As soon as he opened the door, a red beam of light fired at Sung Joon. Sung Joon moved his body to the side and avoided the beam.
“The beam contains a petrifying curse,” Rishubalt warned. The beam’s impact area had turned to stone. Sung Joon glanced at the petrified area, and then turned his attention to the front from where the beam had came from. There stood a monster with snakes as hair.
“How unexpected,” Sung Joon muttered to himself. He hadn’t expected a Medusa to appear as the boss, even though it was the weakest of SS-rank monsters.
“Did you expect a top tier S-rank monster to appear as the Boss?” Rishubalt asked.
“That’s right. But it doesn’t change anything.”
The fact that he needed to kill an SS-rank monster didn’t change anything.
“Hoo!”
Sung Joon breathed in and slowly closed the distance with the Medusa. Contrary to her myth, she couldn’t apply a petrifying curse with just her gaze.
She wore antique Greek armor, and was armed with both a longsword and a shield. Her sword and shield were clad in a clear aura.
“You intend to face me alone? How absurd,” the Medusa said smiling, but it felt frightening due to the snakes on her head. Sung Joon wordlessly and gradually closed the distance.
“Wind Cutter!”
She wouldn’t allow him to get any closer. Dozens of sharp blades shot towards Sung Joon from all directions.
“A Medusa is capable of utilizing high-rank magic as well!” Rishubalt explained. Sung Joon avoided the Wind Cutter, and stiffened his posture. The Medusa gazed at Sung Joon, discharging a beam containing her petrifying curse. It befitted the term beam, as it approached Sung Joon quickly; however, Sung Joon narrowly avoided it.
He didn’t use the ‘Dragon’s Protection’. Because it was only an S-rank item, he wasn’t sure that it would be able to block the Medusa’s high-rank curse, as she was an SS-rank monster.
“Blink!”
As soon as Sung Joon approached, Medusa used Blink and widened the distance. She was wielding her sword and shield, and was an aura-user as well, but she anticipated that she’d lose in a close up fight with Sung Joon.
Unfortunately for her, Sung Joon possessed his combat boots, which was an item that allowed him to utilize ‘Blink’.
“Blink!”
He closed the distance once more. Seeing that, the Medusa panicked.
“Blink? You were a Magic Knight?”
Instead of replying, Sung Joon raised his mana. Likewise, the Medusa casted her magic.
“Gale Sword.”
“Fire Wall!”
Sung Joon utilized Gale Sword to close the distance. The Medusa constructed a flaming wall, attempting to block Sung Joon’s approach.
‘I’m going to use the Spell-Breaking Sword!’
Whilst using Gale Sword to approach, he would simultaneously utilize the Spell-Breaking Sword; it was a high-level technique! This was only possible for Sung Joon, as he was the reincarnation of the strongest of the 13 knights, Roukel, who was also a genius in the sword.
He pierced through the hot flames and appeared before the Medusa. Around twenty of the sword winds that hadn’t been cancelled out rushed towards her.
“Damn it!”
She did manage to block the sword winds with her aura shield, however, she couldn’t help but curse. With this, she had been forced into close quarters combat, something that she had been trying to avoid all this time.
Sung Joon immediately drew his mana in order to use his most deadly attack, the Illusionary Sword. The Medusa could tell that he was gathering a considerable amount of mana with that small gesture, and dispersed a powerful poison through the snakes.
“Illusionary… Ugh!”
Because it was so fast, Sung Joon couldn’t avoid it. The best he could do was raise his left hand to block his eyes. Fortunately, it wasn’t a powerful acid poison, but it momentarily obscured his vision.
Medusa didn’t lose her opportunity in that short instance where his vision was obscured. It was now time for her to decide between offense and defense. And she picked offense.
She accumulated mana within her eyes and shot a red beam towards Sung Joon’s legs. So long as it hit, Sung Joon’s body would begin petrifying, so it didn’t matter where.
“Ugh!”
Sung Joon sensed the beam coming for his legs, but he couldn’t avoid it. He had noticed it too late to do so. Ultimately, the beam containing the petrifying curse struck his legs.
He screamed at the awful pain and his legs were quickly becoming petrified.
“My lord! Please use your Heal!” Rishubalt yelled hastily. It was then that Sung Joon remembered that Heal was effective against curses as well. The higher his synchronization rate, the more powerful his Heal became. Therefore, now that he’d become SS-rank, he should be able to completely purify her petrifying curse.
“Heal!”
Sung Joon utilized his Heal. The radiant white light that came from his hand shined upon the petrified area, and the pieces of stone melted away as if it were mud, revealing a pair of perfectly healthy legs.
“Ha!”
He forcefully kicked the Medusa who quickly approached with the tip of his foot.
“Ugh!”
“Urgh!”
The Medusa’s body was as hard as a rock, and Sung Joon’s leg fractured. However, it seemed as though she had felt a considerable shock as well as she staggered. Sung Joon used that opportunity to ‘Heal’ himself and treated his fracture.
He was healed in an instant. Even as an S-rank Hunter, he could perform a miracle like regenerating a severed limb. So as an SS-rank Hunter, it was obvious that his healing power would allow him to treat his fracture in a split second.
“You damn human!” the Medusa yelled angrily, and raised her aura clad shield. Then, sharp shards of aura rushed towards Sung Joon.
