Right after Jeong Euijin and the Minotaur Lord had left the area.
Three men who had been crouching silently in a building overlooking the alley quietly rose to their feet.
“They’re — they’re gone, right?”
“Fuck… my legs are still shaking.”
“No way I’m doing this twice, man.”
The three men each swallowed dryly, pressing their hands to their chests, faces pale.
They all tore off the disposable invisibility items they’d been wearing over their clothes — the so-called Invisible Hoods — and flung them aside.
Purchased for no less than 5,000 Coins at the Special Supply Station, Zone 4, the items only lasted a single hour, but the fact that they erased even the faintest trace of one’s presence the moment they were worn was truly remarkable.
That said, if they’d had to pay out of pocket, they never would have glanced at them twice.
The three men had originally been assigned to one of the ten designated points set up during this raid to intercept the monsters converging on the Great Tree. Each point had a decent number of people stationed there, and since an all-out battle had been raging at the time, they’d managed to slip away unnoticed.
By now they might have been found out — but it didn’t matter either way.
They weren’t Zone 2 Players to begin with. They were from Zone 4.
When word got out that a coalition was forming around Eclipse, they’d snuck in under the guise of Zone 2 Players just to see how things were unfolding.
They hadn’t expected, in the middle of all that, to encounter a Monster Tamer quite unlike anything they’d ever heard of.
One of the three men tapped the Communication Ear Cuffs he wore. The person on the other end responded shortly after.
“As instructed, we’re moving to secure the Monster Tamer immediately.”
— D-don’t… don’t hurt them. Y-you know that, right?
A fumbling voice crackled through the Ear Cuffs.
The man had no patience for the other person’s habitual stutter, but when he considered his level and skills, he had no choice but to bow his head. There was a reason he was called the Ruler of Zone 4.
“Understood. I’m not sure why, but they happen to be unconscious right now, so it should be easy to bring them in.”
— Wh-what?! U-unconscious?! W-why?! They’re not h-hurt somewhere, are they?! That can’t — that can’t happen!
“No, I don’t think it’s that, but… well, I’ll explain in detail once we’ve secured them.”
— O-okay! Please bring them back s-safe! Without fail!
“Yes, yes. Understood.”
He gave a half-hearted reply at the end and cut the connection. The two men beside him patted his shoulder as if to say good work.
The three men stepped out of the building and descended quietly into the alley riddled with bloodstains, looking down at Lee Jaea, who was still unconscious. Two of them naturally took up positions keeping watch around the perimeter, while the man wearing the Ear Cuffs crouched down in front of Lee Jaea.
“Damn, he looks completely like a corpse.”
The man prodded Lee Jaea’s cheek nonchalantly. Even that light touch of a finger was enough to make his head loll — he had no strength whatsoever.
And yet, all three of them had witnessed with their own eyes just how tremendous the power of this seemingly frail Monster Tamer was.
Over five hundred monsters had wagged their tails at him like obedient dogs.
He hadn’t just turned a raid boss monster — not even an ordinary boss — into a docile bull, he had calmly ridden it around.
On top of that, a monster had voluntarily handed over a priceless item.
A Monster Tamer of this caliber was certainly worth coveting for the someone back in Zone 4.
The man looked Lee Jaea over, clicking his tongue, then shifted his gaze to the gold box sitting beside him.
This much should be fine.
If Lee Jaea woke up and looked for the Mystery Box, he could always say it must have dropped somewhere on the way. That would settle it.
The thought that came first was to sell it and use the proceeds as their payment for all this trouble.
With that in mind, the man reached out and picked up the Mystery Box without permission — and at that instant.
<This item’s transaction with the NPC has not been completed.>
<Forcible seizure without consent is grounds for immediate sanction.>
“Huh?”
A red warning window had appeared — the kind that only showed up when someone tried to forcibly take an NPC’s belongings.
It should be a Player’s item. So why —
As he stood there bewildered.
A slicing sound came from somewhere.
The man wanted to turn his head toward it but could not.
His vision tilted upward, and his now-weightless head rolled across the floor. His wide-open eyes took in the sight of his companion’s corpse tumbling nearby — head severed just the same.
Just before his vision went completely dark.
The man could see a black shadow standing over Lee Jaea, as if to protect him.
<Grim Reaper Lv.???>
The massive scythe of the Grim Reaper, cloaked in an all-black robe, came down once more toward the man’s head.
