Holy B-Class Life

#068

The officials simultaneously made uncomfortable faces at his declaration.

Regardless of whether there were voices behind him or not, Dan Joo-hyuk continued forward.

“I said I’m going, didn’t I?”

Kim Sang-deok hurriedly followed, but his entry was faster.

Seemingly fed up with the guy’s attitude, the hunters in the attack team entered the gate even more quickly than usual.

“……”

With a faint dizziness, he arrived beyond the gate. There was a chance Kim Sang-deok would follow, but it didn’t matter. He would move ahead first anyway.

However, Dan Joo-hyuk felt a slight sense of discomfort from Kim Sang-deok’s attitude just now.

To hear the words “money doesn’t matter” from that guy’s mouth. Something was off.

Kim Sang-deok, a gold attribute hunter, was famous for being a money-grubber. He was incomparably worse than Yoon Pa-ran.

Plastering his house with gold was just the tip of the iceberg. He once negotiated processing costs right up to the breaking point, resulting in an A-rank gate bursting.

For such a guy to say he doesn’t need money…

He would have rather stepped forward as soon as Dan Joo-hyuk arrived, refusing to enter out of pride. He wasn’t even the type to show such enthusiasm for gate processing in the first place.

However, these thoughts were soon pushed to the corner of his mind.

The stagnant air inside the gate stung his skin.

Time limit: 5 hours 19 minutes 16 seconds

“……”

If he didn’t make it in time, he would die.

Normally, Dan Joo-hyuk would have thought it didn’t matter. But this time, for some reason, Yoon Pa-ran’s pale face briefly flashed through his mind.

If he died now, would he feel a bit regretful?

He consciously pushed away the faintly rising thought. Now it was time to run like mad to make it in time.

❖ ❖ ❖

Kwaaak!

With a slashing sound, another monster fell to the ground.

Without even checking if it would get up, Dan Joo-hyuk shot forward. For over four hours, he had only run forward. He just pushed all the attacking monsters out of range.

“Huff……”

And so, he reached the final safe zone.

Kuooooo……!

The numerous monsters chasing him stopped abruptly in front of the safe zone statue. Their rotten gazes remained fixed on Dan Joo-hyuk.

As he quietly gauged the range where they couldn’t approach, Dan Joo-hyuk looked up at the statue beside him. The statue, twice his height, was half-destroyed as usual.

Come to think of it, this statue needs to be investigated more.

He wished Yoon Pa-ran would ejaculate on the statue one more time. But even without asking, he knew the resistance would be quite strong.

Rubbing his chin, Dan Joo-hyuk pressed down the corners of his mouth that were rising involuntarily. Now was not the time for idle thoughts. Being an S-rank gate, even for him, it wasn’t easy to run while ignoring all the monsters rushing in.

First, he’d have to take the safe zone statue out whole soon. Then he’d have time to investigate leisurely.

Brushing his hair up, he trudged forward. Following his footsteps, the sound of trampled undergrowth rustled beneath his feet.

This gate was a typical jungle terrain. However, the unusually lush leaves and the monster’s appearance like a rotten old tree clearly showed it was of the wood attribute.

In many ways, it wasn’t a bad match for him.

As Dan Joo-hyuk’s figure moved between the sparsely standing trees inside the safe zone, the monsters’ cries gradually subsided. When he went inside like this and became invisible, the monsters’ attention would often disperse.

Fortunately, no anomaly occurred to nullify the safe zone’s effect.

“Whew.”

Dan Joo-hyuk sat down in a suitable spot and decided to take a short rest.

Ahead, there would only be the boss monster now. Other than that, maybe a few individuals that had unfortunately flowed in.

Time limit: 31 minutes 25 seconds

As he sat down, a status window popped up in front of him, as if warning that time was running out.

He casually brushed it away with an indifferent face. Then he brought up a different status window.

>>[Sacred Energy S] Absorption rate___57%

He had deliberately consumed some of the energy he had absorbed on the way here a few times.

The result was very satisfactory. He felt that the power channeled into his weapon had become even stronger than before.

Whether it was due to the deepened method of contact or because he had gained the ‘Practitioner’ status, he couldn’t tell.

Even without that, the sub-skill itself was a big gain. Although it came quickly, the energy remained completely undispersed.

If he poured all this power he had saved into the boss battle, what kind of result would appear?

“Shall we go……”

After catching his breath adequately, Dan Joo-hyuk stood up. It was quite a leisurely action considering his life was hanging by a thread.

