Even in the darkness, the serpent’s golden eyes were clearly visible. They were calm, despite registering the living creature falling toward them, as if the approaching object posed not the slightest threat. In fact, it exuded an aura so intense it made one’s entire body tingle, a silent warning to turn back while it was still being patient.
Geon-joo forced more strength into his trembling fingers.
He switched his weapon to a longsword and swung it horizontally. An explosive burst of energy shot toward the target. The serpent’s eyes narrowed. It moved slowly, coiling its massive body even tighter.
Thwang!
The attack, blocked by its hard scales, was nullified, but he didn’t despair. He’d only done it to gauge how much force was needed to inflict damage.
This isn’t enough.
The hide covering its flesh was tougher than he’d expected. He doubled the power of his initial strike and unleashed another wave of sword energy. Augmented by the force of his descent, the attack struck the serpent again. He succeeded in creating a faint, shallow scratch. That meant any force greater than this could harm it, and if he used twice his current power, he could land a significant blow.
Alright.
With the calculations complete, the Frost Shadow that had landed before him sprang into action. It plunged its shadow sword into the ground, and a familiar chill began to fill the space.
Crack—crackle!
Frost spread across the floor, freezing the already frigid depths of the Underworld. Just as Sa-yoon’s skills always did, the encroaching ice drew a reaction from the serpent, which flickered its tongue. A spark of interest lit up its eyes.
“They say snakes can’t handle the cold.”
He was lucky. The only skill he had saved was Sa-yoon’s frost, and the monster he had to face for this quest just happened to be a cold-blooded snake. Provoked, the serpent lifted its head for the first time.
—Hsssss.
As it opened its mouth, a green mist spewed forth. His skin blackened where it touched. In an instant, his heart hammered against his ribs and his breathing grew ragged. He’d been poisoned.
A poison mist, huh?
Geon-joo spat out a mouthful of blood and steadied his breathing.
<Health has decreased by 5. Remaining Health: 45.>
<The poison has damaged your soul! Remaining Soul Value: 40.>
Perhaps because it was the first instance of poisoning, the amount of Soul Value he lost was staggering.
He kept his breathing steady, refusing to panic despite the blood welling in his mouth. The pain subsided, and his mind cleared.
<Skill, ‘Danjeon Breathing,’ is activated. For 10 minutes, you will not take damage from poison.>
That would prevent any additional damage. Now, within the next ten minutes…
<Warning! 5 minutes remaining for the saved shadow.>
No, he had to eliminate the snake within five minutes.
The Frost Shadow’s empty sockets met Geon-joo’s eyes, and the two figures rushed the serpent simultaneously. The serpent raised its head with a sharp cry and lunged. Geon-joo sidestepped the attack and swung his sword at its exposed neck. The blow was still too shallow, leaving a gash no bigger than his palm.
“Tch.”
It felt like trying to slice through tough meat wrapped in steel armor.
The hard scales didn’t release the embedded sword easily; instead of cutting through, the blade became buried in its flesh. Just as he tried to pull it out, the serpent shifted its body and shoved him away.
“Hup.”
Unable to withstand the weight, his body was thrown back. The snake, not missing the opening as he staggered, opened its jaws. He snapped his eyes open and threw his head back to dodge, but it wasn’t a perfect evasion. A lock of his hair was snipped off and disappeared into the creature’s mouth. The Frost Shadow, seizing the moment of stillness after the attack, brought its frozen sword down.
Krrrr-d-d-d!
The blade, wreathed in a chilling aura, dug into the shallow wound Geon-joo had created.
—Kiiieeeek!
The serpent shrieked as the cold gnawed at its flesh, as if burrowing through its very being. It recoiled, twisting its body. The underground space was so cramped that a single giant snake lying coiled was enough to fill it. For Geon-joo, who had been cornered against the wall in a dangerous position, the support had arrived just in time.
<Health has decreased by 4. Remaining Health: 41.>
<Soul Value has dropped to 30. Beware of dizziness!>
The world spun as if he’d been struck in the head with a smithing hammer. He clutched his forehead and steadied himself. At this rate, there was no point in the King of the Underworld having lifted the deathly aura.
