Chapter 135: Large-Scale Raid - (4)
The absorption was completed without any losses.
After a short break, Sanghyun’s Team 16 immediately followed the planned shortcut route and moved away from the main force.
Once Sanghyun and his group disappeared from sight, Choi Sihu tracked their trail with a worried expression.
However, knowing that Sanghyun never overexerted himself without a reason, he put his concerns to rest.
‘Once we activate the auxiliary facility of this dungeon, even the main force’s offensive will significantly speed up.’
The plan was thoroughly prepared.
On top of that, there was reason for optimism.
There was a title recipe that would be triggered if a large number of undead were killed.
It was even an S-grade title.
Sanghyun, leading 30 meters ahead of Lee Gah Hee and Jung Junhyuk, expertly traced the path from memory.
In his previous life, the detailed briefing given by Do Kyungsoo on a broadcast had been incredibly helpful.
Back then, the “Forgotten Realm of the Dead” dungeon had become so mainstream that it didn’t matter if the information was widely shared.
But now, it was a different story.
Aside from Do Kyungsoo’s Sword Demon–Sword God team, no other team had specialized in raiding this place.
At most, only reconnaissance players from Hyunjeong Corporation, sent by Han Hyunjeong when the dungeon was first discovered, had explored it.
Thus, the knowledge Sanghyun possessed about this dungeon was beyond anyone’s expectations.
Ten minutes later—
“You mentioned the sewers on the outskirts of the Imperial Capital, so I expected a terrible smell, but this is different from what I thought.”
Lee Gah Hee, who had been preparing to cover her nose, tilted her head as she found the sewer surprisingly odorless.
Just in case, she had even been ready to use a healing skill to eliminate the smell—her tolerance was notoriously low.
“It’s a fake sewer.
It was built as camouflage, and its actual purpose is completely different from what it appears.”
The two of them were curious about how Sanghyun knew the history, but they didn’t ask.
They had never suffered a loss by trusting Sanghyun’s words thus far.
There was no reason to doubt him.
‘Just activating the Lighthouse of the Holy Spirit... the raid speed will double? No, more like triple.’
This place was a kind of “game-changer.”
It was a pivotal location that could completely turn the tide.
Despite the Sword Demon–Sword God team of Do Kyungsoo having attempted this dungeon over ten times, they had failed to complete the raid because they couldn’t locate the Lighthouse of the Holy Spirit.
Unfortunately, in his previous life, he only discovered the lighthouse’s location as late as the 28th run.
It was much later.
Of course, there was a reason.
Not only was it difficult to find, but the gatekeeper blocking the path was an entity even worse than a Frozen Mage.
Frozen Witch.
In our terms, the Ice Witch.
She sang something called the “Witch’s Song,” which was truly dreadful.
As soon as the song began, it inflicted a freezing slow, followed by freeze, complete freeze, and finally, permanent freeze.
Permanent freeze meant—
Both the body and mind were entirely frozen, making it impossible to revive the person by any internal or external skill.
The Frozen Witch’s song had the power to bring such a horrible end.
And yet, the fact that she was treated as a mid-boss monster was, in itself, a trap.
“If a battle breaks out later, don’t worry about my side—just keep killing the monsters that keep pouring into the corridor.”
“Are you really going to be okay?”
“I can’t handle this route alone.
If you two don’t block the rear cleanly, I’ll struggle in the front.”
“Then I’ll have to amplify my mana to the maximum.
I’ve been doing that until now, but I’ll go all in from here.”
“Just in case, I’ll say this—you can run if it looks like too much.
I’ve got a contingency plan in place.”
Sanghyun gave them a heads-up in advance.
He had a fair number of skills like the Sword’s Song and Illusion Arbitration to weave through tight situations.
It was disappointing to give up, but if he had to, he had more escape methods than one might think.
‘Passion. Recovery. Swift Purification.
In the worst-case scenario, I’ll use skill reset and start another cycle.’
He collected his thoughts.
He had at least three, and at most six options to lift the freeze.
He would use them to eliminate any variables and kill the Frozen Witch.
And then—
Riere... Luire...
From the invisible corridor that veered right at the end of the sewer, the Witch’s Song began to echo.
Once she began to move—
Jung Junhyuk and Lee Gah Hee, who had to secure the rear, would also fall within her range of influence.
While the two bought him time, Sanghyun intended to swiftly take down the gatekeeper.
Only by killing the Frozen Witch could he reach the Lighthouse of the Holy Spirit.
And if Sanghyun activated the lighthouse using the method only he knew—
Of the three phases in the large-scale raid, phases 1 and 2 would become easier than a walk in the park.
Flaaash!
Sanghyun’s figure vanished from Lee Gah Hee and Jung Junhyuk’s sight in an instant.
His burst of momentum was so powerful that it made their hair flutter where they stood.
And just as Sanghyun turned right at the end of the corridor—
Crunch.
Sanghyun froze instantly.
Although Lee Gah Hee and Jung Junhyuk knew this was a situation Sanghyun had predicted, they still couldn’t shake off their habitual concern.
But—
『Passion』
Using the Passion skill embedded in his burning heart, Sanghyun immediately broke free from the freeze and launched a counterattack.
“Wow.”
“At that level, it's like he's using a computer macro.”
To a third party, Sanghyun’s movements were so natural that it was hard to tell he had ever been frozen.
He had definitely been frozen, but the time it took to break out of it was incredibly short.
It was an animal-like instinct that only a true expert could possibly possess.
“It seems worrying about Mr. Sanghyun is pointless! Let’s focus on our job. Ah, they’re coming.”
A long corridor that stretched from north to south.
