Instant Dungeon (4)
The central road was filled with the murmur of people.
Bad news spread quickly, so not only the residents of the bustling neighborhood but also newspaper reporters had come.
Park Choong-jae, the manager, shouted at the reporters near the control line.
“Stay back!”
“Hey, it’s okay for a bit!”
“Okay? What’s okay? Step back already!”
“Just a little—”
“Get out right now!”
Park Choong-jae rolled up his right sleeve.
Seeing that he was about to resort to violence, the reporters backed away.
Between the retreating reporters, the burly Dongdae chief Kim Jaesang pushed his way in roughly.
“This is a mess. You’ve been working hard, hyung.”
“Not really. I came because there was no one who should have been here from the start.”
“If someone heard that, they’d get the wrong idea. I came from the city hall after the negotiations.”
“Negotiations?”
“I sent someone with a detection skill.”
“Good work. I thought you were late because you had to get a license or something.”
Park Choong-jae nodded, scanning the surroundings.
Only the pot-bellied bald man was there; no one with a detection skill was visible.
“...I’m coming from Geumsan-gun.”
“You broke a dungeon? Damn. It’s gonna take at least thirty minutes...”
At those words, Kim Jaesang let out a bitter smile.
That wasn’t a surprise at all; he had already received a response like that.
Tsk... Kim Jaesang’s lips twisted in irritation, and the reporters stepped closer.
Was it because of the situation?
They looked like hyenas waiting desperately for something bad to happen.
“Yeon, what are you up to right now...”
＊＊＊
Choi Yeon clicked his tongue.
Even though a dagger was lodged in his side, the Orc Centurion didn’t care and swung its massive axe.
So, despite its size, it didn’t seem like it had just become a Centurion for that reason alone.
Thud, thud.
He stepped back twice, evading the axe’s swing.
The dagger in his right hand stayed stuck in his side because of the rigid muscles and fat from swinging the axe.
There was no need to pull it out; he wasn’t even trying. When the Orc Centurion died, it would come out easily anyway.
“Kuk!”
The Orc Centurion charged forward with heavy steps.
His left hand was in the holster at his waist, but right now Choi Yeon had nothing in his right hand.
He was trying to kill Yeon with his bare hands before he could pull out a new weapon.
Whether it was just instinct or whether he had thought and decided, it was hard to tell.
From Yeon’s perspective, the Orc Centurion’s decision was a mistake.
A mistake of not looking at the surroundings and situation properly.
It should have been over quickly without much effort, right?
“Kuk! Die!”
Whoosh!
The huge axe blade fell from above.
Just before his head would have split like dry firewood, Yeon twisted his body and dodged.
At the same time, he pulled his left hand out of the holster.
Empty-handed, since he hadn’t been holding anything.
Kaboom!
The axe struck the ground.
It was a powerful enough blow to shake the lush forest floor for a moment.
And it was also a completely useless strike.
The axe, unable to achieve its goal, continued moving.
The broad side of the blade rushed toward Yeon.
Yeon stepped his right leg out wide and swung it like a fly swatter to avoid the axe.
“Kuk...”
The Orc Centurion snorted in frustration.
It was clear he was surprised by Yeon, who had only dodged his attack by one step.
Unlike the Orc, Yeon had just done that.
Attacks that fell from above with an axe or hammer were obvious.
The same went for what the Orc Centurion would do next.
He would either step back to create space to swing the axe again or use momentum to swing it once more.
The Orc Centurion chose the latter.
His body turned sharply.
Instead of the flat side, the blade came at him much faster than before.
Whoosh!
Still, nothing changed.
The axe blade sliced through the air and was another useless strike.
It was only natural.
It was an attack using the momentum of a failed swing.
It was cheap in terms of returns, but not a great attack.
If his physical abilities were overwhelmingly superior, maybe, but the Orc Centurion wasn’t.
“Kuk! Kuk...”
From its pig-like nose came violent snorting.
Every time, the large axe blade hacked wildly through the air.
Once, twice...
Yeon dodged the vicious axe blade flying toward him.
He just stepped back to the side or behind; he didn’t counterattack.
Was it because it was a surprise attack with no time to draw a weapon?
No.
It was just that it wasn’t necessary.
The Orc Centurion’s attacks wouldn’t continue for long without using his hands.
“...”
Choi Yeon’s eyes locked onto the two arms raised high with the axe.
The arms, infused only with killing power, fell.
They fell with force,
and then...
Crack!
Cut cleanly at some point.
Blood sprayed from the severed part.
The power meant only for slaughter burst red and scattered uselessly on the ground, like flower petals on the dirt.
“Wha...?”
The Orc Centurion muttered dumbly.
Not understanding what had happened, he looked at the arm that had disappeared below the elbow.
Kaboom! The axe fell not far away, spurting blood like a fountain.
The axe handle still had the Orc Centurion’s hand attached.
Like its owner, who didn’t understand the situation, the hand didn’t realize it had been cut off too.
It didn’t last long.
The hand, without realizing the situation before the owner, just hung limply.
A few seconds passed before it fell weakly from the axe handle.
Thud, splat...
Seeing the uselessly fallen hand,
“Kuiik...”
The Orc Centurion realized and screamed.
The pain, felt even more intensely because of the delay, spread far into the forest.
