Chapter 110. The Veteran’s Request (4)
Seo-Jun Ho’s body flew upward. Black Armor protected his body, but he could still feel the pain on his face. As his body flew through the air and into a pillar in the back, he only had one thought.
‘It’s fast and strong…’
He was someone who had taken down the Castellan Kis Bremen as well as the High Ranker fiend Kal Signer, and his confidence had increased as a result. He had thought that no one on the 2nd floor could defeat him, except the High Rankers.
‘Was I too arrogant?’
The monster in front of him, the Blood Kobold Champion, was powerful. The Frost Queen would probably be mad if he said this, but it was definitely stronger than Kis Bremen. Though, he supposed it wasn’t a fair comparison because the latter had been in a weakened state.
“Seo Jun-Ho!” Hakan’s cry ripped through his thoughts.
Boom!
He felt a ma.s.sive impact on his back as he struck a pillar.
“Ugh.” He immediately stood back up and dashed forward without a moment to rest.
Crash!
The pillar collapsed behind him.
This was the result of the Blood Kobold Champion’s unfettered kick.
“What’s with the rush?!”
“Grr…Grrrrrr…” Demonic energy flowed from its body.
Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes narrowed as he studied it. “Wait, life force?”
Life force was the inherent energy that every living thing was born with. It was more powerful than any other energy source, but once it was gone, you would die. Even using a tiny amount left heavy side effects. It could make you go insane, disable your body, or even make it impossible to use magic. Magic and demonic energy were merely diluted versions of this tremendous power.
‘Even those crazy fiends don’t use life force. But it’s using it like it’s nothing…’
Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes furrowed.
‘A monster like this can’t be natural.’
Nothing like this had ever been recorded in the 25 years, and even the Big 6’s doc.u.ments didn’t mention anything similar.
‘Someone made this for a reason…’
It was obvious who it was. Since the haughty demonic clans had no interest in experiments like this…
‘I bet it’s the Fiend a.s.sociation.’
They were crazy, after all. Those were the same people who had sacrificed thousands of children to try and make a copycat of himself.
Seo Jun-Ho had to find out what they were up to. But for now, there were more pressing matters.
‘I can’t let my guard down.’
He was essentially fighting a 1-star boss monster. He could feel the sheer power of the Blood Kobold Champion’s demonic energy and life force filling the room.
‘This is gonna be annoying.’
But time was on his side. After all, the monster was burning through years of its life to use that kind of ridiculous power.
“Come at me, puppy.” He gestured with his finger, and the Blood Kobold Champion rushed over.
“Hup!” He thrust his halberd forward like a spear to fend it off. But the Blood Kobold Champion had already lost all reason, and it didn’t stop even as the weapon pierced through its abdomen.
“What kind of an idiot?!”
Keeeeeek!
Its sharp claws tore across his chest plate. He sensed danger as the Blood Kobold Champion moved forward and swung its arms randomly, but Seo Jun-Ho wasn’t the type of person to just sit down and take a beating.
“You wanna play dirty? Fine.”
Seo Jun-Ho dug his heel into the monster’s right foot so that it couldn’t move and pushed the halberd even deeper.
Fwoosh!
A large amount of blood started to flow from the wound.
He had activated Cruel Executioner’s ‘Bleeding.’
‘But that’s not all…’
The Blood Kobold Champion’s blood had thoroughly soaked the blade.
“Ah, that feels good.” Blood Pact had also been activated. Seo Jun-Ho felt his stamina rushing back. And thanks to the effects of Bringer of Spring and the Blue Fairy Bracelet, his stamina, and magic regeneration rate had also increased by 600%.
‘I can use Blood Pact to the fullest.’
A large pool of blood was forming around the Blood Kobold Champion’s feet, but the pain only made it attack even more fiercely.
Woosh! Woooosh!
It was undeniably strong and fast, but all it did was pummel its fists forward like an upset child. Seo Jun-Ho was able to dodge all its attacks by moving his body swiftly like a boxer while reaching into his inventory at the same time.
Click.
He held up a Glock 17 that had been specifically made for monsters and pulled the trigger without a moment’s hesitation. Of course, normal bullets wouldn’t be able to pierce through its thick hide, so he enhanced them with magic.
Boom!
The force behind the bullet changed. But that wasn’t all…
‘Spiral...’
He had used Gunman Gilberto Green’s signature technique. The bullet ripped through the air and started to spin, roaring like the blades of a helicopter. Seo Jun-Ho fired seventeen bullets in total, all aimed toward its heart.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He fired consecutively, handling the recoil perfectly each time.
“It hurts, doesn’t it?” They were now close enough to hear each other’s breaths. The seventeen spinning bullets had torn through the Blood Kobold Champion’s hide, and blood started to spill from its chest.
‘But it’s still not enough…’
Seo Jun-Ho didn’t know what the monster was made of, but the seventeen bullets still hadn’t been enough to reach its heart. Still, he considered the attack a success.
“Kiiiiiaaaaak!” The Blood Kobold Champion was already half out of its mind, but now it started to thrash even more violently. It wanted to retreat, but Seo Jun-Ho was still holding it down with his foot.
“Weren’t you the one who wanted to play dirty?”
