Chapter 83: Seed of Contaminated Stone (3)
Golem Dungeon subjugation operation, commence.
10 Hunters headed towards the entrance where the golems were coming and going, while the remaining 53 surrounded the entry point.
Three Earth Sorcerers stepped forward, followed by Water Stream Sorcerers and Lamplighters.
And behind them stood Han Do-sik, the Master of the Geomgye Guild.
While all this positioning was taking place, Sa-hyeok spoke to Polar in a whisper.
“I see you didn’t mention my artifact manipulation ability?”
“I’m not inconsiderate enough to carelessly reveal a skill that you haven’t revealed yourself.”
Polar continued, smiling brightly.
“See? I’m this thoughtful. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to consider joining a workplace with a boss like me?”
“Thanks, but I’ll decline.”
“Tsk.”
Thud!
The three Earth Sorcerers placed their hands on the target location and chanted their spells.
Rumble, rumble-
The ground began to tremble.
The soil’s cohesion weakened, and the ground rapidly destabilized.
The moment they judged the ground’s strength had weakened enough,
The Earth Sorcerers shouted.
“Now!”
“Haaah!!”
The Sorcerers poured in a large amount of mana simultaneously.
Boom!!
Rumble, rumble!
The thick granite bedrock turned into sand and crumbled.
A sinkhole.
A large hole with a diameter of 4 meters appeared in the ground.
Entrance creation complete.
It was time to illuminate the darkness.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The light spheres controlled by the Lamplighters flew into the hole.
The interior of the hole was illuminated, revealing the distance to the bottom of the sinkhole.
It was at least 10 meters deep.
Located at the bottom of the hole was a massive cavity.
Entrance secured, light source deployed.
Now it was the Water Stream Sorcerers’ turn to create wind.
They would generate an updraft at the bottom of the hole so the Hunters could jump down and land safely at a low speed.
Just as they were about to cast the wind magic,
“3 seconds.”
Do-sik drew his sword and stepped forward.
He was holding a thick, heavy longsword, not the thin, sharp sword he usually used.
It was a weapon meant for crushing tough opponents like Stone Golems.
Do-sik said,
“3 seconds, I’ll go down, and you enter 3 seconds after me.”
“What?!”
Whoosh!
Do-sik jumped straight into the hole.
Thud!!
At the bottom of the dark cavity, Do-sik landed alone.
There was only one reason why Do-sik went down first.
To clear the way.
To remove the golems that would be at the bottom of the cavity, making it safe for the other Hunters to enter.
Flash!
The light spheres that had entered earlier increased their brightness.
The surroundings became brightly lit, revealing what was hidden in the darkness.
Rumble, rumble-
Dozens of Granite Golems.
Each one stood 3 meters tall.
Do-sik gripped the sword slung over his shoulder in a reverse grip and said,
“My juniors are coming down soon, make way.”
Do-sik thrust the tip of his sword into the ground with all his might.
Bang!!
An explosive shockwave, the ground shook.
The golems momentarily lost their balance and stopped moving.
At that moment.
Slash!
A dozen golems standing around Do-sik were instantly cut down.
That took 1 second.
For the next 2 seconds, Do-sik began to perform a veritable sword dance.
Crack!
Slash!
Swish!!
The tip of his sword darted in all directions.
At first glance, his swordsmanship seemed clumsy, but the destructive power of each stroke was truly exceptional.
Stone dust flew everywhere, and golem limbs were severed, scattering across the ground.
Do-sik was rampaging in the midst of this chaos, his sword a blur of motion.
The Hunters watching Do-sik’s swordsmanship from above the hole could all understand.
Why he was called the ‘Sword Demon’.
Do-sik was proving his title with the tip of his sword.
Thus, 3 seconds passed.
Do-sik shouted.
“Clear! Entering!!”
Now was the time to enter.
Just as the Water Stream Sorcerers above the hole were about to chant their spells to create the updraft,
Gurgle-
The golem that had fallen behind Do-sik recovered and stood up.
The seed that Do-sik had failed to destroy had regenerated the golem.
Seeing this, Sa-hyeok jumped into the hole.
Using his falling momentum, he slammed his right fist down on the golem.
