Kim Geun-cheol's Bizarre Adventure # 3
Kim Geun-cheol's Bizarre Adventure # 3
"Shhhhhhhk!"
I still don't know what the hell that thing actually is, but it's one godawful grotesque monster! Or wait—monsterkin?! A fiend so hideous I can't even tell the damn difference!
"Fuck off, you piece of shit!"
I screamed my lungs out and ran for it, cussing the whole way.
"Shhhhhhhk!"
But the thing just let out that uncanny hiss and slithered along on its snake half, twisting every which way.
"You goddamn lunatic!"
A truly repulsive abomination.
Both its arms, from the elbow down, were like long blades.
And the face...!
The most grotesque part by far was the face. The eyes were these bizarre, half-embedded black orbs the size of apples, slick and glossy, and the snout stretched out long like a World War gas mask!
Even the snout of some twisted mutant anteater, cooked up as a sick joke by a depraved scientist messing with inhumane genetic engineering, would look downright cuddly compared to that thing!
And its ears—long and floppy like a damn rabbit's...! And this freak was slithering its snake lower half straight at me like a maniac!
—Shwaaaack!
While swinging those blade arms like crazy!
If those connect, everyone's good buddy Kim Geun-cheol gets split right down the middle into Kim/Geun-cheol that very day!
"Shhhhhk!"
"You motherfucker! Kitty! You wanna see me get chopped into pieces?!"
I swear on my life, the moment I get out of here, I am smacking Kitty's ass until it's red and swollen.
Anyway. What rank monster is this bizarre bastard? E-rank? D-rank? If it's D-rank, I can't win. But the odds that Kitty let a monster that strong loose in here are low.
If I just keep my head on straight, I can win this.
—Shwaaaack!
The blade arcing at my skull.
—Whoosh!
I hurled my body forward into a roll, dodged, and the moment a fork appeared, I twisted left.
—Crash!
"Shhhhhhhk!"
The creature slammed into the wall with a boom. Keeeek! It thrashed, blades scraping across the wall in every direction. Whirr! Even its tail whipped like a monster's—and in that same instant.
"Skreeee!"
"Skree-skree!"
I spotted a swarm of Bankers charging in from up ahead!
"There!"
Use the barbarians to hunt the barbarians!
—Boom!
I immediately kicked off the ground and bolted straight for them. The Bankers, mid-charge, seemed to hesitate when I rushed them—but instinct kicked in and they sprang into their hopping attack.
"Tackle!"
I dodged their lunges with a tackle and checked behind me.
"Shhhhhhhk!"
The fiend swung that absurdly long snout around and shrieked, then pulled itself together and charged at me again.
And as it did.
—Slash!
It carved right through the Bankers in its way!
[Coin acquired: 22]
[Coin acquired: 19]
[Coin acquired: 24]
"Fucking jackpot farming!"
That bastard killing things still gives me coins!
"Skreeee!"
The moment I realized that, I started diving aggressively into the gaps between Bankers. Miraculous little treasures that block the enemy's path and let me farm at the same time. I sprinted and fled. The coin acquisition chime started going off like crazy.
"Fork!"
Another fork came up fast.
Which way this time? I went with my gut and chose left. Was my gut right? No monsters showed up while I was running.
"Shhhhhhhk!"
Just the one tailing me going even more berserk.
After about another minute of sprinting.
—Boom!
"Oh shit! Fuck!"
A dead end!
"Should've just gone right!"
Picked left for no damn reason and now here I am!
"Shhhhhhhk...!"
The fiend saw the dead end and started hissing, creeping closer. You son of a bitch. Thing's about two and a half meters tall. Facing that head-on, the pressure's no joke.
Guess I've got no choice but a straight-up fight now.
—Whoosh.
"Kim Geun-cheol, ready for battle."
I poured mana into the horn I was holding and formed a mana shield around me. Good. Bring it. I'd gotten a pretty solid read on the thing's movements while I was running. Its speed isn't transcendentally fast. And it's not like it's using swordsmanship, either.
I can win.
"Shhhhhhhk!"
It let out a battle cry and charged. Its long ears flapped back.
"Huh?"
Wait.
Big ears?
Big ears means... acute hearing?
—Flash!
Lightning struck in my head. Wouldn't my War Cry work here? I suddenly remembered Mun Min, who'd jumped up to the second floor and gotten brutally wrecked by my War Cry.
—Hahp!
I sucked in a breath, thinking of that.
The skill.
The moment I triggered War Cry.
"KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!"
"Shhhhhk?!"
The charging fiend staggered, blood spurting from its ears, its upper body twisting!
It actually worked!
"Shhhhhhhk!"
But enraged, it immediately flung both arms wide into a Y-shape and launched a decapitation strike. I could feel it in my gut, though. That bastard's condition had gone completely to shit.
