Chapter 32

The boss monster, with its disgusting teeth bared, charged at me as if ready to devour. My left arm aimed toward its upper body. I could shoot up to three arrows in rapid succession, and right now, my arrows were imbued with sharp magical power, enough to pierce even regular steel.

I aimed and fired.

"Twang! Twang! Twang!"

The arrows cut through the air with a much stronger piercing sound than before. Despite the slight delay between shots, they all hit dead center on the monster's forehead. However...

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The arrows fell to the ground with a hollow metallic sound. In other words, they failed to penetrate the boss monster's outer hide. It wasn't without effect, though. The monster flinched, perhaps feeling the magical shockwaves projected internally.

Even though I had only infused a small amount of magic, the impact was far greater than a normal arrow. The fact that the boss monster could withstand that with just its outer shell made me wonder what kind of brain the angels had to throw something like this into a trial. Still, I had accomplished my immediate goal. I had successfully slowed down the creature that had been gaining speed while chasing us.

The boss monster, now disoriented from the impact, shrunk back even further. I made a mental note to thoroughly complain to the Seraph later, but for now, I turned around and started running to catch up with my group.

Looking ahead, I saw my party members running hard. Judging by the remaining distance, we'd be within 100 meters soon. At this rate, while I might barely make it, the others would definitely be safe.

Just as I was picking up my pace, I felt something strange. The boss monster hadn't sustained any major injuries, and it should have had more than enough time to recover from the shock. Yet, I couldn't hear the sound of its heavy footsteps anymore. The familiar thudding had vanished. Suddenly, the image of the boss monster crouching down flashed in my mind, along with a memory of the Manki that lunged at me during yesterday's battle. 

The moment the thought crossed my mind, I heard a sharp rush of wind behind me.

"Whoooosh!"

My worst fears became reality. The boss monster was cunning and calculated. It realized that if it continued as it had, it wouldn't catch any of us. It hadn't crouched in response to my arrows; it was preparing for a massive leap.

A gigantic shadow loomed over me and the open space around me. The boss monster wasn't focused on me anymore—it was eyeing the party members ahead. An Hyun was leading the pack, with Han-Byeol and Yun-Jung following closely behind. An-Sol was also running hard, but her stamina seemed to be running out, and she had fallen behind the others. While the others might be safe for now, An-Sol was definitely within the danger zone.

Before I could even shout a warning, the boss monster, carving a long arc through the air, landed forcefully at the rear of the group with all its might. The ground shook violently, and the deafening thud reverberated through the earth. The impact was so strong that even An Hyun, who was running ahead, stumbled.

Seeing this, my mind went completely blank, devoid of any thought.

At that moment, a message appeared before my eyes.

『Potential ability "Mind's Eye" (Rank A+) has been activated. This ability allows you to see not just the external appearance, but the inner essence of a target. It is the eye of the heart, enabling you to observe and sense the nature of beings. With a mind trained to the extreme, you can maintain inner calm even under mental corruption spells ranked S or lower.』

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"Hoo…."

My heated mind quickly cooled. The blank, thoughtless state I was in was replaced by calm, cold logic. My narrow perspective widened, and the things I had failed to notice before came into clear focus.

And then, I laughed. I couldn't help but laugh.

What had I been so worried about up until now? What was this situation, really? I had faced far more dangerous, painful, and nerve-wracking moments before.

I wasn't afraid, nor was I anxious. I wasn't going to push myself beyond my limits. Instead, I would draw a line, staying within what I could manage and doing my best within that boundary. That had always been my creed back when I played Hall Plain in the first round.

In Hall Plain, half-hearted strength was never enough. So many people with extraordinary talents and abilities had died before they could even reach their full potential. Watching them, I swore never to expose myself unnecessarily. I lived in the shadows so thoroughly that no one ever realized I was a sword master with only 48 points of magic power. During my ten years in Hall Plain, that cautious attitude had turned into a kind of obsession.

Of course, I still believed that if the situation called for it, I had to hide myself. But if I kept doing things the way I had before, I'd only end up with the same results. Nothing would change.

I deeply regretted not being able to protect my brother, and I felt the same when I lost the clan lord I had trusted and loved right before my eyes. I didn't want to repeat those mistakes, and I had returned here to change my fate. Now, I want to be different.

I analyzed the battlefield in an instant, calculating the best course of action. I gauged the amount of magic power I would need and drew it up efficiently. I no longer felt the need to hide myself to the point of suffocation. If necessary, I would act. And if exposure became a problem, the solution was simple: I just wouldn't get caught. I had the ability and confidence to pull it off.

