Chapter 116
My hurried shout was utterly useless.
The mont the Hunters saw the Basilisk reveal itself, they instinctively looked toward its head. In the next instant, they stiffened where they stood and turned to stone.
“Damn it! S-save !”
“My body! It is hardening!”
Only the gunners, including Cha Yeri and Choi Suhyuk, managed to avert their eyes and move with practiced precision.
They scattered skillfully and poured firepower onto the Basilisk, yet not a single round managed to pierce its scales.
“Damn it! Forget bringing it down!”
“Let us hold it back until everyone gets into the tunnel!”
Hissssss!
The Basilisk slithered across the ground at a terrifying speed and lunged at the Hunters one by one.
The experienced Hunters were crushed and swallowed whole before they could even resist, while those who, in their terror, glanced back at it were petrified on the spot.
Only after coiling itself before the tunnel entrance did the creature finally stop moving.
“The e-exit…!”
“At this rate, we have no choice but to kill that bastard!”
“How? We have fired hundreds of rounds and it has not even flinched!”
“Damn it! Are we just going to let it eat us? We have to struggle, at least!”
There were nine of us left alive, including myself, Cha Yeri, and Choi Suhyuk.
Everyone except was a gunner, and they had already expended half of the ammunition they had brought.
“If the ones inside the tunnel strike it from behind, would that not work?”
“Do not be ridiculous. We cannot even scratch its scales.”
“Hey, Hyeonseong! What are you going to do now? I thought the ones from Hero Prep were supposed to be smart!”
“Wait! The one who shouted not to make eye contact is the one wearing that cloak. He must know sothing!”
The attention that had been focused on Cha Yeri shifted to in an instant.
Most of all, even she was looking at .
Her face was desperate, as if pleading for an answer.
It was only natural that she could not find one.
Setting aside the fact that magic bullets had been useless, the monster called a Basilisk had never appeared in this world before.
Originally, Basilisks were creatures that dwelled in abandoned lands such as ancient ruins.
So had been ntally dominated by Demonic Beings and used as magical beasts, but even beyond the Rift, they were rare monsters that one could not easily encounter.
That was why the survivor earlier had mistaken it for a dragon.
It was an unknown monster, one that no one had ever seen even in photographs or records.
Which ant that my warning not to make eye contact was, in itself, an action that contradicted the established setting.
“Hey! Say sothing! How did you know that thing’s ability in the first place?”
“Who even is he? He is not a rcenary. Where did he co from?”
Leaving the commotion behind, I picked up a sword from a nearby stone statue.
The Basilisk was clearly ant for .
It must have been designed so that no one but I could defeat it.
After all, if it had not been for , whether it was Cha Yeri or Choi Suhyuk, they would have already beco statues.
No matter how much the Avid Reader altered the original story at will, there was no way the main character, Cha Yeri, would be turned into a sculpture.
In other words, they had prepared the Basilisk knowing that I, the only one aware of its weakness, would step in.
Which ant that I was still nothing more than a character dancing to the Avid Reader’s intentions.
How ridiculous.
Silently cursing, I lowered the hood of my cloak.
The Hunters stared at in shock.
“That Demonic Eye… Is he not the brat from the Special Affairs Division?”
“The Special Affairs Division? Why are they here…?”
“Damn it! I knew we could rely on him! If he is from the Special Affairs Division, of course he would know about that monster!”
With my Demonic Eye activated, I t the Basilisk’s gaze.
As expected, there was no petrification, nor any curse placed upon . Instead, it stared at intently, as if asuring my strength.
Its gaze was rather chilling.
Well, if it was going to remain still like that, that only worked in my favor.
Keeping my eyes fixed on it, I spoke.
“From this mont on, I will hunt that serpent. But I need your help. I cannot exploit its weakness alone.”
“Just say the word. I will do whatever it takes.”
Choi Suhyuk snapped as he loaded his pistol.
Beside , Cha Yeri spoke with a hardened expression.
“If we succeed in bringing it down, I will distribute part of its scales as spoils. To all of you.”
It was a bold promise.
As expected, the Hunters’ fighting spirit flared.
“As expected of Hyeonseong. He is generous.”
“Good! Let us do it! Who cares what that thing is?”
“With a strategy, even a dragon would not be a problem!”
I imdiately explained its weakness and the thod.
The Basilisk’s weakness lay in its two eyes.
Both had to be blinded simultaneously. Only then would its scales beco vulnerable to damage.
If even one eye was missed, it would quickly regenerate the other. It was an infuriating setting.
I entrusted the task of shooting its eyes to Cha Yeri and Choi Suhyuk, the only ones capable of using magic bullets.
They had to avoid eting its gaze and strike both eyes almost at the sa ti. No one else here could even attempt such a feat.
The other Hunters were assigned the role of drawing its attention so it would not approach the two preparing their shots.
“And lastly, we need to extinguish the light here.”
The reason was simple.
