Chapter 14. Sharp Kim Song-cheol (2)

Quesha and Sirio looked down at the Hunters from the trees.
She felt wonderful.

A giggle kept escaping her lips.

The reason, first and foremost, was the presence of their dependable leader.

His name was Sonta.

He was the most promising warrior in the tribe.

When he chose Sirio as a teammate to enter the Dungeon, she had twisted her body in a mix of joy and shyness.

Sonta was not only strong but also smart.

If they followed his lead, they could earn plenty of Points.

This operation was also Sonta’s design.

Though they all looked different, those wearing armor had a habit of looking after one another.

If you left one behind with a broken leg, they would surely come back for them.

That was when they were most vulnerable.

Just like right now.

Sirio gripped a dagger in each hand and put strength into her toes.

The moment Sonta gave the signal, she would drop like an eagle and slit someone’s throat.

Blood would spurt, and she would lick the spray off her face.

She would savor that metallic tang.
‘Giggle.’
Sirio lay prone like a predator, watching them.

The targets whispered among themselves for a moment, and then one of them jumped down into the hollow.

The habit of looking after their own kind had kicked in.

Whistle!

At that moment, a very high-pitched whistle sounded.

It was a high-frequency whistle that those wearing armor couldn’t even hear.

It was Sonta’s signal.

“Kyahak!”

Sirio immediately kicked off the tree and shot toward one of them.

She raised her daggers as high as she could.

Her target was reflected in her wide, crazed eyes.

Like a wild animal, her teeth were bared, and her scarlet tongue flicked out.

However Ping!

A blue light flashed right in front of her nose.

It was a Magic Circle generated in an instant.

‘Wh-what is this…?’

Sirio was horrified. There couldn’t possibly be such a fast response.

Even a warrior much stronger than Sirio couldn’t react like this. But a Mage who uses sorcery? ‘We’ve been spotted…!?’

Sirio realized too late.

The fact was that Sonta’s ambush had been discovered.

Thwack!

A Magic Missile, fired in an instant, struck her between the eyes.

Combined with her rapid descent, the intense impact hit her brow, and her neck couldn’t withstand it, snapping backward.

She crumpled and fell to the ground.

She was still breathing, but her consciousness was already gone.

“Ser Gang-jin to the main! Combat Response D!”

At the same time, Kim Song-cheol’s voice echoed through the forest.

Ser Gang-jin leaped into the air and swung his sword powerfully at the falling Quesha.

Mun Gi-jeong’s Magic blocked Ser Gang-jin’s left side, intercepting another attack aimed at him.

Clang, clang, clang!

In mid-air, Ser Gang-jin’s sword and the Quesha’s scythe collided several times.

Simultaneously, Oh Song-hui leaped out from the hollow.

As if she had been waiting, she thrust her sword toward the Quesha who had landed on the ground.

It was a Quesha wielding a Greatsword.

Clang!

“Ack…”

But the moment her sword collided with the Greatsword, Oh Song-hui’s body was lifted off the ground and blown backward, crashing back into the hollow.

The difference in strength was too vast.

‘This guy?’

Sparks flew in Kim Song-cheol’s eyes.

The moment that Quesha joined the fray, the tide of battle would shift completely.

“Oh Song-hui, main support!”

Kim Song-cheol fired a succession of Magic Missiles and Wind Cutters as he leaped backward.

The distance between Ser Gang-jin and the Quesha was too close, so it was only enough to keep them in check, but even that bought them a beat of time.

Then Oh Song-hui jumped out of the hollow again and locked eyes with Kim Song-cheol.

‘Can you do it!?’

Oh Song-hui was asking with her eyes.

The Quesha with the Greatsword was unnaturally strong.

By moving her to support meant that Kim Song-cheol intended to face that Quesha one-on-one.

Oh Song-hui was asking if he was confident in that fight.

“An adult should protect the kids.”

Kim Song-cheol spoke as if it were obvious and signaled with his head.

He meant for her to go help Ser Gang-jin and Mun Gi-jeong.

Kim Song-cheol had already neutralized one enemy with a critical Magic Missile.

Three Quesha remained.

If Kim Song-cheol took the one with the Greatsword, the rest would be in a 2-on-3 situation.

Unless there was a major variable, they wouldn’t lose.

