S-Classes That I Raised to Devour - Chapter 45

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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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Episode 45. There Are No Evil Yaksha in This World (3)
Alchemist Terimuer’s Laboratory is a Benign Dungeon. But no matter how benign a dungeon is, a dungeon is still a dungeon. It had to be eliminated for safety.
The Hunter Bureau’s conquest team had investigated multiple times but found nothing.
They didn’t know how to summon the Boss Monster. They understood there were certain conditions involved, but couldn’t figure out what those conditions were.
Who could have predicted that destroying a murder golem on the ninth floor—a Level 300 creature with absurd physical defense—would be the final condition?
The hunters who had been grinding on floors one through eight heard the announcement clearly, but they were more surprised than afraid.
“I didn’t just hear that, right?”
“I heard it too. Sounds like the boss spawned.”
Boss Monster. The object of every hunter’s dread. Hunters with weak resolve won’t even approach a boss, and if one appears, they run without hesitation.
But the hunters here didn’t flee—instead, they exchanged glances with one another, reading the room.
‘It’s a Benign Dungeon, so the boss has to be benign too, right?’
The rewards for defeating a boss are sweet. Massive experience, confirmed rare drops….
Fear of death existed, but since this was a Benign Dungeon, they’d fallen into a false sense of security. It would be fine, wouldn’t it?
Slowly, quietly.
The hunters on floor eight began descending. The boss might have appeared on any floor, but at least it wasn’t here on eight.
So the hunters who’d been on the lower floors all came down to floor one, where they encountered the boss of the Dungeon Laboratory: the Giant-class Golem SQ.
A humanoid form three meters tall. But its skeletal frame and flesh were composed of cold, hard Amantir, and each of its arms and legs numbered four.
With two heads as well, its form was grotesque beyond measure.
And covering its entire body were blood and chunks of flesh.
…….
The hunters who had descended saw the grotesque boss and the corpses, and their thoughts stopped dead. SQ showed them just how cruel reality could be.
―Aura Blade activated.
No negotiation, no hesitation. Only optimal attacks designed purely for slaughter.
Four blue blades erupted simultaneously from its four arms. Seeing them, the hunters came to their senses too late.
“Magic Missile!”
“Shield of Xuanwu!”
“Fire Cutter!”
Dozens of hunters triggered their skills at once. Some used offensive techniques, others defensive.
Different approaches, but with one thing in common.
Crack-crack-crack-crack!
They were all useless.
The Aura Blade cut through everything. Magical missiles, Xuanwu’s shell, flames themselves.
It cut through all things, so the fragile human body stood no chance. The dozens of hunters touched by those blades split like silken tofu.
“Get out of the way, you’re in my sight!”
Then someone arrived with confidence. The hunters who recognized him acted as though they’d met a savior.
“It’s the Swordmaster of Eunpyeong District!”
“Why is the Codemaster even here?”
“H-ha! We’re, we’re safe! I’m alive!”
Swordmaster of Eunpyeong District. A Level 300 A-rank Hunter and one of Korea’s seven greatest swordmasters.
Known as the “Codemaster” thanks to his distinctive large nose, he didn’t hesitate even seeing hundreds of corpses.
“Looks like you know your way around a sword. I’ve got some skill myself—want to play a round?”
As an official hunter and swordmaster, he intended only to buy time.
Until the other hunters could evacuate, or until reinforcements arrived from outside.
Either way, he was confident it wouldn’t be difficult.
―Aura Blade activated.
The four Aura Blades that had butchered dozens of hunters now converged on a single opponent.
As if to prove the title “Swordmaster” was no misnomer, the Codemaster deflected and redirected all four blades with a single sword, his movements fluid and precise.
The watching hunters grew anxious. SQ’s Aura Blades were each the size of a human torso, and there were four of them.
By contrast, the Codemaster’s Aura Blade seemed thin as a needle in comparison, and he had only one.
And yet—
……!
It was not one. What seemed to be one blade suddenly became two, then four, then eight, then sixteen.
“Phantom Sword Dance.”
Shatter! Clang!
Sixteen blades passed through and shattered the four blades.
The seemingly overwhelming disadvantage flipped in an instant.
Crash-bang-bang!
Brilliant sparks erupted across SQ’s entire form where the Phantom Sword Dance struck.
“W-woooaaahhh!”
“That’s the Codemaster for you!”
“Can he solo raid this?”
