Chapter 28

Chapter 28

“Kyaaah!”

Hoi-in collapsed, letting out a grotesque scream.

The man, impaled through the chest and pinned to a tree, soon dropped his head.

‘Ten down. Clear.’

After hunting the first Hoi-in, Dojae continued to take on the Hoi-ins that kept appearing.

One by one, two by two.

He hunted them swiftly before they could summon others.

And the more he hunted them, the more an odd feeling began to take hold of Dojae.

‘What is this queasy feeling?’

Was it because their appearance resembled humans?

Or was it because of their reactions?

The Hoi-in kept trying to talk to him.

It was the same with the Red Oaks.

Facing increasingly powerful opponents stirred up a strange feeling inside me.

After fighting only mindless creatures of grades 7 to 10 so far, battling beings capable of communication was confusing.

‘Are the other hunters fine?’

Attempts to coexist with monsters have been ongoing for a long time.

A few humans advocated respecting monsters’ right to life, and scholars sought to communicate with them.

But such people are treated as heretics.

Countless people have suffered harm and been wounded by monsters.

They have always shown unconditional hostility toward humans, and not a single monster has ever sought to interact with humans.

Ultimately, monsters are humanity’s primary enemy.

That’s why Dojae had always treated monsters as prey, but he felt something strange about the Hoiin who approached him.

And it wasn’t pity or guilt.

‘I want to kill them.’

Intense hostility.

A fierce desire to kill the monster, an intense feeling that it must be killed, boiled up inside him.

Smack-smack.

Dojae lightly slapped both cheeks.

‘Monsters are just monsters.’

He must not be swayed by emotion.

Not being swayed by emotion is a fundamental principle of hunting.

It seemed to be due to the golem’s eye.

Especially the ‘Spirit’ stat he’d started investing in after obtaining the golem’s eyes seemed to be having an effect.

“Hm?”

Even though the hunt was over, I sensed my mana continuing to drain.

It wasn’t cause for alarm, but it was a noticeable change.

‘If it’s that direction, is it Kim Joon-soo’s place?’

The persistent mana drain was the mana consumed by the golem sent per team to repair.

And the location of those golems was the team led by Kim Joon-soo.

‘They said they were resting in the safe zone.’

Of course, a safe zone doesn’t guarantee 100% safety.

Besides, since the golem’s core is still connected to the Dohae, we should hurry over to Kim Joon-soo’s side.

‘But why isn’t the clear message popping up?’

Not only the golem, but another puzzling point is that even though I completed the quest’s requirement to hunt 10, there’s no notification.

Normally, notifications should pop up the moment it’s completed.

Then.

Zzzzt.

My temples throbbed.

It was a signal.

An instinctive warning signal!

‘Something’s there!’

The moment I lifted my head to look up, I could see a new figure standing on the tree.

It was staring down at Dojae without a sound or a trace of movement.

“Kyaaah.”

As his eyes met the creature’s jet-black orbs, it murmured lowly.

This one was different from the others.

Whereas the Hwain who had appeared before had openly displayed aggression, this one did not.

‘Something’s different…’

For starters, his appearance differed from the others.

He wore a vest made of metal plates bound together like scaled armor and carried a dagger instead of a bow.

He was smiling down at Dojae as if watching him.

Dojae immediately used the Golem’s Eye on the creature.

[Monster Information]

Name: Salma

Classification: Monster (Wandering Spirit)

Details: 187 years old, 191cm, 89kg, Scout Leader of the Kalia Tribe, skilled in dagger combat.

Status: Hostility / Rage / Mourning

‘It has a name?’

Monsters have no names.

After obtaining the Golem’s Eye, I tried using it on monsters several times, but the name displayed as [None].

There was nothing special about them, and since it was common knowledge, there was no useful information to be gained.

So I hadn’t really considered using the Golem’s Eye.

But the moment I saw information on that creature, Salma, I realized it wasn’t just a simple, ordinary monster.

‘The Kalia tribe must refer to the gathering of the Hui people in this area.’

There are examples where humans name them, like the ‘Dragon of Auvergne’ named after the French region ‘Auvergne’ where the Dungeon Break occurred.

But this was the first time he’d directly learned a monster’s name.

“Kyaaauur.”

The creature slowly drew its sword, then landed lightly on the floor like feathers settling.

‘It’s coming!’

***

“Hey, what’s up? It’s not regenerating now?”

“Yeah, what is it?”

Jang Pil-ho and Lee Ji-woong halted their attacks.

The golem, which had regenerated quickly even when split in half, was now noticeably slower.

“It kinda feels like it’s gotten really slow.”

“Yeah? I’ve been noticing it too since a while ago.”

Clank-.

The golem moved sluggishly, its core exposed.

Even the light from its core flickered precariously, as if it might go out at any moment.

It was slowly regenerating, but it was unnervingly slow.

“This is weird. Could something have happened to the captain? This thing is connected to him, right?”

“Nah, that can’t be.”

