Chapter 317

Swoosh!

The silver bolt shot by Chae Hyung-Seok cut through the air and narrowly grazed Yong Tae-Pung’s waist.

“Keuk!” Yong Tae-Pung groaned and grabbed where the arrow grazed him, and then he shouted, “Hey, Hyung-Seok! Why are you shooting at me?!”

“I apologize, senior-nim!” Chae Hyung-Seok immediately apologized.

“You almost poked me a new hole right here! Aim properly!”

“I will be mindful from now on! I think the long battle has gotten to me, so I made a mistake.. I apologize!”

“It’s okay, it happens, Hyung-Seok! We’re almost there!” Yong Tae-Pung graciously forgave Chae Hyung-Seok for his mistake.

Besides, Yong Tae-Pung figured that these kinds of small mistakes were bound to occur as the battle had been going on for five straight hours now.

‘Keke! Moron! Old fossils like you should just stay at home and enjoy retirement with what you’ve earned during your career. Why the fuck did you overstep your boundaries and get in my way? Enjoy taking a break for thirty days as a ghoul! Kekeke!’ Chae Hyung-Seok thought.

He was a very narrow-minded and petty person who would never let someone he disliked off the hook.

He would trample them if they were weaker than him, while he would pull all sorts of stunts from behind the scenes if they were stronger than him. This was one of the perfect examples of his nasty habits.

‘I’m going to come after your guild first after my guild comes back to life, old man.’ Chae Hyung-Seok gritted his teeth and even bared his fangs and Yong Tae-Pung’s guild.

The man with the heart of a serpent—it was the meaning behind Chae Hyung-Seok’s ID, Desire.

The Curse of Decay quickly spread throughout Yong Tae-Pung’s body thanks to Chae Hyung-Seok’s wickedness.

Exactly a minute later, Yong Tae-Pung suddenly grabbed his chest and fell to the ground while fighting against the Leper King.

“K.. Keuk..!”

“Ahjussi! What are you doing?! It’s dangerous over there!” Taycan exclaimed.

“My.. My heart is..! Keuk! Grrr.. Grrraaa..!”

And that was how Yong Tae-Pung started turning into a ghoul.

“Senior! SENIOOOOR!” Chae Hyung-Seok quickly ran over and helped Yong Tae-Pung up.

“Senior! When did you get infected?”

“Grrrk..!”

Chae Hyung-Seok started screaming and wailing while supporting Yong Tae-Pung.

“Please, senior! You cannot turn into a ghoul!”

“W-When.. Grr..! Did I get.. Grraaak..!”

“Senior!”

“Hyung-Seok.. Kruk..! Kill me.. Grrkk..! If not the.. raid party will.. Grrraaak! Annihilated!”

Yong Tae-Pung only cared about clearing the dungeon even while he was turning into a ghoul, and he was indeed making the right choice as the entire raid party was definitely going to get annihilated if he turned into a ghoul.

“H-Hurry! Hyung-Seok! Kill me.. Grraaak!”

“I—senior..!”

Chae Hyung-Seok pretended like he was left without a choice as he gripped his +14 Mace of Glory and swung it at Yong Tae-Pung’s head.

Puk! Puk! Puk!

And he felt a sense of thrill that he could not put into words.

‘Kyaaaa! Kya Kakaka! Die! Die, you fucking bastard! Go to hell and rot there! This feels so fucking good! Kekekeke!’

The act of smashing the head of Korea’s living legend with his own two hands injected a massive kick of endorphin and adrenaline into his brain. He was getting drunk from the ecstasy of it with every swing of his mace.

Chae Hyung-Seok would have openly laughed and showed off his madness if he could.

Pukeok!

Yong Tae-Pung’s head cracked open like a can of tomato sauce.

His blood and brain matter stained the floor.

“I will keep this for now,” Chae Hyung-Seok said as he picked up the item Yong Tae-Pung had dropped upon dying—the +10 Belt of Colossus.

“Everyone! Let’s press on! We’re almost there!” Chae Hyung-Seok quickly wore sheep’s clothing after successfully assassinating Yong Tae-Pung and rallied the raid party.

