Chapter 172: The Hidden Heads

“What the hell is that?”

Rank 10 Monster, Dokkaebi King.

The moment its presence arrived, my jaw dropped.

I’d thought that with most of the Monsters taken care of, we’d practically sealed off the Tower.

After fending off the Monster Wave, I believed that if the Hunters combined their strength to climb the Tower, everything would be solved.

Never did I expect the final foe of the Monster Wave would be a Rank 10 Monster.

I hadn’t even known Rank 10 Monsters existed in the first place.

“Kwaang!!”

In the distance, I saw Dokkaebi King swinging his club.

Next, he shot two mysterious black orbs from his left hand.

Then he darkened his club with black energy and swung it.

Finally, Combat  5 bounced back, blocking Dokkaebi King’s attack to the end.

“Kwaaaah!”

“Nice!”

Combat  5 activated ‘Reverse Flow,’ one of the shield’s abilities.

Rank 10 Monster, Dokkaebi King.

A Monster so strong that most attacks wouldn’t land, but ‘Reverse Flow’ was a skill that counterattacked based on the damage absorbed by the shield.

Not just any attack, but after stacking Dokkaebi King’s own blows three times, even he must have taken some real damage.

“Let’s load up too!”

“Yes, Master.”

The Hunters began their full-on assault against Dokkaebi King.

So far, we’ve only identified three attacks.

First, the powerful physical strike with his club.

Second, the black orbs use gravity and repulsion.

Finally, imbuing the club with that black power to enhance its strikes.

But even with just those three patterns, we could get a rough sense of Dokkaebi King’s combat style.

A Monster who focused on physical attacks with his club and wielded black energy containing gravity and repulsion.

Perhaps, beyond simply launching those black orbs to apply force, he could also use gravity to pull or repulsion to push away in various ways.

While considering that, the Hunters calmly attacked Dokkaebi King.

So I couldn’t just stand still either.

“Fire!”

“Bang!”

First, I lightly fired a shell made of S-class Material.

It’s not likely to do much to a Rank 10 Monster, but among shells made of S-class Material, it was still fairly strong.

My main goal was to check for weaknesses in Dokkaebi King’s body or elemental attributes.

With this, I should at least be able to gauge which properties work best.

My target was the spot where Combat  5’s ‘Reverse Flow’ had landed.

Since the skin had melted from acid, I figured it’d be softer than other spots.

“Thunk!”

The shell hit the intended spot dead on.

As expected of Combat 2.

Not only perfect aim, but predicting Dokkaebi King’s movements and firing at the right moment to land the shot.

Likely, the hit rate was boosted by his agility and his skills as an archer.

After all, as a reward, even my Assistants could now acquire skills.

“Boom!”

The shell exploded.

I’d used the most reliable, explosive-type shell for maximum power.

But then—

“What the? Is he just ignoring this?”

Even as the shell burst over Dokkaebi King’s wound, he didn’t react at all.

When I checked the spot where the shell had exploded—

“Wow, did that really have no effect?”

There was only a faint scorch mark.

No embedded shell, no wound from the explosion.

I’d assumed the acid-melted skin would mean weaker defenses.

But the melted skin instantly hardened, and any remaining weakness was compensated for with that black energy.

As a result, the S-class Material shell couldn’t deal any real damage and it was the same for the other Hunters’ attacks.

“O-our attacks aren’t working!”

“Pathetic fools! I’ll crush your skulls!”

“Uwaaaah!”

Most Hunters’ attacks had no effect.

Even Hunters ranked within the top thousand had their attacks bounce off in vain.

Only those ranked in the top five hundred could barely scratch the skin.

And the top ten—those rankers were the only ones who could inflict any meaningful wounds.

“In that case, let’s go all out! Guild Master 1!”

“Yes, Master.”

This time, I loaded an SS-rank shell.

I’d wanted to save the SS-rank shells until we knew Dokkaebi King’s weakness but this wouldn’t do.

“Load the Tiger Shell!”

“Clack.”

Tiger Shell.

A shell crafted from SS-class Material earned by defeating the boss Monster ‘Mountain Lord’ in the 20th-floor trial.

Why had I saved this shell?

Simple.

So far, I’d always used shells tailored to each Monster’s weakness, so there’d never been an opportunity to use it.

But now, with Dokkaebi King’s weakness unknown, I simply needed overwhelming firepower.

“Boom!”

The shell fired.

As the cannon roared, the sound tearing through the air was like a tiger’s roar.

Perhaps this attack finally caught his attention.

Dokkaebi King, who’d ignored my shells until now, furrowed his brow and stared right at me.

Where his gaze landed, the Tiger Shell, wreathed in a tiger’s visage, flew straight at him.

“Kwaaaang-!!”

The tiger-shaped energy collided with Dokkaebi King.

That shell’s power was focused entirely on physical force, without any special properties.

It was the most powerful shell among all the SS-class shells I’d made.

“Which bastard—!”

Dokkaebi King’s arm, which blocked the attack, caved in.

Not a fatal wound, but a solid hit.

If I’d hit his weak spot, it would’ve done even more damage, but the distinctive roaring sound gave away the attack’s direction—that was regrettable.

Still, this wasn’t a one-on-one between me and Dokkaebi King.

The fact that Dokkaebi King had to raise his arm to block my shell meant an opening had been created.

“Taat!”

Sword Saint closed in at transcendental speed, she unleashed her signature sword-drawing technique.

