Bloodline is Everything - Chapter 86
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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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【Bloodline is a Thug Chapter 86】
Chapter 86: Dungeon Conquest (3)
It was a first.
Someone had discovered Kwon Han-ul’s secret.
“…How did you find out?”
My voice naturally dropped lower.
“The Hwan-su bloodline is extraordinarily sensitive to aura.”
When we shook hands, it wasn’t only Kwon Han-ul who had detected GG’s bloodline.
GG had also sensed Kwon Han-ul’s bloodline—or rather, bloodlines.
“The auras I detected weren’t just one or two. Moreover, each of them felt… terrifyingly powerful.”
Kwon Han-ul fell into contemplation.
A secret that should never have been exposed was now laid bare. The question was how to handle this.
“So you really are….”
Then GG swallowed once before speaking.
“A secret weapon of the Kwon Family.”
“…What are you talking about?”
“There’s no point in deflecting. I already know everything.”
GG nodded, his expression radiating genuine satisfaction at having uncovered the secret.
“I saw it on YouTube. They said that global corporations like the Heukcheon Group conduct secret experiments to maintain their wealth and prestige.”
Kwon Han-ul shook his head slightly.
Was that really the case?
“There were many critical comments saying the video was full of false information, but I didn’t believe them.”
“You probably should have.”
“My instincts were right after all. To think I’d actually meet someone like you….”
GG’s eyes gleamed with curiosity. It was deeply unsettling.
“What kind of experiment did you undergo to possess so many bloodlines….”
“That’s not what matters right now.”
Kwon Han-ul cut off GG’s words sharply.
“Now that you know the secret, I can’t simply let you walk away.”
Kwon Han-ul released a faint killing intent. GG’s face hardened.
“Even if I told someone, there’s no one in the world who would believe me anyway.”
“That’s something we can’t know for certain.”
This situation couldn’t be brushed aside carelessly.
If Kwon Han-ul’s secret were exposed, there was no telling what would happen.
“Are you… going to kill me?”
At GG’s question, Kwon Han-ul shook his head.
That was merely a last resort.
“Join my team.”
GG’s pupils dilated.
* * *
“I’m making this offer in earnest.”
If GG joined Kwon Han-ul’s team, he would become family. There would be no need to worry about secrets being exposed.
Moreover, Kwon Han-ul’s team was currently understaffed. GG was the finest talent who could not only elevate the team’s combat strength but also fill in their weaknesses.
“…I apologize.”
GG bowed deeply.
“Thank you for extending such an offer to a mere freelance hunter like myself. However, I…still have matters I must attend to.”
“Is it related to the Pablo Family?”
GG clamped his mouth shut—a silent protest against answering.
“Heukcheon and the Pablo Family merely traded a Dungeon; we have no other connection.”
So there was no harm in speaking.
At Kwon Han-ul’s words, GG slowly opened his mouth.
“…I must find the blood relatives the Pablo Family abducted.”
GG knelt before Kwon Han-ul.
“Kwon Han-ul, I will not speak of this to anyone. So….”
“I understand.”
When Kwon Han-ul agreed readily, GG’s expression shifted to surprise.
“I never intended to kill you over this.”
Though the time was brief, I had come to understand something of GG’s character.
At the very least, he was not the type to spread this matter to others.
“Ah, come to think of it—what’s your name? You’re not going to refuse to tell me that as well, are you?”
At Kwon Han-ul’s question, GG hesitated before speaking.
“It’s Gael Garcia…”
* * *
The next day, the party resumed their advance.
The second day proved no different from the first. The group pressed deeper into the Dungeon without encountering significant obstacles.
It was here that Kwon Han-ul’s party found themselves forced to halt.
A towering wall, reminiscent of a fortress, encircled the Central Chamber entirely.
“This wall is what stopped my progress. I couldn’t advance any further.”
“Why not simply climb over it?”
In response to Kwon Han-ul’s question, GG seized a stone from the ground and hurled it with all his strength.
The stone shot upward, seeming certain to clear the wall. But suddenly its trajectory warped, and it plummeted back to earth.
“Whether it’s a barrier or something else, I’m not certain. But once you ascend beyond a certain height, gravity reverses its pull.”
Jumping over was impossible. Then what about breaking through?
Kwon Han-ul tested the wall with a light strike. His fist stung from the elastic rebound.
“Quite solid.”
I surveyed the wall’s entire length.
Then I spotted a pillar jutting up beyond the barrier. Atop it rested a single spherical orb.
