Chapter 88: Seed of Contaminated Stone (8)

The seed suddenly vanished from his hand.

A thin, whip-like object, seemingly from nowhere, had snatched the seed away.

Thud.

Then the seed landed in the hand of a man standing in the darkness.

The man spoke.

“Good, it seems the seed has matured sufficiently.”

“……What?”

“I’ll make a special exception and let you live. Forget what you’ve just experienced and live.”

“F*ck off.”

Fwoosh!

Sa-hyeok used the water on the ground to ensnare the man.

The stagnant water transformed into a torrent, encasing the opponent.

But the man wasn’t fazed in the slightest.

“A Water Stream-type Sorcerer? You’re playing a childish game.”

Bang!

The water torrent encasing the man suddenly burst and scattered.

An invisible shockwave erupted, centered on the man.

Yet, within that shockwave, a strange familiarity.

“That’s……!”

Sa-hyeok knew what it was.

“Protective Aura?”

A top-tier defensive technique activated by deploying one’s Innate Vital Energy externally.

As a technique utilizing the body’s life force itself, it made ‘direct’ interference with inanimate objects like weapons or armor impossible, even with telekinesis.

The man spoke.

“Oh? You know what Protective Aura is? But you’re only half right. This is ‘Anti-Projectile Aura’. A higher-level technique that utilizes Protective Aura to repel objects.”

The man began to chuckle in a low voice.

Sa-hyeok observed the man’s appearance.

Tightly tied ponytail, a whip in one hand, a dagger at his waist, and emerald-colored sunglasses.

His appearance alone offered no clues to his identity.

The man spoke.

“Well, whatever. I got what I wanted, and you managed to survive encountering me. Isn’t that a fair trade? Let’s go our separate ways.”

“The moment you stole mine, fairness went to h*ll, you b*stard.”

“Then try and take it back.”

The man chuckled and twirled the golem seed on his fingertip.

Sa-hyeok tried to s*atch the seed with his telekinesis.

Flick-

As expected, he couldn’t grab it with telekinesis.

‘He’s enveloped the seed in Protective Aura too, d*mn it.’

In the end, only one option remained.

To physically seize it.

Whizz!

Sa-hyeok unfurled his metallic bandages and launched them towards the seed.

“Oh?!”

Crackle!

The man quickly responded by unleashing his whip.

Clang!

The metallic bandages and the whip collided, producing a sharp crackling sound.

“A mage using a metal whip……? You’re a strange one.”

Clatter!

Soon, the ends of the two whips tangled and intertwined.

Sa-hyeok and the man pulled their respective whips with force.

Twang!

The two whips were pulled taut.

A momentary equilibrium of force.

At that moment-

Slice!

The man’s whip was severed.

Sa-hyeok had used Mubuchamdo to cut the whip.

The man’s eyes shook violently.

“My whip…… was cut?!”

He couldn’t believe it.

‘This whip is made from the hide of the Gold Dragon Daitoros! How could it be severed so easily?!’

Confusion, then rage.

“You b*stard…… I’ll k*ll you!”

“Whatever.”

Whoosh!

Sa-hyeok launched his metallic bandages towards the seed in the man’s hand, and simultaneously-

Swish!

He shot Mubuchamdo from another direction.

“Useless!”

The man activated Anti-Projectile Aura, pushing his Innate Vital Energy to the limit.

Boom!!

An even stronger shockwave.

Not only the metallic bandages but even Mubuchamdo were repelled by the shockwave, unable to penetrate it.

Sa-hyeok thought.

‘It seems it’s still difficult to break through that Aura with projectiles alone.’

Sa-hyeok clenched his right fist and thought.

‘Then I’ll just crush it along with the Aura.’

With the strongest means I possess.

Dash!

Sa-hyeok charged towards the man at high speed.

Seeing this, the man sneered.

“A mage resorting to close combat……?”

Whirr-

The man increased the density and strength of the Protective Aura surrounding him.

He didn’t even bother raising a guard.

He believed Sa-hyeok wouldn’t be able to penetrate his Aura anyway.

Tucking the golem seed into his waist pouch, the man said.

