Chapter 114

Chapter 114: Yeoncheon County Dungeon - (3)

Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga!

Kim Miso’s Massacre Thunderstrike fell, instantly wiping out hundreds of self-destructing kobolds.

There could be no more beautiful scene of slaughter than this. It was a feast, nothing short of spectacular.

"...Thrilling."

Feeling exhilaration even in the face of a mass death scene was only possible because the victims were monsters.

Kim Miso clicked her tongue in amazement at the feast that had been meticulously prepared from start to finish by Sanghyun.

The amount of experience points gained from that single strike was immense.

Thinking back to their original plan, she felt chills at the thought that they had considered avoiding this section entirely.

Of course, if Sanghyun hadn’t been there, such a massacre wouldn’t have even been attempted.

It was a scene where all the credit could only go to Sanghyun.

Meanwhile, Sanghyun checked the title that appeared immediately and smiled in satisfaction.

As expected, his memory was correct.

The numerous kobold lives that had been obliterated at once reappeared before him in the form of a fitting title.

‘Losing all will to fight, unable to attack or defend. This is a much stronger version than the Hour Between Dog and Wolf skill.’

Sanghyun let out a triumphant laugh.

Even boss monsters were affected by this fear.

The despair state left enemies without the will to fight, rendering them completely defenseless.

Sanghyun targeted the remaining kobolds who had barely survived outside the range of the Massacre Thunderstrike.

Since it hadn’t been a complete extermination, additional cleanup was needed.

Puh-puh-puh-pung! Pung! Pung!

Due to the prior damage they had sustained, every time the Tempest Strike swept through, kobolds popped like balloons.

If not for the fact that it was kobold flesh bursting apart, the scene from a distance might have even been beautiful.

Meanwhile, at the same time—

"Ugh, this is cheating."

Watching Sanghyun’s grand finale show (?), Kim Miso chuckled like someone who had momentarily lost her mind.

Of course, she wasn’t actually insane. It was just that she once again felt surprised by the unexpected side of Sanghyun.

She had just seen dozens of kobolds explode one after another, torn apart by the combination of Wrath of the Mortal and Tempest Strike.

Was this truly the ability of a pure swordsman-type player?

Certainly, well-known players often displayed hybrid skill expansions.

This was why the Sword Demon Do Kyungsoo was called both a swordsman and an assassin.

But in Kim Miso’s view—

Sanghyun only wielded a greatsword, yet the skills he demonstrated varied tremendously.

A swordsman who wasn’t bound by range. In other words, someone who didn’t strictly use only a sword!

"Even when wielding a legendary bow, I still feel like a mere supporting character! I’ve got a long way to go."

Kim Miso looked at Sanghyun, who was effortlessly taking down kobolds, and strengthened her resolve.

To her, Sanghyun was someone who constantly provoked her fighting spirit and gave her a sense of purpose.

At the same time, he was someone she admired and respected—a person she couldn’t help but look up to.

‘I will definitely catch up. No, I’ll surpass him—Sanghyun oppa’s skill and beyond.’

Since becoming a player, she had never felt such burning determination.

Afterward—

Sanghyun and Kim Miso changed their strategy, deciding to sweep through the entire dungeon.

This decision came after witnessing the power of Massacre Thunderstrike during the slaughter of the self-destructing kobolds.

With their combined strength, they realized they could wipe out entire monster colonies with ease.

For small-scale battles, they fought separately.

For large-scale battles, they used the proven method of herding monsters together before massacring them.

As a result—

He reached level 145.

Inside this dungeon alone, Kim Miso had gained six levels, an extraordinary achievement.

The thrill of leveling up was just as intoxicating for Kim Miso.

She even found herself wishing the dungeon had no end.

What amazed her even more was Sanghyun, who never seemed to tire, sweeping through monsters without rest.

Particularly, she was astonished by the unique energy of the Blood-Drinking Sword. It was different from his previous Greatsword of Fighting Spirit.

Each time Sanghyun took a monster’s life, a blood-red aura seeped into the sword and then transferred to him.

It was as if the sword was drinking the monster’s blood like a vampire.

‘He doesn’t even need a healer at this rate.’

Kim Miso noted this aspect.

Despite the large number of swordsman players, their reputation wasn’t particularly great due to their dependency on others.

For a swordsman, who had to manage both offense and defense in close combat, stamina was the number one priority stat to develop—but also one of the hardest to control.

A single mistake could lead to a devastating loss of health.

Unless someone was a defense-specialized swordsman like Cho Jinho, having a healer was essential.

Yet, for Sanghyun, healers seemed more useless than any other job class.

At times, he seemed fatigued, but after cutting down a few monsters, he’d recover as if nothing had happened.

‘I feel an insurmountable wall.’

Since meeting Sanghyun—

For the first time, Kim Miso felt an unbridgeable gap between them.

Even though she was considered a well-known player, she realized that when compared to Sanghyun, she wasn’t even in the same league.

