Master Hunter K Chapter 26:
Chapter 026 – 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 **** 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 **** 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 .