In less than a second, I completed my analysis. I pinpointed An-Sol's position and confirmed her survival status. The first thing I needed to do was draw the boss monster's aggro. My body was hidden from the view of my comrades by the monster's massive form. I gathered the magic power needed to pierce its tough hide and imbued it into my arrows. This time, there was no need to pretend to aim. I simply pulled back the string and fired.

"Ping! Ping! Ping!"

The boss monster flinched, surprised by the deadly intent emanating from behind. It turned its head in alarm, but my arrows, flying at a speed far beyond what it had seen before, were already on their way. Before it could react, three arrows pierced deep into its chest. But that wasn't all. There was still more to come.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The arrows, imbued with magic, exploded upon impact, shattering the boss monster's tough hide effortlessly. The effect was immediate.

"Graaaahhhhh!"

Hurts, doesn't it? It should. As the boss monster let out an agonizing roar, I ran swiftly toward it. My third eye confirmed that An-Hyun, Han-Byeol, and Yun-Jung were still staggering but managing to run. They probably hadn't realized that An-Sol had fallen behind. That was fine. In fact, this situation worked in my favor.

Wait. An-Hyun had stopped.

"Sol! Sol! Answer me, Sol!"

An-Hyun had finally noticed An-Sol's absence and was frantically calling for her. I couldn't help but think how foolish he was. With that thought, I pushed my speed even further. In an instant, I closed the distance between me and the boss monster. The creature, still howling in pain, saw me approaching and raised its massive right hand high into the air. Its entire arm trembled with fury.

I had purposefully gone easy on it, ensuring it wouldn't die just yet, but the ungrateful beast didn't seem to appreciate that. Of course, it couldn't know my intentions and swung its massive hand down toward me without hesitation. Its razor-sharp claws gleamed, slashing through the air like the scythe of a grim reaper, aimed right at me. To any normal person, the sight would have been terrifying, but to me, it felt slow, almost boring.

Keeping up my speed, I pushed off the ground with one foot and swiftly bent my body low, parallel to the ground. The claws barely grazed over my head, cutting a few strands of hair that fluttered through the air. But I had successfully dodged the attack and slipped inside the boss monster's range. It was a clean slide.

Ahead of me, I spotted An-Sol, on her hands and knees, coughing weakly.

"Cough, cough!"

The air was thick with dust, stirred up by the boss monster's impact when it landed. In the past, I would have stopped to comfort An-Sol, but now wasn't the time. There was neither room for sentimentality nor for wasting time. Swiftly, I scooped her up into my arms, cradling her in a princess carry. Her eyes widened in shock, clearly not expecting me to come for her. With a trembling voice, she spoke up.

"S-Su-Hyeon oppa…?"

"Quiet. Let's focus on getting away from this thing first."

Without waiting for a response, I fired off the three arrows I had prepared earlier in the boss monster's direction. I didn't bother to confirm if they hit; I was already sprinting through the dust cloud, An-Sol held tightly in my arms. Moments later, another pained roar from the creature echoed behind us—it seemed my arrows had found their mark again.

An-Sol's expression was a sight. Tears were welling up in her eyes as she looked at me, as if I were her savior. Meanwhile, An-Hyun, who had been trying to turn back despite Han-Byeol and Yun-Jung's protests, finally saw me emerge from the dust with An-Sol. His jaw dropped in surprise.

The funniest part was An-Hyun's shifting expressions. First, his face went blank in disbelief, then relief washed over him, and finally, he looked on the verge of tears. Seeing that kind of emotional display from another guy, especially someone like him, made me feel uneasy.

It was as if both An-Hyun and An-Sol were about to burst into tears at the same time. I couldn't help but roll my eyes internally at the melodrama, but I kept running.

Just then, I heard Kim Han-Byeol shout something urgently in my direction. At the same time, a chilling sensation crept up my spine. As expected, the boss monster wasn't going to let us escape so easily. I turned slightly to see its tail snaking through the air, whipping toward us like a massive, flexible whip. If I took that hit, I'd be fine—but An-Sol wouldn't survive the shockwave that would pass through me to her.

For a brief moment, a wild thought flashed in my mind: I wanted to kill this thing. The boss monster, one no one had been able to defeat in all of Hall Plain, could be mine to conquer. It might be an accomplishment worth some sort of reward, and beyond that, as a player, I simply had the burning desire to take it down. To make that happen, I needed to separate from An-Hyun and the others for a bit.

