Max Talent Player - Chapter 214

Hundred-Year Imoogi.

Hyukjin was very familiar with this monster. It was also detailed in Playpedia.

–The Hundred-Year Imoogi takes the form of a huge snake. According to eyewitness reports, it’s closer to a python than a snake, but to the untrained eye, it’s just a massive snake. Small ones are twenty meters, while big ones can reach lengths of fifty meters.

But this monster wasn’t simply an ‘animal-type’ monster.

–Though it looks like a snake, we classify this monster as a ‘spirit-type’.

That was why Jo Sunghyun saw the hallucination of being swallowed alive. After freezing its prey in that manner, it slowly constricted the prey with its massive body, either crushing or suffocating its victim.

Creatures hunt their prey using hallucinations, aka illusions.

Their natural enemy was none other than Kim Hyukjin.

‘Though there’s a big level difference between us.’

But it wasn’t an insurmountable level difference, ten at most. He also killed a Lycanthrope right after he awakened.

‘As long as you’re familiar with the strat…’

And as long as you had the courage and skills to carry it out, and you could mitigate the level and stat gap with the help of a ‘Will Incantation’…

‘You can get out alive.’

Hyukjin focused. He uttered the remaining words of the incantation, looking the Hundred-Year Imoogi straight in the eye. He felt strong bloodlust from those vertical slits, but he wasn’t afraid.

“Such is the power of intuition.”

Hyukjin had the ability to smash through hallucinations and illusions hidden within bloodlust.

“The Eye of Insight that sees the true nature of things.”

Hyukjin recited the last words.

[May all lies.]

[Be shattered.]

The illusion broke. Hyukjin’s vision shattered like a window, clearing. The ‘Hundred-Year Imoogi’ staring at him with its head held high was a fake.

‘The real body has come closer to me.’

The raid had already begun. The unmoving ‘Hundred-Year Imoogi’ simply staring at him with eyes oozing bloodthirst was an illusion. The one that had come quite close was the real boss.

‘It’s come pretty close.’

It was already drawing near in order to hunt him. It wasn’t moving all that fast.

Ssssss–

The hiss of its scales sliding along the ground was chilling.

Whoosh–!

The wind happened to blow just then.

[↙↙↙]

He caught the monster’s smell in the wind—a fishy, ozone odor that wafted from its skin.

Hyukjin instantly whipped out Sylphid’s Wing, moving Isabel into his Inventory in one swift motion.

It was the switching technique Vela was exceptional at; Hyukjin had learned it from him. He couldn’t use Observer Eye’s ‘Action Replication’, but he could still somewhat replicate what he saw. That was Hyukjin’s eye of observation.

[Using the weapon effect Create Distance.]

Hyukjin’s body instantly moved backwards, as if someone had yanked him from behind. It looked as if his body were getting sucked back like a magnet.

Junghwa was straining her eyes in order to catch every movement Hyukjin made, while still paying attention to the Central Pillar Sunghyun had clambered up.

‘He just used Create Distance.’

Junghwa didn’t use it often. Create Distance was good for simply getting more distance away from your opponent, but it left you at a dead end—using it made you lose your balance.

But not for Kim Hyukjin. She saw that he was slightly lowering his body and putting strength in his legs.

‘He hasn’t… lost balance at all.’

He was ridiculously steady on his feet. The next moment, he disappeared.

[Using the special skill Flash Step.]

He moved around with a combination of Sylphid’s Wing’s effect and the special skill Flash Step. Junghwa could see that Kim Hyukjin had no intent of directly attacking the Hundred-Year Imoogi.

‘It feels like he’s focusing purely on getting around.’

Why?

‘No way.’

After some time passed, she thought she knew the reason. Hyukjin wasn’t trying to ‘hunt’ the boss right now. He was buying time.

Hyukjin’s body moved rapidly. He deftly approached the Hundred-Year Imoogi, got onto its body, and ran up. After moving along the monster’s body a few times, he even got onto its head.

Hyukjin leapt high in the air, whipping out a dagger. He plunged it into the monster’s neck.

Clang!

A metallic clash rang out.

Hyukjin already knew this dagger was incapable of penetrating the monster’s skin. That wasn’t his goal. Hyukjin dropped off the side. The Hundred-Year Imoogi had its head raised about ten meters off the ground.

Sparks came off the spot Hyukjin had struck with his dagger. Hyukjin dragged his dagger along the Hundred-Year Imoogi’s neck as he fell to reduce the speed of his descent.

Crrrrrrrkkkk!

Sparks went flying.

The Hundred-Year Imoogi’s tail swept just past him as if it had a life of its own. If he hadn’t controlled his speed, he might have gotten grabbed by the tail. Junghwa gulped as she watched.

‘No. He would have gotten grabbed for sure.’

Freedom of movement was absolutely imperative here. If Hyukjin had gotten caught, it would have been over.

‘Hyukjin is moving quickly…’

He weaved in and out, changing directions on a dime.

‘…while making the boss tie itself up.’

The Hundred-Year Imoogi’s body was extremely long. It was a huge string. That string was getting tangled, so stealthily that the boss itself didn’t realize. And it was done via provocation.

Hyukjin repeated the process of drawing near, then jumping back. It became a little easier.

‘I can see its movements.’

It was game over if he was caught by the serpent. In other words, all he had to do was avoid getting caught. He was dancing on a knife’s edge, but the Hundred-Year Imoogi was very slow. Hyukjin captured its every movement with Eye of Perception.

