Chapter 103: Verification of Doom (9)
Sung In-su, S-rank, Plant Sorcerer.
Sa-hyeok clearly heard In-su call himself ‘S-rank’.
One-man army.
Human-shaped disaster.
Walking strategic weapon.
These chilling expressions were the representative words that described S-rank Hunters.
That’s how much S-rank Hunters differed in the dimension of power from those below them.
Almost to the point of being considered a separate species.
Ordinary people felt a sense of awe before the name S-rank, and Hunters felt fear along with awe.
This was because those in the same industry knew what level of power S-ranks truly possessed.
Naturally, Sa-hyeok had also heard and knew about the majesty of S-ranks.
However, he didn’t show the slightest bit of agitation even after hearing the name S-rank.
Simply put, in vulgar terms, he didn’t give a d*mn.
Only one thought occupied Sa-hyeok’s mind as he looked at In-su.
K*ll that b*stard.
Complex emotions like fear, awe, and anxiety didn’t exist in Sa-hyeok’s mind.
All that remained were hatred and a thirst for revenge.
Revenge was the motivation for action, and hatred was the principle of action.
During the Monster Special Forces entrance test, the evaluators had left a comment on Sa-hyeok’s evaluation sheet: ‘Extremely calm’.
Calmness.
It didn’t mean a state of being emotionless.
Calmness was a state of being unfazed.
And to eliminate agitation, emotions had to weigh down the heart like a heavy weight.
For Sa-hyeok, that weight was hatred.
Hatred for the monster that killed his mother.
Hatred for those who tried to k*ll him.
This was the reason why he could be so calm even in the face of the word S-rank.
Clack!
At that moment, other Hunters arrived one after another around In-su.
They discovered the two swordsmen lying sprawled out, beaten to a pulp.
“Village Head-nim!”
“What is this……!”
“Is it that b*stard?”
Shing!
The moment they pointed their swords and spears at Sa-hyeok.
“Step back. He’s not someone you can handle.”
In-su stopped them and said.
“You all take the fallen ones and retreat to the rear.”
“But……”
“Hurry.”
The Hunters who had gathered eventually retreated, taking only the two collapsed swordsmen with them.
Now, only Sa-hyeok and In-su were left standing in this vast field.
Sa-hyeok spoke.
“Why did you send them back? You’re going to k*ll them all later anyway.”
“Even though they’re not related to Sa-hyeok-ssi?”
“I have no intention of letting those who pointed their blades at me live. And especially you.”
Shing.
The Mubuchamdo and Thunderbolt Needles floated in the air.
“Don’t even think about living after touching Jang-hoon-hyeong.”
“Is that all for your last words?”
Thud!
In-su stabbed his staff into the dirt floor.
Origin Artifact,
A top-tier artifact that explosively expands the skill activation range of a Plant Sorcerer.
The moment the staff took root in the ground, the battle began.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
All sorts of bizarre plants, including vines, trees, and giant flowers, sprouted around In-su.
Sa-hyeok launched two Thunderbolt Needles towards him.
Whoosh!
Thud!
The Thunderbolt Needles flew towards In-su in an instant.
But there was no way In-su would easily take the hit.
Thud-thud-thud!
Tree pillars that sprouted from the ground blocked the attack.
Of course, the Thunderbolt Needles tried to pierce through, but……
Crack-crack-crack!
The Thunderbolt Needles, stuck in the tree pillars, couldn’t advance further.
The strength of the tree pillars was transcendentally high, and their self-regenerative ability was tremendously high.
In-su wrapped the Thunderbolt Needles with vines, sealing their movement, and then retrieved them.
“These needles, they’re not ordinary objects. I’ll confiscate these.”
Even seeing that, Sa-hyeok didn’t release electricity towards the Thunderbolt Needles.
He didn’t call them back either.
He seemed to have a different idea.
At that moment.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Dozens of thick vines sprouted from beneath Sa-hyeok’s feet.
Whoosh-
Crack!
The moment the vines tried to entangle and bind Sa-hyeok.
Slash-slash-slash-slash!
Two Mubuchamdo instantly sliced and diced the vines.
In-su muttered.
“As expected, that’s not enough, is it?”
In-su activated additional spells he had stocked up.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
A wave of vines surged from the ground.
A wide-range attack on a completely different scale from the previous technique.