Unlike the cheering hunters, the Codemaster’s expression was grim.
‘Damn thing’s solid as hell.’
Even accounting for the dampened impact from his counterattack, the Aura Blade cut steel like tofu.
It landed a direct hit, yet SQ’s skin—or rather, its armor—bore not a scratch.
‘It’s Amantir. Has to be.’
The Codemaster, knowing what Amantir was, steadied his breath.
‘I could probably take it if I went all out… but there’s no reason to take that risk.’
The Codemaster shouted at the hunters watching from behind and those lingering between floors one and two.
“Stop gawking and get out of here, you lunatics! Want to die?”
For now the aggro was on him, but that could change any moment. Boss monsters were fickle, after all.
―Aura Blade user detected. Pattern enhanced.
SQ’s Aura Blades began to rotate.
Slow at first, they accelerated rapidly until they looked like a single wheel.
The Codemaster adjusted his stance and muttered.
“Guess I don’t have time to worry about anyone else.”
* * *
How many exchanges of blows had there been?
The Codemaster lost count after ten thousand, but that wasn’t the problem now.
‘Why hasn’t reinforcement come, and why haven’t the hunters escaped?’
Ten thousand clashes played out in just thirty minutes.
Short if you thought about it, but plenty of time for evacuation or reinforcements to arrive.
So why had neither happened?
‘Could it be… Code Red?’
Code Red. The secret signal among authorized hunters.
It meant dungeon lockdown. During a boss battle, the dungeon enters a sealed state—no one can leave, and no one can enter.
It wasn’t a common pattern, so the Codemaster gnashed his teeth.
‘My luck sure picked a moment to show up.’
His presence in this dungeon was no coincidence. He’d come to meet his subordinate.
Following the directive—not request—of Cheon Ihwa, the next association chairman, he’d come to this dungeon to meet Kim Yeoul.
But before he could meet Kim Yeoul, he encountered the boss.
‘For the lockdown to end, one of two things has to happen: either defeat the boss…’
Or everyone here dies.
Codemaster Kim Bongsik turned the problem over in his mind. Taking down SQ alone was impossible.
So he’d need help from the surviving hunters. But would they risk their lives?
‘Not even worth trying.’
Would hunters who had the courage for danger come to a safe dungeon?
About as likely as recruiting soldiers from a kindergarten.
Knowing it was pointless but also knowing it was foolish to die like this, Kim Bongsik bellowed.
“You all know what’s happened—this dungeon is sealed! We can’t escape without defeating the boss! And this thing won’t stop until it’s killed us all. We have to fight. Step forward!”
To his threat-tinged plea, the hunters responded.
“W-what did he say?”
“Is he telling us to fight?”
“That can’t be right. How would we even help?”
They heard him clearly but pretended not to, and rationalized that even if they did, it made no sense.
But those who merely abstained were the better of them.
“I’ll help! Flame Spear!”
“Everyone give covering fire!”
“Triple Shot!”
“Winter’s Wind!”
Chaotic, uncoordinated, they poured out skills without orders.
Using their abilities as though they’d already helped, Kim Bongsik was horrified.
‘These crazy bastards.’
The skills they fired aimed at SQ, but Kim Bongsik was in the line of fire too.
As a result, Kim Bongsik had to focus on dodging skills from his fellow hunters, while SQ was unaffected.
―Threat level of hostile entity increased.
Four Aura Blade attacks from four arms alone were dangerous enough, but SQ deployed additional weapons.
―Ether Cannon charging.
Its chest opened, and air was sucked in ferociously between the halves. The suction alone could pull in an adult man.
But that was only the preparation. The air intake was merely for cooling.
Seeing an enormous amount of energy accumulate in SQ’s chest, Kim Bongsik gritted his teeth.
‘Don’t even need to see it to know. That’s an instant-death pattern. The only way to block it is an Awakening Skill.’
The Awakening Skill, exclusive to A-rank Hunters. Kim Bongsik had been holding his back, unused.
‘But using an Awakening Skill takes time.’
His Awakening Skill wasn’t instant. It required a few seconds of preparation.
But SQ kept attacking with four arms even while charging the Ether Cannon, whereas Kim Bongsik couldn’t do the same.
Five seconds. Just five seconds was all he needed.
In dramas and movies, enemies wait for the hero to unleash their killing blow, but SQ gave not even 0.1 seconds of opening. It only pressed its assault more ferociously.
Someone had to take the aggro off SQ. Buy time.
