#91
What if this was one of the boss mob’s abilities?
Fear makes people cower and prevents them from demonstrating their full capabilities. Since they were fundamentally S-Class hunters, their threshold was high, but if the opposing mob cast an S-Class or higher debuff, they would naturally succumb to it. It goes without saying that S-Class hunters aren’t invincible in every aspect.
“Ahhh!”
“Uwahhh!”
Still, to be caught off guard so helplessly like this.
At the desperate screams echoing from all directions, Seo Yi-young gritted his teeth and searched for what he could do. The sight of hunters being dragged toward the boss mob one after another, their bodies wrapped in tentacles, was reflected in his corneas. Something. He had to do something somehow.
He thought it might get better if he put up a barrier, but it was futile. For a brief moment after putting up the barrier, it seemed like they could hold out, but even that returned to the original state after just a second or two. The overwhelming state continued to the point where they couldn’t even attempt to cut through the tentacles binding their bodies.
They couldn’t fight like this.
“Save me, ahh…! Fuck, this, this is…!”
“Hunter Lee Su-jin!”
Even Lee Su-jin, who had been near Seo Yi-young, was being helplessly dragged toward the mob. Seo Yi-young immediately ran toward Lee Su-jin. In his urgency, Seo Yi-young grabbed the tentacle with his hand, but ended up screaming and letting go.
“Sa-, ve m-, ahh, ah, uhhh…!”
Lee Su-jin looked at Seo Yi-young with a desperate expression, pleading to be saved. But Seo Yi-young couldn’t respond. Just enduring the urge to run away without looking back from that spot was already difficult enough.
Just from briefly touching the tentacle, all sorts of negative emotions flowing from it came rushing in.
Submission, humiliation, fear, disgrace, contempt, terror, anxiety, panic, horror.
Every bad emotion humans could feel came pouring in like a flood. He was so overwhelmed that he couldn’t even lift his head to look at the mob. Far from moving his hands and feet, he could barely breathe properly. Attack in this situation? Counterattack? There was no way he could do such things. But he couldn’t just sit there doing nothing.
Seo Yi-young pulled himself together and first grabbed Lee Su-jin. Even though she was a support hunter, she was S-Class. However, the tentacle’s strength was so powerful that even with Lee Su-jin holding on and Seo Yi-young grabbing her, they were dragged along together.
Seo Yi-young healed Lee Su-jin. He knew barriers were useless, but he couldn’t not do it. He also hoped that if she could come to her senses even for a moment, at least Lee Su-jin could escape.
However, the situation didn’t unfold as Seo Yi-young expected. When he healed her, Lee Su-jin seemed to get better, but that was only temporary. There was no opportunity to escape from the tentacle. The tentacle wrapped around Lee Su-jin’s body gulped and swallowed as if sucking something up. She screamed and wailed. With the blood vessels in her face bursting and turning bright red, her eyes gradually rolled back as if she had reached her limit for enduring.
“Save me, -ahh, ahhh, ah! Stop, stop! Hic, it hurts, ahh, ahh!”
He couldn’t heal Lee Su-jin anymore in this state. Just mindlessly healing without a way to solve the problem would only increase her suffering.
Lee Su-jin’s body, which had been pleading and screaming, suddenly flipped backward. Her body went limp as if it had no strength at all. And only then did Seo Yi-young realize that most of the hunters who had entered the dungeon had been caught by these tentacles.
Even the few remaining hunters were caught by tentacles, screaming.
The screams and the sounds of bones and organs being crushed gradually subsided. The sound of being dragged toward the boss mob could be heard.
Seo Yi-young unconsciously looked for Choi Do-jun. But he couldn’t see him. Was it because he couldn’t search properly in this situation? Like a young child who had lost his mother’s hand in a crowded shopping mall, he desperately searched for Choi Do-jun but failed.
Could it be that Choi Do-jun was also, already… already.
“…Uhh.”
What had allowed him to endure in this dungeon, what had been supporting the foundation, began to crack and crumble.
But he couldn’t just keep looking for Choi Do-jun. He knew that. He couldn’t stay stopped like this. Though he felt afraid, if he stayed still, he didn’t know when he might be attacked. That’s when a tentacle flew toward Seo Yi-young too. He threw his body backward, but it was futile. The tentacle that touched his arm swiftly wrapped around Seo Yi-young’s body.
“Ah… ahh.”
It was completely different from when he had briefly grabbed it with his hand to save Lee Su-jin earlier.
He had to endure this?
Crushed by overwhelming despair, he couldn’t even breathe.