He squeezed his eyes shut, the image of the King laughing at his struggle flashing in his mind, then opened them again, forcing himself to focus. The dizziness made his vision blur, but he endured it through sheer will. He bit down hard on his tongue. The coppery taste of blood filled his mouth, and his vision cleared.
He pushed off the wall and leaped, landing on the serpent’s body. The instant his front foot touched its curved back, he kicked off with his trailing leg to propel himself upward. Sensing him, the snake began to thrash wildly.
CRASH!
It slammed its body into the left wall.
CRASH!
It smashed its head into the right wall, moving with the sole, violent intention of throwing off the thing on its back. The dizziness was already making him nauseous, and now the driver of his unwilling ride was driving recklessly. Geon-joo felt like he was going to die.
Blood poured from his mouth as his body lost its balance. He was just one step away from his sword, but the serpent’s struggles were too intense.
Gag.
Waves of nausea washed over him again and again. With a superhuman effort, he righted his falling body and, eyes bloodshot, grabbed the hilt of his sword.
“Frost!”
At the blood-tinged call, the shadow moved swiftly. Its frozen blade transformed into a greatsword, and it swung it like a baseball bat, slamming it into the serpent’s body. The serpent stopped its thrashing and turned to face the Frost Shadow. In that brief moment of stillness, Geon-joo wrenched his sword free.
—Kieeeeyaaaak!
The serpent screamed and whipped its head around without warning. Its neck twisted a full 180 degrees in a grotesque angle, and Geon-joo, finding himself eye-to-eye with it, sucked in a sharp breath. The serpent’s body tensed.
His own body was flung into the air as if he were on a trampoline. The serpent’s tail then batted him toward its head, which coiled around his neck. In an instant, snakeskin was pressed against his entire body.
Squeeze!
Having caught its nuisance, the serpent began to constrict him. It squeezed with its full, immense weight, a pressure that even a typical S-class hunter would find impossible to escape.
His face flushed red from the pressure. As every one of his organs felt like it was being crushed, he gasped and tried to grab the serpent, but its massive body offered no purchase.
Crack!
The sound of a bone breaking was unmistakable. His health dropped rapidly—40, 38, 35—and his Soul Value fell to 25. The feeling of death approaching drained the strength from his body. The Frost Shadow rushed in, swinging its greatsword.
CRAAASH!
Despite the powerful blow, the serpent did not release Geon-joo. It was as if it was determined to take him down first, even if it meant taking a hundred hits. Realizing there was no hope, a faint golden aura, like a sliver of sunlight, bloomed and struck the floor. His agility, which had bottomed out, began to rapidly recharge. At the same time, a notification window popped up.
<The System offers you an escape route. Will you accept?>
With a trembling hand, he pressed ‘Confirm.’
<Skill, ‘Survival Instinct,’ is activated.>
The system window dissolved into light and flowed into Geon-joo’s eyes. A golden portal appeared before him. It was out of reach, and he scowled, but at that moment, the snake moved forward as if entranced. The constriction loosened. His restored agility kicked in, and Geon-joo, like a boneless creature, slipped out of the loosened coils and reached for the portal.
The snake, realizing its mistake too late, turned its head to snatch him, but the portal had already swallowed its user. Geon-joo reappeared behind the snake, which was now tilting its head in confusion, searching for its vanished foe.
“Thought I was going to die.”
He took a potion from his inventory. It didn’t restore his lost Health or Soul Value, but it could heal physical injuries like broken bones that would impair him in battle. His twisted arm snapped back into place. He forced his exhausted body, drained from using Survival Instinct, to move, kicking off the serpent to create more distance. The creature reacted to the kick and lunged.
“Frost.”
The shadow, which had been relentlessly attacking the snake with its greatsword, began to emit a blue light.
Crackle… The snake’s body, as massive as a building, began to freeze over, if only slightly. In that time, Geon-joo recovered from his exhaustion. Watching the restrained snake, his lips moved.
“Luminescence.”
