The Late Game Healer Is Way Too Strong – Chapter 201

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟏: 𝐔𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 3

Several dozen minutes ago, at the 〈Korea Hunter Association〉.

Chae Woo-dam sat in his office chair, blankly staring out the window.

Empty, vacant eyes.

Seemingly looking at everything, yet seeing nothing at all.

Creak, creak.

Moving the back of his chair, he tapped the armrest as if marking the passage of time.

A quiet, dry space.

Leaning heavily into his chair, his gaze turned to the picture frame placed on his desk.

It was a photo of himself standing awkwardly beside a radiant Kim Eun-ju.

Just looking at it was enough to make his heart ache in a thousand different ways.

He felt like she was going to open the door right now, walk in, and look at him with that bright smile of hers.

I should have gone in that time, during that operation.

I should have been beside Eun-ju during that operation.

During that operation,

“The others should have been the ones to die.”

Knock, knock.

His secretary entered with a knock.

“E-Excuse me, Association President. It’s time for the meeting.”

Chae Woo-dam headed toward the conference room without a word, following behind him.

Inside the conference room, a dozen or so Hunters were reviewing the meeting materials, waiting for him.

Chae Woo-dam took a seat at the head of the long table and opened his mouth.

“The time has come.”

The others glanced at each other, wondering what in the world he meant.

No one understood.

“How long I have waited for this moment. But the longer the years of hardship, the more precious the reward.”

“E-Excuse me, Association President. I don’t quite understand what you mean by. . .”

Chae Woo-dam turned his gaze to the one who had asked the question.

His gaze was so bizarre that the man who met his eyes felt a chill.

“I spent each day as if it were a thousand years. In a place where half of my soul was gone. . . Simply living was an extension of hell.”

“Yes?”

“And so I will make it bloom again. For a world without her is worthless.”

“A. . . Association President. . .?”

The others looked around, their eyes shifting as if unsure what to say.

There wasn’t a single staff member who didn’t know that Association President Chae Woo-dam had become strange after Hunter Kim Eun-ju died.

At times, he seemed absent-minded, and at other times, he appeared excessively depressed.

And today, they sensed an ominous madness from him.

“She will return to my side, but there’s something I must do first.”

“What do you mean. . .?”

Chae Woo-dam nodded, a twisted smile on his face.

“For a world that does not mourn her death has no need to exist.”

“. . .S-Stop him!!”

One of the Hunters, sensing something amiss, shouted urgently.

BAM!!!

At that moment, dozens of thorns sprang up from the floor, piercing through the bodies of the people.

“Gasp. . . Cough. . .!”

“Ah, yes. Eun-ju, these people are the same. They’re trash who feel no guilt over your death. They deserve to die.”

“Ugh. . .! Y-Y ou. . . you’re crazy. . .!”

Chae Woo-dam approached one of the Hunters who was still alive, coughing up blood.

“Others. . . shouldn’t. . . Ugh! Be allowed to live. . .?”

“The one who’s crazy isn’t me, it’s you.”

“Eun-ju. . . who died. . . must be. . . happy. . .”

“Shut up.”

He placed a hand on the Hunter’s neck.

Crack!

“Cough! Ack! Gulp. . .!”

“How dare you speak her name so casually when you don’t even mourn her, when you didn’t wait for her! People like you have no right to speak her name!!”

“Ack. . .! Cough. . .!”

Thud!

The other man’s breath stopped, and his head lolled to the side.

Chae Woo-dam shook his bloodstained hand, unable to control his rage, and threw the body to the floor.

“Heh heh heh. You’ve done a wonderful job. Do you have no attachment to these people?”

The darkness that had been gathering in the corner stirred, and a familiar figure emerged.

Chae Woo-dam glared at Penelshul with resentful eyes.

“I have no feelings for such people.”

Yes, the only feelings that bloomed within me are for one person.

Penelshul slid across the blood-soaked conference room and handed Chae Woo-dam a small box.

When he opened the crude wooden box, he saw a pitch-black mass inside.

“What is this?”

“This is the nucleus of the egg created by entwining the hearts of those who have taken your bait.”

“The nucleus of the egg. . .?”

Chae Woo-dam took out the heart and held it in his hand.

Indeed, as Penelshul had said, it wasn’t a single heart, but several hearts that had been haphazardly sewn together.

“Infuse it with your mana. Then the egg will awaken.”

“Will the things that hatch from the egg not have cores?”

“You could see it that way. It’s a kind of phenomenon.”

“I see. And the promise. . .”

“I will definitely keep it. I will revive her.”

Chae Woo-dam, without hesitation, poured all of his mana into the pitch-black heart at Penelshul’s words.

Crackle.

Cracks began to form on the egg.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

A blue oriental dragon coiling around the Nodet Tower.

The Hunters were at a loss for words at the bizarre and surreal sight.

It wasn’t very large, but its form was clearly that of an Azure Dragon.

“This isn’t a dream, is it. . .?”

Hunter Lee Ye-ji asked blankly.

No wonder she would ask. Dragons were monsters that were rarely seen, even inside Gates.

No, they were so rare that only a handful of people had ever witnessed them.

Occasionally, they would briefly appear in extremely unique dungeons or towers, and even then, most of those sightings had been in the West.

A blue oriental dragon with such a long body was something that only existed in third-rate news articles or clickbait.

“. . .I wish it were a dream.”

Choi Sung-il pursed his lips.

BOOM!!!

As the Azure Dragon thrashed, all the windows of the tower shattered and the exterior walls crumbled.

Screams and the sounds of people in chaos rang out from all directions.

“Dammit, I’ll go first! Everyone else, contact your guilds and have them declare a state of emergency!”

Min Si-joon shouted urgently, brandishing his staff.