As he slowly moved his steps, a prickling aura was felt from afar.

He sensed the ground he was stepping on was hostile to him. It even felt like the immovable undergrowth was looking down at him.

It was the typical domain control of a wood attribute boss.

Kiiiiiiii……!

The creature that spotted Dan Joo-hyuk made a long sound. Simultaneously, the surrounding trees actually turned to look at him as if stretching.

As befitting a higher-rank monster, it started using skills from the beginning.

“……”

The problem was that the opponent was Dan Joo-hyuk.

He immediately kicked off the ground and jumped up. Almost simultaneously, tree roots from the ground shot up as if to stab him.

He easily parried them with his sword and used the rebound to propel himself even higher. This was the skill that inexperienced hunters fell victim to most often, but it actually suited Dan Joo-hyuk’s style.

Spinning his body once in mid-air, he clenched his fist towards the ground.

His will activated the skill.

[Warmly Embracing Touch S]

Absorbs moisture from the surroundings.

Unlike its peaceful-sounding name, it was quite a cruel skill. It literally evaporated all nearby moisture with intense heat.

This included moisture in the air as well as inside living beings. If used on people, it could instantly mummify one or two individuals.

Kiek……!

As soon as the skill was activated, the boss writhed as if in pain. The giant tree-like humanoid flailed its thick bark-covered arms.

Though already a corpse, it seemed unable to shake off its plant-like habits.

Ki, ki, ki, ki……!

The undergrowth around the boss monster was the same. The vegetation that had been poised to stab Dan Joo-hyuk suddenly stiffened and shriveled up.

Seizing that moment, Dan Joo-hyuk prepared his next skill.

This time, he infused it with a bit of Yoon Pa-ran’s skill energy.

[Curtain of Rage S]

Summons a barrier of fire centered on the caster.

*[Sacred Energy S] is in effect.

A circular wall of fire formed around Dan Joo-hyuk. It was the fire barrier he had used in the anomaly gate as well.

It was his first time casting it infused with [Sacred Energy]. A faint white glow mixed with the original red light was noticeable.

I’ll need to refrain from using it like this when there are eyes around.

Since it was his most famous skill, the difference would be conspicuous. Naturally thinking that he had no intention of sharing Yoon Pa-ran’s information with anyone, he reasoned.

Time limit: 12 minutes 05 seconds

With this, he had cleared away the unnecessary branches. However, there were still things moving persistently between the boss and Dan Joo-hyuk.

A tedious exchange followed. Dan Joo-hyuk carefully removed the rustling branches and suddenly protruding roots.

Considering the attribute and rank, it was weaker than the boss from the anomaly gate, but this was annoying.

Kiruk, kiruk.

He dodged the last branch that flew at him like a whip. The fire curtain he had spread had already disappeared as its activation time ended.

“……”

Still, this had completely burned away all the terrain features around the boss monster.

Now only the boss remained.

Kii, kiiii……!

Dan Joo-hyuk lightly kicked off the ground and ran forward again. Unlike before, there were no things suddenly protruding from the ground, making running easier.

As if urging him on, the time limit kept flashing in the corner of his vision. Ignoring it, he charged straight at the boss.

The boss tried to crush Dan Joo-hyuk with its arms, thicker than most large trees. It occasionally tried to use other skills, but without anything to serve as a medium for the skills, it was just feeble resistance.

Time limit: 04 minutes 45 seconds

Finally, with less than 5 minutes remaining.

For the final blow, Dan Joo-hyuk poured all his remaining [Sacred Energy].

He put strong force into his supporting leg. It was best to sever wood attribute monsters’ connection to the ground. So he deliberately slashed upwards with his sword from the boss’s leg that was planted on the ground to its head.

The sword’s trajectory, shining in a straight line, was dazzlingly sacred.

Kiiiiik!

With a horrible death cry, the boss was split in two.

“Whew……”

Having exerted himself, Dan Joo-hyuk slowly let out a long sigh. Even for him, it was the first time he had dealt with an S-rank boss so hurriedly.

He had many minor injuries from moving so fast. He poured a potion into the hole in his stomach while spreading his energy sense widely.

It seemed no hunter had approached this area yet. He had thought Kim Sang-deok might follow, but it looked like he had turned back to maintain his pride.

“……”

After sheathing his sword, he finally relaxed, running his hand through his hair.

Under the boss’s corpse, items were faintly materializing.