Crack!
The golem shattered into pieces just as it had revived.
Sa-hyeok picked up the seed remaining in the pile of broken golem and said to Do-sik,
“You left this behind.”
Crunch!
Sa-hyeok crushed the seed in his right hand.
Do-sik grinned and said,
“I missed one. Thanks.”
Whoosh!
At that moment, the Water Stream Sorcerers finished chanting their spells.
A strong wind began to blow upwards from the hole.
“Combat types first!”
The Hunters quickly jumped into the hole one after another.
Thanks to the updraft acting as a cushion, they were all able to land safely despite falling from a height of over 10 meters.
Once everyone was down, Polar issued her command.
“Remember! To completely k*ll a golem, you must destroy the seed!!”
Meanwhile, Sa-hyeok quickly counted the number of golems using telekinetic detection.
Sa-hyeok said to Do-sik,
“Total 53, all personnel have entered the dungeon.”
“Huh……? You counted everyone in that short time??”
“I’m quite fast at calculations.”
“Oh.”
“And it seems we’re not the only ones who have gathered here.”
Thump, thump-
Heavy footsteps echoed from within the darkness of the cavity.
Sa-hyeok emitted his telekinesis into the darkness.
‘……Golems, approximately 250.’
An overwhelming number of golems were approaching.
Moreover, there were medium and large-sized individuals mixed in, exceeding 5 meters in height.
These golems were approaching from all directions, surrounding them.
The Hunters had a force of 53.
By simple calculation, they were outnumbered 5 to 1.
It was a situation that couldn’t be called advantageous.
Of course, the Hunters had one of the Five Major Guild Masters and an irregular like Sa-hyeok on their side.
There were also many veterans among them.
It seemed unlikely that the Hunters would lose this battle.
However, not losing didn’t mean that all the Hunters would survive.
Saving the Hunters.
For Sa-hyeok, that was as important as killing monsters.
Because the more Hunters survived, the more monsters they could k*ll.
Sa-hyeok racked his brain.
How could he make this situation as advantageous as possible for the Hunters?
What could he do to minimize Hunter casualties?
How could he overcome this numerical disadvantage……
‘There is a way.’
Whoosh-
Sa-hyeok levitated the shield he was carrying on his back.
It was one of the junk artifacts he had recently purchased,
Its function as an artifact was to deploy a sturdy barrier centered around the shield.
Thud!
Sa-hyeok planted the shield into the ground and said,
“Don’t go beyond this shield!!”
Sa-hyeok’s shout brought the Hunters’ movements to a halt.
At that moment, Sa-hyeok activated the artifact.
Rumble, crash!!
A black barrier expanded from the shield.
In an instant, a wall the size of a small fortress was created.
The Hunters’ eyes widened.
“Whoa, an artifact?”
“Judging by its performance, it seems to be an Origin.”
No one imagined that this shield would be a junk artifact.
Thus, the barrier instantly divided the cavity in half.
Golems and Hunters on one side, only golems on the other.
Do-sik asked,
“What did you just do?”
“I divided the enemy forces.”
“……!”
An intrigued smile appeared on Do-sik’s lips.
He had instantly grasped Sa-hyeok’s intention.
Divide and conquer.
A tactic of splitting the enemy forces and dealing with each group in turn.
It was the most orthodox method of dealing with a large number of enemies with a small force.
The same principle applied to swallowing an orange. It was difficult to swallow a whole orange at once, but if you divided it into pieces, you could eat as many as you wanted, one piece at a time.
Sa-hyeok said,
“Attack when you outnumber the enemy, and divide the enemy when you are outnumbered.”
“The Art of War.”
“You know it?”
“I majored in philosophy. How do you know it, Hunter Min?”
“I was a soldier.”
Wait, why does a philosophy major know the Art of War?
At that moment, Polar whispered to Sa-hyeok,
“Mr. Min, that shield……”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Sa-hyeok smiled briefly.
With a single junk artifact, the tide of battle had instantly changed.
Instead of facing a 5 to 1 battle, they now had two 2.5 to 1 battles.
Do-sik issued his command in a loud voice.
