Nightmare Forest (3)

Sure enough.

Even though it was a distorted voice, everyone stirred at the appearance of the Yellow Eye, whom they hadn’t even been able to hear a voice from.

“Still alive, huh?”

The Red Eye spoke.

Perhaps thinking there was no need to respond since they’d known each other a long time, the Yellow Eye continued.

“When has Sinwol ever been our opponent? I don’t see the harm in just letting it operate.”

“Why?”

The Blue Eye’s counterquestion.

He was drunk on the thrill and satisfaction of having devastated the South America branch.

So the Yellow Eye’s remark felt like it was belittling and dismissing the value of the results he had produced.

“Sinwol is like a gigantic trash can. If you leave it alone, the ones who’ll become a nuisance later will enter it on their own. If you remove the trash can here, what do you think happens to those things?”

At that moment.

The Green Eye’s screen lit up as well.

The atmosphere stirred.

Because, like the Yellow Eye, the Green Eye had also kept its mouth shut for a long time.

And it was also the only eye that used honorific speech in the Eyes’ conversation.

“As that person said, acting according to each of our convictions is itself the big picture they want. So I don’t think there’s any need to control each other, or to watch each other’s mood. Because us running around as we please is what that person wants.”

At the Green Eye’s words, the heated conversation mood settled calmly.

The Yellow Eye’s screen flickered. It was a sign of silence, feeling there was no need to talk further.

As if such bickering wasn’t anything new, none of the eyes looked flustered.

The Blue Eye changed the subject.

It seemed he felt his boasting about achievements was enough, and he wanted to talk about something else.

“Jang Si-hwan, that guy. It feels like he’s loosened up a lot lately. Wouldn’t it be good to give him a stimulus once?”

The Red Eye responded.

“What kind of stimulus?”

“The stimulus that he can’t keep receiving our solid backing forever. Optimism is disgusting, isn’t it?”

“What do you want to use?”

To the question, the Blue Eye answered without hesitation. It seemed he had already thought it through and reached a conclusion in advance.

“Kashimar Guild. If it’s those guys, who are like our hands and feet, they’d be perfect for cracking Jang Si-hwan’s skull exactly as told.”

“Kashimar Guild has nothing behind them. If we tell them to ram in, they’re the kind who could shove the entire guild into Seoul as a suicide assault unit.”

At the Red Eye’s words, a snort-like laugh came from the Blue Eye. It was because it was the answer he’d expected.

“Add chaos to chaos, and induce greater stability. Isn’t that how we’ve always approached problems? Is there any better way than that to train Jang Si-hwan?”

To countless ordinary people, the two great guilds were objects of admiration—giants they had no choice but to look up to.

But in today’s conversation.

Those two guilds were merely pawns on a board. Whether to deploy them or pull them back depended entirely on their hands.

After the rest.

Kang-hoo’s party pushed straight into Sorrow Tree’s base and finally got to meet it.

Sorrow Tree’s characteristic was that it had a main body in a humanoid-like form, and it latched onto trees and used them.

Like a pilot handling a combat robot, Sorrow Tree’s main body played the role of the pilot.

And the various tree hybrids all over Nightmare Forest served as Sorrow Tree’s faithful tools.

What made Sorrow Tree tricky was that when its HP dropped, it extended roots or trunks into other trees and absorbed bodily fluids.

It recovered an enormous amount of HP in the briefest lapse, so recovery suppression was extremely important.

For that reason, Sorrow Tree was absolutely impossible to clear solo.

If you only targeted the main body, you couldn’t stop the recovery, and if you tried to stop the recovery, the main body attacked freely.

So Ayane and Park Dong-jae, as Kang-hoo instructed, were going to block Sorrow Tree’s attempts to recover.

The method was simple.

If Sorrow Tree tried to insert the trunk or roots of the tree it used as a tool into another tree—

they would obstruct that flow with sniping, or blow away the contact point with Full-Load Single Strike before recovery.

The contact point, unlike other parts, was weak to external shock, so someone like Ayane could suppress it sufficiently.

‘If we get past this one, it’s straight to the hidden skill.’

Behind Sorrow Tree’s base, a hybrid with a hidden skill was hiding.

Since it was close enough to say it was almost right there, he wanted to minimize consumption here.

Before facing Sorrow Tree, the first thing Kang-hoo activated was Five-Colored Blessing. It was a hidden skill that could be activated and deactivated.

‘A dud.’

Mental-abnormality immunity against a monster that didn’t use mental attacks at all. The worst probability.

It was a useless start, but at least it wouldn’t duplicate on the next immunity refresh, so that was fortunate.

Kang-hoo measured the distance between Sorrow Tree and himself.

Then he stopped the moment he reached the maximum range of the skill he intended to use.

It was about 30 meters—not too close, not too far—but Sorrow Tree still didn’t react to Kang-hoo.

Of the 19 Mad Solarkiums he had, he had taken out and eaten one more.

Considering the strategy ahead, Mad Solarkium was not a choice but a necessity. Hell was about to unfold.

‘Then…….’

Kang-hoo designated Sorrow Tree as the target and placed Hostile Trade on it.

Since it wasn’t a skill that provoked or dealt physical impact, only a faint flash flickered for a moment.

Sorrow Tree watched Kang-hoo, but didn’t move first.

Since the enemy held a dagger, it seemed to think he would have to approach to attack it no matter what.

And then—

Kang-hoo activated A Saint’s Wish.

With this, the next attack skill applied by A Saint’s Wish became an attack that completely ignored Toughness and Magic Resistance.

An absolute attack judgment!

Since it was a superior judgment that ignored all defensive mechanisms, there was no worry at all of being countered.

However, there was one weakness.