Team 25A was strong.

Kim Song-cheol turned toward the Quesha with the Greatsword.

With the hollow in the center, the two faced each other.

“Was it you? The one who noticed in advance.”

The Quesha rested the Greatsword on his shoulder.

Though their ambush had been discovered, he showed no sign of regret.

Rather, he was overflowing with confidence.

“I’m very angry right now. This is the first time since I got my money stolen at the arcade 20 years ago.”

Kim Song-cheol replied.

“Hmph, nothing but talk.”

At that moment, the Quesha dashed toward Kim Song-cheol.

He was remarkably fast.

Much faster than even Oh Song-hui, who was renowned for her speed.

It was hard to believe he was wielding a Greatsword.

But Kim Song-cheol was equally confident in his speed.

Not in movement, but in casting.

Bang, bang, bang!

Magic Circles appeared in succession, and Magic Missiles literally poured out.

The Quesha’s expression changed instantly.

He hadn’t expected it to be this much.

Clang, clang, clang!

The Quesha hastily brought the Greatsword forward.

It was to block the Magic Missiles.

The sword was so large it could be used as a shield.

Thanks to that, the Quesha’s speed did not slow down even amidst the pouring fire.

“Shallow!”

The Quesha shouted.

Kim Song-cheol’s lips twisted.

“Dig.”

In an instant, the ground beneath the Quesha’s feet gave way, and his body stumbled.

The Quesha displayed reflexes fast enough to surprise even Kim Song-cheol.

He slammed the Greatsword into the ground, grabbed the hilt, and performed a somersault.

He was lunging forward, turning the momentum of his fall into propulsion.

The Quesha cleared the hollow in one leap and dropped toward Kim Song-cheol.

“Light.”

Kim Song-cheol spat out the incantation.

A massive ball of light completely enveloped the Quesha’s head.

It looked as if he were wearing a giant lightbulb instead of a head.

The Quesha staggered, losing his balance in mid-air.

It was because his vision had been completely taken away.

Using the Light Magic in such a way looked very simple, but it required immense stability in the Formula.

Light Magic is fundamentally ‘fixed’ to spatial coordinates.

Moving it slowly along the coordinate axes is relatively easy, but a moving head crosses X, Y, and Z coordinates wildly.

To move the Light Magic while matching all of that was impossible through simple Formula calculation alone.

Kim Song-cheol took advantage of that gap to step far back.

After rolling on the ground to feel gravity, the Quesha charged exactly like a bull toward Kim Song-cheol’s position.

It seemed he had pinpointed the location through sound.

It was an amazing animalistic sense.

However.

“Dig.”

Once again, the Quesha’s leg sank into the ground.

“These dog-like petty tricks!!”

Finally, the Quesha couldn’t contain his rage and screamed.

But calling them petty tricks was a misnomer.

The activation speed of the 1st Circle Dig Magic was on the slower side.

To use it in sync with rapid footwork was by no means a petty trick.

“Dig.”

Kim Song-cheol cast the Magic with a grim expression.

He was using the Dig Magic as if to taunt him, but in truth, this was the best deterrent Kim Song-cheol had.

As the Quesha tried to pull his foot out from the consecutive Dig Magic, his opposite leg sank in again.

Kim Song-cheol’s finger, staring down the Quesha, moved without delay.

“Magic Missile.”

In an instant, Magic Circles were generated sequentially on both sides of the Quesha and in the air at an awkward height.

That was also when the Light Magic was dispelled.

No matter how skilled Kim Song-cheol was, he couldn’t maintain another spell while performing consecutive casting.

But Kim Song-cheol was confident.

Seventy percent of the victory was already in his hands.

Two Magic Missiles shot out from the Magic Circles on either side and struck the Quesha’s right hand.

Crack!

His fingers bent at a strange angle, and the moment he lost his grip on the hilt, a Magic Missile shot from the Magic Circle positioned in the air and struck the Greatsword precisely.

It had all been calculated and set from the beginning.

Clang!

With a clear sound, the Greatsword spun through the air and flew out of the Quesha’s hand.

The Quesha’s other hand reached out into the void, but Magic Missiles continued to fire, striking the sword—clang, clang—and pushing it further away.

“Dig, Dig, Dig.”

