Jisangwook was hit by a stone a total of seven times.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t seriously injured.
His forehead and nose were broken, blood streaming down, and his eyes were so swollen he could barely see in front of him?
It seems even an idiot like him can survive since he’s still human.
If it had been a Skeleton or a Demon’s Follower, they’d have taken a fatal blow from a single stone, or worse, disappeared from existence altogether.
Even after being beaten like that, the guy didn’t lose his nerve and glared at me like he was going to kill me.
Whether he did or not, after hitting him, I checked the location of the stone that fell to the ground.
I planned to pick it up later.
Since it was a stone infused with Sprout’s mana, it was sure to be able to do something amazing.
“Kkaak! Fight me properly! Fight me properly, you bastard!”
It was hilarious seeing him fume like that, not even able to breathe properly through his nose.
I shrugged my shoulders at him, feigning surprise.
“Properly? Weren’t we just warming up a bit?”
“You, damn it!”
Bang!
He exploded in anger and slammed his giant double-edged axe into the ground.
Seeing the deep dent left in the ground, it was clear the impact was powerful.
But… is this guy really a B-rank Hunter? Isn’t he more like a C-rank?
That thought floated through my mind.
The speed at which he swung his double-edged axe was just too slow.
I wonder if he could really hunt a Red Manticore swinging that slowly.
Even if he could somehow manage to take down one, there’s no way he could solo the Hallasan Gate, where those things swarm.
If a Manticore with wings decided to fly away, that’d be the end of it.
“You bastard! Are you done with your little games?!”
Jisangwook shouted as he roughly popped open a healing potion.
He gulped it down and, perhaps to cool his temper, poured the half-full potion over his head.
Then he tossed the empty bottle to the ground.
The broken, empty bottle shattered with a clang, but his injured face was slow to recover.
Feeling his body heal, the guy raised his double-edged axe and charged at me.
“You’re using a healing potion for ‘games’ and you have the nerve to complain?”
“You, die!”
“Huh, so you’ve decided to kill me?”
I’m not an idiot. What would he do if he actually killed me?
Right now, it could still end as just a scuffle after an argument.
The Association wouldn’t want to make a fuss about an incident in the Tower of Trials, so they’d want to resolve it quietly.
But if he killed me, it wouldn’t just end as a quarrel.
If it ended with his Hunter license being revoked and going to prison for assault and murder, he’d be lucky.
My little brother and friends would do everything in their power to give him the most hellish torment imaginable.
“Shut up!”
Whether he knew it or not, Jisangwook swung his double-edged axe wildly.
The giant axe was swung with such abandon that it was easy to dodge.
I could clearly see where he was aiming.
It seemed I could even counterattack, not just evade.
But I didn’t.
Dodging was too much fun.
Like a child learning a new game they’d never experienced before, I smoothly dodged his fierce attacks.
“Whoosh.”
“Over here.”
“Whoosh!”
“No, over here, I said.”
“Stop moving around!”
I slipped past the diagonal sweep of his double-edged axe and drew closer.
Poking his waist with my ungloved index finger, he let out a weird “Uheung!” sound.
Being able to dodge a B-rank Hunter’s attacks so leisurely was truly a moving experience.
If it had been before pruning, I wouldn’t have been able to avoid that axe.
Back then, I’d probably have just relied on my bark, shocked him by being immune to his attacks, then countered—or gotten hurt attacking recklessly like a moth to a flame.
That’s how it had always been.
“Huff, huff!”
The more he swung his axe, the heavier Jisangwook’s breathing became.
Once again, I felt how powerful pruning was.
It was certainly an experience I never wanted to repeat.
Still, seeing my body move this smoothly, maybe regenerating my limbs wasn’t so bad after all.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ll forgive Deishing for not warning me in advance.
My nightly vow to curse him remains unbroken.
Even at this moment, words of hatred toward him bubble up from deep in my heart.
“Damn rat! Are you just going to keep dodging?!”
“Dodging seems more than enough. Especially seeing you pant like that.”
Hearing that, Jisangwook swung his double-edged axe in a wide arc.
Rather than trying to cut me, it looked like he was trying to push me back to increase the distance.
I watched to see what he was up to, now that he’d put some space between us.
He must have some plan if he wants distance.
He took out a round vial from the magic pouch at his waist.
Inside the opaque glass bottle, an ominous purple liquid sloshed.
Poison? Is he really just going to use poison now?
“…He’s drinking it?”
Jisangwook popped the cork and chugged it down.
The purple liquid quickly disappeared into his mouth.
Given the situation, there’s only one kind of potion worth drinking now.
It must be a buff potion.
Now I understood how he managed to solo the Hallasan Gate with his level of skill.
I frowned exaggeratedly as I watched his eyes turn purple.
“A druggie, huh?”
“……”
To be honest, I called him that just to piss him off.
I don’t think using buff potions is a bad thing.
Unlike steroids, these pure potions have no side effects and are legally recognized by the government. Who am I to criticize?
They’re so expensive I never even thought of buying one, but they’re a good item for supplementing weak physical abilities.
Those who look down on them do so just because the power isn’t ‘pure’.
But if you dislike that, you shouldn’t let mages buff you or use stat-boosting magic items, either.
“That’s the last time you’ll get to act so relaxed.”
Saying that, Jisangwook bit his lower lip.
He wouldn’t want to be seen doping on camera.
Hmm. Unlike earlier, he now looked calmly angry, as if there was no room for leisure.
Maybe he was about 1.5 times stronger than before?
