Chapter 27: The Calculated Descent

Screech—!!

Before he could even react, Agon was sent careening by the Variant’s punch, slamming into the cave wall with a deafening crash. His eyes, wide with agony, showed capillaries bursting, and a torrent of blue blood gushed from his mouth.

Han Yuseong was its next target. The Variant’s form vanished in the blink of an eye. Han Yuseong sharpened his senses, tracking the sound.

A faint splashing of water reached his ears from somewhere unseen. Spotting water that had suddenly erupted into the air, Han Yuseong crossed his swords, bracing against the immense, ferocious force that collided with him.

A resounding *thud* reverberated through the area.

A violent gust of wind swept outwards, scouring the surroundings.

Gwaaak— Kuuek—

Before Han Yuseong, the monster’s fist, barely held at bay, was visible. His hands, strained by the immense power, trembled uncontrollably.

This was an SS-rank boss. It was not an opponent two mere A-rank hunters could hope to defeat, even united. Yet, why was Han Dokyeom so certain of victory in this battle?

Han Yuseong clenched his jaw, exerting all his strength to repel the Variant’s fist. Angry veins already bulged beneath his skin, threatening to burst, signaling his limit.

Suddenly, in the distance, Han Yuseong dimly caught sight of Agon, stumbling as he rose.

Even if this was a battle without a clear path to victory, they could not allow the Variant to escape this place. Agon seemed to share this sentiment, his nose wrinkling into a grotesque grimace.

Before any signal was given, the forms of the two men, their intentions aligned, shot towards the Variant simultaneously. Their speed was like streaks of light.

Those streaks collided with the Variant in a fierce onslaught.

Attacks, too swift to even gasp, clashed in the air. The resulting shockwaves shattered the earth veins, overturned the water’s surface, and sent collected water plummeting from the ceiling.

The Variant’s wildly swinging arms were faster than Han Yuseong and more destructive than Agon’s power. Ultimately, both men were sent scraping across the ground, pushed back by the Variant’s furious barrage of punches as if caught in a violent typhoon.

And then, amidst their ragged breaths, a shout echoed through the cave.

“Both of you, stay right there!”

A colossal echo reverberated through the cavern. Han Yuseong’s eyes widened uncontrollably. Agon also stared, his eyes round, searching for the source of the sound.

For a moment, a loud cracking sound rang out from somewhere.

Instinctively, Han Yuseong lifted his head, gazing up at the dizzying heights above. In that instant, his eyes filled with utter confusion.

“Han Dokyeom… Hunter…? What… what are you doing up there, Hunter Han Dokyeom?!”

High above, on the pyramid-like ceiling of the cave, someone hung precariously from a rope. The face, visible amidst the brilliant minerals illuminating the cave, was undeniably Han Dokyeom’s.

When he had ascended to such a height was a mystery; only astonishment surged within them. The unexpected ‘sound’ echoed once more.

Crrrrrack—!

One of the crystal quartz formations, blooming like snowflakes on the ceiling, dangled precariously, its base threatening to give way. The silver-silhouetted gun in Han Dokyeom’s hand, as he hung from the rope, accelerated its impending fall.

Bang, bang! The fired bullets destroyed the mineral’s base. Unable to bear its own weight, the precariously suspended mineral began to plummet.

Han Yuseong’s gaze followed the falling trajectory of the mineral. At the impact point of the house-sized mineral was the creature.

It was the Variant, its dead eyes gleaming as it stared up at the ceiling.

KRA-BOOM—!!

A thunderous roar, as if lightning had struck, then engulfed the cave. Han Yuseong, his body rigid, stared at the point from which the deafening sound had erupted.

“Ha.”

But only a hollow sigh followed. The tip of the sword in Han Yuseong’s hand drooped limply downwards.

Contrary to the disaster he’d anticipated, the Variant was alive. Its dead eyes bulged as if to burst, and its grotesque mouth stretched to its limit, catching the falling mineral.

It looked as though it had jammed a utility pole into its maw.

CRAAACK—

And now, the monster was attempting to crush it with its jaw strength. Its tightly stretched mouth grotesquely contorted several times.

Finally, the monster shattered the mineral and began to chew and swallow it with a sickening crunch.

Gwaaaah—!

Following its enraged roar, the Variant hunched its massive body low, like a frog poised to leap.

The Variant was preparing to leap. Realizing this, Han Yuseong gritted his teeth and dashed forward.

However, before the tip of his sword could reach the Variant, its body shot upwards from its spot, accompanied by an immense burst of wind pressure.

The Variant was heading towards the mineral-studded ceiling. And, by extension, towards Han Dokyeom’s location.

“Hunter Han Dokyeom! Get out of there, now!!”

