Episode 37.

“Seorak is very spacious, isn’t it?”

“Sensing all the monsters while flashing through here is making me feel sick.”

“I can’t even guess how many dungeons have exploded…”

Three sites were presumed to be the locations of the dungeon as several monsters had gathered in such places. However, the problem was that they couldn’t detect any boss monsters there. They were looking for a place where the kernels disappeared, and only chaff remained. Jung Si-woo swept away all of them like a storm, gradually narrowing their search range.

“What’s the news online?”

“I haven’t been able to check. I’ve been busy dealing with monsters that were targeting helicopters, so can you get the information. Ah…”

While checking the information updated in real-time, Soo Ah-rin made a strange sound. When Jung Si-woo turned her way, she began to explain in a trembling voice.

“I-it is said that the Soaring Tempest Guild will come down from the Sky Castle after completing the dungeon attack.”

“That’s great! This place is too large for me to handle alone.”

Reinforcement was essential to prevent further damage. Of course, Soo Ah-rin would gladly welcome help from strong players to suppress the Seorak incident, notwithstanding the fact that she felt uneasy that their help came in the form of the Soaring Tempest Guild.

“Yong Se-ha, we need to make sure that we stay out of their sight.”

“Okay! Now I’m no longer a member of the Soaring Tempest Guild. I am now Jung Si-woo’s supporter!”

Jung Si-woo ignored Yong Se-ha, who seemed proud of saying that, as he sprinted away. About thirty minutes had passed, with Jung Si-woo busily navigating Seoraksan by tracking the monsters leftover. Through this, he found more player groups dealing with them. It was natural to see players being overpowered by the monsters, but some were holding their ground well, and some were even dominating the battle. There were players seemingly far greater than Jung Si-woo if the amount of magic alone were considered.

“Okay, the players here are fighting well…”

“Of course, so that you can hide your powers with ease.”

“Don’t ruin this for me.”

He had no intention of advertising his existence to other players, so once he confirmed that the players were fighting well, he chose to hide in the shadows and not interfere. In the midst of that, the souls of defeated players lying lifeless on the cold hard ground were collected without anyone noticing. After a player’s body had melted away, its soul was sucked into the back of Jung Si-woo’s hand.

[Soul Collect skill has raised to Lv.3]

[Total Souls Collected: 13]

[Kii-? The sacrifice, the sacrifice!]

[The offering is gone! A nutritious offering!]

As expected, the monsters seemed to sense something special in the players’ bodies. The players couldn’t confirm it during the battle, but the monsters reacted very sensitively to the disappearance of the players’ corpses.

“How much did you get?”

Jung Si-woo left the battlefield without knowing the answer either, and he began muttering while running through the mountains. Soo Ah-rin was also curious about the monsters’ powers, so she continued to pester him.

“Was it mana or a soul? Even when I was a player, I didn’t figure out how to deal with the power of the soul. Perhaps mana belongs to the soul…anyway, the important thing is that your Soul Collect skill is unique!”

“Uh-huh. Can we stop talking about difficult things?”

Yong Se-ha intervened.

“Shhhh.”

At that moment, Jung Si-woo stopped. Yong Se-ha and Soo Ah-rin also halted after realizing the reason. Jung Si-woo’s eyes, which could sense the presence of battles over 300 meters in range, were serious. The battle he just detected seemed to be the greatest yet compared to all the combats he had fought thus far on this mountain.

“Both parties are strong?”

“However, I can sense that the players were still struggling because of the overwhelming number of monsters. What should we do?”

“Well…”

Worry was evident on Si-woo’s face, for even if it was the master of the Soaring Tempest Guild, he felt that he needed to help. He quickly composed himself before running forward. Within a few seconds, he broke into the scene, destroying a few trees on his way. Upon checking the battlefield, he found that it was near a waterfall blocked off by rocks.

[Kaga!?]

[Enemy! Enemy with strong power!]

[It looks weird! It looks different from other guys!]

“Another monster…no!”

Instead of clear water, blood was flowing down the valley. The monsters’ corpses were scattered all over the place, piled up on top of each other. Some of them looked like elite monsters.

“Is that a person? Help me!”

The woman who created the terrible scene looked back at Jung Si-woo and gleefully shouted. She overturned all his expectations as he thought there were many players on the field. Monsters of varying strength wandered in Mt. Seorak. Some like the slimes and goblins Jung Si-woo has fought were easy to kill without even lifting a finger, but there were also elite monsters exceeding level 100. What surprised him was that even the stronger monsters were lying dead here. Most of all, unlike Jung Si-woo, other players dealing with greater quantities of monsters couldn’t increase their level in one instance. However, he could sense that this person who had been fighting these elite monsters by herself was a very strong player.

“What, was that a person?”

“Ha!”

[Come!]

[Block him, stop him!]