<Skill, Luminescence, is cast!>
A round sphere of light formed above his head. As it illuminated the darkness, for the first time, shadows were cast in the once-pitch-black cave. He threw his own sword at the serpent’s shadow. The dark essence flickered, rose up, and bound the serpent tightly.
The rank of his Shadow Subjugation was temporarily lowered by the skill’s backlash, but it was effective. It was definitely a loss to keep his main skill sealed away.
He wiped away the flowing blood. The second round had begun. As Geon-joo charged, all the shadows bound to him transformed into spears and lances, raining down on the snake.
The Frost Shadow would freeze a part of its skin, and the shadow lances would strike that spot, shattering the frozen area. It was a simple process, but thanks to Frost, whose power was maximized as it neared its own dissipation, the serpent’s massive body was slowly turning into ice crystals and disappearing.
—Kweeeeeeek!
Finally, a true scream tore out of it. The snake thrashed as if having a seizure, savagely scanning the cave and attacking the shadows, but it was useless.
What’s the point of attacking something without a physical form?
The shadows, being mere spirits, took no physical damage. Even when struck, they would briefly disperse before reforming and pressing their attack. Realizing the futility, the snake changed its target back to Geon-joo. He kicked at the creature’s head as it rushed him, but it wasn’t enough. Sa-yoon might have been able to, but it was impossible for him to overpower the snake with brute force.
As he habitually compared himself to Sa-yoon, gauging his own strength, the serpent’s eye came into view.
If it were Sa-yoon…
A memory played in his mind. His eyes widened.
<10 seconds until Saved List: Master of Frost disappears.>
“Frost!”
He received one last bit of help before the shadow vanished. Leaping onto the greatsword swung by the Frost Shadow, Geon-joo launched himself into the air. He descended rapidly, holding his sword in a reverse grip. The Frost Shadow froze one last part of the serpent, then disappeared.
“Hup!”
He inhaled, gathering his strength. He didn’t have Harris’s Dagger, but by using his shadows, he could pull off a decent imitation.
Maintaining the deadly momentum of his straight-line descent, Geon-joo landed on the serpent’s head and, with his full weight behind it, plunged his sword into the soft membrane of its eye. Since it was a longsword and not a dagger, the attack went even deeper.
Krr-chk!
He pushed with all his might, intending to shove the sword in up to the hilt. He vividly felt the tip of the blade pierce through a membrane-like barrier. The snake shrieked and bared its fangs. Careful to stay out of their reach, Geon-joo recalled all of his deployed shadows and focused the remaining ones into his sword.
A black aura blazed around the blade. Geon-joo’s pupils dilated. As the blackness threatened to consume the whites of his eyes, the shadows followed the direction of his gaze.
<You have used power beyond your limit. Shadow Penalty will now be applied!>
“Keo-heok!”
His throat seized up and blood poured from his nose. Even so, he didn’t stop his precise control until the very end. The shadows successfully penetrated the serpent’s body, spreading out in all directions.
An explosion from within.
—Kiiiiiiieeeeeeek!
The snake let out a high-pitched scream and writhed.
“Hah…”
With no strength left to even hold his sword, Geon-joo fell, unable to resist, and gasped for breath.
<Warning! Remaining Health is below 10!> <Warning! Soul Value has dropped to 1. You may be annihilated by even a minor shock. Please be careful!>
The System blared warnings as his Health and Soul Value hit rock bottom. All the strength had left his body, and his remaining mana was depleted. His eyes returned to their normal color, and the shadows encasing his sword dissipated.
Was it not enough?
The serpent, though in agony, was still trying to raise its body. He, on the other hand, didn’t have the strength to lift a finger. As he watched, panting, the snake coughed up blood a few times and then stared at him. With a sword embedded in one eye, its single remaining eye radiated killing intent.
I failed.
He couldn’t just lie there. He was trying to scrape together the very last of his strength.
—Kiik….
The serpent shuddered, then slowly began to topple over. Unfortunately, it was falling right toward him. Terrified, Geon-joo used the last dregs of his strength to move and press himself flat against the wall. A moment later, the massive body crashed to the floor.
CRRAAAAAAAAAAASH!
The roar shook the entire space.
It was a victory firework.