The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 35

A vast tropical rainforest.

The trees had grown so large that they blocked the sunlight, creating many shadows here and there, making it somewhat dark.

On top of that, the color of the trees was so deep that if you didn't focus your eyes, it was hard to tell what was a shadow and what was a tree.

Still, the spacing between the trees was wide, so it was easy to walk around.

Between the trees, the party led by Choi Seok-ho and Shin Ye-eun walked, maintaining a constant speed.

'Strange.'

Shin Ye-eun frowned at the sense of incongruity that grew stronger the deeper she went into the dungeon.

A forest is usually full of various sounds, such as the chirping of insects, the movement of animals, and the sound of the wind.

But it was different now.

The forest was so quiet that she could even hear the small breaths of Choi Seok-ho, who was walking at the very front.

'Something is hiding and aiming for us.'

As soon as she made that judgment, she conveyed her judgment to the entire party with her aura.

-Something seems to be hiding, so everyone be careful. A forest is usually...

After saying that, she told the entire party the reason she thought so.

In a normal situation, instead of explaining in such detail, she would have just given a short instruction.

But the situation was different now.

This dungeon raid was a place for her, as the party leader, to teach the party members.

Therefore, she explained to the party members in detail the process that led her to make this judgment.

Her explanation gradually narrowed the subtle gap between Pantheon and reality that existed within the party members.

Just with that, their movements changed noticeably.

Although they might still lack experience in reality, they had the 15 years of experience they had gained in Pantheon.

-Prepare for battle.

Pisyuk-

The moment Shin Ye-eun's voice pierced their minds, they stopped moving and raised their weapons to prepare for battle.

She raised her bow and arrow and, while aiming at a place with dense, shadowy bushes, shot an arrow imbued with aura toward it.

Pasyak-

Before her arrow could pierce the bushes, something huge and black jumped out of the bushes and attacked them.

"Hup!"

At that, Choi Seok-ho turned a part of his body into steel using his aura to block its attack and, at the same time, swung his giant greatsword to counterattack.

Krrrrrrng--

The jaguar with black fur, as if it couldn't be helped, dodged his greatsword, took a few steps back, and then, wagging its tail, let out a low, guttural sound toward the party.

***

"Haa, if I had known this would happen, I would have eaten dinner at a more expensive and delicious place yesterday."

Eun Yeon-woo said, looking at the creature that had appeared before his eyes.

Just by looking at it, a cold sweat broke out.

A Black Jaguar.

The black hunter, boasting the fierce pupils characteristic of felines, wagged its tail with a confident appearance, as if it was confident it could handle everyone present even though its surprise attack had failed.

And the party members, seeing the Black Jaguar's appearance, tightened their grip on their weapons with anxious faces.

One person, in the atmosphere that was frozen with tension as if walking on thin ice, only Lee Shin was detached.

'A Black Jaguar... A creature I've never seen before has finally appeared.'

While all the players were enjoying their adventures, hunting monsters in Pantheon, he had repeatedly fought various types of LV.1 monsters in the tutorial.

Because of that, even when he saw monsters, he didn't feel much of a sense of novelty.

The experience of killing countless monsters had melted into him, so he could predict and respond to the movements of even monsters he was seeing for the first time to some extent, and besides, the monsters that had appeared so far were ones he had already caught, even if they had changed a bit.

'But if they're creatures I haven't caught before, and on top of that, their level has gone up, there must be a new pattern I haven't thought of.'

Thinking it would be fun to watch, he looked at the three guild members.

"I'll say this in advance, I have no intention of interfering in your fight with that thing. You have to fight it on your own."

"Excuse me?"

"What?"

"Huh?"

The three guild members who heard his words showed a dumbfounded reaction, but that was none of his business.

"You know this too, but this is like a reinforcement training camp for you. But if I step in, you'll just stand there blankly without doing anything, right? That won't do."

"What kind of nonsense is that!"

"Are you kidding me right now?!"

To the guild members' ears, his words were interpreted as 'I don't want to die, so you die', so they shouted as if having a fit.

"Ah, don't worry. I'll step in if it looks like you're going to die. As long as you don't charge into an attack to die, you probably won't die."

"What kind of nonsense is that! How can we even believe that in the first place..."

Pajijijik-!

At that moment, while talking to them, he unfolded the Lightning Flash Step, escaped their line of sight, and dug into the gap between them.

It wasn't an action that said 'I've said all I have to say, so from now on, you're on your own'.

On the contrary.

Peoheong--!

It was to prevent the three guild members from dying from the surprise attack of the Black Jaguar that had been waiting for an opening.

'Haa, I even found the guy who was trying to ambush and brought him out, but is this all? At this rate, I'm going to be too annoyed.'

Putting the speed of the Lightning Flash Step into his fist, he concluded that this was all because they lacked confidence.

