Chapter 28
Chapter 28
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Evil Zone Sweep (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The vibration felt through the ground and up into their soles was different from when the offspring had swarmed.
The earth's surface cracked and split like parched soil in a drought, shaking violently. Su-ho knew it instantly.
The mother—not the offspring—had appeared, just as Jin Seong-hyeok had described.
The ground where the Area 1 Hunters stood became the center, and the surrounding earth suddenly bulged upward in a circle. Crimson tentacles soon wormed their way out from the fissures.
The worm-like tentacles writhed in the air. They stiffened after scanning the surroundings, as if assessing the area.
Ku-gu-gu-gu-guung—
The ground rumbled once more. And then, the main body slowly revealed itself from hiding.
"Ugh, the real one's even more disgusting-looking."
Kai Qing shook his head, and Liu Xian nodded beside him.
"Centepede. Everyone, watch out for the poison."
Centepede. The mother of all the offspring they'd fought so far, and one of the boss-grade monsters.
It had a tough-looking black-red carapace, red tentacles, and grotesquely extended legs. Greenish liquid oozed from its bizarrely split mouth.
Plip. Plop.
Anyone could tell the liquid was poison. The moment it hit the ground, it hissed with a chiik, blackening the soil.
Dying offspring writhed and crawled toward the Centepede's body. It gaped its split maw and devoured them in one gulp.
Chiiik, chik.
The offspring thrashed violently in agony upon contact with the green liquid smeared on the Centepede's mouth. As it chomped them down messily, the Centepede let out eerie cries.
Monsters had no such thing as maternal instinct. The mother had simply watched indifferently as her young served as bait, dying or not. She had emerged solely to deal with the intruders.
After gruesomely swallowing the last of the offspring, the Centepede reared up its upper body rigidly.
Looking up at it made their necks ache. Even with just its upper body raised, it loomed larger than the Branch 1 building.
Kieeeek!
The Centepede glared down at the Hunters and Helpers, splitting its mouth wide. Red tentacles lashed out threateningly from the maw, poised to strike at any moment.
"Dodge!"
The slimy tentacles stiffened rigidly before shooting toward the ground. The Hunters evaded the arrow-like barrage and resumed battle positions.
"Just slice trash like that to bits, tch."
"Masa!"
Takahiro called out, but Masa was already gripping swords in both hands. He leaped effortlessly onto the Centepede's body.
Masa climbed swiftly up its form and swung his blades at the midpoint. Uncurling his crossed arms, both swords slashed across the Centepede's body simultaneously.
Unlike the offspring, whose bodies split cleanly in two, the Centepede's didn't even scratch. Not a single wound appeared. Masa's eyes widened in momentary shock, his face twisting in dismay.
Kwweeeek!
The Centepede shuddered violently, then extruded more tentacles from its mouth. One struck Masa squarely in the abdomen.
"Kuhk."
A sharp grunt escaped him as his clothes stained red.
"Masa!"
Takahiro and Buta sprang into action at the sight of the tumbling Masa. Takahiro raced up the Centepede's body and cleaved the tentacle piercing Masa's abdomen with a lightning strike.
Buta, too bulky to climb, slammed his palms together and cracked the earth open. He lowered the ground beneath the Centepede and gestured urgently for Takahiro to hurry down. Takahiro slung the pained Masa over his shoulder and landed safely.
"Everyone, be careful. The Centepede's shell shrugs off blades."
Takahiro handed the cursing Masa off to Sintaro and Mino, then stepped in front of the Centepede.
Liu Xian positioned himself beside Takahiro, who was about to charge.
"Want to take it down together?"
Hunters from Center 2 and Center 3 lined up beside him. With everyone except Center 1 assembled before the Centepede, Liu Xian turned to Eun-woo and Ji-young.
"It'd feel wrong without Center 1."
Ji-young smiled and replied.
"Obviously."
Eun-woo and Ji-young approached slowly. Now, all of Branch 1's Hunters stood before the Centepede.
Kwweeeek!
The ground vibrated with the Centepede's cry.
An Evil Zone boss-grade monster. A formidable foe. And its impenetrable shell, unscathed by Masa's strike, put every Hunter on edge.
The Centepede shuddered again. The tentacle Takahiro had severed with lightning had already regenerated.
To halt regeneration, it had to be incinerated to ash. Jin Seong-hyeok could have torched the whole thing, but the others couldn't.
Liu Xian lacked the power to obliterate the massive body in one blast. Takahiro's lightning, Ji-young's physical prowess and telekinesis—none could manage it alone.
Only one way remained.
Ji-young eyed the tentacles writhing grotesquely in the air and spoke coolly.
"Lee Eun-woo."