I decided to take the hit.

The boss monster's tail slammed into my back with a resounding thud. The impact surged through me like a powerful shockwave. Though it didn't hurt much, I knew my body was going to be flung backward from the sheer force. The power behind the strike was undeniable.

I summoned my magic and absorbed the shock that had penetrated my body. The basic principle was based on 'Saryangbalcheongeun' (the idea of controlling a thousand pounds with just four ounces of force), but I had adjusted it to my own style—distributing and controlling the force that had entered my body. Originally, this technique was used to spread an overwhelming impact throughout the body to mitigate it, but I had also found ways to use it differently.

After delivering a shock that An-Sol could endure, I threw her forward, letting her be propelled ahead. Then, I redirected the remaining force to the side as much as possible and rolled my body as well. Just before we both were thrown into the air, I whispered quietly into An-Sol's ear.

"When you get up, run straight to the warp gate."

Before she could even respond, our bodies were powerfully flung in opposite directions. I was sent to the left, while she flew toward the rest of the group. As if some random (?) luck stat activated at that moment, An-Sol landed perfectly in An Hyun's arms.

After I hit the ground and rolled, I quickly got to my feet. The boss monster was indeed on a different level from the other monsters that appeared during the rites of passage. It recognized me as the primary threat, and instead of relaxing after landing one hit, it immediately leaped toward me again. The way it exuded an intense killing aura confirmed that I had successfully drawn its aggro.

"BOOM!"

The ground shook violently once again with the sound of an explosion. I dodged, but my body was still rattled by the shockwave. The monster seemed even more furious that it had missed, and it repeatedly stomped the ground where I had been standing.

"Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!"

Left, right, left, right.

Nice rhythm.

"Oppaaa!"

"Hyunggg!"

I wanted to yell back, "Whyyy," but I managed to keep my mouth shut to maintain the quiet, dependable hyung image I had cultivated all this time. Normally, I would've waved and smiled to reassure them, but now was not the time. I waved my hand frantically, signaling them to run, but the group stood frozen.

Finally, I couldn't help but raise my voice.

"Run already, you idiots! Get to the warp gate now!"

My shout caused a brief commotion, and then I saw An Hyun dragging a resisting Han-Byeol as they sprinted away. Unbelievable. When An-Sol got captured, he rushed back without a second thought, but now he's running away without even pretending to come back. I clicked my tongue in disbelief as I quickly dodged to the side again, narrowly avoiding another of the monster's stomps.

I was frustrated that I had to keep dodging instead of fighting back, but I held myself in check. I had already decided to take this thing down, and once the others got away safely, I planned to go all out. Dust clouds were already rising around me again, thanks to the monster's relentless stomping.

To clear my view, I erased my presence using magic and slipped behind the boss monster. In an instant, my presence vanished. The monster, lacking eyes, frantically swung its head around as if desperately trying to find me. I watched its twitchy behavior with a bored expression, then turned my attention elsewhere.

Fortunately, it seemed An Hyun had successfully dragged Kim Han-Byeol to the warp gate, and all four of them had just arrived. An Hyun's hair was a mess, likely from Han-Byeol flailing her arms in resistance. Honestly, the sight was kind of amusing.

Once the group reached the gate, it activated, encircling them in a translucent barrier, and the blue magic orb at the center began to vibrate. It looked like the teleportation to the Summoning Room had begun. As I saw the faint blue light start to wrap around their bodies, I let out a sigh of relief. I had more or less finished what I needed to do.

Now, what remains...

As the dust began to settle, I quickly let myself collapse onto the dirt. I figured I'd later get scolded for not coming to the warp gate sooner. Since Han-Byeol has quite the knack for nitpicking, I was preparing an excuse—claiming the blow from the monster's tail was so severe that I couldn't get up at the time.

Soon enough, the dust cleared completely, and I could clearly see the group. The faint blue light around them grew brighter as their bodies slowly began to fade from the feet up, just like when they had been teleported from the preparation room earlier. From my position on the ground, I lifted my upper body slightly and waved at them. There was no deeper meaning behind it, just a casual "goodbye and see you later" gesture.

But then... An Hyun suddenly wiped his eyes with his hand, and Lee Yun-Jung collapsed to the ground—her feet were already disappearing, so it looked a little strange—and burst into tears. Kim Han-Byeol also covered her face with both hands, her shoulders shaking, while An-Sol waved her hands in my direction, tears streaming down her face.

What... What's going on? I definitely didn't mean to make them cry...

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