Chapter 14: Transcendent Talent (4)
So Ji-hoon revealed his true colors.
The Hunter Association had described him as the sole survivor of the party that went missing in the dungeon.
Though his body was in terrible shape, his strong desire to save his comrades and his knowledge of the dungeon were critical, so the others accepted his inclusion despite his low level.
His first impression was that of a pitiful figure trembling pitifully.
Everyone felt sorry for him, thinking it was because he had just lost his party.
No one expected him to stab them in the back like this.
"You bastard!"
Even the normally calm Kim Jang-won swore, but Ji-hoon seemed to enjoy it.
"Kahaha! You fools! Just become food for my child!"
This dungeon was initially classified as Level 3 because there was a way to clear it without fighting the boss monster.
Reinforcing the seal was the quest goal that could be surprisingly easy.
However, as time passed, the seal weakened, and when this group arrived, the dungeon's level had risen to at least 4-5 stars.
Thanks to Hyeon Su-ho's contributions, their progress was much faster than the system anticipated.
If they continued as they were, they could have easily reinforced the seal and cleared the quest.
But Ji-hoon's sudden actions woke the boss monster.
◆Monster
Hydra
(Boss)
(LV 6) (Sealed)
[Kerrrrrk!]
Its nine heads swayed like seaweed in the water.
With so many necks, they might get tangled, but they moved naturally without interference like perfectly meshed gears.
Swoosh!
Nine pairs of eyes glared at the party, as if ready to devour them.
Grabbing his head with both hands, Ga Geon-ho screamed.
"Are you crazy? You woke it up?!"
Fortunately, the boss monster's seal wasn't completely broken.
Unfortunately, even sealed, the boss monster was level 6.
If it was level 6 while sealed, it could be as high as level 7-8 once unsealed.
To take down a boss monster, it's said that at least 4-5 hunters of the same level are needed.
This meant everyone here needed to be level 6 just to have a chance.
And among level 6 monsters, the Hydra was one of the stronger ones.
Even Kwon Hyuk-min groaned as he spoke, knowing this well.
"A named boss monster... Everyone, scatter and run for your lives!"
The plan was to run since they couldn't fight it.
No matter how many heads it had, it had only one body. If they scattered, they might have a better chance of survival.
But then, Ji-hoon, who had been laughing, moved.
"That won't do."
As he waved his hand, a barrier formed around them, completely blocking their escape routes.
He had anticipated their movements and set up this trap in advance.
The ones already eaten by the snake must have met a similar fate.
And somehow, the Hydra didn't perceive Ji-hoon on its body as an enemy.
Clearly, he had done something.
Introducing himself as a level 3 swordsman was obviously a lie.
"Power Attack!"
Hyuk-min tried to break the barrier with his greatsword, but...
Thud!
With a dull sound, the greatsword bounced back.
"Damn it!"
Even the highest-level Hyuk-min couldn't break the barrier.
The others had even less chance.
As the Hydra approached, the thought of death crossed everyone's minds.
"100% output, fire."
With Su-ho's command, a powerful plasma stream gushed out like a waterfall.
Crash!
The powerful light made everyone reflexively close their eyes and turn away.
"Grrr!"
The plasma discharge was brief.
As the light faded, everyone turned back to the Hydra.
And they couldn't believe their eyes.
"...What is this?"
The Hydra's nine necks were all gone.
The terrifying monster that had exuded such intimidation was defeated so easily.
As Su-ho retrieved Genocide, he looked at the fallen Hydra and spoke to Nova.
‘It works well even against a level 6 boss monster.’
[Of course. Master's plasma, in terms of attack power, is about level 8.]
It was the power of his equipment.
Specifically, it was the combined work of Genocide and Nova.
"So, it means I can't take down anything above level 7 in one shot?"
[Correct. Plasma isn't omnipotent. If it were, the Eos planet wouldn't have lost to the Death Star.]
Unlike the composed Su-ho, the others couldn't easily accept the situation.
It was unbelievable.
The party members who had been on this expedition with him were more shocked than when Ji-hoon betrayed them.
They stared at Su-ho with expressions of utter disbelief.
"He, he killed it in one shot?"
"What is this... Could he be a ranker?"
It was a reaction similar to that of the Mir Company father and daughter.
Until now, Hyeon Su-ho had shown incredible abilities, but this was a completely different level from simply having excellent exploration skills.
Even a level 7 hunter, or perhaps even a ranker at level 8, would find it difficult to display such destructive power.
Of course, since he used 100% output, it would take at least a few hours to reach this level of power again.
Even considering that, Hyeon Su-ho's plasma attack was beyond extraordinary.
Everyone was shocked, but none more so than So Ji-hoon.
"No way...! How could the Hydra...! This is impossible...!"
Hyeon Su-ho had no intention of sparing him.
He had already sacrificed five hunters, intending to feed this group to the snake as well.
Ji-hoon was lucky.
Aiming at all nine heads at once left his body unscathed.
'The materials must not be completely destroyed.'
As everyone was in shock, the first to regain his senses was Kwon Hyuk-min.
"You bastard! I'll kill you!"
He charged at Ji-hoon with his greatsword, ready to cut him in two.
As Hyuk-min, radiating a terrifying killing intent, approached, Ji-hoon, startled, stumbled backward and fell.
Crash!
"W-wait a moment!"
"Shut up!"
Just as Hyuk-min was about to strike Ji-hoon down, the Hydra, which they thought dead with all its heads cut off, started to move again.
Wriggle!
The headless body twitched first, and then the severed necks began to regenerate slowly.
Amazingly, the Hydra didn't die even with all its heads cut off.
"This is insane!"
