Chapter 30 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Awakener Kim Jihwan (2)
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Kim Jihwan guided the group to an F-grade dungeon at the entrance to the Safe Dungeon.
This dungeon, which resembled a dilapidated building, had collapsed for some unknown reason recently only to be rebuilt.
It was a place where even 9th Grade Awakeners rarely visited, since it gathered low-risk undead that didn't drop relics, along with Three-Legged Crows and the like.
"Are we just supposed to wait outside?"
Choi Kyung-hwan smiled as he gazed at the undead sparsely visible inside the dungeon entrance.
"Or are we going in together?"
He seemed to be subtly probing for the appearance conditions. Kim Jihwan, who had been staring blankly at the dungeon, spoke quietly.
"I can go in alone."
"Alone…? I see."
Choi Kyung-hwan looked down at the Hot Spot in his hand. Then he explained the plan.
"If the Masked Gentleman appears, I'll trigger this, then head into the dungeon myself."
Kim Jihwan nodded and slowly entered the dungeon.
'Avoid eye contact with the undead and head straight to the rooftop.'
With his eyes closed, Kim Jihwan dashed up the stairs of the ruined building at full speed.
Kim Ji-hyang, his former comrade and lover.
She had come to this dungeon alone to get a fountain pen made from a Three-Legged Crow's feather as a gift for him.
Ji-hyang had raced to the rooftop with her eyes closed, caught the Three-Legged Crow in one strike, and as she descended the stairs, a bizarre undead was standing there, she said.
Startled, Ji-hyang had thrown the bloodstained Three-Legged Crow feather right at the undead's forehead.
And as she hurriedly exited the dungeon, with a rumbling sound, a man wearing a jeweled mask appeared standing behind her.
It was the Hidden Monster, Masked Gentleman, which she had only seen in the guidebook.
'Following Ji-hyang's instructions exactly made the Masked Gentleman appear for real.'
Recalling that past memory made his fingertips tremble involuntarily. Back then, he had made an irredeemable mistake.
He had told his comrades the appearance conditions for the Masked Gentleman. He had earnestly warned them not to get any funny ideas since it was dangerous.
"Let's catch it!"
But his comrades, blinded by greed for money, succeeded in summoning the Masked Gentleman and immediately attacked.
"Kill it!"
Up until then, the docile Hidden Monster known as the Masked Gentleman had only stood there passively even when summoned.
But the moment it faced their attacks, it took unprecedented action. It lightly swung its hand.
Swaek.
The result was gruesome.
All his comrades perished in an instant, except for Kim Jihwan, who had unconsciously activated his Energy Field skill.
'Don't think unnecessary thoughts!'
Ttak.
Snapping out of the flashback, Kim Jihwan reached the rooftop, caught a Three-Legged Crow, and plucked its feather. He then immediately descended the stairs with it in his mouth.
* * *
Kwoong. Kwoong.
Soon, low vibrations shaking the ground spread into the sky above.
The Hidden Monster had undoubtedly appeared.
"Alright, get ready."
Choi Kyung-hwan, crouched low, said to his comrades.
"If the thing bursts out of the dungeon, take it down first."
Blinded by money, they planned to kill Kim Jihwan before anything else. His comrades all nodded, and Choi Kyung-hwan spoke again.
"I'll activate the Hot Spot ahead of time. From what I heard, this Masked Gentleman moves incredibly fast."
He pulled his hand from his pocket, and the transparent Hot Spot in his fist had already turned red.
Woooong. Woooong.
But the vibrations from the ground felt a bit off. They seemed to be gradually rising into the air.
"Does this Masked Gentleman monster float in the air too?"
Wooooong.
Finally, vibrations echoed from all directions, and something appeared amid black clouds.
"Th-that's...."
Choi Kyung-hwan, staring at the sky, began to tremble.
What floated there, blanketing the entire world in blackness, were not black clouds but skeletal humans with wings charred black as if burned.
"Larva?"
A single Larva, one type of undead, had a risk level of around 250.
But forming an army of thousands changed everything.
"H-how do we deal with that?"
No sooner had Sung Kyung-ha spoken than the ground shook once more.
Kwoong. Kwoong.
In the distance, a skeletal human seemingly thirty meters tall, clad in black robes and wearing a grotesque hat, was approaching them.
At that overwhelming sight, despair flickered in Choi Kyung-hwan's eyes.
"Larva… King!"
The Hidden Monster he had only seen in the monster guidebook.
The king of the dead, said to have near-immortal vitality—the Larva King—had appeared before them.
"We can't possibly beat that."
The Larva King had a risk level approaching 15,000.
Even 3rd Grade Awakeners couldn't take it down; it required hordes of 1st Grade Awakeners. And with thousands of Larva on top...