Thousands of vines, forming a giant dome, surrounded Sa-hyeok from all sides.
Even if he went underground, there would be no gaps to escape.
He would be caught by the roots underground.
Crack!
Capture.
The wave of vines completely captured Sa-hyeok.
However-
‘He’s gone?!’
In-su felt it.
That Sa-hyeok wasn’t inside the pile of vines.
‘Where did he go?!’
In-su suddenly looked up at the sky.
The air.
Sa-hyeok was there.
‘He avoided the wave of vines……?!’
The method was simple.
Detection and evasion.
The larger the scale of the technique, the greater its foreshadowing.
Sa-hyeok had detected the tremors of the ground with his telekinesis and evaded in advance.
To the place furthest from the plants, the air.
But-
“Even in the air, you can’t escape the reach of my plants.”
Rustle!
Suddenly, a vine wrapped around Sa-hyeok’s left arm.
Sa-hyeok doubted his own eyes.
Because a vine had suddenly sprouted in the air, where there was no soil or water.
“What……?!”
Rustle-rustle-rustle!
Dozens of vines sprouting from the empty air.
The vines rushed towards Sa-hyeok like snakes.
No matter how magical it was, it was a technique that went beyond common sense.
‘What is it? Did he summon the plants…… Aha.’
Sa-hyeok realized.
How he had made plants grow in the empty air.
‘Spores.’
Tiny spores, almost at the level of dust, were scattering around Sa-hyeok.
He had scattered them around Sa-hyeok.
Spores that grew rapidly when infused with a large amount of mana.
Creak-
However, by the time he realized it, Sa-hyeok’s arms and upper body were already tightly bound by vines.
But Sa-hyeok didn’t panic.
Because he had a counter for this technique.
The
Flare!
A large amount of flames erupted from the Flame Ring.
In the past, it would have been a technique that simply emitted flames and ended there.
But Sa-hyeok had already learned the technique of manipulating flames with telekinesis.
Thanks to In-su, who had kindly sent him into the Flame Dungeon.
The vast amount of flames that erupted from the Flame Ring began to move according to Sa-hyeok’s will.
Whoosh!
The flames wrapped around Sa-hyeok like a curtain.
The spores that had been scattered around instantly burned to ashes.
But Sa-hyeok didn’t stop there.
He used his telekinesis to grasp the distribution of the surrounding spores.
If seeds were sown, it meant that the plants that scattered them were somewhere.
By grasping the distribution of the seeds, it was possible to grasp the location of those plants.
‘There.’
Four trees, each bearing a particularly large seed pod.
Sa-hyeok gathered the flames and created four fireballs.
Whoosh!
The fireballs cut through the air and descended like meteors.
And impact.
Boom!
The trees that had scattered the spores instantly turned into charcoal in the explosion.
‘Done.’
Now he was getting the hang of it.
How to make the flames flow in the desired direction, and how to shape and throw the flames.
Thud!
Sa-hyeok landed on the ground.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
And he used the Mubuchamdo to cut and tear away the vines that were wrapped around his body.
Meanwhile, In-su couldn’t believe his eyes.
“He’s using Flame Magic……?”
He wasn’t just surprised by the use of flames.
He was even more surprised by the accuracy with which he targeted the trees that emitted the spores with flames, among all these trees.
“……So, that’s why he had the audacity to challenge an S-rank.”
Meanwhile, Sa-hyeok didn’t stop spraying flames.
Whoosh!
Sa-hyeok indiscriminately burned the plants on the ground.
In the past, he wouldn’t have even attempted such a technique.
Because he would have been caught in the flames.
But now that he could control the fire with telekinesis, there was no way he would be burned to death by his own flames.
Just like that, the ground turned into a sea of fire in an instant.
Sa-hyeok saw it.
The plants that had been attacking him were burning.
It was common sense that plants, especially trees, were vulnerable to fire.
Therefore, looking at this situation alone, it seemed like Sa-hyeok had an overwhelming advantage.
However……
“Do you think a mage who controls trees wouldn’t be prepared for a fire?”
Rustle-rustle-rustle!
Dark green vines sprouted from the ground here and there.
Those vines began to cover the areas where the fire had started.
The fire spread to those vines as well.
But then.
Fizzle!
The flames that touched the vines instantly died down.
The name of this special vine was Fireproof Vine.
