly target that weak point.
They'd self-destruct on their own eventually.
Even with Cha Ye-ji as a liability, I had no intention of finishing her off right away.
I still harbored killing intent toward her, but I wasn't ready to end it yet.
A weakness only remained one as long as it persisted.
While persistently aiming for Cha Ye-ji, I avoided direct attacks.
I just made gestures that looked like I was going for her.
That was plenty.
Park Pil-lip and the others were focusing solely on defense rather than pressing the attack.
Whenever a gap appeared, I went for Cha Ye-ji to keep them from focusing on the fight.
In protecting her, wounds kept piling up on Park Pil-lip and the hunters.
"It hurts! It hurts! It huuuurts—!!!"
"Damn it—! How much longer until the healing?!"
"The antidote isn't working! What we've got isn't enough!"
What if the injured one had been some other hunter instead of Cha Ye-ji?
Park Pil-lip, with all his experience, surely knew exactly what was holding them back right now.
Yet he couldn't abandon her.
It didn't seem like camaraderie—more likely her status was too high-stakes.
Judging by their attitudes so far, I could guess as much.
Cha Ye-ji clearly held significant weight in whatever organization they belonged to.
So Park Pil-lip was fretting over the backlash if he ditched her.
I almost felt sorry for him.
He'd looked pretty beat earlier...
Probably dragged here against his will in her wake.
I didn't know the details, but he seemed pitiful enough.
Especially since he'd dragged into something he didn't want and would end up dead anyway.
As I'd said, fighting an enemy with an exposed weakness was far from difficult.
Park Pil-lip and his hunters weren't to be trifled with, but in the end, I was the one left standing.
While Park Pil-lip and the others battled on, Cha Ye-ji—who'd been screaming nonstop—went suddenly quiet.
Approaching stealthily, I found her lying still on the sandy ground.
Dead?
A quick check showed her face deathly pale from the poison, on the verge of death, but she was still breathing.
Probably passed out from the agony.
What to do with this bitch?
Even without lifting a finger, she wouldn't last much longer.
She'd neutralized some of it with her antidotes and held on, but my venom wasn't that forgiving—it wouldn't let her keep breathing indefinitely.
Part of me wanted to wake her and toy with her mercilessly, just as she'd mocked me, but my condition was too poor for that.
My wounds had regenerated, but mentally, I was exhausted.
I was only holding out thanks to grit and Limit Break; what I really wanted was to lie down and rest.
And with all the blood I'd lost, anemia was setting in.
Regeneration fixed the wounds but didn't replace the blood.
So, what to do with her?
I pondered silently for a moment before deciding on a clean kill.
Truth be told, I just wanted her dead—no real urge to torment her.
I wasn't the type to get a thrill from that sort of thing. Better to end it neatly here.
I simply gaped my jaws wide.
Gluttony → A-rank
Tough Scales → B-rank
I'd expected to evolve after the fight with Cha Ye-ji and Park Pil-lip, but alas, my stats had risen without triggering evolution.
It had felt so close, but apparently not quite there yet.
Still, by my rough estimate, it was now truly just a little ways off.
I rested fully for a day before setting off.
I'd planned to linger longer on the 33rd floor, but that had changed.
Cha Ye-ji and Park Pil-lip were clearly from a major guild.
I couldn't pinpoint which one, but with their skill and gear, they had to be from a well-known powerhouse.
Maybe even one of the top five guilds.
Unlike random hunters, a big guild like theirs would absolutely send a search party for the missing.
Especially with a promising talent like Cha Ye-ji vanished.
Staying put on the 33rd floor any longer would be foolish.
I didn't know when the search team might arrive, but getting out fast was the smart play.
And so, I'd moved to the 34th floor.
Right at the gate to the 34th, I ran into hunters.
A raid party of ten total.
One C-rank, the rest D-rank or lower—but numbers mattered.
Hmm?
Was it because I'd beaten the monstrously strong Cha Ye-ji?
Lots of them, but they didn't seem like quality I'd lose to.
Take out the C-rank with a first strike, pick off the rest one by one—easy win.
I hesitated briefly but ultimately passed on ambushing them.
If search parties were coming for the missing Cha Ye-ji, fewer disappearances here would be better.
No need to leave extra traces.
Best to put distance between me and the 33rd floor ASAP.
In the end, I sought out another gate and moved.
Arrived safely on the 34th without incident.
As expected by now, no sign of the mage-type monster I'd been hunting.
Deeper in, maybe?
I hadn't planned to stay long on the 33rd anyway to evade search teams, so no complaints.
I scouted the area for usable gates.
Floors grew larger downward, so just finding a gate took time.
While searching, I hunted monsters and the occasional hunter, recharging my near-empty Gluttony energy.
After the fight with Cha Ye-ji and Park Pil-lip, I hadn't evolved, but my stats had gone up.
It had felt so close, but apparently not quite there yet.
Still, by my rough estimate, it was now truly just a little ways off.
I rested fully for a day before setting off.
I'd planned to linger longer on the 33rd floor, but that had changed.
Cha Ye-ji and Park Pil-lip were clearly