A bluish magic circle emitted a bright light from his feet.

[Wind Magic: Walking on Clouds]

Soon, Si-joon’s body floated into the air, and with a kick of his feet, he began to walk through the air.

It took a lot of mana to fly continuously, but it was a useful technique for traveling a certain distance.

“It’s not a joke when you see it up close. . .”

He landed on the roof of a building near the tower where the dragon was coiled.

Actually, Min Si-joon had seen a dragon before.

The spirit of [Kagutsuchi] that had contracted with Hayakawa Hikari had transformed into a fire dragon.

Even then, he had been surprised by the dragon’s extraordinary rank and mana, but the one before his eyes now was even greater than the fire dragon he had seen before.

No, [Kagutsuchi]’s original form wasn’t a dragon, but merely borrowed its form, whereas the Azure Dragon was naturally in its own form, so its movements were much more natural.

“Doesn’t it have too much mana. . .? I didn’t think I was lacking in any way, but there’s just no comparison.”

Min Si-joon gathered mana at the end of his staff.

Hundreds of letters and symbols mixed together in front of him, forming a white spell formula.

[Wind Magic: Wind Cutter]

Dozens of arrows made of wind shot out from the brilliant magic circle, scattering like shrapnel toward their target.

A baptism of arrows piercing the air.

Todododong!!!

The Azure Dragon twisted its body at the sudden attack and let out a furious roar.

『ᴡʜᴏ ᴅᴀʀᴇs ᴛᴏ ᴀᴛᴛᴀᴄᴋ ᴛʜɪs ʙᴏᴅʏ?』

‘As expected of a dragon.’

The fact that it could speak like a human meant that it was a higher rank than an ordinary monster.

Min Si-joon clicked his tongue.

The opponent was too strong for him to fight alone.

It didn’t make sense for a mage to fight an enemy alone without a vanguard in the first place.

‘But I’ll hold out until I can’t anymore.’

He gathered mana at the end of his staff once again.

[Freezing: Instant Freezing]

A blue spell formula shone and struck the Azure Dragon.

Crackle!!!

In an instant, the atmosphere froze, and a chill that could send shivers down your spine enveloped the Azure Dragon’s entire body.

‘If a melee dealer could deal some damage at this moment, that would be great. . .’

However, his hopes were dashed as the ice that had sealed the Azure Dragon’s movements melted away in an instant.

『ʏᴏᴜ ɪᴍᴘᴜᴅᴇɴᴛ ʜᴜᴍᴀɴ!』

The enemy, having figured out Si-joon’s location, opened its jaws wide and condensed its mana, then shot it out.

Si-joon quickly deployed his shield and closed his eyes tightly.

BOO━━━━━M!!!

A tremendous roar erupted.

However, Si-joon opened his eyes in surprise, as he didn’t feel any impact.

“Why are you going off on your own like that?”

Choi Sung-il, the best tanker in South Korea, was there, looking at Min Si-joon with a grin.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

Giovanni, who had been knocked to the floor, got up.

His Venomous Carapace, which rattled as he moved, had absorbed most of the damage.

“You’re seriously crazy.”

Giovanni glared with murderous eyes from beneath his helmet, calming his rage.

The dark purple Carapace that enveloped his entire body didn’t just serve as protection.

Since it was literally flowing with venom, anything it touched corroded, and if it came into contact with human flesh, the person would be poisoned.

However, Siwoo had kicked him without caring about the venom.

As a world-renowned Hunter, it would be ridiculous to say he didn’t know.

Giovanni turned his gaze to Siwoo’s legs.

“. . .They’re fine. I definitely saw them touch my Carapace. How did they not rot?”

“Well, maybe it’s because it’s so weak.”

“Kukuku, every word you say is annoying. I’ll make sure to finish you off here and now.”

Giovanni’s body shot toward Siwoo like a missile.

He painted a happy picture in his mind.

First, he would paralyze his entire body with Paralysis Venom, then inject him with Venom that would destroy his nerve cells one by one.

And as his brain muddled from the excruciating pain, he would make him rot from his toes up until he died.

Giovanni gathered a large amount of Paralysis Venom in one fist and swung the other fist at Siwoo.

Normally, his opponents would be desperately trying to avoid his attacks.

It was only natural, since even a graze would cause blisters and all sorts of poisoning, putting them between life and death.

Giovanni expected Siwoo to do the same.

That’s why he swung his first attack in a way that his opponent could easily dodge, and when his opponent retreated to the escape route he had predicted, he would launch his real attack.

BAM!!!

That’s what happened with his first attack.

“Huh. . .?”

Siwoo should have dodged it.

However, he had calmly blocked Giovanni’s fist.

He had grabbed his fist with his bare hand, which was covered only in mana.

“You’re crazy—!”

CRACKLE!!!

Siwoo’s Light Body Blow, which he had extended with great force, dug into his opponent’s side.

Giovanni’s body bent to the side.

He couldn’t breathe for a moment.

Siwoo grabbed the nape of his neck and slammed his face into his knee.

BAM!!!

He repeated the blow several times.

Giovanni was confused.

It wasn’t that his head was spinning from pain or agony, but rather that he had difficulty accepting the situation itself.

No one had ever broken through his defenses, and his Venom had always killed whoever he wanted.

And yet, and yet—!

“Kuaaaaaaaaagh!!”

Giovanni added demonic energy to the mana he had gathered and unleashed his fury once again.

Siwoo kicked him in the abdomen and distanced himself.

“You son of a b*tch!! Do you know who I am, Giovanni Barberini?! No matter what, I’ll butcher you and kill you!!”

As if his previous display of fury had been nothing, a ferocious demonic energy began to boil within him.

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