Chapter 178
Chapter 178
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 178
Chapter Title: Part 2 Episode 41
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Kwaaaang!
The tongue lizard boss unleashed several more attacks after that.
Whenever Lee Sa-byeol warned of an incoming strike, Pyo Sang-hun swiftly activated his ability to dodge.
It was when the tongue lizard staggered slightly after slamming hard into the wall.
"Try dropping a lightning net now. You got mana left?"
"Yeah."
Zzzzt! Pzzt!
Sparks flew and electricity crackled, but it wasn't enough output to paralyze the monster or inflict any wounds.
Its eyes half-closed for a moment, that was it.
She hadn't expected it to work as well as it did on regular monsters, but she hadn't thought it'd shrug it off this completely.
She could boost the electrical output by setting Pyo Sang-hun down and channeling mana into the ground, but she didn't like the idea—the monster might attack in the meantime.
And that coughing from the dust bothered her.
It felt brazenly obvious, but she couldn't pinpoint why.
"Haa..."
Pyo Sang-hun grimaced in frustration. His mana was about to run dry soon—that spelled trouble.
They needed backup fast, before then.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Kwaaaang!
"Why won't this thing break?!"
"You okay in there? Just hold on a bit longer!"
Kwaaaang!
Commotion erupted beyond the exit. Voices shouted too.
The wall was too thick for clear words, but the repeated booming thuds suggested they were trying to smash through.
"Looks like backup's here. Door's sealed, so they can't get in."
"Why..."
"It's a B-Rank Gate. No way they're busting the exit easily."
The tongue lizard boss raised its tail with a screech, thickening the door at the exit.
Watching the scene, Lee Sa-byeol spoke calmly.
"Anyway, I figured it out."
"Yeah, I'm listening."
Pyo Sang-hun replied in a subdued voice, his face tense with unease.
"That thing—I've been watching. There's a salivary gland or something under its tongue. I chucked a rock at it earlier when I got a chance, and it hurt like hell."
"Could it be..."
"You've got that ability to wrap electricity around your knife, right? Set me down in that corner and stab the monster's salivary gland. Time it for when it sticks its tongue out to attack. Let's just kill the boss and get out..."
Pyo Sang-hun looked at Lee Sa-byeol, who seemed utterly drained.
He could output more power if he set her down to attack, but he hesitated.
Strong output would spread electricity from the boss's body across the whole area—wouldn't it hit her too? She said she had electrical resistance, so maybe it'd be fine.
As Pyo Sang-hun wavered, Lee Sa-byeol's eyelids drooped lower.
"Go far enough that the monster's attacks won't splash on me. Let's get out quick..."
"...I'll give it a shot."
With a reluctant nod, Pyo Sang-hun set her down on the opposite side from the monster.
"Hey, give me that. Your jacket. Cold."
Lee Sa-byeol reached out, pointing at Pyo Sang-hun's outer jacket. He nodded and handed it over without hesitation.
"Be right back."
Lee Sa-byeol, who had hesitated as if to say something, called him back.
"Hey."
"Yeah?"
"People are all selfish by nature. So it's fine."
"...What does that mean?"
Having said her piece, Lee Sa-byeol waved him off like she was done talking. Pyo Sang-hun's expression hardened as he replied in a low voice.
"Then I'll be off."
Pyo Sang-hun used his ability to zip right up to the monster.
He dodged this way and that to keep attacks from reaching Lee Sa-byeol, crouched in the corner, watching for an opening.
Thanks to her tips on timing and evasion, he could read the monster's moves even solo.
Shweeeek!!
After a few claw swipes, he put some distance between them, and the tongue lizard thrust its tongue out long to follow up.
This was the timing she'd mentioned.
Pyo Sang-hun instantly teleported into the monster's maw. There, in the damp mouth, was the spot she described like a salivary gland.
Gathering all his mana, he unleashed it below and wrapped electricity around his gripped knife.
Pooook!
He stabbed the spot she'd indicated, discharged electricity, then ripped downward.
[Kieeeek!!]
The tongue lizard let out a agonized screech unlike any before.
It pierced the ears like tinnitus. Electricity from the knife surged through the monster's body.
[Kieeeek!]
The tongue lizard thrashed and spat Pyo Sang-hun out. It convulsed from the shock, rolling on the floor.
The high-output electricity coursed strongly across the boss area.
From Lee Sa-byeol's spot to the ceiling above. Anywhere moisture lingered, fiercely so.
‘Might as well pile on the damage while I have the opening.’
Riding the thrashing tongue lizard's head, Pyo Sang-hun found a dip between its skull plates and plunged his knife deep.
The lizard's writhing calmed a bit.
To finish it off sure, he stabbed repeatedly, but the boss area entrance stayed shut.
No mana left for another lethal hit, no more attacks to try now.
