Boom! Bam!
"What is this…!”
In an instant, the surroundings descended into chaos. The hunters’ eyes went blank, and they began attacking one another.
“Stop it!”
“What on earth are you doing!”
Like Yong-sik, a few hunters who couldn’t receive buffs due to their attributes or other reasons began causing problems. A thicker darkness enveloped their bodies compared to the others. Fortunately, more hunters managed to maintain their sanity, likely thanks to the healers’ buffs.
“Damn it…”
“Grrrr…”
“Urgh…!”
Yong-sik’s fingers dug into my shoulder. Being a dragon, his nails were unusually long—I regretted not cutting them sooner. More importantly, Yong-sik seed excessively agitated. His eyes looked strange, as if he, too, had been consud by the darkness like the other hunters. I looked up at him with unease.
“Yong-sik, stop…!”
“Grrr…”
“Get a hold of yourself!”
I shouted, but it didn’t seem to reach Yong-sik. Shaking his head, he let out a strained sound, as if in pain. I looked at him with concern. It was then.
Wham.
“Yong-sik-ah…!”
Yong-sik’s body was sent flying far away. I watched him for a mont, then stood up, clutching my throbbing shoulder. Soone rushed over to support .
“Yi-jin-ah, are you okay?”
“I-I’m fine.”
It was Eden. Using his wind ability, he had blown Yong-sik away and now fixed a deadly glare in the direction Yong-sik had flown.
“That damn dragon…”
“Ugh.”
“Are you hurt badly? Let see.”
“Ppiik! Ppik!”
Eden looked at my wound with concern, but there was no ti for that. Yong-sik let out a fierce growl, as if warning us. To make matters worse, most of the raid mbers were high-ranked, which ant the hunters consud by darkness were also high-ranked. Stopping their rampage would not be an easy task.
“Let’s retreat for now.”
“Yes.”
Eden nodded and wrapped his arm around my waist. In an instant, we lifted into the air. Holding Yong-sun in my arms, I looked down from above and soon spotted Do-gyul not far away.
“Do-gyul-ah!”
“Hyung…”
“Are you okay? You’re not hurt?”
“I’m fine.”
Fortunately, Do-gyul was safe. Yong-sun, clinging tightly to , spewed fire to block the barrage of erratic attack skills scattering across the dungeon. Thanks to that, I was able to quickly pull Do-gyul into my arms. At my signal, Eden swiftly used his ability to carry us out of the battlefield. I looked at the raid, which had plunged into chaos in an instant, with a vacant expression.
What should I do now? No matter how uncontrollable they were, I couldn’t kill fellow hunters. At the sa ti, if I pushed them to the point where they couldn’t use their abilities, it would weaken our overall strength, and we wouldn’t be able to continue the dungeon run. Perhaps that was why Kang Yoo-hyun was only blocking the attacks of the hunters consud by darkness, without actually fighting them. The other hunters were doing the sa.
“Damn it.”
Biting my lip in frustration, I frowned. If it had been a monster, I could have just killed it. But I couldn’t end things so easily when an ally was being controlled. Could sothing like this have happened in the original story as well? Was that why so few hunters had been left when they faced the boss monster?
The realization hit late, making my head throb. Even after seeing the vision from the original story, I had been complacent, assuming that with just my auxiliary skill, we could have cleared it easily. And once again, I had made a mistake.
Boom!
"Ugh…!”
"Eden…!”
Eden couldn’t dodge the barrage of attack skills and was hit. Struggling in the air, he let out a pained groan. In the end, we crashed to the ground.
“Stay with , Eden!
“Ugh… Yi-jin-ah.”
Thanks to Eden pushing himself to the very limit, Do-gyul and I remained unhard. Instead, Eden was covered in blood. Acting quickly, I opened my inventory and took out a potion.
“Hurry, drink this…! Kugh…!”
Boom! Kaboom!
Amid the relentless rain of attacks, my movents were completely restricted. The defensive gear I had put on was the only thing keeping from a fatal hit. But at this rate, I wouldn’t last much longer. Holding Do-gyul close, I pulled Eden in as well.
At the very least, I needed another hunter’s help to protect us until this chaos passed. But that was easier said than done in the middle of it—all formation had collapsed, and rampaging hunters were recklessly unleashing their skills without restraint.
“Kugh, Yong-sun-ah…!”
“Ppiiik…!”
Yong-sun couldn’t block all the attacks on her own. Letting out a strained cry, she unleashed a powerful burst of flas. Cracks began forming in the protective shield created by the armor item. One more hit and it would break completely. Frantically rummaging through my inventory, I wore a blank expression. Finally, the shield gave way under the barrage of attack skills. At the sa ti, a deafening roar rang in my ears.
