#55
If one is bitten initially but avoids vital spots, recovery is possible with healing. The boss mob’s foot pressure was so strong that Seo Yi-young couldn’t pull his body away. Forget pulling away—he could barely even twist his body. Whether it was possible or not, he had to try.
Eyes wide open, he tried to hold his breath to catch the moment when the creature would open its jaws, but his breathing only became rougher from the tension. To recover immediately after being bitten, Seo Yi-young concentrated power into his hands pressed against the floor. As his hands began to glow white, the boss mob’s pupils suddenly contracted.
“Aaagh!”
He heard James’s scream. And similar screams from other hunters followed. Had they been attacked because their attention was diverted by Seo Yi-young’s predicament? From his current position, he couldn’t confirm. He didn’t know who was injured or how badly.
Just then, the boss mob bared its teeth and lunged at Seo Yi-young. Time seemed to flow extremely slowly. Ridiculously, at this moment, Choi Do-jun came to mind.
Choi Do-jun.
If he were here, he would certainly overcome this crisis with overwhelming firepower while maintaining an expressionless face. An inexplicable faith.
Seo Yi-young glanced at his hands. He could use this now for group healing. If he did that, there was no guarantee what would happen to him after the boss mob attacked.
But…
He was a healer.
A healer’s job in a dungeon is to keep other hunters alive. It would be a lie to say there was no conflict. But ultimately, Seo Yi-young came to a conclusion.
It wasn’t about being kind. Good. Nice. Those concepts didn’t apply. Seo Yi-young simply couldn’t bear the thought of living with the lifelong guilt if any one of them died while he survived.
Seo Yi-young sent healing toward where the screams had come from.
The creature’s hot breath was felt directly on his skin. Seo Yi-young finally couldn’t help but squeeze his eyes shut.
KABOOM—!
It was such a tremendous explosion that his body trembled. He heard a ringing sound in his ears. Seo Yi-young realized he was still alive only after some time had passed.
Dust and acrid smoke made it impossible to properly assess the situation. Suppressing the coughing that burst forth, Seo Yi-young got up and looked around. James, who had been running toward Seo Yi-young, and other hunters were standing with their mouths open, staring at something.
What is it? What on earth happened? Seo Yi-young turned his head in the direction of their gaze.
“……”
And then Seo Yi-young’s expression mirrored theirs. An unbelievable presence was here.
BANG! THUD! BOOM!
It was Choi Do-jun.
White techwear. It was unmistakable. No one else would wear such a thing. He wasn’t attacking immediately but moving around here and there. Seo Yi-young’s head followed Choi Do-jun’s trajectory as he moved through the air.
Why is he here? Was he seeing a hallucination because he wanted it so desperately? Yes, it must be a hallucination. Otherwise, why wouldn’t he attack right away?
But it was too vivid to be a hallucination. How long had he been staring? Their eyes briefly met. Seo Yi-young, who had been watching the situation with his mouth open, only came to his senses when his nape was suddenly grabbed.
His body felt weightless—he was flying through the air. Immediately thrown to the ground, Seo Yi-young realized that Choi Do-jun had grabbed him by the neck and thrown him to one side. He wasn’t alone there.
All the other hunters who had entered the dungeon were there too. Everyone including Alberto and James. Watching Choi Do-jun, Seo Yi-young realized he had moved all the hunters to one place.
As Seo Yi-young was trying to grasp the situation, Choi Do-jun’s voice reached his ears.
“Create a barrier.”
Choi Do-jun left after saying just that.
Everyone had been thrown to the ground and was now getting up, assessing the situation. Fortunately, none of the hunters appeared to have injuries requiring immediate treatment. It seemed to be thanks to the group healing Seo Yi-young had performed at the last moment.
Although the hunters had no idea what was happening, they quickly adapted to the situation. As Choi Do-jun had instructed, the rear support hunters created a barrier. It was quite solid.
“Am I going crazy? I’m seeing things.”
“No, Eric. Your mouth might be crazy, but your eyes are fine. Because I can see it too.”
“…Wow. This feels like a dream.”
It wasn’t just idle talk. There was a presence here that couldn’t—shouldn’t—be here. Although the dungeon didn’t close just because a raid team entered, so anyone could enter, strict controls were in place for entry. Moreover, this wasn’t Korea but America. It wasn’t a place where Choi Do-jun should be.
Korea wouldn’t have approved of him coming to America, and they certainly wouldn’t have allowed him to enter the dungeon. Seo Yi-young couldn’t understand how this had happened. But aside from all those facts, what he felt now was relief and joy.
