Max Talent Player - Chapter 289

“Two hundred meters ahead, monster detected between the red tree and fallen pine,” said Kang Somyi.

Hyukjin felt it, too.

‘That’s… an Iron Rhinoceros.’

It was an animal monster with powerful defense and strong physical offense. It was completely clad in iron, to the point that some Players classified it as a machine type.

‘Their average levels are in the early 40s.’

It posed little difficulty if Giantgod worked together. If it was the only foe. Hyukjin lowered his voice.

“For now, we hide.”

After putting a temporary hold on engaging it, he sent a whisper.

–If you run into an Iron Rhinoceros, don’t hunt it.

–U-Understood.

Mark acknowledged the order, but he questioned the reasoning. He was supplied the answer shortly afterwards.

–The Iron Rhinoceros is a paired monster.

–What’s that?

–Where there’s an Iron Rhinoceros, there’s always an Iron Armadillo nearby.

–Understood. I’ll keep it in mind.

Getting intel from Kim Hyukjin fascinated Mark.

‘Is it that his explorer is good, or that Kim Hyukjin’s ability as a sovereign is outrageous?’

Intel was, of course, a type of asset. Outstanding sovereigns possessed a lot of information. In that respect, Kim Hyukjin was a fearsome sovereign.

–You absolutely must kill the armadillo first.

The order was important.

–If the Iron Rhinoceros dies, the armadillo goes berserk.

Upon witnessing the Iron Rhinoceros’ death, the Iron Armadillo’s body would turn red-hot and melt down. By melting down its body, it would turn everything in its vicinity into scorched earth. There was no way for Players at the current stage to fend off a berserking Iron Armadillo.

–Do you happen to know anything about their weaknesses, maybe? Their bodies look awfully sturdy.

–Your explorer should be able to deduce that much.

The explorer in Black Crow was named ‘Widget’. Since he was a member of Black Crow, his skills far surpassed the average Player’s. If he was the same Widget Hyukjin knew, he should be able to figure out how to defeat the Iron Armadillo.

–But I’ll give you a little hint. You’ll need a close-ranged martial artist.

–Understood.

Mark didn’t ask for more details. It would have been nice to get the full run-down from Kim Hyukjin, but Mark had his pride, too—his pride that they were the strongest Players in the US. Even without additional info, he was confident they could prevail with their own power.

Meanwhile, back at Kim Hyukjin’s party, Kang Somyi faced the others. “Do you know what an armadillo is?” she asked.

Most of Giantgod knew, but Sunhwa didn’t.

“What’s that?”

“Kinda like a big rat covered in a hard shell.”

“Like a turtle rat?”

“Mm, how about this? You know what pill bugs are?”

“I do!”

“It looks like a giant pill bug, but it’s got four legs and a tail. It’s wearing hard armor.”

Sunhwa accepted the explanation. “Is it stronger than that rhino?”

“I don’t think it is yet, but it feels pretty sus. I think I need to look into it a bit.”

Hyukjin was very satisfied by Kang Somyi’s perceptiveness.

‘She can sense that in a situation where she knows nothing?’

Earlier, Kang Somyi had said that the Explorer of Service was the best class within the limits of her talent plates.

‘This must be intuition.’

Intuition was a key factor for Players. Kang Somyi had recognized the danger the Iron Armadillo posed with intuition alone. Even if she hadn’t been able to pinpoint what exactly that danger was, that, too, would come in time with further growth.

‘She can probably puzzle it out given enough time, but now’s not the time for that.’

This was a winner-takes-all dungeon. He had zero intent on letting Song Junghye take the fleet.

“The skin of the rhino and the shell of the armadillo are made of the same material. Right, Somyi?”

“Hm? Yes.”

“But if you observe the rhino’s skin closely, there are parts where it looks awkwardly welded together. If you roughly measure the size of those pieces, it looks to be about the same size as the armadillo’s shell.”

Kang Somyi peered at the monsters. His words were exactly right. She clapped a fist to her palm in realization. “It seems that the rhino took off a part of its skin and gave it to the armadillo.”

Extrapolating further—

“So we can conclude that those two monsters are a pair. But it looks like the armadillo is way weaker than the rhino. So much so that it’s hard to imagine them being a set.”

Kang Somyi furtively checked Hyukjin’s expression. There were a lot of times when she looked naive and airheaded, but not now. She was an Explorer of Service, and she could sense some measure of her liege’s thoughts.

