Chapter 77
His heart was pounding as if it would burst from the internal energy erupting from his dantian.
Thump! Thump!
Feeling the sound pulsing in his ears and the Blood Shadow Asura Technique operating at its peak heating up his body, Lee Sung-jun stretched out both hands towards the blood energy dispersed in space.
'Blooming Blood Sky Opening.'
This was a martial art of the Blood Demon, specialized for large-scale battles. It was one of the reasons why the Blood Sect, which could be said to have turned the entire continent into an enemy, was able to conquer the Thousand Continents.
Wooong-!
The blood energy scattered in the air resonated, turning into countless flower petals floating around.
It was the moment when the blood transformation, dyeing the sky with a seductive red light, filled the entire sky.
"Falling Flowers."
The petals filling the sky fell onto the heads of the monsters.
Whaaaak-!
The monsters in the treasure gate were numerous, but in terms of actual grade, they were all B-rank or below.
There was no way they could avoid the Blooming Blood Sky Opening falling from above.
Kwagwang-!
The Blooming Blood Sky Opening flashed with light, sweeping across the ground.
The area was devastated, and the endless stream of monsters were all torn to shreds or exploded, reduced to pieces of meat.
Naturally, as the view cleared, the surrounding landscape was starkly revealed.
'...As expected.'
About 1km away.
A red crack surrounded by a group of sorcerers came into view, along with monsters pouring out from inside the crack.
He had found the culprit creating the monster wave.
Of course, having used the wide-area technique Blooming Blood Sky Opening just now had depleted all his internal energy, so he couldn't immediately launch consecutive attacks, but that wasn't a problem.
'I just need to replenish the lacking internal energy.'
To begin with, Lee Sung-jun hadn't come to conquer this treasure gate with its monster waves without any basis.
It was because he had confidence, a definite basis, that he had declared he would conquer the treasure gate alone.
As Lee Sung-jun, with red eyes, stretched his hand into the air, it was at that moment.
The bloodstains flowing from the corpses strewn on the ground transformed into red energy and began to flow into Lee Sung-jun's body.
'Soul-Devouring Blood Technique.'
As the name suggests, Soul-Devouring Blood Technique was a martial art with the ability to steal life and blood from defeated enemies.
Like the earlier Blooming Blood Sky Opening, this was one of the reasons, perhaps the most decisive, why the Blood Sect was able to achieve unification of the world.
There was a reason why Lee Sung-jun hadn't used this excellent martial art until now, despite knowing it.
'My current level is too low.'
Originally, Soul-Devouring Blood Technique wasn't a martial art that could be performed at the peak level.
It could only be performed at a level where one could freely manipulate internal energy enough to emit strong energy, at least at the super-peak level.
Using his experience and knowledge as a demon god, he might barely be able to perform it, but Soul-Devouring Blood Technique was a martial art that wouldn't produce proper efficiency if used sloppily, so he hadn't used it for hunting.
However, with so many corpses piled up like this, the story changes.
It could be said to be more efficient than any other martial art.
In fact, the absorbed blood flowing through his blood vessels quickly filled his empty dantian.
Of course, while Lee Sung-jun was recovering his internal energy, the sorcerers weren't just idly watching the situation.
"Kraktugurugu, Sindujek..."
The sorcerers, muttering strange languages, stabbed their own right arms with the daggers they were holding.
Kwajik-!
At the same time, as the hexagram pattern drawn on the ground emitted a eerie light, suddenly Lee Sung-jun's right arm began to turn black and his skin started to necrotize.
'...A curse.'
Given that it was a curse cast by sacrificing their own flesh, it wouldn't be easy to shake off.
Until just a few days ago, this would have been quite a troublesome ability.
In other words, there was no need to worry about it now.
'Star's Purification.'
As a golden radiance blooming in the air enveloped his entire body, his right arm, which had been turning black and necrotizing, returned to its original flesh color.
"...!"
It seemed to be a completely unexpected situation, as the sorcerers opened their eyes wide and hurriedly began to carve new patterns on the ground, trying to use a new spell.
But there was no way Lee Sung-jun would allow that.
Whoosh-!
Lee Sung-jun, wrapping a fierce gale around his feet with the Extreme Line Sprint, suddenly appeared in front of the sorcerers and quickly flicked his fingers.
'Heavenly Flower Blood Dance, Ten Changes of Blood Dance, Continuous Shot.'
Bang-! Bang-! Bang-!
As the red spheres shot through the air hit the sorcerers' heads, they exploded like fireworks, and the sorcerers collapsed like puppets with cut strings.
As the sorcerers fell, the red crack that had been pouring out monsters slowly disappeared.
The culprit spewing out the monster wave was gone.
It meant he only had to deal with the remaining monsters in the vicinity.
The gap was already overwhelming, and now even the reinforcements supporting them were gone.
