Episode 40.

“Are you sure about this? There are so many monsters!”

Marina Bissett asked while anxiously looking at Jung Si-woo.

“The number of enemies doesn’t matter. What matters is whether I can protect myself or not.”

“That sounds dumb…but strangely convincing.”

Their plan was simple. One would get the monsters’ attention, and the other one would kill the boss. Of course, the former role would be played by Jung Si-woo. Charging into tens of thousands of monsters would usually be impossible no matter how courageous one was, but Jung Si-woo stared at the concerned Marina Bissett with his head tilted in an aloof manner.

“I don’t see anyone stronger than me. What are you worried about?”

“But…there are so many of them…”

Marina Bissett, who was confused by Jung Si-woo’s reaction, stated this fact frankly. When she fought the fierce battle earlier, she found herself feeling exhausted and gasping for breath. Jung Si-woo, on the other hand, looked calm from start to finish. Even while swinging a hammer weighing near a ton to smash the enemies, his breathing remained even.

“How great is your physical strength?”

As players leveled up, their mana, muscle strength, and stamina status grew, too. Jung Si-woo’s improvement speed may be twice that of other players, but Marina Bissett’s health, which passed level 200 long before, wasn’t inferior to his. In terms of numbers that could be checked with the interface, that was.

“You can see it with your own eyes and guess.”

“Ughhh!”

Not all player information could be revealed in the status. It only scanned the body and displayed the four clearest indicators that could be expressed, but it couldn’t reveal the constant change and interaction that were going on within.

“Stay well hidden.”

“Like you have to make that clear.”

Marina Bissett promptly disappeared with pistols in hand. Jung Si-woo nodded and took the hammer out of his inventory, brandishing it. Then, without hesitation, he rushed towards the monsters.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!”

He initiated the War Cry as he gained speed, revealing the life he had somehow kept hidden until this moment. The monsters who were sprinkling their blood on the ground, the elite monsters who encouraged them and wielded their weapons in the air, and the lion-masked humanoid monster who repeated strange cries…all of them had fixed their eyes on Jung Si-woo.

[Offering!]

[It’s a strong sacrifice!]

[Let’s catch him and offer him as a final sacrifice!]

“Their cries for this so-called offering irritates me.”

“Be careful!”

Hundreds of scorching fireballs covered the sky and painted it red. Jung Si-woo felt bloodshot eyes staring straight at him, coming from the direction of the lion-masked monster. If the boss summoned all of those fireballs, then that meant his plan was working. Great! However, Jung Si-woo noticed that the sudden quivering of the elite monsters around him was probably not instigated by the boss but a result of their exploitation of the other monsters. Perhaps it had to do with the ritual they were performing.

“I don’t have time to analyze all of that now!”

He felt his frustration rising. He still couldn’t grasp what was happening, but he needed to get over his curiosity, as there were more important matters at hand.

“Do you think I’d be hit by that obvious attack?”

He yelled and picked up speed, maneuvering his way out of the fireballs’ path, then snagging an approaching goblin with one hand to catapult it away. The goblin jetted out at a speed of over 200 kilometers per hour, collided with a fireball, and combusted like fireworks in the night sky.

[Guaahahah!]

[Quii, Quiii! He became a sacrifice, a sacrifice! It was a sacrifice!]

Jung Si-woo peeked at the explosion that took six other monsters down. He roughly grasped the fireballs’ power, nodded, then started tossing more monsters around. He could sense the fireballs’ trajectory coming from all directions, flinging monsters to see them pop midair.

“I won’t receive much damage even if I’m hit upfront, so I don’t need to use up my stamina. Still, how many shots should I take for flame resistance to be activated?”

Naturally, Jung Si-woo was right. No matter how many foes there were or what skills they possessed, it didn’t matter, for he could take them all on. His strategy now was to avoid what could be avoided, prevent what could be prevented, and stop the unstoppable on the spot. His senses needed to be extremely cautious for this to work.

“I really want to be able to hit them just as hard…”

“I want that, too…”

After calculating the fireballs’ trajectory, Jung Si-woo stomped the floor before rushing into the fireballs’ path without hesitation. Soo Ah-rin screamed and shut her eyes tight, but Yong Se-ha kept his eyes open and watched the scene unfold. Hundreds of fireballs rained down on Jung Si-woo with force as strong as a meteorite, but Si-woo’s sprint wasn’t halted as he artistically deflected them all.

[Quaahahahahah!]

[He wants us to kill him!]

[Sacrifice! It is a ceremony of offering a sacrifice! Kill everyone! Kill him!]

Any normal person would be overwhelmed upon witnessing such courage, but the monsters weren’t flustered. They charged towards Jung Si-woo, trampling the corpses of their fallen colleagues. However, Si-woo just lightly smashed them with his hammer as if he were at the arcade playing whack-a-mole.

“Save your mana!”

“I’m not using mana.”

“Really?”

Jung Si-woo trusted the hammer’s centrifugal force as he tossed it like a boomerang. Monsters burst left and right as it sliced through the air. Their level made no difference.

“But… you’re really not using mana?”

Soo Ah-rin couldn’t believe Jung Si-woo’s reply. At least none of the players she had met could achieve such astonishing results without using mana. It was no longer a matter of level or status. This power was something beyond physical, beyond what could be seen with the naked eye.

“It’s the power of Heavy Weapon Battle. Even though it’s only level two right now, it still adds such overwhelming power to my attacks. It’s as if I have an extra heart.”

