An unknown sensation ran through my body. I turned my head away, rubbing my arm with goosebumps.
The king of hell, doomed to fire, raised his bloodless hand.
I grabbed the hand that reached out to grab my chin.
It is against the Confucian principle to hold others by the chin. Keep that in mind, you alien cub.
“You sound quite real, considering you’re just mere data.”
[“My ‘eyes’ can see anywhere. It’s not difficult to interfere with such crude illusions.”]
The wrist that I clenched tightly didn’t break.
The ones we call kings are the most powerful aliens of the outer dimension.
There was no way that the Hunters of Earth, which were being invaded unilaterally, could match them.
Like this.
Blue fingernails brushed my cheek. A handful of my hair fell.
I thought I would see fallen flesh, but there was only blood flowing from the wound. There were bits of flesh and blood on his bluish fingernails.
The man, who was as pale as a corpse, suddenly looked bored.
I let go of his arm and took a step back. The cut was beginning to corrode.
“I have nothing to do with fakes, and you have nothing to gain here, so go back.”
[“Nothing to gain? I’m sure he’ll go berserk again if he knows I’ve been in contact with you.”]
It was a very relaxed conversation with someone’s cheek cut. Someone might think it was a chat between a dog owner with another dog owner when taking her dog out to drink in the neighborhood.
I clicked my tongue in disapproval because I felt bad, but there were also things that caught my attention.
‘Are you the new target of the retiree?’
‘The retiree’. The King of Sloth, with that shameless face, had mentioned the word ‘the retiree’ several times. This freak was one of the seven most powerful of the outer dimension that invaded our dimension.
A monster like this pays attention to me? This is an impossible possibility unless my genre of life is a hot romance fantasy with aliens.
The world is very wide, and there are many surprising things, but the fact that my genre of life is not a comedy but a romance is genuinely marvelous.
Did I die and wake up possessed by a villain?! That kind of development is very interesting but unrealistic. The credibility is zero.
If you can’t trust something, you’re right not to. That’s why I paid attention to the ‘that waste’ that came out of this monster’s mouth.
Perhaps that waste is the reason this monster is interested in me.
Or not?
Or maybe I can experience one of the first romances with aliens living in outer space?
“Who’s the retiree?”
A sneer appeared on his face that was white as if it’d been bleached.
I checked the situation of the party members while enduring the growing pain in my cheek. Currently 498. It won’t be long.
[“He’s a great man who made you, who was less than a passing insect, as useful as you are now.”]
Sharp teeth were visible beyond the sinisterly torn lips.
I fiddled with my sore neck and raised my eyebrows. How absurd.
“I was strong from the beginning.”
[“No. The ‘first’ you weren’t even as good as a bug. Though you can’t remember.”]
“The first me? When’s the first? When I awakened?” The day when the gates opened all over the world and monsters rained down. I awakened on the day of calamity.
I awakened before being beaten to death by a monster, and after awakening, I punched the monster and broke its head.
Strong monsters that the Awakened who have just awakened cannot defeat. I had the power to defeat those monsters from the start. When I punched, buildings broke, and when I kicked, the monsters were swept away.
Mountains collapsed, and seas parted. I became a martial arts master instantly in the face of death.
[“No.”]
My image was reflected in the eyes of the smiling monster pretending to be a human.
Half of the skin on my face melted around the wound, revealing my muscles.
It hurt to death, but not enough to express it. Initially, Hunters were people who must fight monsters even if their arms and legs were cut off.
The 20-year-old Woo Yeonhui, who used to roll over just from a paper cut, has now become a 26-six-year-old Finger Technique who doesn’t show it even if her arm is cut off.
“Then?”
And, of course, 26-six-year-old Woo Yeonhui was not intimidated.
I don’t know how I would feel facing the real thing, but this is virtual. It’s an environment that doesn’t matter even if I die.
The boss, Khrush, has already been subdued.
The king, who’s free to intervene, is not considered part of the gate.
The same is true for this place, which was created based on existing data. Now the count is 511, the target is 579. Even if I die, the game will end once the rest of the party kills all the Hell Goats.
Of course, if this nut goes to kill the party members when I die, I’ll be locked up here forever.
But for some reason, I didn’t think that would happen. For reasons unknown to me, I would occasionally affirm the nature of certain beings with certainty.
