At Yujun’s words, Kanghyun recoiled in disgust. What creepy shit is he doing? He yanked his hand away sharply.
“Ah, just fuck off.”
“You’re making a fuss even when I offer to do it.”
As if he’d expected Kanghyun’s reaction, Yujun let out a small laugh before drawing his sword again. His eyes, which had curved warmly toward Kanghyun, turned chillingly cold the moment they faced the monsters.
Kanghyun unnecessarily stroked the back of his hand that Yujun had touched once himself.
This is really, kind of…
It felt unpleasant.
While Kanghyun was rubbing the back of his hand vigorously, Yujun walked toward the monsters.
He drew his sword horizontally through the air. A long blue stream of water extended from the sword’s tip.
Swoooosh—!
Where the wave swept through, the movements of the four charging wolves stopped simultaneously. And the next moment, their upper and lower bodies were cleanly separated and rolled on the ground.
Before blood could even splatter, Yujun shook off his sword. The water that had been wrapped around the blade scattered in all directions, washing away even the wolves’ blood.
The situation ended in an instant. Kanghyun stared blankly at the scene.
He could’ve killed them that fast, but he put on a show to make me move on purpose?
Anger welled up, but he didn’t even have the energy to confront him.
“We killed them all, so let’s go home now.”
“What are you talking about? This is just the beginning.”
Yujun replied as he skillfully split open the beasts’ bellies and extracted the magic stones.
“We just killed the entrance monsters, so now we have to go deeper inside. We have to kill the boss to close the gate.”
“Ah, right.”
Gates only fully cleared and closed when you killed the boss. His desire to go home was so great he’d forgotten even that common knowledge. At Kanghyun’s rapidly darkening expression, Yujun looked at him pathetically as if asking how he could forget that.
Kanghyun stared ahead. The inside was deeper, damper, and darker. The floor was squishy mud, and he could see unidentifiable insects crawling around.
He looked down at the muddy ground as if it were boiling lava.
Soon he let out a sigh as if the world had collapsed. Then, very carefully, he crouched down and stared intently at the ground.
“What are you doing?”
“Searching for the optimal route to prevent contamination.”
“Stop bullshitting and just walk!”
In the end, unable to overcome Yujun’s nagging, Kanghyun took his first step.
Squelch.
“Ugh…”
At the sensation of sticky mud clinging to the sole of his shoe, Kanghyun’s body trembled. He took his second step with the expression of someone who’d lost their country.
After that, he used the tens-of-billions-of-won A-rank longsword Yujun had lent him as a cane, propping it on the ground and barely supporting his body as he walked. The sound of the scabbard’s end scraping mud as it dragged on the floor echoed pathetically inside the gate.
“Hold the sword while you walk.”
“It’s heavy.”
“You swung it fine earlier.”
“I got muscle loss from that.”
Kanghyun didn’t even pretend to listen and dragged the sword. If anyone saw, they’d believe he was being dragged to a slaughterhouse rather than raiding a gate.
“Are we there yet?”
“We’ve only come 50 meters.”
“Liar. Feels like we’ve come 5 kilometers.”
“Stop exaggerating.”
Kanghyun repeatedly stopped and started. When water droplets fell from the ceiling, he’d stop and shake off his clothes saying “Ah, cold.” And if there was even a slightly large pebble on the ground, he’d stop saying “Ow, fu-ck, it hurts.”
“You just cursed at me.”
“No I didn’t.”
Yujun was slowly reaching the limit of his patience.
This won’t do. If he matched this bastard’s pace, dawn would break before they arrived.
Unable to bear the frustration, Yujun strode over. Then, without giving him a chance to respond, he hoisted Kanghyun up like a sack of luggage.
“Hey, are you crazy? Put me down!”
Kanghyun flailed his limbs a few times for courtesy’s sake. But he didn’t actively resist.
This was what Kanghyun had wanted. He’d been deliberately walking slowly to frustrate Yujun.
Yujun hoisted Kanghyun over his shoulder like a sack of rice and strode forward.
Kanghyun, who’d been pretending to grumble from behind, sneakily stopped struggling. He rested his chin on Yujun’s broad back and looked down at the dirty floor passing quickly beneath his feet.
Ah, comfortable.
No mud on his shoes, no need to move his legs. He should have done this from the start. The corners of Kanghyun’s mouth crept up.
“Hey, you’re smiling right now.”
“No I’m not. I’m suffering. Ugh, I’m dizzy.”
“Say it without any trace of laughter. Before I throw you off.”
Yujun threatened and hoisted up the body he was carrying. The solid shoulder pressed painfully into his abdomen, but Kanghyun decided to consider even that a soft cushion.
Perhaps thanks to his S-rank physical abilities, Yujun didn’t show a single sign of struggle. His steps were unhindered.
Ssshhhh…
They must have walked like that for about 30 minutes. An unpleasant friction sound burrowed into his ears.