While waiting for mana regen, he rushed to Lee Sa-byeol, left far away.
"Sae-byeol noona."
Lee Sa-byeol's face was wrapped in the uniform shirt she'd used to staunch her abdominal bleeding.
She lay limp, her abdomen rebound with his jacket, curled like a pill bug, utterly still.
With a grim face, Pyo Sang-hun unwound the shirt from her face.
Unconscious but mercifully unburnt and intact. Her breathing was steady—she'd just passed out.
"......"
A white net of light lay scattered around her, but the tips of her hair beyond it were charred black.
Pyo Sang-hun's legs buckled, and he collapsed to the floor.
During the drug's effect, he'd considered an ability to limit electricity just in case.
That's how the white light lines came about.
Suspicious when her coughing eased after he secretly sent one during a quick move, he'd woven this net around her before unleashing the big attack.
Pyo Sang-hun touched the charred ends of her hair.
‘No resistance at all, and yet...’
A strong shock in this state would've killed her. Electrocuted.
She thought they couldn't leave without killing the monster.
‘...She meant to get me out first.’
His head throbbed with rage, but crushing waves of self-loathing, helplessness, and sorrow smothered it.
Pyo Sang-hun checked her abdominal wound, pulled out an emergency medkit, and cleared the dirt around.
After class separation, he'd watched her from afar for ages. He'd always admired her.
Her mindset clinging to hope in any crisis, the resolve and smarts to make it real.
When he heard A-Class kids awakening one by one after separation, he'd been dying to know her power.
The most intense girl—he figured she'd get the most explosive force. But her awakening lagged.
She stayed unawakened till the end, yet unlike expected, she didn't break.
Word was she stayed dazzling, shining, bold without defeat.
That it was possible without power impressed him more. He knew how tough that was.
Pyo Sang-hun scowled at Lee Sa-byeol, sprawled pathetically unconscious.
Her act just now explained how she'd survived till today.
His breath caught, chest tearing in all directions with pain.
"...Still the same."
He recalled the side of Lee Sa-byeol he'd overlooked amid her intensity and flair.
Always covered in wounds, always desperate, always despairing in secret.
Prioritizing her own body and life over others' was human nature, yet she discarded hers without a second thought.
Sending her friend out first earlier, trying to get him free even if shocked—zero hesitation.
She'd done it since childhood.
From afar, he'd thought her capable self amazing, but up close, she seemed so lonely, so empty.
As he grew, the source of Lee Sa-byeol's boldness and heroic sacrifice he'd idolized hurt deeply.
Pyo Sang-hun, tasting Abyss's unchanging hero's gradual downfall, wept bitterly.
* * *
A B-Rank Gate not far from the Hunter Association.
Started as F-Rank, no big deal at first, then jumped to C-Rank.
Then casualties hit, bumping it to B-Rank.
Rankers were tied up at higher gates, hard to deploy right away.
To rescue trapped hunters, assassins or agility types went first, then attackers after hearing the boss room door sealed.
Kwaaaang! Kwaaaaang!
Deployed hunters had been bombarding, punching, hammering with blunt weapons—no dice.
"Haa, B-Rank boss room's no joke. Won't budge."
"Hope's they're alive inside... Oh, didn't Abyss hunters say they'd come?"
"Heard Mun Se-rim and Woo Ji-yoon just cleared a pure-blood B-Rank and are heading here."
"Whoa... Big names incoming."
Mun Se-rim, once top attacker, often topped rankings—synonymous with Abyss.
Now known as sleazy No. 2 to B1 Lee Kyung-seop, but back then, infamous as unsocialized, radical psycho.
Woo Ji-yoon built underground fame with flashy tech, then blew up via cute looks and chat skills on SNS.
Both stars for massive domestic or overseas gates.
Excitement stirred at seeing them.
"But they gotta hurry before the boss kills whoever's inside... No idea who, but surviving this long's a miracle..."
Kwaaaang! Kwaaang!
An A5-rank hunter in massive iron gauntlets hammered away, sweating buckets.
Whatever it was made of, zero give. Just pebble crumbs trickled.
"Step aside."
How long the futility? A haughty voice approached from behind.
A tall boy with curly hair—Mun Se-rim.
Behind, a short-haired girl with burn scars on her face—Woo Ji-yoon.
"Gasp, always hard at work!"
Other hunters bowed politely to the approaching Abyss crew.
Abyss used to be immature aggressors to avoid, but now seen as symbiotic gate pros—honorifics flowed natural.
Abyss kids' contributions earned leeway; even bratty ones excused as "Abyss thing."
"Could you open the boss wall for us..."
Before the request finished, Mun Se-rim spun, coiling his back leg.
Wind swirled to his leg...
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
His kick shattered the blocked exit wall into huge stone chunks, crumbling spectacularly.