The tide of battle had turned, and in reality, Lee Sung-jun's one-sided massacre that couldn't even be called a battle began.
* * *
In the top floor office of the Cosmos Guild headquarters, Min-soo Yoon's brow furrowed as he sat on the sofa, looking at the breaking news about Lee Sung-jun on the TV mounted on the wall.
"It's beyond what I thought."
It's already been an hour since Lee Sung-jun entered the treasure gate alone.
Considering that hunters who had been greedy usually returned as cold corpses after about 30 minutes, it could be inferred that Lee Sung-jun had withstood the monster wave of the treasure gate.
'Is this why Seung-jun's reaction was different from usual...'
A few days ago, right after visiting the abandoned construction site, Song Seung-jun had been praising Lee Sung-jun endlessly.
Whether he was conscious of it or not, there was a sense of reverence in his words.
Even for himself, Min-soo Yoon, who had spent no small amount of time with Song Seung-jun as his master, it was a sight he had rarely seen.
'...The only time he showed such a reaction was when he first met me.'
In other words, Lee Sung-jun's original skills were on par with or beyond his own, meaning he had the talent to reach SSS rank.
'And this is based on the minimum standard.'
Perhaps due to Song Seung-jun's intense reaction earlier?
It's hard to even imagine how powerful Lee Sung-jun was in the other world.
Naturally, a question mark bloomed in his mind, but unfortunately, there was no way to confirm it.
'Lee Sung-jun will absolutely not succeed in conquering the treasure gate.'
The monster wave was just the beginning.
'The real reason why treasure gates are rated as highly difficult is because of the boss monster.'
A month ago, when the treasure gate first appeared, Cosmos Guild had been steadily investigating data on all the treasure gates that had appeared so far.
'There are three types of boss monsters known in treasure gates so far.'
First, there's the giant type, a boss monster with a body reaching up to a hundred meters tall that could appear.
Literally overwhelming in size, it had excellent destructive power that could threaten lives with just a wave of its hand or foot.
This alone made it a tricky monster, but the giant type boss monster also had outstanding defense.
Its skin was so hard and tough that unless there was a magic-type hunter responsible for definite firepower, it was impossible to land any effective hits.
However, this giant type was considered the easiest to conquer among the boss monsters appearing in treasure gates.
'If an elemental type boss monster appears, we might not even be able to attack.'
The elemental type boss monster had special attack conditions that could only be damaged by specific attributes.
This meant that unless thorough preparations were made in advance, conquest might be impossible.
Of course, with good luck, an elemental of an attribute one could handle might appear.
However, the scary thing about elemental type boss monsters wasn't just the 'attack conditions'.
'Elementals are also excellent in their inherent pure abilities.'
It wasn't for nothing that they existed as S-grade, Blue Gate boss monsters.
Elemental type boss monsters were equipped with abilities so powerful that even most SS+ rank hunters couldn't hunt them alone.
Lee Sung-jun undoubtedly had outstanding talent, but he hadn't reached SSS rank yet.
'Whether it's a giant type or elemental type, whatever kind of boss monster appears, Lee Sung-jun's chances of winning are slim.'
But since there was at least a small hope of conquering both giant and elemental types, they could be said to have a relatively favorable difficulty.
'The worst-case scenario for Lee Sung-jun would be if a doppelganger appears as the boss monster.'
Doppelganger, it had the same ability as known in movies or comics.
It copies the status and skills of the opponent standing before it.
If it just simply copied the abilities, the gap could be filled by achieving growth during battle.
But the problem was that the boss monster appearing as a doppelganger wasn't just one.
'As many as 3 of them.'
If a party was formed according to the standard method, one could easily gain the upper hand by facing a doppelganger with a favorable matchup that could be overwhelmed.
However, Lee Sung-jun entered the treasure gate alone.
This meant he had to face 3 clones simultaneously with the same status and skills as himself.
Given that there wasn't even a small hope, there was no need to imagine the result.
"Hunter Lee Sung-jun..."
It was truly regrettable that a talent who could be called a genius without exaggeration, even acknowledged by his disciple Song Seung-jun, would die in vain, but this was rather an opportunity for Cosmos.
'If Lee Sung-jun fails to conquer the treasure gate, the chances are high that Cosmos will be next in line.'
Not only had they lobbied more than half of the branch director-level personnel, but considering the relationships and reputation built up so far, neither the association nor other guilds or alliances would be able to oppose.
Given the thorough preparations made through preliminary investigations, once they obtained the right to explore the treasure gate, it was already certain that they would reap enormous rewards.
This meant that Cosmos Guild, which could be said to have been built over a lifetime, could rise to become the one and only strongest guild.
'Finally... the foundation to step onto the world stage will be laid.'
With eyes brimming with greed, Min-soo Yoon turned his head to shift his gaze to the TV hanging on the wall.