Chapter 70 – Dark Elven City (3)

Sungjin entered inside the Temple while still hidden within the shadow. He could hear an eerie prayer from within.

“Kaima O’ Great God…”

Listening to the prayer gave a strange feeling. He recalled, past the dark and narrow passage and inside the Temple building, five Dark Elves would be standing. At the center directly under a bright source of light

“Your children are preparing for war,”

The Priestess would be found in the middle of a ceremony with four Dark elves kneeling, facing the Priestess from all four directions of the compass.

And as he expected, the Priestess was praying for a blessing.

“Give us your blessing”

As soon as her prayer finished

‘Sssss’

A giant anaconda appeared from nowhere and slithered around the perimeter of the temple. The Priestess pulled out a sharp dagger and recited an incantation.

“Mabe Laodi Kasber”

Once she gives her command, the giant serpent will throw itself against the Priestess’s dagger. Sungjin had seen this scene once before; the scene of the priestess blessing the other four Elves with the blood of the anaconda.

It goes without saying that Sungjin had no intention of watching it happen again. Sungjin whispered under his breath while hidden in the shadow.

“Soldamyr, do not join the fight. It’s a waste of mana.”

Soldamyr whispered back.

“Yes, Master.”

Sungjin returned his attention to the center of the Temple. An orb of light floated above the Priestess. He would not be able to approach her without losing the effects of Shadow Walk.

‘Will I be able to reach her in just 5 seconds…? I should have saved Swift Paw for now.’

Sungjin took a deep breath. Meanwhile, the Priestess Kerenis had already beheaded the Anaconda and was in the process of pouring the blood into the chalice. A disgusting act to behold.

But the more concentrated she was, the easier it would be to pull off the assassination. From the darkness,

‘5’

Sungjin began an internal countdown as he charged towards her.

‘4’

He reached the steps at the edge of the altar

‘3’

He jumped off from the top of the stairs

‘2’

Soaring through the air

‘1’

He held Blood Vengeance and Moon Specter in each hand, intending to cut her down on his descent

‘0’

But one of the male Elves kneeling before her stood up to block Sungjin’s attack with his shield.

“Clang~!”

The sound of metal colliding with metal rang through the hall. The Operator gave an announcement.

[Warning! Boss]

[‘Priestess Kerenis’ has appeared!]

Sungjin bit his lips.

‘Tsk… I wanted to try and kill the boss before the Operator can even announce it…’

He had definitely made it within 5 seconds, but they must have automatically responded to the sound of his running. The attention of the five elves was now directed towards him, and each of the Dark Elves picked up their respective weapons to fight him.

“Intruder!”

“Defend the Priestess!”

The male Dark Elf who had blocked the attack with the shield took out his axe from his side; a traditional Tanker.

To his left stood a Swordsman with jealousy in his eyes.

To the right was a skinny dark elf with a spear, and to the far side was a bow-wielding female dark elf Archer.

At their center stood the Priestess wielding a dagger and a chalice, both still dripping the blood of the anaconda. 5 VS 1.

If he had come with the other hunters, it would have been a mirror match. But Sungjin chose the path of a lone wolf; fighting one versus many was a foregone conclusion.

‘But even so, 5v1 is too disadvantageous.’

Sungjin threw the Wolf figurine to his side.

“Ahoo~”

Cain appeared next to him and took a stance. It was now 5v2. But the ‘Priestess Kerenis’ wasn’t just standing idle.

“Awaken and become my slave!”

A spell Sungjin was all too aware of.

“Rise of the Dead!”

The corpse of the Anaconda came back to life due to her spell. 6V2, but numbers weren’t everything.

‘Pew’

The female Archer’s first shot announced the start of the fight. Sungjin parried the arrow and charged towards the enemies.

The Tank once again stood in his way to block him.

‘If you think you can stop me, it’s your mistake!’

Sungjin exchanged two blows with the Tank.

“Cling Clang!”

The Tank had just barely deflected both Blood Vengeance and Moon Specter using his shield and axe. but

“Clang! CLANG!”

With two additional attacks from Sungjin, his eyes grew wide. He must have realized that he couldn’t handle Sungjin on his own.

“Rugos, Maran!”

He took a few steps back as he called the names of his allies. The Swordsman and Spearman ran forward to cross swords with Sungjin.

They stood on either side of Sungjin and launched their attacks.

“Clang!”

Sungjin dodged the spear by ducking out of the way and deflected the sword with Blood Vengeance and then counter attacked by spinning around and launching a back kick into the Swordsman’s undefended stomach.

“Pow”

“Ack!”

Kicked in his diaphragm, the Swordsman backed off holding his stomach. Sungjin used Besgoro to make sure he couldn’t interfere by chanting a spell.

“Discard your fangs and become a tame sheep! Polymorph!”

The Swordsman was hit by substitute casting and turned into a sheep.

“You!”

The Tank ran forward to attack with his axe, but Sungjin was able to utilize Kamram to multitask and block even his blows. His dexterity allowed him to fight in a 3v1.

“Shh~”

The giant Anaconda came to attack Sungjin but

“Woof!”

Cain jumped in and bit the snake in the neck.

‘Thanks’

Sungjin thought to himself, as he continued to exchange blows with the Tank. The Tank was pushed back until he was only a few steps away from the Priestess.

Once their master was in harm’s way, the Spearman and the Archer fought even more fiercely.

“Haa!”

The Spearman stabbed away as he spun his spear around nimbly.