And when things got a little dicey—

[Activating the power Future Sight.]

He foresaw the future with Future Sight. Though the ability put a great burden on the body because of its high mana and mental power consumption, now wasn’t the time to be picky. As a result, he was able to tie up the Hundred-Year Imoogi while slipping through its whip-like snare.

* * *

* * *

Hyukjin took some distance.

“Sunhwa.”

“Roger.”

Sunhwa took out what she had readied at Hyukjin’s whispered request.

–Give up on blocking its attack. Instead, put the Grudge Inmyeonjo’s feathers in water. You’ve got water, right?

Water was a crucial item for Players. Everyone kept plenty of water on them for raids. That was especially true for very physical classes like Sunhwa’s. The girl went as far as to keep a massive tub of water in her Inventory.

Hyukjin brought out a ‘Rusted Iron Sword’ instead of Isabel. He plunged the weapon in Sunhwa’s tub, which was filled to the brim with milky white water.

[Using the special skill Flash Step.]

He closed in again, smearing the Rusted Iron Sword dripping with cloudy water on the knotted serpent.

Hyun Junghwa couldn’t figure out what Hyukjin intended.

‘What’s he doing?’

Hyukjin repeated the process a few times. Some time later, the Hundred-Year Imoogi tilted off balance, falling onto its side with a thud. It looked like a knotted ball of yarn. Upon closer inspection, it was perfectly still.

“No wonder a Grudge Inmyeonjo showed up here.”

“…What?”

Junghwa could tell that even though Hyukjin was pretending to talk to her, he was actually talking to the Guardians.

‘I see.’

A new world opened up to her.

‘So this is how you do it.’

She got the feeling she had just gotten a valuable lesson. She decided to play along.

“If you dissolve its feathers in water, you can produce an extremely powerful adhesive.”

“I see.”

Junghwa didn’t ask how he knew that. After all, she wasn’t the one he was talking to right now.

“With sufficient time, its tangled body will return to normal.”

“So you glued it together in order to keep it from detangling?”

Junghwa thought back to earlier.

–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.

She was honestly curious. Did he know about the Grudge Inmyeonjo’s feathers from the start, or did he figure out this strategy based on the fact that it reacted with sweat?

Junghwa came to her own conclusion.

‘Don’t hold onto them for too long. I don’t think that’s good for you… is what he said.’

That must be when he figured it out. He instantly realized the feathers were an adhesive from the way they reacted to sweat.

‘He realized it on the spot. From that one fact alone.’

Could this truly be called ‘insight’? Was that all it was? Junghwa felt goosebumps for a moment. She looked at this man named Kim Hyukjin anew, and her curiosity towards him grew.

“That’s right. But I imagine even this won’t be enough. Its strength is unimaginable.”

Junghwa spurred the conversation along.

“Then what should we do?”

“Cut off its power source.”

“…”

“I think its strength is coming from those whiskers. If we constrain them somehow, either by cutting off those whiskers or tying them up, it’ll get weaker.”

“How do you know that?”

Hyukjin was honestly thankful. Junghwa wasn’t a talkative person, but she was chipping in with the questions he needed. You could see this as Hyukjin using Junghwa. But despite knowing that, she was still cooperating nicely.

“Didn’t you hear my incantation?”

Oh, so that amazing ability is called an incantation. Junghwa nodded a little. This was give and take. In exchange for playing along, Junghwa got to learn about incantations for the first time.

“I did.” One part stuck out in her memory. “Such is the power of intuition. The Eye of Insight that sees the true nature of things. I remember that part.”

“Right.”

“Then I suppose you’re saying you figured it out by seeing it.”

Hyukjin nodded. This much acting was more than enough to achieve the picture the Guardians wanted. Their questions should be fully answered by now.

‘So now.’

In consideration for his main sponsor, the Nameless Observer, he added one more line.

“It’s the power of observation.”

With that, Hyukjin approached the Hundred-Year Imoogi again. He tried cutting off its whiskers, but even his transcendent sword was incapable of the feat. Hyukjin had no other choice but to tie the two whiskers together.

Hyukjin remembered the Hundred-Year Imoogi strat word for word.

–After preventing the Hundred-Year Imoogi from moving, tying up the whiskers will make hunting it extremely easy. Simply tying up the whiskers cuts off most of the Hundred-Year Imoogi’s abilities.

Junghwa said, “Its aura has definitely weakened a lot. What should we do?”

Due to its super high defense, it wouldn’t be easy to kill. Hyukjin recognized what Junghwa meant by the question.

“I don’t think we can kill it.”

There was no way to kill it. The means of attack available to them right now were incapable of dispatching this boss monster.

Hyukjin grinned. “But do you think the System truly made this monster to be killed?”

“It’s a boss monster.”

“I don’t think so. It wasn’t spawned to be killed.”

Much of this field overlapped with the Hill of Blowing Wind they had cleared in the past. The field would not be cleared just by killing the boss monster. It wasn’t a clear condition.

Everything was happening too coincidentally and artificially here. The way Hyukjin saw it, there was definitely a hidden catch.

“I get the feeling that we would have failed to clear this place if we had tried to kill this guy.”

It was true that they couldn’t kill it, and a Grudge Inmyeonjo appearing here was no coincidence. Hyukjin was sure of it.

“There’s something more to this.”

Just then, Jo Sunghyun quickly descended, drenched in sweat.

“I’ve brought the Offering Box.”

Just like before, there was an Offering Box here.