Chapter 157 - Chapter 157

The centipede, with its upper half completely drenched in water, angrily raised its body midway up. Its length was 20 meters. Even though it hadn't fully risen, it gave off an intimidating presence, as if facing a towering building.

[Skill activated.]

Crackle. A current surged through both daggers in Yoon Seo's hands. The centipede attacked swiftly, but Yoon Seo dodged even more agilely, creating distance while allowing the charge of to fully build.

Boom!

With a loud explosion, Yoon Seo glanced at the centipede's rear. He saw the final sword of Kwon Jihan, the 'Sword of the Cold Wind,' shattering. Ten meters of the 40-meter centipede had been neatly severed in a straight line. The centipede shrieked in agony, hissing wildly.

'What the—its armor could be cut?'

Yoon Seo was shocked as he evaded the raging centipede. Throwing aside the now useless sword, Kwon Jihan pulled out a temporary one and subdued the severed section of the centipede with , then shattered it into small pieces by imbuing his blade with .

"Three seconds!"

At Kwon Jihan's shout, Yoon Seo silently counted the seconds, and in that time, Kwon Jihan brushed past him. When Yoon Seo finished counting to three, he gathered his magic.

[Skill activated.]

He deployed in a very small radius, but this time in a different form.

surrounded the centipede, encasing it in a circle. In the end, it formed the shape of a donut, with the centipede trapped in the middle.

Bang! Boom!

The centipede, blinded by pain, slammed its body against the shield wall. Yoon Seo retrieved the remaining water bombs from his inventory.

The total number of water bombs was 145.

The item production team, risking their lives for the new Revengers who would fight to the death in the Great Dungeon, made these bombs. As soon as the 145th bomb was completed, they collapsed and had to be taken to the hospital.

Boom!

Hissss!

Water bombs exploded all around, drenching the centipede's entire body. Yoon Seo was soaked as well. The centipede began digging into the floor of the temple, trying to escape. A good choice, but too late.

Yoon Seo threw both of his daggers, now fully charged with , at the centipede and exited the shield.

Boom! Boom! The sound was like thunder and lightning crashing down from the sky.

The thunderous noise was so intense that even those fighting other boss monsters momentarily froze.

The durability of the was rapidly decreasing.

Inside the shield, black clouds and flashing lightning filled the space, resembling the night on Jupiter. The combination of , , and various buff skills, along with the S-grade water bombs and the S-grade weapons infused with full power from , created a horrifying scene. It was impossible to visually confirm what had become of the giant centipede.

But then…

[You have defeated the boss monster.]

The Gaia System informed them that the first boss of the temple had been defeated.

The same boss, which had taken the longest to defeat ten years ago among the three, was now finished first.

[The God of Life is clapping and dancing.]

[The God of Death is relieved that you didn't die.]

[The God of Death corrects that they are disappointed, not relieved.]

This was a boss that could be defeated in just one phase if the power of items was fully utilized.

Yoon Seo didn't feel particularly down. He knew that the Revengers from back then would be pleased with this fact now.

After releasing and 'Existing Spirit,' Yoon Seo re-summoned them and held them in both hands. His wrists tingled.

"Kwon Jihan…."

"Hyung."

As Yoon Seo was about to call Kwon Jihan's name, Kwon Jihan grabbed his forearm.

"Hyung, your hands…"

Smoke was rising from both of Yoon Seo's hands. When Kwon Jihan rolled up his sleeve, severe burns were visible.

"Damn it. Put some ointment on, quickly."

"It's not the ointment that's the issue, you need to take this sword first."

Yoon Seo handed the to Kwon Jihan, who had lost his sword, but Kwon Jihan didn't even glance at it.

"The burns are severe. Let's treat them quickly."

"We need to regroup right away."

"No way, damn it. You're hurt, so how can we talk about regrouping? Don't make me mad, just give me your hands."

It seemed like Kwon Jihan had been swearing a lot more recently.

"I'm fine."

"You think you can swing a sword in this condition? Don't talk nonsense and release the sword. Do you want to see someone really pissed off?"

He really had been swearing more these days.

[The God of Life suggests you should listen to 'Kwon Jihan'.]

[The God of Death says if you want to die, then don't get treated.]

"..."

As Yoon Seo released the two daggers, Kwon Jihan pulled out some medicinal items and bandages from his inventory.

"Ahhh! Poison, it's poison!"

"Give me a heal, now!"

"Damn it, be careful. If it grazes you, your head will fly off!"

"Don't let the saliva touch you. It's paralyzing poison!"

Boom! Roar!