It was the very orb depicted in GG’s map.
“The only way to pass through this wall is to open this door, but….”
“A door? I don’t see one.”
At GG’s words, Mei Hong tilted her head in confusion.
GG then approached the wall and began running his hands across its surface.
“Here it is. Come and look.”
Kwon Han-ul’s party examined the spot GG indicated closely.
A long groove had been carved into the stone. Following the groove with their eyes, they traced an elongated rectangular outline.
“As you can see, the door exists, but without a handle or keyhole, there’s no apparent way to open it.”
When conquering ruins-type Dungeons, the most difficult moment had arrived.
“Han-ul, should we spread out and search for clues?”
“Why not just smash it? It’s solid, sure, but if all of us put our strength into it, it doesn’t seem impossible.”
“I believe the answer lies within this door itself.”
The three offered their opinions. Yet the one who should have decided—Kwon Han-ul—was focused elsewhere entirely.
“Captain! Are you listening to us?”
“Ah, my apologies.”
As I spoke, an ancient key rested in my hand.
I pressed it against the door’s surface and turned it.
With a metallic click, the door began rising slowly. Stone dust scattered as the door scraped against the wall.
“What did you just do?”
At my question, all three wore expressions of utter bewilderment.
“What is that?”
“A master key I retrieved from the Treasure Vault.”
“You should have mentioned something like that beforehand.”
Beside Mei Hong, who was grumbling, GG muttered in a daze.
“A true secret weapon….”
“Stop spouting nonsense and let’s go inside.”
Following Kwon Han-ul, everyone stepped through the wall.
There was nothing.
Not the remnants of ruins we’d seen on the way here.
Not the demons we’d grown tired of hunting.
Nothing but a barren wasteland and a single pillar in the Central Chamber.
“There’s nothing here.”
“Yeah….”
Mei Hong and Kwon Hu-don exchanged words as they surveyed their surroundings.
That’s when it happened.
“…Everyone, stop.”
GG suddenly spoke. His gaze was fixed on the pillar at the center.
Kwon Han-ul quickly sharpened his senses and looked at the pillar.
Something was coiled around it.
Chitin-like plating resembling an insect. More than dozens of legs. Segmented joints breaking up each limb.
The form was almost like….
“A centipede?”
Strictly speaking, it differed from a real centipede. Its body wasn’t flat but elongated like a cylinder. And its mouth was puckered like a flower bud.
Whether it was sleeping or dead.
The centipede remained motionless, coiled around the pillar.
“What kind of demon is that?”
In response to Kwon Han-ul’s question, GG spoke in a trembling voice.
“It seems like….”
GG wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. Only then could he force out the final words.
“It appears to be Behemoth.”
* * *
It happened in the early days after the Dungeons first opened.
Humanity suffered tremendous casualties from the monsters that emerged. Fortunately, those called First Hunters appeared and quickly brought order to the chaos.
But humanity faced yet another crisis shortly after.
An invasion by demons.
The demons, possessing advanced intelligence and civilization, organized themselves and attacked humanity.
Fortunately, the war ended in humanity’s victory, but the damage inflicted was catastrophic.
And the biological weapon the demons deployed in that war was Behemoth.
Strictly speaking, Behemoth is not a demon. Though called a weapon, it wasn’t standardized.
Its form, appearance, and abilities varied wildly.
The only commonality was that they were ‘massive’ weapons. And they possessed terrifying destructive power.
“That’s a Behemoth?”
“I don’t sense demonic energy from it. But it’s coiled up in this Dungeon. Then it can only be a Behemoth.”
GG’s senses were sharp enough to have detected Kwon Han-ul’s secret.
Besides, Kwon Han-ul had heard it before.
In a demon’s Dungeon, anything that isn’t a demon is nine times out of ten a Behemoth.
Behemoths were used that extensively.
“If that’s really a Behemoth, we need to be careful.”
GG spoke in a cautious tone.
“We should retreat for a moment before the Behemoth awakens….”
“H-Han-ul.”
At that moment, Kwon Hu-don spoke in a trembling voice.
“L-look over there….”
Kwon Han-ul turned his gaze toward where Kwon Hu-don’s finger was pointing.
The Behemoth had already uncoiled itself and was raising its body upright.
It had no eyes, so I couldn’t discern its gaze. But it was clearly paying attention to us.
Crack.
The Behemoth’s legs unfurled one by one. Each time it folded and extended them, an eerie sound echoed.
Its mouth, which had resembled a flower bud, opened wide. Except for the throat, it looked like gazing upon a flower.
