NOVEL ONLINE FREE #077
#077
Dan Joo-hyuk focused his will and activated his skill with his outstretched hand. Among his techniques, this was the one with the widest range and the most discreet.
[Warmly Embracing Touch S]
Absorbs moisture from the surroundings.
“Aaaaargh…!”
The legs of the affected target began to twist slightly from the calves. As he finally lost balance and fell, Dan Joo-hyuk approached him.
“St-stay away…!”
The suspicious hunter didn’t give up and swung his sword with his remaining two arms. After slightly moving to avoid it, Dan Joo-hyuk activated his skill again, this time aiming for the arms.
“Aaagh! Aagh!”
The hunter’s limbs finally shriveled and twisted slightly. He might be able to recover with a potion, but for now, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.
After screaming for a while, the hunter started panting. Dan Joo-hyuk approached the fallen face and slowly observed him.
His appearance was exactly like the Tsar’s personal guard hunters. However, since he hadn’t memorized their faces, he couldn’t be certain.
“What could they have done…”
Dan Joo-hyuk pondered, slowly cooling his head. He couldn’t believe they would plan such a direct action.
Of course, they must have bet on the chance that Dan Joo-hyuk wouldn’t discover their scheme, but it was a dangerous move. Unless they were determined to kill everyone in the attack team if discovered, it would be a diplomatic blunder.
He couldn’t understand the Tsar’s intentions at all. Sometimes they seemed clear, but other times they were too reckless.
In any case, it was troublesome with the time penalty on his back.
“P-please… spare me…”
The man started babbling in English. He seemed to be a physical enhancement type hunter, with no ranged skills. Dan Joo-hyuk tapped the man’s twisted legs, deep in thought.
Perhaps the attack team not entering as planned was part of the scheme from the beginning.
Originally, twice the regular number was supposed to enter. However, after 1.5 times the number of hunters entered, the influx of new personnel suddenly stopped.
After waiting for a while, the attack team concluded that they must have reached the maximum number of people allowed by the SS-grade gate wavelength.
Even that might have been the result of blocking entry from outside. If so, it meant that only Korean and Russian hunters had properly entered, increasing the possibility that the Tsar ultimately considered mass murder.
That is, only if they succeeded in killing him.
“Hmm…”
If that’s the case, this guy here must be the key to killing him. Realizing that his instincts hadn’t given a pointless warning, he pondered.
Should he leave the guy here for now?
As he was considering this, a status window popped up in front of his eyes like a warning light.
Time limit: 8 hours 45 minutes 14 seconds
It was a warning he had seen just a moment ago. It annoyingly blocked his vision from time to time, as if telling him to check the time.
But then something strange happened.
Time limit: 6 hours 24 minutes 52 seconds
Time limit: 3 hours 15 minutes 25 seconds
The time that had been decreasing steadily suddenly started decreasing rapidly.
Time limit: 1 hour 03 minutes 02 seconds
“Ha.”
Seeing the status window that finally returned to normal flow after rapidly decreasing to the hour unit, Dan Joo-hyuk let out a hollow laugh. The penalty, which he checked again just in case, remained as death.
Due to the gate’s annoying structure, it would take quite a while longer to reach the boss. Even if he barely made it, there wouldn’t be enough time to fight. If there was any trick like a variable gate, it would be even more impossible alone.
The back of his head tingled with a sense of crisis.
For some reason, Yoon Pa-ran’s pale face flashed in his mind.
“Hah…”
For now, Dan Joo-hyuk shook off his thoughts and moved.
The decrease in the time limit was an unexpected variable. Instead of despairing, he slowly stepped on one of the hunter’s fingers and asked,
“How did you come out here?”
“Ugh… You, speak…”
The hunter’s eyes widened as fluent Russian came out of Dan Joo-hyuk’s mouth. Ignoring this reaction, Dan Joo-hyuk recalled the hint that had crossed his mind earlier.
Earlier, his instinct had pointed in the opposite direction. So this way should be a dead end, but how did this guy come out from here?
“Tell me where the shortcut is.”
He gradually applied force to his toes. At the same time, he activated the same skill on just the finger.
“Aaaaargh…!”
Eventually, the man’s finger slowly withered and twisted. Much more rapidly than his limbs.
It was a finger with only some moisture removed while the nerves were still alive. The hunter, feeling the pain fully, witnessed his finger withering and crumbling like a mummy.
“Aaaagh…!”
Above all, the man must have realized that the slight twisting of his limbs earlier was Dan Joo-hyuk’s mercy.
His fear-filled gaze briefly turned towards one wall. Dan Joo-hyuk, who had been closely observing the man’s reactions, became suspicious.
The angle was a bit odd for an unconscious glance.