While all kinds of chaos erupted behind them…

"Our plan was perfect. I was just 0.003 seconds slow to escape from , and that's why this happened."

"We should have come up with a plan where you could've been 0.03 seconds slow and still been fine."

"…Kwon Jihan Hunter. It was 0.003 seconds late, not 0.03 seconds."

"No, I saw it too. It was 0.03 seconds. Even if I'm being generous, it was 0.02 seconds."

"Interesting. Kwon Jihan Hunter, how long do you think it took you?"

"For me, it was probably around 0.00001 seconds. Anyway, Hyung, don't get hurt. It's frustrating and upsetting when someone who can't be healed gets injured."

"Hmm, Kwon Jihan Hunter, it's best if you never develop healing resistance. Otherwise, you'd suffer full-body burns. You're good at everything, but your lack of agility always worries me. Please be careful."

The two engaged in playful yet argumentative banter, a dialogue that was possible only because of their trust in each other's strength.

"I did some emergency treatment, but we'll need to check it again after the battle."

"There won't be time for that. The final boss will appear soon."

"I'll buy some time. You should show that wound to the doctor we have."

"You're going to stall for time alone? How?"

"I've got my ways. I've been waiting for this do-or-die moment where everyone's about to perish."

"What kind of nonsense is that…"

Boom!

Crash!

Screech!

"Ugh, can't even have a conversation. It's so damn noisy."

"Exactly."

The lower-ranked hunters were too busy trying to survive to hear their conversation, but the S-rank hunters could hear everything.

"What the hell are those guys doing!?" 

Shouted a furious Chris Kyle. Kwon Jihan sighed lightly.

"Just rest. I'll move around and help out, like two people."

"Enough already."

Yoon Seo summoned two daggers. Kwon Jihan muttered, "I'm serious…" as he accepted the . Yoon Seo actually wanted to give him the 'Existing Spirit', but it was a soul-bound item, so no one else could use it. also had efficiency issues and was rarely passed to others, but in this situation, with no sword in Kwon Jihan's hand, and considering it was Kwon Jihan… Thinking back, Yoon Seo had handed him this sword once before. He never imagined a day like this would come.

As Kwon Jihan accepted the sword, Yoon Seo dashed toward the scorpion.

"..."

Kwon Jihan, wrapping his bandages, briefly furrowed his brow, thinking of Yoon Seo with a feeling of suffocating frustration as he ran toward the lizard.

***

[The owner of the temple has appeared.]

Rumble…

After they had slain all three boss monsters and were catching their breath, a message filled with pressure resonated, and the entire ground shook. At the same time, the height of the third underground floor of the temple stretched unnaturally. The columns that supported the ceiling elongated like stretching rice cakes until they reached a height that could no longer be seen with the naked eye.

"A dragon…"

A massive dragon with three heads and three tails slowly revealed itself.

Due to its massive size, over 1,000 meters tall, only the lower half of the dragon's body could be seen from below. The new Revengers immediately scattered according to their pre-arranged formation. A quarter of the group remained on the ground while the rest took to the air. Kwon Jihan and Yoon Seo stopped where the dragon's neck began.

[Your view is obstructed by fog.]

As the dragon revealed itself, thick fog rolled in, obstructing their vision.

['Park Kang' uses the skill .]

['Alec Switch' uses the skill .] 

[ has bloomed. May the blessing of light reach you….]

['Chris Kyle' uses the skill .]

The Revengers, having anticipated this moment, unleashed their skills to disperse the fog.

Ten years ago, they couldn't evade the dragon's triple-headed breath attacks due to the fog, but now, avoiding a direct hit wasn't an issue.

Rooooaaaarrr!

The roar of the dragon shook their entire bodies.

[The owner of the temple invokes fear.]

[You are unaffected.]

[You cannot attack until the owner of the temple fully reveals itself.]

'Ah, it's invincible until it fully reveals itself. That's why none of our attacks worked earlier.'

Ten years ago, the Revengers had thrown all their skills at the dragon as soon as it appeared, but it didn't take any damage. Without system messages back then, they had no idea why, leaving them confused and frustrated. Now, that mystery was finally solved.

As more of the dragon's form was revealed, gasps could be heard from all around. The impact was similar to Kwon Jihan's effect. Yoon Seo decided not to reinforce his shield further, conserving his magic for later.

After all, using wasn't an option here. If he tried, a message would pop up saying, "This is a skill-restricted area." The same went for Kwon Jihan's . Even though the space had expanded due to the dragon's presence, Gaia's system still considered this area the third underground floor of the temple, not a fully open environment.