F-Rank Secretly Becomes Stronger - Chapter 32
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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32
The contents written in the letter.
Inside were detailed coordinates, and that location was a rural village where buses passed only once every two hours.
A letter that deliberately specified a deserted place and time.
A demon who intentionally left it behind to tempt him.
No matter how much he thought about it, everything was full of danger, but for Jung Juhyeok, it was a proposal that was hard to refuse.
‘Even though my body is fine now, I don’t know when problems might arise.’
Since the artifact was engraved on his body, he hasn’t shown any signs of problems until now.
It even felt like it was part of his body, but knowing how dangerous artifacts could be, he couldn’t let his guard down.
‘I’ve already examined all the spatial artifacts that exist in the world, but I couldn’t even find a similar artifact.’
An artifact engraved on a human body, living in symbiosis.
He had never heard of such a thing in his entire life, and despite searching for information every day since the mark was engraved on his arm, he couldn’t catch a single clue.
‘Would a demon know?’
Of course, he couldn’t go to a demon and tell them that an artifact was engraved on his body.
If he did that, he might be treated like a time bomb and attacked immediately.
‘No, demons would probably find it interesting and cling to me instead.’
A human with an artifact engraved on them.
Where else could demons find such entertaining playthings?
Though from the perspective of the person who suffered it, it wasn’t entertaining at all.
“Anyway, I have to try something.”
The location that matched the coordinates exactly.
A clearing in the center of a rural mountainside.
Not a single person came, so dust and spider webs had piled up thickly on the chair.
It was a place where it wouldn’t be strange for a ghost to pop out at any moment.
“Still 5 minutes left.”
Time spent waiting, quietly breathing in and out the fresh mountain air.
While he was looking at his cell phone for a moment, he heard the sound of space twisting.
‘At least they keep good time.’
The clearing darkened with fierce winds.
A small wormhole formed in the center, gradually expanding in volume before opening to a size less than half that of an ordinary Gate.
‘…Were there Gates this small?’
A sense of alienation from seeing a Gate for the first time.
He had definitely come with the intention of entering, but now that he was standing in front of it, he hesitated slightly.
‘Should I just go home now?’
There wasn’t a single person in the world who had a good ending after getting involved with demons.
It wasn’t too late to turn back yet.
Should he enter, or not?
Jung Juhyeok, who had fallen into brief contemplation, soon made his decision.
‘Rather than trembling my whole life without knowing what it is, it’s better to find out something.’
Don’t fear moving forward.
Curiosity is the driving force of progress.
From the moment he decided to move forward with the Training Room, he couldn’t apply the brakes halfheartedly.
“Let’s go.”
Steps taken without any more need to hesitate.
Entering a Gate alone was crazy, but he had already experienced countless crazier things for an immeasurably long time.
He wasn’t afraid.
*
It was the same environment as back then.
A region where lava flowed down.
The sky was pitch black with only a red moon floating above.
I thought it would naturally be Hell since it was a gate opened by a demon.
Still, it was fine.
At least since I went after receiving an invitation, I figured no threatening situations would arise.
Grrrrowl…! Woof woof―!
But it wasn’t.
‘Cerberus?’
Hell greeted him as soon as he exited the gate.
In front of it, a three-headed dog with its collar unleashed welcomed Jung Juhyeok.
No, seeing it drooling profusely while flashing red eyes, it didn’t seem very welcoming.
‘Was I deceived?’
What I thought was an invitation turned out to be all a trap?
When he hurriedly turned around, the gate had already closed with no trace visible.
“Ha.”
There was no place to escape to.
Jung Juhyeok stopped his racing thoughts and immediately drew his sword.
‘S-rank Cerberus.’
Not A-rank, but S-rank.
When he was hesitating to even enter A-rank gates, to face an S-rank monster.
He wanted to lament his situation, but assessing the circumstances took priority.
‘Seeing that it has a collar, it seems to have a master.’
A collar that gleamed like new.
From that, it was certainly a Cerberus serving someone as master.
‘Then…’
Jung Juhyeok briefly looked around his surroundings.
He couldn’t sense any human presence.
Then there was only one thing to do.
Woof woof―!
“Yeah, come on.”
The Cerberus charged forward, having lost its reason.
Jung Juhyeok took his stance with a sharply honed mind.
Vicious teeth aimed at Jung Juhyeok, and he quickly rolled to match the timing aimed at his body.
Thud!
A bite attack evaded with perfect timing.
Jung Juhyeok looked at the Cerberus after rolling.
Crunch―.
The Cerberus had chewed up the rock that was behind Jung Juhyeok.
If it was a rock mass enduring in Hell, its hardness would be no joke.
The Cerberus’s teeth chewed that rock in the shape of its mouth and casually pulled out its teeth.
“Huh.”
If bitten by those teeth, all the bones in his body would shatter.
Just imagining it sent chills beyond his forearms.
However, that wasn’t a reason for him to collapse.
Grrr… Woof―!
It charged again.
This time the beast came flying while swinging its front paws.
He quickly read the direction and slipped right into its embrace.
A slash delivered while completely escaping from its field of vision.
No matter how S-rank it was, a sword received from Han Sanguk the craftsman should be able to inflict sufficient wounds.
The sword charged forward with hope.
Sniff―! Woof―!
