novelraw Chapter 36 : Chapter 36
Chapter 36 : Chapter 36
Chapter 36.Turmoil (5)
Demonic Beasts swarmed in.
The Hunters finally sprang out.
Like a taut string being snapped, battle cries unconsciously burst from their mouths.
“Aaaaaah!”
They clashed.
Sword tips, hammer heads, spear shafts clashed against the spider Demonic Beasts’
exoskeletons.
Crunch!
The Hunters began to dispose of the Demonic Beasts in their own ways.
Piercing, smashing, and tearing apart.
At that moment when the vanguards of each side clashed fiercely.
Ping—
Riman shot a twisted stream of water between them.
Quietly, enough that no one would notice.
The tip of that string was compressed sharply like a needle.
[Water Vein Thread]
A magic that shoots a stream of water sharpened like the tip of a needle.
On the surface, it was just a thin stream of water.
Because of that, no Hunter paid attention to it, but—
Thwack.
The water stream pierced through the spider’s head in a single breath.
That wasn’t the end.
A bullet that pierces a target usually loses force, deflects, and falls elsewhere.
But Riman’s water flow that pierced the Demonic Beast’s head was not like that.
It did not lose its acceleration.
As soon as that compressed water stream pierced one, it flew toward the next target.
Thwack!
Another guy’s head was pierced.
And then the next, next, and next.
Thwack-thwack-thwack!
As if being stitched, the heads of the Demonic Beasts were instantly threaded and pierced by the water stream.
The stream didn’t move in a straight line.
It bent, circled, soared, and plunged.
The water stream, flying while bending here and there as if ignoring inertia and gravity, threaded tens of Demonic Beasts into corpses in an instant.
Behind this killing was Riman’s command.
It was the result of controlling the ultra-high-speed water stream one by one to thread tens of Demonic Beasts into a single line.
[Water Vein Thread] was not originally this kind of magic.
It was just a magic that shot compressed water streams at high speed.
However, Riman’s transcendentally detailed senses made the feat of bending the water stream dozens of times in that split second possible.
It was the moment a simple single-point piercing magic transformed into a mass slaughter area-of-effect skill.
“Uh……?”
“What the, is it already over?”
A moment later.
The Hunters realized at some point that the battle had suddenly finished.
Because the Demonic Beasts they hadn’t even touched were sprawling as corpses.
All with holes in their heads.
“This is…….”
“Let’s all go.”
Riman crossed through the corpses as if it were nothing.
Seeing his back, the Hunters only then realized that Riman had disposed of these Demonic Beasts.
“What the?”
“What did he do……?”
Like that, they continued forward, met more Demonic Beasts, and fought again.
And the battle ended in exactly the same way as before.
A sudden start, an abrupt finish.
While the Hunters stepped forward as vanguards to block the Demonic Beasts’ advance, Riman swept the Demonic Beasts away with magic.
Of course, Lee Jeok-seo, who had no combat ability alone, stood behind Riman.
After about two more such battles.
Only then did the Hunters notice that Riman was using a technique utilizing water.
One Hunter asked Riman.
“How do you do that? Manipulating water.”
“It’s a trade secret.”
“Tsk, how stingy…….”
He clicked his tongue, tsk, and stepped back.
And watching this from a couple of steps behind, Lee Jeok-seo’s brother felt something was strange inside.
‘Using water……?’
Clearly, the ability shown inside the tent earlier was ‘Electricity’.
But the technique he was using now was of the Water Flow lineage.
Electricity and Water Flow.
Riman was using abilities from both lineages.
‘Is that possible?’
As far as he knew, Superhumans or Mages could only use abilities of one lineage.
The only ones who could use abilities of multiple lineages were Enhanced Humans.
So he looked at Riman and thought this:
‘As expected, he was an Enhanced Human.’
The biggest characteristic of Enhanced Humans was that they made up the largest number among mana users.
Superhumans had to be born with abilities, and Mages had to be born with mana sensitivity and intelligence.
But Enhanced Humans didn’t need to be born with anything.
They just needed the surgery cost.
That was why they were the most numerous.
And because of that, among the three types of mana users, their power was the most unstable.
It wasn’t power they were born with, nor was it power forged through effort, so in a way, it was natural.
So the public perception of Enhanced Humans was generally ‘weak’.
Of course, there were Enhanced Humans with transcendent power like Kim Bong-sik of Ork Corporation.
But what determines the impression of a group is not the few outstanding ones, but the average members of that group.
So the moment he judged Riman to be an Enhanced Human, a faint smile rose on Lee Jeok-seo’s brother’s lips.
At that moment, Riman spoke.
“Rest over. Let’s get up.”
Riman and the Hunters rose from their spots.
The march into the cave began again.
* * *
Riman’s party’s advance was unstoppable.
There was no hesitation in choosing directions at forks, nor were they held back for long by Demonic Beasts.
A rapid advance without any hesitation despite it being their first time.
But the moment came when even their advance had to stop.
“Ah…….”
“Damn it…….”
“What do we do……?”
The Hunters stopped walking with dejected voices.
It wasn’t just the Hunters who were discouraged.
Lee Jeok-seo, the CEO of Jeoksong Company, also sat down weakly, expressing his frustration.
The reason they were so discouraged.
It was because a wide lake spread out before them.
A massive underground lake that looked at least 100 meters in diameter.
There wasn’t even a path visible to go around the lake.
Naturally, there were no boats to cross the lake.
Swimming across was even more out of the question.
The scale of the lake was one thing, but they couldn’t know what was under the water.
While everyone was in despair.
‘We came the right way.’
Only Riman was relieved and cheering inwardly.