“Ignore the golems beyond the black barrier! We’ll deal with the golems in front of us first!”
Clang!
Do-sik drew his sword at the forefront.
“Attack!!”
The battle began.
The curtain rose on a fierce melee.
The Combat-type Hunters charged first, followed by the attacks of the Sorcerers.
Stone dust and blood splattered everywhere, accompanied by shouts and screams.
Balls of fire, ice, and lightning exploded towards the golems.
The vines conjured by the Plant Sorcerers entangled the golems, restricting their movements.
Polar was at the forefront, smashing golem heads with her hammer, while Rob provided healing and buffs from the rear.
Watching Polar rampage, Sa-hyeok was honestly a little amazed.
He wondered where such monstrous strength came from within that delicate body.
And Sa-hyeok, unexpectedly, did not stand at the front.
Bang-ul-i, hanging around Sa-hyeok’s neck, asked,
[Aren’t you being uncharacteristically cautious, hyung-nim?]
“It’s not my time to step forward yet.”
Sa-hyeok carefully detected his surroundings with telekinesis, intercepting surprise attacks from golems that tried to attack from blind spots.
He used the Mubuchamdo and Thunderbolt Needles for this purpose.
In this kind of chaotic battle, the most dangerous thing was a sudden attack.
No matter how much of an advantage you had, if you were caught off guard, you would d*e all the same.
And another thing Sa-hyeok was doing.
Destroying the seeds.
He would carefully scan the ground and, as soon as a seed fell, he would s*oot a Thunderbolt Needle to destroy it.
In short, it was a confirmation k*ll.
Intercepting surprise attacks and confirming kills, that was the role Sa-hyeok had taken on in this battle.
Of course, even though he fought inconspicuously like this, the number of golems Sa-hyeok killed was more than three times that of the other Hunters.
The end of the battle was in sight.
Some Hunters were showing signs of fatigue.
It was only natural.
Even though they had reduced the numerical disadvantage from 5 to 1 to 2.5 to 1, it was still a battle where they were outnumbered.
But the most important thing was that there were zero casualties so far.
Crack!
The moment Do-sik crushed the last golem’s seed,
The battle ended.
“We won……!”
“Alright, we’ve gained the upper hand!”
“Heal my wounds here!”
The Hunters’ tension eased slightly.
It was natural right after finishing a fierce battle.
Of course, it was only the end of the first round.
Thump, thump-
Beyond the barrier Sa-hyeok had deployed.
The sound of golems pounding on the barrier could be heard.
They intended to break through the barrier and come over to this side.
The start of the second round was not far off.
Do-sik said,
“Quickly consume potions and check your equipment! The second round is about to begin!”
The Hunters gripped their weapons with tense expressions.
The Combat-type Hunters positioned themselves near the barrier, and the Sorcerers took their places behind them.
Just as they were about to face another battle,
“Everyone, relax. I’ll handle it from here.”
Sa-hyeok stepped forward.
The surprised gazes of the Hunters, including Do-sik and Polar, focused on Sa-hyeok.
“Mr. Min, what do you mean……”
“Don’t anyone go beyond the barrier until I give the order.”
That was when it happened.
Rumble, rumble, rumble-
The granite fragments scattered around began to float into the air.
The remains of the Granite Golems that had been destroyed in the previous battle.
While the golems were alive, Sa-hyeok couldn’t interfere with them using telekinesis, but now that they were corpses, he could manipulate them.
Bang-ul-i said,
[Is it time now? Is it time for hyung-nim to step forward?]
“Yes. There weren’t any usable debris during the first round.”
The biggest weakness of telekinesis.
If there were no objects to throw around, its power would be significantly reduced.
But conversely, what if there were plenty of objects to throw?
And what if those objects were ‘granite’, a hard, rough, and heavy material?
The power of telekinesis would become truly formidable.
And now was that moment.
The timing when usable debris for attack was scattered all around.
Sa-hyeok had been waiting for this moment.
Kalduran’s Barrier, deactivate.
Clatter!
The shield retracted the barrier it had deployed.
Then, the figures of countless golems beyond the barrier were revealed.
And the golems saw it.
The meteor shower of granite pouring down on them from above.