So Kim Bongsik could use his Awakening Skill.
There were many hunters around him, but they could only scream, waste their skills uselessly, and cling to the blocked entrance in despair.
A hunter consumed by despair was no hunter at all. Only a weakling praying for salvation.
Whirrrr!
SQ’s chest glowed like a sun. Not warm light, but the light of death, about to pour down on the hunters—when—
A figure descended from floor two. Kim Bongsik’s eyes locked onto him, though he couldn’t explain why. Death was bearing down right in front of him.
Logically, he accepted that. But his instincts sensed something.
That distant man was more dangerous than SQ about to fire the Ether Cannon.
Bang!
The man leaped. With light steps, he closed hundreds of meters in a breath.
Boom-crash!
A fist wrapped in red aura smashed into SQ’s crown.
Not a punch so much as the impact of a colossal meteor.
The charging Ether Cannon’s light scattered in all directions, and a grotesque metallic shriek tore from the thick neck joint of the “unbreakable” SQ.
Stumble.
The steel beast with four legs lost its balance and reeled back as though it would fall from a single human punch.
……?
As Kim Bongsik blinked, still trying to process what he’d seen—
“You’re an authorized hunter, right?”
“What the—?!”
A young man in a suit stood beside him. When had he gotten there?
“I’m here to help you.”
“…A con artist?”
“Is my pitch that bad?”
“Wait, hold on. Are you Chae Mujin?”
“You know me?”
Chae Mujin asked pleasantly, but Kim Bongsik’s attention snapped to the roar.
Boom-bang! Crash!
A martial artist with a red aura-wrapped fist clashed ferociously with SQ.
Right, the boss battle wasn’t over. There was no time for casual conversation.
“Step back. You’ll get caught in the crossfire.”
This was his moment to use the Awakening Skill. He took his stance, but Chae Mujin stopped him.
“I know what you’re about to do, but wait just a second. Like, ten seconds.”
“Get out of the way!”
Every second counted, but Chae Mujin kept stopping him, so Kim Bongsik pushed him aside—
Whoosh!
Chae Mujin reversed the push with Hapkido, sending Kim Bongsik flying.
……?!
No damage, but Kim Bongsik couldn’t believe it. He was Level 300. A Swordmaster. Thrown like a child?
“I get that you’re in a hurry, but look at your hands. They’re shaking. I won’t have my precious hunter hurt because you tried to use a skill with hands like that.”
“My hands are shaking? Me?”
He looked down in disbelief and found it was true. His hands were trembling.
Not from exhaustion.
Tension, fear. Sensations he’d forgotten since becoming an A-rank Hunter. The dungeon lockdown, a boss immune to physical damage, the pressure of facing SQ alone….
Experience doesn’t mean fear disappears. It just means you bear it better than others.
‘Was I always this weak?’
The visible truth and his reluctance to admit it collided.
But Chae Mujin didn’t give him time to dwell.
“Don’t worry. We’re here now.”
“Huh?”
The way Chae Mujin treated him—as though he were weak—made his mouth twist into a bitter laugh.
“You’ll make it back alive.”
…….
“We’ll win and come back.”
Chae Mujin extended his hand to the fallen Kim Bongsik. Kim Bongsik didn’t take it. He stood on his own and spoke.
“…This isn’t doing my reputation as a Swordmaster any favors.”
“Your reputation doesn’t matter if you’re dead.”
Chae Mujin turned his gaze to the Yaksha fighting SQ.
“That friend over there is a Yaksha—dumb as they come, only knows how to fight. Don’t expect teamwork. You target the legs. That way we won’t get tangled up.”
“If I just used my Awakening Skill instead—”
“Still impatient, huh. Don’t have much boss-fight experience?”
“…Why have you been talking informally this whole time?”
“When your life’s hanging by a thread, is there time for manners? The faster we communicate, the better—that’s why informal speech.”
His words were all correct, which left Kim Bongsik speechless.
‘I never understood why Cheon Ihwa took interest in this mere supporter, and now I understand it even less.’
Hard to articulate, but Chae Mujin was insufferable.
He had no courtesy, yet only spoke truths—making it impossible to counter him.
“Anyway, I already cast a Buff on you earlier, so go on. Thirty minutes, full Buff 500.”
“What…?”
“How do I explain this so you get it? Oh!”
A line from some game popped into Chae Mujin’s mind.
“You’ve grown stronger. Now charge!”

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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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