You think a reckless swing like that's gonna land?!
—Shwaaaaaaack!
I tracked both arms slicing in from the sides, forming an X.
—Whoosh!
I dropped into a crouch on the spot, dodged the attack—
"You little shit!"
—and used that momentum to blast off the ground and dive straight into its guard!
"I'll fucking kill you!!!"
"Shhhk?!"
I rammed the horn in my hand straight up under its jaw. Hard. Splurch! Blood burst out and the thing's eyeballs popped—the pressure had forced them right out of the sockets.
"MYAAAAAOOOONG!"
With the horn still buried in its jaw, I gripped it like a handle and wrenched it sideways, like I was cranking a lever.
—Crunch.
The fiend's head twisted all the way around. Snout pointing up. Hollow eyes aimed down.
—Slash!
I took its head off from that position.
[Coin acquired: 612]
"Holy fucking shit!"
Coins exploded!
A haul worth about thirty F-rank monsters in one shot!
—Ding!
[Prowess increased by 1.]
—Ding!
[Skill War Cry has been strengthened.]
"What!"
Not just a stat boost—the skill got strengthened too?! This is literally the motherlode. That thing really was that strong, huh. Well, considering it was carving through Bankers by itself, it was obviously no joke.
"Skill, War Cry info window."
Let's check the details first.
[War Cry's power has increased, and it can now disorient enemies with sensitive hearing.]
A nice, straightforward description. My skill level went up from killing that boss-grade fiend. At this rate, it'll be damn useful going forward.
"Thanks, Kitty!"
The joy's washing over me, but your ass is still getting smacked!
"Hoooh!"
Anyway, the tension snapped and I let out a huge breath. That bastard was the real deal. Hands down the strongest thing I've fought so far.
"Terrifying. Seriously."
The corpse, head severed and slumped limp, was disgustingly grotesque all on its own. But at the same time, it felt like I'd hit the jackpot. The thing's arm blades looked like decent swords.
—Crunch!
I immediately stomped above the elbow joint.
"Mana walker foot."
My shoe, wrapped in mana, packed the impact of a sledgehammer all on its own. The forearm snapped off and the blade dropped.
—Shing.
"This is pretty nice."
I picked up the blade and liked the weight. A little chipped here and there, but whatever—it's only for use in here.
—Crunch!
—Crunch!
I tore off the remaining flesh by hand and made a rough grip. There was bone inside anyway, so the hilt was never really the issue.
"But... the eyeballs."
The fallen eyes caught my attention. I picked one up and it felt oddly solid. Guess you could call these a monster drop item too. I pocketed them for now.
"Farming, huh."
Anything else worth grabbing? They say strong monsters have something like a magic stone inside. Kinda like how crossing dimensions causes some kind of crystallization in the body—it's got tons of uses, so it fetches a good price.
—Riiip.
I immediately dissected the fiend's corpse and searched for a magic stone.
* * *
Didn't find anything special.
"Can't be helped."
I swallowed my disappointment and went back to exploring the maze. Maybe it was all that intense activity—my throat was getting dry and I was hungry. As a superhuman, I've been casually burning through several thousand calories a day lately.
"I'm fucking starving."
—Growl.
I'm almost at the point of seriously considering eating some of those Banker bastards from earlier. They look exactly like king crab. Just crack 'em open and it's crab innards, right?
"Fuck."
Should've studied monster info more carefully.
I saw there was even a wiki listing edible monster species. Should've at least looked that over properly. When I get back, I'm going through all of it.
I was walking and mulling that over when—
"Uh, uhh?"
In the maze wall.
There was a door.
"A door?"
There's a door?
"..."
The wariness flared right back up. Just what is this place? This is definitely an artificial maze. And clearly built by some intelligent species—something with human-like intellect.
Did monsterkin build it? Or did the Void Princess? Is she just storing monsters in here and letting them loose?
"Open."
—Creak.
I pulled the door open without hesitation.
What I saw was a small room.
"Gasp."
But it was packed with occupants. The floor was crammed full of these strange stelae, like gravestones, driven into the ground.
"What's with all these gravestones..."
I mean.
It's a room with gravestones jammed in with absolutely no sense of order.
"..."
I tried reading the weathered characters on the stelae.
I was sure they belonged to some civilized species at least, but the script was completely unknown to me—couldn't read a damn thing... What the hell is this? A chill ran down my spine. The stelae were literally embedded in the floor. And done so cleanly, too.
"The finishing work on these is fucking immaculate."
Whoever did this—even old-timers with thirty years of hard labor under their belts couldn't pull off finishing this precise and insane.
I was circling through the stelae with that thought when I caught something glinting over there.
"Oh."
A key.
