NOVEL ONLINE FREE chapter 178
A pounding headache surged with the rising irritation and stress.
I pressed my throbbing temples hard with my fingers and swallowed down the fury.
If I could, I’d smack both Eun Woojeong and Kwon Taehyuk in the back of the head with the scabbard on my belt.
I didn’t know if I was at the scene of a dungeon break or in a middle school classroom where kids were asking the teacher who their first love was.
—System, you bastard. Are you seriously telling me to make people like this into allies?—
Unreal.
And yes, by “people like this,” I meant Eun Woojeong and Kwon Taehyuk.
Grinding my teeth, I swallowed the string of curses rising to the back of my throat and muttered harshly.
“I told you I’m not like that with Cha Seohu, you fucking bastard…”
I ended up cursing out loud, but at least I held back from hitting anyone, so I considered that a small win.
Not that it made any of this feel worth it…
[Main Cast Status Guide]
—These guys, seriously.—
All of their thoughts were equally ridiculous, and it made my insides boil.
Can’t the damn system just show me their status? Why do I have to see their thoughts, too?
I exhaled slowly and opened my mouth again.
“Let’s stop and focus now.”
Thankfully, they still had a shred of common sense left, because everyone turned toward me at my serious voice.
Cha Sahyeon looked a little confused too, but didn’t ask anything. Somehow, the youngest kid here was the most mature one.
“Back to what I was saying before we got sidetracked by that bullshit—just now in the forest, we ran into another monster. But something was off about it.”
I recalled what happened earlier.
The black knight monster that Cha Sahyeon had taken down.
The moment I saw it, I had been convinced it moved using a core, like a golem. I’d seen monsters like that plenty of times.
But this one was similar—and yet different.
—He said there was no core.—
Since it had been crushed to death inside a shadow, I assumed the core hidden inside the armor had shattered in the process.
But Sahyeon had shaken his head.
[There was no core.]
[No core?]
[This monster is fundamentally different from a golem.]
Sahyeon moved. He picked up a gauntlet from the armor lying on the ground and brought it over to me. At that moment, the solid metal gauntlet crumbled to pieces.
It turned into tiny sand-like particles and spilled onto the ground, where it was soon carried off by the wind.
[Thousands of fine particles are gathered to form a shape. From the outside, it looks like a physical body, but it’s not.]
Sahyeon glanced briefly at the unconscious Eun Woojeong.
[This guy’s skill wouldn’t have worked. Since the body is made of tiny particles, any attack would’ve passed right through.]
Sahyeon looked around for a moment and continued.
[I saw something like this on TV before… A school of small fish. Hundreds, thousands of them swimming together. From afar, they look like one giant creature. But if you stab them with a spear, they just scatter for a moment. This is the same thing.]
[So you killed it by trapping it in your shadow?]
[Yeah. Just in case.]
At that reply, I looked up at the massive monster rising high above the treetops.
Sahyeon opened his mouth again, like he already knew what I was going to say.
[That one was human-sized, so it was easy. This guy is trickier. If worse comes to worst, I can try expanding the shadow to cover it completely… But you don’t want that, right, hyung?]
[……Right.]
If we tried to cover a monster that big in shadow, people would see it from miles away. That meant more witnesses.
The more skills we used, the more our energy signatures spread. And more people would sense Cha Sahyeon’s L-class energy.
[Let’s avoid using your skill unless we absolutely have to.]
We’d have to find another way.
Still, it was a relief to learn—thanks to the knight monster—that the giant one’s body likely consisted of the same particles.
I hoisted the unconscious Eun Woojeong onto my back and gave Sahyeon a firm instruction.
[Can you make weapons out of shadow, like a mask? Make a longsword similar to this one and just use that for now. Avoid using the full shadow skill unless necessary.]
After that, Sahyeon and I carried Eun Woojeong and exited the forest.
I relayed Sahyeon’s explanation to the other three word-for-word and added that it’d be safest to fight this monster differently than we had with the others.
—Honestly, I’d rather tell them to evacuate and let me and Sahyeon handle this.—
But the quest this time was literally “Ensure the leads’ safety.”
If the monster had System data, it’d be fine, but that wasn’t the case—so I couldn’t help but feel anxious.
“I don’t know the exact details either. From here on, we’ll need to fight it directly and figure out how to deal with it together.”
Even as I spoke with a firm tone, I didn’t feel any less uneasy.
If I failed the quest, I’d take the penalty alone. But if even one of the leads died… there’s no telling how the future would change.
That was something I had to stop at all costs.
But it wasn’t a situation where I could rely entirely on Sahyeon either.
In the end, only one option remained.
I had to take the lead.
If anything went wrong, I’d be the one to clean it up.
—Yeah. It’s not like this is the first time.—
Honestly, that made it easier on my nerves.
I let out a long sigh and looked at the three people standing in front of me.
Their tense faces carried complex emotions, but I could see it—the particular blend of tension and thrill unique to Hunters right before a battle.
I liked that the atmosphere was finally getting serious.
“Move carefully. Prioritize your own lives above all else.”
The one I was most worried about was # Nоvеlight # Eun Woojeong.
He had already lost once against the knight monster, and his skill was especially ill-suited for this type of enemy.
[Main Cast Status Guide]
Eun Woojeong was completely unaware of my concern and was off thinking about useless crap.
—You psycho. Is this really the time to be wondering about monster biology? Focus on your own damn life.—
I swallowed the urge to lecture him and tightened my grip around my sword.
“Let’s go.”
I kicked off the ground and sprinted ahead.
Cha Sahyeon and the S-ranks followed behind me.
Fwooooosh—
The closer we got to the monster, the stronger the wind howled.
Hard, tiny particles scraped against my skin as they blew by.
“Urgh…!”