-%@#&$%!!
A monstrous shriek.
A colossal roar reverberated through the entire Dungeon, shaking it to its foundations.
At the same moment, the Behemoth released its magical power.
In an instant, a massive wave of magical energy crashed over the group, making it difficult to breathe.
-$#*&^*!
The Behemoth charged forward. Its enormous body slid across the ground as it moved.
“Scatter!”
Kwon Han-ul shouted. Everyone scattered in all directions. The Behemoth’s head smashed through the spot where they had been standing.
-%$#^$!
The Behemoth began pulling its head out of the ground. This was our chance.
Mysterious Dragon Ascension Technique, Basic Form
Spiral Resonance Strike
I unleashed my Dragon Horse Energy, driving the spiral wave directly into Behemoth’s body.
“Grraahhh!”
I wasn’t alone. Kwon Hu-don charged forward, clad in Dragon Scale Armor,
slamming into Behemoth. Mei Hong drew her Ghost Blade and slashed a long gash across its body.
But it was useless.
-%$&$!
Behemoth coiled its massive form and lashed its tail like a whip. The movement was terrifyingly agile for something so enormous.
I quickly crossed both arms.
Mystic Dragon Ascension Art – Basic Form
Guardian Strike – Reinforced Wood
I deployed the Guardian Strike, one of the six fundamental forms of the Mystic Dragon Ascension Art.
I hardened both arms to block the attack. But even the Guardian Strike couldn’t absorb all the impact.
“Ugh.”
My body flew backward. Kwon Hu-don and Mei Hong suffered the same fate.
“F-faster!”
“This is no easy opponent….”
That’s when it happened.
“The fifth segment!”
GG shouted loudly. He’d been observing Behemoth from a distance.
“There’s a scar on the lower part of the fifth segment’s carapace! That’s the weak point!”
Everyone’s gaze shifted to Behemoth’s segments. But with its belly pressed against the ground, the scar was invisible.
“He must have spotted it when the tail was swinging.”
In a situation like this, such information was worth its weight in gold.
“Kwon Hu-don. You and I flip that thing over.”
“Got it.”
“Mei Hong, use your Ghost Blade when we do.”
“Yes!”
After giving the order, I rushed toward Behemoth.
But the moment I took a step, I had to stop.
Despite Behemoth being right in front of me, I reflexively turned around.
The pillar that Behemoth had been coiling around.
The egg resting atop it was beginning to crack.
With a sharp sound, the egg split in half. Something stirred within.
It had two arms and two legs like a human. But its entire body was covered in ashen gray skin.
Thick horns protruded from its forehead, and a smooth tail swayed from its rear.
“That’s….”
The moment I muttered, the gray figure locked eyes with me.
-#@%42$.
A bizarre sound emanated from its mouth.
-!@%@?
It tilted its head slightly.
-Ah, so this is how one must speak to humans.
Immediately after, human speech emerged.
-I’ve been sleeping too long to have known.
Monsters cannot speak. Their intelligence is simply too limited for such a thing.
-You there, human. What year is it now? Ah, of course, I’m asking in human terms of years.
Yet among all the creatures that emerge from dungeons, there exists only one capable of speech.
The High-Rank Demon.
-This place is far too noisy.
The demon vanished in an instant.
It moved so swiftly that even Kwon Han-ul’s vision and senses couldn’t follow. I was still processing my shock when surveying my surroundings.
Suddenly, my face was seized. An enormous force slammed me backward.
A sensation of weightlessness engulfed my body. Then I was hurled through the air.
Kwon Han-ul quickly regained his footing and landed. As I lifted my head, dilapidated buildings came into view. I had been thrown outside the wall.
I tried to rush back toward the wall’s interior.
My teammates were still inside with Behemoth. If I didn’t help them quickly, they’d be in danger.
-I brought you out here because I wanted to talk somewhere quiet.
But the demon blocked my path.
-You seemed composed, at least. Let me ask again. What year is it now….
“Move.”
The demon fell silent. It stared at Kwon Han-ul intently.
-You dare interrupt me? Do you wish to die? Would you like to taste the agony of your organs being torn to shreds? Or perhaps live a life more wretched than a beast? Or perhaps….
“I said move.”
The demon regarded Kwon Han-ul wordlessly.
-A bold human indeed.
The demon’s eyes gleamed with interest.
-Let’s see if you can force your way through.
At those words, dragon-horse energy surged from Kwon Han-ul’s body.
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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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