Sung Joon swung his sword and blocked all of the aura shards. As soon as he blocked her attack, the Medusa’s face was filled with despair.
‘To think she’d be able to use aura transformation as well… As expected of an SS-rank monster…’
Sung Joon possessed a calm expression, but he was flustered on the inside. Only those who had mastered aura to the highest level could utilize the aura transformation technique, so he hadn’t expected her to use that technique.
“You even blocked my aura transformation? Who the hell are you!?”
The Medusa was pissed. She wasn’t used to being on the losing end; She had expected her aura transformation attack to work.
“You don’t need to know,” Sung Joon said suddenly, and used his ‘Flash Cut’. His aura clad sword left behind a blue track. However, the Medusa wouldn’t go down without a fight. She quickly stepped back and avoided his attack.
“Illusionary Sword.”
‘Flash Cut’ was nothing more than a feint to hide his true lethal technique. As soon as he infused his mana and unleashed the technique, 31 illusionary swords rushed at the Medusa.
“T-This is…!”
“Rest in peace,” Sung Joon said, but the Medusa wouldn’t go easily. She utilized her aura transformation technique to expand her shield. However, it didn’t really have much effect.
As the 31 Illusionary Swords repeatedly battered on her shield, the shield futilely shattered. However, several of the Illusionary Swords were used up as well. There were only 4 illusionary swords left after piercing through her shield to aim at her vital points, but the Medusa managed to block all four of them.
‘This is tough. I can’t take her lightly,’ Sung Joon thought. Though she was a low tier monster, she was still SS-rank. There was no way she would be easy to take down.
‘I have to widen the distance!’
The Medusa knew she was at a disadvantage from up close. Therefore, she attempted to widen the distance, but Sung Joon wouldn’t allow it.
Because Sung Joon didn’t have any other long range techniques other than his dagger throwing and his Slash, it would be tough for him to fight at long range with Medusa, as she possessed a petrifying beam.
“My lord! The Medusa is attempting to widen the distance!”
Rishubalt reported to Sung Joon whenever he saw her do something suspicious. Sung Joon quickly closed the distance and swung his sword.
Because he knew that the Medusa had a way to fight off his Illusionary Sword, he couldn’t use it repeatedly.
“Shit!” the Medusa cursed again. She had tried so hard to widen the distance, but Sung Joon had prevented her from doing so. Therefore, she had to fight close up once again.
“Ugh!”
“Urgh!”
The two swords passed by each other. Sung Joon’s sword grazed the Medusa’s right shoulder. On the other hand, the Medusa’s sword cut halfway through Sung Joon’s neck.
It was a fatal wound that could’ve killed him, but Sung Joon was an SS-rank Healer Hunter.
“Blink! Heal!”
After he’d used Blink to widen the distance, he utilized his Heal and instantaneously treated the fatal wound on his neck. The Medusa attempted to prevent him from doing so by shooting a beam containing her petrifying curse at him, but it didn’t work.
It might look like they were even, but the longer the battle went on, the more Sung Joon was overpowering her.
“Blink!”
Sung Joon used Blink once more. Because he’d used such high level techniques repeatedly, including the Illusionary Sword, his mana had hit rock bottom. His body was at its limit as well.
If he hadn’t used ‘Absorption’ to recover his consumed stamina and mana throughout the dungeon assault, he would’ve already used up all of his mana. It was time to finish this.
“Ha!”
As soon as he closed the distance, his sword was swung.
‘Found it!’
The two intensely exchanged blows, and Sung Joon was delighted when he found a blind spot. He pushed through and used his fist to push her shield to the left. She wasn’t able to respond at all.
“Illusionary Sword!”
The 31 illusionary swords aimed at the Medusa. If there was something that was different this time compared to last time, it was that there was no aura clad shield to protect her body.
It was certain that before she could recover her shield, the first illusionary blade would hit.
“Ahhhhhh!” the Medusa cried in agony. The 31 illusionary swords began to brutally pierce her body. No, cut it into pieces.
The Medusa was an SS-rank monster, but she wasn’t able to endure the fatal 31 illusionary swords and died.
“Absorb.”
He absorbed the mana from her corpse. Though his synchronization rate didn’t increase, his measuring tool responded.
As soon as the Medusa’s corpse disappeared, a small box covered in silver leaf remained. The measuring tool recognized this as an item, and Sung Joon opened the hand-sized box. There were two contact lenses inside. Sung Joon then utilized the appraisal feature of his measuring tool.
S-rank.
Ability to use petrifying curse.
It was indeed an S-rank item. It didn’t have any special abilities, but it was big deal for him to be able to use a petrifying curse.
“It seems like something you put on your eyes,” Rishubalt said. After Sung Joon nodded his head, he equipped the ‘Medusa’s Eyes’. As soon as he gathered mana into his eyes, a red beam was discharged and the impact area was turned to stone.
“Not bad.”
When Sung Joon left the dungeon with a satisfied expression, there was someone following him to his parked car.
His eyes gleamed as he saw Sung Joon get in his Hunter sedan. He took out a small crystal and brought it to his mouth.
“This is Levich, rank 399 of the Knight Brigade. I’ve found the otherworlder who appears to be Roukel’s disciple.”