As the corridor narrowed to a bottleneck, Jung Junhyuk and Lee Gah Hee took their positions.
“I’ll cast a debuff with my healing power. Undead are weak to holy energy.”
“Sounds good. Whenever they bunch up without order, I’ll treat them to a taste of a million volts!”
Their roles were finalized.
Though the roles were prearranged, they didn’t forget to double-check everything. That was thanks to Sanghyun.
And then—
Shwaaaak! Shwaaaak!
Crackle! Crack!
At both ends of the corridor, the three each began their full-scale battle with their respective objectives.
『Full Bash』
The moment Sanghyun unfroze using Passion, his immediate move was Full Bash.
It was an aggressive strike to rapidly close the distance with the Frozen Witch—the so-called “witch”—and find her weakness.
However, the moment Full Bash connected—
Thud!
Crackkk.
The witch’s body froze.
“Tch.”
She had her own trick.
She defended herself by freezing her own body.
Just as Sanghyun nullified tricky attacks using Song of the Sword, the witch also had appropriate counters.
“You made a mistake.”
Sanghyun took a stance for his next attack.
The most fatal weakness of this kind of evasion tactic was that it locked her position.
Sure, she could avoid it in style, but that meant staying in the same spot.
Sanghyun read the witch’s flow as she began to thaw and timed his next move accordingly.
『Knockback Burst』
Boom!
Kyaaagh!
The witch let out a high-pitched scream as she was blasted away by a fierce Knockback Burst to the abdomen.
『Cryofication』
Sanghyun applied Cryofication to his Frenzied Demon Sword, enhancing its elemental power.
Though the witch specialized in ice magic, paradoxically, that made her weak to ice.
What that meant was—she could freeze herself without issue.
But when frozen by an external force, her internal and external ice attributes clashed.
It was like giving a type B blood transfusion to a type A patient.
It was still “blood,” but the different traits caused rejection. This was more dangerous than it sounded.
‘For someone who so casually freezes others, it’s time for some poetic justice.’
As Sanghyun charged in—
The thawed witch tried to freeze herself again to dodge Sanghyun’s attack with ease.
But at that moment—
“Heh.”
Sanghyun stopped his swinging sword right in front of the witch’s nose with a smile.
The reason was simple.
In the earlier Full Bash, he had confirmed that the witch froze only under certain conditions.
In other words—
The witch’s self-freezing was conditional.
She had to prepare to freeze first.
Then she had to be “struck” by an enemy. The trigger was taking damage.
But because Sanghyun didn’t attack her at all, the condition wasn’t met and she couldn’t freeze.
Ssshhhh.
As the faint sky-blue aura surrounding the witch’s body faded, Sanghyun moved to the next step.
『Cryofication – Complete Freeze』
He used 500 mana to ensure a guaranteed freeze.
Ssssssh!
The moment Sanghyun’s Demon Sword touched her body, the witch was instantly frozen like a block of ice.
Next—
Thududududu!
He grabbed the frozen witch and started pushing her backward.
Since this area was bright and open, he forced her into a narrower and darker space.
‘External pressure works just fine.’
He had a particular structure in mind.
While Sanghyun kept shoving the witch back—
She waited for the freeze to wear off. She could feel her body slowly loosening.
Now was the time for her counterattack.
And just as the freeze timer hit 0.0 seconds—
『Cunning Tactics』
“……?”
Sanghyun extended the freeze at the perfect moment. It was a repeat of the 2.2-second freeze.
Rilueh……!
The witch grew furious.
Of course, she was completely frozen, so it was the kind of rage one could only feel internally.
Rumble! Boom!
Sanghyun pushed the witch all the way to the end of the dead-end corridor, gripping his Demon Sword tightly and taking his stance.
If the opponent had been a lover instead of a witch, this would’ve been a rather romantic “wall slam.”
But unfortunately, the opponent was a witch who absolutely had to be killed—and a very tricky one at that.
“Huu.”
『Whisper of the Sage』
『Tempest Strike』
Sanghyun timed his buildup of Tempest Strike to match when the witch’s freeze would end.
He had buffed himself with Whisper of the Sage, and his charge time was more than sufficient.
Rumbleeeee!
The whirlwind forming around his Demon Sword surged with ferocity like never before.
“Brace yourself. You’re about to take a Tempest Strike to the face at point-blank range.”
Just as Sanghyun said.
Even now, the distance between the charging Tempest Strike and the witch was less than one meter.
And then—
As soon as the witch’s freeze ended—
Boom!
The storm, saturated with madness, instantly swallowed the witch.
With no space to escape, it was a perfect checkmate at a dead end.
Rieeeeeek……!
The witch tried to defend herself by freezing her body again, but her timing was off.
The fierce storm slammed into her chest, the knockback disrupted her concentration.
The freezing failed midway.
And the misfortune didn’t end there.
Rumble rumble!
Sanghyun had intentionally made the Tempest Strike curve upward, and it struck the ceiling and inner wall.
The next moment—
Ruuuumble!
The corridor shook violently.
Crashhh!
The unstable structural elements supporting the inner ceiling began collapsing all at once.
Among them were ceiling lanterns—long unused—that were once used for lighting.
Shhhhhkk!
The lanterns, filled with an unidentified liquid for a long time, toppled and poured their contents onto the witch.
Wind, debris, liquid.
Not a single element was spared—everything devoured the witch in a single destructive blow.
And then—
Kieeeeeee!
A piercing scream rang out, so high-pitched that even Lee Gah Hee and Jung Junhyuk, stationed far away, felt chills across their entire bodies.
It was the beginning of a horrific tragedy.