An F-Rank Veterinarian Physically Heals an S-Rank Magical Beast - Chapter 60

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 60
Clop-clop, clop-clop. Creak… creeeeak….
On Floor 13, the Valley of the Dead, where eerie mist coiled thick and suffocating, cutting through the oppressive darkness that obscured even a single step ahead came the cheerful sound of hoofbeats, the grinding noise of poorly oiled wheels, and someone’s aggrieved muttering.
“No, Master. This is a violation of rights… or rather, machine rights! I’m experiencing a serious identity crisis—am I the Empire’s most cutting-edge AI robot, or am I a rickshaw puller from the capital? My computational processors are actually learning what ‘shame’ feels like!”
Kim Chun-sam complained as his front hooves scraped the ground. His lower half was that of a magnificent demonic horse with a mane that blazed with hellfire, but behind him was tethered a shabby metal cart by chains. And atop that cart sat the elderly masters of the Murim Alliance, including Namgoong Cheon, huddled together and chattering away like a tour group on a sightseeing bus.
“Heh heh, this beast’s ride is quite smooth. What did you call it? Suspension? The shock absorption is excellent.”
“Hey there, driver, turn on the heater, would you? My knees are freezing on Floor 13. Lower the windbreak a bit.”
“Oi, you at the reins! Don’t you have any music? Some trot songs or something?”
Requests from the Murim Alliance elders came pouring down like arrows. Kim Chun-sam felt as though his blood pressure (had he possessed one) would burst.
“No heater! No music! And I’m not a driver! I’m Kim Chun-sam, Chief Auditor of Headquarters and Strategic Tactical Robot! Don’t speak to me informally!”
Kim Chun-sam turned around and shouted back. But the masters of the Murim Alliance treated him as nothing more than a “curious beast from the Western Regions that could speak,” and simply pulled dried meat jerky from their pockets to chew.
“My, this beast has quite the temperament. Here, have some jerky.”
“I’m a robot, I said! I don’t eat jerky! I need oil!”
“Chun-sam, stop talking and keep running. The meter’s going up. We need to reach the inn before sunset or we won’t get dinner.”
Jin-hyuk jogged lightly beside him, urging him forward. He seemed quite pleased with this bizarre procession. Ma Dong-tak was doing shadow boxing and jogging behind the cart, claiming he was warming up, while Beris and Luna walked at a distance from Kim Chun-sam, holding their noses against the stench of beast droppings.
“Structure identified ahead.”
As Kim Chun-sam continued running while muttering complaints, information flashed across his visor. The mist gradually parted, revealing a massive shadow. Standing alone in the barren wasteland was a dilapidated and grotesque three-story wooden building. At the edge of its eaves, a tattered red lantern swayed in the wind, creaking ominously, and above the entrance hung a crooked wooden sign with characters written in cursive script on rotting wood.
[Inn of the Underworld]
“Hmm… an inn, you say. As a martial artist, I cannot simply pass by.”
Namgoong Cheon leaped down from the cart, stroking his beard. He adjusted his clothes with practiced ease, but his expression remained rigid.
“The atmosphere is ominous. Rather than killing intent… there’s a mixture of musty mold and the stench of old blood. This is no dwelling place for the living.”
“How filthy….”
Beris covered her nose and grimaced. Her cleanliness radar was shrieking warnings like a madwoman. The entire building was covered in rotting wood and moss. The windows were shattered, gaping like dark mouths, and whenever the wind blew, an unpleasant creaking sound echoed—as if the building itself were screaming.
“Let’s rest here. We can gather some information and move on. Floor 13’s map isn’t in our database, so asking the locals for directions would be efficient.”
Jin-hyuk took the lead. The structure of Floor 13 was like a maze. Rather than wandering aimlessly, they needed to obtain clues from the local residents (?) about how to reach the next floor. Of course, whether those residents would be willing to converse or would bare their fangs instead remained a mystery.
“Is anyone home~ We have customers~. Did you not order jjajangmyeon delivery?”
Jin-hyuk joked as he kicked the old wooden door wide open.
Crash! Crunch!
The rotting door panel fell away helplessly, raising a cloud of pale dust.
“Master, that knock was far too forceful. That’s breaking and entering added to the charges.”
“There’s no owner anyway. If there were, they’d come out. Breaking into an empty house is the best part.”