“Roarrr!”
“…!”
Startled, I turned my head. It was a sound I recognized from sowhere. As I looked, a massive dragon let out a deafening roar.
"Yong-sik-ah…!”
Yong-sik had transford into his true form, just like the form he had taken in the Sæ Dungeon. Startled, I called out his na as I stared at him in his dragon form. His fierce gaze, which had been scanning the surroundings, locked onto .
“Grrrrr…”
“…!”
A low growl escaped from Yong-sik’s open mouth. I felt the hairs on my body stand on end. I froze in place, like a mouse cornered by a cat.
“Han Yi-jin!”
“Hunter Han Yi-jin!”
“Ah…”
The two of them stepped in front of as I stood frozen in tension. It was Kang Yoo-hyun and Sung Yoo-bin. Even amid the chaos, they were unhard. The mont they saw I was safe, they turned their heads toward Yong-sik, whose piercing gaze was fixed on us.
“Even the S-class dragon has turned aggressive.”
“If we don’t stop it quickly, the damage will only get worse. We don’t have enough healers or potions to counter the S-class poison.”
Sung Yoo-bin, who had once suffered badly from Yong-sik’s poison in the Sæ Dungeon, spoke in a calm voice. In this situation, Yong-sik’s rampage was an even greater threat than the other high-ranking hunters. I knew that better than anyone. But still…
I gritted my teeth. I knew I should stay back and let Kang Yoo-hyun and Sung Yoo-bin handle Yong-sik. Logically, that was the right choice. Yet, in the end, I couldn’t hold myself back and moved toward them.
“Han Yi-jin, stay away from your summon and stick close to hunters with defensive skills.”
“That’s right. We’ll hold back the rampaging hunters as much as we can, so…”
"Wait a minute."
“…?”
Sung Yoo-bin gave a puzzled look. Flas blazed around her, fully prid for battle. Kang Yoo-hyun was no different—he looked ready to charge at Yong-sik at any mont. I swallowed hard and spoke.
"Well, Yong-sik is…”
“Ppiiik!”
“Ugh…!”
Boom!
Another attack skill exploded nearby. Yong-sun blocked it just in ti, but the impact was brutal. As I staggered, a sharp, piercing sound rang out.
"Kyaaak!"
“…!”
An agitated Yong-sik opened his mouth. Could he be planning to unleash his Breath here? I, who had been trying to stop Kang Yoo-hyun and Sung Yoo-bin, stared at Yong-sik in shock.
“Damn it!”
Kang Yoo-hyun clicked his tongue and stepped in front of . It was already too late to stop Yong-sik from unleashing his Breath. At that mont, a green-tinged poisonous Breath spewed from Yong-sik’s mouth.
“Kuaghhh!”
“Arghh!”
“…?”
I had my eyes closed, but sothing felt wrong. It made sense that I didn’t feel any pain because Kang Yoo-hyun was blocking the attack, but sohow the screams were coming from the wrong direction.
“…!”
I opened my eyes and lifted my head, only to be t with an unexpected sight. Yong-sik was unleashing his Breath without aim, hitting everything in his path. All the hunters who got hit or took damage were possessed by darkness and went berserk.
“This is….”
“It seems he considers the hunters who hard you—his master—as enemies. He doesn’t seem to be in his right mind, though.”
“Yong-sik-ah….”
Kang Yoo-hyun spoke in a calm voice. I stared blankly at Yong-sik, who was clearly enraged. Then, regaining my composure, I turned my gaze to Kang Yoo-hyun.
“But if he keeps firing his poisonous Breath, other hunters will get caught up in it too.”
"That's…!”
In the end, they ant to stop Yong-sik by force. If we attacked him the mont the hunters possessed by darkness beca incapable of fighting, the situation might stabilize quickly. But that would leave Yong-sik gravely injured at Kang Yoo-hyun’s hands. Even if it was the right thing to do, I couldn’t bring myself to tell them to do it. It was then that I stepped forward to stop Kang Yoo-hyun.
“…Hyung.”
“Do-gyul-ah.”
Before I knew it, Do-gyul had approached and grabbed the hem of my clothes. I looked down at him, startled.
“It’s dangerous here, so stay over there with Yong-sun, okay?”
“I… think I can do it.”
“What?”
For a mont, I didn’t understand what Do-gyul ant and tilted my head. Then he spoke again, this ti more clearly.
“I think I can stop Yong-sik and the other hunters.”
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