S-Classes That I Raised to Devour - Chapter 68

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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 68. Lotto Dungeon (4)
What emerged from the fully open entrance was a Level 260 monster.
But it was no ordinary monster. Chae Mujin clicked his tongue and gripped the Broad Sword firmly, steeling himself.
‘Just as I thought.’
What appeared was an Elite Monster—an Infected Samurai.
From a distance, it looked like a Japanese samurai through and through, but viewing it closely revealed a visceral wrongness.
Where eyes should have been, there was nothing. Tentacles sprouted and writhed from the ears, nose, and mouth.
Two Infected Samurai emerged—one from the front, one from behind.
“Bong-gu. Draw one of them away and buy me time. Don’t try anything clever—just run.”
“Yes!”
Even for me, fighting an Elite Monster one-on-one was brutal. Mana reserves were critically low.
But the Thousand Change Arts Bong-gu provided solved that problem.
[Thousand Change Arts has copied the Venometric Amulet.]
With two Venometric Amulets equipped, mana recovered at a rate of 150 per minute.
Whoosh!
I pushed off the ground first and charged at the samurai.
The samurai swung his blade through empty air before I’d even reached him, and I cut my angle diagonally to evade.
Slash!
Something tore past to my side—a Sword Wind, invisible yet sharp enough to cleave steel effortlessly, a ranged slash from nothing.
I couldn’t see the Sword Wind itself, but the samurai’s empty-air swing told me it was coming.
When the Sword Wind went wide, the Infected Samurai reset his stance and charged straight at me.
The Sword Aura on his blade gleamed before my eyes. His spirit was enslaved to the monster, yet his body remembered the techniques.
But I had Sword Aura too.
Clang!
The two blades collided, sending blue sparks in all directions.
I was outmatched in both strength and technique. My Sword Aura was only an imitation, borrowed from the Sword Demon’s Soul trait—competent in appearance, but lacking true polish.
“It’s fine. Holding the line is enough.”
Rat-a-tat-tat!
I pulled back and unleashed gunfire. Every round was loaded with mana-coating—Mana Bullets, naturally.
Ting-ting-ting!
The samurai batted every shot away with minimal hand movement—he’d faced firearms before.
In that opening, I closed the distance in one breath with the Taishan Striking Blade, pressing the assault.
The Taishan Striking Blade accelerates at 200%—a straightforward, brutal technique. Alone, the samurai would sidestep it easily.
But I had a solution. A skill I’d been unable to use until now due to mana shortage: Double Action. I would use Taishan Striking Blade while already in its acceleration state, then use it again.
An additional 200% acceleration added on top of the existing 200%.
For just an instant, I surpassed the samurai’s speed, bringing the blade down.
Slice!
But he was a master swordsman through and through—no wonder he was an Elite Monster.
The moment I thought I’d cut him, he retreated, and he parried each successive slash with measured precision.
It might look like I was losing momentum, swept up in his rhythm, but while feinting with the blade, I raked my pistol across his face.
Bang, thud!
Three of five shots ricocheted away, but two hit his face dead-on. For a normal human, it would have been a killing wound—
Squelch, squelch, squelch….
“Damn monster.”
The tentacles sprouting from his face took the impact instead. The destroyed tentacles were immediately replaced by fresh ones.
But that wasn’t all. The tentacles suddenly extended and lashed out at me.
“I hate squid.”
I tossed out a Hand Grenade. Tentacles have the habit of inevitably grasping whatever they touch.
I’d infused mana into the grenade before throwing it, making it a Mana Hand Grenade.
Boom-crash!
The extended tentacles convulsed in agony, retracting back to the samurai’s body. In that moment, I ejected the empty magazine and slammed in a fresh one.
‘I hope Bong-gu’s holding up.’
In true Teamplay, you don’t worry about your teammate. All focus must remain on the enemy before you.
If you let yourself be distracted by your teammate’s opponent, you’ve failed at Teamplay.
A teammate must not be a burden. They should be someone you trust with your back.
So Chae Mujin didn’t glance behind him. He kept his focus on the samurai in front.
‘I’ll finish this soon. Just hold on a little longer.’
This time, the samurai took the initiative, launching a counterattack.
Countless Sword Winds streaked toward me—fast and many, but not enough to fill every gap in space.
I sprinted in a zigzag, then jumped. I’d already abandoned the idea of a clean dodge.
Slash, tear.
The Sword Wind grazed my skin.
But only skin was cut. Bone and organs were unharmed.
Roll, roll, roll.
As I evaded, I rolled a Hand Grenade toward the samurai’s feet. Recognizing that Mana Hand Grenades hurt, the samurai retreated sharply.
“Then you’ll eat bullets instead.”
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
Standing still and blocking bullets is one thing; moving and blocking them is another.
Sure enough, his accuracy in deflecting shots dropped considerably. I fired twenty rounds, and seven found their mark.
Blue blood streamed from the samurai’s body.
