Chapter 82
Chapter 82
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 82
Chapter Title: Questions Without Answers
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'If I'm dodging, I'll need to move with some margin for error.'
Larger movements would inevitably consume more stamina, but the Bloodstone would assist with vitality recovery, so the real key was his own focus.
'I have to settle this within 15 minutes at the latest.'
Isilite and Kue, who had been knocked flying, weren't completely incapacitated—they were already flailing around as they struggled to get back up—but the impact had left their movements sluggish.
Kuwoooooh!!
Watching them, the Urger roared, its eyes gleaming with savage joy at the prospect of finally smashing a buzzing mosquito of a pest to death.
It stretched out both arms to grab and crush Isilite, its eyes spitting bloody murder as it charged with thunderous booms of its feet.
Brillit was stabbing frantically at it from behind to try and stop it, but the Urger ignored her completely.
Fortunately, the spot where Isilite and Kue had been flung wasn't far from where Hwan-in had been positioned, so he moved silently toward the beast's charging path.
In that moment, Isilite finally hauled herself up and spotted the Urger barreling toward her. Realizing they were both done for at this rate, she scooped up the over-100kg Kue, spun him around like a discus to build centrifugal force, and hurled him with all her might.
Kupii?!
Using the recoil, she herself leaped to the opposite side, dodging the massive trailer-like charge of the Urger.
That was when Hwan-in made his move.
The Urger, fixated only on the yellow bird and the small animal, noticed something dark and blurry dart between its legs, but it paid it no mind—its eyes were wild with anticipation for the tiny thing that had thrown itself forward.
How good would it feel to crush that little pest!
The Urger chuckled carelessly, lowering its guard—and that lapse in vigilance repaid it with excruciating agony in both Achilles tendons.
Kuwaaak!!
Feeling its legs give way, the Urger dropped to its knees, slamming one arm into the ground for support while swinging the other back at whatever was behind it. But this time, an unprecedented horror of pain stabbed through its arm.
Pulling its arm back in panic, the Urger saw its blood-soaked hand and unleashed a berserk howl.
Which rat bastard is it this time!!
'The Achilles tendons worked, but the arm didn't.'
Whick— As he retrieved his spear, Hwan-in narrowed his eyes, slipping out of the Urger's line of sight.
Cutting the ankles had an immediate effect, but sadly, the arm hadn't yielded the same result.
To disable the arm, he'd have to rip out the shoulder entirely—and that massive deltoid-packed slab was more like armored plating than muscle; even Isilite couldn't manage it.
Even if he sliced through all the arm's muscles, the Urger would just swing the damn thing like a club.
What if he severed every muscle in the shoulder?
'No. To kill it, I need a different approach.'
Kwaaoook!!
The Black Spear was sharp enough. Just as Hwan-in moved to execute a new plan, the Urger, still on its knees and whipping its head around, instinctively realized the black rat had done this to its ankle and hand. It began slamming its bloody arm down repeatedly.
'Brute.'
Amazed by the Urger's utter disregard for the agony surging through its hand with every smash, Hwan-in nonetheless exploited every visible opening—shaving off chunks of flesh with the Black Spear or slicing major veins to induce bleeding.
Kuooooh?!
After just five or six slams, not only had the rat survived, but blood now poured from both arms. The Urger pounded its chest and bellowed.
In that instant, Hwan-in read its next move from the twitch of its muscles and felt a chill run down his spine.
'Sliding tackle? No—both!'
Dodging backward was impossible. Sidestepping left or right would still get caught by those long arms.
Hwan-in tensed his thighs until they nearly burst, then leaped upward with all his strength. Right after, a gray dump truck of a slide whooshed beneath him...
Kuwaak!!
The Urger, hurling itself forward in a headfirst slide, spotted Hwan-in airborne and grinned wickedly. Twisting its body, it swung its arm with full force.
This'll turn that rat into a bloody pulp...!
But the moment that thought crossed its mind, its left eye went black, followed by brain-searing pain engulfing it.
Kwaaaoowak!!
It vaguely felt the dull impact of its right arm connecting, but the Urger couldn't focus on that—it clutched its left face and rolled madly across the ground.
My eye, my eye!!
Hwan-in, who had anticipated every move, handled it effortlessly.
The instant he sensed the sliding tackle and jumped, he hurled a stone axe at the Urger's eye, shielded himself with triple-layered Soul Shields, and stabbed down at the slowly closing murderous forearm. The recoil allowed him to evade perfectly.
Isilite and Brillit, who had been watching from a distance amid the Urger's savage thrashing, waiting for an opening to jump in, gaped at the acrobatic display.
Their minds couldn't keep up.