Han Yuseong’s cry stretched out, his veins bulging.

****

[The demon Orias of ‘Lemegeton’ complains, urging you to descend quickly, claiming it has devoured everything!]

“Why are you acting up again?”

[The demon Orias of ‘Lemegeton’ laments, asking if this isn’t a situation to ‘act up’!]

[The demon Orias of ‘Lemegeton’ tugs at your clothes, telling you to look down!]

[The demon Orias of ‘Lemegeton’ dramatically mimes sealing its own mouth!]

‘He’s really worked himself up.’ Incantations scrolled densely, almost obscuring his vision.

Dokyeom glanced down, following Orias’s instruction. A colossal form was rising towards him, terrifyingly fast.

Confirming Orias’s claim of ‘devouring’ it, a quick scan of the surroundings revealed not a single fragment of the mineral. Dokyeom cocked his pistol, loading it, and waited for the form to appear before him.

Approximately one second later, something enormous, the size of a house, materialized in the air. It was the Variant, having leaped in a single bound to the ceiling.

Dokyeom aimed his gun at the Variant’s dead eyes, which were deceptively glossy on the surface, and offered a friendly smile.

“Oh, you’re here? I was waiting for you, you mutated bastard.”

The trigger was pulled without warning.

‘Stability (B)’

Bang—

‘Empathy (B)’

Bang—

‘Harmony (A)’

Bang—

Three bullets. Dokyeom imbued each with a skill and fired them into the Variant’s eyeballs. Its pupils visibly contracted, as if sensing something alien, but that was all.

There were no immediate symptoms to speak of.

‘It’s fine. The symptoms, after all, would ‘continue’ from now on.’

“I learned something while looking after our Agon. Care for a little lesson?”

He saw a massive, fleshy arm savagely flying towards him. Dokyeom immediately shot one of the ropes maintaining his balance, severing the line.

His body swiftly dropped downwards.

The ‘symptoms’ appeared shortly after the Variant convulsively spat blood and thrashed its limbs in the air.

Gurgle— Gwaaak—

The Variant’s dead eyes convulsed, trembling like aspen leaves. Its bloated, cell-like fatty masses grotesquely writhed as if something were tearing through a membrane.

As the Variant’s hand, which had been clutching the mineral, underwent a mutation and lost its grip, its massive body began to descend as if sinking.

Dokyeom reloaded his gun and aimed the barrel directly at the Variant’s eyes.

“This? Haha, this is just a regular bullet.”

Bang—!

The moment the bullet lodged in the center of its dead eye, its descent accelerated. Dokyeom shouted at the top of his lungs towards Han Yuseong and Agon, who were staring up from the ground, dumbfounded.

“Both of you, let’s get out of the way!”

It was a situation where failure could have meant death. Nevertheless, Dokyeom possessed a certain conviction.

A conviction that he could utterly turn the Variant’s insides into a chaotic mess.

It was like the first time he had fed Agon a magic stone.

Driven solely by ambition then, Dokyeom had simultaneously cast three skills on Agon, hoping to achieve rapid growth. The outcome was the very anomaly now occurring within the Variant.

Despite the skill being named , Agon had suffered seizures that day. He had miraculously survived just before crossing the River Styx, thanks to Han Yuseong’s emergency treatment.

All his vital energy and blood vessels had grotesquely twisted, and cells throughout his body seemed to run wild, causing various swellings, both large and small.

It was a side effect. A disaster that occurred because the skills were used ‘simultaneously’.

Even though they appeared to be of the same attribute, the three skills possessed different properties, which was the reason. The skills themselves clashed, eroded, and devoured one another in their bid to manifest their effects first.

Using them with a time interval would create synergy, but the premise of ‘simultaneously’ led to seizures as the skills competed for dominance. This was especially true when touched a body already damaged by gorging on magic stones, like the Variant’s.

‘Again.’

Dokyeom opened his skill window, confirming the two flickering skills within: and .

‘Why?’

He had discovered this phenomenon quite by accident. Normally, he wouldn’t bother opening his skill window when using skills, but for some inexplicable reason, he had opened it while checking on Agon.

Inside, Dokyeom had witnessed two unfamiliar, shimmering skills.

Just as they were now.

Of course, there was a prerequisite. It had to be when Agon was ‘nearby’. Or, as now, when the skill was cast on a monster, regardless of who it was.

What this meant, he still didn’t know. A single hypothesis flickered through his mind, but too many aspects remained vague to be certain.

Nevertheless, Dokyeom decided to lean towards a positive interpretation if possible.

Just as he had overturned the situation with a small hypothesis now.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Desire’s Sole Cultivator

cultivationDramaFantasy

Read Now →
Not interested