At that moment, Lee Jeok-seo’s brother approached Riman and asked.
“What are you going to do?”
His voice was thick with annoyance.
Riman understood that annoyance.
But he only understood it.
It wasn’t like he could feel good about being the target of annoyance.
So Riman’s words also had some thorns.
“...Just shut up and follow me.”
“Damn it, I mean how? The path is completely blocked by the lake right now…….”
Step.
Riman approached the lakeside.
Everyone’s gaze turned to Riman in unison.
Swish—
Riman stepped onto the surface of the lake.
The moment he fully stepped down like this, Riman would fall right into the water.
But Riman had no intention of drowning.
[Freeze]
K-k-krack!
The surface where Riman stepped froze as it was.
Riman’s foot stepped lightly onto the ice plate.
The Hunters froze at the unexpected sight, and Riman took another step.
Crack...!
The surface freezing again.
Riman took the next, and the next step onto the ice.
He wasn’t walking along a path, he was making a path as he walked.
Walking on the lake like that without falling in, Riman walked about ten more steps.
Then he looked back.
Riman’s eyes were glaring sharply at Lee Jeok-seo’s brother.
Riman said.
“What are you doing? I said everyone follow.”
Everyone followed onto the ice path Riman made.
“...It’s real ice.”
“He froze the lake……!”
Everyone started walking on the ice, murmuring quietly.
Lee Jeok-seo’s brother also followed at the very back with a stiff expression.
Thud, thud—
The sound of footsteps on the ice echoed loudly.
Because the ceiling above the lake was quite high.
This wasn’t a simple lake but a massive cavity filled with water.
The ceiling soaring high without a single point of light was just pitch dark.
Had they reached about the center of the lake?
Something fell from the ceiling.
Drip—
Small ripples spread on the lake surface.
Everyone thought it must just be dew falling from the ceiling.
But that thought was wrong.
Drip, drip, drip—
Why would dew that hadn’t fallen until now suddenly fall now?
Some Hunters looked up at the ceiling.
And they froze.
“...Crazy.”
Numerous spider Demonic Beasts were hanging from the ceiling.
The water drops that fell earlier were their drool.
“Hiss……!”
The spiders began to descend on lines toward Riman’s party.
The Hunters drew their weapons in unison.
But it didn’t seem like they could do much properly.
Where they were standing was a narrow ice path only about 1m wide.
On top of this, moving recklessly or fighting was impossible.
Then, Riman opened his mouth.
“Everyone halt. Put away your weapons.”
The moment everyone’s gaze turned to Riman in unison.
Pop-pop-pop-pop—
Tens of ripples spread on the water surface.
It wasn’t caused by something falling into the water.
It was the opposite.
Ripples created by tens of water drops falling up from the surface.
Water drops about the size of golf balls rose above the surface.
A phenomenon that couldn’t happen in a natural state.
Proof that mana was involved.
Naturally, it was Riman’s doing.
‘Loading complete.’
Riman looked up overhead.
There were spiders descending with their blue fangs flashing.
Riman extended his fingertips toward them and aimed.
And—
“Shot.”
The magic headed for the Demonic Beasts.
[Water Bullet]
A magic that fires bullets made of water at high speed.
30 rounds, volley fire.
The tens of water drops Riman created soared toward the ceiling in unison.
Pew-pew-pew-pew!
Streams of water soaring like a fountain.
They pierced the Demonic Beasts’ torsos and heads like bullets.
The spiders that had descended smacking their lips at the prey isolated on the lake became chunks of meat themselves instead.
Splash!!
Some spiders fell right into the lake, creating large splashes.
The majority became corpses dangling on their spiderwebs.
Dripping green blood peculiar to spider Demonic Beasts, the guys hung dangling like meat in a butcher shop.
“What on earth is that……?”
“Is this magic by any chance?”
“Are you stupid? Why would a Mage come to a place like this?”
As the touch-and-go situation was resolved too lightly, the Hunters awkwardly put away their drawn weapons.
“Let’s go.”
After tidying up the situation with a single magic shot like that, Riman hurried his steps.
‘Since there’s certainly water everywhere, it’s good to use Water Flow lineage magic.’
Since he could fire off Water Flow lineage magic without spending much mana.
But the stamina consumption felt a bit strong.
After all, it had only been a day since the fierce battle, so the fatigue hadn’t left yet.
Plus, his left arm was still broken.
‘Mana is virtually infinite, but stamina is not. I need to manage my stamina a bit.’
Anyway, how much longer did they walk?
The party finally arrived at the opposite lakeside following the ice path.
“Oh yeah……!”
“We crossed the lake!!”
Toward the Hunters who were sighing in relief, Riman said.
“This ice path will be maintained for an hour. You can cross back here later.”
“An hour later? Can we finish everything within an hour?”
“Of course. This is near the Queen Spider’s spawning room, the Boss Room.”
“……!”
“So get ready.”
“You mean attacking the Boss Room?”
“No. Prepare to deal with the General.”
The individual called the so-called General Spider.
Around the room where the Queen resides, elite individuals guarding the Queen are stationed.
A guy much bigger and stronger than other spiders corresponding to workers.
Boom!!
Then, a gigantic spider fell to the floor.
An individual much more gigantic than the spiders they had dealt with so far.
The ground shook from the impact.
A threatening huge body, plus a powerful entrance through falling.
The air tightened tautly.
Just when everyone was raising their power and bracing themselves to deal with the difficult enemy before their eyes.
[Lightning Spear]
Crackle!!
Suddenly, a spear of black electricity flew in and embedded itself right into the guy.
Riman spoke.
“Pre-roasting is done. Catch it.”