Seo Yi-young’s eyes followed Choi Do-jun. Maybe it was his imagination, but their eyes seemed to meet. However, it didn’t last long. The boss mob, quickly realizing its target had changed, attacked Choi Do-jun with unprecedented speed. It was so fast it was almost invisible. Only the sound of movement could be heard.
Only S-Class hunters like Alberto and James could track those movements. Seo Yi-young, unfamiliar with combat, could barely detect it by sound alone. Could Choi Do-jun handle this? There was some anxiety, but there was also a mysterious confidence that he would somehow resolve it.
That confidence was soon confirmed with his own eyes. And he could understand why Choi Do-jun had gathered all the hunters in the field in one place. And also why he had told them to create a barrier.
Choi Do-jun attacked the mobs while moving throughout the dungeon. Beams of light struck from all directions, destroying mobs indiscriminately. His attacks were explosively powerful, incomparable to anything seen in the dungeon before. It was incredible. He was literally pouring attacks as if he would blow this place apart.
Light flashed brilliantly everywhere. Alberto and James had been impressive until now, but Choi Do-jun was truly in a league of his own. However, although he had eliminated almost all the regular mobs, the boss mob soon regenerated them all. Only then did it occur to Seo Yi-young that Choi Do-jun still didn’t know the boss mob’s ability. Seo Yi-young shouted loudly.
“The boss! Solve the boss first!”
Choi Do-jun, who paused momentarily in midair, looked at Seo Yi-young with an annoyed expression as if to say, “Why are you only telling me this now?” It felt a bit unfair. How could he speak without an opportunity? Seo Yi-young pouted sulkily.
Hearing Seo Yi-young’s shout, Choi Do-jun fiercely attacked the boss mob. The air heated up due to beams of light targeting only one spot from all directions. It was a tremendous offensive power.
To eliminate a mob with regenerative abilities, you need to inflict damage faster and greater than its healing rate. A simple formula, but difficult to realize—and Choi Do-jun was doing it.
Choi Do-jun wasn’t just attacking the boss mob alone. He was pouring powerful attacks on all the mobs surrounding him, including those trying to escape. Whether this was possible or not wasn’t even a question—it was happening right before their eyes.
The light generated by Choi Do-jun’s attacks was so strong that it looked like a white sphere. Those watching were speechless. Someone let out a low whistle.
“If aliens invaded from space, one Mr. Choi would be enough to resolve it.”
“If I could awaken again, I’d ask for that ability.”
“Me too.”
Listening to their conversation, Seo Yi-young quietly agreed. To use abilities so freely like this, he must have gone through countless experiences, but now, in front of Choi Do-jun’s wondrous power, there was only pure admiration. The regular mobs, just caught in Choi Do-jun’s attacks, were almost all eliminated except for three or four.
That’s when it happened.
The quickly recovered boss mob lunged at Choi Do-jun, about to tear at his neck. Fortunately, Choi Do-jun dodged quickly, but his arm was bitten instead. Seo Yi-young’s eyes widened as he watched. It was fortunate that a vital spot wasn’t bitten, but an arm wasn’t safe either. If it tried to tear off his arm, it would be serious. Seo Yi-young prepared to heal immediately.
Choi Do-jun wasn’t one to be subdued easily, so Seo Yi-young thought he’d pull his arm out and then heal. If he pulled his arm out…
But there, Choi Do-jun did something unimaginable. He didn’t pull his arm out. With a calm face, he instead pushed his bitten arm deeper into the boss mob’s throat. It was something an ordinary person wouldn’t even imagine trying, proving he was no ordinary person.
“Try to heal this.”
As soon as Choi Do-jun finished speaking, the boss mob’s body began to swell.
GROOOOAR—!
The boss mob, detecting something wrong, tried to get away from Choi Do-jun, but it was too late. It struggled, but beams of light quickly began to leak from various parts of its swollen body. Eventually, it burst like a balloon.
Leaving only acrid smoke behind, the boss mob disappeared without a trace.
“…Wow.”
“Where did that thing go?”
“That huge thing just vanished completely.”
With the boss mob gone, the situation quickly concluded. When the boss mob is defeated, the remaining mobs naturally disappear.
The rear support hunters, now secure, began searching the field through the smoke. What they were looking for was clear. The NEO-CORE. The thick smoke made the search difficult.
The issue was the time limit. If they didn’t find it quickly, the dungeon would close. They needed to find the NEO-CORE before that happened.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