Thanks to the mask, I didn’t need to cover my eyes, but I couldn’t help being slowed down.
Like being trapped in a sandstorm—black particles swirling wildly in the air, trees shaking violently.
And in between all that, the monster loomed much closer now.
Ggggrrk—
The monster stood still, constantly morphing its body shape. Up close, it looked even bigger than it did from afar.
I had to crane my neck all the way back to see what looked like a head—though I couldn’t say for sure that it actually was one.
That was just the only spot with something resembling eyes.
“Vice-Guildmaster, lift me up.”
Normally, I would’ve used Eun Woojeong’s chains to climb up the monster’s body—but that wouldn’t work now.
So I asked Ryu Sunghyun, who could materialize light.
He, running beside me, immediately activated his skill.
Radiant light burst forth, and golden platforms appeared midair.
As I stepped up and climbed higher, I thought:
—Should I use the item?—
That “Wings of Skywalking” item I bought earlier—the one that sticks to your shoes and lets you fly freely for five minutes.
Ryu Sunghyun’s platforms helped me ascend, but they weren’t ideal for actual combat.
Wasn’t this exactly the kind of situation I’d saved that item for?
If someone got hurt because I was stingy, things would only get worse. If anyone got suspicious, I’d just say it was a skill and brush it off.
As I kept debating, my feet never stopped moving.
I stomped hard on the last platform and leapt.
I soared through the air—higher than the monster’s head—and raised my sword into the swirling winds.
—Let’s try attacking first. If it doesn’t work, I’ll use the item…—
The sharp blade slashed toward the monster’s face—
CLAAAANG!
A sharp sound like breaking glass rang out from somewhere.
At the same time, the monster’s murky green eyes turned to face me.
Our eyes locked.
And in that instant—
“...!”
My whole body froze.
My vision twisted.
My body, suspended midair, dropped helplessly.
As I fell, I blinked slowly.
Something’s wrong.
I was falling, but my senses felt muffled and dim, like I was underwater.
“Hunter Cover!!”
Someone’s scream rang out—
And my consciousness cut out.
***
Warm sunlight touched my cheek.
I furrowed my brow and held on a moment before reluctantly opening my eyes.
My limbs were limp from fatigue.
Grumbling to myself that I wanted to sleep more, I rubbed my head against the sofa armrest—then abruptly shot up.
“Hah…!”
The moment I bolted upright, a white blanket slid off and flopped to the floor.
It was a familiar blanket.
Startled, I looked around.
A window with the curtain drawn halfway, a desk stacked with documents, the sofa I had been lying on, and a table in front of it.
Even the soft scent of coffee that lingered in the air.
No matter how I looked at it, this was the Circle Guild’s representative office.
“…What the hell? Why am I…”
I pressed between my eyes and tried to calmly gather my thoughts—but nothing came to mind.
If anything, the headache just got worse.
I sat on the sofa for a long while, clutching my forehead, until the office door opened and someone walked in with steady steps.
“Seohu.”
A gentle voice. Lips curved faintly upward at the edges. Eyes shining with warmth.
Ryu Sunghyun walked right over to me without hesitation and reached out his hand.
His bare, ungloved hand somehow felt unfamiliar.
“Did I keep you waiting long?”
“Hyung…”
“Why are you holding your head? Does it hurt?”
Ryu Sunghyun’s large hand came up and rested on my forehead.
Then he tilted his head slightly.
“You’re a little warm. Maybe you’re catching a cold? Should I go buy you some medicine? Or do you want to go to the hospital?”
“…No, no. I just took a nap, that’s all.”
I felt oddly awkward at how close his face was when we locked eyes.
He hadn’t changed at all—but why was I being so self-conscious?
Pretending to brush away his hand, I turned my gaze aside.
“Guess I didn’t sleep well. I’ll feel better once I wake up properly.”
“Then if it still hurts in thirty minutes, tell me. I’ve got painkillers.”
“…Okay.”
When I answered quietly, Ryu Sunghyun gave a faint smile and patted my head twice before withdrawing his hand.
“You must be hungry, right? I was going to come earlier, but the conversation dragged on.”
“It’s fine. It was a dungeon strategy meeting, right? You had to stay and listen.”
The words came out without me even thinking.
As I left the office with Ryu Sunghyun, a bunch of guild members who had been chatting in the hallway came rushing over.
“Seohu! You have to hear my side first!”
“Ugh, that’s cheating! Of course Seohu oppa would take noona’s side!”
Kim Suho wore a deeply wronged expression, looking like he was about to cry.
It was so ridiculous I couldn’t help asking,
“You don’t even know what happened yet—how do you know I’ll take your side?”
“You always take the women’s side, hyung!”
“Well… Seohu does have a tendency to favor the ladies.”
“Hey now, why would you say it like that?”
“So, are you saying it’s not true?”
“…It is, actually.”
I shrugged my shoulders playfully, and Kim Suho shouted, “See?!” while the nearby female guild members burst into laughter.
“What happened?” Ryu Sunghyun asked beside me, watching the scene unfold.
Kim Suho wasted no time tattling.
“Okay, so, hyung— I bought new shoes recently, right? And Harin noona said I had to do a ‘welcome ceremony’…”
“You mean the ones you’re wearing now? They already look dirty.”
“Exactly! Harin noona started stomping on them, and then everyone else joined in! I was seriously scared!”
The hallway quickly grew rowdy.
As I watched the guild members playfully tease, bicker, and laugh with each other—without a single hint of worry—I suddenly realized something.
I felt genuinely at peace.
The headache that had filled my head was gone before I even noticed.
It felt like… I’d been wandering lost for a very long time—and finally found my way back.
I let out a deep breath and released the tension in my shoulders, which had been stiff to the point of pain.