Chapter 35

Chapter 35

The circumstances were as follows.

Entering the black cloud, Dojae dealt with the Red Oaks engulfed in black smoke differently than before.

Those bewitched by the black smoke were faster and stronger, but none came within five meters of Dojae’s toes.

How long had he been inside?

He spotted Kim Hwan-soo circling a specific area and Kang Young-chan sprawled on the ground.

They were inside a transparent barrier formed by mana in the shape of a doughnut, seemingly completely unaware of the barrier.

If it weren’t for his senses sharpened by the golem’s nerves, Dojae would have thought they were just stupidly spinning around.

Dojae approached the mana membrane and pressed his palm against it.

CRASH!

“Captain!”

“Lee Sergeant?”

The mana barrier shattered and dispersed into the air.

“What are you doing?”

“What is this sergeant doing here? I should have ordered you to join the main force.”

Dojae realized his mistake.

He realized he had radioed while meeting with Altein for the main quest.

“The radio’s broken.”

“Broken?”

“Yes. Not just the radio, but this too.”

Do-jae showed Kim Hwan-soo his smartphone screen.

Only after Kim Hwan-soo pulled out his own smartphone did he understand.

“Got it. Head back now. This place is beyond your level to handle.”

“Huh… Wait. I feel weird.”

Just as Kim Hwan-soo was about to send Do-jae back, Kang Young-chan stopped him.

Then.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing?!”

Kang Young-chan yelled in a voice brimming with anger.

Then he jumped up and demanded.

“How did you get so strong? In just a few hours?”

Thud-thud-.

Squeak-.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing?”

Kang Young-chan grabbed Do-jae by the collar without warning.

Do-jae shoved Kang Young-chan’s arm away.

Crunch-.

“What are you doing?”

Do-jae’s clothes ripped, revealing his snow-white collarbone.

Fortunately, the stretched collar stopped just above the golem’s heart.

Rip.

Kang Young-chan tossed the torn fabric aside.

Then he laughed and said.

“Heh heh heh. You think you can beat my arm strength? You really have gotten stronger, haven’t you?”

“……”

Do-jae didn’t answer.

There was no need to answer.

Especially not to such a rude person.

“Young… Chief Kang! What the hell are you doing?!”

Caught off guard, Kim Hwan-soo snapped.

But Kang Young-chan, who cared only that Dojae had grown stronger, didn’t even bother to respond.

“If you don’t want to talk, I’ll make you talk. Heh.”

Whoosh-!

Kang Young-chan’s fist flew toward Do-jae’s face.

Whoosh-.

Do-jae twisted his entire body and barely dodged it.

But the attack didn’t end there.

‘Faster!’

If the first punch was a jab, the second was a straight.

A large, solid fist aimed for his nose.

POW!

Fist and sword collided, sparks flying and a loud clang echoing.

Dojae thought that if he thrust his full-length sword at the Harpy Queen, it would stop the fist.

But the fist and sword collided head-on, and it was Dojae who felt the sting.

“You blocked it, right?”

Kang Young-chan’s eyebrows twitched.

The corners of his mouth, which had been turned up, slowly dropped.

But that wasn’t because he had stopped smiling.

Thickly growing fangs.

His fangs made him lose his smile.

‘Unpleasant.’

As Kang Young-chan’s appearance changed, the emotion Do Jae felt was disgust.

It felt somehow sickening and even repulsive.

It was definitely not the feeling coming from his appearance.

It was the slimy, sticky mana emanating from Kang Young-chan that made Do-jae uncomfortable.

Crunch-.

A sound emanated from Kang Young-chan’s body, and bones sprouted like thorns from his arms, legs, and back.

His waist lengthened and his skeleton twisted.

His enlarged pelvis and elongated waist folded vertically, forcing Kang Young-chan to stand on all fours.

“Kek. Kha ha ha ha.”

Kang Young-chan burst into laughter.

Then, without any preparatory movement, he accelerated sharply!

Kkang-!

“Pfft.”