Unlike ordinary vines that contained moisture, this one contained a fire extinguishing liquid.
Therefore, if you burned the Fireproof Vine, the fire would be extinguished along with it.
“Tsk……!”
Seeing that, Sa-hyeok started to pour flames even more fiercely.
Whoosh!
The flames Sa-hyeok emitted devoured In-su’s plants……
Crackle!
The Fireproof Vines that sprouted here and there extinguished the fire.
A fierce clash of ignition and extinction.
Thick smoke and ash covered the vast field in an instant.
People watching the battle from afar trembled in fear.
“Is this…… a fight between Hunters?”
“Oh my G*d……”
Jang-hoon, who was looking down at the battle from the mountainside, was no different.
“Sa-hyeok, this guy…… was he capable of exchanging blows with an S-rank to this extent……?”
A mixture of complex emotions, such as fear, anxiety, awe, and so on, crossed people’s minds.
It was similar for Sa-hyeok and In-su.
No matter how much they attacked, it didn’t go beyond a stalemate.
Sa-hyeok thought.
‘I have to break through those vines.’
Special vines that extinguish fire.
Something like the Mubuchamdo could pierce those vines, but it would be blocked by the wooden barrier.
Fire could burn and pierce through the wood, but it would be blocked by those vines.
A frustrating situation where no matter what method he used, whether it was the Mubuchamdo or fire, he would be blocked.
Then, there were three options left.
First, hand-to-hand combat, second, the Lightning Ring, and third, the double-edged sword artifact he had picked up today.
Hand-to-hand combat required him to approach, which wasn’t possible right now, so he passed.
The Lightning Ring……
‘It’s not time to use it yet.’
Then, lastly, the artifact……
‘This function isn’t something I can use right now.’
He thought.
A way to pierce through those bizarre vines and the wooden barrier simultaneously.
A way to combine the destructive power of the flames that burn wood and the cutting power of the Mubuchamdo that pierces vines……
‘Ah.’
It came to him.
‘Am I an idiot, really?’
Once he thought of the method, he felt ridiculous.
‘If I want to do both…… I just need to combine them.’
Flare.
Sa-hyeok set the Mubuchamdo on fire.
The destructive power of flames and the cutting power of the Mubuchamdo.
It was the moment when the two were combined so easily.
But he didn’t stop there.
If he threw it as it was, the fire would be extinguished after passing through a few layers of the vine barrier.
He needed more fire.
Whoosh!
Sa-hyeok forged a long spear with flames.
It was a flame spear, the same as the one used by the King of Decapitated Demons.
The only difference was that the Mubuchamdo was in place of the spearhead.
If he threw this, even if the fire attached to the Mubuchamdo went out, the flames forming the shaft would re-ignite it.
Thus, it was completed.
The anti-Sung In-su weapon, the Flame Spear.
“D*e.”
Whoosh!
Sa-hyeok threw the spear with the maximum speed he could achieve with his telekinesis.
Swish!
In-su immediately deployed the Fireproof Vine barrier.
Dozens of layers of vine barriers blocked the spear’s path.
But-
Whoosh!
It was useless.
The cutting power of the Mubuchamdo alone pierced through the vine barrier in an instant.
“D*mn……!”
Kwa-kwa-kwa!
In-su eventually erected a thick wooden barrier made of reinforced wood instead of the Fireproof Vine.
But the wooden barrier was powerless against the flames.
The Fireproof Vine pierced by the Mubuchamdo.
The wooden barrier burned by the fire.
All the defenses In-su had set up were neutralized by this single Flame Spear.
There was no way to stop it now.
‘D*mn it……!’
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
At that moment, tree roots sprouted through the surface and wrapped around In-su.
At first glance, it seemed like a very fragile barrier.
But it didn’t matter.
Because this wasn’t for defense.
Boom!!
Impact and explosion.
The flames that had been concentrated at the point where the spear struck exploded.
The force was enough to create a large crater at the epicenter.
However, there was no one there.
‘Did he evaporate in the fire?’
No, the flames hadn’t burned for long enough for that.
This was……
‘He hid underground.’
Sa-hyeok had heard it before.
Plant Sorcerers who were skilled at manipulating tree roots could hide underground.
But……
‘I knew it.’
Crackle.
A faint spark flowed from the Lightning Ring.
