SMH 153

Chapter 48 – Raid Hell (5)

TL: Boko

Editor: Frost

Sung Joon swung his sword. By the time the Dragonkin Magic Knight got a hold of itself, both its arm had been severed. Before its severed arms even touched the floor, Sung Joon withdrew his sword and prepared a follow up strike.

“W-Wait a sec…”

It hastily attempted to speak something in its language, but there was no mercy shown on Sung Joon’s face.

He cut off the Dragonkin Magic Knight’s head with a swift swing of his blade. It couldn’t even utter a scream.

By the time its head fell onto the floor, Sung Joon was already approaching the Hatchling.

“Ugh!”

At the same time, Han Seok, who had failed in the magical battle between him and the Hatchling, flew backwards and crashed into a thick wall.

“U-Ugh… Is it really too much for me…?”

Han Seok yelled out in pain. He didn’t have much mana left and thought he’d overdid it.

When he was struck by the shockwave, he had used magic to slow himself down, but despite that, most of his bones were crushed.

“Are you hurt?”

Han Seok turned his head towards the direction of the voice. Sung Joon was there.

“Self…Defense…Kang Sung Joon?”

“You know me?”

“There’s no way I wouldn’t know about South Korea’s first and only SS-rank Hunter…”

Because of the ensuing pain, Han Seok continued to speak with difficulty. Sung Joon was famous in South Korea. Han Seok turned his attention to the Hatchling and said.

“Can you help me? I’ll repay my debt, no matter what,” Han Seok said. He thought Sung Joon wouldn’t help him. Because of the circumstances behind the title of ‘Self-Defense’, Sung Joon’s image wasn’t great amongst Hunters.

“You promise to pay me back?”

“I don’t say things twice.”

“I don’t have much mana left either, so I’ll help you after I take care of the Hatchling.”

Telling him that he didn’t have much mana left was an excuse to keep Han Seok from interfering. If Sung Joon healed Han Seok, then he would obviously join in immediately. Fortunately, Han Seok accepted his excuse and nodded his head.

“I can keep myself safe, so don’t worry about me,” Han Seok said in a voice overflowing with confidence. Because his bones had been crushed, he couldn’t move properly, but he could still cast spells.

“I’ll go after I take care of the surrounding monsters.”

5 Dragonkin Magic Knights approached. As soon as Sung Joon was finished speaking, he immediately used his high-speed movement to close the distance. The 5 Dragonkin Magic Knight’s heads were severed. And Sung Joon turned his attention towards the Hatchling.

The Hatchling was watching Sung Joon. The ends of its talon drew a magic circle in the air. It was definitely arcane magic.

“Shit!”

Sung Joon concentrated magic into his eyes in order to stop it and said.

“Petrify!”

The red ray shot out towards the Hatchling. The Hatchling didn’t stop casting the arcane magic and instead cast a defensive spell as well.

The completed magic shield blocked the ray.

“It’s double-casting!” Rishubalt said. The Hatchling was a lot more skilled than he’d expected, so he couldn’t afford to be careless. Eventually, it completed its arcane magic.

“It completed its spell! It’s a Dimension Cutter!” Rishubalt warned, and Sung Joon was forced to give up on his ‘Blink’. ‘Dimension Cutter’ was an arcane magic that cut through dimensions.

A storm of mana raged within the the cut dimension. Because of the dimensional interference, it was impossible to use the short-range dimensional leap spell, Blink to avoid it.

The invisible magic blades aimed for Sung Joon. Sung Joon managed to avoid the magic that would even cut dimensions apart.

However, as soon as the dimension was cut, a black abyss appeared. Within that abyss, a storm of mana raged, holding all manner of curses within.

“My lord!” Rishubalt yelled. Sung Joon infused mana into his necklace, the ‘Dragon’s Protection’ and said.

“Shield.”

The red jewel embedded within the necklace absorbed his mana and emitted a red light. A barrier of mana surrounded Sung Joon and protected him.

Although Dimension Cutter possessed the power of arcane magic, the ensuing mana storm was a high-rank magic. Therefore, the Dragon Protection’s ‘Shield’ was capable of blocking it.

“The Hatchling is casting another offensive spell,” Rishubalt said. When it had finished casting its arcane magic, it had already begun casting its next spell. As soon as it finished drawing a magic circle in the air with its talon, flames poured from the sky and lava surged from the ground.

It was the high-rank magic, ‘Inferno’.

‘He’s not trying to hurt me with it. He’s trying to divert my attention.’

Sung Joon calmly assessed the situation. There was no way it didn’t see Sung Joon block the mana storm with his Shield.

Since it realized that high-rank magic wasn’t effective, there was no way it was using Inferno to hurt him.

Thus, Inferno’s flames and lava were meant to draw his attention. During that time, the Hatchling flew into the sky, gazed at Sung Joon and cold air spilled from its mouth.

“My lord! It’s using Breath!” Rishubalt warned. Sung Joon was wary of the deep concentration of mana within its mouth.

‘It’s the ice element…!’

The ‘Dragon’s Protection’ had the Flame Resistance ability, but unfortunately, he could feel cold air from the Hatchling’s mouth.

‘The dimension’s too unstable for me to use Blink and I can’t use high-speed movement because of the Inferno.’

He had no choice but to rely on ‘Dragon’s Protection’. If he was a normal Hunter, that’s what he would have thought. However, Sung Joon was no “normal Hunter”.

‘The best defense is a good offense!’

He forcefully leapt towards the hatchling. An SS-rank Hunter’s leap would allow them to immediately close the distance.