Kang Young-chan spat out a long, blue piece of metal.

Dojae’s sword, the Harpy Queen’s Fullum, was split in half, leaving only tooth marks.

“That sword was my favorite…”

Veins bulged on Dojae’s forehead.

Even as a comrade, crossing the line like this was unbearable.

“You started this fight.”

“Just what I wanted. Kkkk.”

Gugugung-.

Rocks climb up Dojae’s legs.

Simultaneously, Kang Young-chan flies toward Dojae.

Teeth powerful enough to shatter Hapiqueen’s Fullum, and a gaping maw.

Thwack-!

Do-jae’s right hand struck Kang Young-chan squarely in the face.

The fist of the completed golem armor slammed Kang Young-chan’s head into the ground.

“Kkhuuh.”

But Kang Young-chan’s strength was no slouch either.

Just over 5 centimeters from the ground.

Kang Young-chan tensed his trapezius muscles and braced against the fist.

Then, springing up like a coiled spring, he bit into Dojae’s shoulder.

Crunch-.

“Ugh.”

The exposed shoulder and flowing crimson blood.

The detached stone fragments quickly restored themselves, but blood soaked damply into the golem armor.

‘Fast and strong. I need to create distance.’

Dojae stretched both arms toward Kang Youngchan.

Stones shot from his palms, seizing Kang Young-chan’s legs.

Kang Young-chan immediately broke free from the stones’ grasp, but in that brief moment, Dojae had managed to create a significant distance.

“Is that even possible?”

Ignoring Kang Young-chan’s question, Do-jae focused on manipulating his mana bundles.

He fired fist-sized stone balls at Kang Young-chan.

Dozens of stone balls darted about rapidly, penetrating without leaving any blind spots.

Boom-.

Boom-boom!

But Kang Young-chan didn’t allow a single attack to land.

He struck them away with his arms and pulverized them with back kicks.

Stone balls flying toward his back were sliced in half by the protruding spikes.

“Forget these pathetic attacks! Let’s fight properly!”

Kang Young-chan sensed that the aura he felt from Do Jae was similar to his own.

Once merely an insignificant awakened being, he had obtained the immense power of an S-Class through the secret plans of the Suppression Army’s Intelligence Division.

In the process, he had lost his mind somewhat, becoming an abnormal personality obsessed solely with strength.

Until now, the closed-off group of the Suppression Army and the restraining influence of Kim Hwan-soo had kept him from causing major trouble. But the moment he saw Dojae, his suppressed fighting spirit erupted like a volcano.

He quickly figured out how to grow stronger and felt a kinship with Dojae, who radiated a similar aura, while also wanting to fight him.

Thud-.

Thud thud-.

Kang Young-chan approached, ignoring the stone golems with an expression that said he was now annoyed.

Dojae, realizing this method wouldn’t land an effective hit either, severed the following burst of mana.

The stone golems, their connection severed, could no longer maintain their form and rained down like rain.

“Yeah, that’s it! If you’re a man, you fight face-to-face.”

With that, Kang Young-chan dives into Do-jae’s arms.

A brutal melee of attacks and defenses!

But as time passed, Dojae was at a disadvantage.

‘S-class is different…’

At first glance, he seemed to be holding up well against Kang Young-chan’s attacks, but the reality was entirely different.

The mana for repairing the golem armor was rapidly depleting, while Dojae’s attacks failed to make any significant impact.

He could only manage a few scratches, barely the size of fingernails.

KAGAKANG-!

Kang Young-chan clawed at Do-jae’s chest.

Sparks flew intensely as the armor shattered and fell away.

Not only that, it left four distinct claw marks on Dojae’s chest.

“Huh. So that’s it? That’s what made you grow so strong so fast?”

Kang Young-chan glared at the large magic stone resting on Do-jae’s chest.

The golem’s heart, revealed to another for the first time.

Though usually barely concealed by a single layer of clothing, its exposure now brought a wave of unease.

If someone were to target it precisely, wouldn’t it be a fatal weakness?