The moment I was about to close the distance with Taishan Striking Blade and press my advantage—
Snap.
Tentacles wrapped around my ankle, yanking me. But these tentacles didn’t come from the Infected Samurai before me.
From behind.
The second Infected Samurai—the one Bong-gu was supposed to be keeping at bay—was attacking me.
* * *
Did Bong-gu escape alive, or is he dead?
There’s no time to find out.
Slash!
I cut through the tentacle gripping my ankle and propelled myself upward with one foot, rotating my body sideways in midair.
Tentacles erupted from front and back, scraping past my skin.
As I landed, I swept the Broad Sword wide, severing the tentacles. I ducked under a Sword Wind, rolled forward, and kicked two Hand Grenades backward between my legs.
I can’t afford to look back. My first priority is to finish the one I was fighting.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
I advanced while firing. My magazine was empty, yet bullets still flew—I’d refined every single one with pure mana.
This method burns 50 mana per shot, so I couldn’t fire many.
And pure Mana Bullets have abysmal range.
But they were devastating. The samurai’s sword blade shattered, its durability spent.
Whoosh!
In the end, I hurled the gun away and drove the Broad Sword into his belly.
Squelch-crack!
Tentacles burst from his eyes, nose, and mouth, piercing my body and trying to drive deeper—
Rip!
I twisted the blade upward, splitting him clean to the crown.
Thud!
I kicked him away with a boot to the body.
But then tentacles erupted from the gap between the severed halves, trying to stitch the body back together.
I was reaching for two Incendiary Grenades from the Shadow Bag when—
Thud!
A tentacle from behind pierced my back. The recoil caused both grenades to tumble from my hands, pins already pulled.
I don’t panic. Grenades don’t detonate instantly. I kicked the grenades at my feet away from the creature trying to regenerate, then spun around.
It was the second Infected Samurai—the one attacking me. And behind it, the silhouette of a fallen figure came into view.
Bong-gu, probably. I can’t tell if he’s dead or alive, but he didn’t escape. He’s down.
There’s no time to check. Tentacles are still lodged in my back, and more are shooting toward me.
Ignoring the tentacles in my back, I used Taishan Striking Blade Double Action to close the distance in a single breath again.
As I got closer, it became clear. He was wounded. His right shoulder and arm were shredded.
Those wounds weren’t from me. They were from Bong-gu. Before they could regenerate fully, I plunged the Broad Sword into those wounds and twisted savagely.
The Infected Samurai felt no pain. Even as his body tore apart on the blade, he drove his sword toward my heart without hesitation.
Clang!
I squeezed out the last of my mana and raised my Self-Defense Aura, but it couldn’t stop the blade—it shattered.
My chest was cut deep. Blood poured out in torrents, but I didn’t falter.
Muscle was severed but ribs were intact. My left arm wouldn’t move, but that didn’t matter.
I released the Broad Sword from my right hand and pulled out a Hand Grenade. I yanked the pin with my teeth and shoved it into the samurai’s mouth.
I lowered my head as far as I could and raised my Self-Defense Aura. It was thin as paper now, but right now that paper meant the difference between life and death.
Kaboom!
The grenade detonated inside the samurai’s throat. The impact reached me even as the tentacles held me fast.
“Guh!”
The shock struck my entire body, and it felt like all the air and moisture were being expelled through my mouth.
I was thrown backward and hit the ground rolling, but used the rebound to push myself upright.
My whole body was riddled with tentacle holes, blood seeping steadily, but what did it matter?
“…….”
I looked quietly around me.
The first Infected Samurai I’d fought was charred black by the Incendiary Grenades.
The one who’d detonated from the inside showed no sign of regeneration whatsoever.
A clear victory.
But it’s too soon to celebrate. I pulled out a spare Handgun from the Shadow Bag. My mana was already fully recharged.
‘If it weren’t for the Venometric Amulet, I wouldn’t have had the nerve to fight at all.’
My hands were shaking—aiming was difficult. I tried to steady my aim, then gave up and just sighted roughly at the samurai before squeezing the trigger.
Bang! Bang!
My accuracy was terrible, but three shots out of every ten landed at least one hit. After finishing it off with a Mana Bullet, I finally let out ragged breaths.
“Hah, ah, hah….”
I sucked in what air I could, exhaled forcefully. I belatedly used Healing Light on my wounds.
It was a low-tier healing technique, so the recovery was painfully slow, but the bleeding stopped and flesh began to knit.
“Damn, it hurts.”
Healing has no anesthetic effect. The alien pain of new flesh growing was something you could never quite get used to.
But that pain was something I could endure if I tried. The real horror was something else entirely.
“Hah…….”
I approached the fallen Bong-gu. With each step closer, my hands clenched harder.
There’s a saying: “Knowledge is power.” But sometimes knowledge feels like a curse. Just like now.
I didn’t need to examine his body to know.
He was dead.

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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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