Hyuk-min, seeing this, paused his strike, and Ji-hoon quickly spoke up.
"T-that's an immortal monster! Only I can control it now! If you kill me, everyone here will die!"
As Hyuk-min hesitated for a moment, Ga Geon-ho shouted.
"That's bullshit! Don't listen to him! We saw him controlling the monster! That bastard is a monster tamer!"
A monster tamer is a special class that can tame beast-type monsters.
The Hydra is also a beast-type monster.
Ji-hoon had somehow known about the Hydra and planned to tame it.
But Ji-hoon wasn't satisfied with just an ordinary Hydra.
He had discovered that offering hunters as sacrifices to the Hydra's nine heads would make it stronger, and thus devised this scheme.
"If I tame this, I could become a ranker! If you help me, I'll make you my subordinates!"
Ji-hoon babbled desperately, terrified of Hyuk-min's greatsword.
Hyuk-min knew his words were nonsense, but he still looked unsure.
Then he asked Hyeon Su-ho.
"Can you take it down again?"
Hope rested with Hyeon Su-ho.
Unfortunately, it would take too long to fully recharge Genocide.
The Hydra had already almost fully regenerated its necks.
Nova urgently shouted.
[Master! To stop the regeneration, you need to destroy the mana stone! Hurry and find the mana stone's location!]
Finding the mana stone in the giant Hydra's body was no easy task.
Even if they found it, they would have to give up the boss monster's mana stone.
Nova knew this, but suggested destroying the mana stone for now.
Listening to Nova had never led to any losses before.
However, this time, Hyeon Su-ho rejected the idea.
"I have a better plan."
Hyeon Su-ho put away Genocide and approached the Hydra.
By now, the nine necks had almost fully regenerated to their jaws.
In a few seconds, the Hydra could easily devour Hyeon Su-ho standing before it.
Knowing this, Hyeon Su-ho calmly reached out and touched the Hydra's body.
He extended his hand, touching the half-destroyed sealing magic circle.
And then, he used the skill that had brought him nothing but despair until now.
"Restore."
It was a sudden realization.
The moment he saw the damaged sealing magic circle, he knew he could fix it.
The complex magic circle was intricately woven with sensitive mana.
Even without understanding the full situation, sealing a Hydra of this magnitude would have required at least an 8th-level archmage.
Even an archmage couldn't revive a distorted magic circle.
No matter how simple the magic circle, it was usually easier and faster to erase it completely and start over.
But when Hyeon Su-ho used the restore skill, the sealing magic circle began to reconstruct itself as if by magic.
Ssss!
Just like when repairing hunters' equipment.
The magic circle was restored smoothly, as if watching a video play in reverse.
Not repairing, but restoring.
The magic circle was rebuilt far more robustly than when the party first arrived.
As a result...
[Keek!!]
The nine heads, which had fully regenerated, suddenly went limp again.
Thud!!
At that moment, an alarm indicating success appeared above everyone's heads.
《Instant Dungeon Clear》
《Calculating quest contribution》
▶Contribution Rate 78%: 1st place
Since he handled the unsealed level 6 boss monster alone, being first place was a natural result.
It seems his contribution rate was higher than expected, likely including the discovery of hidden monsters.
The rewards were sweet too.
《Emblem Acquired》
◆Emblem
Snake Hunter
(Rank A)
Strength +10
Stamina +10
Damage to Beast-type Monsters +10%
《Artifact Acquired》
◆Artifact
Snake Skin Belt
(Special Grade)
Defense 15
Health Regeneration Rate +25%
Healing Effect +10%
Nearby Enemy Health Regeneration Rate –10%
Thanks to the high contribution rate, the experience bar also increased significantly.
At this pace, reaching level 3 wouldn't be far off.
I spoke to the still bewildered people.
"The mana stone is mine."
"……."
"Anyone opposed?"
Ga Geon-ho raised his hand slightly but put it down weakly when everyone else glared at him.
"Tch!"
* * *
The return portal brought us back to a waiting guide truck.
And the return trip was thankfully peaceful.
Once back in Seoul, we went to the Hunter Association and handed over the captured So Ji-hoon, explaining the situation.
Seeing the gravity of the situation, the branch manager from Yeouido came out to handle it.
And then we learned the truth.
"This man is the notorious wanted criminal, Byun Hyuk-jae. Hunter So Ji-hoon... seems to have already been dead."
Amazingly, Byun Hyuk-jae was over 50 years old.
Whether it was because he was a monster tamer or through some special method, he seemed able to freely change his appearance.
After transforming into So Ji-hoon, he even used his terminal, so the Hunter Association didn't notice anything.
Anyway, we received Byun Hyuk-jae's bounty and a lot of money from the guild as an apology.
Most importantly, there was the Hydra's mana stone.
Hyeon Su-ho smiled, feeling the weight of the mana stone in his pocket.
"The power I sense from this is almost level 8."
Though a high level of modification was needed, the effects would be substantial.
He planned to use the body modification skill at home.
Once everything was settled, Kwon Hyuk-min, Ga Geon-ho, and Kim Jang-won each approached Hyeon Su-ho to express their gratitude.
"Thanks to you, we survived. Are you really not a ranker?"
"Haha! Ever thought about hitting it big with me? If we team up, we could get rich quick."
"I'm planning to retire after today. I never got past the level 5 wall. Thanks to you, I could finish my last expedition safely."
As he finished greeting them and was about to head home, he heard a familiar woman's voice from behind.
"Su-ho?"
When he turned around, he saw the two people he had met not long ago.
They were Jin Seo-yeon of the Jinryong Group and the ranker Fireballer, Hong Chang-sik.