Clang.

Dojae restored the torn-off pieces of the golem’s armor and assumed a defensive stance.

Kang Young-chan probably didn’t know the details about the golem’s heart, but it was clear he would target it from now on.

For Dojae, who would lose everything if he lost the golem’s heart, becoming passive was the only option.

That was when it happened.

Swish-.

Suddenly, Kang Young-chan turned around and, for some reason, raised his upper body.

“My mood’s ruined.”

***

Kim Hwan-soo couldn’t contain his surprise.

To his eyes, it looked like two boss monsters were fighting.

‘Is that the level of skill this team leader has?’

Kang Young-chan was undeniably one of the top-tier forces in the extermination army, but the fact that Do Jae was fighting him on equal footing was downright bewildering.

He had been just another examinee, no different from the others in the trial where he had served as captain, yet now he displayed strength comparable to his own.

‘I should stop them…’

They were fighting each other right in the middle of enemy territory.

And for no reason at all, just because of one person’s mood.

These men had already spent hours fighting alone, depleting their stamina.

They should have stopped fighting immediately and prepared for what was to come, but Kim Hwan-soo could only watch silently.

‘I’m curious.’

He was too curious about Dojae’s skill to intervene.

Having a strong ally by your side was always welcome.

He wanted to gauge Dojae’s abilities further, thinking he might be as useful as Kang Youngchan once they returned to headquarters.

‘Huh? Why did they suddenly stop?’

In the midst of a fierce fight.

Kang Young-chan suddenly turned his head.

Then Dojae also looked in the direction Kang Young-chan had turned his head.

And only at the very last moment did Kim Hwan-soo realize.

That something was coming.

“Chuik! Chuik!”

Red orcs advancing while violently snorting.

But that wasn’t all.

Ogres, trolls, drakes, and gray men—

all kinds of monsters were gathering together and approaching.

“How?”

Why were monsters that should be fighting each other now together?

Kim Hwan-soo quickly spotted a common thread among them.

‘Black clouds…’

A dark aura swirled around them.

The black cloud, spread like mist, was gathering and moving the monsters of different species.

“Kra-ra-ra!”

“Kyaaah!”

The sound of their monstrous screams grew steadily closer.

Finally, when they reached about 30 meters away.

Their movements halted simultaneously.

Gugugugu-.

With a rumbling sound, a Red Oak suddenly burst forth from behind them.

Perched atop the head of a sand worm, two or three times larger than normal, stood the Red Oak priest in a haughty posture.

“Grrrr…”

At that moment, an animal’s cry sounded from nearby.

“Chief Kang?”

Kang Young-chan’s eyes darkened.

Sensing something was wrong, Kim Hwan-soo tried to grab Kang Young-chan’s shoulder.

Thud!

“Gurgle…. Get out of the way!”

Kang Young-chan, his face flushed red, knocked Kim Hwan-soo’s arm away.

Then he began to writhe in pain.

The protruding thorns retracted, and his swollen body gradually shrank.

“Young-chan, why are you doing this?!”

Soon after, Kang Young-chan collapsed to the floor and began trembling violently.

Cold sweat poured down like rain, and he writhed in agony, unable to regain his senses.

“Captain.”

At that moment, Dojae spoke.

In his hand was a glass bottle filled with blue liquid.

“Give this to the First Squad Leader. Then take him and get out of here.”

“What?”

“Over there, at the end, there’s a guy giving off a vibe similar to the First Squad Leader. I think it’s probably because of him.”

Kim Hwan-soo looked where Dojae was pointing.

It was the Red Oak priest atop the sandworm.

“Huh… Got it.”

He felt sorry for Dojae, but Kim Hwan-soo had no choice but to choose Kang Young-chan.

‘Losing an S-rank is too big a risk.’

Kim Hwan-soo wrapped his arms around the trembling Kang Young-chan.

He couldn’t explain why suddenly, but he knew he had to get out of here first.

“I’ll be right back.”

Kim Hwan-soo immediately left the spot.