“He’ll die like that…”

Han Seok, who was watching from afar, clicked his tongue. Because he was an S-rank Mage Hunter, he could barely track Sung Joon’s movements with magic.

It wasn’t possible to turn midair. Therefore, it was only common sense to lead a flying monster to the ground.

However, Sung Joon rejected that notion and went in a straight line towards the Hatchling. Ultimately, he became the target of its breath.

“Ugh!”

He quickly turned his body, but because he didn’t have wings, there was a limit to what he could do to evade attacks midair. He lost his left fingers from the ice breath.

It didn’t end with frozen fingers. The cold air was spreading. His forearm was frozen solid, but Sung Joon didn’t panic.

“I knew this would happen!”

He cut off his own left arm without any hesitation. He felt awful pain, but he grit his teeth and bared the pain. He’d felt worse in his past life.

As soon as he cut off his own arm, the cold air stopped spreading. It seemed like he would be overwhelmed by the pain, but Sung Joon kept his cool. He quickly sheathed his sword and brought his right hand to the wounded area.

“Heal!”

An S-rank Healer Hunter’s Heal could regenerate severed limbs. The speed at which an SS-rank Healer could regenerate a severed arm was extremely fast. His arm was instantly restored. The pain was gone as well.

He swung his left arm softly and after he ensured it was fine, he grabbed his sword with his right arm.

And the moment he’d gotten close enough, Sung Joon gathered his mana.

“Illusionary Sword!”

He didn’t have enough mana to use ‘Dimension Slash’. If he couldn’t inflict a serious injury, then the situation would become disadvantageous for him.

He had replenished some of his mana through ‘Absorption’, but he had already used a ton of mana and stamina.

Shriek!

The Hatchling urgently cast a defensive spell, but it couldn’t block all thirty-one illusionary blades. It screamed and spewed red blood.

Its left wing was grievously injured, so its body twisted. It couldn’t fly properly anymore.

Sung Joon went atop the Hatchling’s back, drew his dagger, and stabbed into its back. Its skin was tough and had magic resistance as well, but it was pointless before his ‘aura’.

Shriek!

The Hatchling cried out in pain and twisted its body around. However, because its wings were damaged, it quickly descended to the ground.

Kwang!

The Hatchling’s body hit the ground. Before it did, it seemed like it had used deceleration magic, but it couldn’t negate the force of the collision completely. Sung Joon jumped to the side and avoided it before the Hatchling impacted the ground.

“My lord!”

“I know!”

Rishubalt warned him of the danger. Sung Joon felt the mana reaction and quickly swung his sword. The five fire spears that came at him vanished from the swing of his sword.

“Petrify!”

Sung Joon counterattacked with a petrifying curse ray, and the red ray cut through the air.

The Hatchling had been so injured that its entire body was bloodied. Therefore, it couldn’t respond to the petrifying ray properly.

It attempted to dodge, but the red ray struck the Hatchling’s right wing.

Shriek!

The Hatchling summoned blades of wind and cut off its right wing. The petrified area fell to the ground, making a sharp sound and broke apart. Sung Joon gazed at the Hatchling and raised his blade.

“You don’t have enough mana to use a technique.”

“How much longer will my aura last?” Sung Joon asked. Rishubalt checked the residual quantity of his mana and his mana recovery rate, and figured out how much longer he could maintain his aura.

“With the Knight Brigade’s ‘Ring’ and ‘Necklace’, you have about thirty seconds left.”

“That’s plenty of time.”

Although he couldn’t use any techniques anymore and only had a limited duration of aura, Sung Joon remained calm.

He used high-speed movement, closed the distance instantly, and swung his sword.

Shriek!

Because the Hatchling fought Han Seok first, it was exhausted. It couldn’t cast a defensive spell and just roared with hostility, but that was all.

Even if it roared, with its bloody body, it came out as something like a pained cry. It wasn’t threatening at all.

Sung Joon got real close to the Hatchling, which was shaking in fear. He swung his sword and slashed deep into its neck. His sword held no mercy.

It spurted blood like a fountain. Sung Joon’s face was red with blood as well. He continued to strike its chest, and as soon as his sword struck its heart, it shook for the last time and weakly fell.

“What an impressive finish. It took fourteen seconds,” Rishubalt said in awe. Sung Joon thought it would take twenty seconds, but he had finished things up earlier than expected and smiled.

“Absorb.”

He absorbed the stamina and mana from the Hatchling; he had replenished quite a bit.

Sung Joon moved towards the warp gate. A few Dragonkin Magic Knights stopped him, but they were no match for him. He killed them all and destroyed the crystal that maintained the warp gate.

“The monsters are being unsummoned.”

The warp gate was destroyed. With this, all of the monsters were unsummoned.

Thus, the chances of him being the MVP had increased. He changed ‘Roel’ back into its ring form and when he was about to leave…

“D-Don’t forget about me!”

He heard Han Seok’s voice from close by.

‘It’s a pain, but I guess there’s no helping it.’

Sung Joon approached the collapsed Han Seok, extended his left arm, and spoke.

“Heal.”

“Ugh…!”

With just one heal, his injuries were completely healed. Han Seok let out a brief cry and stood up. He then checked the state of his body.

“So this is an SS-rank Hunter’s Heal, huh…? It’s amazing.”

He was truly awed.

“I’ll definitely repay you no matter what.”

“No matter what it is?”

“It doesn’t matter what it is… So long as it’s within my power.”

Sung Joon smiled coldly at Han Seok’s response.