Chapter 79: Appearance (2)

A crimson pillar of fire shot high into the sky.

Once.

BOOM!

Twice.

BOOM! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

…Three times. Four times. Five times!

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

Sulphurous flames burst one after another like fireworks, dyeing the heavens red.

The wings, carapaces, and antennae of the locusts fell down charred black.

At the same time.

Ding-dong!

<Obtained Locust Corpse! (603/1000)>

<Obtained Locust Corpse! (604/1000)>

<Obtained Locust Corpse! (605/1000)>

<Obtained Locust Corpse! (606/1000)>

<Obtained Locust Corpse! (607/1000)>

<Obtained Locust Corpse! (608/1000)>

Quest notifications refreshed like bamboo shoots after rain.

Every time a locust died, a mini black hole appeared and sucked the corpse into the demonic spear.

Torn wings. Melted carapaces. Legs blackened by soot, and so on.

Even damaged locust corpses seemed to count toward the quest requirement.

…Well, they should at least be that lenient.

But.

Ding-dong!

<5 minutes remaining until the end of the 4th Monster Wave!>

Five minutes left until the wave ended.

Four hundred locusts still needed to complete the quest.

At this pace, I wouldn’t finish in time.

When the wave ended, the locusts would vanish beyond subspace just as they had appeared.

The spear’s quest would naturally go up in smoke.

In that case…

Should I test that here?

A new technique I had only conceptualized by combining my existing skills, since I never had a suitable practice partner or place.

I immediately opened the skill window.

At the same time.

Ding-dong!

<Activating skill ‘Hereditary Skin Oil’!>

Gigasnail’s skill, Hereditary Skin Oil.

A preparatory skill meant to cause explosions when linked with fire skills.

Its main use was pouring out oil slime until it formed a pool.

But right now, I’ll control it a little…!

The oil slime sprayed out in microscopic droplets, thinly coating my entire body like a film.

I immediately equipped the Blood Mist Ring.

Ding-dong!

<Activating item skill ‘Blood Mist’ from the Blood Mist Ring!>

The blood-colored mist mixed with the oil, turning a murky blackish-red hue.

The acrid smell of oil and the fishy stench of blood began to mingle.

The molecules of oil slime had fused with the blood mist.

Oil vapor.

…Or, to be more precise, should I call it oil-blood vapor?

Whatever.

I maintained the mist state and soared into the sky.

At the same time, I spread the oil-blood mist like a curtain, enveloping the entire locust swarm.

[71244-?]

[Krrrrk-!?]

[Kiiik? Kkiiiik-]

The locusts screamed in confusion.

The flapping of their wings visibly slowed.

Sticky oil-blood droplets were clinging to their wings.

“The main show starts now.”

…One final skill to add here!

Ding-dong!

<Activating skill ‘Embers’!>

A cross-shaped crimson flash bloomed above the dark red mist.

And then.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

A tremendous roar shook the heavens as a ferocious vortex of flame swallowed the sky.

The crimson flash spread outward in waves like a tsunami.

The oil slime itself was highly flammable, and the blood mist amplified any fire attack.

This was the result of combining the two.

BOOM! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

The effect was overwhelming!

Flames spread in all directions like ripples.

Fireballs rained down onto the ground, and acrid smoke covered the gray sky.

It looked as though a hell of fire had unfolded in the heavens.

WHOOOOOOSH~!

[KIIIEEEEEE~!]

[KYAAAAAAA-]

[KIGIGIGIGIK!]

The screams of the locust swarm echoed deafeningly.

“Aren’t you enjoying this a bit too much? One more as a service!”

Ding-dong!

<Activating skill ‘Embers’!>

Pomegranate-like crimson orbs burst outward in all directions simultaneously.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

An even more powerful explosion swept through the locust horde.

When the crimson storm that had painted the sky finally died down…

The very last locust crumbled into ashes.

Ding-dong!

<The number of existing demonic beasts has reached 0!>

<The 4th Monster Wave is ending!>

<The wave has ended 3 minutes and 21 seconds earlier than scheduled!>

As the monster wave concluded, the text in the sky vanished.

At the same time.

Ding-dong!

<Obtained Locust Corpse! (1000/1000)>

<You have perfectly fulfilled the warehouse’s request!>

“Clean and tidy.”

I safely cleared the demonic spear’s quest as well.

I released the blood mist state.

Then I reached out toward the still-burning embers.

Ding-dong!

<Skill ‘Embers’ is absorbing fire energy!>

<HP is recovering!>

<Mana is recovering!>

<HP is recovering!>

<Mana is recovering!>

The burning pain that had been ravaging my body disappeared in an instant.

