FVN Chapter 360: Hwarong (Fire Dragon) (2)
Chapter 360: Hwarong (Fire Dragon) (2)
Chapter 360: Hwarong (Fire Dragon) (2)
“How... how is that even...?”
“Could a leap even go that far? It’s way too far! No matter how short you measure it, that’s over a hundred meters...”
All of Groo Guild’s members were aghast.
As was well known, the Leap skill maxed out in mastery when you covered about 15 meters at once.
But Kang-hoo had just moved seven times that—no, even farther.
“What are you all doing—run!”
Ma Jin-ho shouted.
They couldn’t just gape at the one and only precious chance Kang-hoo had made for them and let it slip.
Everyone broke into a full sprint.
Meanwhile, Kang-hoo sent a Tarak-su at Hwarong and did everything he could to draw aggro.
Hwarong had a nasty temper; it ignored the bridge entirely and spewed fire at the Tarak-su.
Fwoooosh!
The searing blaze wrapped the fiend, and it died without a squeak; it didn’t have the toughness for that.
A noble sacrifice by the Tarak-su.
Thanks to it, every Groo Guild member made it across.
Up through their last attempts, they had tried hundreds of times only to be forced back by fire again and again.
But now, nothing had ever been easier. The only change was Kang-hoo’s presence.
“Wow, I thought I was watching a bullet.”
“I don’t even know what to say. All I can say is I’m jealous.”
The Groo members heaped praise on Kang-hoo.
His strategy had turned the impossible into the possible; no matter how they replayed it, it was impressive.
To say it was “just” good skills would be off—the very existence of such a skill was priceless.
None of the hunters here—not even Master O Yu-jin—could streak more than a hundred meters like that.
‘Still... a bit unsatisfying.’
Kang-hoo smacked his lips.
They were all across, and if they pulled back a little, they could avoid Hwarong’s flames.
Hwarong lurked beneath the fault-line chasm, so it couldn’t attack the ground above anyway.
One question, though: why didn’t a winged beast take to the air and attack?
The answer came quickly.
Just before the Tarak-su died, Kang-hoo had glimpsed through its shared sight the chains binding Hwarong’s legs.
It was a “half-dragon” that couldn’t take off. No wonder it could only vent fire on the bridge.
“This looks like a method that only works with you here, Kang-hoo. One way or another, your importance just went way up.”
O Yu-jin scratched the back of her head, sheepish. Right now, their dependency on Kang-hoo was 100%.
Sure, the guild could devise a different plan to approximate this situation.
But it wouldn’t be as clean—and they could suffer losses they hadn’t intended.
Then Kang-hoo spoke quietly.
“Master.”
“Yes?”
“We’ve met the goal of crossing the bridge. May I take a moment for something else?”
“A short personal window? That’s fine. But what are you—ah!”
Before her question finished—after getting her “go ahead”—Kang-hoo left his spot.
He had already vaulted into the air, streaking toward Hwarong.
Pa-at!
At the same time, five shadows peeled off around him and arced toward Hwarong.
KRAAAH!
Hwarong didn’t just watch.
It poured fire at the nearest shadows, and three vanished in an instant.
Kang-hoo had never expected them all to survive; it didn’t matter.
Of the two remaining, he attempted to transfer to the one closest to Hwarong’s face.
Fssst!
In the next blink, Kang-hoo—who had been midair—was now atop Hwarong’s face.
And where he had been, the swapped-in shadow reached its apex and began an endless fall.
“Will he be okay...?”
“I can’t even watch.”
The Groo members’ faces went stiff. It felt like he’d gone looking for death.
O Yu-jin, O Hye-jin, and Ma Jin-ho were no different; their expressions turned grave.
They had only ever thought about avoiding the mid-boss; to close in and fight Hwarong?
It looked reckless.
The beast was so massive that you couldn’t tally enough damage to kill it—not realistically.
You could say it was like striking a boulder with an egg and not be exaggerating.
While everyone called it reckless—
Kang-hoo thought differently.
He judged the chains on its legs—its inability to move freely—a meaningful advantage.
If it couldn’t fly, then its attack lanes were limited, too.
He decided it was doable.
There was one problem, though—he sensed dark energy gathering in Hwarong’s eyes.
‘Don’t tell me...’
Was it going to shoot a dark-energy beam from its eyes? Entirely possible—all it needed was to condense dark energy.
【Executing the “Order of Nothingness.”
You may burn away an amount of the target’s dark energy equal to the total dark energy you have used.】
So he chose to execute the Order of Nothingness—the Seeker of Pure Darkness’s fifth boon.
Next—
Fwoooosh!
KRAAAAH!
Sudden spontaneous ignition of dark energy in its eyes made Hwarong shriek.
Its eyes burned out in a flash. There was no time to react—and it hadn’t imagined such an attack.
The total burnt dark energy wasn’t much, but the problem was where: the eyes.
No matter how thick Hwarong’s hide, its corneas weren’t.
