HDAAD Chapter 141

“Sooha! This is bad manners!”

“Guild Master Shin Sooha, this is too much.”

“That bastard, is he training people like dogs or what?”

“…This is a bit…”

Ignoring the four who were jumping up and down, Shin Sooha held out his hand to me.

“I need purification.”

What purification? It’s only 10%.

I stared at him blankly, feeling dumbfounded, and Shin Sooha wiggled his fingers.

It was a signal asking why I wasn’t catching them quickly.

“Hyung! Don’t catch them for him! This is bad manners!”

“That’s right! This is too much!”

Taeju and Michael hadn’t even caught a few, as both of their contamination levels were still in single digits.

“Peep.”

Right. I really don’t know what childish things they’re doing.

Just as I was about to swallow a sigh that was involuntarily coming out, the ground shook.

It was a stronger earthquake than before.

“Everyone stop and get ready, the boss is about to appear.”

Those who were confronting Shin Sooha turned their gaze towards me.

“What’s the boss here?”

“A king mantis.”

The king mantis, the boss of the 14th floor, was a monster that had never appeared in any dungeon before.

“Is it small like the golden beetles?”

As if the boss monster itself wanted to answer Michael’s question, the ground shook again and the floor cracked.

“Hyung, be careful.”

Before the ground I was standing on could split, Taeju quickly grabbed me and pulled me back.

The cracked ground suddenly collapsed, creating an increasingly large hole.

Then, with a thud, thick forelegs stabbed into the floor.

“It’s coming.”

-Thump.

A huge body sprang out as if bouncing through the hole and landed on the floor.

“It’s really big.”

Michael muttered, tilting his head back.

The others seemed to think the same, as they all tilted their heads back to look at the mantis without saying a word.

“Everyone focus. The king mantis has a total of 3 phases. In the first and second phases, abilities using attributes won’t work at all. Physical attacks are defended against, but it’s not complete defense, so for now, just beat it up.”

“Beat it up?”

As Michael tilted his head, Lee Chaewon said while putting her sword into her infinite pouch,

“Just pound it.”

“Ah! But what are you doing?”

“A greatsword is perfect for pounding.”

Lee Chaewon, who had taken out a sword as big as herself, grinned and rushed towards the king mantis, with Michael laughing and following behind.

“Bro. Be careful.”

“Yeah. You too.”

“I’ll be going.”

“I’ll be back!”

As Taeju, Shin Sooha, and Baigang headed towards the monster, Yoon Seokjin, who hadn’t joined the fight yet, hesitantly looked at me and Mei.

Yoon Seokjin seemed to be gauging our reaction, as he needed to cover his body with blood to summon the spirits necessary for battle.

“It’s okay. You can do it.”

Mei also nodded and said, as if she had heard something separately about Yoon Seokjin,

“That’s right. We’ll all be covered in monster blood and such while fighting anyway, so what’s the big deal?”

At the words that monster blood and animal blood were all the same, Yoon Seokjin, looking like a puppy trying to avoid eye contact, took out an oil can from his infinite pouch.

Then he opened the lid and poured it over his head.

Red blood soaked his entire body, and the smell of blood spread.

“[Scattered Cow Ghosts]”

White smoke wavered into existence beside Yoon Seokjin.

“Oh.”

The smoke instantly took form.

A strange ghost wearing a white mask like a hat over loose hair and dressed in burial clothes was holding a club as large as Lee Chaewon’s greatsword.

“What kind of ghost is that?”

“I don’t know either.”

Even in the novel, there was only a vague mention of Yoon Seokjin controlling ghosts, without any detailed explanation of his skills.

The ghost swung its club a few times and then leaped high into the air from where it stood.

“Oh. Is it because it’s a ghost? It’s flying through the air.”

The ghost, which had risen to a height impossible for a normal person, brought its club down towards the mantis.

“Nice shot.”

As Mei said, the club accurately struck the mantis’s head. But the mantis seemed unaffected, as if it hadn’t taken any damage. After all, it’s a boss, it wouldn’t fall from just one hit of a club.

“It’s enduring that.”

“It would. That mantis is an S+ rank after all.”

“Ooh.”

Mei, who had been nodding, suddenly turned to me.

“By the way, can I ask you something I’m curious about?”

“Yes. Go ahead.”