Come to think of it, the man’s presence had appeared quite abruptly.
He was high-ranked but not an exceptionally skilled hunter. He couldn’t even read the flow of Dan Joo-hyuk’s skills.
Dan Joo-hyuk grabbed the man’s collar and lifted him at once. Then he pushed him against the wall where he still couldn’t sense anything.
“Ah.”
As if by magic, the wall opened like a door.
“Interesting…”
Gates often had various structures, so secret passages like this were quite common. However, most couldn’t escape Dan Joo-hyuk’s keen eye. The lower the grade of the gate, the more noticeable the unique sense of discomfort was.
Even for an SS-grade gate, it was certainly strange to have no hint of its presence at all. Especially if a hunter less skilled than himself could find it.
The eerie energy emanating from the stairs behind the secret door was also extraordinary.
“……”
He carefully stepped inside.
The stairs leading down continued for a while before a corridor appeared.
Unlike the complex maze from before, the corridor was a straight path stretching forward. However, despite being completely empty, it was filled with an energy as if monsters were right at hand.
He instinctively realized that the boss was at the end of that path.
“Hah…”
He accepted his instinct’s warning that staying too long wouldn’t be good. Overcoming the subtle resistance rising from the cellular level, Dan Joo-hyuk put strength into his legs.
He ran down the path while holding the suspicious man with one hand.
Traversing the corridor was quick. The same stairs he had come down earlier appeared, and he climbed them, still maintaining his guard.
Like before, what looked like the back wall of a maze appeared. When he pushed it with the suspicious man he was holding, it opened like a door again.
An enormous presence began to be felt through the gap in the door.
“……”
The place Dan Joo-hyuk entered was, surprisingly, the inner wall of the boss room.
Kiruruuru…
The boss’s appearance was as feared. A massive body that looked like four of the monsters he had seen so far combined, and a huge shell encompassing it all.
As expected to some extent, a familiar stone fragment had fallen in front of the boss.
That stone again.
The eerie energy felt even from afar was nauseating. Nevertheless, Dan Joo-hyuk had to observe the situation for a moment without moving rashly.
Because the boss’s behavior was quite unexpected.
“……”
Surprisingly, it had emerged from its shell.
The creature out in its bare body had quite a strange appearance. Its slippery body, like a slug, wriggled and moved like an earthworm.
The boss, sensing Dan Joo-hyuk’s presence, turned what seemed to be its eyes, antenna-like organs, towards him. However, instead of attacking, it wriggled even more hurriedly.
Towards that stone.
As Dan Joo-hyuk paused for a moment to assess the situation, the status window popped up again, as if urging him.
Time limit: 1 minute 23 seconds
“Ha.”
The time had decreased even more mercilessly than before. Irritation surged as it was clear he was being played.
Anyway, he needed to prevent the boss monster from touching that stone.
In a hurry, Dan Joo-hyuk threw the man he was holding. At the same time, he kicked off the ground and rushed towards the boss monster.
“Uwaaaaah…!”
The man, flying long while scraping the floor, hit the stone head-on and slid to the opposite side. It was just before the boss monster’s soft pincer was about to touch the stone.
Around the same time, Dan Joo-hyuk also reached the vicinity of the boss monster. The status window flickering incessantly in the corner of his vision.
Time limit: 53 seconds
That status window shook as if strangely excited. For a moment, he had the impression that it was quite strange. Even though such a window shouldn’t have its own consciousness.
It was because he had seen an incredible scene. Dan Joo-hyuk swung his sword horizontally, as if to cut both the status window and the boss monster at once.
Kirut, kiruru…!
The monster’s soft flesh was sliced lengthwise. At the same time, the erratically flickering status window disappeared.
“Hah…”
Just in case, it was a strike imbued with Yoon Pa-ran’s power as well. Even considering that, the boss monster was split in half ridiculously easily.
It was strange even considering that this gate wasn’t befitting of an SS-grade. Feeling something was off, Dan Joo-hyuk approached the shell left behind by the boss after it was completely neutralized.
“……”
Even though he swung his sword with considerable force, not even a scratch was left on the shell. It would require using Yoon Pa-ran’s skill, with about 10% left, to cut it.
If the boss had worn this shell as it should have, there would have been quite a few casualties. Realizing this fact, Dan Joo-hyuk muttered quietly,
“Was I lucky…”
It meant that without Yoon Pa-ran’s power, even the standard strategy would have been dangerous. And then there was that suspicious stone.
Was the reason for the quest window’s penalty being death that he would certainly die if the boss made contact with that stone?
The timer that had been flickering frantically clearly contained such a meaning. It was the moment he was deeply pondering this fact.
Something glinted in the corner of his vision.
It was the items dropped by the boss monster.