Max Talent Player - Chapter 213

“My main weapon isn’t the bow, but the sword.”

He was saying it to Hyun Junghwa, but was actually directing the words to the Guardians.

The Guardians were big suckers for cliché lines like this. That was why he said it, all while feigning more ease to amp up the dramatic tension. Then, he moved at exactly the right time to prevent any danger to Sunhwa.

[The ‘Nameless Observer’ is observing.]

[The ‘True Master of the Heavenly Demonic Mountain’ is enjoying your grandiose air.]

[The ‘Whispering Devil’ is having fun.]

Isabel also happened to wake up.

(Husband! I’m awake! Eh? What’s with that mudfish-lookin’ thing?)

(A mudfish is flying in the sky?)

Hyukjin used Flash Step.

[Using the special skill Flash Step.]

He instantly got onto the back of the plummeting Grudge Inmyeonjo and swung Isabel.

[Using Isabel’s innate ability Beat ‘em, Beat ‘em, Beat ‘em Harder.]

Isabel shrieked. (Husband! I’m a sword! A blade!)

(I’m not a cluuuub!)

But her screams fell on deaf ears. His legs wrapped firmly around the Grudge Inmyeonjo’s neck, Hyukjin rained blows on the monster’s head.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Loud impacts rang out.

The talent Isabel was granted by the heavens and that ended up forcibly sealed away by her once again shined in all its glory.

[+70% damage]

[+14% attack speed]

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Hyukjin whacked the head over and over, which registered as ‘consecutive blows’.

[+7% combo damage by landing consecutive blows.]

[+7% damage]

[+7% damage]

He also scored a lucky hit.

[Critical hit!]

With the crit notification, the Inmyeonjo faltered and fell forward.

Thud!

It fell limply to the ground, or more accurately, flopped down like a deflated balloon.

Isabel was enraged.

(Ha… Husband. Mark my words, vengeance will be mine. You won’t get away with this, never.)

Hyukjin grinned. ‘I took it down nicely thanks to you.’

Isabel’s blade quivered. (I’m asking you to treat me a little more beautifully.)

Hyukjin was getting a little more used to dealing with Isabel. He didn’t just ignore her like before. For a sword, she was very sensitive, and as her ‘sword bride’, Hyukjin accepted that part of her personality. She was still a transcendent sword. He had to cherish her.

‘You’re beautiful no matter what ability you use. Isn’t that right?’

So why do you reject your genius talent? He did his best not to convey that thought. Weirdly enough, Isabel didn’t respond.

‘But she’s not sleeping.’

Her ego was definitely active, but he didn’t hear a response. Whatever, it was fine as long as she was quiet. Hyukjin squatted down next to the limp Grudge Inmyeonjo.

“Alrighty, let’s pluck the feathers.”

Sunhwa squatted down next to him, no questions asked. “Like this?”

Crunch–!

She pulled out a fistful of feathers, leaving a big hole in the Grudge Inmyeonjo’s body.

“The feathers aren’t rotting away. Try plucking them carefully, one by one.”

They were fortunate to acquire these feathers here. But he didn’t say that.

“Gotcha. Urgh. Oppa. These things feel weird. It’s like they’re melting after getting plucked.”

“They’re probably reacting with your sweat. Mm. Don’t hold onto them for too long. I don’t think that’s good for you.”

Junghwa was a little baffled by the sudden transition to plucking feathers.

“What is there to gain from plucking these?”

“You get items. From what I can see, these feathers should fetch a pretty penny.”

“You can get items like this? They normally disappear if you collect them like this.”

That was because they weren’t formally ‘dropped’ items.

“Mm, somehow I think we can just pluck this one.”

“…”

Hyukjin continued. “You have sharp eyes, right, Miss Junghwa?”

She was a long-ranged DPS. Of course her eyes had to be keen. She also had a special ability related to eyesight.

“Please keep checking to see if anything has happened to Sunghyun.”

“…Yes. I’ve been watching him.”

Junghwa turned her attention to following Sunghyun’s path up the Central Pillar. Before long, the Grudge Inmyeonjo was as bald as an egg.

Sunhwa got up, dusting her butt. “Kim Darong. I was faster, right?”

A [?] mark appeared over Darongi’s head. He was wearing a haughty expression that clearly rejected her claim.

[?]

Darongi pulled out a massive heap of feathers from his Inventory. The genius thief was far more skilled at collection/gathering than the genius tank.

Sunhwa’s hands curled into fists. She had no choice but to acknowledge her defeat before the obvious proof.

“Aw, man.”