‘There’s no way Kim Hyukjin already knew everything I just said, is there?’

That seemed all too true. A chill ran down her spine.

‘Did he already know everything and gave me a hint?’

No way.

‘That can’t be true, right?’

But for some reason, she had the feeling her guess was true. Her heart thumped hard.

‘This feels great.’

She enjoyed this feeling of being tested and observed by the person she had chosen as her liege, this person who could be no more compatible by nature with her class, the Explorer of Service. She liked it. She even felt a flush of joy for picking the right liege.

“I can guess… that the armadillo is capable of some kind of big attack.” She quickly continued. “If you look, the rhino isn’t very wary of its surroundings. But the armadillo is constantly on guard. I think it has also noticed us.”

They were still quite a ways apart, but the armadillo seemed to have felt their presence.

“From the looks of it, the armadillo wants to protect the rhino. Almost like a dog running circles around its owner.”

Hyukjin, too, was happy. He felt that he had made the right call in bringing Kang Somyi to his side. She seemed even more skilled than her reputation in his past suggested, and it probably wasn’t just his imagination.

“So I think if something bad happens to the rhino or if it’s in danger, the armadillo will fight back no matter what it takes.”

Hyukjin nodded. He stated his conclusion point-blank.

“So basically, we need to hunt the armadillo first.”

If they hunted the rhino first, the armadillo would go nuts. On the other hand, if they hunted the armadillo first, the difficulty wouldn’t change.

Kang Somyi responded, “Exactly.”

From that, she was sure.

‘He really seems to have known everything.’

Her new liege had immediately produced the answer, as if he’d been waiting for her to lay out her conjecture.

‘Let’s wait and see a little more.’

She felt even happier. To be honest, she thought at first that she’d been screwed. It kind of felt like she’d been forced into a scam contract. Still, the deed was done, so she was going to make the best of it. But now, she almost felt like she had married into the royal frickin’ family.

‘He’s amazing.’

She was only there for a very short time, but she hadn’t seen anyone of this level in Blood and Iron Lion. The same applied to the guildmaster, Song Junghye. Song Junghye might be a cream of the crop Ranker in Korea, but she seemed almost infantile next to Kim Hyukjin.

“So? Its weakness?”

“I think I need to get a little closer to find out.”

Hyukjin didn’t wait any longer. “I observed them based on your conjectures and was able to deduce the armadillo’s weakness.” He clapped Yoohyun’s shoulder. “Yoohyun.”

“Yes, Hyungnim.”

“We’ll fend off the rhino somehow, so you defeat the armadillo.”

“By myself?”

“Yeah.”

Yoohyun cracked his neck. “It’s a bit of a tall order, but whatever you say goes, Hyungnim.”

Hyukjin scanned the surroundings for a moment before saying, “It’ll roll itself up and launch itself forward like a ball. If it lands a good hit, you could get really hurt, so be careful.”

“Roger that.”

Yoohyun didn’t bother asking how or where Hyukjin had acquired such intel. That went for everyone in Giantgod. It was simply Kim Hyukjin. That, alone, was answer enough.

Yoohyun went on to say, “If that’s its killing move, it should be wide open afterwards, huh?”

“That’s right,” Hyukjin affirmed, glad to be working with people who caught on quickly.

“Seeing as you picked out a close-ranged martial artist like myself, I’ve got the feeling a messy fight is unavoidable.”

“What do you think will happen if it rolls around a few dozen or a few hundred times?”

“I think it’ll get awfully dizzy, Hyungnim.” Yoohyun understood exactly what Hyukjin was hinting at. “And if it gets dizzy, it’ll open right up.”

That hard shell would uncurl, revealing the unprotected belly.

“And I guess you picked me since sharp weapons won’t work on it. I’ll wrestle it down and make meat patties of its legs, Hyungnim.”

Hyukjin gave a crisp nod.

“Good.”

Everything Yoohyun said received full points. The armadillo was protected by a special setting. Of course, that setting could be squashed by force once Players had a significant level advantage, but not now. Not only did it possess strong resistance to magic and long-ranged attacks, but it easily rebuffed sharp weapons like swords or spears.

‘The best thing we can do right now is to crush its bones in a grapple while it’s uncurled.’

And grappling, a broad term for taking down an opponent on the ground, was a technique often used by the close-combat specialist So Yoohyun.

* * *

* * *

Sunhwa raised her shield, then whistled. Her target was the Iron Rhinoceros, which honed in on her with a single whistle.

