Chapter 401: Hostile Trade (1) |
“Charge? Or harass?”
“Just harass.”
In response to Ayane’s question, Kang-hoo told her the position he wanted.
A charge meant pushing together into a brawl and aiming to shave down as much health as possible.
Harassment meant Ayane focused only on covering Kang-hoo, while Kang-hoo himself controlled the flow of the fight.
She already knew that the success rate was higher when Kang-hoo set the board than when she tried to take the lead herself.
So she didn’t get greedy.
A defining trait of dungeons like the Golden Triangle was that the middle boss and main boss monsters were tricky.
High risk, high return—true enough. That was why they had to be careful every moment.
It was something she repeated out of habit, but this time she truly had to stay tense.
【Wall of Perfection】
Tap-tap-tap-tap.
Kang-hoo pulled out the safest option.
Approaching while raising Wall of Perfection. It was useful because he could block any attack first, then respond.
If it had a downside, it was that it made it harder to be aggressive.
Since it was a wall raised with his left arm, his operational range was limited.
Just as I expected!
Fredo spat out words Kang-hoo couldn’t parse and thrust his right hand forward.
At first, it looked like an ordinary human hand—but that was a mistake. It was mechanized.
True to the epithet Mad Scientist, he had apparently modified his own hand. At a glance, it was flawless.
Thwoong!
A colorless sphere launched from Fredo’s right hand and flew straight at him.
It was transparent, so it had no visible color, but its path could be seen through the distortion it caused.
It resembled an energy blast, so Kang-hoo judged he could block it easily with Wall of Perfection, but—
‘What do you mean, “as expected”…?’
Kooong!
‘Ugh!’
The moment the sphere collided with the wall, Kang-hoo’s body was helplessly lifted into the air.
Despite how it looked, the impact energy packed into that sphere was tremendous.
Wall of Perfection didn’t break, but the recoil transferred through the wall and launched Kang-hoo himself.
He tried to regain balance midair, but his body had floated too low at an awkward angle to recover cleanly.
In the end—
Hssst! Hssst! Hssssst!
He barely managed to plant both feet and brake, but sand sprayed everywhere, and some even got into his mouth.
“Been a while since I ate dirt.”
Kang-hoo gave a bitter smile.
It was the first time he’d tasted gritty sand since escaping Cheongmyeong Detention Center.
True to a middle boss monster, Fredo’s attack was only a single strike—but it was extremely powerful.
In the meantime—
Bang…!
Ayane fired a snipe at Fredo with the gunshot—
Kooong!
—but his response, deploying a barrier in that direction, blocked it.
The barrier looked like condensed mana formed into a single plane—like a shield skill from a magic-type hunter.
“Fck! Fcking—!”
He heard Ayane cursing behind him.
It was so raw, and in a hoarse voice he’d never heard from her before, that a laugh burst out of him.
Before entering the dungeon, when Ayane coached him on a sniper’s mindset—
Keeping calm is important. Even for your next shot, it’s better not to get emotionally dragged around.
…she had said that, but even for the “teacher,” practicing it was apparently difficult.
‘If this is how it’s going, I can’t approach comfortably with Wall of Perfection anymore. Defense stopped being defense.’
He removed Wall of Perfection from his options. If it got neutralized like this, there was no point raising it.
【Illusion Arts】
【Shadow Step】
【Clone Technique】
So he returned to his signature early skirmish routine.
【Leap】
He layered Leap on top, making it hard for Fredo to lock onto him as an easy target.
Kang-hoo had known from the start that illusion, shadow, and clones wouldn’t create meaningful confusion for Fredo.
What he wanted to see was Fredo’s reaction.
Usually, when you used vision-disruption skills, the opponent would pull out a powerful skill to erase the variable quickly.
Sure enough—
Kugugugu.
When Fredo pressed his palm to the dirt, the mana in the surrounding area immediately began to surge violently.
The vibration swelled as if he’d created an artificial shockwave, and it erased both the illusion and the shadow at once.
The clone held out a bit longer, but it too was swallowed by the shockwave and vanished.
‘He’s good at controlling mana—especially the ambient mana around him, even more than his own.’
The first probing phase ended.
Bang!
In the meantime, Ayane took another snipe, but just like before, it was blocked by a barrier.
If it stayed like this, attacks that gave Fredo time to think were worthless.
Whether offense, defense, or shutting down angles—he built his counters by manipulating mana.
They had to push him so hard that he couldn’t even think of responses, and only then could they create gaps in his reaction.
In broad terms, Kang-hoo judged Fredo to be closer to a ranged damage dealer than a close-range type.
Fredo’s bulky look had made Kang-hoo keep his assumptions wide, but now he could narrow them.
He glanced back slightly.
Ayane was shifting her point again and preparing to snipe.
Even though her first two shots had been blocked, she looked unfazed.
Even if Fredo had blocked successfully, he kept tracking her position. That meant she was getting under his skin.
