Chapter 104

After hunting the Orcanthropes, Song Kiyeol said this:

–I have already promised you that. I will prepare it immediately. Useless oil items also came out, but do you want those as well?

That item was 'Orc Chimera Oil'.

[Orc Chimera Oil]

Oil that can be obtained from Orc-based chimera monsters. This flammable substance only reacts to magic coming directly from the hand of a magician. However, caution is advised, as the temporary destructive power is so strong it may inflict great damage to the one creating the magical flame. A fire created from Orc Chimera Oil can only be extinguished by magic.

Creates a very powerful explosion when coming in contact with poison-attribute components.

The intensity of the explosion rises in proportion to the concentration of poison.

Valid time: 3 months

Kiyeol called this a 'useless oil item'. It was understandable, since fire magicians were not only rare, but also very unlikely to use this oil while risking injury to themselves. Its expiration date was only three months.

However, it wasn't useless right now. Choi Sung-gu clenched his teeth.

'It'll be fine, right?'

He had already splashed Orc Chimera Oil all over the place.

'I'll be fine, but…'

To be honest, he couldn't help but worry. He had the title effect of 'Person of Fire', plus the protection of the 'Giant of the Sunset'. He also had an extremely high affinity with fire. But Kim Hyukjin was different.

'Ah, whatever. I'm sure it'll be fine.'

Fire instantly appeared in his palm.

'He said I need to light it directly with my hand, right?'

He counted down in his heart.

'Hyukjin said to slowly count from 10 after his shout.'

10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.

'Now!'

Sung-gu touched his flame to the oil that only reacted to magic flame, the 'Orc Chimera Oil'. A booming explosion instantly went off, and flames surged up. The wind happened to be blowing in Hyukjin's direction, and an enormous inferno swelled up, rushing down the passageway in the wind's direction.

"Ngh!"

His clothes caught fire, and Sung-gu coughed from the smoke. The explosive power was insane. A slightly acrid smell he couldn't tell was oil or gas permeated the cave.

"Goddamn, it's hot."

The entire cave turned into a sea of flame. If a fiery hell existed, it would probably look something like this. The flaming hell that had taken over the entire cave raged with heat so intense it could easily melt down a few people in seconds.

'Hyukjin… is fine, right?'

Hyukjin had planned this. Sung-gu decided to trust the plan. He headed towards Hyukjin.

"Hyukjin!"

The flames were so intense they obscured his vision. He could only see about one meter in front of him. Thankfully, the path wasn't forked. He just had to go straight.

"Kim Hyukjin!"

His heart stirred with a little urgency.

"Where are you? You're okay, right?!"

Kim Hyukjin shouted, "Choi Sung-gu! Now!"

The Predator Tree reacted to the sound, shooting a branch towards Hyukjin as if throwing a snare.

Slice–!

Hyukjin swung his sword and cut away the branch whizzing towards him.

'Ten seconds.'

He told Sung-gu to count down from ten before lighting the fire. It would be a massive flame capable of swallowing even its creator. By now, the entire cave should be drenched in Orc Chimera Oil.

Hyukjin immediately used an item.

[Hobgoblin Perfume]

A perfume hobgoblins apply when playing tricks. It enables a special 'Stealth'. However, overly large movements will cancel the spirit art.

Effect: Transparency spirit art

Duration: 3 minutes

Uses: 1

This item, which he acquired from hunting the Thin Hobgoblin, enabled a 'transparency spirit art'. The Predator Tree was reliant on the same senses as humans.

Hyukjin's body immediately vanished.

'The spirit art will be dispelled if I move too fast.'

The flames would soon come roaring in. He gave Sung-gu ten seconds. In just a few seconds, a literal firestorm created by Orc Chimera Oil and Sung-gu would overtake this cave.

Hyukjin moved very slowly, step by careful step.

Gghhh–!

Gghhh–!

The Predator Tree's branches swayed in confusion. The prey that had been right in front of its eyes moments ago had disappeared. Hyukjin carefully bent to pick up a rock, then threw it into the direction he had walked from.