Kim Song-cheol did not miss the gap while the Quesha was floundering and chanted the Dig Magic repeatedly.

Every time Dig was activated, the Quesha’s body sank further down.

In an instant, even the Quesha’s head went below the ground.

The Quesha tried to climb out immediately, but.

“Magic Shield.”

He was blocked by a Magic Shield pressing down from above and crumpled into the bottom of the pit.

Shatter!

The Magic Shield broke quickly.

It was a 1st Circle defensive spell to begin with.

it couldn’t withstand the Quesha’s punching.

But it bought time.

Seizing that moment, Magic Circles began to repeatedly appear and disappear sporadically over the pit.

Flash, flash, flash!

Magic Missiles and Wind Cutters fired alternately from the Magic Circles, ravaging the inside of the pit.

Thud, thud, thud!

Disgusting noises erupted repeatedly from inside the pit.

“Aaaagh!”

The scream was a bonus.

Kim Song-cheol continued to cast Magic without even blinking.

He was determined that if the Quesha leaped out, he would be the one to die.

Volleys of Magic Missiles pierced the pit, and the area around it was left in ruins by the Wind Cutters.

“…”
After firing Magic for a long while, Kim Song-cheol stopped casting once the inside of the pit went quiet.

He walked over with long strides and peered inside.

Inside was something that could no longer be recognized as a person or anything else.

‘Was there… no need to go this far?’

Only then did Kim Song-cheol turn away with a complicated expression.

Behind him, the members of Team 25A, who had already finished their battle, were pulling the German out of the hollow.

Soon, Ser Gang-jin and Oh Song-hui carefully held the German and climbed up from the hollow.

On the other hand, Mun Gi-jeong was staring blankly at the Quesha’s Greatsword lying on the ground.

His expression was far more complex and subtle than Kim Song-cheol’s.

It seemed as if all sorts of emotions were passing through him.

‘If it wasn’t for Big Brother, we’d all be dead…’

As a Mage, he had watched Kim Song-cheol’s battle.

No, the battle wasn’t the important part.

To toy with and face a powerful Quesha using only 1st Circle Magic?

That was also a huge feat, but it started with the part where he noticed the ambush.

If he hadn’t noticed the ambush, at least one or two of them would have died before the battle even began.

Then there would have been no chance of victory.

It would have been a certain annihilation.

When his thoughts reached that point, Mun Gi-jeong felt his skin crawl once more.

‘If I had driven Big Brother out and brought in the original teammate…’

Then all four members of Team 25A would have vanished along with the Dungeon.

It was truly the worst-case scenario.

“The wound is deep.”

Mun Gi-jeong snapped out of it at Oh Song-hui’s words.

Looking back, he saw his teammates already beginning emergency treatment.

The German had large wounds on his thigh and flank.

The serious part was the thigh.

The flesh was almost torn away, looking as if a giant beast had bitten it.

While the teammates sprayed hemostatic agents and wrapped bandages, Kim Song-cheol approached and checked the German’s condition.

“It missed the artery, but…”

The German had been bait for the ambush from the start.

That had actually been a blessing, but the problem was the time he had been left unattended.

“Still, he’s lost too much blood.”

He was already drifting in and out of consciousness to the point where he couldn’t speak properly.

He was mumbling something, but it was impossible to understand what he was saying.

Even though communication in any language is possible within a Dungeon.

“We have to get out quickly.”

“I’ll carry him.”

Ser Gang-jin stepped forward and hoisted the German onto his back.

He was the teammate with the best physical strength.

It was the right call.

Team 25A began to move through the Dungeon with the injured person.

Their hearts were racing because the injured man’s condition worsened as time passed.

Whenever they encountered a Monster, Kim Song-cheol pushed himself to dispose of it quickly.

Moreover, Ser Gang-jin was in a state where he couldn’t do anything.

If they dawdled, another person might get injured.

Team 25A searched the Dungeon for a Portal more urgently than ever before.

Kim Song-cheol gasped as if his breath were about to give out.

A sweet, metallic taste filled his mouth.

His heart felt like it would burst after moving through the mountainous terrain without rest.

And it was the same for the other Mage, Mun Gi-jeong.

“Oh, over there!”
At that moment, Oh Song-hui’s hopeful voice finally rang out.