CRACK—
* * *
Having moved to a wide intersection, the Minotaur Lord finally began swinging its enormous axe.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—!
When it swung the axe horizontally, the midsection of buildings was sent flying. When it brought it down vertically, the ground didn’t just split — it cratered into an oval several meters across, as though a bomb had gone off.
The attacks were so devastating that even Jeong Euijin, who matched it in level, had to worry about meeting his maker if he took a wrong hit.
The Minotaur Lord let out another roar, cleaving through the air with its axe.
With an ear-splitting shriek of air, the massive axe swept in a wide arc. Jeong Euijin threw himself clear of the trajectory, but the powerful shockwave that followed tore through his clothes and skin in several places, spraying blood.
In the wake of that unchecked swing, chunks of concrete and shards of rebar rained down like a storm. Jeong Euijin wove nimbly between the countless fragments, occasionally slashing his sword to cut apart the larger pieces.
The Minotaur Lord targeted him relentlessly.
With just one arm, it’s no joke…!
The axe that sent shockwaves tearing in every direction was obviously enormous in weight. The Minotaur Lord wielding it freely with one arm alone was genuinely impressive. If it still had both arms, he didn’t even want to imagine how strong it would be.
Back when the Special Supply Station had been destroyed —
The reason Jeong Euijin had been able to sever the Minotaur Lord’s arm was thanks to a trait on one of his weapons combined with a surprise attack that had landed perfectly.
On top of that, the Minotaur Lord itself had prioritized gathering the monster horde, and had chosen to retreat even at the cost of an arm. For a raid boss monster, the first order of business right after Advent was to rally the scattered monsters and form an army.
Now that its primary objective was fulfilled, the Minotaur Lord that stood before him again was truly formidable.
If not for Lee Jaea’s advice, he might have already taken several fatal hits by now.
It was the right call to do what hyung said.
Jeong Euijin ran through his current stats in his head.
<Jeong Euijin Lv.60>
— Title: He Who Walks Two Trajectories
— Strength 117 (+23)
— Stamina 90 (+18)
— Agility 90 (+18)
— Intelligence 51 (+10)
— Magic 67 (+13)
— Defense 75 (+15)
Upon reaching level 60, he had invested all 5 points into Agility, just as Lee Jaea had told him to. Thanks to that, the “20% stat increase” buff from the quest Lee Jaea had tipped him off about was pushed to an even greater extreme, allowing him to dodge even the Minotaur Lord’s earnest attacks with ease.
Hyung really is something else.
At this level, going toe-to-toe with the Minotaur Lord like this was more than manageable.
No — I can win!
Jeong Euijin launched himself off the ground in one burst and drove into the Minotaur Lord’s blind spot. The sword in his right hand flashed first, aiming for its side. But just before the blade made contact, the Minotaur Lord twisted its torso. Despite its unbalanced frame — missing its left arm — the movement was far from sluggish.
CLANG!
The axe handle caught the sword Jeong Euijin had swung with his right hand dead-on.
Steel rang out as a powerful impact jolted through both of them.
Gritting his teeth, Jeong Euijin followed through with a continuous slash from the longsword in his left hand. The swift strikes grazed the Minotaur Lord’s thigh and abdomen. He had clearly cut it — but the wounds weren’t deep, blocked by tough hide and dense muscle.
Still, that was enough.
The thigh and abdomen that had just been cut began to twitch in fine spasms.
Grrrgh…?
After shoving Jeong Euijin back with the axe, the Minotaur Lord looked down to find blood pouring freely from its thigh and abdomen. The blood loss was completely disproportionate to such shallow wounds.
Only then did the Minotaur Lord look at the red longsword in Jeong Euijin’s left hand.
The red longsword etched with strange patterns had no particularly striking features other than being, at a glance, a little flashy.
<Wrath-Craving Dancer>
— Attack: 66
— One of the seven legendary weapons left behind by the Vampire Queen.
— The bloodline curse seeping through the blade turns even the faintest scratch into a fatal outcome.
— On consecutive hits against the same target, a special effect stacks in proportion to the number of hits.
— Special Effect: Hemorrhage
Jeong Euijin leveled the tip of his blade at the Minotaur Lord, which seemed to have recognized his weapon’s ability.
“Let’s finish this fast. Hyung is cold.”
Thinking of Lee Jaea, who would still be sitting on the freezing floor of that filthy alley, Jeong Euijin tightened his grip on his sword.
Just then, a different presence suddenly appeared nearby.