Clink!

The stone clanged against the cave wall.

Gghhh–!

Gghhh–!

The Predator Tree rushed towards the sound, and Hyukjin's eyes followed the monster as it approached. If he collided into the monster by mistake, the spirit art would be canceled. He carefully assessed the trajectory of its movement and determined that he would barely avoid grazing it. Cold sweat ran down his back.

'Let's stay put.'

Gghhh–!

Gghhh–!

The Predator Tree swept a hairsbreadth past Hyukjin, rushing towards the place where the stone had fallen, the place with the corpses created by Pearl Centipedes.

'Three seconds now.'

Fwoooosh!

Flames shot up. A firestorm raged in, fueled by the Orc Chimera Oil he and Sung-gu had dispersed all over the place. After very carefully sneaking up on the Predator Tree, Hyukjin sprayed Orc Chimera Oil onto the monster's body. He also splashed plenty of oil on the corpses.

His movements were too sudden, it seemed.

[Excessive movement has been detected.]

[The spirit art is being dispelled.]

Hyukjin became visible again, and the Predator Tree recognized that he was behind it.

Gghhhh–!

The mouth in the middle of the Predator Tree's trunk swiveled automatically to its back in a motion that was the parallel of a human's head rotating 180 degrees.

The Predator Tree extended its branches.

Clamp!

As branches grabbed Hyukjin's wrists and ankles, flames traveled up the Predator Tree's body. Despite its considerable agony, it raised Hyukjin into the air to swallow him whole. Knowing the more he resisted, the faster it would move to consume him, Hyukjin didn't resist. He intentionally went limp in its grasp.

'Sung-gu will call me.'

That would confuse the Predator Tree a little more. From the viewpoint of the Predator Tree, it would be like an 'enemy' suddenly appearing from the sea of flames so intense they were impossible to see through.

Gghhh–!

Gghhh–!

'You just have to make a fuss like usual, Sung-gu.'

Originally, this trap was meant to kill the Pearl Centipedes. However, it was more than capable of killing the Predator Tree as well. That was because Hyukjin had the Rot Water he obtained in advance from the Poison Witch.

His ankle touched the Predator Tree's mouth.

As slowly as a snake swallowing its prey, the Predator Tree persisted in swallowing Hyukjin despite the agony of being covered in flames.

Just then, Sung-gu's voice rang out.

"Kim Hyukjin! Where are you? You're okay, right?!"

The cave was now completely full of fire. The Predator Tree flinched. Hyukjin didn't miss that very tiny opening, a fraction of a second. He raised his foot a little and kicked the Predator Tree's trunk, pushing his body a little further away from the monster. Then, he curled up his body as much as possible while still dangling in the air.

"Sung-gu! You huddle up, too!" he shouted.

Sung-gu had absorbed the Vulcan Body Tome, so he would probably be fine even if he didn't curl up, but it was still best to be safe than sorry.

The next moment, there was a huge explosion.

BOOOOM!

It was like a massive bomb went off.

Sung-gu hastily dropped to the ground with a yelp, curling up to minimize his exposure to the explosion.

The huge explosion was a stunning finale to the blazing firestorm prelude.

After some time, Sung-gu shakily got up.

"Wowee, seriously. Thought I was in a frickin' sauna or something."

Then, he approached Hyukjin.

"Oi, Hyukjin. You're okay, right?"

"..."

Hyukjin lay on the ground, unmoving.

"Hey! Hyukjin! You alright? You're alright, yeah? Fuck. You're not dead, are you?"

Still prone, Hyukjin raised a hand, putting a finger to his lips as if to tell Sung-gu to shut up. He healed himself with Cure and Constitution Potions.

"Phew, you scared me. I thought you were dead. Why'd you do things so recklessly? And what was that tree monster just now?"

"A monster around level 40."

"Wha—?"

Sung-gu's body trembled. He hastily looked around.

"Fuck! Where'd it go?"

"You hunted it just now."

