Barrier (1)

Before they knew it, they were in front of the boss monster.

Lee Ye-rin brought up again the story Kang-hoo had found questionable earlier.

“This place only has that one. Maybe because the dungeon is small, it skips the middle boss and goes straight to the main boss.”

“Hmm.”

“Why? Is something bothering you?”

“No. Let’s take that thing down first. It doesn’t seem too late to talk things through step by step afterward.”

According to the original work’s setting, there was absolutely no dungeon with only one boss monster.

Of course, cases existed where there were no boss monsters at all, like the dungeon he had gone to with Takashi in Japan.

However, if a boss monster existed, there was never only one. There had to be both a middle boss and a main boss monster.

Since this was a setting nailed down and emphasized several times in the original work, Kang-hoo was certain.

The main boss monster was probably beyond that barrier, which Lee Ye-rin thought could not be crossed.

In other words, this creature in front of them was the middle boss monster. The creature representing the dungeon existed separately.

A muscular boss.

Its name was Venator.

It was not a boss monster wearing any particular armor, nor was it dressed in any impressive outfit.

However, its entire body was packed with bulging muscles, making it feel quite threatening.

“Normally, its defense is incredibly high. Then its defense weakens intermittently, but that time is so short that it’s difficult to clear.”

“Its weakness is clear.”

“That’s true, but…… before you can catch the timing, that guy comes at you with hand-to-hand combat, so it’s troublesome.”

“Let’s charge in first.”

“The method is…… Ah!”

Kang-hoo moved as soon as his words ended.

Lee Ye-rin could not even estimate what skill Kang-hoo would use.

The time when its defense weakened was short enough to be called an instant, so how was he planning to aim for it?

Kang-hoo’s choice was Five-Colored Blessing.

Physical resistance appeared immediately.

From the moment he first saw Venator, he had already grasped that it was a physical attack-based monster.

A monster biased toward one attribute had a clear weakness when facing Five-Colored Blessing.

Because once complete resistance to that attribute was obtained, it became unable to do anything. It became a fool.

“……?”

A human charging in while gripping daggers in both hands. Seeing the fearless human, Venator tilted its head diagonally and expressed doubt.

How much had the countless humans it had faced before—the hunters of the Cheong-an Mercenary Corps—struggled against it?

It had nothing to worry about even if it freely rampaged among the humans.

If a human who used magic appeared from time to time, it only had to retreat far away.

And it had focused on targeting humans who handled blades, taking their lives.

Right now, the human charging in fearlessly had “blades” in both hands. A good prey.

“Uhu hu!”

Before the battle even began, Venator, intoxicated by the thrill of victory, charged toward Kang-hoo.

First, it wanted to feel the sensation.

After beating him thoroughly, it intended to break his bones one by one and feel the pleasure of murder.

However.

Thud!

“……?”

Even though it forcefully threw the first strike it had ambitiously prepared, Kang-hoo was fine.

Its fist had definitely struck the middle of Kang-hoo’s face, but not even a tiny bit of damage went in.

It had hit him, yet it had become as if it had not hit him! Not only was there no impact, it could not even push Kang-hoo away.

The next moment.

Thuk!

Kang-hoo openly climbed onto Venator’s body and began stabbing down with his daggers without mercy.

Stab! Stab stab! Stab!

It seemed like he was stabbing down randomly anywhere, but every time, muscles that served as central points were torn apart.

Since all of them were strikes connected to Great Decapitation, the areas where the daggers tore through and dug into flesh were beyond imagination.

“Eeeeeegh……!”

Venator, poisoned by the one-sided damage, raised both hands to somehow inflict damage on Kang-hoo.

It could not just keep taking it.

It had to grab this human who had climbed onto its body, fold him, tear him, or throw him down.

First, it intended to remove him and then think about the next move. Thinking about why its attack had not worked was a matter for later.

However.

Boom boom boom!

There was no way to endure before the bloody melody of Blood Flower in full bloom.

As fate would have it, the moment Blood Flower activated was the moment Venator’s defense weakened. Was it a coincidence?

“I was waiting.”

Of course, there was no way it was.

Since Kang-hoo had physical resistance anyway, he was confident no matter what kind of attack he received from Venator.

So he had waited for the moment Venator’s defense temporarily dropped and caught the timing.

It was only an instant, but because he could focus on the change, he was able to activate Blood Flower at the moment Venator was weakest.

“Keogh!”

Explosions erupted from all the wounds that had previously been torn apart by Great Decapitation, and Venator’s body staggered.

Even its muscular body had no choice but to bounce like an air doll before explosions bursting from inside and outside.

Riding the momentum, Kang-hoo immediately continued the next combo to make certain he would take Venator’s life.

Kang-hoo’s Dark Energy squeezed into Venator’s wounds and rushed in all at once.

The Dark Energy, which entered before it had any time to resist, was immediately absorbed by Venator like water soaked into a sponge.

The following fireplay.

Fwoooosh!

“……!”

Before the flames of Dark Energy burning fiercely not outside the body but inside it, even Venator had no way to endure.

It was nearly impossible to withstand one’s internal organs blazing while still alive.

Venator’s barrier disappeared after it failed to maintain concentration due to Kang-hoo’s relentless combo.

Normally, it would have maintained its state of concentration while steadily keeping up high defense.

But now, because all its thoughts and mind had been devoured by pain, it had lost its core defensive mechanism.

Then only one thing remained.

Ssssst!

Stab!

Kang-hoo swiftly stabbed his dagger into Venator’s Adam’s apple and tore it sideways as it was.

