Deep in the forests of Mount Sarnia…
His entire body felt damp just from walking through the foggy air.
'I can barely see anything…'
But Lee SeokHoon couldn't give up. No matter how good his grades were, he was from an American academy, not from a prestigious academy like Gaon or Inno.
But he was currently in the top 20.
He would have never been that successful, normally. Of course, his goal wasn't to win. SeokHoon would be satisfied if he could use the opportunity granted to him to make some sort of impression on the viewers.
'I bet noona will put me in the guild if I do well here.'
He searched for traces of the boss monster with an excited look on his face.
Right then, SeokHoon heard the harsh breathing of a creature from behind him.
"Grr…"
It sounded like the growl of a large beast, much like a tiger. He quickly turned his head towards the direction of the sound but saw nothing.
"Wh-what?!"
"Roar!"
Another cry. At the same moment, something clawed SeokHoon's arm.
Scratch!
"Argh! Urk!"
It was impossible.
A wound had appeared on his arm, even though he couldn't see anything in the area. To add to that, SeokHoon swore he could feel the wind pressure of something running towards him.
His opponent was there, but he couldn't see it.
"N-no way…"
Flash!
A hologram appeared from SeokHoon's Pocket at the same time he had his distressing premonition.
[Participant Lee SeokHoon has found the boss monster, King of the Mountain.]
[The location of the King of the Mountain will be marked to all participants.]
"D-damn… shit. The King of the Mountain?"
Flash!
SeokHoon ran away as if possessed. The name 'King of the Mountain' was a monicker that the Korean Hunters' Association had attached to that particular boss monster. Its real name was the Hwanbiho—a tiger that could use magic like the ones in Korean legends.
The spell that made its body invisible was the hardest to deal with.
'Those damn Association members! Just how are we supposed to defeat this thing without any preparation?'
It was common knowledge and practice to prepare hunter gear in order to defeat specific bosses. For example, if one bought some marking powder from the supply shop and spread it in the air, they could uncover the King of the Mountain.
"Gasp, gasp… gasp…"
SeokHoon had been running for a while. His breathing was ragged and came out in short bursts from his mad sprint.
"Did I… lose it?"
He lowered his head to gather his breath for a moment. As he did, he heard the sound of leaves rustling.
Crunch.
SeokHoon broke out in a cold sweat as he turned his head towards the direction of the noise. Still, he couldn't see anything.
"Grrr…"
The last thing he remembered was the beast growling right in front of his face.
* * * *
The luxurious Sunsung group's mansion…
EunAh and Lee SuHyun were watching the official broadcast together while amicably sitting on the sofa next to each other.
The broadcast was, at that time, focused on the appearance of the rank 4 boss monster, the King of the Mountain.
"Aargh, that idiot!" yelled SuHyun as she watched SeokHoon be mercilessly disqualified on air. "Can't a hunter at least hold his darn breath?"
She began pounding her chest in frustration. EunAh turned a disdainful gaze towards her.
'…Dammit, she's loud as hell.'
Even if she wanted to complain about it to the other woman, though, there was something scary about her attitude.
SuHyun kept yelling, her anger lit aflame. "You should've run away no matter what it took or scooped up some mud and thrown it! If it were me, I would've done anything during the competition!"
EunAh subtly distanced herself from the furious woman.
"Hes uh… your little brother, right?" she asked timidly.
"Yes, he is," she responded, her anger still not sated. "Haah, really. That moron. I told him a million times to keep his head screwed on tight during the raid! But he just won't listen to me…"
She looked terrifying as she kept muttering to herself.
"Next time I see him, I'm gonna have to punt his head off!"
EunAH felt as if SuHyun wasn't joking. She was a high-level hunter who could even beat rank 5 boss monsters.
"That… h-he can make a mistake every once in a while… you don't have to kick his head off or anything for it, right?"
She coughed in an exaggerated manner as if the idea bothered her, but SuHyun's voice was cold when she replied.
"Even so, I've told him this multiple times already!"
"Th-that so?"
EunAh felt like she finally got to see what SuHyun's actual personality was like.
"If he doesn't listen to you, beat him up and he will—all little brothers are like this."
The older woman's eyes narrowed as she looked at EunAh.
"Besides, isn't it better for me to beat him up and for him to properly learn his lesson rather than him dying a dog's death in a dungeon because he couldn't?"
"Well, uh… yes?"
"Sigh. So I've been saying," she grumbled, "he should've at least tried to throw something at the invisible monster. He would've had a chance if he even managed to get some mud on it!"
SuHyun was still muttering to herself, anger plain on her face. EunAh resolved to try and cool the other woman off.
"Still, your little brother did his best… And he got into the top 20."
"…Huh?"
SuHyun's expression changed to one of incredible shock as she heard EunAh attempt to give her her own form of consolation.
EunAh had been the sort of person who would say things like, "anything other than first place is meaningless", or "people without talent should just give up". The girl would never have said something like that before.
"…Why are you staring at my face like that? What's so interesting about it?"
EunAh scrunched up her face, not knowing what was going on in SuHyun's mind. The older woman had a proud expression on her face.
"You've changed."
"I have?"
"Yes, quite a bit."
SuHyun was quite sharp, unlike an inexperienced student like EunAh. She, at least, understood why the prickly girl's attitude was changing. In fact, it would have been weird if she didn't.
