Chapter 11

Chapter 11

“Healer! Where’s the healer?! Treat him now!”

The healer, who had been blankly staring off into space behind them, rushes over breathlessly.

Since the guild had forcibly drafted him from the association, he usually just tagged along, killing time. But this sudden situation made him drop the sandwich he was eating and come running.

“Heal!”

The healer, drenched in sweat, poured mana onto Jang Dong-min’s exposed stomach.

But there was no way a hole the size of a soccer ball could be filled.

It merely slowed the bleeding ever so slightly.

“A wound like this…”

The healer trails off.

His power was utterly insufficient to save Jang Dong-min.

He possessed no magic capable of restoring the bone and flesh that had vanished.

No, no healer could heal such a massive wound.

Unless they were the legendary divine healer rumored to revive even corpses.

“Huff… Retreat…”

Jang Dong-min spoke in a voice that sounded like it might give out at any moment.

His intestines were destroyed, blood surged back up and flowed down his lips, but as the captain, he was fulfilling his final duty.

“Carry the captain first!”

Someone shouts amidst the panicked crowd.

As Jang Dong-min had said, now was the time to flee quickly.

Once opened, the boss room’s door won’t close again.

“Who knows when the next attack will come! Everyone, retreat at full speed!”

Park Hu-sik said as he hoisted Jang Dong-min onto Kim Jeong-sim’s back.

The assault team instantly scattered and began to spread out.

True to his reputation as a seasoned veteran in this field, his escape skills were second to none.

Yet one figure stood frozen in the center.

“Hmph.”

A man glaring intently at the door, his brow deeply furrowed.

It was Dojae.

“Should I run?”

Dojae, too, had clearly seen the light shot from beyond the door.

That light that pierced through a C-class Hunter’s skin like thin paper.

“What about the quest?”

But the quest was active.

They had searched the entire dungeon, but found nothing related to the quest.

That left only the boss.

No matter how much he thought about it, Dojae couldn’t believe they could just leave like this.

“Do Jae! What are you muttering about now! Hurry up and run!”

Kim Jeong-sim, Jang Dong-min, and even Park Hu-sik, who was tending to the healer, shouted over their shoulders.

He thought Dojae was too scared to even move.

Everyone else was running for their lives, and only Park Hoo-sik was concerned about Do-jae.

“Hey, buddy, no matter how scared you are, come on! Let’s get out of here fast!”

Park Hoo-sik grabbed Do-jae’s arm and dragged him along.

But what do you know.

He had pulled so hard in his panic, expecting Dojae to stumble, but the man didn’t even flinch.

‘Did he eat some kind of magic herb? He’s not budging an inch.’

Park Hoo-sik grabbed Do-jae’s arm again.

But there wasn’t even the slightest twitch; it felt like wrestling with a giant tree.

“Senior, please go ahead.”

Do-jae said softly.

Park Hoo-sik found that resolute tone quite unfamiliar.

The Dojae he knew wasn’t like this.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ll stay here.”

“Are you crazy? Even the captain was taken down with a single blow!”

“It’ll work out somehow.”

“Stop talking nonsense and let’s get out of here fast. We can leave the rear to the Association, right?”

Park Hoo-sik’s legs were shaking violently, unsure when the boss might burst through the door.

Yet Dojae just stands there staring blankly at the boss’s room as if nothing’s wrong, making my insides burn black.

Thump-thump-.

“Hey! What the hell is wrong with you? I’m outta here. I don’t care!”

He grinned.

Do-jae flashed a smile meant to convey agreement.

But to Park Hoo-sik, who had already written Dojae off as a lunatic, it didn’t look that way at all.

‘I don’t care. I’ve got a damn wife and a kid going to college to worry about.’

Still, Park Hoo-sik stayed put for about three seconds out of conscience.

Then he turned around and started running again.

***

Squeak-.

The heavy iron gate swung open.

Shashak-!

He tried to dodge quickly.

Nothing flies at me.

“What is it?”

Do-jae cautiously advanced forward step by step.

Thud-.

The moment Dojae’s heel stepped inside the room, the door slammed shut with a deafening roar.

Pop-!

Pabaat-!

Torches began lighting up one after another in the dark room.

‘Nice staging, huh?’

Zzzzzz-.

‘Hm?’

A radio-like static reached my ears.

It felt similar to that time.

The feeling when I fought the harpy in that desert-like place.

Like being somewhere else, not reality.

Wooooo-ooh.

“Krrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Something roared so loudly it shook the ground.

Without a moment to ponder what this sensation meant, Dojae frowned and stared at the creature’s form.

‘Is that a Kinggreydon?’

Dojae tilted his head.

He thought it couldn’t be, but there it was, sitting right there.

King Greydon.

Its rank was higher than Mother Harpy and equal to Cerberus.

However, like all Greydons, King Greydon is a boss monster ranked a notch above Cerberus due to its exceptionally tough skin and the immense physical attack power derived from its massive body.

‘What was that attack just now?’

Unlike the mind-shaking Mother Harpy or the flame-breathing Cerberus, King Greydon has no special attacks.

It’s a brute who relies solely on its massive body to charge forward.

As an aside, this very nature also implicitly serves to rank non-magic hunters.

‘There might be something else. Don’t let your guard down.’

That attack pierced right through the sturdy body of the raid leader—even penetrating his armor.

It makes you wonder if even a golem’s armor could withstand it.

Then.

Flash-!

King Greydon’s forehead glowed brightly.

“Kwaaaaah!”

Whoosh-!

A beam of light shot out from the creature’s torn maw.

It pierced through the belly of the assault leader.

Pop-.

Dojae dodged it easily.

But the moment he saw the spot the beam had swept over, his blood ran cold.

Sizzle sizzle-.

The ground blazed red and bubbled.