The interior was surprisingly spacious. Tables and chairs thick with dust were scattered haphazardly about, and behind the counter lay broken liquor jars. Spider webs hung from the ceiling like chandeliers. But what captured the attention of Jin-hyuk’s group was not the décor. It was the countless yellow papers plastered across the walls, pillars, and ceiling like wallpaper.
[By the urgent command of the law]
[Seal]
[Exorcism of Evil Spirits]
Characters written in red cinnabar glowed with an eerie luminescence.
“These are… talismans to ward off jiangshi, are they not?”
The Huashan Sect Elder gasped and drew his sword. His hand trembled slightly.
“Jiangshi? Those hopping things?”
Ma Dong-tak tapped the wall with interest.
“Yes. When a person dies harboring resentment and malice, they become monsters that move of their own accord. Without a soul, they feel no pain and never tire. Moreover, look at the quantity of talismans adorning them. These are no ordinary creatures.”
Namgoong Cheon had barely finished his explanation.
Thud. Thud.
In the corner of the Inn of the Underworld, massive black coffins that had been resting in the darkness began to stir. Not just one. More than ten coffins lined the lobby of Floor 1, and they were all trembling simultaneously.
“They say words have power. Perhaps you shouldn’t tempt fate with your speech, Master.”
Jin-hyuk clicked his tongue.
Crack! Boom!
The coffin lids exploded outward, and dark shadows erupted from within. Corpses clad in tattered garments resembling Qing Dynasty robes, their skin a sickly blue-grey of death. Their fingernails were long and sharp as daggers, and fangs protruded grotesquely from their mouths. Most unsettling was the metallic sheen that emanated from their skin.
“Kuoooo….”
The creatures bounded forward with rigid, unbending limbs, their knees never bending. Yet their speed was anything but sluggish.
[Floor 13 Monster: Iron-Armored Jiangshi]
[Traits: Physical Defense Maximized, Corpse Toxin]
“Ah, jiangshi! This is our specialty! Far easier to handle than those metal robots from the Western Regions!”
The Huashan Sect Elder stepped forward with confidence. While the robots of Floor 12 had been unfamiliar, jiangshi were staples of martial arts lore.
“Stand aside! I shall face them! Receive the blade of Purifying Righteousness!”
The Elder channeled his inner force into his sword and brought it down upon the jiangshi’s head. The exquisite technique of the Plum Blossom Sword Method aimed for its neck.
Clang!
But the sound that rang out was not the wet slice of flesh. A dull metallic tone echoed as sparks scattered. The jiangshi’s head remained intact. Instead, the Elder’s blade was repelled.
“What—what is this! Why is this creature’s head so impossibly hard! Has it cultivated Diamond Indestructibility!”
The Elder stumbled backward in shock.
“It’s an Iron-Armored Jiangshi. Their skin is steel. Don’t you see how the talismans have made them even harder?”
Jin-hyuk offered commentary from behind. The jiangshi swung its arm. Its razor-sharp nails tore through the Elder’s robe and grazed his chest.
“Ahhh! Poison! Corpse toxin!”
The wound blackened instantly and began to decay. The Elder’s face drained of all color.
“Beris! Cleanse it!”
“Seriously, what is it with you people! Why do you keep getting yourself covered in filth!”
Beris grumbled while brandishing his staff. White light enveloped the Elder’s wound, neutralizing the poison. Meanwhile, other jiangshi swarmed forward in a coordinated assault. Feeling no pain, they charged mindlessly.
“Argh! The blade won’t penetrate!”
“Push them back! Use your inner force to repel them!”
The martial artists were struggling. They had drawn the plasma rifles obtained from Floor 12, but the malevolent aura surrounding the jiangshi’s bodies was neutralizing the heat of the plasma.
“Stand back, elders. If swords won’t work, sometimes a club is the answer.”
It was then that Ma Dong-tak stepped forward with a cracking of joints. His fists still gleamed with the golden radiance of the Holy Enchantment that Luna and Beris had bestowed upon him.
“Hey there, bouncy ones. Let me adjust your joints for you.”
Ma Dong-tak grabbed the jiangshi that lunged at him by the collar.
“Kyaaaah!”
The jiangshi tried to rake its nails across Ma Dong-tak’s arm—nails that could tear through steel. But.
