Ch. 44 - Chapter 44

'This is unbelievable...'

The state of the mineral crystals varies depending on the dungeon's difficulty level.

In 1–2-star dungeons, even if you mine hundreds of kilograms, there’s hardly anything useful, whereas dungeons above a certain difficulty are more than half covered with valuable materials.

And the mineral zone of the 7-star dungeon that they entered today was filled with high-quality materials so abundant that it could rightly be called a ‘field of gold’.

However,

Yuk Cheolwan’s hands and feet were frozen like a stone statue.

The only thing moving was his pupils.

And they were fixed on Chun Haesun as he moved around the monsters slicing them.

‘Beautiful……’

Yuk Cheolwan was a warrior before he was a tanker.

He only took on the role of a ‘tanker’ because of his personality and abilities, but he possessed considerable insight when it came to combat.

After all, he too was once a hunter who had exerted considerable strength in ordinary dungeons.

That was why he could be even more certain.

Chun Haesun's movements were on an inexplicable level.

It wasn't just his speed.

Yuk Cheolwan was paying attention to his ‘growth’.

It felt like only yesterday that they had taken down the Purple Scorpion, yet Chun Haesun had already surpassed the movements he showed back then.

Yuk Cheolwan knew all too well how difficult it was for a hunter to develop their abilities.

Once a hunter awakens, further growth becomes difficult without some special methods.

Even if an A-rank knight pours in billions and injects Aether, the increase rate would be less than 3%.

But the current Chun Haesun was different.

He was demonstrating growth that would be impossible even with astronomical amounts of money.

Thud.

He knew that the techniques he used were different from those of a typical Hunter.

That must be why he could slaughter monsters even with a healer's body.

But to be honest, his combat ability was only mediocre.

If it weren’t for that ‘dagger’ that inflicted fatal wounds with just a graze, even Chun Haesun wouldn’t be able to avoid a hard fight.

Thud!!!

But Chun Haesun had changed.

There were no longer any unnecessary movements like before.

His motions were so graceful that they almost looked like a kind of ‘dance’.

Sword dance.

Amidst the towering golems, Chun Haesun’s movements, with no flaw, slaying them with a single strike, were literally a work of art.

‘It’s been over ten years since I became a licensed hunter, but I’ve never seen anyone grow like Hunter Chun Haesun.’

Unaware of Bisu at his side urging him on, Yuk Cheolwan was wholly absorbed in admiring Chun Haesun’s godlike movements.

* * *

I deliberately slashed the golem’s forearm with my first attack.

Crack.

And sure enough, the highly intelligent golems grabbed their own arms and ripped them off.

They must have sensed that the spreading poison was ominous.

Thanks to the ‘Purple Scorpion’, which had once managed to attack even after I cut off its tail, I realized that these creatures, too, had their own kind of ‘countermeasure’.

Slash.

The location of a monster’s core varies greatly from one to another.

However, if they’re of the same ‘species’, their cores are usually found in the same place.

Even when I cut off their arms, legs, and even heads, they would simply cut off the damaged areas and begin regenerating.

After several experiments, I was able to identify the location of the core.

The one place that did not regenerate.

It was the right flank of those creatures.

Whoosh.

Most golems are generally slow in their movements.

Since they can simply regenerate even if they get injured, they adopt a combat style of seizing and crushing their targets in one go, regardless of how many hits they take.

However, this method didn't work on me at all.

Now that I've discovered the location of their cores, they would only suffer 'irreparable wounds'.

Crash.

The sound was much louder than when it stomped my way.

It made sense, since its body, the size of a five-story building, crashed straight into the ground.

Whether they swung their arms as thick as pillars, roared in rage, or collapsed lifelessly to the ground, they scattered thick limestone dust.

Even in their dying moments, they released toxic substances, proving that the unique ability known as ‘Spatial Encroachment’ was not just an empty term.

An average hunter would likely have their lungs hardening without even realizing they were poisoned.

But for this body, the ‘King of Poisons’, not a single hair was harmed.

"Ah, my eyes are stinging."

That was the extent of the impact, just enough to make me rub my eyes.

Swipe.

Leaping from one golem to another, I thrusted Exa into their flanks.

Most hunter devices wouldn't be able to inflict significant damage on these creatures. It would feel like trying to slice through solid concrete with a fruit knife. But a blade formed from 'Black Aether' was a different story.

While it couldn't slice through a golem's body as if it were tofu, it was more than enough to inflict deep wounds.

And even with just that level of injury,

Thud!!

The golems collapsed face-first to the ground.

—Grrrrrrrr!

The last remaining golem let out a roar full of rage.

—Kuwang!

…Why the hell was he crying along with it?

And also with that tiny voice.

But soon, it became clear that Brie’s roar (?) had another meaning.

The roar of the golem was drawing other monsters nearby, one by one.

From low-level mobs that didn’t seem very intelligent to species that looked quite strong,

The golem seemed intent on gathering every monster in this dungeon to fight me.

“Good, saves me some time.”

Swoosh.

I used ‘Poison Steps' to move between the legs of the last remaining golem, then immediately leapt upward and slashed its flank.

It collapsed with a ‘thud’ just like the others, and I poured a massive amount of Aether into Exa, extending the length of the blade.

"Ugh. It feels like cutting through stone."

It seemed like even their insides were made entirely of hard material.

Extracting the cores from all these golems was going to be quite the ordeal.

As the remaining monsters gradually gathered, I extracted a Black Core from the fallen golem.

I spread my palm, placed Exa on it, and set the large Black Core on top.

Holding the core, bigger than a bowling ball, with both hands, I focused my mind.

Sharr.