The most vulnerable moment for a hunter who used the Hostile Trade skill was within 20 seconds immediately after using the skill.

If you couldn’t kill the target within that window, then all damage received in that time would be amplified threefold and returned.

Kang-hoo sent out every means that would substitute for his form in a dizzying manner toward Sorrow Tree.

From here on, it was a fight of how wisely to delay those 20 seconds. He had a play in mind.

The hidden skill White Sun Slash!

What Kang-hoo chose as the damage amplification skill to chain into Hostile Trade and A Saint’s Wish was White Sun Slash.

It was also the pinnacle skill of damage that Kang-hoo, at his maximum maximum, could squeeze out to the extreme.

If he had the confidence to keep supplying mana, White Sun Slash condensed mana to a near-infinite degree for 10 seconds.

The unimaginable headache and the pounding heart were the problem, but right now, those were minor issues.

Besides, he had eaten Mad Solarkium too, so until the backlash came, he was ‘for now’ fine.

‘Plan A. If possible, I’d rather not go to the hassle of B or C. How far will it have seen ahead?’

Holding his breath, Kang-hoo fixed his gaze on Sorrow Tree and kept gathering mana into a single point.

Seeing the headache creeping up even though he had eaten Mad Solarkium, it seemed he had already crossed the pain threshold.

Since he had planned to put everything into one strike, he treated pain like a natural friend and pushed past it.

Meanwhile, Sorrow Tree did not come closer to Kang-hoo easily.

Heusit! Heusisit!

It only diligently struck down the shadows and illusions approaching it, and the clone that had a physical body.

After dealing with outsiders for a long time, Sorrow Tree had learned through experience.

That keeping distance from outsiders who handled blades brought large strategic benefits both short-term and long-term.

In the end, those bastards couldn’t endure it and would have to approach, and then it would be enough to exploit the opening and counterattack.

Because Sorrow Tree had learned through many battles, it didn’t feel any incongruity at Kang-hoo silently holding his position.

The moment when Kang-hoo was most powerful, yet also most vulnerable.

Sorrow Tree, trusting its experience, safely(?) let this golden time like a double-edged sword pass.

At least, by Sorrow Tree’s own judgment, that was the case. It even thought it was a strategic gain…… since it had grasped the means of disrupting vision in advance.

At that moment.

Paaang!

With a violent tearing-through-the-air sound, as if ripping the surrounding air itself— the blade energy of White Sun Slash, which had been ready at Kang-hoo’s fingertips like a racehorse focused only forward, launched.

The clearest crescent-shaped blade energy among all the White Sun Slashes Kang-hoo had ever used formed.

It was the first time this had happened.

A case where he filled the full 10 seconds and gathered mana to the extreme without receiving even a single interruption from the enemy.

Kang-hoo didn’t think Sorrow Tree’s response was stupid. It was an extremely common-sense judgment.

Waiting for a target that had no choice but to approach, to approach— was a basic strategy for a defender to take an advantage. It was a low-risk strategy.

But if there was one thing Sorrow Tree had missed—

‘Your opponent is me.’

Those very words that would sound like self-praise. The fact that its opponent was Kang-hoo. Sorrow Tree overlooked that point.

Wuuung.

From behind, he could feel Ayane gathering mana at the muzzle of her mana rifle.

It was a meticulous movement to cut it off early if Sorrow Tree tried to recover at any time.

“……”

Kang-hoo swallowed dryly.

The White Sun Slash blade energy flying out.

If Sorrow Tree stayed in place for just one more second, it could never escape the blade energy’s zone.

Then.

He sensed Sorrow Tree’s movement as if it were about to wriggle, and Kang-hoo’s body also leaned forward just in case.

Fortunately, it was needless worry.

Sorrow Tree was gathering thick trunks into a single point to block the White Sun Slash launched from Kang-hoo.

A response too comfortable, not realizing at all what chain of ruin was connected to it.

And then—

Kwaaaaak!

Sorrow Tree crossed dozens of trunks into an X, infused mana into the entire trunks, and made a powerful shield.

Even Ayane, watching from behind, would think that at that point Full-Load Single Strike wouldn’t even scratch it—such a thick shield.

But.

The pure white blade energy of White Sun Slash, where ignoring Magic Resistance and Toughness, tripled damage amplification, and the skill’s inherent overpower all combined—

Swaak! ……Kwasaaak!

Jjeok!

Ended the battle the moment it began.

The first cutting sound was the sound of Sorrow Tree’s thick wooden shield being split cleanly in half at once.

The next cutting sound, heard off-beat, was the sound of it being a fatal wound to Sorrow Tree—splitting the main body in half and killing it.

“……?”

Sorrow Tree’s two eyes, looking at Kang-hoo, were disappearing backward. It was because the chopped pillar was falling backward.

Sorrow Tree had been “half-split” in vulgar terms.

The one surprised by that power was both Sorrow Tree, facing death, and Kang-hoo, who had used the skill.

As for the two companions watching the situation from the rear—saying it would only make your mouth hurt.

“This…… works.”

Kang-hoo brushed the dagger with his fingertips as it trembled continuously from the backlash of compressing mana to the extreme.

The hidden skill A Saint’s Wish. And an attack chained with another hidden skill, White Sun Slash.

The result was destructive.

His judgment that Sorrow Tree would be absolutely impossible to clear solo had been wrong.

For Kang-hoo, it was possible.

As a bonus, his level jumped not by 1, but by 3 at once.

It was the moment he unintentionally monopolized even the experience he should have gained split with the two companions.

All that remained now was the “being” that had become a hybrid while holding a hidden skill.

In the clearing of Nightmare Forest.

Before he knew it, the end was in sight.