Chapter 388: Markus (2) |
【Jeokran】
He chose Jeokran.
The only way to instantly break out of a charge-and-collide situation like that was a teleport-type move.
The moment he activated the skill, red flowers bloomed across the ground, and he completed the move by selecting one of them.
It was a good thing he used Jeokran without hesitation—if he’d been even half a beat late, he would’ve been hit.
‘Spatial distortion…… Considering Markus is a Divine Soldier that’s close to a spirit-body, that attack might be a containment strike that separates flesh and soul the instant it connects.’
He hadn’t taken it directly, so it was only a hypothesis, but if it became reality, it would be horrific.
There were a few methods mentioned in the original story for returning a separated soul to its rightful place, but— even the protagonist, Jang Si-hwan, had never experienced it personally. He’d only heard it secondhand through companions.
Right. It was foreshadowing: he knew it existed, but he didn’t know the exact process.
When red flowers bloomed everywhere, Markus tilted his head with a curious expression.
Park Dong-jae, watching from behind, wore the same expression. He didn’t touch any flowers at random, though.
‘No point dragging this out.’
The more Markus understood Jeokran’s structure and effect, the less meaning the skill had as a variable generator.
Kang-hoo, who had been silently staring at Markus, vanished from his line of sight.
-Hm?
Markus lost him.
As he was about to swing his axe to probe what kind of trick it was, something unexpected happened.
Thnk……!
-Guh!
A black spike punched through his back, then pierced straight through his abdomen and burst out the front.
Thorn Hell.
The spike began at Kang-hoo’s fingertips—Kang-hoo had used Jeokran to teleport behind Markus.
Markus lowered his gaze and let out a hollow chuckle at the sight of himself skewered on the spike like meat on a skewer.
He had taken damage, yes— but he didn’t feel pain.
Even the sound he’d made just now was closer to a reflexive exclamation, as if something heavy and stiff had abruptly pressed into his belly.
Grrk. Grrrk.
Gripping the spike with both hands, Markus moved his body forward and started pulling himself off it—without changing his expression even once.
“……”
He’d expected it, but— seeing Markus calmly try to free himself from the spike still felt strangely wrong.
Wasn’t it Thorn Hell?
Time that should have been hellish pain wasn’t affecting Markus at all.
‘Just because he can’t feel pain doesn’t mean his body is fine.’
He saw the essence.
Did he feel pain? No.
Was he uninjured? Also no.
If he was truly wounded, there were plenty of ways to worsen the damage early.
For example—
【Blood Flower】
A flower of blood.
Puh-puh-puh-PUNG!
The blood explosions that erupted from both his back and abdomen made Markus’s body jolt like an inflatable doll.
-Not a chance!
Markus had read the play—Kang-hoo was trying to rush in during the moment his defenses would be weakest.
Even as his body jolted from the explosions, Markus squeezed his hammer hard and took a stance like he was charging something.
Usually, that meant he was about to throw force in all directions without delicate calculation—just to keep the enemy from approaching.
Quick-witted Park Dong-jae had already retreated far back and was holding up a talisman, without Kang-hoo needing to say a word.
When Kang-hoo asked before, Dong-jae said it had a very long cooldown, but it would definitely protect him once.
‘Dong-jae is fine.’
Nothing else to worry about. Now he only had to take care of his own body.
Markus’s movements were big.
And there was another Jeokran flower blooming between them—a strategically perfect picture.
Whooom!
The crude hammer swing aimed for Kang-hoo. At that moment, Kang-hoo was closing in.
He trusted Jeokran’s 0.3 seconds of invincibility— and used that perfectly guaranteed sliver of time as a chance to land a hit on Markus.
【Black Moon Slash】
In an exchange of blows, being able to focus purely on offense was an enormous advantage.
Hmph.
Markus snorted at the sight of Kang-hoo, who looked utterly unprepared to defend.
Attack versus attack.
Was he going to endure strength with strength?
Markus didn’t know what Kang-hoo was thinking, but he was certain it was a foolish move.
The next moment—
KWAANG!
With a roar like space tearing open, a violent wind that started from Markus’s hammer swallowed Kang-hoo.
Tap.
Right on cue, Kang-hoo stepped on Jeokran, and his entire body was wrapped in red energy. It lasted only an instant.
At the same time, the Black Moon Slash strike launched from his dagger tip slammed into Markus. It was an inescapable offensive.
Sluuurrk.
-……?
Markus’s eyes filled with question marks.
“Hah.”
This time, Kang-hoo was the one who snorted.
It didn’t take long for either of them to realize the result.
Unlike Kang-hoo, standing there with an impassive face, Markus looked down—and his expression stiffened.
Black Moon Slash had bored a clean hole through the center of his chest, leaving a refreshing wind-tunnel. He could practically feel air seeping through it.
“I like guys like you. The ones who don’t run, don’t retreat, and face me honestly.”
Kang-hoo spoke while Markus stared in stunned confusion.
The aesthetics of a split second.
Special skills with finicky conditions that, once achieved even once, paid off in huge returns.
Kang-hoo liked high-risk, high-return skills like Jeokran.
If he trusted himself to use them, he could counterattack in moments the opponent couldn’t predict.
Even attempting it felt good—and it also let him land a lethal blow like this.
Pointing his blade at Markus, Kang-hoo added calmly—
“Let’s see how much longer you can hold out. A Divine Soldier that threw away something like a warm heart long ago—let’s see how long its lifespan really is.”