‘I’ll leave that NPC bastard for now and get rid of these bystanders first,’ he thought as he focused all of his buffs on Taycan, who was busy fighting against the Leper King while significantly reducing the buffs on the other party members.

‘I’ll just let those bastards die and pick up all of their dropped items.. and lastly, I’ll get rid of that NPC to monopolize the dungeon rewards! Kekeke!’

Chae Hyung-Seok painted a bigger picture while controlling the balance of the battle. The picture he was painting was quite massive, and the canvas could end up getting ripped apart because of that, but the chances of that happening were quite low.

Why?

It was all because the one controlling the outcome of this battle was none other than himself, Chae Hyung-Seok.

***

Siegfried brought Hamchi to a safe place and rested.

He rummaged through his Inventory and took out the Type I Elixir: Vaccine before drinking it.

[Alert: You have consumed ‘Type I Elixir: Vaccine’!]

[Alert: Your body has produced antibodies after consuming the Type I Elixir: Vaccine!]

[Alert: You will no longer turn into a ghoul!]

As expected of a vaccine, the Type I Elixir: Vaccine made Siegfried immune to the Curse of Decay.

“It’s great that I won’t turn into a ghoul even if I get infected,” Siegfried muttered.

“Kyu?” Hamchi looked up at him and said, “Owner punk! Are you eating something yummy all by yourself?! Give some to Hamchi, too! Kyuu!”

“Are you a pig?” Siegfried retorted. He showed the bottle to Hamchi and explained, “This is the vaccine we picked up at that laboratory.”

“Kyu? That thing is..?”

“You already had some a while ago, so you don’t need it.”

“Does that mean I won’t turn into a ghoul anymore?”

“Yeah,” Siegfried nodded and smirked before he added, “So don’t you ever try turning into a ghoul. My heart broke seeing you turn into a ghoul.”

“Kyu! Hamchi is moved that owner punk loves Hamchi a lot! I saw you crying over Hamchi a while ago! Kyuu!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about..” Siegfried grumbled and looked away as his ears turned red. ‘This little vermin nearly gave me a heart attack.. Damn it..’

“Anyway, I think you’re feeling better now, so let’s go,” said Siegfried, changing the topic.

“Kyu!”

“Hop on my shoulders since you still look a bit tired.”

“Hamchi is fine! Kyu!”

“No, you’re not. Look at yourself in the mirror. You look like a sewer rat instead of a hamster!”

“Kyu?!”

Hamchi took out a mirror and inspected himself.

“K-Kyuuuu?! Hamchi looks no good! Kyuuu!”

It seemed that Hamchi had used quite a lot of energy in the process of turning into a ghoul and back as his furs looked quite disheveled and lifeless.

“We don’t have time, so hop on. They are probably either fighting against the boss monster right now, or they’ve already been annihilated.”

“Alright! Kyu!”

“I’m not sure if Chae Hyung-Seok is still alive, but I’m sure that bastard’s going to start trolling and purposely make his party members die so he can monopolize the rewards.”

“Kyu? Do you really think that he will do that?”

“No?” Siegfried shook his head and continued. “He will do more than that. He’s already an asshole, but he’s tight on cash right now. I’m certain he’s going to try and monopolize the rewards no matter what. I know him pretty well.”

Siegfried knew just how trashy Chae Hyung-Seok’s personality was, as he had suffered quite a lot underneath the latter’s machinations. In fact, Siegfried was convinced that he understood Chae Hyung-Seok the most in this world.

“That’s why I’m here. I’m here to stop whatever despicable plan that bastard has.”

“Kyu? Is that why you came all the way here? Hamchi was a bit confused when you said you were going to disrupt his plans! Kyu! It’s not easy getting in the way of your ally, right?”

“Yeah, it’s not easy.. but how should I put this..? He’s going to dig his own grave? Well, it’s something like that. I know him very well, and he’s going to set the stage for me to do so; just watch.”

“Kyu! Owner punk knows Chae Hyung-Seok very well! Very well! Chae Very-Well!”

“Chae Very-Well? What’s that?”