I needed to use a sword strike.
The color of my mana resembled shadow. If I unleashed a sword strike while torches illuminated the area, suspicion of a dark attribute would arise imdiately.
But in total darkness, no one would be able to observe the movent of shadows.
No one except , who possessed the Demonic Eye.
Cha Yeri narrowed her brows slightly, as if questioning my intent.
“Is there a need to extinguish the light if it is already blinded? It will only make attacking more difficult.”
“Do I need to justify everything right now?”
“No, but…”
“Then let us move. The longer we delay, the worse it will be.”
We scattered according to plan.
As if it had been waiting, the Basilisk uncoiled and charged toward the nearest Hunter.
Hissssss!
Its speed resembled that of a train in motion.
The Hunter ran without looking back, but as the tremor in the ground drew closer, he instinctively turned his head.
He stiffened instantly.
“Gasp!”
Other Hunters pulled their triggers to redirect it, but it was useless.
As though repeating an attack it had mastered countless tis, it pursued only the target before its eyes.
“So dividing its attention does not work…”
I shouted to Cha Yeri and Choi Suhyuk.
“Hurry and take the shot!”
The Basilisk turned its head toward my voice and locked its gaze onto .
But I imdiately used Stealth and hurriedly synchronized my mana with the sword in my hand.
At that mont, a tallic groan rang from the blade.
It could not withstand my mana. Cracks spread across its surface.
Sure enough, it burst apart with a sharp crack and shattered into pieces.
“Damn it.”
I looked around for another statue holding a sword.
Just then, light gathered at the muzzles of Cha Yeri and Choi Suhyuk’s guns.
“Everyone, get ready!”
With Cha Yeri’s shout, two bullets pierced the Basilisk’s eyes simultaneously.
Hissssss!
A flawless snipe and a shriek that tore through the air.
At the sa ti, the Hunters extinguished the torches. Darkness swallowed the space entirely.
“We are ready! Open fire!”
All firepower concentrated on the Basilisk as it thrashed in agony.
Bang bang bang bang!
Ratatatatatat!
The muzzles flashed so brightly that extinguishing the torches seed aningless.
But as expected, the attacks were not effective.
Even blinded, the inherent durability of its scales was overwhelming.
I quickly grabbed another sword and synchronized my mana with it.
This one felt sturdier.
Without hesitation, I swung it toward the Basilisk and unleashed a sword strike.
Whoooosh—!
The cutting wind roared heavily within the high-ceilinged chamber.
The strike hit the Basilisk’s frenzied head squarely, slicing clean through its thick neck before dissipating.
Thud!
With a crash as though the ceiling itself had collapsed, the Basilisk fell.
Its severed head rolled toward and stopped at my feet, staring at with its now-blind eyes.
“Is it… dead?”
It was.
As I unconsciously reached to touch its scales, dizziness overtook .
I was nearing mana depletion.
I quickly took a mana potion from my waist and drank it. From the cross-section where the neck had been severed, I found the Basilisk’s mana stone.
As I grasped it, my Strength and Intelligence each increased by 0.5.
My Strength was now 5.2, and my Intelligence 16.6.
Soon, the Hunters approached with torches lit once more.
Including those who had taken refuge in the tunnel, about fifteen survivors remained.
They stared back and forth between and the corpse in stunned silence until Cha Yeri, who approached last, finally spoke.
“You… So you were the one who cut it down?”
Confusion was evident on her face.
She looked at blankly, as though her thoughts had co to a halt.
It was understandable. The scales that magic bullets could not pierce had been sliced through in an instant.
I replied as modestly as I could.
“Well, I was fortunate.”
“Fortunate…?”
At that mont, as if mocking my pretense, the sword in my hand snapped once again.
She fell silent.
Instead, the nearby Hunters began to speak.
“I saw it clearly! It was a sword strike that severed the serpent’s neck!”
“What? You saw a sword strike?”
“Well, not exactly saw it, but it could not have been anything else! Magic bullets did nothing.”
“That is true… But at that age, already using a sword strike?”
“Why not? He is an investigator from the Special Affairs Division.”
They spoke of my feat almost as though in reverence.
For my part, it was enough that no one had discerned the nature of my mana within the sword strike. Still, satisfying Cha Yeri’s doubts would not be easy.
A sword strike was not a technique one mastered overnight.
To persuade her, who had observed my abilities for an entire sester, I would have to imply that I had been concealing my strength from the beginning.
But did I truly need to hide it anymore?
The episode had already collapsed. Even if I alone tried to preserve the original storyline, what difference would it make?
Of course, hiding my dark attribute was another matter.
I changed the subject.
“Wait. Where did that survivor go?”
The survivor had fled into the tunnel when the Basilisk appeared.
Because Cha Yeri had let go of the rope binding him.
As if waking from hibernation, she suddenly widened her eyes and shouted.
“We must chase him at once! He was using a perception-inhibiting ability, but he could not have gone far!”
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