The charred dark energy erased its eyes forever; only the “traces” of what had been eyes remained.
KRAAA! KRAAA!
Blinded, Hwarong howled and began scattering mana around itself.
The scattered mana started coalescing in circles—likely an attempt to form summoned constructs.
‘Not happening.’
【Soul Wave】
Using the Strategist of the Wasteland’s boon, Soul Wave, he cut the summoning before it even began.
Thwarted at the outset, Hwarong snorted with pent-up frustration.
Then it tightened the dark energy within its body and, in a blink, wrapped Kang-hoo in it.
A toughness-weakening debuff.
【War God of the Iron Mace】
【No matter the debuff, your Toughness will never drop below 100.】
A good try, but thanks to the War God of the Iron Mace, his Toughness wouldn’t hit zero.
In that interval, Kang-hoo used the Cataclysm – Darkness constellation’s first boon to fully restore his dark energy.
A surge of mana poured into recovery, bringing overload and a headache—but it was bearable.
And painful or not, he needed his dark energy topped off; he never knew when he’d need it again.
‘With beasts like this, you finish it when you get the chance. If not, the counterblow can crush you.’
He had already decided on a kill-line for Hwarong.
But Hwarong was still vigorous enough that it wasn’t time to throw it.
Though blind, it was carefully tracking Kang-hoo’s presence atop its face.
It even used the backwind from its own breath to curl a portion of fireballs toward him.
‘I need intentional misdirection.’
He produced a clone and sent it scrambling across Hwarong’s face, shoulders, and surroundings.
Hwarong shrugged, trying to knock it off, but couldn’t.
The clone had learned a lot from Kang-hoo’s guidance; its movement wasn’t clumsy.
It had studied more patterns than expected and developed some autonomous adaptability.
Then, spending 500 dark energy, he summoned another Tarak-su; it drove Hwarong wild.
Circling both ears, its screeches were worse than nails on a chalkboard.
Kwiit! Kweeet!
Hwarong kept batting its wings in irritation; still, it couldn’t swat them away.
With Kang-hoo pressed tight to its face, even a signature flame-breath was impossible.
Like a bug clinging to a human’s nose—catch it recklessly and you hurt yourself.
‘Even so, I’m still within its surveillance. If it reads my move, it’s dangerous.’
He knew that even while it handled the clone and fiend, it remained hypersensitive to his presence.
If he telegraphed anything here, some form of counter would come.
It could even be pretending not to notice. Assume it was stupid, and he’d botch everything.
“...”
Kang-hoo scanned for the final weak point.
With monsters like this, you end it by taking the head.
Like seizing the core and power supply of a robot.
No matter how refined the killing machine, without power and command, it becomes scrap.
‘Nostrils, ear canals... and eyes.’
Those three were the only soft entries—the weakest parts.
The hide elsewhere had such resistance that ordinary attacks wouldn’t register.
And burrowing inside to rip organs? Sounds cool in novels; in reality, you wouldn’t get past the stomach—you’d dissolve.
‘And nose and ears can be hairy traps, depending on the species. Plenty are built that way.’
No need to gamble.
Compared to nose and ears, there was a surer route of entry: the eyes he had already ruined.
Then—
He threw his finishing move.
【Sea of Stillness – Bracelet】
【Suppression – Suppress the outward feel of mana, dark energy, and holy power to zero.
Not passive; it continuously consumes mana to keep the aura down. Lets you evade even fine detection.】
Perfect aura suppression.
Hwarong, which had been tracking clone, shadow, illusions—and Kang-hoo—lost lock on the real one.
With his presence suddenly gone, it assumed he had leapt away or left the area.
So—
It moved its arms to swat the nearby nuisances—clone and fiend.
A gap opened.
‘Now.’
【Acceleration】
【Leap】
【Spirit Leap】
Stacking skills, Kang-hoo detonated from his spot.
The spike of acceleration strained his body so hard it felt like his joints were tearing apart.
Even so!
As long as his body didn’t shatter, he could fight; he clenched his teeth and compacted himself.
No need to overthink.
Punch through that milky eyeball—and it’s over.
From there, he’d shred everything inside and reduce it to confetti.
【The Eccentric】
【Decapitation】
He massively increased mana usage, doubling Decapitation’s power.
At that level, even steel-forged eyeballs wouldn’t endure.
“Ahhh...!”
“D-dangerous!”
Worried cries sounded from somewhere beyond the bridge, but he didn’t listen.
Only they saw “impossible.”
Not once had he set down the idea of “possible.”
And then—
Slaaash! Sluuuk!
He split Hwarong’s pupil, and his body was sucked into the abyss within.
It looked as if the eye had swallowed him; Kang-hoo vanished from sight.
“...”
Silence fell.
Even Hwarong went eerily quiet; no one dared breathe.
All focus narrowed on the torn pupil, on the gap.
They knew Kang-hoo had a plan, and yet their minds tilted toward pessimism.
Their faces darkened.
Krrr-huhu...
Hwarong still seemed fine.