She acknowledged this difference calmly.

And she accepted it.

That realization made her cherish this moment even more.

Pushing herself to the limits of exhaustion, depleting both stamina and mana, Kim Miso continued to support Sanghyun.

Perhaps because of this—

Their progress sped up so much that even Sanghyun was surprised. It was an incredible pace.

The two of them, completely immersed in battle, wielded their sword and bow with fluid precision.

The only thing that disappeared in vain was the lives of monsters, falling like autumn leaves.

Half a day later—

Arriving in front of the boss’s lair, Sanghyun pulled out a clean handkerchief and placed it against Kim Miso’s forehead.

"Wipe off your sweat."

"A-Ah! I’m fine. Don’t come so close! I smell sweaty."

"So what?"

“It smells.”

“Stop making a fuss and stay still.”

“…….”

Sanghyun wiped away the beads of sweat forming on Kim Miso's forehead and handed her a canteen filled with cool water.

She stepped back, embarrassed, but soon accepted Sanghyun's touch and closed her eyes.

A reliable backing, like a father.

And a position within the guild that made being taken care of feel natural to her, but Sanghyun's care felt different.

How should she put it?

Just a slight touch from him made her heart flutter—it definitely had a special charm.

After wiping away all of her sweat, Sanghyun finally wiped his own sweat and looked around before speaking.

“Now it's the Annihilator, right?”

“Yes. Honestly, I'm a little hesitant right now. I wonder if we should just stop here and turn back.”

“It would be impossible not to feel pressured.”

Sanghyun nodded.

He could fully understand.

The dungeon's boss monster, the Annihilator, had an attack method as intimidating as its name suggested.

Annihilation Slash! This was the name of the skill that was always activated with the Annihilator's basic attack.

If it were just a fancy name, Kim Miso wouldn’t be so worried.

The problem was its effect.

At this level, calling it “deletion” wouldn't be an exaggeration. It was an extreme form of attack.

In other words, if you were hit by Annihilation Slash and bled even once, it meant death.

To survive, you had to either avoid being struck entirely or make sure that even if you were hit, you didn't bleed.

Of course, if the dungeon was structured entirely in the Annihilator's favor, they wouldn't have come here in the first place.

The Annihilator had one critical weakness.

It was in a dull state.

It couldn't resist any status effects and would be “guaranteed” to fall under them.

That’s why Sanghyun considered the Annihilator as easy to exploit as it was dangerous.

“Miso, trust me. There are countless status effects that can handle that thing.”

“But if you make a mistake, oppa…….”

“What’s the worst that could happen? I die?”

“Oppa!”

“We’ve come this far. We’re not leaving empty-handed.”

“I have arrows that can trigger knockback. I'll support you as needed.”

“No. I’ll handle the status effects, Miso. You focus solely on damage dealing.”

“Because of temporary immunity, right?”

“Yeah. I need to calculate and rotate the status effects to ensure immunity doesn’t activate and ruin our plan.”

A serious conversation passed between them.

After experiencing a specific status effect once, there would be a period of temporary immunity before it could be applied again.

Most status effects, including paralysis, generally had a 15-second temporary immunity period.

If they inflicted status effect A, once it wore off, they had to use a different status effect for at least 15 seconds.

To maintain clear calculations, Sanghyun decided to forgo Kim Miso's status effect support. It could disrupt his plan.

'As long as we kill the Annihilator, the rewards are guaranteed. The experience points are great, and the artifact drop is assured.'

The more notorious a boss monster was, the sweeter and rarer the rewards.

Of course, many ended up dying in the process, but he had no intention of becoming just another casualty.

“Then, let’s go full offense!”

“Okay. I like the sound of that. Full offense.”

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Sanghyun swung his Blood-Drinking Sword powerfully as he stepped forward.

The Annihilator, standing at three meters tall.

It was humanoid, but its arms were shaped like sword blades, making it tricky to deal with, though it wasn’t particularly fast.

However, there were times when it moved unpredictably fast, so they could never let their guard down.

As soon as the battle began, Sanghyun used Illusion Mediation to confuse the Annihilator's vision and judgment.

A skill that forced the opponent into a binary choice.

It was an effective skill to start a fight with, as it allowed for psychological warfare.

“…….”

The Annihilator examined the separation between illusion and reality, glancing between them as it sorted through its thoughts.

Using obvious tricks meant that an illusion could always become reality at any moment.

And so…

Whooosh!

It aimed its heavy arm at Sanghyun's illusion. It had predicted the illusion would be turned real and launched a preemptive attack.

“…!”

At that moment, Sanghyun’s expression shifted in an instant.

He looked completely caught off guard!

Like a mouse trapped in a cage with nowhere to run.

But despite his expression, his mind was running 180 degrees in the opposite direction.

'If I don't activate the mediation, then nothing happens, right?'

His calculations were already complete, ready to strike down the Annihilator's unnecessary mind games with certainty.