Chapter 130
Chapter 130
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: Suppressing the Betrayers
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Shuv arrived a bit later than Shin Yu-hyun, having stayed behind to clean up the remaining magic beasts in the passage. A chill killing intent emanated from her.
The moment she reached the wide clearing, she overheard Lee Sang-beom hurling insults at Shin Yu-hyun.
"And what the hell are you?"
Lee Sang-beom glared at Shuv with a displeased expression.
"Filthy lower lifeform..."
At his words, Shuv fixed him with eyes brimming with cold killing intent.
It was utterly different from the gentle way she usually treated Shin Yu-hyun.
"Hmph. Cocky for a woman. What do you think you can even do in this situation?"
But Lee Sang-beom just sneered.
Even though Lee Kang-hoon had fallen, there were still nine Getia Worshippers left, including himself.
And that wasn't all.
The other eight, excluding the low 5-star Lee Sang-beom, were all upper or top-tier 4-stars.
On top of that, they had the numerical advantage, and most importantly, they were holding nine surviving Pungrim Volcano Guild members hostage.
That was why Lee Sang-beom believed they held the upper hand.
"If you don't want to watch these guys die, drop your weapons."
Lee Sang-beom smirked, curling the corner of his mouth as he addressed Shuv and Shin Yu-hyun.
He planned to make them submit without resistance before subduing them.
But Lee Sang-beom had misjudged two key things.
One was the fact that Shuv, despite her ability restrictions, was still a 6-star powerhouse.
The other was...
Shhwick!
Two longswords made of black mana materialized around Shuv.
"What?"
Lee Sang-beom's face twitched in shock. Shuv had cast an attack spell without a care for the hostages they held.
The other misjudgment was that Shuv valued the insult to Shin Yu-hyun more than the lives of the Pungrim Volcano Guild hostages they held.
"You don't care if the hostages die?!"
Lee Sang-beom scowled and shouted at Shuv.
At that moment,
Shwaaaaa!
As if in response to his shout, the two black mana longswords sliced through the air with sharp whooshes and flew straight at him.
"Damn it!"
Lee Sang-beom, who had been pressing one longsword against 2nd Team Leader Lee Young-soo's throat, twisted his face in rage.
To think she'd ignore the hostages like this.
'No choice.'
Staring at the two longswords streaking through the air and leaving black trails, Lee Sang-beom shoved Lee Young-soo forward as a shield.
"You coward!"
Lee Young-soo roared in fury.
"Stay still, or I'll kill you right now!"
Lee Sang-beom barked at him, pressing the longsword even harder against his throat.
Right then,
Clack clack.
A strange sound echoed from behind Lee Sang-beom.
"Wh-what?"
Whipping his head around in alarm, Lee Sang-beom recoiled in surprise.
A Skeleton Saber had appeared behind him at some point, raising its bone sword high.
Slash!
Distracted by the two longswords coming from the front, Lee Sang-beom couldn't react to the strike from behind.
Clang!
But his Barrier Coat automatically activated a defensive shield, blocking the Skeleton Saber's blow.
The bone sword flew back with a piercing metallic screech.
Immediately after, the two longswords Shuv had launched curved around and shot toward Lee Sang-beom's flanks.
Boom!
"Gah!"
Lee Sang-beom spat out a scream along with his breath.
Thanks to the Barrier Coat's shield, he avoided a direct hit, but the impact from the collision shook him to his core.
He staggered, momentarily dazed.
Lee Young-soo seized the opening and drove his elbow into Lee Sang-beom's solar plexus.
"Urk!"
Knowing the Barrier Coat's properties, Lee Young-soo struck at a speed where the shield wouldn't activate, then unleashed Body Strengthening Technique for a short, explosive jab.
The blow bent Lee Sang-beom double like a bow, sending him tumbling backward. Lee Young-soo quickly put distance between them.
"You traitor!"
Lee Sang-beom drew his longsword in a flash and ignited his aura.
A blue aura blade rose from Lee Young-soo's longsword.
In that state, he charged at Lee Sang-beom again.
Clang!
"Nngh!"
But as a 5-star superhuman, Lee Sang-beom gritted his teeth through the damage and blocked the strike.
"You trash!"
Lee Sang-beom glared murderously at Lee Young-soo, radiating killing intent.
"Step aside."
A cold voice came from behind Lee Young-soo.
"...!"
Glancing back, Lee Young-soo startled and leaped to the side.
Shuv stood there, surrounded by countless dagger-sized blades of black mana.
"What the...?"
Lee Sang-beom stared blankly, finally noticing.
Innumerable black mana blades floated around Shuv's body and above her head.
Shwaaaaa!
A massive barrage of black mana blades hurtled toward Lee Sang-beom.
Black blades filled the air, dominating the space.
In response, Lee Sang-beom flared his red aura blade wildly and swung his sword like a madman.