She continued, flicking her gaze to Eun-woo, who looked her way.
"You saw earlier—the shell resists blades. Aim for the gaps between segments."
Eun-woo's spectral sword had a special trait: wounds from it didn't regenerate. He nodded, grasping her intent—carve it up until it couldn't heal and died. With cold eyes fixed on the Centepede, he drew his blade.
Ji-young crouched, ready to charge. Mei mirrored her, crouching as well. With Masa under treatment by Mino, it fell to Eun-woo, Ji-young, and Mei.
At Ji-young's signal, the three burst forward. They tore across the ground at blinding speed.
As the physical Hunters moved, Takahiro signaled Liu Xian. Liu Xian nodded, and Kai Qing spoke up.
"Shall our physical types clear a path for you?"
The slimy tentacles sharpened, jutting skyward.
Kwweeeek!
The Centepede slammed tentacles down murderously at the charging Eun-woo, Ji-young, and Mei. Mei twisted her ankle dodging the simultaneous onslaught.
The tentacle poised to impale her head halted midair. Kai Qing slowly lowered his finger and jerked his chin at her—go.
Kuung! Kuku-gu-guung!
It was indiscriminate. Tentacles poured from nowhere, countered by the mental Hunters slicing or blocking them.
Kai Qing pinned tentacles midair with telekinesis; Takahiro and Liu Xian cauterized the severed chunks with electricity and fire. No regeneration possible.
But it was temporary. The body kept producing more. And,
Chiiik, chiik.
Dark green liquid began dripping onto the ground.
"Poison!"
Everyone froze at Ji-young's shout. Furious at the endless severing, perhaps? Foam bubbled from the Centepede's mouth, spilling poison.
The sticky dark green venom trickled down its extended tentacles.
"Argh!"
Buta clutched his forearm with a short scream. His sluggish movements had let a tentacle graze him.
He rolled on the ground in agony, gripping his melting sleeve, but Sintaro merely watched impassively.
Sintaro, with his germaphobia, wouldn't touch Buta covered in poison and dirt. He already recoiled at Buta's sweat.
Su-ho frowned deeply.
A Helper ignoring a rolling Hunter? He snapped.
"Are you just going to stand there and watch?!"
Su-ho yanked out a treatment patch and rushed to Buta. He applied it to the gouged flesh and began a Cleanse.
Purifying the impure power clogging Buta's agonized body, Su-ho glared at Sintaro.
Sintaro stood there calmly, gaze indifferent.
"...What a Helper...!"
'He doesn't understand Korean. Speaking just hurts your mouth. Ignore him.'
Jin Seong-hyeok's voice made Su-ho grit his teeth.
'That's just how he is. He moves when it's truly dangerous, so brush it off.'
'Truly dangerous? It is dangerous now!'
'Cha Su-ho.'
A calm voice resonated in Su-ho's mind.
'Don't misunderstand. A Helper's duty is Cleanse, not healing.'
It felt like a solid smack to the back of his head. A Helper's duty was Cleanse, not treatment?
Not wrong. Preventing overload—the backlash from excessive power use—that was a Helper's role.
No Helper manual said to heal or save injured Hunters. It advised fleeing if life was at risk.
"Time!"
Su-ho snapped out of his thoughts at Kai Qing's call.
Kai Qing, who'd been leading with telekinesis, fell back. Axiang dashed in and started Cleansing him.
As Su-ho stared blankly at Axiang, someone stepped beside him.
"I'll handle it."
Japanese. Mino, finished with Masa's Cleanse. Su-ho stepped back as she reached out to him.
Same-center Helpers might be more comfortable for their Hunters.
Su-ho looked up at the gaze he felt upon retreating. Sintaro stared at him with pitiful disdain.
"To share ground with someone oblivious to their place... it makes even me feel unclean."
Su-ho couldn't understand the Japanese, but the vibe chilled his expression.
"I don't know what you're saying, but as a Helper, shouldn't you help Hunters more? Like...!"
"Mino, I'll watch over Masa."
Su-ho's brows furrowed as Sintaro spoke to Mino and walked off.
Tae-il approached then, patting Su-ho's shoulder.
"We'll be bunking together for a week. Don't let it get to you, or you'll lose. Let it slide."
To the silent Su-ho, Tae-il added.
"Besides, that's not what's important now."
Su-ho's eyes reflexively shifted. The Centepede and Hunters were still locked in fierce combat.
The ground had become a dark green swamp from the spilled poison. Shoes melted on contact, so Takahiro poured water to neutralize it.
Liu Xian kept seizing and incinerating tentacles threatening Mei, Ji-young, and Eun-woo atop the body.
Mei raised her fist. It slammed dead center into the Centepede's torso.