'I can't help it, should I provide some service and adjust the difficulty?'

The moment his fist touched the chest of the Black Jaguar that had risen into the air, baring its fangs, he twisted his fist and rotated it.

Keulleok-!

Then, the Black Jaguar spat out blood from its mouth and was thrown back faster than it had come.

Lee Shin, through the sensation transmitted from his fingertips, guessed how many ribs had been broken, turned his back, and looked at the guild members.

The guild members stood there with a dumbfounded expression, not quite understanding the situation that had suddenly unfolded before their eyes.

"See? I'll step in if it looks like you're going to die, so hurry up and fight."

"Y-yes."

They, who had seen what he had done, became like meek lambs and began to attack the Black Jaguar according to his command.

And he, taking a step back, watched the Black Jaguar and the party fight.

It was the first time for him to see a party fight, but it wasn't particularly interesting.

For that, the party's level was too low.

'On the contrary, the more I watch, the more frustrated I feel...'

He had even broken about five of its ribs with the intention of boosting their confidence, but their fighting was too grating.

To put it simply, he couldn't stand to just watch.

-Are you kidding me? The guy who's supposed to be tanking can't even handle a shield properly?

-Are your eyes just for decoration? There are so many openings to attack, but you can't see them?

-What are you doing just standing there? Are your bow and arrows just for decoration?

He nagged them all telepathically, cursing at them.

The Black Jaguar's attacks were already flying at them from the front, and when his curse-laden nagging came through telepathically, the guild members felt a surge of annoyance.

But that annoyance soon disappeared, and its place was taken by a feeling of astonishment.

-Don't just hold the shield tightly and stubbornly endure. You have to tilt the shield to deflect attacks or sometimes even charge. Haven't you ever heard of a shield charge?

-Don't try to swing your sword flashily for no reason. Your stance is so clumsy that swinging the sword itself is a hindrance. Just keep using point thrusts.

-Don't just stand there. Move. Whether you shoot an arrow or not, just move for now. Use everything in your body, not just your weapon, to distract the opponent's attention.

Surprisingly, his words accurately pointed out their shortcomings one by one.

As the party members gradually began to move according to his words, a fight on equal terms with the Black Jaguar began to be drawn, little by little.

Seeing them gradually improve was a little interesting for him too.

He ended up focusing a little deeply on their fighting.

Pajijik-

So his response was a little slow.

Lee Shin clicked his tongue, seeing another one jump out of the bushes.

This one, cunningly, aimed for the two supporters who were a little distance away from them first.

As soon as Lee Shin felt the other one move, he threw himself toward it, but he was a little late.

The jaguar's claws were faster in reaching the two supporters than his spear was in reaching the Black Jaguar.

'At least if I hit it with my spear in the middle, they can avoid a deep wound. Well, since it'll be a light wound, they can just treat it with the potions they have.'

But at that moment, he saw an unexpected scene and his eyes widened.

Just before the jaguar's claws reached them, Eun Yeon-woo used his aura to quickly push the person next to him by the waist and quickly ducked down.

'Look at that.'

He had noticed the movement of the Black Jaguar that had appeared from behind and had quickly moved his body.

Thanks to that, he was able to deflect the attack before the Black Jaguar's claws reached the two.

The Black Jaguar, having lost its target, retreated from the impact and distanced itself from him.

Normally, Lee Shin would have chased the distanced Black Jaguar and extended his leg toward it.

But he was more interested in the sight he had just seen than the cat in front of him.

"Waaaah!!! I almost died!"

"You, how did you notice just now..."

Krrrrrrr-

Lee Shin looked at Eun Yeon-woo with sparkling eyes and opened his mouth.

But unfortunately for him, the situation of the two was not leisurely enough to have a conversation.

The distanced Black Jaguar, seeing him turn his head away from it, launched another surprise attack.

The nimble and flexible body characteristic of felines and the elastic and densely packed muscles added tremendous speed to the Black Jaguar.

"You're in the way."

But to Lee Shin, such movements were nothing more than a single trick.

Lee Shin looked at the Black Jaguar rushing toward him and swung his spear without hesitation.

The spear, which contained neither [Flames] nor [Lightning], swung toward the Black Jaguar's neck, baring its teeth.

And that was all.

Scrape-

The body of the creature, which had lost its neck in an instant, fell down and rolled on the ground.

Even if Lee Shin had come here in a weaker state, without raising his stats using [Madness] and [Recovery] in the dungeon, the winner would have been him.

But Lee Shin wouldn't have been able to win so easily.

"Heo..."

The overwhelming appearance Lee Shin had just shown was enough to surprise even Eun Yeon-woo, who had become somewhat accustomed to him after going through several dungeons with him.

(End of Chapter)