It looked like a spot where magma had flowed.

‘Breath?’

The dragon’s signature move, Breath.

The breath expelled in a single sigh, a massive chunk of mana, is said to be powerful enough to reshape the terrain.

No, the phrase ‘reduced the entire area to scorched earth, turning it into a wasteland’ better captures the destructive and brutal nature of it.

Several years ago, a dragon appeared in France, obliterating a quarter of the country’s landmass before vanishing somewhere. This devastating feat was undoubtedly the work of its Breath.

As a result, France lost countless hunters and citizens, and without the aid of the European Union, it would have been unable to sustain itself as a nation.

‘It resembles a Breath, but its power is incomparably weaker.’

The silver lining is that Kinggreydon isn’t as large as a dragon, and the beams it fires aren’t as powerful as a breath attack.

It’s at a level where it can be avoided if one tries.

Unfortunately, the somewhat slower golems would likely struggle to evade.

If hit squarely by that, there was a high chance the magic stone, the core of the summoning, would be destroyed.

‘Better to fight alone.’

Abandoning his plan to summon a golem to bind the creature’s feet, Dojae leapt high into the air.

POW!

Dojae’s fist struck King Greydon’s shoulder.

“Grrrr!”

The beast staggered slightly.

But it didn’t seem to have much effect.

‘Was King Greydon this strong?’

Dojae had bought up every dungeon listed for sale over the past few days.

Because of that, most were E-rank and D-rank dungeons, and he couldn’t achieve the kind of dramatic growth he had before.

But the process wasn’t wasted.

It was time to adapt to his rapidly enhanced physical abilities and maximize the utility of the golem armor.

Like this, for instance.

Clank-

Clatter-

Stones climbed up the fist of the golem that touched the ground.

Reacting to the magic stone in his hand, the stones piled up layer upon layer, swelling his fist to the size of a basketball.

‘This is going to hurt.’

After clenching the enlarged fist tightly.

With a single leap, he soared up to King Greydon’s head.

And just as he was about to deliver a light punch…

‘Huh?’

Something round and smooth like a bead caught his eye.

And in that brief moment of hesitation, King Greydon rears its head and opens its maw.

Plan change.

Instead of a light tap, I opened my hand wide and gave it a solid slap.

POW-!

“Kraaaah!”

His head whipped around, and the enraged beast screamed at the top of its lungs.

Another breath-like blast.

Compared to the last one, it felt slightly weaker.

‘After using it a few more times, it probably won’t work anymore?’

Even if that technique’s power diminishes over time, it’s meaningless if it can’t land an effective attack on King Greydon.

Dojae faced the limitations of direct strikes head-on and immediately opened a pocket dimension.

Whoosh-.

He reached his arm into the sub-space and summoned what he needed immediately. He felt something solid and long grasped in his hand.

And when his hand withdrew from the pocket dimension, a sharp longsword was clenched in his fist.

‘Swords are still what I’m most familiar with.’

He hadn’t had occasion to wield it lately while hunting random monsters, but this sword proved invaluable in such moments.

It was simply labeled ‘Longsword’ in the sub-space, so he didn’t know its name, but its performance was outstanding.

‘I should get it appraised sometime.’

***

And so began the clash of offense and defense.

The cuts on King Greydon’s hide multiplied, and his savagery deepened in tandem.

Similarly, Dojae was slightly flustered that his attacks weren’t landing properly amidst the relentless assault.

‘This isn’t a normal boss.’

Something was bothering him.

That thing embedded in its forehead.

Dojae instinctively knew it was the magic stone making King Greydon so powerful.

‘I want to shatter it.’

But the creature didn’t give him an easy chance.

Just getting near its head caused it to thrash violently, making it difficult to even approach.

This was practically like saying, ‘This is my weak spot,’ so Dojae kept patiently waiting for his chance.

‘No choice. Come out!’

The air ripped apart.

A golem emerged from the gaping fissure.

It was the highest level and strongest one.

“Grr.”

King Greydon reacted to the suddenly appearing golem.

Dojae threw the sword he was holding toward the front of the golem and leaped toward King Greydon’s head.

“Grr!”

Sure enough, the creature that had been about to shoot down a beam of light clamped its mouth shut and turned its head away.

Dojae poured all his strength into the strike, forcing the creature to stumble backward.

“Now!”

The golem pulled Dojae’s sword from its sheath and charged forward.

How painfully slow it felt.

King Greydon, kneeling, unleashed a beam of light toward the golem.

Puuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

A powerful beam of light swept across the golem’s entire body.

Dojae seized that fleeting moment, leaping onto King Greydon’s crown.

“So the sword was scary after all?”

King Greydon had made a mistake.

Feeling threatened by the sword, the creature prioritized the golem over Dojae.

In the end, the golem took the full brunt of the attack, but Dojae was able to get the magic stone within his grasp.

“Sorry, Unit 1.”

With a brief moment of mourning, Dojae slammed his fist into the magic stone.

Thud-.

Crack-.

Clang!

The magic stone, which had shone right in the center of his forehead, shattered and spilled out.

King Greydon, having lost the magic stone, collapsed with a thud, seemingly drained of all strength.

[Level Up.]

[Level Up.]

Level-up messages flashed.

But ignoring the messages, he trudged forward toward the golem.

“Good work.”

The golem lies collapsed, barely retaining its form.

Its exposed core flickers, as if the light might go out at any moment.

Dojai feels strangely sorry for the golem.

Though it couldn’t speak and its expression was unreadable, he had grown somewhat attached to it over time.

“This might be better for you.”

After watching for a while, Dojae used his skill.

The Summon Release skill.

The golem’s form crumbled, returning to a pile of stones.

The magic stone left atop it flickered a few more times before losing its light completely.

[Quest cleared.]