Yeon quietly heard the scream.
He didn’t cut off its life to free it from pain and didn’t stop the pig squeal.
Still, the scream stopped quickly.
Blood was spurting like a fountain from the severed arm.
Kaboom.
As if adding a period to the scream, the Orc Centurion’s body collapsed.
“Ugh...”
Surprisingly, it wasn’t dead yet.
Its body was so massive that it had a lot of blood.
Even so, there wasn’t enough left to hold itself up, so the only thing the Orc Centurion could do was look up at Yeon.
No.
There was one more thing.
It was sniffing the air.
The pungent smell it had been smelling since facing humans.
“Kuk...”
“...”
Choi Yeon sat down beside the fat, squishy body of the dying Orc Centurion.
He felt the dying Orc Centurion’s gaze, but he didn’t care and pulled the dagger out from his side.
It came out far more easily than before.
Crack.
He pulled the dagger out and slashed the Orc Centurion’s neck.
It wasn’t for mercy to free it from pain; he just finished it off since it was no longer useful.
“T... thank you so much!”
A flustered voice came from behind.
With a snapping sound, Ko Sung-yoon, who had been approaching, suddenly shouted with admiration.
“Wah, how did you even do that?!”
“What?”
Choi Yeon didn’t answer and asked back.
At the same time, he grabbed the Orc Centurion’s head with his left hand and brought the dagger in his right hand to its neck.
The dagger stuck in place after one cut.
But the dagger kept moving back and forth as if unsatisfied with the spot.
Crack-crack. Grind, grind...
The sound of the sharp blade cutting through meat and bone echoed.
“Ugh...”
Ko Sung-yoon let out a small groan.
It was a surprisingly patient action for a non-hunter, just an ordinary person.
If he had felt nauseous or actually wanted to throw up, Yeon would have understood.
It wasn’t a sight that was pleasant to look at.
Of course, understanding didn’t stop him from continuing to cut the neck.
Grind, grind...
Ko Sung-yoon decided to keep listening to him.
“In the wasteland, I thought maybe you used smoke bombs so I couldn’t see you! Orcs, even if they couldn’t find me!”
He kept talking.
He tried to erase the image of Yeon’s unchanging action from his mind.
He raised his head to look far away and covered his ears with both hands.
For some reason, his long rabbit ears drooped.
“But you didn’t use smoke bombs just now, and I still didn’t notice you sneaking up behind me! That was super super amazing!”
“Ah. That’s thanks to my skill.”
“Skill?”
“Presence Erasing. My skill just erases your presence when activated.
It’s like a lower version of the stealth skill.”
“Wow. There’s a skill like that? I’ve never heard of it!”
“I know. I didn’t know about this skill until I learned it.”
“W-wait a minute. Learned...? Isn’t that studying?”
“Yes.”
“Whoa! That sounds so hard! I heard that to learn it, you have to become an expert at that thing...”
Ko Sung-yoon’s admiration exploded as he looked back at Yeon.
He was so shocked that he forgot why he was looking far away.
Realizing that the reason was still in progress, he hurriedly looked up again.
Pfft. At Ko Sung-yoon’s foolish action, Choi Yeon let out a faint smile.
“That’s not entirely wrong, but it’s not 100% accurate either.
Everyone’s skill acquisition conditions are different.
Surrounding environment is also an important factor.”
“Ah, is that so...?”
“Think about soccer juggling.
Even if you practice for a long time, some people can’t do it once.
Others can do it several times without much effort?”
“Ah.”
“And this is a secret, but... actually, I got this skill by accident.”
“By accident?”
“Yes.
I was avoiding the boss’s work.”
“What? Eh, really...?”
A bewildered sound came from Ko Sung-yoon’s mouth.
He got the skill by doing what?
“But it doesn’t work well.
There are only three people in our office.
That’s why I get caught every day when I use the skill.”
“Ah...”
“If more people join, maybe it won’t work, but that won’t happen.”
“Ha, hahaha...”
Ko Sung-yoon laughed awkwardly after hearing Yeon’s rambling.
He avoided working because he didn’t like it and got the skill.
No matter how he thought about it, he decided to just mutter it.
That was understandable; if skill acquisition was that easy, most members of modern Korean society would be able to erase their presence.
He probably couldn’t admit it honestly if it was obtained by tailing someone...
While Ko Sung-yoon was making the wrong assumption, Choi Yeon stood up holding the completely severed head of the Orc Centurion.
Seeing that, Ko Sung-yoon couldn’t help but ask.
His voice trembled.
“But... why did you cut the Orc’s head...?”
“This? I was going to throw it to you as a gift.”
“A gift?”
“Yes.”
“Ah, well... I see...”
Ko Sung-yoon nodded.
He couldn’t fully accept what Yeon said, but he pretended for now.
As a gift?
The Orc’s head wasn’t the kind you gave as a gift.
If it was for a grave, would it even make sense...? Who was the crazy person raising an Orc’s head in a grave?
The more he thought about it, the more confused he became.
“Then.”
Choi Yeon left the confused Ko Sung-yoon behind and took a step.
Every step,
“Should I go pick up Chae-eun soon?”
The head of the Orc Centurion swung in his left hand.
Ringing, dangling.