At the same time.
“Wow…….”
Park Dong-jae stared in awe at Kang-hoo’s counterplay—too perfect to call mere wit.
It didn’t look like improvisation. It felt like a meticulously designed trap from the start.
He’d been wondering how Kang-hoo would handle that hulking spirit-body, and Kang-hoo had exploited an opening with a bizarre skill.
No matter how he thought about it, Kang-hoo had definitely become “invincible” for an instant—an extremely short instant.
【How interesting.】
‘You think so too, Constellation-nim?’
【Even while facing a Divine Soldier, that contractor never panicked once from start to finish.】
Park Dong-jae was in conversation with his contracted constellation, Descent of Dark Heavens.
Despite the name dripping with yin energy, it spoke kindly, and it listened well too.
When he was alone, Park Dong-jae got lonely easily, so it was also a good conversational partner.
‘Hyung is incredible. He didn’t allow Markus to land a single hit.’
【I already acknowledged his skill from the beginning, so that’s one thing. But that contractor seems to know more than you’d expect.】
‘Huh?’
【Think carefully. From the moment you entered this dungeon, didn’t you feel something was off?】
At Descent of Dark Heavens’s words, Park Dong-jae’s memory rewound.
Had he felt any discomfort while with Kang-hoo? No. Everything had flowed perfectly, like water.
‘No—wait. That’s it. We never got lost in a dungeon we’d never been to, did we? There wasn’t a single moment we had to think.’
Perfection.
That was what was strange.
Even though they’d entered a dungeon that had appeared out of nowhere, there wasn’t even the usual “getting lost.”
Instead, Kang-hoo moved through it with familiarity beyond even a dungeon he visited often.
It had all been so natural that Park Dong-jae hadn’t felt the strangeness. Thinking back, it was strange by definition.
‘Everything is strange.’
【Right. He knows a dungeon he’s never been to far too well. And you, and I—we’re fighting a Divine Soldier we’ve never seen before without panicking. We’ve even secured perfect strategic superiority.】
‘Wow…… you’re right.’
【He is a contractor with abilities beyond what you can imagine. Remember it well. You must never let a contractor like that slip away.】
Descent of Dark Heavens always built up Park Dong-jae’s confidence by telling him his contractor was the best.
But today, it evaluated Kang-hoo like it was looking up at a sky-high existence—raising his value judgment, almost reverently.
Park Dong-jae, who always listened carefully to Descent of Dark Heavens, couldn’t ignore those words.
Then it added—
【It’s not just his individual ability. The level of the constellation backing him is not ordinary.】
‘Can you tell who it is?’
【Identifying a constellation within the vast Grand Temple is like finding a needle in a sand field. But—】
‘But?’
【No constellation would refuse a contractor with that level of ability. Especially upper-ranked constellations who want to raise their own prestige.】
‘Can’t you figure it out, Constellation-nim?’
【That would be an act that violates the Grand Temple’s order. The moment you attempt it, it is eternal annihilation. It’s not a matter of opening and closing a door.】
‘Ah. I misspoke.’
【Naturally. You didn’t know.】
‘If even a picky constellation like you acknowledges him, then hyung’s ability really is…….’
【Holding tight to a solid rope is also a skill. Then at least you won’t fall.】
Descent of Dark Heavens’s realistic advice.
It didn’t make him feel bad, and it didn’t make him sink into self-loathing because he was inferior to Kang-hoo.
From the start, Kang-hoo had always been someone Park Dong-jae admired.
His lifesaver, a hunter he wanted to look up to, and a stimulant that endlessly gave him things to think about as a buffer.
Once, Kang-hoo had told him about a Japanese hunter named An Yeong-ho.
That man had called himself “a Kang-hoo admirer,” and Park Dong-jae understood a hundred times over why that happened.
Then—
Keuk.
Koo-woong!
Markus, unable to break the vicious cycle of injuries that began with Black Moon Slash, collapsed with a dying scream.
As its soul slowly scattered and oxidized, it was clearly meeting its end as a spirit-body.
【A golden lifeline.】 Descent of Dark Heavens’s words made Park Dong-jae nod.
He reaffirmed his resolve.
He would seize and hold tight the “dedicated buffer” position Kang-hoo still didn’t have—and never let anyone else take it.
He would constantly prove his value to Kang-hoo. There wasn’t a second to waste.
The moment Markus’s breath ended,
Kang-hoo felt Infernus, tucked inside his clothes, react.
It reacted violently, as if it had something it wanted to announce even if it had to shake the entire talisman.
When he pulled it out and gripped it in his hand, a booming voice rang inside his head as if he were hearing a transmission.
【A message left by the constellation ‘Wind of the God’ is delivered to Infernus.】
【I will never forgive anyone who tries to touch forbidden secrets.
Everything shall be fulfilled according to that One’s will—according to the wind. Let every obstacle that blocks the path be erased.】
‘A constellation’s message…… If it’s shadowboxing alone like this, it looks like it can’t identify me specifically.’
It left words in anger at him touching a Divine Soldier, but it didn’t seem able to track the target.
If so—
then Infernus wasn’t an object left behind by the Demon King or Wind of the God, but a medium that connected to them.
Perhaps it was one of the possessions they didn’t want to lose.
Right then—
“Hm?”
Markus’s soul, which had been dispersing weakly, began to gather toward Infernus. It was a sudden change.