The Iron Rhinoceros slowly began to approach, each lumbering step beating a loud thud.

“Taunt!”

The steps grew faster, now suffused with urgency. The Iron Armadillo followed, and So Yoohyun, primed and ready to go, launched off towards it.

[Using the skill Charge.]

Yoohyun’s 2+ meters of muscle crashed into the armadillo, producing a resounding clang, the sound of metal against metal.

‘Ow, my head.’

His head rang. The armadillo’s body was far harder than he expected.

‘Sunhwa’s got the rhino aggroed, so…’

He could focus his full attention on taking down the armadillo. As for the armadillo, it seemed to have suffered some shock from Yoohyun’s attack.

[!]

It exuded hostility towards Yoohyun, an exclamation point floating above its head.

‘Got it.’

Yoohyun gathered energy at the tips of his toes.

‘For now, I’ll run.’

Until it used its killing move or whatever, he would run while eyeing his chance to strike.

‘It’s just as Hyungnim said!’

The enraged armadillo curled its body into a ball and began to give chase, rolling towards him.

‘How can it be so damn fast?’

Its speed was incredible. Yoohyun threw himself around, just barely avoiding the armadillo’s attacks. The armadillo left a deep trough behind it wherever it rolled.

CRASH! CRACK!

A boulder was smashed into pieces, and an old tree was snapped clear in half with a bone-chilling crack.

“Hah… hah…!”

Just as Yoohyun was gasping for breath, the armadillo collapsed to the ground.

‘Now’s my chance!’

He launched himself on the armadillo, heedless of its somewhat repulsive appearance. Yoohyun wrapped himself around, doing everything in his power to subdue the monster.

‘First, its right front leg.’

Crunch!

He broke its right front leg.

‘Left front leg.’

Crunch!

The left front leg broke as well.

Pressing the center of the armadillo’s belly down with his head, Yoohyun spun like a windmill and reversed his position.

‘Next, right hind leg!’

Crunch!

The right hind leg broke.

Crunch!

Finally, the left hind leg broke. All the while, the armadillo squealed like a dying boar.

SQUEAAAAAAL!

The armadillo, with all of its legs broken, tried to stand up, but could only flounder. It couldn’t even curl itself up. Yoohyun wrapped himself around the armadillo’s neck, holding it in a chokehold and squeezing with everything he had. A human would have immediately gone unconscious, but not the armadillo.

‘A choke doesn’t work.’

It was different from humans. There was no point in constricting its major artery. As he strained, he heard Hyukjin’s voice.

“Hug it from behind.”

Yoohyun reflexively obeyed.

“Use your legs to hook its hind legs.”

He hooked his ankles onto the armadillo’s hind legs, holding it so it couldn’t move its legs.

“Firmly grasp its neck and yank backwards with all your strength.”

It was an order to break the spine. When Yoohyun arched backwards like a bow, the armadillo thrashed. But all of its limbs were broken, and Yoohyun’s ankles kept it firmly locked in place.

Crrk! Crrkkk!

The armadillo’s vertebrae began to shatter, inch by inch.

‘It’s working!’

Every vein was standing out on his face. He bellowed out a rousing shout.

“DETAILS!”

Crrrrrrk!

The armadillo’s spine broke.

“MAKETH!”

[Iron Armadillo has been killed.]

“A LUXURY FOOT MAT!”

Yoohyun got up, dusting himself off, leaving a horribly disfigured Iron Armadillo behind him. He looked down to the corpse while wiping off his sweat.

‘It seems like super ordinary advice, but…’

That super ordinary advice and tiny details made the hunt so very easy.

‘This is it.’

His heart began to race.

‘This is a sovereign. This is Hyungnim!’

This was why you needed a great sovereign. Yoohyun looked towards his guildmaster with eyes of awe, but Hyukjin was already gone. He had long since joined the Iron Rhinoceros hunt.

Before long, Giantgod was able to take down the Iron Rhinoceros with their combined efforts.

[Iron Rhinoceros has been killed.]

Yeonseo picked up an item.

“Boss! It dropped an item called Iron Horn!”

As Hyukjin had expected, it was a clear item. A general notice rang out.

[Iron Rhinoceros’ Iron Horn has been obtained. 1/3]

1/3 obtained. That meant there were two more to get.

Three paths, three Iron Horns.

The scenario was slowly becoming clearer. And with it, the plans in Hyukjin’s head began to steadily take concrete form.