Music notes danced above Darongi’s head.

[𝅘𝅥𝅮♬]

Hyukjin swung Isabel at the fully plucked Grudge Inmyeonjo, finishing it off with the clean, swift strike Isabel wanted. Junghwa watched.

‘For sure.’

His swordsmanship looked more sophisticated than his archery.

“Mr. Hyukjin. Earlier… you moved in a special way.”

“Yes, I have sword skills.”

Flash Step was the original Sword Empress’ bread and butter technique. Hyukjin continued with a smile. “Swords don’t have much reach, so it’s hard to fight monsters or Players without a special foot technique.”

“That’s true, but…”

She really couldn’t tell what his real class was.

‘That rush just now wasn’t a simple foot technique.’

It was nearly instantaneous teleportation. How in the world was he able to take down a bird-type monster plummeting straight down with such ease? The more she saw, the more he revealed, the more fascinating his Playstyle became to her. Those movements, she hadn’t seen anything close to that from any other swordsmen.

‘Is that just how the sovereign class is?’

Junghwa checked her Inventory.

“Just like you said, the feathers aren’t disappearing.”

“Yes, we’re lucky.”

Luck?

‘Can this be called luck?’

She had killed many monsters up until now, but this was her first time collecting(?) items before the monster died. Hyukjin had gone through the hassle of plucking the feathers one by one, knowing they wouldn’t disappear.

Junghwa nodded.

“…Luck, you say… So it was luck.”

“Yes. I just had a hunch.”

Hyukjin didn’t offer a detailed explanation. This was actually common knowledge ten years in the future, but he couldn’t very well say that. Junghwa also didn’t dig further. They had killed the Grudge Inmyeonjo, but that didn’t mean they cleared the Wind Temple. There was still a long way to go.

Just then, Junghwa’s ‘Hawkeye’ caught sight of something.

The Central Pillar was tall. It soared high up through the clouds. Junghwa peered through the lofty clouds all the way from the ground.

“Something is forming.”

Hyukjin also peered into the sky.

‘What is it?’

He couldn’t see it. At least in this aspect, Hyun Junghwa had the upper hand in being able to see further away.

‘But I can see the mana is moving.’

He didn’t know what was forming, but he had a feeling.

“I think a monster is spawning.”

There was no Offering Box in the place where it should be. Instead, a monster spawned with an explosive burst of mana.

Junghwa rapidly took out her bow.

“Mr. Hyukjin. That buff earlier, could you apply it again?”

“Of course.”

Conductor’s Hymn had a cooldown of 360 seconds. It could be used again.

[Using the special skill Conductor’s Hymn.]

Junghwa downed a ‘Focus Potion’ at the same time. She didn’t have many of them, but she decided not to be stingy. She could see via Hawkeye that Sunghyun was in danger.

[Using the skill Penetration.]

Junghwa hurriedly fired an arrow.

* * *

* * *

Ten seconds before Hyun Junghwa fired her bow.

Jo Sunghyun saw something, something large and red. The red area was rimmed with ivory white things that looked like teeth. Not even one second later, he could tell.

‘They’re teeth.’

In other words, that large red thing was the mouth of some creature. This mysterious creature was opening its maw and descending from further up along the Central Pillar.

‘Dammit.’

In the blink of an eye, that ‘red mouth’ came much, much closer. That was how it felt to Sunghyun.

He hastily mustered his mana.

‘Wind Arrow!’

The spell was basic and simple, which also meant it could be used on the fly.

‘Ngh!’

He was struck with the sensation of being swallowed in something’s maw. It felt like his hastily cast magic was unable to deal any damage to that ‘mouth’.

Just then—

There was a splurt, followed by a low-pitched scream.

Gwaaaar–!

And then, Sunghyun’s word brightened.

‘What was that?’ He quickly realized. ‘It was an illusion.’

He wasn’t actually trapped in its mouth, but was given the illusion that he was, making him freeze and hindering his ability to react. Thankfully, that illusion was broken by his arrow.

‘I can’t fight properly here.’

He quickly made a decision. When the illusion shattered, he immediately began to descend the Central Pillar again. A constant stream of arrows was coming from below.

Sunghyun bit his lips.

‘I… won’t use any magic.’

He decided to focus solely on descending the pillar, to trust the arrows that were covering him. He had two reliable long-ranged DPSes on his side, and both of them were the most skilled people Sunghyun knew. He decided to leave his back completely to them.

His faith was rewarded in full. Sunghyun safely reached the ground.

“Hah, hah, hah.”