It felt like falling into a place full of filth, being drenched by vomit pouring down like rain, with people’s malice and contempt piercing into his body like thorns. The horrible sensation of tiny insects crawling around in every corner of his arteries and capillaries was a bonus.
He absolutely couldn’t endure it. Not even for a single second.
Nausea surged up.
“Urp… uweck.”
In an instant, Seo Yi-young’s face was covered in tears and snot.
He could understand why all the S-Class hunters had lost consciousness. No one would have the mental strength to endure this. Even if they were the most remarkable hunter.
…Yes, even if that was Choi Do-jun.
The despair that had faintly spread out covered his mind pitch black.
But such thoughts were soon erased. With the pain inflicted on his body, thinking was a luxury. In the burning sensation that flowed through his spinal cord and seemed to set his entire body on fire, his thoughts crumbled like scattered sand. He desperately wished he could at least faint. If he could lose consciousness, he wouldn’t feel the pain.
But that didn’t go as he wished either. He didn’t lose consciousness like the other hunters. Seo Yi-young was feeling all the pain that his mind and body could perceive.
He could feel himself being gradually dragged toward the boss mob, but he couldn’t muster the strength to resist. With every breath he exhaled, it felt like his lungs would tear apart.
Use his ability in this situation? Impossible.
He didn’t want to feel this pain anymore, at least.
Click. Chiiik.
A sound came from the communicator in his ear. Seo Yi-young, who had been barely breathing shallowly, blinked his eyes.
It ends like this?
Here?
After even traveling through dimensions, so futilely like this?
Such thoughts occurred to him even with his hazy mind.
Even if he escaped from the tentacle binding him, this wouldn’t be the end. But he absolutely refused to have being helplessly beaten without doing anything become his last memory.
“…Don’t be ridiculous.”
Seo Yi-young said through gritted teeth. Only a voice like hissing wind came out. If he was going to end it like this, he wouldn’t have gone through all that suffering. If he was going to die like this, wouldn’t everything he had done so far be too unfair?
Seo Yi-young put strength into his fist. He began to resist by putting strength into his feet, which had just been dragged around. A grinding sound of his toes scraping came out. Perhaps noticing that Seo Yi-young was resisting, the tentacle binding him tightened with more force, squeezing his body even more tightly. It was pressure that wouldn’t be strange if his body burst and died.
Crack. Snap.
The dull sound of bones breaking came out.
“Ah! Ahhh… uhh, uhhh…”
Cough, blood came out with the cough that burst forth.
Injuries to his body could be healed. He wouldn’t die from this.
In the endless pain, Seo Yi-young bit his tongue to stay conscious and looked around once more. As expected, Choi Do-jun was nowhere to be seen. He would have been the most threatening existence to the boss mob, so it might have attacked him first. No matter how much it was Choi Do-jun, it was hard to expect that he would be alive after receiving such an attack without healing. If there were no combat hunters to attack, no matter how much Seo Yi-young healed, he couldn’t clear the dungeon.
Seo Yi-young applied healing to his own body. He felt like the hazy fog spread in his mind was clearing. Then suspicion arose about the blind fear toward the boss mob. Why had he been so afraid?
What had he been so scared of? He couldn’t believe that he had tried to give up without doing anything. No matter how much it was a calamity-level dungeon boss mob, wasn’t it just a moth? Even if he died, he had to try what he could try. Such resolve came to mind.
“…Ah. Uhhh.”
But the pain didn’t disappear and remained the same.
Hah, a sigh flowed out. He was amazed at himself for not fainting yet despite having long exceeded the limits humans could endure. Or was there something different about him? Seo Yi-young thought about his skill. Could it be because of his skill? If recovery was applied to Seo Yi-young himself even without specifically applying the skill. Even if it seemed impossible, when only one possibility remained, that could sometimes be the truth.
If that was the case.
What if he healed to the point of complete overload? If he was going to die either way. Then wouldn’t the healed hunters be able to attack the boss mob? If everyone joined forces even for just a moment when both body and mana were fully recovered. If there was only one way to clear the dungeon, this was it.
Having thought that far, Seo Yi-young immediately went into action without thinking twice.
Either way, dying in this dungeon was the same.
Then wouldn’t it be better to surprise that damn boss mob? Light began to slowly swirl around not only Seo Yi-young’s hands but his entire body. The rippling light spread wide enough to embrace all the hunters collapsed around him.
The moth turned and looked toward the two of them. Thud. Thud. Each time the moth moved, the sound of its feet hitting the ground echoed. It was strange. Throughout all the dungeon conquests he’d done, seeing various mobs, this was the first time his heart had stirred so mysteriously like this. Was it because this was a catastrophe-level dungeon’s boss mob?
