Chapter 25: Sky Road (4)
While Hansoo was making such thoughts and advancing forward, one person cautiously spoke as they looked at their surroundings.
“It seems like the number of snakes are decreasing?”
Everyone nodded at these words.
It was something they had felt for a while.
Thankfully their speed of movement had increased and they had made quite a distance from the part of the island that was crumbling.
‘Good’
Hansoo nodded his head inwardly.
Since the lack of Rune Pattern Snakes meant he had almost reached the habitat of the Rune Eater Snake.
As soon as the snakes had disappeared they looked at each other while catching a breath.
Their entire bodies had been healed cleanly.
Since Kangmin’s healing was rather effective despite the disputes.
Kangmin looked at Hansoo with a mysterious expression.
‘He didn’t receive any heals…’
There was no way to not get injured no matter how strong you were.
And the only reason why he had been able to survive was because he had put himself in such situations.
And Hansoo was like that too.
Injuries all over the body.
But there was a clear difference with Hansoo.
‘Just how much stamina does he have’
Kangmin rolled around his tongue.
It wasn’t fast enough to see with the eyes but his injuries were often gone while they were walking.
He had thought that he had mistook what he had seen at first.
And he had been dodging all the big injuries that would be of harm during a fight.
He wasn’t sure because he didn’t look close but he could guess somewhat.
He had made sure to not get injured on his joints and muscles and if he was going to get bit then he made it so the parts of the body that wouldn’t hinder him was bit.
Even if his skin were to be all scratched off.
It would hurt much less to get bit around the thigh or buttocks but he had been dodging injuries in important areas as if every part which helped him fight was precious.
And he had been doing so by getting hit all over the body whilst dodging fatal wounds and healing himself with his high stamina.
At once glance he looked like a normal college student but he was fighting like a beast.
As if he was fighting by squeezing every bit power out of his entire body.
‘…Is he like a mercenary or something?’
The skin would hurt a lot but it healed fast so it was the right choice.
But this choice would be hard for a normal person to make but that guy was not afraid of getting hurt.
No, he had even shown that if he could kill the enemy by getting hurt, then he chose to do so.
‘It seems like the sales won’t be that good’
Kangmin frowned slightly.
Amazing was amazing and obstruction was an obstruction.
If that guy didn’t exist than the others would’ve been hurt more but due to him fighting so well he had to set the price of healing low.
Since if there was no demand, the prices will drop.
But at that moment, something appeared in front of Kangmin whom had been thinking of this and that
‘…What is that?’
A humongous tree that couldn’t even be compared to the trees until now had appeared in front of them.
And the surroundings trees had been broken and smashed to create an open area.
While everybody was cautiously looking at their surroundings in this new area that was a bit off the road, Hansoo was looking at the top of the tree.
‘There it is.’
<Rune Eater Snake.>
A giant snake of 15m that had coiled upon the tree.
It had become the leader of the Rune Pattern snakes by eating them and absorbing their runes.
Most mutant Rune Eater Snakes became strong like that and acted as predators.
A monster that couldn’t even distinguish its own clansman and only saw them as food.
And because of this, other rune pattern snakes did not live around it.
‘But that one is useless’
That one was useless.
Since due to its size, if you gave it 3 runes it will eat all of those 3.
It was only useful while it was a baby, when it did not eat much and would puke out two when you gave it three would it be useful.
But since it was only useful for three months, he just needed to release it after that.
Hansoo nodded as he thought of the rune pattern snake’s egg somewhere within the tree.
‘Let’s go’
He had fought in the most dangerous areas for 50 years and had never encountered an enemy who he could leisurely dodge and whom would send only so-so attacks at him.
Foresee the enemy’s movements?
There were much more enemies that moved faster than one could foresee.
And because of this the fighting style of giving flesh and hitting bone had been deep embedded in him.
Since as long as you kill the enemy, regeneration was possible.
But his tactic was only possible when you could receive their attacks to a degree but due to his resistances being rock bottom low, it felt like he was fighting with chains all over his body.
And he seemed strong right now but later enemies who know how to use skills and their traits properly will appear.
He had a bit of an advantage in stats and artifacts but there was a huge gap in battle powers that came from skills and traits.
Since that girl called Jimin had already grasped her fighting style a bit.
He had to take the advantage before he could earn skills and to do that a Rune Eater Snake was a necessity.
‘If I take this then everything becomes easy’
The family man, Gyucheol, cautiously spoke as he saw Hansoo warm up his body.
“Do you really have to fight that thing?”
“Hmm?”
“Isn’t that something you don’t really need to kill?”
Hansoo nodded at those words.
The Rune Eater Snake was too high of a difficulty for people who came out of one week of the tutorial.
And that snake which ate three and spat out two was a scam to others who needed the strength, stamina, agility and perception runes.
And because of this he had diverged from the path a little bit.
Since there weren’t any snakes here so as long as you were careful you wouldn’t run into rune eater snakes or rune pattern snakes.
The others who had already seen this stood far away as they looked at the tree with worrying expressions.
“You don’t have to fight. I’ll fight it alone so go over there where it’s safe. Or you can go first”
Gyucheol shook his head at those words.
“No… I’m saying let’s go together”
Gyucheol almost spat out something he had been thinking for a while.
‘How would we advance if you die’
Gyucheol knew.
That the reason why it was ok for him to just protect his wife at the back was because Hansoo, who was in the front, was fighting well.
He knew. That if you don’t fight yourself here then you will eventually die.
But even though he knew this in his head, how could he send his wife and daughter out after seeing them bleed after getting slashed by swords.
There might be a chance that a place where his family could be safe might appear if they continue like this.
And for that he needed to live a little bit longer.
‘And because of that I must go with that person’
If that guy dies then he would need to step out and fight.
Because if he doesn’t then the defense line will crumble and they would all die.
But then if he died like that, who would protect his family.
He wasn’t in the situation to put up with danger.
‘And isn’t it very greedy to try to kill that snake which you don’t need to, to the point of soloing?’
Gyucheol, who couldn’t spit out such words, tried his best to make a pleasant smile as he spoke.
“What would happen if you died fighting that thing. It looked dangerous at a glance, let’s just continue and not waste your strength on that thing. Shouldn’t we continue forward while the gap is still large.”
Everyone looked at Hansoo and Gyucheol at those words.