Chapter 95: The Great Legacy (1)
The Ex Machina Guild absorbed the General's forces in Vladivostok.
Less than a month after that incident, Hyun Suho returned to Vladivostok.
The city is still unstable, as it has not been long since the major battle took place.
It is too early for the Bipo troops and the General's army to fully integrate.
With only Bayets and Alexander's strength, it is difficult enough just to suppress the hunters who are constantly plotting to take the city.
Hyun Suho returned to Vladivostok because he has gained a great opportunity to solve all these problems.
A dungeon had appeared not far from the city.
It was discovered by soldiers who were patrolling the nearby Red Zone.
They were handsomely rewarded, and Hyun Suho personally led a team into the dungeon.
The dungeon wasn't very complicated.
The goal was simple: defeat the boss monster.
With Hyun Suho's full abilities in play, it only took three hours to reach the target.
◆Monster
Cyclops
(Boss)
(LV 6)
A one-eyed giant monster standing over 5 meters tall.
It is almost naked, wearing only underwear, and wielded a massive tree it had uprooted, using it as a club.
Its attack patterns is incredibly simple.
It just swung the club around, attacking the party.
But when the overwhelming weight of the tree combined with the Cyclops' brute strength, it is an entirely different story.
A direct hit wouldn’t just send someone flying; it would crush their entire body, like a mosquito under a swatter.
Even being scratched by the branches would result in a fatal wound.
Monsters like the Cyclops, which specialize in a single area, are tricky to deal with regardless of their level.
Bayets and Alexander, who had transformed, were facing off against the Cyclops with a fierce determination.
"Roar!"
"Growl!"
The General's army has a very simple strategy.
The two shapeshifters would tank at the front while the gunners provided support from the back.
The battle relied heavily on the shapeshifters' defense and regeneration, as well as Tatiana's special ammunition.
The shapeshifters are holding their ground against the Cyclops, even with its overwhelming size and strength.
Though their bodies were torn by the branches, and bones were broken, they didn’t retreat.
“At this point, it’s hard to tell who the real monster is.”
[Aren’t you going to help? There were a few moments that looked pretty dangerous.]
“They’ll be fine. Even if they take a direct hit once or twice, they won’t die.”
[Of course, they won’t die... but still.]
“As long as they're alive, they can heal with their healing factor. What’s there to worry about?”
[Sigh~ Time is cruel. Where did the kind and innocent Master who trembled in fear at his first space monster go…]
“Why are you making it sound like I’ve turned into some kind of villain?”
Truthfully, Hyun Suho had flinched several times, ready to help, but held himself back.
Even though they are part of the guild now, the General's army clearly wanted to prove they could defeat the Cyclops on their own.
Although Hyun Suho wouldn’t belittle them, even if they lost to the Cyclops, he wanted to respect their resolve as much as possible.
Fortunately, they didn’t disappoint Hyun Suho’s expectations.
As they focused their attacks, the giant Cyclops finally fell backward.
Boom!
The Cyclops is so huge that when it hit the ground, it felt like an earthquake has struck.
Even though they has managed to bring down the Cyclops, the soldiers doesn’t have time to celebrate.
They are completely drained of energy and, more importantly, the quest clear message hadn’t appeared yet.
“Pant, pant… Is it not dead yet?”
As expected, the Cyclops is wobbling, trying to stand up again.
The second phase of the boss raid has begun.
The soldiers reloaded their guns and cast buff spells in preparation for the next battle.
But before the fight could continue, Hyun Suho stepped in.
“That’s enough. I’ve seen enough of the battle.”
If the fight continued, victory is certain for the hunters.
However, if the second phase’s berserk pattern started, casualties are inevitable.
Since he had already achieved the goal of observing their battle techniques, Hyun Suho intervened.
And it turned out to be the right decision.
As the Cyclops stood up, it unleashed its berserk phase much faster than Hyun Suho had expected.
It fired a laser beam from its single eye.
Ziiiing!
The Cyclops, focusing its gaze, gathered immense energy into its eye.
Hyun Suho reacted with slight surprise.
"Oh? It can use mana too?"
Hyun Suho thought it was purely a martial-type monster, but this unexpected twist caught him off guard.
If he hadn’t anticipated this pattern, it could have caused tremendous damage.
"Whether it's a person or a monster, judging by appearances alone is a bad habit."
Hyun Suho nodded as he reflected on this life lesson.
Then, he heard Tatiana’s sharp scream from above.
“Watch out!!”
While Hyun Suho is relaxed, the Cyclops had already fully charged its attack.
It is on the verge of firing a beam, and Hyun Suho seemed to be in danger.
However, he handled the situation with ease.
“An eye for an eye.”
Hyun Suho activated the power of the Doom Eye.
Just as the Cyclops unleashed its laser attack, Hyun Suho also opened his eyes wide.
Flash!
“Anti-magic field.”
The power of the Doom Eye, which freezes all mana in the area, was activated.
Those watching the scene are speechless with astonishment.
The powerful laser beam that the Cyclops had shot in a straight line suddenly stopped at a certain point and went no further.
If the attack had truly been concentrated light burning its target, it might have been effective.
However, the Cyclops’ ultimate attack was merely an energy beam formed using mana.
When the mana core was nullified, the light particles could no longer travel and dissipated into the air.
The Cyclops desperately tried to fire an even stronger beam, but it was useless.
In the anti-magic field, where mana itself was being disintegrated, more mana had no effect.
Eventually, the Cyclops staggered from exhaustion, and Hyun Suho finished it off with ease.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
With precise shots to the neck, heart, and forehead, the Cyclops collapsed to the ground.