Hyukjin and Junghwa fired arrow after arrow. They were busy and couldn’t pay much attention to Sunghyun. He wasn’t saddened by that and quickly retreated behind Sunhwa, who was standing strong at the front.

She summoned her large white shield.

“Oppa, your strongest magic.”

“Got it.”

Sunghyun closed his eyes, drawing forth all his mana. The biggest spell he could currently use was ‘Blue Whirlwind’. It had the disadvantages of a very long cast time and high mana consumption, but if it landed, it would cause a great deal of destruction.

He began to recite the magic incantation.

[Wedow Le-lavica-ta]

Hyukjin fired Sylphid’s Wing as he waited for it to arrive. He knew what the descending monster with the huge mouth was.

‘Hundred-Year Imoogi.’

Its level was in the late 40s, early 50s.

‘To appear now, it’s probably a boss monster.’

If so, it would get a boss monster buff, making it stronger than a normal Hundred-Year Imoogi. Sure enough—

[The boss monster zone of the boss monster ‘Hundred-Year Imoogi’ has been declared.]

The Wind Temple changed to a ‘boss monster raid zone’. The Hundred-Year Imoogi took the form of an extremely large serpent, extending a good twenty meters in length.

After reaching the ground, the Hundred-Year Imoogi coiled itself up, staring at the humans with its head held high. Trailing from its head were two very unsnake-like whiskers. As big as the beast was, its whiskers were also quite thick.

‘First the Dewinged Angel Statues, now this?’

Gwaaaar–!

It opened its mouth in a booming cry.

[The boss monster Hundred-Year Imoogi will begin attacking in 60 seconds.]

Hyukjin switched items while staring at the massive python, going from the bow to his transcendent sword.

‘Nothing about this place is easy.’

How had Hyun Junghwa cleared this place?

‘The difficulty rose dramatically because we destroyed the Dewinged Angel Statues.’

The difficulty was changed by an order of magnitude. If this was the difficulty greatly reduced by his True Ruler title, then just how impossibly hard was it originally?

Hyukjin glanced behind him.

“Sunghyun, cancel your spell.”

The wind magician stopped his incantation.

“We’ll handle this guy, so you go back up. There’ll be a hint to the clear there.”

“We’re not killing the boss?”

“We can’t kill that thing. We have no way to penetrate its skin.”

Sunghyun didn’t quibble for long. “I’ll trust you, Hyung.”

He ran towards the Central Pillar without delay.

“Sunhwa, pull back.”

“Why?”

Forty seconds left.

“You can’t block that attack anyway.”

Even Sunhwa would be done for if she was constricted by the Hundred-Year Imoogi. Every bone in her body would be crushed into a pulp.

“Give up on blocking its attack. Instead…”

He whispered something into Sunhwa’s ear, purposefully preventing the Guardians from hearing. Sunhwa responded to acknowledge the order.

Hyukjin raised his voice again. “Miss Junghwa, please support Sunghyun.”

It was possible there was something else at the top of the pillar.

Now.

Thirty seconds left.

Junghwa spoke quickly. “How do you plan on blocking an attack Miss Sunhwa can’t block? If this is a monster we can’t kill, shouldn’t we start by looking for a way to escape somehow?”

“That’s why I sent Sunghyun up.”

“But it’s going to attack in twenty seconds now.”

“I know.”

“You’re going to deal with it on your own? Without the main tank?”

“Are you worrying about me right now?”

“I-I’m not worrying about you! I’m just saying what a party member should naturally say.”

Hyukjin smiled. “Frankly, it’s easiest for me to do this alone.”

Even the impressive Hyun Junghwa and Kim Sunhwa were baggage right now. That was his cool-headed judgment. This situation was best suited for soloing. He was already familiar with the Hundred-Year Imoogi.

“If it’s just me, I can tie that snake up.”

Ten seconds left.

“But if we work together, someone will die.”

“…”

“There can be no deaths in my party.”

Hyukjin took a deep breath.

The Hundred-Year Imoogi’s pupils narrowed into vertical slits, brimming with bloodthirst. Eye of Perception picked up the pulsating murderous intent of such an electrifyingly powerful lifeform.

Five seconds left.

Hyukjin began to mumble something, showing Junghwa something new. A completely new realm.

“Illusions and apparitions.”

The seconds counted down.

The Will Incantation trailed from Hyukjin’s lips. As Junghwa listened to the words, she found goosebumps rising on her arms for some reason.

“Distortions and lies, cannot covet me.”

“No matter what ravine of evil in this world I must traverse.”

Golden energy began to rise from Hyukjin’s body.