Then, with a pshht! sound, a fountain of blood sprayed out, and Venator’s two hands futilely stirred the air.

It was a pathetic end for the muscular boss, making its fairly imposing first appearance look shabby.

And Lee Ye-rin, who had watched the entire process of the battle from beginning to end,

“……Wow.”

unconsciously had no choice but to let out an exclamation without realizing it.

It was a battle she had watched without even remembering to blink. How could he end it so cleanly?

On one hand…… she could imagine what sort of way the Gwak Hyeong-su and Gwak Hyeong-seok brothers had been toyed with by Kang-hoo.

Even without having directly seen it on the scene. Before such a varied repertoire from Kang-hoo, they would have been helpless.

Physical resistance 100%.

She knew it theoretically existed, but it was her first time seeing such a case in an actual hunter.

She had wondered if she would ever see a hunter with 100% physical resistance in her life…… but there was a living special case closer than expected.

She did not know how long the resistance lasted, but in that state now, even dozens of swordsmen rushing in would not be able to kill him.

They would not be able to make even a small scratch.

As Lee Ye-rin knew well how destructive the word “invincible” was as a modifier for a hunter, she could only be shocked.

The skill plunder from the dead Venator ended immediately. That was because there were no skills particularly worth considering.

What Kang-hoo chose as the plundered skill was a passive skill called Firm Endurance.

Stats were always better the more there were, for any reason. Except for mana.

‘As expected.’

As expected, even though Venator had died, the dungeon did not reset. Nor did an exit portal open.

Kang-hoo asked Lee Ye-rin.

“You’ve cleared Venator before, haven’t you?”

“Yes. We’ve cleared it by forming a team as a group. But we’ve never cleared it with one person like today.”

“It is a creature that can be suppressed with magic damage. If you used that method, you would have been able to catch it easily enough.”

“You were at 100% physical resistance the entire time you were dealing with Venator just now, weren’t you?”

Kang-hoo nodded.

As if she could not believe it, Lee Ye-rin took a small dagger out from inside her clothes. Then she carefully asked,

“May I stab you?”

“Stab me right now without hesitation.”

Since she was not the hesitant type, Lee Ye-rin immediately stabbed the dagger into Kang-hoo’s forearm at his words.

The next moment.

“……It’s real.”

Lee Ye-rin’s eyes briefly lost focus, then returned to normal. It was indeed 100% physical resistance.

Who would have thought that the world of 100% resistance, which had been regarded like an imaginary animal, would be unfolding in someone close to her?

It was amazing, enviable, and, on the other hand, frightening.

What if he had resistance to magic, other attributes, and status abnormalities as well?

She felt like she would shout, This is a scam!

Surely Kang-hoo, who already had plenty of abilities even now, could not have even more such fraudulent power.

There was absolutely no way. If so, then God was unfair. Because he gave more to those who already had.

Kang-hoo smiled faintly.

Somehow, he could see Lee Ye-rin spreading the wings of her imagination, wondering if he had other 100% resistances as well.

There was no need to demonstrate and show every single one of them in front of her. She would naturally find out someday.

“Ye-rin.”

“Yes?”

“Then when you cleared Venator before, didn’t you feel anything strange? Even though it died, the dungeon clear didn’t appear.”

“I did feel it. But I thought the dungeon was just a bit unusual, not that there would be something next.”

“Then did you leave by retracing the path you came from?”

“Yes, that’s right. And after a fair amount of time passed, the dungeon would forcibly reset as well.”

“Hmm.”

This was why thoughts were frightening.

Unlike Kang-hoo, who could clearly recognize the essence of the situation through the justification of “settings,”

Lee Ye-rin, who could only make guesses about areas outside what she had experienced and gone through, inevitably had a different way of looking at the situation.

She thought that it was not normal for the dungeon not to reset even though the boss had died, but she assumed it was because this place was somewhat special.

So there was no need to think of other possibilities. No, the thought that there were any did not even occur to her.

However, from Kang-hoo’s perspective, as someone who could see through the settings, this dungeon was abnormal.

The barrier was not the end of the dungeon. Unless it was an intentional scare tactic meant to prevent people from going to the end of the dungeon.

Paaat.

First, he summoned Mumyeong.

When it was time to conduct a life-risking test, there was no one better than Mumyeong.

Even if it died, he only had to revive it again, and dying did not make its level drop or make it disappear forever.

Of course, he needed to remove the items in advance. If it vanished, the items would disappear along with it.

“……Kang-hoo?”

Unlike herself, who had started cleaning up, Lee Ye-rin tilted her head and asked after seeing Kang-hoo, who seemed to still have something left to do.

Kang-hoo’s gaze was already fixed not on the path they had come from, but somewhere beyond the barrier.

The next moment.

Dadadadat!

Following Kang-hoo’s hand gesture, Mumyeong began sprinting toward the barrier at full speed. It was a charge without hesitation.

Soon, Mumyeong entered the boundary of the barrier. Perhaps…… could a servant pass through?

Srrrrrrr!

No.

Mumyeong, who had thrown itself into the barrier with great momentum, melted away and vanished without lasting even one second, no, not even 0.5 seconds.

Unlike Lee Ye-rin’s emotional reaction, tightly shutting both eyes,

Kang-hoo, who watched Mumyeong’s death(?) with an unmoved face, briefly summarized the situation.

“We need to revise the strategy.”

For now, the method of offering a servant as a sacrifice had failed. It seemed they needed another option to cross the barrier.