That alone meant Ayane’s value was already fully realized.
Kang-hoo decided the probing phase was over, and he sharply changed the shape of the battle.
【Curtain of Artifice】
【Stealth】
He entered invisibility.
【You create a transparent curtain within a radius of 11m.】
【Within it, the user gains Absolute Stealth and cannot be detected by any sensing ability.】
【However, if you leave the curtain, the stealth effect ends immediately, the curtain disappears, and you gain 2 seconds of movement speed increased by 2x.】
Curtain of Artifice itself granted Absolute Stealth, but he layered Stealth on top of it once more.
That way, even if he left the curtain, his stealth wouldn’t immediately break.
Of course, he could still be exposed by detection abilities, but it delayed the timing by half a beat to a full beat.
“……”
Hidden in a world where nothing could be seen, Kang-hoo held his breath and watched Fredo.
He could have closed in right away, but he didn’t—because he wanted to see Fredo’s options.
The longer time passed, the more the one who had already revealed more cards tended to become disadvantaged in both attack and defense.
Since Kang-hoo held an overwhelming advantage in the breadth of skills he possessed, he judged the trade worthwhile.
You should know I’m not the sort to fall for cheap tricks. Foolishness always comes with a price!
As if being a chatterbox was part of his concept, Fredo kept prattling nonstop as he retreated.
Smoke vented from the front of his body as he slid backward, making it clear he had some kind of propulsion device.
At the same time, the hoses that had been plugged into the ground were yanked free.
Those hoses were probably a device to draw out vitality from beneath the earth—earth-force.
He was using all kinds of organic matter as an energy source. Kang-hoo didn’t know how efficient it was, but it was apparently possible.
Right then—
Kiiiii! Kiiiii!
“…?”
A mechanical sound came from the hilltop that had looked empty just moments ago.
“Bombardment! There’s a mana-cannon emplacement!”
It was a blind spot Kang-hoo couldn’t see from here, but Ayane in the rear filled that gap.
The “price” Fredo had just babbled about was probably remote fire support.
Put another way, it was what Fredo was relying on.
If that was the plan, then rather than trying to evade bombardment, charging and accepting risk was the better play.
Evasion was too easy a choice.
There was no way Fredo, who had prepared the field like this, hadn’t anticipated evasion.
If he’d anticipated it, that was the light version—there was a high chance he’d also prepared a sharp trap for it.
【Sacred Leap】
Whooooo…
Kang-hoo planted both feet hard and entered the preparation stance for Sacred Leap.
【To increase leap distance, a set period of ‘Leap Standby’ and an investment of mana are required.
However, you can leap a great distance at once in proportion to mana, and the limit is theoretically unlimited.】
Unlike basic Leap, Sacred Leap could produce extreme results if he had the mana to pour in—and the time.
Boom! BOOM! Boom!
Mana shells arced from the hilltop and flew toward Kang-hoo—
“……”
—but he waited as long as possible.
And just as the shells peaked and began tipping downward toward the ground—!
PAAANG!
Kang-hoo’s body sprang like a coiled spring, releasing the maximum propulsion he could gather in this moment.
…Huh?
Fredo’s head tilted diagonally.
He’d thought he’d pulled back far enough, but the distance between him and Kang-hoo collapsed in an instant—absurdly fast.
It didn’t feel like Kang-hoo was “closing in,” but like the space between them had been folded, like a blink.
Even so, it was still within a distance where Fredo could respond.
Right then—
Urk!
As if yanked by the collar,
Fredo’s neck and head snapped sharply backward as his body was dragged forward.
He hadn’t expected it at all—flailing both arms in the air in an ugly panic.
‘Got him.’
Meanwhile,
Kang-hoo smiled as he watched Fredo being pulled in. His calculation had landed perfectly.
He had timed a kidnapping skill at maximum range while using Sacred Leap.
Battle was always like this.
If the probability wasn’t guaranteed at 100%, even a 1% possibility could pierce through at any time.
And creating a variable didn’t mean you had fully seized victory, either.
Just like now.
Even while being dragged in, the crafty Fredo extended both hands forward, trying to turn crisis into opportunity.
If the pulling momentum from the kidnapping carried into his counterattack, Kang-hoo would be the one in danger.
Kang-hoo narrowed his eyes, watching for the timing of Fredo’s hand movement.
If he responded too early, Fredo would simply withdraw his ploy, and the strategic loss wouldn’t be big.
The best method was to draw out the ploy, then neutralize it—while striking where the opponent didn’t expect.
And then—
Woom! Woom!
Just like before, a large mass of mana gathered in Fredo’s hands.
Kukwakwakwaang!
In the background, like rain, the sound of mana shells pouring down from the hill echoed from behind them.
Only for a moment.
“……!”
Sensing the precise timing of Fredo’s counterattack, Kang-hoo activated a skill at that instant.
It was a blow meant to throw Fredo’s calculations off.