Yujun’s footsteps stopped abruptly. Due to inertia, Kanghyun’s body tilted forward and he grabbed Yujun’s neck to balance himself.
For stability, Kanghyun shifted his position entirely onto Yujun’s back in a piggyback.
“What? Why are you stopping?”
Then he raised his head to look ahead.
Hundreds of fluorescent dots glinted in the darkness. From the ceiling, from cracks in the walls, and from the mud on the floor, snakes with slippery scales were pouring out.
It was a legion of Venom Snakes as thick as forearms, spewing purple poison.
“Ugh, fuck.”
Kanghyun’s face went pale.
“Hey, turn around. Back up, right now.”
“What are you talking about? We have to kill them to get out of here.”
“Ah, disgusting. I hate snakes!”
Kanghyun hugged Yujun’s neck so tightly it was almost a stranglehold. Yujun tried to pry off Kanghyun’s arms. But no matter how much strength he used, they wouldn’t budge.
“Kuk, why are you so strong!”
“You’re just weak.”
“I’m S-rank too, you know? Whatever. Ugh, let go. I need to grab my sword.”
“Right. You’re S-rank. You should be able to fight while carrying me.”
At Kanghyun’s shameless demand, Yujun let out a hollow laugh.
Ssshhh!
Just then, one snake at the front spat venom and leaped up.
The horrified Kanghyun buried his face in Yujun’s back. Yujun stretched out the hand not supporting Kanghyun and grabbed at the air.
The flying snake’s head burst, crushed by water pressure in the air.
“Kanghyun. Seriously, get down now?”
Yujun tried once more to pry off Kanghyun’s arms. But Kanghyun’s arms, with survival instinct activated, still wouldn’t budge.
He glanced down. Purple blood—or whatever it was—pouring from the severed snake head was mixing with the mud to create a horrific mixture.
Rather than dip his feet in that, it was better to stick to Yujun’s back like a parasite for life.
Moreover, the hissing sounds coming from all directions were unpleasantly stimulating each and every one of his auditory cells.
Now was not the time to worry about dignity.
Kanghyun hugged Yujun’s neck even tighter and wrapped his legs around his torso.
“You crazy bastard! Why are you wrapping your legs too!”
Yujun screamed and twisted his body. The reaction made Kanghyun’s body sway too, but he didn’t fall off as if he’d applied glue.
“It’s hard to balance! Don’t shake me, I’m getting motion sickness.”
Just as the struggle was about to continue, the snake swarm hanging from the ceiling poured down like rain. Dozens of snakes sliced through the air and flew toward them.
“Kyaaah! They’re coming! Hurry up and kill them! What are you doing!”
At Kanghyun’s scream, Yujun swallowed a curse and reacted. He gave up trying to pry Kanghyun off and extended one hand into the air. Blue mana exploded from his fingertips.
KWAAAAANG—!
The moisture in the air instantly condensed and formed a massive barrier of water. The pouring snakes bounced off the water wall.
Yujun waved his hand, wielding the water stream like a whip. Every time the water stream sliced through the air, the snakes’ bodies were cut apart.
Blood and flesh splattered everywhere, but thanks to the water curtain Yujun had wrapped around them, not a single drop splattered on Kanghyun’s clothes.
As expected, S-rank auto-hunting is the best.
“Hey, Kanghyun. Be quiet. My ears are killing me!”
Yujun shouted irritably. But Kanghyun paid no mind and poked his head out from behind his back.
“There, on the right. One’s coming from the right. Ah, that’s the tail! You have to aim for the head. Are you stupid?”
“Do you seriously have a death wish?”
Yujun’s voice carried murderous intent, but Kanghyun continued pointing.
Following Kanghyun’s instructions, Yujun’s water stream danced. The snake leaping from the right had its head pierced by a water bullet and rolled on the floor.
Kanghyun clapped in admiration.
“Oh. As expected of our national hero.”
At Yujun’s every gesture, snakes were crushed to death or severed. Kanghyun watched this contentedly. Yujun’s back was wide and warm, with minimal shaking.
But the number of snakes showed no sign of decreasing. Rather, they seemed to be swarming more after smelling blood. The floor already had no room to step with snake corpses.
He could feel Yujun’s breathing gradually growing rougher.
For a very brief moment—a truly very brief moment—Kanghyun felt something called a pang of conscience.
Should I get down?
But that thought soon disappeared.
Seeing the writhing snake swarm and the squishy field of corpses before his eyes, he thought it would be better to jump into hellfire.
Besides, his opponent was Kang Yujun. Korea’s #1, the strongest S-rank Hunter. These trivial monsters were at a level he could slaughter with one hand while blindfolded and with his ears plugged. There was no way he couldn’t kill them just because he had one lump of baggage attached.
“Hang in there, Kang Yujun. You can do it, Kang Yujun.”
Kanghyun tossed out soulless encouragement and rubbed his cheek more comfortably against his back. He’d definitely left his conscience at home.