To explain it simply with a game analogy…

Imagine my HP bar looked like this normally:

[HP: ████████████████████]

Right after using the oil-blood vapor, it looked more like this:

[HP: █]

Near-death state.

A single poke could have killed me.

If I didn’t have the Embers skill, that stunt just now would have been nothing more than suicide.

Pouring that much firepower over such a wide area meant I took similar damage myself.

The blood mist state is especially vulnerable to fire attacks.

So it’s not a technique I can use carelessly.

That said, the oil-blood vapor itself seems like it will have many uses going forward.

I still don’t know exactly what principle it operates on.

Professor Park Ahjeong might know. She knows all sorts of random things beyond her specialty.

…Just as I was thinking that.

“Student Cha Hasang!”

“?”

I heard Professor Park Ahjeong’s voice.

When I looked toward the sound, Professor Park Ahjeong stood there with a shocked expression.

I could also see about ten other people with her.

They were all huddled together in the center of the half-collapsed temple.

Inside a cracked holy barrier that looked like it could shatter at any moment.

“We’re alive! We’re alive-!”

“Ugh… my legs…”

“Haa, I really thought we were dead this time…”

The people inside the temple cheered.

Their bodies were covered in wounds, their equipment reduced to rags.

The mages and priests even showed signs of complete mana depletion.

It seemed they had truly been in a life-or-death crisis.

Soon, Professor Park Ahjeong approached.

“Why is student Hasang here…?”

“Ah, well…”

I never imagined I would run into Professor Park Ahjeong inside an S-rank dungeon.

How should I explain this?

At that moment, Professor Park Ahjeong smiled brightly and said,

“You came to save me! Right?”

“?”

“Thank you. I’m actually a little touched♪ As expected, only student Hasang would do this.”

“??”

Then a man wearing white priest robes joined the conversation.

“Thank you for the help. Are you an acquaintance of the professor?”

“Yes~ He’s my favorite student. A friend who hunts as a hobby~! His real job is graduate student. Right, student Hasang?”

I shook my head.

“…No, I’m an undergraduate.”

“That means pre-graduate student! Aigoo, you like it but still pretend~”

It’s not good at all.

This person says scary things with a beaming smile.

Professor Park Ahjeong leaned in close and whispered,

“There’s some circumstance that’s hard to explain, right?”

As expected, her intuition is sharp.

She always seems relaxed and calm, but Professor Park Ahjeong’s insight has always been razor-sharp.

She smiled sweetly.

Then she whispered so only I could hear.

“Is student Hasang something like a secret agent for the Hunter Association? I’ll pretend I didn’t notice for now,

so you have to tell me later, okay?”

At that moment.

Ding-dong!

<Tallying the results of the 4th Monster Wave!>

A resounding bell rang out as new text appeared in the sky.

“What is that?”

Professor Park Ahjeong answered my question with a serious expression.

“We entered this place four hours ago. The first wave started immediately.”

She pointed at the locusts as she continued explaining.

“The monsters that appeared in the first wave were slimes, cave bats—F-rank monsters.”

Slimes and cave bats are the lowest of the low.

Even F-rank hunters can take them down if properly equipped.

“But…”

“The first wave was naturally cleared in less than ten minutes. The problem started after that.”

“Problem?”

“That message about tallying results only appears when a monster wave is ended earlier than the time limit.”

“The first wave was F-rank. The second was D-rank. The third was C+-rank. Every time we cleared a wave faster than the time limit, the grade of the monsters that appeared rose exponentially. Student Hasang, you understand what that means, right?”

The difficulty increases with every clear.

This feels ominous.

I have a bad feeling that something extraordinary is about to happen.

And sure enough.

Ding-dong!

<WARNING!>

<WARNING!>

<WARNING!>

<WARNING!>

An ill-boding warning window appeared before my eyes.

Blood-red letters floated in the gray sky as though written in blood.

Ding-dong!

<Monster Wave Tally Result: A+>

<You have cleared the 4th Monster Wave with excellent results!>

<The survival rate of challengers has exceeded 50%!>

<The difficulty of the Monster Wave will be drastically increased!>

Professor Park Ahjeong spoke in a trembling voice after seeing it.

“They’re… raising the difficulty?”

The moment her words ended, the desert area began to shake violently.

RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-!

At the same time.

Ding-dong!

<Boss of the Physical Safety Needs Section is appearing!>

<The final Monster Wave begins!>

“Straight to the boss fight.”

The surprise event had begun.