Even if they were all 1st Grade Awakeners, four of them could never handle it.
"Hurry into the dungeon!"
Despite Sung Kyung-ha's shout, Choi Kyung-hwan remained frozen, staring into the sky.
Having locked eyes directly with the Larva King, he was exposed to its unique skill, 'Intimidation.'
"Into the dungeon!"
Sung Kyung-ha slapped Choi Kyung-hwan's cheek. At that moment.
"Uwaaaah!"
His fear amplified to the extreme by Intimidation, Choi Kyung-hwan spun around and fled at full speed.
The terror of death drove his body not toward the dungeon, but toward the city protected by the Shield.
"That crazy bastard!"
Seeing this, Sung Kyung-ha, Kim Su-mi, and Lee Hak-jun also bolted in the opposite direction like mad.
Fortunately, undead had almost degenerated eyesight, so if you escaped quickly, they wouldn't pursue.
Wooooong.
But that was just what the monster guidebook said.
The thousands of Larva floating in the air began chasing after them.
* * *
Kim Jihwan, standing on the dungeon stairs clutching the Three-Legged Crow feather, blinked.
"What… is that?"
The monster that ascended the stairs wasn't the one he remembered from before, but the form of an old man dressed in clean mourning clothes.
"Wh-who are you?"
-Ah, we're no longer vengeful spirits, so we can speak now. Well, last time a big burly Awakener with bloodshot eyes released us from the darkness.
The old man's form spouted nonsense.
-Thanks to that, another monster appeared. Ah—be careful, it's a really scary one.
The old man's form vanished in an instant after its cryptic words.
"H-hey!"
As Kim Jihwan stared dazedly at the Three-Legged Crow feather.
Kuuwoong.
A strange noise came from outside.
At the same time, a ominous feeling wrapped around him from head to toe like a tough noose. Kim Jihwan dashed straight outside.
"What the hell is that?"
The sky was filled with corpses, and behind them loomed a terrifying monster. It was the Larva King from the guidebook.
"Uwaaaah!"
And in the distance, Choi Kyung-hwan and his comrades were fleeing at full speed.
In that moment, he realized a horrifying fact.
Choi Kyung-hwan's arm as he ran was flashing red.
"That bastard attached the Hot Spot and ran!"
Turrrrruk.
A dull sound like insects slamming into a glass window reverberated.
The Larva King was hurling the thousands of corpses at one spot to shatter the Shield surrounding the boundary zone.
"You crazy bastard!"
Kim Jihwan raced to the Shield boundary and turned his head.
Choi Kyung-hwan and his entire team hadn't even entered the Shield boundary; they lay gruesomely dead right in front of it.
And then he realized three major problems had arisen.
First, the Hot Spot on Choi Kyung-hwan's hand had entered inside the Shield.
Second, because of that, the Larva King kept summoning corpses to batter the Shield nonstop.
Third.
Ziiiiiing.
Finally, amid scattering lights, the thousands of corpses had nearly broken through one section of the Shield.
"Damn...."
Watching this, Kim Jihwan pulled out his phone and pressed the emergency shortcut to the Association.
"A Larva King has appeared in the Shield Boundary Zone and is breaking the barrier. Track the location and get here fast!"
After hanging up, flames sparked in Kim Jihwan's eyes.
That's when he noticed the most serious issue.
Even at the dungeon entrance, it would take Association Awakeners at least ten minutes to arrive.
In the current state, the Shield would break in less than five minutes.
"Damn… damn it!"
If the Shield broke, everyone in this boundary zone's residential area would be massacred.
Honestly, whether people got hurt or not wasn't his concern. But what about the auntie at Mom's Hand Homestyle Restaurant, who was practically his lifesaver? Even if he called her to run now, it'd be too late.
"Daaaamn!"
Kim Jihwan entered the cracked Shield interior and spread his arms wide.
Blue light began flowing from his palms, creating a massive barrier of light.
It was Kim Jihwan's sole skill, 'Energy Field.'
Turrrrruk. Turrrrruk. Turuk.
Startled by the sudden new Shield?
As the field enveloped the cracked Shield, the number of incoming Larva began to dwindle.
"Please… just go away...."
He prayed desperately in his heart. But it seemed his prayers didn't reach the heavens.
Kung. Kung.
The Larva King approached the cracked Shield and raised its massive foot, stomping down hard on the field Kim Jihwan had created.
Kwajik.
"Keok."
Blood gushed from Kim Jihwan's mouth as he held his arms outstretched.
The impact exceeded the Energy Field's capacity to block, transmitting straight into his body.
Kwajik. Kwajik. Kwajik.
Each time the Larva King's foot crushed the field, thick blood poured from his mouth. His arms grew heavier, and his vision blurred.
"Am… I going to die?"
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