“Put up the maximum barrier.”
“Uh, okay. Got it.”
Seo Yi-young, who had been momentarily distracted by something else, immediately put up the strongest barrier he could manage around Choi Do-jun. Then Choi Do-jun turned his head toward Seo Yi-young and spoke.
“Seo Yi-young.”
“Huh? …Oh. Mmm.”
“I’m telling you to put one around yourself too.”
“Ah, okay. I will.”
Seo Yi-young immediately responded and put up a barrier around himself as well. He thought his reaction had been somewhat absent-minded. Choi Do-jun let out a light sigh and said to Seo Yi-young.
“If I get pushed back, you immediately retreat and join the rear guard.”
“What? Wait. What are you—… Hey!”
Seo Yi-young’s eyes widened as he watched Choi Do-jun charge straight at the mob without giving him a chance to say anything. While Seo Yi-young would say that Choi Do-jun “rushes in recklessly,” that didn’t mean he truly charged in without thinking about the consequences. Usually, it was in situations where Choi Do-jun himself wouldn’t get hurt, and even if something did happen, he could get sufficient backup.
But now the conditions were different from those times. The hunters who could help were all in the rear guard, weren’t they far away? It was reckless.
As if it had heard their conversation, the boss mob spread its wings that had been folded. Sparkling powder floated through the air like falling snow from its wings, scattering in all directions. Seo Yi-young immediately added more barriers to both Choi Do-jun and himself.
Choi Do-jun, who had flown up into the sky, threw a bundle of elongated light from one hand toward the mob like throwing a spear.
Thud. Thoom.
“Kieeeee—”
The mob made a tremendous noise and shook its body. However, Choi Do-jun’s attack only singed the mob’s surface; his skill didn’t properly penetrate. He clicked his tongue lightly. Then someone spoke through the earpiece.
—Oh my, can we really leave Hunter Choi to struggle alone?
—Wait a little. We’ll go.
“Wait. I told you to stand by.”
—Until when? If we do things moderately, we’ll adapt eventually. Or well, we’ll die. That’s better than just sitting here watching our comrades die. Don’t you think?
—You’re right.
—Right.
And when the hunters arrived at the scene and saw the mob, they stopped in their tracks.
“Oh my god. Shit. It’s an insect.”
“That’s right.”
“Geez, damn. Why is it so big?”
“Ugh, fuck. It’s huge as hell. Gives me the creeps.”
The hunters didn’t easily attack the mob. They probably knew what it meant that there wasn’t a single scratch on the mob despite Choi Do-jun being there.
—Jung Jae-geun.
Choi Do-jun’s voice flowed through the earpiece.
—Can you pierce through the body?
At Choi Do-jun’s question, Jung Jae-geun seemed to think for a moment, apparently getting a sense of how he would attack. Before long, he nodded and answered.
—If I have Wei Tang’s buff, it seems possible… Hmm, it’s possible.
Seo Yi-young had heard about Jung Jae-geun’s skills—he was a combat hunter who used a spear as his main weapon. Being S-class, he would have considerable pride and confidence in his abilities, so it was unexpected to see him casually say he’d need another hunter’s help to make it possible. It also meant the boss mob was that strong.
Wei Tang’s buff was to strengthen the target.
It seemed difficult to adapt to the current situation where abilities were outputting in reverse. Wei Tang frowned as if having trouble getting a feel for it, like someone who had just awakened today and was using their skill for the first time. Still, he seemed to have somehow succeeded in applying the skill.
—Hey, Choi Do-jun. Go easy on it. It’s my precious spear.
—If “going easy” worked on this opponent.
At Choi Do-jun’s retort, Jung Jae-geun let out a long sigh. Choi Do-jun was definitely right. The opponent was a catastrophe-level dungeon’s boss mob. Not an opponent to go easy on. No matter how important and precious an item was, it would be useless if you died. You couldn’t throw away your life to save a spear.
—Well then, shall we go?
Jung Jae-geun spoke in a voice completely free of regret and took a ready stance. He seemed to have acknowledged that life was definitely more important than his weapon. The sound of lightly tapping the ground with his spear tip rang out as he charged forward.
“Huraaaaah!”
As Jung Jae-geun charged toward the boss mob, the hunters rushed out from the surroundings together. Support hunters cast various buffs on the combat hunters in preparation for the attack. Jung Jae-geun, who had leaped into the sky with a running start, bent his body backward like a bow and drove his spear straight into the mob’s head area.
