Chapter 28: 28

As the summoner realized Su-hyeun’s breathing had turned normal, he quickly responded . He raised his hand and shouted .

“Kill them!”

The summoner’s loud voice echoed throughout the cave .

At the summoner’s command, the hundreds of monsters showed their teeth in unison, flexed their claws, and charged towards both Su-hyeun and Lee Ju-ho . The monsters were of a similar standard as the Lizardcops, perhaps even stronger .

But…

Burning—!

At the same time, the flame on Su-hyeun’s sword was set ablaze . He hit the wall with extremely high heat, and it covered Su-hyeun’s body . To find Su-hyeun in the flames, the summoner had to use his cane and search for him .

“Where did he go…”

Swish—!

Kyaaa—!

A group of monsters moved in one direction in unison .

It was the summoner, the mastermind, who was controlling the monsters’ minds . However, the summoner’s controls and intentions were nearly useless .

Fwoom—!

The monsters that were charging in one direction exploded and turned into burnt pieces . At the same time, Su-hyeun’s new form escaped and ran towards the summoner .

At that moment, dark black magic burst out from the summoner’s cane .

Slam—!

A sword and cane .

The crash of red hot flames and dark magic led to a massive explosion .

The summoner recoiled from the explosion and coughed . Feeling embarrassed by his own reaction, the summoner looked at his numb hands .

It was the magic concentration that Su-hyeun was handling and the energy and flames that were created by his magic .

Although it was just one clash, he was sure about it .

The summoner felt threatened .

Just based on Su-hyeun’s movement alone, it seemed unusual . Not only that, but Su-hyeun’s magic was also incompatible with the summoner’s .

The summoner finally found Su-hyeun — he couldn’t find Su-hyeun earlier as he did not know where he went .

In a way that suggested he was not too concerned about it, the summoner hurled his cane like a wildcat in the air .

Dark energy started to burst everywhere . The surrounding air had been polluted, and the ground and walls started to rot .

Burning, burning—

Eventually, Su-hyeun revealed himself .

It was an attack that left Su-hyeun with nowhere to hide . Though his control wasn’t right and was not as effective, it was a quick response .

Su-hyeun frowned as he faced head-on with the dark magic .

Su-hyeun’s eyes focused on the purple glowing stone that was located on the tip of the cane .

Most of the summoner’s magic had come out from that stone . It was quite easy to see what kind of stone it was .

An ether stone that had contained magic .

It was a stone that could only be harvested in small quantities from the dungeons, and a fistful of this resource could fetch astronomical prices . Most items used by awakeners contained these ether stones . Of course, items with an ether stone of that size were scarce .

It made the situation harder to deal with, but not too much . It had never occurred to Su-hyeun that he would lose to a summoner .

Burning, clash—!

As the dark energy and flames clashed, they began to compete . Su-hyeun grew the fire with all his power and went for a head-on crash with the summoner .

“What…!” The summoner’s voice exploded in bewilderment . The summoner began to step back as the dark magic from his cane was pushed by Su-hyeun’s flame .

At that moment, the flame that was bursting out from Su-hyeun’s sword fell to the ground .

Rip—!

A sharp sword attack split both the flame and the dark magic . The summoner, who blocked the sudden attack by raising his cane, looked at his cane incredulously .

“What’s… this…”

A crack formed on the cane . In fact, there were quite a bit of crack lines .

As cracks formed on the cane which he believed to be unbreakable, the summoner’s mind turned blank .

“It’s not over yet . ”

Su-hyeun’s sword rose up once again .

At the same time, the summoner held up his cane on reflex once more . He used dark magic, forming layers of black protection around his body .

He must narrow their distance .

After coming to a decision, Su-hyeun sprang to his feet . Having leaped into the air a few times, it increased his speed .

Crack—

Su-hyeun’s new form penetrated through the dark magic protection created by the summoner .

His whole body ached . The feeling of flesh rotting could not be erased entirely by the flames that were protecting his body .

But he endured it . Since he risked himself, the damage to the summoner would be fatal .

Slash—!

The flame which had been scattered momentarily gathered immediately back at Su-hyeun’s sword .

Wielding the red sword in his hands, Su-hyeun aimed at the summoner who hid in his protection .

“Goodbye . ”

Stab—

Su-hyeun’s long sword pierced through the dark shroud .

“Whirl—”

Lee Ju-ho pointed his sword at the monsters and had his back towards the wall .

Grrr—

There was nowhere else he could retreat .

“There’s a shit load of them, seriously . ”

It was his first time to come face to face with such a large number of monsters . It was thanks to his skill Swift that he could survive up until now; otherwise, he would have become their meal .

However, there were still dozens more of them left .

Not only just physically, but mentally he had problems, too . Moreover, having to deal with a large number of monsters on his own gave him enormous pressure .

Stomp, stomp—!

