The All-Time Best Talent was F-Class Purification - Chapter 4

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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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4
Chapter 4 – An Elite Talent Awakened as an F-Rank Purifier
The next morning at precisely 9 AM, I arrived at the Abandoned Subway Tunnel Gate 2, our designated meeting point. I’d purchased new armor the previous night and used my remaining funds to acquire the sharpest F-rank dagger available. I looked far more like a Hunter than yesterday, yet compared to the man standing before me, I still appeared utterly inexperienced.
Park Jae-jung had arrived five minutes early. He was an entirely different person from the one I’d seen at the Pojangmacha last night. The aura emanating from him was sharp and piercing—merely standing there seemed to make the surrounding air taut with tension. His gaze constantly swept through the darkness around us, methodically identifying potential threats. He looked like someone already engaged in combat.
“You’re right on time.”
“I couldn’t keep you waiting.”
I gave a brief reply and he looked me up and down once. His eyes lingered momentarily on my new equipment, but he said nothing further.
“Let’s go in. Today’s test is straightforward. During our descent to the Mid-zone of this Dungeon, you must prove that you’re a necessary asset to me. Surviving is the bare minimum—you’ll need to demonstrate something more.”
Without another word, he stepped forward, his heavy shield leading the way into the dark tunnel. I followed close behind, steeling myself. Today, I had to prove that I was worthy of being a C-rank veteran’s partner—not merely another F-rank.
The moment we entered the Dungeon, Park Jae-jung became an entirely different person. With each step, he observed and analyzed everything around us.
“Notice the moisture on the Floor. It’s more saturated than usual. The effects of last night’s acid rain still linger. When conditions like these persist, acidic monsters like Corrosive Slimes become far more active, so we must watch our footing carefully.”
He pointed to faint claw marks on the Wall.
“These are Stoneskin Rat tracks. The marks are quite distinct, which means they’re still nearby. Since they hunt in packs, if we see one, we should assume there are at least three or four more in the vicinity.”
His eyes weren’t simply searching for monsters. He was converting moisture, scent, and even the faintest scratches on the Wall into data. Where my knowledge was mere survival instinct, his was dungeon ecology itself. It was the moment I truly grasped how vast the gap between a veteran and myself truly was.
Even as I marveled at his insight, a competitive fire ignited within me. After all, I possessed a weapon he didn’t know about—something only I had.
It wasn’t long before we encountered our first enemy: three corrupted sewer rats crawling from the darkness. F-rank monsters.
“Stay back. I’ll handle this.”
Park Jae-jung held me back and stepped forward. He engaged the monsters with minimal movement. He received one’s charge with his shield, used that impact to push aside another, and seized the opening to drive his dagger through the third’s throat. It wasn’t flashy, but it was devastatingly efficient and stable.
‘So that’s how a tank fights.’
I watched his movements with admiration. Fundamentally different from someone like me who had to handle everything alone. He was perfectly specialized in blocking, enduring, and creating openings for others.
After dispatching the sewer rats, he pressed forward without hesitation. For him, it had barely been a warm-up.
We descended deeper. That’s when Park Jae-jung’s expression hardened slightly.
“They’re here. Stoneskin Rats. Two of them.”
From the darkness, two rats with stone-like skin emerged. Park Jae-jung gripped his shield tightly.
“These are quite troublesome. Their skin is too hard for my attacks to deal significant damage. We’ll need to drag this out and exploit any openings, so please provide support from behind.”
Boom—
Park Jae-jung blocked one’s charge with his shield first. The massive impact pushed his body back slightly, but he held firm. However, he was right. While he could defend against them, he couldn’t deliver a decisive blow. The battle dragged on inconclusively. Their hardened skin easily resisted even C-rank attacks.
Sweat began beading on Park Jae-jung’s forehead. I seized the moment and spoke quietly.
“Jae-jung.”
“Just say it. I’m busy!”
“The one on the left. Could you pin just that one down for a moment?”
Confusion flickered across Park Jae-jung’s eyes at my words. But without hesitation, he followed my instruction. Using the bottom of his shield, he struck the left rat’s front legs, momentarily breaking its balance.
“Perfect.”
I rushed toward the opening he’d created. Then I gently placed my palm against the fallen rat’s head.
Shhhhh…
There was no explosion, no sound. Pure white light brushed across its fur, and the stone-hard skin crumbled like wet paper. A silent dissolution. Because there was no sound, no fragments, the sight felt surreal. Park Jae-jung’s dagger, aimed at the creature’s heart, froze mid-air.
Park Jae-jung’s movements halted abruptly.
His pupils were trembling. The expression on his face was one of incomprehension at what he’d just witnessed.
“What… was that just now?”
“It’s my skill.”
I answered briefly. Park Jae-jung alternated his gaze between the remaining Stoneskin Rat and me, standing unharmed. I could feel countless hypotheses churning through his mind.
After the battle ended, he casually wiped away his sweat and spoke.
“That’s quite an unusual skill. Let’s continue.”
But I could tell. His voice carried an intensity of suspicion and curiosity that hadn’t been there before. He had witnessed a phenomenon his common sense couldn’t explain. And Park Jae-jung, a veteran, would never stop this test until he confirmed the truth.
“There are stronger ones deeper inside.”
Park Jae-jung turned to look at me and spoke. His voice seemed the same on the surface, but I could sense a subtle shift within it. It was no longer the gaze of someone testing me.
Instead, it was the wariness of someone facing something of unknown identity, mixed with an irrepressible curiosity. His eyes now regarded me not as a simple F-rank, but as an unknown variable.