“I’ll allow you one hit. It won’t even reach me anywa……”

Wham!!

Sa-hyeok’s right fist, driven with all his might, plunged into the man’s abdomen.

“Ugh……?!”

The impact easily bypassed the Protective Aura and burrowed into his abdomen.

Intense pain surged through his body.

The man’s sky-high confidence shattered instantly.

‘Why……? No, how?!’

After mastering Protective Aura and Anti-Projectile Aura, the man had never felt any real pain.

Because he could deflect most attacks with his Aura.

But what was this fist, this unbelievable power?

Moreover……

‘But wasn’t this guy…… a mage?!’

Why was a mage using his fists?!

Thud!

The man collapsed, clutching his abdomen.

His cheek splashed into the water pooled on the ground.

Swish-

Splash!

Sa-hyeok used the water on the ground to bind and lift the man.

This time, he couldn’t break free with Anti-Projectile Aura.

Because the punch had landed squarely on his dantian, making it impossible to properly utilize his Innate Vital Energy.

No, even beyond that, he had no strength left in his body.

The price of his arrogance, relying solely on his Aura, was immense.

Step.

Sa-hyeok approached the man.

The man spoke in a panicked voice.

“W-Wait! I’ve been hit in the gut, in the gut!”

“Who are you.”

Sa-hyeok finally asked the question he’d been wanting to ask.

“Did you plant the Seed of Contaminated Stone Golem?”

“……”

“For what purpose, where did you get it, why did you come here?”

“……”

The man kept his mouth shut tight.

Sa-hyeok sighed lightly and said.

“Fine, I didn’t expect anything anyway.”

Slash!

Sa-hyeok sliced the man’s upper body with Mubuchamdo.

“Gah……!”

“I didn’t cut deep, stop exaggerating.”

Rip-

The man’s shirt was sliced open by the attack.

The man’s bare skin was exposed.

And Sa-hyeok saw it.

The tattoo etched between his shoulder and chest, that symbol.

Sa-hyeok had seen a similar tattoo before.

The unidentified Hunters he encountered in the Snow Dungeon’s boss room.

One of them had the same symbol tattooed on them.

A symbol resembling the letters A and N combined.

The symbol of ‘Antenon’.

Sa-hyeok’s eyes hardened instantly.

“……Are you from Antenon?”

“……!”

“Sigh……”

Sa-hyeok gritted his teeth.

He remembered the trouble he had with the Antenon bastards in the snowfield.

‘Why do these Antenon bastards keep getting involved with me?’

What the h*ll is their goal?’

“You’re not going to answer?”

“……”

“Okay.”

Slice.

Sa-hyeok cut off the man’s ear with Mubuchamdo.

“Aaaaagh!”

“This sword is quite special, it grinds the severed area at the cellular level. You’ll never be able to reattach it.”

“You son of a b*tch……!”

“Anyway, first the ear, next the fingers, then the eyes.”

“What?”

“It’s the start of Twenty Questions, b*stard. I’ll cut one off every time you don’t answer.”

“Ugh……!!”

Bang!!

The man broke free from the water restraints.

It wasn’t Anti-Projectile Aura.

This time it was pure brute force.

He had forced his muscles to their limit, even to the point of tearing.

‘You’ll regret wasting my time……!’

Whoosh!

The man drew the dagger from his waist and charged.

Clang!

Sa-hyeok parried the dagger with his arm, protected by the Iron Arms of the Bone King.

As they engaged in close-quarters combat, the man inwardly rejoiced.

‘You fool! Engaging in close combat with a martial artist of my caliber?’

Crack!

Whack!

Thud!

A rapid exchange of blows.

More than five exchanges occurred in less than a second.

The man was bewildered.

‘……He’s using martial arts? A mage?!’

He could have dismissed the previous punch as an artifact’s effect.

But the current exchange couldn’t be attributed to mere talent or luck.

‘This guy, he’s learned martial arts.’

The man instantly realized that Sa-hyeok was a Hunter who had formally trained in martial arts.

‘But how?!’

There was a reason why Hunters were divided into Combat and Magic types.