“Grrrr!” The monster growled as it bared its teeth. Despite the open wounds in its abdomen and chest, it could still move as if it wasn’t injured.
‘It has so much stamina…’
But that was to be expected. After all, it was using both demonic energy and life force. Seo Jun-Ho slowly clenched his fists as he stared at it.
“The bullets didn’t work.”
Pow!
He landed a magically-enhanced uppercut square in its jaw.
“But maybe my fists will…”
The strike had shaken its inner ear, causing it to lose its balance. Seo Jun-Ho took the chance to pummel it even more.
Bam! Bam!
The brutal sound of fists. .h.i.tting flesh rang throughout the room.
‘Let’s see how much longer you last.’
He concentrated his strikes on just one spot—its chest, which had already been hit with seventeen bullets. All that was left for him to do was to shatter its ribs and crush its heart.
“Kiaaaaaaak!”
Being hit in a place that was already hurting meant that it would hurt even more. The Blood Kobold Champion doubled over as it tried to protect its heart, but even as it did so, it opened its reeking mouth in an attempt to rip off Seo Jun-Ho’s head. It seemed like it had finally realized that swinging its fists had no effect.
“You want a taste of this? See if you can!” Seo Jun-Ho bent backward and spun his body around, using the momentum to land a spinning kick into its nose.
“Kiaaaak! Krrrr! Grrrr!”
The Blood Kobold Champion covered its nose and quickly retreated. Or rather, it tried to…
“Have you forgotten already?” Seo Jun-Ho’s foot was still holding it down.
“Grrrr!” The Blood Kobold Champion swung its left leg upward to kick him away, but Seo Jun-Ho had been waiting for this moment.
‘Got you.’
His eyes flashed as he blocked the kick with his elbow and rushed forward.
Crash!
The Blood Kobold Champion lost its balance and fell onto its back. Seo Jun-Ho jumped on top of it and started the pummeling once more.
‘Straight, straight, straight, straight!’
Most boxers jabbed with their left hand and hit a straight with their right, but being a Player, Seo Jun-Ho only hit straights with both fists. He continued to punch into the monster’s face and ribs without a moment of rest.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
The sounds of his a.s.sault were barbaric, it was almost as if he was tenderizing meat.
“...”
Eventually, he could no longer hear the Blood Kobold Champion’s ragged breaths. Seo Jun-Ho finally stopped.
“Phew…”
He had called it ‘playing dirty,’ but it had been a one-sided ma.s.sacre. Even if a monster had an overwhelming amount of demonic energy and life force, it was still a monster in the end.
‘You can’t defeat a professional monster hunter like me…’
Seo Jun-Ho was so hot that he could almost see steam rolling off his body from the aftereffects of Booster. He lay down on the floor.
Shhhh.
The Frost Queen spread a light layer of frost across his skin to cool him down.
“Thanks, Frost.”
Hakan hurried over and pressed a hand to Seo Jun-Ho’s forehead, which made his eyes go wide. He pulled his hand away as if he had been scalded.
“Y-You’re burning up! What the h.e.l.l happened?” he asked.
“...Don’t worry about it. It happens every time I fight.”
Hakan didn’t ask any further. Players always had mysterious techniques.
“At least, have some cold water,” he offered.
“Ah, thank you.” Seo Jun-Ho looked a little more alive after he guzzled it down.
Several congratulatory messages popped up in front of him.
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[All stats increased by 3.]
[3 strength stats has been recovered.]
[3 speed stats has been recovered.]
[Strength has increased by 3 because of Limit Breaker’s effect.]
‘Ooh, three in one.’
He had received significantly more EXP from a single monster than he had from eighty blood kobolds. Considering that you needed more EXP the higher your level got, the EXP he had obtained just now was immense.
‘But still, it isn’t surprising…’
Even a four-person party made up of level 90 Players would have had trouble killing the Blood Kobold Champion.
Seo Jun-Ho gave a satisfied smile when he saw his status window, which now read ‘level 43.’
“Hup!” He stood back up and turned his head. His eyes landed on the platinum sarcophagus in the middle of the room.
“So that’s the Five-Colored G.o.ddess Statue,” Seo Jun-Ho remarked.
“...Can I touch it?” Hakan asked.
“Pfft! Why are you asking me? It’s yours.” Seo Jun-Ho shed Black Armor and breathed in the cool, fresh air. Hakan looked like he was barely suppressing a smile as he nodded. “Thank you. Truly, thank you.” He approached the platinum sarcophagus and carefully lifted the statue.
Feeling refreshed, Seo Jun-Ho picked up Cruel Executioner from the ground and walked over to Hakan.
“Besides the G.o.ddess Statue, there are a lot of gemstones and gold. It’s all yours,” Hakan said.
“Shall we take a look?” Seo Jun-Ho went to check his spoils, and he was pleased to find a pile of sparkling gemstones and gold coins. “Just who was Shafirim? His tomb is so fancy.”
“He was a prolific thief. He designed his tomb himself before he died, actually.”
“...Impressive.” The treasure was easily worth tens of gold. Seo Jun-Ho gulped, excited.
“Hm?” He tilted his head as something caught his eye. It was a blue rock that shone faintly in the dark. He picked it up. “A rock…? Item information.”
His eyes widened when the window appeared before him.