Boom!
This time, unlike before, it didn’t get back up.
《Instant Dungeon Clear》
The Cyclops was defeated so effortlessly that the General’s troops stood with their mouths agape, staring at Hyun Suho.
Hyun Suho just shrugged at them.
"Surprisingly tricky boss."
* * *
A little later.
The Cyclops' corpse had been completely butchered from head to toe and neatly laid out on the ground.
Now that the boss monster had been defeated, it was time to claim the rewards.
The reason Hyun Suho had brought these soldiers along to defeat the boss was clear.
Just like he had done for the Cheonrima Guild members before, he planned to use his skills to raise their stats.
He had carefully selected trustworthy members from the General’s army for this purpose.
“Body modification.”
Zzzzt!
With the body modification skill, they could obtain powerful muscles and bones that surpassed human limitations.
Those who received the Cyclops' strength were amazed.
Even Tatiana, flaring her nostrils in disbelief, spoke.
"I can’t believe something like this is actually possible..."
“Have you really lived your whole life being deceived?”
“In a city like this? You really can’t help but live that way.”
Even though Hyun Suho had briefly explained it before entering the dungeon, they had still been skeptical.
After all, Hyun Suho’s ability seemed almost too good to be true.
Even Alexander, after testing his newly acquired strength a few times, couldn’t hide his excitement.
“Are you telling me… you can give this power to anyone?”
“It’s possible for anyone, but not anytime. You need a boss monster’s corpse, after all.”
“Haha! Well, that’s not an issue. How is it that this power hasn’t been made known to the world? If the world knew…”
“They’d kidnap and imprison me? I’ve heard that plenty of times already.”
Not only did Hyun Suho have the body modification skill, but he could also permanently upgrade equipment.
If people knew about this, there would be no shortage of those eager to claim his power.
However, that didn’t mean he could just hide such a useful ability.
A skill that isn’t used is essentially wasted.
Besides, even if the world knew, there were very few who could manage to imprison Hyun Suho at this point.
“From now on, your troops don’t have to rely solely on rifles. Identify those with potential and train them as tanks and melee fighters.”
“That sounds good. Haha! The issue we thought was most difficult has been solved so easily…”
Vladivostok had been plagued by a severe lack of talent.
Training skilled hunters required immense time, money, and effort.
Hyun Suho had solved this issue with a single skill.
It wasn’t just the body modification skill; those who received upgraded equipment and the power of the Machine God’s aura had their combat capabilities increase by several folds.
At the very least, they no longer needed to fear the hunters who had been causing trouble in the city.
“And now, one last question.”
Hyun Suho raised the Cyclops’ single eye to his head level and asked.
“Anyone want to shoot a beam from their eye?”
After quite a bit of commotion, the Cyclops' eye ended up in Tatiana’s possession.
That’s the power of influence for you.
* * *
Lately, Hyun Suho had been feeling a sense of urgency.
After facing the top-ranked Drug King, he had come to realize just how weak he truly was.
Of course, he knew how foolish it was to compare himself to the Drug King, who is level 10.
But is it not his goal to fight something even more powerful than a top ranker—like the Death Star?
The fact that he had been so easily manipulated by just one of the Drug King’s remote-controlled clones was shocking.
“I definitely need more power.”
Hyun Suho has grown at an unprecedented pace, but he still felt like it wasn’t enough.
The quickest way to grow stronger is, of course, to level up.
He had been moving frantically toward that goal, sending his Bipo squad on hunting missions in all directions.
The higher his level rose, the more exponentially the experience points required to level up increased.
No matter how talented he is, time was still a necessary factor.
There are other ways to grow stronger, like acquiring emblems or using skill books, but Nova recommended something else.
[Master, your equipment is far too inadequate for your abilities and level.]
If he thought about it, his primary weapon, the chainsword, was just a low-grade item with an attack power of 10.
No one else would have used it; it had been gathering dust in storage until Hyun Suho came along.
But he had no other choice.
Given his profession, he needed mechanical equipment, which couldn’t be crafted by a blacksmith and could only be obtained by clearing dungeons.
Specifically, only from dimensional gates connected to advanced scientific worlds.
In other words, apart from his skills, the only meaningful items he had were Nova and the chainsword.
At least the Elder Lich’s circlet helped with mana recovery.
“What should I do?”
[We’ll need to search every dimensional gate that appears worldwide and find the right one for your needs.]
Until now, he had been limiting his search to dimensional gates and dungeons within Korea.
There were too many complications when it came to traveling abroad.
But now, it was time to let go of that complacency.
If he wanted to acquire good equipment, he would have to take some risks.
“Alright! Expand the search to the whole world. If I can get the gear I need, I’ll go to the other side of the planet if I have to.”
It was a vow filled with determination.
Hyun Suho was ready to stop at nothing to grow stronger, even if it meant facing extreme dangers.
Perhaps his resolve had reached the heavens.
At that moment, Nova’s information network picked up a signal.
[Master, I’ve just found an available dungeon.]
“Already? That fast?”
If he’d known, he would have expanded the search worldwide much sooner.
“Where is it? India? South America?”
Even if it were in South America, he was ready to depart immediately.
After all, hadn’t he formed a good relationship with the Drug King?
But Nova’s reply far exceeded Hyun Suho’s expectations.
[It’s in Daejeon.]
“…What?”
[You are quite lucky, Master.]
This felt unfair.
I want my dramatic resolution back.
i needs moar.... feed the addiction
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