As the golem’s regeneration slowed, they sensed something was wrong.

Playing with the golem had been fun, but now that this happened, they started to worry.

“Hey, let’s stop. You’re the one who insisted we try fighting it.”

“Huh? No, you were the one who made it more fun to play with.”

Then, from over there, the sound of the ground rumbling came along with Kim Jun-seo’s shout.

His voice was thick with urgency.

“Jang Pil-ho! Lee Ji-woong!”

The two hurried back to where they had been.

And there, they witnessed the scene of a fierce battle unfolding.

“T… Trolls?”

“Damn it, where did these trolls suddenly come from!”

Son Jeong-gyu, Kim Jun-seo, and Yook Hyeon-jae were each fighting one of the three trolls.

Son Jeong-gyu was holding his ground, his body puffed up as much as possible, but Kim Jun-seo and Yook Hyeon-jae were barely dodging the attacks.

“I’m going to Hyun-jae’s side.”

“I’ll go to Junseo hyung’s side!”

After assessing the situation, the two immediately split up and joined Kim Jun-seo and Yook Hyeon-jae.

***

Rewinding to a moment earlier, when the 11th Hoi-in attacked Do-jae.

Clang-!

Sword meets sword, sparks flying.

“Ha-ha!”

Dojae began to laugh.

The clash of blades made laughter escape him.

‘This is fun, huh?’

Salma’s sword carried immense weight.

Moreover, the way he instantly stepped back after the exchange showed incredible speed.

‘Let’s see how skilled he really is.’

Dojae and Salma began trading blows.

Salma, who moved through the mountains like it was her own home, would suddenly appear from hidden spots and launch surprise attacks.

But each time, Dojae parried them effortlessly.

Not stopping there, Dojae gradually counterattacked.

He thrust his sword harder and faster next time, making sure Salma noticed.

“Kyaaah. Kyaaah.”

The creature looked startled.

Then, he glared at Dojae again, eyes wide.

A remarkably varied expression.

This piqued Dojae’s interest.

Though it was a slightly different kind of interest.

‘This should be fun to kill.’

All sorts of hunting methods flashed through Dojae’s mind.

A head-on duel with swords.

Summoning a new golem with the magic stone for a coordinated attack.

Storing the sword in his pocket dimension and unleashing indiscriminate strikes using his speed.

His mind was filled solely with the thought of killing the creature.

“Kiyau!”

The enemy leapt forward again, propelling himself off the ground like a flying attack.

Dojae didn’t stand idly by either.

Swish-!

Dojae swung his opposite arm violently.

The golem armor encasing his arm disintegrated, sending stones flying wildly.

Clang-.

Clang- Clang-!

He parried dozens of flying stones with his swift sword.

His sword speed was so swift that not a single stone grazed his body, all crashing to the ground.

But.

Scratch-.

The stones were merely a means to obstruct his vision.

Dojae slid in and severed one of the creature’s legs.

“Kwaah!”

The creature screamed in agony.

Sticky black blood flowed from its thigh.

‘He dodged at the last moment.’

Dojae had intended to sever the leg completely, but the creature was agile.

The instant Dojae’s blade touched his skin, he twisted his body, narrowly avoiding being cut off.

However, the amount of blood flowing out showed the wound was quite deep.

Shh-!

The creature leapt onto the tree with its injured leg.

Judging by how he tore at his fluttering clothes, he intended to stop the bleeding.

‘No chance!’

Dojae gave him no chance.

Before the bastard could even bind his leg, Dojae kicked the tree down.

“Kyu-eor!”

The man clutched his mangled leg and moved to another tree.

Each time, Dojae knocked down a tree to block his path.

‘There’s nowhere left for him to go.’

When all the surrounding trees were felled, the creature landed on the ground at a distance.

The bleeding was still severe; it couldn’t even stand properly, staggering.

‘Is that all it takes?’

When they first clashed swords, he had thought it was a dangerous foe.

But I never imagined it would become this easy with just one attack.

He even felt a pang of regret and disappointment.

“Kyaaah.”

The bastard limped backward.

Dojae gradually closed the distance between them.

Swoosh-.

He sliced through the uninjured leg.

The bastard raised his sword to block, but Dojae’s strength made him drop it.

Thud-.

With both legs rendered useless, the creature crashed to the ground.

Now it began to crawl.

Thud-.

Snap!

Dojae crushed one of its arms underfoot.

Judging by the sound of breaking bone, this arm too would no longer function properly.

“Kyaaah!”

The man glared at Dojae and screamed in agony.

He couldn’t understand the meaning.

No, he didn’t even want to know.

Crunch-.

Dojae pressed down firmly on the creature’s upper body.

Then, holding his sword vertically.

Push—.

He thrust the blade into the man’s forehead.

[Level Up.]

[Quest Cleared.]

[Reward acquired.]

[New effect granted to ‘Golem’s Eye’.]

[Exceeded the target!]

[Additional reward obtained.]

[‘Purple Box’]