Grrr—

At that moment, the reactions of the monsters had changed .

The monsters which had been targeting Lee Ju-ho until now changed their line of sight .

‘What had happened over there?’

The fight between Su-hyeun and the summoner . Their fight made Lee Ju-ho feel sick .

It was to the point where the magic concentration dispersed in the air during their fight would cause his skin to shrivel up . It was obvious what would have happened if he had interfered .

It wasn’t just a fight where they were just slashing, stabbing or shooting skills at each other .

There was a massive gap between them; how would one utilize and use it?

Would the A-rank awakeners, who were of a level higher than him, be that way, too?

Even if so, he would never have thought that all A-rank awakeners would be as strong as Su-hyeun .

That was when he realized that there was another piece of sky higher than the current piece of sky .

Blow—

He let out a deep sigh .

After calming himself down, his breathing had also slowed down .

For some reason, the mana that was nearly depleted dropped even more . Lee Ju-ho felt better for nothing .

“Great . ”

Grab—

He straightened the sword in his hand and brought his legs back up .

“Shall we start…”

Clash—!

Boom—

That moment, the cave shook wildly, and two types of magic clashed .

“Oh, oh my . ”

Boom—

The flames that clashed with the dark magic exploded and shook the whole place . The magic that could be felt from the end of Su-hyeun’s sword started eating at his body .

Rip—!

As it penetrated through the dark shroud, Su-hyeun wielded his sword wildly .

As the flame spread out, it swept in front of his eyes . At the same time, cracks quickly formed on the dark shroud .

Crack, crack—

Bang—!

The summoner collapsed onto the floor amidst the broken dark shroud .

Although his head was pierced and his body was halved, the summoner’s limbs were still moving, creaking away .

“I… will… curse… you…”

“Do that when you’re in hell . ”

Crack—!

With his feet stretched forward, Su-hyeun crushed the summoner’s head .

A small bead rolled out from the empty skull . Su-hyeun looked at it and said, “Rest in peace . ”

Grrr—

As the summoner’s control disappeared, the monsters had lost their bearings . The confused monsters did not even have thoughts to attack Su-hyeun and Lee Ju-ho .

“So, now…”

Su-hyeun looked at Lee Ju-ho, who was leaning against the wall, with a puzzled look .

Burning—

Su-hyeun used his remaining strength and spread the flames around him, which had gathered on his sword .

“Let’s wrap this up quickly and head back . ”

“Pant, pant—”

Lee Ju-ho laid on the floor and stretched widely . A burnt smell came out from his mouth, and he could hear his heart beating clearly in his ear .

“I-I really can’t move anymore . ”

His back was covered with the monsters’ blood . He swore there was never a time where he had slain as many monsters as he had today .

He had prepared to lose his life, but he managed to survive .

Not sure if it was satisfaction or a sense of achievement, he felt proud of himself and happy about it .

On top of that…

Of course, it was compared to his other fights .

As he looked at Su-hyeun, who seemed to have a bit of health left standing without issues, he felt a sense of shame .

A sneer escaped from the corner of his mouth . His skills were not as strong until he personally witnessed how Su-hyeun dealt with a hundred over monsters .

Lee Ju-ho hadn’t personally seen him fought them .

It was the same up till this moment . Su-hyeun saved up as much mana as he could while fighting .

However, as his opponent was quite strong, Su-hyeun was still forced to go all out at the summoner, which could be seen as the boss of the dungeon .

It was beyond Lee Ju-ho’s imagination to be able to witness Su-hyeun’s ability through his own eyes .

He couldn’t believe the Su-hyeun was just an awakener in his first year .

Su-hyeun could be dubbed to be on par with the world’s top rank awakeners, the S-rank awakeners .

“Please rest up a bit . ”

Su-hyeun did not push Lee Ju-ho, who was spread out on the floor .

Since the summoner was slain, there was no use staying around in the dungeon anymore . There was nothing else left for Lee Ju-ho to do .

There were only two things for Su-hyeun left to do .

And…

Su-hyeun’s eyes laid on the stone and the halved cane that was left behind by the summoner .

First and foremost, he had to crush the summoner’s stone .

[Time limit: 00:01:45]

It was very close .

If they were a tad slower, they might not have even gotten to destroy the summoner’s stone on time .

Trudge—

Su-hyeun walked towards the summoner’s stone and placed his hand on it .

In the aftermath of the fight, the stone gained some scratches and crack lines . As it hadn’t been completely crushed, it still had its functions .

As Su-hyeun touched the summoner’s stone, he injected magic into it .

Whirl, whirl, whirl—

Waves of disturbance started stirring from within the stone as he injected magic into it .

Su-hyeun started crushing the summoner’s stone from within as he raised the flames .

A while later .

Boom—

Crash—

The summoner stone that started to split from within showed streaks of red light and started crumbling .

[You have passed the trial . ]