At that point, Jung Si-woo finished grasping the situation and rushed forward. His Cruel Charge activated as naturally as breathing. The monsters that come to block his path bounced off and died. Jung Si-woo’s Cruel Charge was so powerful that a heavy tank hitting them would hurt less. Dozens of monsters in his path instantly perished on the spot.

“…W-what is that skill?”

The woman asked, visibly surprised, but Jung Si-woo didn’t bother to answer. He readied his hammer before replying with a question.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to fight?”

“Of course, I’ll fight. Let’s talk about how to kill all of them!”

“You don’t have to talk about it…”

Soo Ah-rin whispered to Jung Si-woo so the mysterious woman wouldn’t hear. Si-woo sighed and swung the hammer, bursting the head of an orc that was about to attack him. Jung Si-woo moved with destructive blows and tremendous power, causing his whole body to tremble. He stepped forward, focusing his might on the hammer, then swung it in a diagonal path. Three monsters who were in the trajectory were torn apart.

[Strong!]

[Too strong!]

Jung Si-woo’s swinging hammer technique could end up cutting enemies just as well as a sword. Perhaps learning how to use a sword in his past martial arts training had helped achieve this result.

“Apart from strength, your movement…I thought being a Level 200 player would be considered strong enough to learn such power, but how could I not know about that?”

The woman tried to examine Jung Si-woo, but she still couldn’t figure out his ability or skill. She rushed back to the road Jung Si-woo had cleared, caught her breath, and raised both hands. Clasped in her hands were blue-colored artifacts resembling the shape of a pistol.

“Then, I shall fight once again!”

The woman was confident in fighting alone, but she didn’t expect a trusty companion to appear before her. When she confirmed that there was no risk of being attacked by an enemy, she showed her true power. The monsters could sense it, too.

[Block her! Stop the girl!]

[Something scary is coming! Come on, block her!]

It was too late. The woman had already gulped a mana potion and regained her strength. She flashed a teasing smile, activated her skill, and aimed her double pistols at the place where the orcs had gathered.

“Range!”

[Kugagagagaga!]

[Damage, damage!]

The monsters who were talking loudly were the first to get their heads blown off. Left and right, the corpses piled up. It didn’t matter how high or low their level was; as long as they were within her range, they would die. The woman’s Magic Shot skill was fast and powerful. Because of her excellent dynamic vision, no matter how violently the monster moved, she could hit them like they were stationary targets. Activated by her skill’s power, her body moved like a machine, constantly aiming for targets and firing magic bullets. The appearance of the monsters falling one after another along the direction of her muzzle was ridiculously funny.

“What is that…?”

Jung Si-woo, who was crushing and killing monsters with his hammer, suddenly became alarmed as he saw the monsters die one by one. Wasn’t that his job?! He knew that if a monster were foolish enough to keep only a little distance away from him, he could easily obliterate them.

“You have greatly improved your skills!”

Soo Ah-rin reassured him. Jung Si-woo wanted to ask if she knew the mysterious woman, but he knew he didn’t have the time to chat. He buried his curiosity and shook his head. It just wasn’t the right time for it. Monsters flocked to him and attacked the short gap he revealed, but Si-woo just gifted them one of his kicks.

[Quaahahahah!]

[Kegagak!]

Even if the monsters were numerically superior, they still couldn’t withstand the two terrifying players’ powerful combo. At some point, when a monster unit suffered damage closed to destruction, the remaining ones began to flee.

[Run away, let’s run away.]

[It’s impossible to defeat them with our strength. Those offerings are too special.]

“What?”

“No way.”

Jung Si-woo was ready to activate Cruel Charge again, but the woman caught him and stopped him in his track.

“Let’s think about this first. If you continue to rage like this, they’ll probably report it to their upper bosses, knowing that they can’t defeat us on their own. Let’s go after them and kill the boss.”

“That’s a good idea.”

However, Jung Si-woo’s next action didn’t support his statement. He still hadn’t fulfilled his satisfaction meter. He threw his mighty hammer and simultaneously applied his smash and sprint mana. As a result, the hammer spun smoothly in the air and crushed five monsters at once.

[Kihiiiiiii!]

Four monsters remained after that attack. Jung Si-woo then activated Critical Bullet and pierced two more of them while madly grinning. The woman couldn’t help but freeze as she witnessed the scene unfold before her. However, as he was wearing a black helmet, she couldn’t see his expression.

“You don’t need to gape so much.”

Jung Si-woo said mockingly.

“You…how…”

The woman stuttered with eyes wide open. Her transparent emerald eyes sparked attractively.

“What the hell was that Magic Shot just now!? It’s not an ordinary Magic Shot, right!?”

“…Ha?”

And that was the first time the world’s most famous mercenary, double pistol shooter Marina Bissett, met Jung Si-woo.