“How do you know all these things? You know about the maze, the monsters that appear, and even the boss, even though you’ve never been here before.”

“Ah.”

I had thought about explaining after we came in, but there wasn’t a chance to talk because these guys were so busy fighting.

“I have prophetic dreams.”

“What?”

Mei asked again with surprised eyes.

“I know about things related to the Tower, or things that will happen in the future, because of that.”

Just as I was wondering what story to bring up to make her believe this implausible tale of prophetic dreams, Mei clapped her hands.

“So that’s why you told me to hide my mother back then?”

Right. I did tell Mei to hide her mother when we were in China.

I nodded at the memory.

“It was so chaotic that I couldn’t greet you properly. I’m really grateful. If my mother had stayed in the stadium then, she would have been seriously injured, unable to evacuate.”

‘She would have passed away without injury.’

After the possession, I saved Lee Chaewon and Yoon Seokjin, starting with Shin Sooha, but that was my choice.

However, saving Mei’s mother that day was, strictly speaking, Mei’s choice, not mine.

“It’s nothing. The choice was Mei’s, so there’s no need to thank me.”

It was also amazing that she believed the words of someone she was meeting for the first time.

Feeling somewhat embarrassed, I quickly spoke and turned my gaze towards the boss monster.

Although I had instructed them to beat it up, the party members were fighting well. Especially Lee Chaewon, who looked like a mad person who could be mistaken for a berserker, was dodging the huge forelegs and pounding the king mantis.

“Master.”

“Hm?”

Haegeum, who suddenly poked its head out of my pocket, called me.

“I think we should prepare for phase 2 soon.”

“Huh?”

I looked at the king mantis again. It was still frantically swinging its forelegs, trying to catch those attacking it, just like before.

“Why? What’s changed?”

“The mantis’s health is almost depleted.”

“Hm? How do you know?”

In the novel, phase 2 started after one of the king mantis’s legs fell to the ground. But now, the mantis’s legs showed no signs of falling.

“Trust me. Wisdom can see through everything.”

I looked back and forth between Haegeum and the king mantis.

Then I shouted loud enough for everyone to hear.

“When phase 2 starts, the mantis will jump! And when it strikes the ground with its forelegs, be careful because high-voltage current will flow through the floor!”

“Yes!”

“Okay!”

“Understood!”

As soon as I heard the responses from those fighting, I spread insulation mats from my infinite pouch on the floor to protect against high-voltage current.

“Mr. Yoon Seokjin, go up in the air. Mei, come here!”

Just as Mei stepped onto the insulation mat and Yoon Seokjin rose into the air with the help of his spirit, it happened.

The king mantis’s middle leg fell off, and simultaneously, the mantis leaped into the air and then plunged into the ground.

-Zzzap

Starting from the mantis’s forelegs, a strong red high-voltage current visible to the eye began to spread across the floor.

“Heave-ho!”

Starting with Michael, those who had jumped up landed on the mantis’s body and swung their swords.

Unlike in phase 1 where most attacks were deflected, now wounds started appearing every time a sword touched the mantis’s body.

The king mantis flapped its wings and flew into the air, trying to shake off the attached hunters.

“I’m flying! I’m flying!”

“We’re flying! We’re flying!”

As I heard Michael and Lee Chaewon’s shouts, I opened my palm.

“[Change].”

The bracelet on my wrist changed its form into a magic gun and landed on my palm.

“Wow. What’s that?”

“My sister’s worry.”

From phase 3, the king mantis starts flying around and shooting poison. So we needed to eliminate those wings now.

“A magic gun? Do you know how to shoot?”

“Yes.”

I aimed at the stained-glass-like wings and shouted.

“Eliminating the wings!”

With a quiet “psshh” sound as if equipped with a silencer, the magic bullet was fired and accurately penetrated the right front wing. And the hole created in the membrane grew larger with each flap until it suddenly tore.

The king mantis staggered after losing one front wing. But perhaps due to its back wings, it didn’t fall to the ground easily.

The king mantis began to descend, as if trying to end its flight quickly.

“Not so fast!”

This time I fired the magic bullet towards the back wing. The result was another hit.

The king mantis, with its back wing also torn, crashed to the ground.

However, perhaps due to Shin Sooha’s telekinesis, all the party members were floating in the air.