It looked as if red slashes formed a wall around him.
He had created an aura blade sword barrier.
Krunch!
Shuv's black mana blades collided with Lee Sang-beom's red sword barrier.
The black blades shattered on contact, scattering or bouncing off in all directions.
Boom boom boom boom!
Not only that—the deflected blades triggered small explosions around Lee Sang-beom.
Dust clouds billowed up around him.
But Shuv's assault didn't stop.
She kept launching black mana blades into the dust cloud.
Followed by more small explosions.
"Nngh!"
Amid it all, Lee Sang-beom clenched his teeth and ceaselessly swung his red aura blade to bat away the black blades.
How much time passed like that?
The explosions gradually died down.
Shuv had ceased her attack.
Lee Sang-beom emerged from the settling dust.
"Huff... huff!"
He knelt on one knee, breathing raggedly.
His black coat was in tatters, and his red aura flickered dimly.
The ground around him was pockmarked with craters, utterly devastated.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, Shuv appeared before Lee Sang-beom as if teleporting.
"You don't think that's the end of it, do you?"
"M-monster...?"
Lee Sang-beom barely lifted his head, his face incredulous.
He had already reached his limit.
'Wasn't she 5-star?'
Lee Sang-beom realized he had underestimated Shuv's power.
Judging by mana consumption, Shuv had used far more.
Yet she showed no signs of fatigue.
That meant she was 6-star, not 5-star.
Thwack!
Shuv's foot snapped up, kicking Lee Sang-beom's chin as he knelt.
"Guh!"
Infused with mana, the kick whipped his head back, launching him into the air to spin several times before flying backward.
Boom!
Shuv kicked off the ground powerfully and leaped after him.
In an instant, she caught up and stomped down on the spinning Lee Sang-beom, slamming him into the earth.
Kaboom!
"Gaaah!"
As Shuv crushed him with both feet upon landing, a thunderous boom erupted, kicking up dust.
Through the haze, Shuv stood with her foot on Lee Sang-beom's head.
As if ready to crush his skull at any moment.
"Don't kill him."
Shin Yu-hyun urgently stopped Shuv.
There was information to extract from Lee Sang-beom and the other Getia Worshippers.
"Yes. Don't worry."
At Shin Yu-hyun's words, Shuv smiled softly and replied gently.
A stark contrast to how she treated Lee Sang-beom.
"Looks like that's wrapped up over there too."
Shin Yu-hyun smiled as he looked toward the Iron Golem.
There, the Iron Golem pinned down the Death Stalker, which lay belly-up.
Almost simultaneously with Shuv subduing Lee Sang-beom, the Iron Golem had taken down the 5-star Unique Boss Death Stalker.
And that wasn't all.
When Shin Yu-hyun summoned the Skeleton Saber behind Lee Sang-beom, he had also summoned skeletons behind the other Getia Worshippers to rescue the hostages.
'I wasn't particularly planning to save them...'
Shin Yu-hyun's memories of the Pungrim Volcano Guild weren't fond ones.
Not just Lee Kang-hoon—most of the guild members had been authoritarian.
The typical strong-against-weak, weak-against-strong types who bullied juniors and bowed to superiors.
Shin Yu-hyun, who had joined as the youngest based solely on Lee Kang-hoon's word, had suffered endlessly.
They dumped all the chores on him and seized on any tiny mistake to harass him.
All because he supposedly couldn't do the job properly.
Among them, the only one who treated Shin Yu-hyun decently was Choi Jin-seong.
'It's almost over now.'
The remaining Getia Worshippers couldn't hold out against the rescued guild members and the skeletons' overwhelming numbers, and were subdued.
"How in the world..."
Pungrim Volcano Guild's 2nd Team Leader Lee Young-soo gritted his teeth, glaring murderously at the bound and subdued Getia Worshippers.
The Getia Worshippers were restrained by Dia's S-rank skill, Darkness Chain.
And the suicide poisons hidden in their mouths had already been removed.
"Once we get back to the guild, I'll dig up every last detail about you bastards."
Lee Young-soo glared furiously.
Until now, he had blindly trusted Lee Kang-hoon and the other ten Getia Worshippers.
Yet they had suddenly stabbed them in the back, resulting in nine guild members dead.
It was unforgivable.
But,
"I'm taking these guys with me."
Shin Yu-hyun asserted ownership of the Getia Worshippers toward Lee Young-soo.
"What?"
Lee Young-soo scowled and glared at him.
"We're grateful for your help. But that's separate from this. These scum betrayed the guild and killed our comrades. And you want to take them?"
Lee Young-soo ground his teeth.
Hunter Association guilds valued face above all.
Pungrim Volcano Guild was no different.
These Getia Worshippers had smeared mud on their reputation.
He couldn't let it slide.
But Shin Yu-hyun just chuckled and opened his mouth.
"That's your problem."