Thwack!
The spear pierced through what had looked like a hard exterior. But Jung Jae-geun spat out a curse as if dissatisfied. It seemed it hadn’t gone in as deep as he’d expected. But he immediately leaped down and landed on the ground. He seemed to be anticipating Choi Do-jun’s follow-up attack.
Choi Do-jun was quickly approaching while ostentatiously dodging the moth’s attacks flying toward him. His form looked like an experienced surfer freely riding high waves.
—Seo Yi-young. Create barriers. If possible, prepare for heat.
Hearing those words, Seo Yi-young frowned. He really thinks of people like some kind of vending machine where you hit it and a barrier pops out. But he had no complaints. Choi Do-jun was treating himself like some kind of experimental missile.
Seo Yi-young immediately put up several layers of barriers targeting all the hunters. Still not feeling secure, he surrounded the hunters with a huge protective shield. It would be hot, but this was the maximum Seo Yi-young could do. No matter what, he couldn’t block the heat completely.
Massive light gathered in Choi Do-jun’s outstretched hand. Light so bright it was difficult to look at directly formed in Choi Do-jun’s hand. It was so bright he couldn’t even open his eyes properly. It was powerful enough to make the entire world look white. And the temperature around them became correspondingly hot. Unable to see ahead properly, Seo Yi-young put up new barriers around the surrounding hunters again and again.
Just when he was wondering how much longer they’d have to endure this state, Choi Do-jun slammed it into the spear embedded in the boss mob’s body without hesitation. As Choi Do-jun’s released light concentrated on one point, the spear glowed red-hot.
The already gathered energy was tremendous, but Choi Do-jun poured light into that single point as if there was no end. Besides himself, who was completely immune to light, there were limits to what other hunters could endure, but he was attacking without considering that at all. Seo Yi-young gritted his teeth while covering his face with one hand even with his eyes tightly shut.
Not only that, but how much was he planning to do without caring about his own physical condition? Damn bastard. Seo Yi-young sent a heal toward Choi Do-jun. The moment the heal properly connected, tremendous heat exploded outward. At this level, he was starting to worry whether Jung Jae-geun’s weapon would be okay.
—Hey, Choi Do-jun. Take it easy.
Jung Jae-geun seemed to have had the same thought.
“Kieeeek!”
The boss mob seemed to feel the pain of being pierced and let out a tearing scream while hesitating for a moment. The mob that had been waving its antennae around suddenly crouched low.
Crack.
A sound came from the moth’s body that had been writhing from the attack. The attacking hunters tensed instantly and quickly took defensive positions. The reason they couldn’t rashly attack further was that in a situation where they hadn’t yet adapted to the reverse skill state, taking action could potentially worsen the situation instead.
Tick. Crack.
The intervals between sounds were getting shorter.
—Something’s coming. Quickly attack the main body.
—Wait. We don’t know what it is, let’s regroup a bit and observe the situation.
—What? Wait, the mob’s body is opening, huh?
One hunter approached near the boss mob. “Near” was generous—he had only moved a few steps closer.
—Stop right there!
Choi Do-jun’s shout was heard.
Eyes began appearing one by one inside the boss mob’s opened torso, and in the blink of an eye, they filled it completely. Then each one began protruding outward. There were eyeballs attached to the ends of tentacles. The sight was so bizarre that it made his skin crawl.
—Aaaaah!
—Aaaaack!
A tentacle stretched out, grabbed one hunter, and pulled him away. The sound of breaking bones, the sound of internal organs being crushed, sounds raw enough to understand what kind of pain was being inflicted, overwhelming agony that prevented even pleading for help was conveyed through screams.
Hisssss.
A sound like steam escaping from a pressure cooker rang out as hazy fog surrounded the area. Then hundreds and thousands of tentacles stretched out toward the hunters.
Normally, even if they panicked, they wouldn’t have been caught so easily. But the situation was strange. An inexplicable sense of dread dominated their entire bodies. They felt as if they were being swallowed from head to toe by fear that made their hair stand on end.
Is this right?
No matter what mobs he’d seen before, no matter what boss mobs he’d faced off against, this was the first time he’d felt like this.
It was like becoming a frog in front of a snake. It felt like an invisible tongue was flicking closer, licking his body. He couldn’t move his body properly. Forget attacking—he felt like he couldn’t even look at the boss mob properly. For it to be because they’d entered a catastrophe-level dungeon, he hadn’t experienced this feeling until now. What on earth…
Seo Yi-young stared at the boss mob with wide eyes.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