Just as Combat Hunters couldn’t use magic, mages’ physical conditions prevented them from even mimicking martial arts techniques.

‘What the h*ll is this guy……!’

At that moment.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Sa-hyeok’s punches landed consecutively on the man’s solar plexus, ribs, and jaw.

“Ugh……!”

The man felt his vision blurring.

‘What the h*ll am I fighting?’

……While the man was thinking that, Sa-hyeok muttered to himself.

‘What’s with this guy, he uses Aura freely so I thought he was strong, but his martial arts skills are below Jang-hoon-hyeong’s?’

Of course, even so, his skills were undeniably troublesome.

Shing-

Sa-hyeok gripped Mubuchamdo in one hand and thought.

‘I’ll just finish him off.’

Painfully enough to make him wish he were dead, but not enough to actually k*ll him.

Thinking that, Sa-hyeok thrust the blade.

Whoosh-

Thud!

He stabbed.

The man’s palm.

To be precise, the man had blocked the blade with his palm.

Grip!

With his hand pierced by Mubuchamdo, the man grabbed Sa-hyeok’s hand.

Having sealed one of Sa-hyeok’s hands, he thrust his dagger with the other.

Sa-hyeok tried to deflect the dagger with his other hand.

At that moment.

Slip-

The man released the dagger from his hand.

Sa-hyeok’s punch, aimed at deflecting the dagger, missed its target.

One hand sealed, the other missing.

In that instant when Sa-hyeok’s guard was down.

Shing!

The man drew another knife from his sleeve.

Stab!

He didn’t miss that fleeting opportunity and plunged the knife into Sa-hyeok’s abdomen.

The strategy of sacrificing flesh to gain bone had worked perfectly.

Just as victory seemed to tilt towards the man.

“……Huh?”

The man was bewildered.

The knife hadn’t even touched Sa-hyeok’s skin.

As if blocked by an invisible barrier.

Meanwhile, Sa-hyeok was also quite perplexed.

“What the……?”

He himself couldn’t understand why the knife couldn’t harm him.

Did he grab the blade with his telekinesis?

No, it was a surprise attack he hadn’t even registered.

Then was he wearing proper armor?

He was, but it was light armor that a Combat Hunter could easily pierce if they were determined.

In the end, neither of them could understand the reason.

Why the knife couldn’t even scratch Sa-hyeok.

The man’s mental state crumbled, and he muttered.

“It’s not working…… This can’t be…… This shouldn’t be……”

At that moment.

Crack.

A punch landed on the man’s abdomen.

Sa-hyeok struck the same spot he had hit before.

Crash!

The man was sent flying, scraping across the ground.

A couple of his ribs were broken, and some of his internal organs ruptured.

Moreover, the hand that had blocked Mubuchamdo was mangled.

It was over.

He couldn’t think of any way to defeat Sa-hyeok.

Only one strategy remained.

Escape.

The man reversed his grip on the knife he had just plunged.

And he sliced the air with the knife.

At that moment.

Swoosh-

Space ripped open, and a portal appeared.

A black, oval-shaped portal.

“What……?!”

“Farewell, you idiot!”

Whoosh!

The portal sucked the man in and closed instantly.

The man disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving no time to react.

Sa-hyeok stood frozen in place.

[……Brother? Are you alright?]

“I’ve seen that portal before.”

[What?! Where?]

“The Snow Dungeon.”

It was the same portal he had discovered when he and Ui-jun, the raid leader at the time, went to investigate alone.

“A knife that rips through space to create a portal…… So that’s how he got in.”

He seemed to understand why he hadn’t sensed the man’s presence earlier.

Since he had teleported in through a portal, there was no reason for him to emit any presence.

[Brother, but the seed being stolen……]

“It’s fine. I destroyed it anyway.”

[What?!]

The only thing he lost by having the seed stolen was the reward money.

That wasn’t important right now.

“Antenon……”

The thought that he might have to deal with these bastards before the monster extermination began to creep into his mind.

══════════════════

About 500 meters away from the quarry.

Thud!

A black portal, appearing out of thin air, spat out the man.

Even then, the man was muttering.

“This knife…… this