“Invisible Blade.”

Korea’s number one ranked, Sword Saint Han Yu-ra.

Her attack landed precisely on the wound seared by acid.

Other Hunters’ attacks hadn’t worked, but hers cut deep.

Her strike dug into the wound, severing blood vessels.

Blood spurted from the cut.

“Kgh!”

For the first time, a guttural sound escaped Dokkaebi King’s lips.

He reached out at Sword Saint in rage, but no Hunter missed the chance.

“Hrrmph!”

“Crunch!”

Berserker, Park Kang-chul charged in, swinging his greatsword at Dokkaebi King’s ankle.

It wasn’t a weakened spot, but the blade sank so deep it nearly vanished from sight.

“Pubbububuk!”

A hail of arrows from Cheon Seung-heon struck Dokkaebi King’s face.

If he didn’t block or close his eyes, the arrows would pierce his pupils at any moment.

So Dokkaebi King had to choose between blocking with his arm or shutting his eyes.

“Kwaaaang!”

With a deafening thunderclap, lightning struck Dokkaebi King’s wound.

Cheongryong, Lee Ga-eul.

Once renowned for his mastery over water and wind magic, now, through training, he commanded lightning as well.

“Pabababang-!”

Spirit Emperor’s spirit magic followed in quick succession.

“Ha!”

“Slish!”

Shadow King’s attacks relentlessly targeted Dokkaebi King’s wounds.

Sharp strikes exploiting his broken defense.

Even for a Rank 10 Monster, blocking all these attacks was nearly impossible.

While Dokkaebi King grimaced—

“Kraaaaaaah!”

He suddenly roared.

If it were just a normal roar, we could’ve ignored it, but the black energy he wielded exploded forth as he did.

“Boom!!”

The roar became Repulsion, blasting away all nearby attacks and Hunters.

“Don’t bother resisting! This is the end anyway! Even if not by me, you’ll all fall!”

Without missing a beat after his roar, Dokkaebi King swung his club with a threatening shout.

His target: the one who had dealt the most damage.

Sword Saint, Han Yu-ra.

She had been thrown back by the Repulsion, unable to steady herself.

“Die first! I’ll smash your skull!”

The club came down.

Sword Saint gritted her teeth and raised her blade.

She poured all her skills into defending, but even she knew—if she took that hit head-on, she likely wouldn’t survive.

At that moment—

“Fire!”

“Boom!”

At my shout, the shell flew.

“Kwaaang-!!”

“Kraah!”

It struck Dokkaebi King’s elbow.

He let out a proper scream, not just a grunt, and stumbled back.

Thanks to that, the massive club narrowly missed Sword Saint, slamming into the ground beside her.

“Nice!”

Because I wasn’t within the blast range of Dokkaebi King’s ‘Roar of Repulsion,’ I’d been able to make that attack.

But something was off about Dokkaebi King’s reaction.

Until now, even when hit by Sword Saint’s attacks, he’d only grunted.

But now, even though I’d only hit his elbow—not a vital point—he screamed and doubled over.

There was nothing especially unique about the shell I used this time.

Could it be that this shell’s property was Dokkaebi King’s weakness?

No.

With careful observation—once a shut-in gamer, always a keen observer—I realized why Dokkaebi King had reacted so painfully.

“The head!”

It’s the head.

Rank 10 Monster, Dokkaebi King’s weak point was the head.

Of course, you’d think the head is an obvious weak spot, right?

No.

To be precise, the ‘head’ I meant wasn’t the real head atop Dokkaebi King’s shoulders.

All over Dokkaebi King’s body, heads protruded.

Those are his true weak points.

The shell I’d fired hit one of those heads on his elbow dead on, which is why it did such damage.

“Nam Bora!”

– “Yes!”

“Dokkaebi King’s weak point is the heads! The ones all over his body. That’s his weakness. Please contact the Hunter Association and inform all Hunters!”

– “Understood!”

Through Nam Bora, I relayed the secret I’d discovered about Dokkaebi King’s weakness.

The Hunter Association quickly used their system to inform everyone on the battlefield.

The Hunters nodded.

And those who moved first were my Assistants.

They’d seen Dokkaebi King’s overwhelming power, and being blasted back by Repulsion, it would’ve been natural for them to cower in fear but my Assistants didn’t, they simply followed my commands.

There was no fear or hesitation in them.

“Soulless things dare defy me!”

Dokkaebi King swung his arm in fury.

More than half of my Assistants were caught by the attack and sent flying, crashing to the ground far away.

But if half were sent flying, that meant half remained.

“Thud!”

“Pubbubuk!”

“Slick!”

My remaining Assistants closed in and swung their weapons.

Targeting precisely the heads all over Dokkaebi King’s body, as I’d instructed.

In that moment, black energy surged to shroud the heads.

He blocked every attack with Repulsion.

As expected of an SSS-rank Monster.

While most attacks couldn’t land, Combat 1’s Attack Aura sliced through the Repulsion.

To cleave formless energy with a sword—an impossible feat, yet Combat 1’s Attack Aura—

No, the condensed, sharpened Sword Force made it possible.

The follow-up assault began.

Combat 1 swiftly steadied himself, thrusting the EX-rank weapon, Durandal.

“Thwuck!”

“Kraaaagh!”

Durandal pierced the brow of one of the heads protruding from Dokkaebi King’s thigh, and simultaneously, the head on his thigh and the one on his shoulder screamed together.