It seemed like every time the Urger swung its arm, it got shredded more and more, and somehow the Soul Shaman had circled to the right... then he jumped, and the Urger was right below him? Wait, now the Urger was swinging its arm... When did that stone axe embed in its eye? When did the Soul Shaman fly that far away?
As Brillit blinked in confusion, she spotted Hwan-in carving up the Urger and bellowed.
"...Isilite! Take the left ankle!!"
"Wha?! Y-Yeah!!"
Understanding it as an order to smash the ankle Hwan-in had already sliced, Isilite swung her slightly bent greatsword like an axe, hacking into the gaping wound.
With every strike, blood and flesh sprayed, until the yellowish ankle bone was exposed. She cheered inwardly—
Thud!
"Kuwek."
—only to get kicked by the Urger again and sent tumbling.
"That idiot...!"
Brillit ground her teeth at Isilite bouncing away like a rugby ball, pouring all her focus into dodging the unpredictable kicks.
She'd called her an idiot, but one slip, and she'd end up the same.
Cold sweat beaded on her forehead and back every time a kick whistled overhead or grazed her left side.
How had the Soul Shaman dodged all this? No, he'd evaded direct hits from both arms head-on—that had to be several times harder!
Gritting her teeth, Brillit stirred the wounds to cripple its mobility while taking in the Urger's overall state. Suddenly, she realized Hwan-in wasn't swinging wildly.
Every time his spear sliced the Urger's hide, massive sprays of blood erupted. As if he knew exactly where to cut for maximum bleeding...
'How?'
Hwan-in, focused on turning the thrashing beast into a bloodbath, was in the same zone.
He'd avoided direct hits with two Soul Shields and weapon deflections, but even the glancing blows shook his organs.
If he hadn't been wearing the leather armor from Ephnis and Ryuhi, the damage would've been worse.
'This thing was rated 5th class.'
Hwan-in understood now. This was his limit—the highest he could handle.
A 6th-class beast would be too fast for his reflexes, or possess one-hit-kill power just from a graze.
Kuwaaaak!!!
Finally adapting to the loss of its left eye and ankle pain, the Urger thrashed with a ferocity beyond anything before, desperate to pulverize Hwan-in.
Like a tantruming infant, it flailed limbs while prone, rolled around, and hurled dirt clods without hesitation.
It ignored even Brillit stomping its ankle, swinging its meaty arms at the black rat. Rage boiled to the point of apoplexy.
When it tried another sliding tackle, he'd flee far away; chase, and suddenly the rat was stabbing like lightning.
Swing at what seemed hittable range, and only his own arm got wounded; smash with a fist, and it tore off huge chunks as if waiting.
Its fury could've sustained days of rampage, yet somehow, the Urger felt its body growing heavier.
Sore and sluggish all over, like the day after brawling kin. Vision blurry, breaths ragged.
And its mind fogging, rage dulling.
A drowsy, powerless sensation.
Kuwooo... ugh.
As it panted, a spine-chilling agony surged from between its thighs, scrambling its brain.
For a split second, its mind blanked, breath seized. Instinctively curling and shielding its groin with arms that were now just meat slabs, it collapsed forward, trembling violently.
Hwan-in didn't miss the glaring opening. Like a gust of wind, he charged and thrust his spear through the beast's remaining eye.
Pooook—
Kuh... khek. Kuer...
Nearly a meter of spear driven through the eye churned the Urger's brain to mush.
Twitching sporadically, it thudded lifeless to the ground.
"Hoo."
It had been a tough foe, comparable to the Bartul from the labyrinth, but oddly, no thrill washed over him. His heart raced pleasantly, but that was it—nothing more.
He could guess why. He'd realized he couldn't fight carefree and enjoyably anymore.
Then came Isilite's mocking voice, smug as could be, drawing her over.
"Payback for kicking me twice, you bastard!"
And there unfolded a scene magnificent in multiple ways.
Isilite, nose busted and bloody trails from her mouth, grinned ferociously while holding a blood-drenched ballsack bigger than her head, kicking the Urger's flank repeatedly.
His mind grasped it, but Brillit, staring at Isilite with horrified eyes, couldn't resist asking.
"No way... that's what I think it is?"
"Y-Yeah... exactly what you're imagining. Isilite! Stop that!"
At Brillit's shout, Isilite furrowed her brows, but spotting Hwan-in, she beamed like her fury had evaporated and rushed over.
This much has to earn Master's praise!
"Master!"
"Don't come closer."
"Huh?"
"Drop what's in your hand first..."
"Nooo, you can't throw it awayyy!! Keep holding it just like that!!"