We advanced deeper into the darkness. The Subway Tunnel now revealed a completely different landscape. The Wall was covered in some unidentifiable organic matter, gleaming with an unsettling sheen, and the Floor was so cluttered with monster bones and wreckage from shattered trains that there was barely space to step. The concentration of corrupted energy drifting through the air was growing thicker.
“This ahead is the boundary of the Mid-zone. Even C-rank parties usually have to be fully prepared to venture this far.”
Park Jae-jung stopped and pointed toward the vast space ahead. What had once been an old Subway Transfer Station had become the lair of countless monsters. And at the center stood a monster with a presence distinctly different from the others.
“A Corrupted Juggernaut…”
Park Jae-jung spoke quietly, his guard raised. It stood well over three meters tall. Its entire body was covered in grotesque armor that looked as though it had been torn from corroded train steel and patched together, and its right arm had transformed into a massive chunk of metal. It was the kind of monster that would appear as a mid-boss even in a C-rank Dungeon.
“Damn it… we have no luck.”
Park Jae-jung’s face hardened. He adjusted his shield and turned to look at me.
“The test ends here. That thing is too much for even me, a C-rank, to handle alone. I’ll secure an escape route, so when I give the signal, you run backward without hesitation.”
That judgment was reasonable. But I shook my head.
“There is no escape route.”
I gestured with my chin toward the rear of the Juggernaut, toward the passage we had entered. The corrupted energy released as the Juggernaut awakened had stimulated the pack of Stoneskin Rats that had followed us, and they now blocked the passage. We were completely cut off.
“Damn…”
A look of urgency crossed Park Jae-jung’s face. He clenched his teeth.
“I have no choice then. I’ll do whatever I can to pin down its legs, and in that time, find some way to escape. That strange skill of yours won’t work on that thing.”
There seemed to be no hope at all in his words. He was probably prepared to throw away his own life to buy me time.
Kuoooo—
The Juggernaut roared and began charging toward us. Park Jae-jung let out a cry and met it head-on with his shield raised.
Kwaaang!
With a tremendous crash, Park Jae-jung’s body was sent flying backward like a sheet of paper.
The impact transmitted through the shield battered his entire body. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, and the center of his sturdy shield was deeply dented in the shape of the monster’s fist. Such overwhelming violence that a C-rank’s defense seemed meaningless. A veteran C-rank tank was being overwhelmed in raw power.
“Ugh…”
Park Jae-jung coughed up blood but repositioned himself and blocked the monster’s path again. But the Juggernaut’s attacks continued relentlessly. Every time its massive metal arm crashed down on the floor, concrete fragments scattered in all directions, and Park Jae-jung desperately blocked or dodged each attack.
‘At this rate, he’ll die.’
I watched the situation coldly from behind a Wall. Park Jae-jung was an excellent tank. But his opponent was simply too much. Every attack from the Juggernaut was pushing his shield and stamina to their limits. It didn’t look like he could last even thirty seconds, let alone a minute.
I observed the Juggernaut’s movements. Despite its massive bulk, its movements were sluggish, but each blow carried tremendous destructive power. Watching its metal arm shatter the concrete floor, I realized that the armor I was currently wearing was no better than tissue paper. A direct confrontation was impossible.
‘There.’
On the monster’s chest, where several steel plates were layered together, an unusually dense concentration of corrupted energy was being released. That must be where its core, its corrupted core, was located. But how could I pierce through that thick armor and get my hand on it?
Then, I noticed one characteristic in the monster’s attack pattern. After attacking with its right arm, for a very brief moment, its center of gravity shifted to the left. That window was only one to two seconds. But to me, that short moment felt like an eternity.
‘I can do this.’
I shouted to Park Jae-jung.
“Jae-jung!”
He turned to look at me.
“When I give the signal, circle around to its left side and use your shield to draw its attention for just three seconds. Right after it finishes its right arm attack. You don’t need to attack—just make sure it sees you. Just three seconds!”
“That’s… that’s impossible…”
Park Jae-jung’s face twisted in bewilderment. By any rational measure, tanking a direct hit from that monstrosity for three seconds would be nothing short of suicide.
“You have to trust me. It’s the only way we survive.”
My plea came out desperate, and after a moment of hesitation, he met my gaze before clenching his jaw with resolve.
“Just one chance. That’s all we get!”
One opportunity. I held my breath and locked every ounce of focus onto the Juggernaut’s movements. It swung its massive right arm toward Park Jae-jung.
CRASH!
Park Jae-jung braced the full force of the blow against his shield. His body skidded backward, his legs carving deep furrows into the ground, but he held firm. And the instant the creature’s weight shifted left—
“Now!”
I roared the command, and Park Jae-jung answered with a primal cry, driving himself into the Juggernaut’s left flank. Its attention snapped toward him. Three seconds. Three seconds he’d bought with his life on the line.
I didn’t waste them. I sprinted with everything I had toward the creature’s exposed right side and plunged my palm into that narrow gap in its carapace—the very spot where tainted light seeped through like a wound.
My fingertips found its core, pulsing like a living heart.
The world fell silent. The colossal Juggernaut, which had been relentlessly pressing its assault, didn’t even manage a scream as pure white fractures spider-webbed outward from where my palm made contact with its nucleus.
Its massive form crumbled from within, consumed by that radiant light, until nothing remained but fine dust scattered to the wind.
Park Jae-jung stood motionless, his eyes darting between the empty space and me in shock. The dented shield slipped from his grip and clattered to the ground.

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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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