Screeeech!
The nails slid harmlessly across Ma Dong-tak’s forearm. His muscle density had already surpassed that of steel.
“Where are you scratching? Trying to exfoliate me? That tickles.”
Ma Dong-tak lifted the jiangshi effortlessly with one hand.
“Your problem is that your knees won’t bend. You lack flexibility. Let’s do some stretching.”
Crack!
Ma Dong-tak forcibly folded the jiangshi’s knee backward, completely ignoring the normal range of motion for a human joint.
“Kyeeeeek!”
The jiangshi shrieked. As its stiffened joints were wrenched apart, even its steel-like skin couldn’t withstand the force—it tore open, spraying black blood.
“There, all folded up. Now get back inside. This is a return.”
Ma Dong-tak folded the Gangsi in half again, like origami, as his knees were folded to form the letter ‘ㄱ’, and then he stuffed it into the open coffin.
Slam!
“Next customer! Room service delivery!”
Ma Dong-tak was in his element. He was a fish in water. Every time the jiangshi rushed him, he tore off their arms, folded their legs, snapped their spines in half, and neatly stacked them in the coffins.
“Man, is organization really this fun?”
Boom! Crack!
A jiangshi’s skull caved in under Ma Dong-tak’s fist. Steel skin? To him, it was just a slightly harder punching bag.
“Is this… the true Demon-Slaying Fist…?”
The Shaolin Monk muttered in a daze. This muscular man’s raw, unrefined strikes seemed closer to the Buddha’s will than the Diamond Fist he’d spent a lifetime perfecting. Exorcism techniques and talismans were unnecessary. Before overwhelming physical force, ghosts and corpses were equal.
Meanwhile, Kim Chun-sam was trembling in the corner.
“Eek! Stay back! I taste bad! I’m scrap metal! I smell like oil!”
A jiangshi lunged at Kim Chun-sam in Centaur Mode. The robot’s metallic scent had apparently piqued the creature’s curiosity.
“Master! Help me! I have four legs right now and I don’t even know how to run away!”
“Use your feet! What are you doing with those back hooves just sitting there! Those are nightmare beast legs!”
Jin-hyuk shouted. The moment the jiangshi lunged with extended claws, Kim Chun-sam instinctively kicked hard with the nightmare beast’s hind legs.
Boom!
The nightmare beast’s flaming hoof drove straight into the jiangshi’s solar plexus.
“Kugh!”
The jiangshi flew like a cannonball. It soared ten meters, crashed through the wall, and disappeared outside.
“Huh…?”
Kim Chun-sam looked down at his hind legs. Hellfire was blazing from the hooves.
“Wait, I’m strong? This engine output is no joke?”
Kim Chun-sam’s attitude did a complete 180-degree turn.
“Come on! Bring it on, you rotten things! I am Kim Chun-sam, the Centaur of Hell!”
Kim Chun-sam began swinging the cart attached to his back like a weapon.
Whoosh—whoosh—crash!
The cart spun like a flail, sweeping the jiangshi aside.
“Roadkill! Get out of the way!”
Kim Chun-sam charged through the inn, trampling with his front hooves and kicking with his hind legs. The nightmare beast’s flame attribute burned away the jiangshi’s yin energy, so anything it touched ignited.
“Good, Chun-sam! Keep pushing!”
Jin-hyuk cheered. The battlefield was cleared in moments. It was a perfect rhythm—Ma Dong-tak folding and storing, Kim Chun-sam trampling and kicking, while the martial artists finished off the remaining jiangshi with beheading strikes.
By the time most of the jiangshi had either returned to their coffins or become scrap metal scattered across the floor, applause echoed from the spiral staircase leading up to the second floor of the inn.
Clap, clap, clap.
Slow, seductive applause.
“How impressive. I’ve never had a guest treat my children so brutally before.”
A voice both sinister and refined echoed through the inn. At the top of the stairs stood a woman in a crimson silk cheongsam. She held a long ornamental pipe in her hand, and her raven-black hair cascaded down to her waist. Her face was deathly pale, devoid of any color, yet breathtakingly seductive. But her eyes were pitch-black without a trace of white, and she cast no shadow beneath her feet.