Isilite froze mid-toss of the ballsack at Hwan-in's words, as Ssa came sprinting up yelling at the top of her lungs. Don't throw it? Why?
"Huff, huff! Those testicles! Intact, fresh young male ones are worth a full gold coin each—prime reagent material! Quick, stuff it in this bag!"
"Eek! Th-This thing inside is worth two gold coins?!"
"Male Urgers are insanely rare! The whole body's a walking fortune!"
Ssa dumped the entire ballsack into a large sackcloth pouch, tying it tight with a golden cord, then wrapping it three or four times with blue cords inscribed with complex runes.
Beaming at the blood-pooling corpse, he grabbed Hwan-in's hands excitedly and shouted.
"Soul Shaman, you're incredible! Truly amazing!! Taking down an Urger— a notoriously ferocious male one—all by yourself like this! Kaa~! My heart was pounding just watching from afar...!"
"I could analyze its movements easily thanks to Brillit and Isilite wearing it down first. Especially since Isilite ripped that out—otherwise, the fight would've dragged on. It would've been a real hassle."
"Th-Thank you."
"Hehehe."
At Hwan-in's well-placed praise, Brillit hid her pleasure behind feigned composure, beaming proudly, while Isilite strutted despite her crumpled iron breastplate and bloody nose.
Her face screamed, Calling me out specifically for praise? I did great, right?
"...!"
Brillit elbowed Isilite's side and pointed at her upper lip. Isilite wiped it, eyes widening at the blood, then hastily cleaned up with a sheepish grin.
Brillit found it ridiculous. She'd taken two hits from an Urger and acted unfazed?
"You okay?"
"Huh? Yeah. This is nothing. The first one, my sword blocked half; the second just grazed."
A graze that would've pulped a normal warrior.
Brillit had plenty to say but sighed and shook her head, letting it slide.
"Alright, leave the carcass cleanup to us! Heh~ The Soul Shaman drained it so well, barely any afterwork needed! Hey! Over here! Come on!"
Ssa waved frantically at the wagon driver, urging him over.
Handling the Urger's body, Ssa was in absolute ecstasy.
Whistling a tune, he cleared wagon space, got Brillit and Isilite's help to cram the carcass aboard, and loaded the displaced cargo onto Dinte's Kue.
Not a single commodity wasted—a merchant's creed shining through.
Afterward, he wrapped the bodies of the Alpensys Guild members killed in the ambush in cloth, buried them roadside, and marked the graves.
"You're just leaving their cargo behind?"
"No obligation to. If we had space, maybe, but no way we'd ditch our own for theirs. The Guildmaster will thank you plenty for the revenge alone."
"You know the Guildmaster?"
"Yeah. We trained together at the Ursul Merchant Guild once. Alpensys's main branch is in Wayford, where we're headed."
If veteran Ssa vouched for it, no messy fallout.
Slightly relieved, Hwan-in turned to the thick, floating soul behind him—the Urger's.
'Why won't this one form into a soul orb?'
Its form was sharper than the bladed boar's.
The mid-grade boar had hazy patches; this Urger was near-perfect, save slight transparency and pale gray hue matching its living self.
Considering soul progression—lowest, low, mid-low, mid—the Urger's was high-mid to high-grade by his estimate.
Thus, no Soul Possession attempt.
He'd scorched trying with the mid-grade boar. His soul power had grown since, but this seemed higher-grade.
It wouldn't end with burns this time.
'Thought orb conversion would work, but even that fails.'
Did his soul skill proficiency affect this too?
As he pondered, Ssa's voice intruded.
"Speaking of, the labyrinth's overflow range must be huge. A 5th-class Urger means deep floors past 30. The officials'll have headaches with cleanup."
"Really?"
"Rough estimate's out, and overflow clears the interior somewhat. Demolishing's easy; escaped beasts and monsters are the issue."
Ssa spread a map, pointing house icons clockwise.
"This is Yukam, heading like so to Rehil. Etbrook here, Wayford there."
"Attacked here, here, and here—so the labyrinth's around there. Wide range."
Hwan-in pointed to the western jungle; Ssa nodded agreement.
"Yep. Trade routes shut down awhile. Without you, Soul Shaman, we'd be like them."
"Hiring professionals for escort must be tough."
Ssa glanced at Brillit chatting with Isilite.
"Brillit's a special case. Most pros guard VIPs, not like road life. Same for Isilite."
"Ssa sir. Ready to depart."
"Got it. Soul Shaman, shall we head out?"
Hwan-in shoved aside the emergency rations curled in the assistant seat like it owned it and sat, eyes back on the Urger soul.
'Letting it pass on like this feels wasteful...'