A confident smile flashed on Jung Si-woo’s face. The more aggressively he ran, the stronger the hammer became. The moment its path was drawn, the destructive power reached its limit. Jung Si-woo could move his body as naturally as breathing. The fierce momentum of his returning hammer crushed the orcs that were plunging his way. Their torsos fluttered in the air and clashed with the fireballs, leading to a beautiful explosion.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!”

War Cry was the only skill he was using that consumed mana. He didn’t need to use up any more mana, as more than ninety percent of the monsters in Daecheongbong Peak were rather weak mobs that didn’t exceed level 100. The low-ranking monsters followed the boss’ orders and flocked to Jung Si-woo liked crazed maniacs. They wanted to punish this intruder who was killing more of their companions with every passing second. The boss was determined to exterminate Jung Si-woo, so he aimed a fireball in his direction but ended up killing his subordinates instead.

[The altar is filled with blood. Offer him, and everything will be perfect!]

Altar? The familiar sound of that word pricked Jung Si-woo’s ears, but he couldn’t remember why, so he shrugged it off. The fireballs’ incessant heavy downpour stopped as the boss gazed at Jung Si-woo with inflamed eyes. He looked disoriented, but Soo Ah-rin just chuckled and whispered to Si-woo’s ears.

“He’s not yet done. Right now, he’s not only focusing his mana, but he’s also absorbing the mana of other elite monsters. He will attack you once you let your guard down. I can sense that it will very likely be a swift and clandestine magic.”

“I understand. Don’t worry; I can avoid it if I know the attack’s timing.”

“Your calm attitude towards this is making me anxious.”

Jung Si-woo quietly nodded, then realized what she said was true. He didn’t know why he still felt so unfazed after his unstoppable rush towards countless monsters while swinging his hammer and screaming at them, but he liked the feeling. The boss’ fireball attack killed thousands of his subordinates, but the number of monsters overpowered by Jung Si-woo’s sturdy hammer wasn’t to be underestimated.

“What? He really is a monster…”

Marina Bissett, who was waiting for the right time to attack, could only mutter those words after witnessing Jung Si-woo’s outrageous feat. If she were the one raging like that, she would’ve already been gasping for air and missing her targets. However, Jung Si-woo stood firmly in place with his trusted sledgehammer, swinging endlessly and waiting for a moment to strike again.

Jung Si-woo’s attacks were devastating blows, but the enemies’ attacks could not even scratch him. The monsters pouncing on him were as foolish as Don Quixote attacking the windmill. But of course, these monsters weren’t very strong. Marina Bissett could kill them all, too, like lightly stepping on insects. The outcome would be the same, yet his method was beyond her. Jung Si-woo’s tactics were bold and ferocious — like that of a beast, but also meticulously executed. He knew how to use his power, and he used it with flair. He was physically gifted, way different from Marina Bissett, who initially focused on handling mana like all the other players.

“I thought only the ability to handle mana was special, but it wasn’t. It was just my silly illusion.”

Marina, known for her outstanding talent and yet never envying other people, was jealous for the first time in her life. However, she also felt reassured at this thought. As long as Jung Si-woo was leading the way, she didn’t have to worry about any monster attacks. After contemplating her feelings, she began to notice that the boss monster was acting strange.

“It’s mana is moving secretly. He’s releasing magic only triggered by offering another elite monster as a sacrifice…!”

This kind of magic was very different from a fireball — very dangerous magic! Upon connecting the dots, Marina wanted to warn Jung Si-woo at once, but the moment she revealed herself, their strategy would crumble, and their plan would go to waste. She needed to attack the boss monster right now, but the mana barrier covering him was too thick. Marina had infused her pistol with all the mana she could handle supplying. Its power was so strong that she could only continue to hide her presence until the moment before its launch. Once she attacked, there were no do-overs. If she couldn’t defeat the boss with this, then fleeing was the only other option.

“That’s the worst-case scenario. Ugh! What should I do now?”

However, the conclusion came out unexpectedly quickly. She needed to save Jung Si-woo. For her, the death of that man, who had the potential to become stronger in the future, was a greater loss than the damage to Korea following the failure of this operation.

“Right!”

However, she was a moment too late. The very second when she decided what she would do and tried to act, the boss monster’s magic was triggered, and the magic was revealed.

“Devil’s hand…”

It was magic activated by combining the earth and dark properties, and it was terrifying magic resulting in instant death, wherein a hand would rise from the ground and drag the target down with it. It was classified as dark magic, and even Marina Bissett, who was at the forefront of the dungeon’s 33rd level, barely knew about its existence.

“I have no way to stop it other than magic resistance, either!”

It was one of the strongest magic in the interpersonal series, activated by specifying a single target. Marina thought there was no choice but to watch him disappear like that, but the very moment she thought there was no hope, the unthinkable happened. The dark hand, protruding from all sides and holding onto Jung Si-woo’s legs, scattered and disappeared with just one roll of his foot.

[What!?]

“Huh!?”

She repressed the shout from barely escaping her mouth. It was ridiculous to shake off dark magic with your feet, she thought. But, Jung Si-woo did it, and…

“This is my best and only chance!”

As much as she wanted to figure out what exactly happened, she knew there was no time to waste. This was her only chance to perform her role. She instinctively raised her arms, aiming the dual pistols with mana condensed to the limit at the lion-masked monster, who was busy feeling embarrassed by the nullification of his magic.

“Die!”

She pulled the trigger without hesitation.

A bullet containing the full power of Marina Bissett, the world’s strongest shooter, burst the boss monster’s head.