“It means you know Chae Hyung-Seok very well! Kyu!”

“Where did you learn things like that..?”

“I learned it from the Adventurers from your country! Kyu!”

It seemed that Hamchi learned a few things trending in South Korea from the Korean Adventurers.

“Whatever, man. Let’s hurry up.”

“Kyu! Let’s go! Run, owner punk, run! Kyuuu!”

Siegfried placed Hamchi on his shoulders and ran out of the building.

Thirty minutes later..

[City of the Dead: Decayed Castle]

Siegfried and Hamchi used Meerkat~! and Inzaghi’s Compass to safely reach the Decayed Castle, where the boss room was located.

Perhaps it was because they were now in the deepest part of the dungeon, but Siegfried was gasping in pain.

“Euk!”

Time and space seemed to distort around him.

[Alert: You lack ‘Dimensional Energy Resistance’!]

[Alert: The dimension is crushing your character!!]

[Alert: All stats have fallen by 15%!]

The late party leader of the second party was right.

The stat penalty had increased to fifteen percent.

“So this was why the resistance was so important.. tsk..!”

Siegfried couldn’t help but find the penalty to be quite distasteful.

“Kyu?!”

Hamchi’s ears perked up as soon as they reached the Decayed Castle.

“What? Do you hear something?”

“Owner punk! They’re fighting inside!”

“Really? Where?”

“Over here! Kyu!”

“Okay!”

Siegfried and Hamchi were able to reach the boss room without much trouble, as the raid party had cleared the mobs along the way.

“Oh!”

“Just a bit more!”

“Fighting! Attack with all you got!”

The battle between the Leper King and the raid party was still raging.

“Owner punk! Let’s help them!” Hamchi said urgently.

“No,” Siegfried shook his head and said, “Chae Hyung-Seok looks suspicious. Doesn’t he look like he’s up to no good?”

“Kyu?”

“This.. we caught him red-handed. We can’t allow him to slither his way out of this one,” Siegfried said with a smirk.

He didn’t join the battle right away.

He hid and observed Chae Hyung-Seok from a distance.

He opened his player interface and tapped the Video Record button while staring at Chae Hyung-Seok.

***

‘All right!’ Chae Hyung-Seok exclaimed inwardly and flashed a smile.

He used his dwindling mana and his skills going on cooldown as an excuse to stop buffing the raid party members. The big picture he was painting on the canvas was slowly taking shape.

What was the current status of the battlefield?

‘Two left aside from the NPC? I’m almost there,’ he thought with a smirk. The raid party had been reduced to a mere four people, which would be two if Taycan and Chae Hyung-Seok were excluded.

“I am out of mana! Please hang in there while I drink potions!” Chae Hyung-Seok exclaimed as he pretended to have run out of mana while continuously buffing Taycan.

“H-Hyung-Seok hyung.. Ack!”

“Kwah!” historical

The last two remaining Adventurers died at the Leper King’s attack.

‘Good! Very good! Now all I have to do is deal with that NPC bastard!’ Chae Hyung-Seok rejoiced inside while looking at Taycan, who was busy fighting one-on-one against the boss monster.

“Huff..! Huff..! This stubborn bastard.. Ah! You damn monster! Just hurry up and DIE!” Taycan screamed out of frustration.

It was impossible to tell what Taycan’s level was, as the Rune of Insight did not work on him, but he put on a much better display than Yong Tae-Pung against the Leper King.

— Kwah! You’re the Descendant of the Thunder God?!

“You can die now that you’ve figured it out!”

— Kwaaaaaah!

A stream of lightning formed in Taycan’s hand before he shot it out like a laser cannon.

The laser pierced the Leper King’s sternum.

It was the Indra class’ skill—Ignis Beam.

[The Leper King, Balduinus]

.

[HP: ??????????]

The Leper King’s HP was now extremely close to zero.

‘Now’s my chance!’ Chae Hyung-Seok’s eyes flashed. There was no way he was going to miss the opportunity that he had been waiting for.

Swoosh!

He pulled on the trigger of his crossbow, and a silver bolt tainted with the Curse of Decay flew toward Taycan’s head.