That hope was not easily reached.
Cerberus nimbly moved its body even before the sword could touch its hide.
Since it was a counter that came after avoiding an attack, he naturally thought it would be allowed, but it wasn’t S-rank for nothing as it avoided the counter attack by kicking off the ground with its hind legs.
“What?”
Eyes widening in disbelief at the incredible reflexes.
Without even a moment to be surprised, Cerberus attacked by vigorously swinging its thick tail while still airborne.
“Kugh!”
As soon as it hit, Juhyeok’s body flew up and crashed into the rocks.
Thud―!
A cloud of sand began rising in the air as he collided with the rock.
Juhyeok groaned while clutching the back of his head.
“Urgh… It’s like watching a damn circus act.”
A word uttered in dismay at the absurd acrobatics.
Regardless of his condition, Cerberus immediately charged as soon as it caught even the slightest movement.
‘Quick, I need to get up.’
Juhyeok spat out bloody saliva and nimbly got up from his position.
Since it was charging in a simple and brutish manner, fortunately there was no problem dodging it several times.
‘The problem is how to catch that thing.’
It doesn’t easily allow counter attacks, and he’s also outmatched in brute strength.
Even in terms of speed, Cerberus definitely had the advantage.
The only way to defeat a monster with superior mana and physical conditions was through technique.
Quickly assess the opponent and target their weaknesses or openings.
The secret to strength was to use the opponent’s force as much as possible and return it to them.
‘But with this bastard, the difference in speed and strength is too great to redirect it.’
Dodging was somehow possible, but making it lose balance through parrying wasn’t easy.
Judging from how the counter after avoiding the attack just now failed, it probably wouldn’t work.
‘I think I’ve shown quite a lot by now, but she still has no intention of coming out?’
An F-rank putting up a decent fight against an S-rank.
Master still didn’t appear even though this should have been sufficient entertainment.
At this rate, he might end up broken while being treated like a toy.
‘So that’s how you want to play it…’
If she wasn’t satisfied yet, then he had no choice but to show her a more stimulating scene.
Juhyeok lightly held his breath and stared at the charging Cerberus.
The creature lifted its leg high, seemingly planning to swing its front paw again.
‘Left side.’
Even in his injured state, he could easily dodge something like this.
However, if this back-and-forth continued, he would naturally be the first to tire.
Rather than just dodging, a new decision was needed.
To demonstrate this, Juhyeok once again leaped into Cerberus’s embrace.
‘Just endure it once.’
As he dove toward its body and raised his sword as if to slash, the creature made a big leap as expected.
Then, like before, its tail came flying toward Juhyeok.
Targeting that moment, Juhyeok kept his eyes on the tail and read the direction of its force.
The speed of the tail that his eyes couldn’t follow.
It was swung at Juhyeok like a whip.
With a do-or-die mentality, Juhyeok entrusted himself to instinct and observed the flow of force.
‘Diagonally from bottom left to top right.’
He could see it.
Cerberus’s tail movement.
The landing point of the currently airborne Cerberus.
Juhyeok aligned his direction and jumped, then waited for the pain that would soon come, and even when the tail struck his body directly not long after, he didn’t close his eyes.
“Kheup!”
Pain as if several ribs were breaking.
Even so, he absolutely didn’t close his eyes and felt his body flying according to the direction he had aimed for in advance.
After that, the direction headed toward Cerberus’s left face and soon flew toward the creature’s face at a speed too fast for it to react.
‘Please get scratched…!’
Juhyeok raising his sword while maintaining his flying posture.
His body bounced like popcorn toward the face, and his sword successfully cut Cerberus’s left face cleanly.
Kahaak―!
A tearing scream.
Without even having time to hear it, Juhyeok flew far away and fell powerlessly to the ground.
Thud―!
“Kkeuk…”
A body that seemed crushed rather than just broken.
When he somehow regained consciousness and got up from his position, Cerberus was greatly agitated and rampaging around due to the wound on its face.
Kieek―! Woof woof!
“Tsk… Don’t exaggerate, I’m in more pain.”
Objecting to Cerberus’s screams while somehow raising his body.
He had guessed from the groaning sounds, but when he checked, it seemed he had definitely landed an effective hit.
‘Even this much isn’t enough?’
He thought he had shown something quite interesting, but it seemed insufficient in the master’s opinion.
Juhyeok caught his breath and spoke as if he had no choice.
“If you don’t want to see your mutt get hurt more, come out.”
No answer came even when he shouted loudly into the empty air.
Instead, Cerberus drooled and roared at me.
Kuworrrrrr…!
“Right… you want to do more?”
I gave the left face a big scar, so next is the middle one.
Of course, I don’t know if my body will be intact after that, but now wasn’t the time to worry about such things.
Woof―!
Cerberus charges.
I also raised my sword to face it accordingly, but just as I was about to confront it.
“Alright. Let’s stop.”
With that voice, a demon appeared between Cerberus and Juhyeok.
Two massive horns on her forehead.
Clothing so revealing that one wouldn’t know where to look.
Purple skin and heterochromia.
Beautiful features and gorgeously tied hair swayed as she appeared.
She looked at Juhyeok and smiled brightly.
“Nice to meet you? Interesting friend.”
This was the master of the mutt he had been so desperately waiting for.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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