“Wow. You’re quite the sharpshooter, aren’t you?”

“I might not be good with swords, but I’m pretty good with guns.”

Since it couldn’t fly with just one wing, I turned the gun back into a bracelet and shouted.

“Attack now!”

Perhaps due to the shock of the fall, the king mantis showed no noticeable movement. As the party members quickly descended to the ground and started beating the mantis, another of its legs fell off.

“Phase 3 is starting! Now your abilities will work too, so go all out!”

As the king mantis tried to rise and shoot poison, Baigang’s water poured down and Taeju’s electricity struck.

And then,

-Crack

The king mantis’s head, pressed down by Shin Sooha’s telekinesis, shattered.

“With one hit…”

The king mantis that Taeju’s party in the novel had struggled with for 6 hours and barely managed to kill.

It died without even getting to use its poison or attacks using the maze forest.

With no exaggeration, it died from one hit of Shin Sooha’s ability.

‘I did gather them all and bring them here but… is this right?’

“…Is this possible because he’s SSS-rank?”

Mei, who seemed as surprised by this situation as I was, asked dazedly.

“I guess so.”

[The 14th floor of the Tower has been conquered for the first time.]

[Conquerors: Republic of Korea]

[First conquest rewards will be distributed.]

[A permanent buff of 10 increase in attack power is applied to all party members.]

Along with the consecutive messages, a status window popped up in front of my eyes.

“Wh-what is this?”

Mei’s voice trembled, as if she had also received the message.

I opened my status window and said,

“This is why we rushed through the Tower.”

“The first conquest reward for the Tower is a buff?!”

“Not for other floors, just from the 14th floor.”

“Hyung!”

Taeju, who had come running after seeing the conquest completion message, grabbed my shoulders and turned me this way and that.

“Hey! I didn’t even go near the mantis!”

“But still. You didn’t get electrocuted, right?”

“Yeah. Now hand over Salt.”

“Ah, right. Salt.”

Taeju, who had taken Salt when rushing towards the golden beetles, seemed to have forgotten he had put it inside even during the king mantis fight.

As Taeju took Salt out of his inner jacket pocket, Salt chirped as if rapping.

“Peep. Peep peep. Peep. Peep.”

Ignoring the colorful curses Salt was spitting out, I stroked the head of the sulking creature with my finger.

“Taeju rushed in without thinking too. Forgive him just this once.”

“Peep peep. Peep peep.”

Giving up on soothing Salt, who was cursing worse than a gangster writing a statement, I put it on top of my head.

“Is anyone hurt?”

The party members surrounding me and Mei shook their heads.

I started checking the hunters’ contamination levels.

While it made sense for Shin Sooha’s to be high since he directly killed the boss monster, the others who had only attacked shouldn’t have had any changes in their contamination levels normally.

‘Why have the levels increased?’

During the golden beetle fight, I thought the levels rose because they killed a few, but now they had only killed the king mantis.

“Why? Is something wrong?”

At Taeju’s question, I honestly shared my doubts.

“Yeah. It’s different from what I thought. Shin Sooha, isn’t the research institute still studying contamination?”

“Yes. The conclusion was that contamination occurs in hunters when they kill monsters.”

“Then, does contamination occur not when killing monsters, but when attacking them?”

I nodded.

Seeing that everyone’s levels had risen without exception, it seems that, as Lee Chaewon said, contamination levels rise just from attacking monsters. The research institute would have conducted tests on Shin Sooha after he came out of dungeons, so they naturally would have tested under the assumption that he had killed monsters.

“In that case, we’ll have to purify regularly.”

Even if only a small amount increased each time, it would accumulate to high levels, so this was an unavoidable choice.

“But what’s this first conquest reward?”

“Ah.”

I have to explain again.

I took Shin Sooha’s hand with one hand and Taeju’s with the other, and told them about the prophetic dream and how permanent buffs are created as the first conquest reward when conquering the Tower from the 14th floor.

“A permanent buff! My goodness!”

“Dope!”

“I’m not dreaming, am I?”

Unlike Michael and Lee Chaewon, who were exclaiming in disbelief while looking at their status windows, Baigang was pinching her cheek.

“Did Hunter Yoon Seokjin get it too?”

“…Yes.”

“Then let’s go to the next floor now.”