"Me? When?"

Now that he thought of it, he had a fuzzy recollection of hearing a notice. He was so focused on finding out if Hyukjin was okay, so busy checking if Hyukjin was alive or dead, that he wasn't able to pay attention to it. Now that he had collected his wits, he remembered hearing it.

"Predator… Tree?"

"Yeah. The Predator Tree you killed."

Sung-gu's mouth closed. It was because he knew what Hyukjin was doing right now.

'He's explaining to the Guardians.'

A level 40 monster. That was a foe that should be nearly impossible to kill with two people in the early 30s. Moreover, the process had reduced Hyukjin to such a wreck.

'How in hell did I kill it?'

Sung-gu was curious, too. Hyukjin opened his mouth.

"We made use of the Orc Chimera Oil's special trait."

"Special trait?"

"It causes a powerful explosion when it comes in contact with poison."

"You had poison with you?"

But wait, if Hyukjin had poison with him, he should have exploded, too. Sung-gu blinked, baffled.

"There were several corpses created by Pearl Centipedes."

"Corpses?"

Sung-gu tilted his head.

"Wait a sec, you're saying…?"

"Yeah. We made use of decomposition poison. The bodies of the people killed by the Pearl Centipedes were filled with strong decomposition poison."

That wasn't all. Hyukjin had increased the explosive power even more with the addition of Rot Water, a liquid that created poison by decomposing something. This item, which was especially effective on corpses, could be produced by poison classes.

"So basically, you lured that Predator Tree or whatever it's called this way, let it get covered in flames, and then finished it off with an explosion using decomposition poison?"

"Yeah."

"You could have died, too."

"But I didn't."

"Weren't you closer to the explosion than me?"

"I was."

Without that, they wouldn't have been able to kill the Predator Tree.

"It was 50/50 to begin with. Came down to whether I lived or it died. That's all."

"You crazy bastard. There's no doubt, you're really gone in the head. I at least have a title called Person of Fire! Do you even have something like that?"

Hyukjin gave a casual nod. "I do."

"I knew it, you don't! Without a fire resistance title like… Huh? You do?"

"..."

Sung-gu stared at Hyukjin in bafflement. He didn't think there would be someone else with the Person of Fire title, much less the sovereign Kim Hyukjin. Who would have thought that someone who didn't even have a fire class, but a sovereign class, would have this title?

Sung-gu shook his head.

"I really gotta wonder if you're a crazy bastard after all."

His mood lifted. It hadn't even been long since he met Hyukjin, but he became happy anyway. He was happy Hyukjin was alright, that he had the 'Person of Fire' title, everything.

"You really are a madlad."

"..."

"Surely you don't have a higher fire affinity or resistance than me, do you?"

Having fully recovered, Hyukjin got to his feet. The way he patted himself down made it seem like he had just gone on a light jog around the neighborhood.

After mumbling, "Jeez, good thing I'm on the same team as this monster," Sung-gu changed the subject. "Hey, you monster. That means I just killed a level 40 monster, right?"

"Yeah."

"Holy shit. What the hell? My EXP's nearly gone up to half! It's been going up super fucking slow lately."

Hyukjin laughed. He didn't expect they would be able to kill a Predator Tree here. With the stacked effects of Observer's Domain and his title, Hyukjin also reaped a handsome amount of EXP.

'I'm almost at level 31, too.'

It was extremely difficult to raise one's level in the Hell Phase without a 'strategy'. Even people with top-notch talent went up only one or two levels in three months, after all.

[The 'Whispering Devil' is having fun.]

[The 'Nameless Observer' is impressed by your quick wit.]

[The 'Giant of the Sunset' expresses slight interest in you.]

Even the Giant of the Sunset showed a little interest in him now, a fairly big change from before. Originally, to the Giant of the Sunset, Hyukjin was just a 'thief who stole rewards that should have gone to my favorite'.

Just then, Hyukjin heard a notice even he hadn't expected.

[The 'Nameless Observer' wishes to grant you a favor.]

____