Chapter 15

Chapter 15

The ash-gray insects crawling across the ground all vanished into the cracks between the rocks at once.

Chaeho stopped just before taking another step and focused on the movement of the air.

A disgusting stench was spreading through the damp smell unique to the cave, like blood mixed with smoke.

There had been no information in the Association’s data about any monster that gave off this kind of smell.

He immediately lowered his body and hid behind a huge pile of rocks.

Keeping one hand around the hilt of his sword, he calmed his breathing and looked around.

Heavy footsteps echoed from the darkness deeper inside the cave.

Thump. Thump.

The vibrations shaking the ground were far too heavy to be the footsteps of an ordinary beast.

A moment later, a massive figure slowly emerged from the darkness.

Chaeho narrowed his eyes.

It was enormous and walked on two legs.

Its long arms and hunched back resembled an ordinary troll.

But the similarities ended there.

Its body was much larger than that of a normal D-rank troll. More importantly, its entire skin was grotesquely swollen and had hardened like black stone.

It was a mutated individual.

The heavy sense of danger coming from the creature was completely different from anything those Ratmen had given off.

Judging by its size and muscle mass alone, it was already close to the level of a low-tier C-rank monster.

Chaeho had no idea why something like this was hiding inside a supposedly stable D-rank dungeon.

But this was not the time to worry about that.

Let's go back.

Chaeho didn't recklessly draw his sword just because his fighting spirit had been stirred.

He quickly organized the situation in his mind.

He had only come here today to test his fundamentals and the practical applications of his Skill.

There was no reason for him to risk his life fighting a monster that clearly exceeded the dungeon's normal standards.

Retreating whenever the situation turned bad was one of his absolute rules.

He mentally retraced the path he had taken.

At the third fork, there was a collapsed stalactite pillar. From there, he could take the shortest route directly toward the entrance.

If he quietly withdrew right now, he could leave the dungeon without the monster noticing him.

Chaeho carefully stepped backward.

But then the mutated troll changed direction and slowly began walking.

Chaeho stopped again when he saw where it was heading.

The creature wasn't going deeper into the cave.

It was heading outward.

Toward the exit.

If he left it alone, that monster would soon reach the beginning of the dungeon.

This was a stable D-rank Gate where groups of one to four people were allowed to enter.

Beginner Hunters could come here for personal training just like he had.

Low-rank Hunters who had only recently formed their first parties might enter at any moment to gain experience.

Chaeho remembered the parties he had once belonged to.

People like him, porters and support personnel stationed in the rear, were completely helpless if the front line collapsed.

If a C-rank-level monster like this started rampaging through a narrow passage, they wouldn't even be able to escape.

They would be reduced to bloody lumps of flesh.

Chaeho lowered his gaze toward his sword.

First, he checked his stamina.

He had already dealt with the Ratmen, but he wasn't out of breath, nor were his muscles tired.

Next, he estimated how much time remained for his Skill.

Against such a stupidly huge opponent, as long as he identified its attack patterns and weak points, he could fight while activating his Skill only for brief moments.

He had more than enough time.

I can do this.

This wasn't a reckless gamble.

It was a calculated judgment based on solid reasoning.

With his fundamentals and the combat senses he had trained to their limits, slipping through the openings of such a large monster was entirely possible.

Chaeho quietly stepped out from behind the rock where he had been hiding.

The faint crunch of gravel beneath his foot instantly made the mutated troll stop.

Its thick neck creaked as it turned its head toward Chaeho.

Savage killing intent flashed within its bloodshot red eyes.

Chaeho stood directly in its path, his sword hanging loosely at his side.

"Where do you think you're going?"

ROOOAAARRR!

The mutated troll unleashed an ear-splitting roar.

Sharp fragments of stone rained down from the cave ceiling.

Saliva dripped from its mouth as it raised a fist almost as large as a small house and charged straight at him.

Each time its massive feet crushed the ground, powerful vibrations traveled up through Chaeho's feet.

It rushed toward him with enough force to resemble a charging tank.

Its speed was shockingly fast for something so huge.

But Chaeho didn't retreat.

He waited until the muscles in the troll's shoulder swelled to their limit.

Time Slow.

A switch flipped inside his mind.

Everything in the world suddenly slowed to an extreme degree, as though all movement had been submerged in thick water.

Rooooooaaaar—

The mutated troll's furious roar stretched into a strange, agonized growl.

