Chapter 26 – Giant’s Canyon (4)
“Gruah!”
The Trogg brandished his axe. Raj easily blocked the attack with his shield when
‘Smack’
A stone came flying, hitting him straight on the head.
“Ack!”
Raj cried out in pain and fell over. Santiago, who was attempting to flank the Trogg as usual, noticed that rocks were flying his way as well and backed off.
When the hunters turned to see where the rocks were coming from, they saw two Troggs throwing fist-sized stones towards them.
Serin quickly changed her aim and launched an arrow at the Troggs.
“Kaa!”
The arrow pierced the hand of the Trogg who was about to throw another stone. The Trogg involuntarily dropped the rock which landed on its feet.
“Kaaack!”
Killing two birds with one stone, Serin nocked another arrow and aimed for the other Trogg. However, the other Trogg threw a rock at Serin before she could react.
The large piece of rock came flying at speeds comparable to her arrow. Serin lowered the bow, but it was too late to move out of the way.
“Miss Serin!”
Xian Wang quickly stood in front of her and tried to deflect the stone.
“Pow”
The stone broke into smaller pieces, and the shards embedded themselves deep into his skin
“Ah...”
Xian Wang was brought to his knees. Serin took the opportunity to nock another arrow. The Trogg hastily stooped down to pick up another stone, but she was faster with her bow.
“Kuraah!”
Serin’s arrow pierced through the Trogg’s head.
The Trogg who had dropped his stone bent down to pick up the rock again, but Serin unleashed two rapid shots back to back; one through the neck and the other through the heart, killing the target. Only the first Trogg remained.
“Iron wall of Anvil!”
“Slice and Dice!”
The last enemy was killed with the cooperation of Santiago and Raj. Raj, who was still bleeding from his head, suggested:
“Let’s take a break for a moment before we continue further.”
The cube announced
[Your HP is now under two-thirds.]
Xian who was also bleeding all over, agreed.
“Yes, that’s a good idea.”
The plan was to take the enemies down one by one, always as a group of four versus one. But because pairs of enemy reinforcements would appear without warning, it had become difficult to make good progress.
Raj uttered a complaint as he drank his potion.
“Just where the hell are those pairs of reinforcements coming from?”
Xian answered while uncorking his potion.
“I thought... I saw them climbing out of some sort of tunnel under the ground.
However, as they were speaking, the Cube suddenly let out an announcement.
[Warning! Boss]
[Ogre mage ‘Pach and Cho’Roch’ has appeared!]
“What?!”
Raj chugged the rest of his potion and stood up, readying his shield.
“Boss?”
Xian also quickly finished his potion and picked up his spear. Santiago got up from his seat taking out his dagger; he scanned the surroundings.
Serin quickly placed an arrow on the bow and took a look around. But nothing, not even minions, could be spotted.
The four hunters tensed up and anxiously looked around, but nothing came to attack them. After five seconds, someone finally grumbled
“Boss appeared? But... Where?”
*
“Fight me, human!”
The Warrior shouted loudly to goad Sungjin. The sheer volume of the voice might have intimidated an ordinary person. But Sungjin fearlessly charged towards the boss.
‘I don’t know who’s Pach and who’s Cho’Roch, but... Mage first!’
Sungjin dashed towards the Ogre on the left holding the staff. The Mage shouted an incantation.
“Move like the wind! Haste!”
Thanks to the magic, the Ogre moved three... no, four times faster than ordinary Ogres. By the time Sungjin reached the Ogre within melee range, the Ogre had twisted his body to face him with the right side brandishing his weapon.
Sungjin swung his katana, but the ‘Warrior’ moved just as fast to block all his attacks.
‘Clang, clang, clang!’
After three rapid strikes, the Ogre spun around a full rotation, and the mage on the left side charged at him with the staff; an unexpected tactic.
Sungjin leaned far back to dodge the attack. But the warrior Ogre followed up and immediately launched an attack. Sungjin had no choice but to leap back.
And the moment Sungjin retreated, the Mage raised the staff and recited an incantation.
“Incinerate everything in your path! Fireball!”
A gigantic ball of fire came flying towards Sungjin. He leaped back but
“Boom”
He wasn’t able to get away far enough from the heatwave resulting from the explosion. Sungjin crouched and covered his body with the ‘Ice Queen’s Mantle’.
Most of the flames were nullified by the frozen mantle, but Sungjin had lost his HP to an enemy for the first time since the restart. Pach and Cho’Roch laughed at Sungjin, mocking him.
“You think you can take us on alone?” “Stupid! Idiot!”
Sungjin bit his lower lip.
‘A perfect pair...’
The enemy attacked with a staff and a club independent of each other, so predicting their attack was difficult. Adding Magic attacks on top of that made it even more so.
‘It’s definitely hard to defeat it alone.’
So Sungjin took out ‘Grand Kin’s Wooden Figurine’ and threw it in front of him.
“Cain, come out.”
The figurine transformed into a large wolf and took its side by Sungjin. Pach and Cho’Roch laughed again at the new development.
“What a cute puppy!” “So adorable! ADORABLE!”
Sungjin paid them no mind.
“Cain. Get the Left head.”
Upon hearing Sungjin’s instructions, he dashed towards the right to fight the warrior.
“Rawr!”
Cain leaped towards the left head as instructed. But Pach and Cho’Roch were not going to take this standing still.