YuSung had saved Kim JunHyuk, whom EunAh treasured more than her own life.
'I was so confused when I heard that he carried her on his back and brought her to her brother's hospital bed, but now…'
There wasn't even a need to deduce what was going on—that's how obvious it was. All of the puzzle pieces were clicking into place.
The reason why EunAh hemmed and hawed over the message she was going to send him and why she decided to watch the Representative Selection that she previously didn't have any interest in…
YuSung was that sole reason. Whether it was her feelings towards him as her comrade or something else, that fact was plain to see.
"Huh? I haven't changed a bit."
Of course, the person in question was in denial.
– No need.
But as soon as EunAH heard YuSung's voice from the broadcast, her head instinctively turned towards the screen.
'She's even reacting to his voice now.'
The image SuHyun had of EunAh was changing more and more as she watched the girl. If she had to describe it…
'…She's turning from a cat into a dog?'
If President Kim SeokHan knew what she was thinking, he would have had a heart attack. She didn't care too much about that, though. SuHyun was the person who wished for the change to happen in EunAh more than anyone.
And if some sort of problem were to arise…
'I'll just quit the job before anything happens.'
SuHyun's mouth quirked upwards as she observed EunAh, who was focused on the broadcast.
* * *
* * *
[Amy?: the boss monster happens to be the king of the mountain, of all things… as i thought, it'll be best to go to the village to farm gear, right?]
[Amy?: there'll be a bunch of items left behind by disqualified participants too!]
His supporter's, Amy's, message was clear. It was common practice for one to prepare as much as they could against an opponent they could not see.
But YuSung ignored the hologram and continued to climb the mountain towards the boss.
"No, I'm going to proceed as planned."
A moment of silence.
[Amy?: (′?. ??.?);; party leader-nim? the opponent is invisible, y'know?!]
"It'll be fine."
YuSung stayed adamant, even when Amy sent him another message to confirm his intentions.
There was no need to lengthen the time needed to hunt the King of the Mountain if he could pinpoint its location without using any hunter gear.
'I don't need to rely on my sight, after all.'
The cave on Martial Spirits' Mountain…
YuSung had once fought in its pitch-black depths in order to surpass the limits of his five senses.
The reason he underwent that training was because of the mysterious Tower.
'Master passed the Tower's trial in an environment with no sound or light.'
That was due to the Fist King's meticulous preparations. Those who were prepared could pass the trial, but those who weren't would meet with nothing but death.
This was why the man constantly plied training upon YuSung when the boy was already plenty powerful.
—In order to surpass the limit of having an F-rank Trait.
—To surpass the limit of one's body.
—And even surpass the limits of one's five senses. Everything was poured into YuSung's training.
At first, the Fist King's goal with the boy had been to reach the top of the Tower, a resolute goal for humanity, through his disciple. But in the twelve years he spent teaching him, he had changed.
YuSung had changed into 'something' other than just a disciple to the Fist King, who had no child of his own.
Still, his will was passed on.
Even when Yu WonHak, not anyone else, pressured YuSung to reach the top of the tower, it had become one of his goals.
[You have reached the location in which the boss monster appeared. The navigation will now end.]
[Amy?: ?????? be careful, party leader-nim! you're in the king of the mountain's territory now!]
After checking the message, YuSung began enhancing his senses. In moments like those, his Trait, [Heightened Focus], displayed strength that surpassed its limits.
The sense he chose to focus on was his hearing.
Whoosh.
The sound of the wind blowing between the blades of grass…
The chirps of the birds living on the mountain…
The scurrying feet of small critters…
YuSung's heightened concentration let him hear all of that clearly.
Crunch!
Among the cacophony, the sound of something large stepping on fallen leaves seemed incredibly loud. The King of the MOuntain, however, didn't immediately attack YuSung, it was as if it knew something was odd.
Step. Step.
Instead, it circled the boy, trying to find a weak point in his defenses. And just when it thought it had found it, it lunged.
Leap!
"Grrr!"
Behind YuSung's back, his blind spot.
An unseeable attack from YuSung's opponent.
But he could sense everything. Just by the wind pressure, his keen senses could deduce what size his opponent was and how close its claws here to hitting him.
His senses were in the realm of being superhuman.
Wsh!
YuSung turned his head. With precise movements, he stretched out his hand.
Battle God Style Third Form – Heaven Shattering Fist Strike
His punch struck what seemed like air. Not long after, though, it was stopped by something, and an explosion rang out as the mana hit its mark.
Boom!! Plop plop plop!
The immense force tore apart and threw the beast's remains every which way—YuSung had defeated the boss monster with nothing but his concentration and his hearing.
[You have earned a token for defeating Mount Sarnia's rank 4 boss monster. You will go ahead into the finals.]
Shake shake.
YuSung shook off the blood from the King of the Mountain from his hands as if it was nothing.
[Amy?: no way… you took out a boss monster you couldn't even see in one shot…]
It was a scene that one would find hard to believe, even after watching it with their own two eyes.
It was impossible to comprehend the things YuSung had done with ordinary logic.
[Amy?: I can't believe… you're a human like the rest of us, party leader…]
Which was why Amy's reaction was rather understandable.
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