Within his calm field of vision, Chaeho carefully examined every part of its body.

Its right shoulder pulled far backward.

Its waist twisted.

The thick muscles in its calves swelled to the point that they looked ready to burst.

The attack would be a massive horizontal swing from right to left.

With that trajectory, the troll's center of gravity would lean excessively forward at the moment all of its strength was transferred into its fist.

Its stone-like skin looked so hard that an ordinary blade probably wouldn't even leave a scratch.

But there was no such thing as armor without a weak point.

The inner side of its knees, where the joints bent, and the area beneath its collarbone where its neck connected to its torso hadn't hardened as much.

Thin patches of reddish flesh were still exposed there.

After identifying the weak points, Chaeho deactivated his Skill without hesitation.

Tap.

The world instantly returned to normal speed.

At the same moment, the troll's fist came roaring toward Chaeho's head with a terrifying explosive sound.

Trying to block that attack head-on with strength would have been foolish.

Chaeho slightly lowered his upper body and shifted half a step to the left.

Whoosh!

The fist blasted past him with enough force to create a gust of wind, violently messing up his hair.

Because it had put so much power into an attack that struck nothing but air, the troll's massive body leaned heavily forward.

It planted strength into its thick legs, trying to regain its balance.

At that exact moment—

Chaeho kicked off the ground.

His body slid alongside the monster's enormous leg.

At the same time, his sword flashed upward from below.

The blade precisely sliced through the thin skin behind its knee.

Shhk!

A disgusting sensation traveled through the blade as black blood sprayed out like a fountain.

"ROOOAAARGH!"

Chaeho hadn't tried to force his sword through thick bone or stone-like skin.

His strike had precisely severed the weakest connection between the tendon and muscle.

The troll staggered from the pain, losing its balance.

It wildly swung its arms around and began smashing the surrounding stone walls without discrimination.

BOOM! BAAANG!

Chunks of stone flew everywhere as thick dust filled the cave.

But Chaeho's gaze didn't waver in the slightest.

He didn't recklessly approach.

Instead, he circled through the troll's blind spots, remaining outside the reach of its fists.

The more irrationally someone attacked, the more predictable their movements became.

And the greater the openings they created.

Chaeho could already read the troll's next movements without even activating his Skill.

He lightly knocked away a flying rock fragment with the back of his sword and closed the distance.

The monster crossed both arms and prepared to slam them into the ground again.

Instead of backing away—

Chaeho charged directly into its reach.

BOOOOM!

Both fists slammed into the floor, creating a massive crater.

At the exact same moment, Chaeho mercilessly cut through the joint behind the troll's other knee.

Slash!

"GRUUAGH!"

With the tendons in both legs severed, the mutated troll could no longer support its enormous body.

Crack! Crack!

Its legs bent at unnatural angles.

Like a giant tree being felled, the creature dropped to its knees and collapsed forward.

The ground shook violently.

Its head dropped as it struggled to breathe.

Chaeho didn't miss the opening.

He stepped onto the kneeling monster's thigh and lightly leaped into the air.

His sword flashed downward like lightning.

The blade plunged toward the relatively soft junction beneath the troll's neck, near the collarbone.

SHHK!

The sword sank deep into its body, all the way to the hilt.

The attack had avoided the hard bones and pierced directly through a vital point.

Dark-red blood poured from the troll's mouth.

Chaeho twisted the sword hilt with force, completely cutting off the monster's life.

Then he kicked against its chest and used the recoil to land lightly on the ground.

Thump.

The moment his feet touched the floor, the troll's enormous body collapsed face-first and stopped moving.

The unpleasant pressure that had filled the dungeon vanished in an instant.

Chaeho quietly looked down at the blood pooling across the floor.

The heavy sensation of impact still remained in his hands.

But his heartbeat was calm, beating only slightly faster than usual.

He wasn't even seriously out of breath.

He had defeated a monster that was practically equivalent to a low-tier C-rank monster.

Alone.

And he hadn't overwhelmed it through ridiculous physical strength or overwhelming firepower.

He had defeated it purely through his reaction speed and his precise exploitation of its weaknesses.

The only time he had used his Skill during the entire battle was that incredibly brief moment when he analyzed the troll's first charge.

Chaeho sharply flicked the thick blood from his sword.

"Good."

After that short mutter, he slid the sword back into its sheath.

Click.

The crisp sound echoed through the now-silent cave.