[Floor 13 Mid-Boss: Inn Proprietor ‘Hong Ryeon’]
[Race: Vampire Lord (Mutant)]
“The proprietress has arrived.”
Jinhyuk folded his arms and looked up without the slightest hint of intimidation.
“Your service is absolutely abysmal. A guest arrives, and instead of a welcome drink, you unleash rotting corpses.”
“Hoho. It’s been a century since a living person entered this valley. Was my greeting a bit too rough?”
As Hong Ryeon drew on her pipe, crimson smoke curled from between her lips—a sweet yet metallic scent of blood. Her gaze swept past Jinhyuk, lingering on Ma Dong-tak, who was folding a corpse in half, and on Kim Chun-sam, whose body was that of a horse.
“What an intriguing combination. A muscular exorcist, a half-human half-beast machine, and a woman with a Demon King’s core installed. No wonder that fool Deus on Floor 12 met his end.”
She already knew of Floor 12’s fate. The information network of Floor 13 was shared through the whispers of the dead.
“Let’s skip the pleasantries. We’re going up. Either show us the way to the next floor, or you join that corpse in the coffin.”
Jinhyuk’s provocation sharpened Hong Ryeon’s eyes. Her grip tightened on the pipe.
“You’re impatient too. Showing you the way isn’t difficult, but….”
She snapped her fingers. Instantly, the floor and ceiling of the inn blazed with crimson magic circles.
[Blood Magic: Feast of Blood]
Gluuuug!
Scarlet blood began seeping from the pillars and walls of the inn. The viscous liquid poured down like rain, coalescing in mid-air into hundreds of razor-sharp crimson spears.
“Since you’ve entered my inn, you must pay the price. With your fresh ‘blood,’ that is.”
Hong Ryeon laughed seductively, licking her lips. To her, Jinhyuk’s party was nothing but a delicious meal.
“Ugh, blood again? Doesn’t it ever get old?”
Beris raised his staff with obvious disgust.
“I hate the smell of blood! It reeks! Don’t you dare get any on my clothes!”
Boom!
Beris’s purification magic and Hong Ryeon’s blood magic collided in mid-air. Crimson blood and white light intertwined as an explosion erupted.
“Tch… your magical prowess is considerable?”
Hong Ryeon was momentarily taken aback. Yet she maintained her composure, launching herself into the air with the vampire lord’s inherent flight ability.
“But within my domain, I am god!”
As Hong Ryeon spread her arms wide, the blood pooling on the ground surged upward like serpents, binding the feet of Ma Dong-tak and the martial artists.
“What?! This is disgusting! So sticky!”
“I cannot move! The blood—it feels alive!”
Ma Dong-tak struggled with all his might, but the pool of blood pulled him down like quicksand.
“Oh dear, Manager Ma is trapped.”
Jinhyuk showed no panic and opened his bag.
“Then we’ll handle this medically.”
What he withdrew was an enormous syringe. Inside it sloshed a transparent, radiant liquid—a highly concentrated essence of holy water blessed by Luna and purified by Beris.
“Boss, you look terribly pale. Do you have anemia? I think you need an iron supplement.”
Jinhyuk twirled the syringe.
“Of course, this particular iron supplement would be more lethal to a vampire than cyanide.”
“Hmph, you think you can threaten me with a toy like that?”
Hong Ryeon sneered and leveled a spear of blood at Jin-hyeok.
“Now then, let’s begin treatment. Chun-sam! Give me a toss!”
“What? You want me to throw you?”
“That’s right! Catapult mode!”
Kim Chun-sam positioned himself for a back kick. Jin-hyeok planted his foot on Kim Chun-sam’s rear and finished his launch preparations.
“Here we go! Human cannonball, fire!”
Thwack!
Kim Chun-sam’s hind leg swept across Jin-hyeok’s back—or more precisely, the shield he’d planted there. Jin-hyeok shot upward like a bullet, hurtling toward Hong Ryeon.
“Insane…!”
Hong Ryeon gasped in shock and threw up a blood barrier, but Jin-hyeok was already upon her.
“This might sting a bit!”
Jin-hyeok plunged the syringe into Hong Ryeon’s neck.
Whoosh!
“Kyaaaaaahhh!!”
As a scream loud enough to shake the Inn of the Underworld itself tore through the air, the true night of Floor 13 began.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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