‘Pew~’

The female Archer somehow found a way to weave her shots between the movement of her allies to threaten Sungjin. Sungjin still managed to avoid being hit by the axe, spear, and arrow as he dodged everything.

These four guardians were stronger than normal mobs but weaker than the actual bosses. Compared to the hidden boss of the previous round, the manticore, they might as well be fighting in slow-mo.

As strikes continued to land, the enemies were starting to become bloodied. But the problem was the boss. As her guardians defended her, Kerenis recited an incantation.

“Aching bones and loosened muscles”

It was one of the most famous spells, ‘Slow’. Sungjin prepared mentally for the spell.

‘I will undo the spell with Free Ark as soon as it lands.’

“Slow”

But the target was not himself, but Cain who was fighting the Anaconda to the side. The anaconda immediately wrapped itself around the slowed Cain.

‘Damn it!’

Sungjin used his right hand to deflect both the Tank and the Spearman at the same time as he pointed the Blood Vengeance towards Cain with his left hand.

“Pa!”

The sword was fired towards the Anaconda and landed exactly on its body.

While his left hand was free, Sungjin quickly pulled out ‘Manyata – Master’s Bell’ and rang it

‘Ding~ Ding~’

A short sound rang out. Cain sped up suddenly and escaped the Anaconda’s bind and charged towards the Priestess. The Priestess tried to stop Cain using her dagger, but Cain was currently invulnerable to damage.

Cain ignored the dagger and bit deep into the Priestess’s shoulder.

“Priestess!”

The Archer and the Spearman immediately turned their attention towards Cain. Meanwhile

“Ha!”

Sungjin recovered his sword. He was finally doing a one on one with the Tank. Sungjin began by swinging the Blood Vengeance

“Clang!”

He tied up the enemy’s axe, and he pretended to attack the Tank’s shield before

‘Woosh’

Changing directions and striking the axe out of his hand.

‘Clack!’

The axe flew far off into the distance. Panicking, the Tank tried to move his shield back and forth to try and keep up with Sungjin’s dual blades, but stopping Sungjin’s attack with only one shield was impossible.

The Tank saw the blades attack from two directions simultaneously, one from above and one from below, and couldn’t respond in time; He couldn’t block either of them.

“Ahh!”

He had worn a full plate, but Sungjin’s two sharp blades cut through the armor and skin alike. The Tank was defeated, giving a moment of respite for Sungjin to survey the situation.

The Archer and the Spearman were prying Cain off of the Priestess. Cain spun around and returned to Sungjin’s side. He spat something out; still bleeding chunk of Dark Elven skin.

The priestess glared at Sungjin and Cain in turn and suddenly threw the Chalice forward. The chalice flew at an incredibly slow rate in comparison to the Archer’s bow, not to mention it was flying in the wrong direction.

The Chalice fell before Sungjin’s feet. But

‘What’s this?’

Sungjin had watched it fly towards him without much thought, but the blood contained within the chalice suddenly evaporated and turned into vapor. Sungjin breathed in the vapor and sensed something wrong.

‘This is dangerous’

Sungjin jumped back. It must have contained the anaconda’s toxin*. Cain also jumped back, but he was staggering.

“Whine…”

Wolves had a far superior sense of smell, and so the effects must have been much faster to manifest in Cain. While Cain and Sungjin were getting out of the way of the Vapor, the Priestess shouted an incantation.

“Close the wounds and erase the pain, Heal!”

The Tank who was moaning on the floor stood up. He picked up his shield as if nothing had happened. The Spearman picked up the axe and tossed it back to him.

The Tank stood like a wall between Sungjin and the others. The Swordsman returned to normal and took his spot to the Tank’s left. The Archer was already nocking another arrow. Sungjin frowned.

‘This might take a while…’

Sungjin looked towards his right hand to the ‘Moon Specter’

‘I wanted to save this for the Hidden Boss…’

The hidden boss of this raid was extremely powerful. But if he were to try and save ‘Ghastly Wail’ now, the fight might drag on longer than its 10 minute cooldown. Sungjin made up his mind and sheathed his sword.

‘Pew~’

The Archer launched a shot. Sungjin deflected the shot with the Blood Vengeance on his left hand.

Keeping his hands over the handle of the Moon Specter, he dashed towards the group of Dark Elves. The Tank, Swordsman, and Spearman all charged at him simultaneously, but this was what Sungjin was aiming for.

“Ghastly. Wail.”

Sungjin said as he pulled out the Moon Specter.

“Kyaa!”

The unearthly screech reverberated in the air, and the Swordsman and Spearman immediately fled.

At least the Tank still stood his ground, but he was shaken by fear and unable to move normally.

Sungjin ran past him and headed towards the Priestess. If anyone in the enemy party could cast heal, taking them out was always the first priority.

‘Pew’

The Archer in the back had received the least of the Ghastly Wail’s effects and tried to keep Sungjin away, but it couldn’t buy much time. The Priestess stuttered as she tried to chant

“B…Broken Mirror and d…dead crows…”

She tried to recite an incantation for a curse, but Sungjin reached her and with the first strike

‘Clang’

Knocked the dagger out of her hands

‘Woosh’

And removed her head with the second strike.

‘Splat’

[Boss ‘Priestess Kerenis’ Cleared]

The Operator gave an announcement. Besgoro whispered.

‘It took longer than 1 minute, Kei.’

Sungjin dug his ears as he responded.

“Yeah yeah I know.”

Tl note: real anacondas don’t have toxin, but this is fantasy so please allow the author to exercise creative freedom.

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