I pulled Arka from the magic pouch at my waist and slung it over my shoulder.
Seeing the giant Arka, Jisangwook laughed at me.
“A wooden sword? What are you going to do with that?”
It’s understandable for him to laugh, since Arka is made of wood.
He has no idea it’s from the World Tree.
“This isn’t a sword.”
“What?”
He frowned at my words, not understanding what I meant.
No matter how you look at it, it looks like a greatsword.
Until I heard from Yu Jaei, I’d thought Arka was just a greatsword, too.
“This guy’s name is Arbor Kapulus.”
“Ar… what?”
“It means ‘sword hilt.’”
“Sword hilt? What the hell are you talking—!”
“The world’s largest, sword hilt…!”
I poured mana into it.
Arka erupted with a blue blade.
Jisangwook gaped, staring blankly at Arka.
The blade, towering three stories high, radiated intimidation just by its presence.
Emboldened by the doping, now many times stronger, Jisangwook charged at me.
Caught up in a sense of invincibility, he shook off the pressure.
The double-edged axe flew at me far faster than before—nothing like his previous attacks.
“…You bastard!”
Yet even so, I could still easily dodge his attacks.
Even facing a doped-up Jisangwook, two or three times faster and stronger, I didn’t feel threatened.
It was because I was holding Arka.
Holding an item from the World Tree activates the World Tree Caretaker’s skill passive, enhancing physical abilities.
Before pruning, I barely felt any significant boost.
But now, I could clearly feel my improved abilities.
“Why?! Why can’t I reach you?!”
Not knowing that, Jisangwook screamed.
Even after doping, he couldn’t get within range of Arka.
Soon, Arka’s blue blade was at Jisangwook’s neck.
He let out a shrill gasp and stumbled back a step.
“Are you going to keep going?”
“…I lost! I lost! So just put that thing away!”
“Yeah, smart move.”
He set down his double-edged axe and readily admitted defeat.
I expected him to kick up a fuss claiming he hadn’t lost yet, but he gave up much sooner than I thought.
Just then, Jisangwook’s eyes went wide and he pointed his finger.
What’s with those eyes, like he just saw something unseeable?
“That, that!”
“……!”
Behind me, something appeared as big as an apartment shopping complex.
An A-rank, one-eyed monster: Cyclops.
It was on a completely different level from the A-rank Watcher, which is looked down on as a glass cannon despite having one eye.
There weren’t even ten Hunters who’d survived an encounter with that thing and not retired, either killed or badly injured.
That’s why its nickname is the “Monster of Wailing.”
Many A-rank Hunters failed to hunt it and weren’t even recognized as proper A-rank Hunters.
“Why the hell did that thing appear—!”
Jisangwook stopped mid-shout and stared at me.
He realized the Cyclops appeared because of me.
The Tower of Trials had judged that I could take it on.
The Cyclops—the very Monster of Wailing that A-rank Hunters feared.
“Me, against that thing…?”
I looked up at the Cyclops with its red eye.
It looked down at me with its single eye, then swung the wooden club in its right hand.
A simple warm-up move.
But the massive wooden club, like the one that formed Arka’s blue blade, struck the ground at a speed incomparable to Jisangwook’s double-edged axe.
It smashed into the earth with an explosion, gouging out a giant crater.
“This bastard!”
It immediately swung its club at me.
As if to say, “That’s the end of my greeting.”
Can I really take this thing down?
Before I even had time to wonder, the fight between me and the Cyclops began.
Woo Chaeyeon knew that Jion was distancing himself from her.
She thought it was because she’d lost control of her emotions and recklessly hunted the surrounding monsters, so he’d avoided her.
Just as she was about to chase after him to apologize, she noticed a man tailing him.
“That man is definitely….”
She remembered he was the one who’d greeted her when she was sitting in the waiting line earlier.
Her life experience told her in an instant that he’d gotten dragged into trouble because of her.
Feeling guilty, she thought of getting rid of the man for him, but stopped when she saw Jion occasionally glancing back.
Jion already knew the man was following him.
Even she, a genius praised for her talent, hadn’t noticed she was being followed until now.
How did he notice and even lure the man?
She decided to watch Jion a little longer.
“…Amazing.”
Chaeyeon, watching him quietly, couldn’t help but admire him honestly.
He skillfully handled an opponent weaker than himself.
It was as if he was teaching the opponent to realize he could never win.
A few minutes later, her admiration turned to shock.
“He blocked the Cyclops’s attack like that?”
Chaeyeon recalled her brother’s words the day she first met Jion: “He never ceases to amaze me.”
He continued to surprise her.
The fact that what she thought was a greatsword turned out to be just a sword hilt was astonishing.
But what truly amazed her was seeing him single-handedly face the Cyclops, the very monster that had forced countless A-rank Hunters into retirement.
Jion blocked the Cyclops’s attack, which dug out a crater like a bomb had gone off, without a scratch.
Even though he must have taken a huge shock blocking it, he immediately rushed in to counterattack.
Watching Baek Dowoon and the Cyclops exchange relentless attacks, she unconsciously muttered a question.
“Jion… Just who is that person, really?”
Chaeyeon couldn’t understand why someone with such skill had remained unknown until now.
There were men known to everyone just for having soloed the Hallasan Gate.
Yet, until her brother mentioned the name Jion, she’d never once heard it.
“There must be a reason.”
Curious, Chaeyeon decided she would have to look into who Jion really was.
One unfortunate thing was, she still didn’t know that his name wasn’t Jion, but Baek Dowoon.