The Warrior raised his club to counter Sungjin, and the Mage recited an incantation.
“Burn, membrane of flames! Fire Wall!”
Almost instantly, a wall of fire appeared in front of the Ogre. But, Sungjin had moved in faster than the casting of the spell and was already engaging the warrior. Cain, on the other hand, was unable to make it in time and was stuck outside.
Sungjin swung his katana towards the right side but,
“You little...!”
The Warrior swung his metallic club to block his attacks. As expected, the Mage joined in by swinging his staff as well. Sungjin dodged and shook the bell he had prepared in his left hand.
“Ding~”
The small bell rang once, and Sungjin shouted
“Cain!”
Instantly, Cain came bursting through the firewall and launched himself towards the Mage at an unbelievable speed.
Both arms of the Ogre had been extended towards Sungjin; they were defenseless for a moment.
Cain easily found the opportunity to bite and hold onto the Mage’s neck. The Mage desperately called to the other head for help.
“Pach!”
“I know!”
Now Sungjin knew who was who. ‘Warrior’ Pach swing his Club to bat Cain away, who was holding onto his throat.
And at that moment, the Warrior had let Sungjin free to act as he wished. Sungjin acted without mercy.
As always, Sungjin aimed to disarm the enemy first; Pach’s hands were cut off.
“Ahhh~ Cho’Roch!”
Pach desperately cried out to Cho’Roch for help.
Cho’Roch frantically waved his staff to ward off Sungjin, but there was no way he could face him alone.
Sungjin easily dodged the staff and counter-attacked, wounding the boss in the chest.
“Ack!” “Kaa!”
Both heads screamed out loud as they stumbled backward. Sungjin prepared to finish them off.
“Wind! Push away my...”
Cho’Roch attempted to cast a spell, but
“Rawr!”
Cain once again leaped up and bit him in the throat, preventing him from finishing his incantations. And using the opportunity, Sungjin cut the Giant in half.
“Grauuu...” “Grauuu...”
Pach and Cho’Roch let out strange noises as they fell to the ground, defeated. The Cube announced victory with a jubilant voice.
[Ogre Mage ‘Pach and Cho’Roch’ defeated!]
[Raid Cleared! Returning to the Black Market in 36 Minutes and 32 Seconds]
“Sigh...”
Sungjin let out a sigh and instinctively wiped his brow.
“Eh?”
On his hand was a single bead of sweat; It was the first time he had sweated since the restart; the boss was much harder than he had thought.
No matter how high his stats were, trying to beat a boss designed to be beaten by five people was no easy task.
“Awoo~”
Cain let out a howl as if asking for attention. Sungjin obediently turned his gaze onto him.
“Ah Cain, you did a great job.”
Sungjin put his hands around Cain’s neck and checked his sides. Specifically where he was hit earlier by ‘Pach’s’ club.
“Are you alright?”
Cain gave a short bark to show he was fine.
“Kan”
‘Master’s Bell’ had ‘Invulnerability’ built in. Cain had greatly benefitted this time. Not a single hair was harmed on its body.
Now that he thought of it, Cain had leaped through a solid wall of fire earlier; like some circus lion act. But he had emerged unscathed. Sungjin pet Cain on the head.
“Fire must have been scary to jump through as a wolf... You were really brave, my friend.”
Happy from being praised, Cain let out a long howl.
“Awooo~”
*
[Ogre Mage ‘Pach and Cho’Roch’ defeated!]
[Raid Cleared! Returning to the Black Market in 36 Minutes and 32 Seconds]
The other hunters stopped in their tracks.
“What?”
“The hell...?”
Something strange was going on. The hunters were right to be confused. While hunting normal mobs, the Operator announced that the Boss ‘has appeared’ and now it announced that the Boss was ‘defeated’.
The four people couldn’t imagine that the ‘Mage’ Kei cleared the boss single-handedly; it was against common sense and good reason. Raj double checked with the Operator.
“Wait, Operator, did you just say that we cleared the raid?”
[Yes, that is correct. You will return to the Black Market in 36 Minutes and 24 Seconds.]
Everyone frowned at the Operator’s words. Xian Wang pointed forward with his spear and said
“We didn’t even get a glimpse of the boss, and yet it was defeated... I don’t know what happened, but we should go a bit further in...”
But, the hunters were even more shocked once they entered deeper into the Canyon. In front of them was an entire stretch of canyon floor covered with corpses of giants as far as the eyes could see.
“Whoa...”
Xian looked back at his team. Even the normally calm and collected Serin looked shocked.
Raj and Santiago exchanged a word between themselves. Xian asked the other three hunters,
“Just what is going... on?”
Raj beckoned Xian to come closer.
“Come over for a second.”
Xian walked over to Raj and Santiago. Once he got close enough, Raj spoke quietly
“Well, we don’t know what happened... but the raid is apparently done and... we got plenty of time. What do you say wanna have some fun?”
‘Fun?’
Xian tilted his head, unsure of what he meant. Raj glanced over to Serin as he continued.
“It won’t be easy, but if we three work together...Hmm?”
Once Xian realized what he was suggesting, he was taken back.
“What the hell are you...”
But he didn’t even finish his sentence when
‘Stab’
He heard a noise from below. When Xian looked down, he saw Santiago’s dagger embedded deep into his side.
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