[“I don’t think I have any reason to answer that. Two people around you can answer.”]
And it was the same this time.
[“Is it by nature that you can’t think well? No matter how many times, you never change. Yes, like a story progressions NPC in a game who retreats after rambling.”]
The dark eyes resembling the abyss were mixed with blue energy. The tips of the extended fingers also contained a bluish aura.
My mom always told me not to eat strange things, but wouldn’t it be better to eat strange things than to see them?
I opened my mouth to the outstretched fingers, with no time to swing my Fragarach or to tilt my head back.
Crunch.
The finger joints that imitated the human’s were snapped under formidable force.
Pluck. The spattered fingers fell to the brass floor.
I saw myself raising my eyes as hard as possible through the black pupils.
An unknown kind of joy was reflected in the King of Sloth’s eyes as he looked at his severed finger. He laughed like a madman, as if he found the situation pleasant, then pulled out translucent black hands in all directions.
I quickly swung my Fragarach and slashed the hands away.
I cut the black hand that spawned. There were several to dozens of hands.
Dozens to hundreds, hundreds to thousands.
My legs were caught. My arms were grabbed, and my head was as well. I was soon caught by the neck.
A black hand that had turned into a thorn pierced my abdomen. The sensation of having a hole in my stomach was terribly vivid.
A white hand strangled my throat. Grasping my hair, the monster laughed close by.
I know I won’t die. He also knows I won’t die.
[“As always, I will tell you again this time.”]
The King of the Black Hands laughed like a prison guard.
My body, held by the black hands, was melting everywhere.
[“Be wary of those who smile at your closest side. Run away from the lowest and most sinful monster. If you don’t want to be eaten whole from head to toe this time.”]
When I gasped for breath, pain flowed through my whole body.
Even in the midst of everything melting, I could clearly see the monster standing before me as if my eyes and nerves hadn’t melted.
He was very proud of what he was doing now.
He must’ve been proud of his good deeds.
Black hands ripped off my left arm and cut the nape of my neck. It was the same area as last time.
Memories that will never be forgotten are not created in a very complex environment. Repetition and pain are the biggest elements of learning.
[“Then, see you again.”]
The lowest, most sinful monster laughed vulgarly.
Ah. For some reason, I couldn’t get rid of the thought that his appearance of retreating after making a lot of noise was like an NPC in the game.
[You are dead.]
[You will remain in the dungeon in a spiritual form until the dungeon is cleared.]
[Dungeon Clear Goal: Boss ‘Khrush’ (1/1), Hell Goat (551/579)]
***
“-nim.”
“…do…?”
There was a commotion while I was sleeping.
Ah, Mom. I quit the study room. I’m not going to the arcade anymore…
“Finger King-nim, wake up. Finger King-nim!”
“Hey, why are you waking up Finger Technique? It’ll be a mess if the guild leader finds out.”
“Don’t you have to wake up someone who’s not waking up? What if she’s not sleeping but fainted?”
The whispering voice grew louder.
I rolled my head, which felt heavy like wet cotton.
No matter how I look at it, it’s not my mom’s voice. My mom doesn’t have such a deep voice.
“Whoa. Leader, are you here? She hasn’t woken up yet. Come a little later.”
“It’s okay. But why is she on the floor? She won’t be comfortable sleeping. Fetch a bed.”
“Big Sis and Big Bro went to get a bed already, but wouldn’t it be better to pick her up and bring her there instead of bringing over the bed?”
Did I drink alcohol before going to bed? Why am I hearing nonsense? Did I turn on the radio? But I don’t have a radio in my room.
“Really?”
The sound of footsteps on the hard floor was heard.
A sense of realism that cannot be imitated by radio or TV. If this is the sound a machine makes, then I must have come to the future on a time machine.
I was in a state of muddling as if I had a hangover I struggled with the infinitely heavy eyelids and put strength into my weak body.
“Whoa.”
As soon as the shadows fell over my eyelids, my eyes flashed open.
Over there, Geranium, who had been fiddling with her phone with her hand in her pockets, uttered a short exclamation.
“What are you doing there?” Looking at the man who stooped awkwardly, I asked in a sullen tone.
Is it because of my cracked voice or because I suddenly opened my eyes?
Ban Seojun, the man who stooped awkwardly, looked very embarrassed.