“Eat as much as you can.”

Some of it went into Exa.

The rest, into my own body.

As I converted the Black Core into Aether, Exa’s blade naturally extended as well.

For a while, the blade kept extending, and Exa shuddered violently.

Was it about to overload?

If I was not careful, Exa would have exploded.

—Kiiiiiiik.

Creatures of various kinds, each making threatening sounds, surround me from all sides.

"All have gathered.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, countless monsters simultaneously spewed toxic poison.

Shoooooo.

"Eek!!"

"Hunter Chun Haesun!!!!”

It seems even the party members, who had been somewhat reassured until now, were shocked by this scene.

And understandably so, since I had just been showered in toxic poison without any protective gear.

The thick smoke created by the toxic poison made it hard to see the monsters clearly.

But it didn't really matter.

After all, I had fed Exa to obliterate everything around me.

I took Exa in a reverse grip and swung it with full force.

The deadliest substance in the world spun like a top, indiscriminately wreaking havoc across the area.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

—Kieeeek!!

I caught Exa, which had spun back to me like a boomerang, and threw it again.

And again, as the blood-soaked Exa returned to me, I hurled it once more.

I repeated the same process until the poisonous mist cleared.

Soon, the fog lifted, leaving only a handful of monsters before my eyes.

“What the hell am I going to do with my clothes?”

Crack.

Since they weren’t crustaceans or golems, it didn’t matter where I struck.

After eliminating the remaining monsters, I wiped the blood off, stained with Black Aether.

“Hunteeeeer!!”

“Don’t come any closer.”

“?!”

“This area right now is the most dangerous place in the world.”

It was where hundreds of poison-type monsters of all kinds had just died.

For an ordinary person, even touching the mist would melt their skin.

“Ugh. This won’t do.”

Bisu took a device out of the bag and activated it.

At first glance, it looked like a small air purifier, but when she pressed the button, the toxic substances around us were sucked into the device.

"Wow..."

I have to admit, the tools from the black market for Poison Dungeons are definitely legit.

There may not be many Poisoners like me, but they were fighting against toxins with their own unique techniques and expertise.

Pshhhik.

“Wow. It must be really potent for this device to give out in less than a minute.”

Bisu clicked her tongue and tapped the device with her foot.

It broke, but thanks to the device, the toxicity had significantly lessened.

“I don’t think we can move like this.”

“I agree.”

Yuk Cheolwan nodded and pulled a fresh set of training clothes from his bag.

Spare clothes are essential when entering a poison dungeon.

“…Could you at least try looking somewhere else for a bit?”

“Why? Can't miss out on such a good show.”

Bisu propped her chin on both hands, wearing a mischievous grin.

She’s the same age as me, but acted as sly and cheeky as a neighborhood uncle.

“Alright. Alright. Miss Bisu. The world may have changed, but let's not forget manners still matter.”

Yuk Cheolwan lifted her out of the way, and only then did I manage to change my clothes.

"...It really is potent."

Seeing the discarded clothes on the floor made me realize once again.

Just how powerful the poison I had been drenched in moments ago really was.

The fibers were so thoroughly damaged that it was almost embarrassing to still call it clothing.

In contrast, I remained completely unscathed.

Even if my internal organs were fine, the fact that even my body hair remained intact was astonishing to me.

It wasn't clear whether it had never been damaged from the start or had been instantly healed.

"This is really horrifying.”

Yuk Cheolwan frowned involuntarily as he looked at the surrounding corpses and my torn clothing.

He had only heard about how toxic it was, but experiencing the environment of a 7-star dungeon firsthand seemed to have completely drained him.

"How much time do we have left?"

"About three hours?"

I spoke to Bisu in a tone that sounded almost like a warning.

"Don't wait around like last time. Gather what you need and head out first. You should already know how dangerous a 7-star dungeon is."

“What do you mean? I haven’t even seen the boss monster yet.”

“Hey. The golems are 6-star difficulty, do you really think the boss will be any weaker?”

“I have to check myself. You know Father’s personality, right?”

"......"

Hmm.

That made sense.

I could already picture what would happen if she reported to Yaksha, ‘It's definitely 7-star! But I haven't confirmed the boss monster!’.

Forget about forgiving the debt, he might just crack her skull open.

“If you feel it’s not safe, run.”

“I’m always doing that, you know? And who knows? I might be of some use to a reckless lone wolf like you.”

“I think it would help a lot even if you just stopped being so cheeky right now.”

“Um…”

In the middle of our bickering, Yuk Cheolwan suddenly cut in.

"Father's personality….. Are you two perhaps in a relationship where you promised a future together......"

“Who told you so?!"

"Nope."

Though our tones were different, we gave the same answer, which seemed to confuse Yuk Cheolwan even more.

Hey.

Don’t get the wrong idea.

“Let’s start moving.”

We gathered the items collected near the entrance along with the Black Cores, then rechecked our equipment.

Having dealt with the dungeon’s guards, all that remained was to infiltrate the enemy’s stronghold.

The old woman who appraised rare herbs at the black market said to me:

“If there’s an Aurum Bloom, there’s no way you wouldn’t know about it.”

Her words were true.

Even when I first entered the dungeon.

Even when the golems’ lime powder tickled my nose.

Even when I was showered with the poisons of monsters of all kinds.

'I can smell it.'

A deadly, alluring fragrance I had never smelled before, tempting me.

Even now, that scent was clearly coming from one direction.

All my senses were whispering to me.

Beyond that hill, the owner of the 7-star dungeon awaited.

And that there was a legendary treasure I had never seen before.

The Eternal Aurum Bloom.

It was definitely there.

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