They didn’t engage in leisurely conversation at the optimal timing.
Whoosh!
A skill manifested from Kim Mok-hyun’s palm and shot towards Kang-hoo immediately.
‘Deep Purple Flame.’
It was a level 1 basic skill of a dark magic hunter.
For Kang-hoo, it was equivalent to Leap.
Since the magic came from one staircase above on the railing, evasion to the rear or side was impossible.
“Hmph!”
Kang-hoo propelled his body forward, gripping the railing.
Bang!
Having entered the building, Kang-hoo narrowly avoided Kim Mok-hyun’s first attack.
Kang-hoo was on the 4th floor.
Kim Mok-hyun was on the 5th floor.
A peculiar standoff ensued, each using the concrete walls as their ceiling and floor.
“Who sent you here? Huh? What did they say, to kill me and take something? What did they tell you, kid!”
“Came for a pair of shoes.”
“You’re talking about Lee Ye-rin?”
“To me, she’s just a client.”
For Kang-hoo, Kim Mok-hyun’s chatter wasn’t too bothersome.
His head ached from consecutive uses of Leap.
“That Lee Ye-rin! She’s sent many like you, blinded by money, to their deaths. Didn’t she tell you?”
“Yeah. She said it might be her last request.”
“Phaha! You seem to have figured it out! Well, she is treated like the Grim Reaper by the mercenaries! Pffft!”
“……”
Kang-hoo considered Kim Mok-hyun quite a talkative character.
Usually, in the original work, characters who blabbered first often met an early demise…
He was determined to ensure Kim Mok-hyun met such a fate.
Kim Mok-hyun’s words were not surprising.
Hunters fundamentally didn’t trust each other much.
Even when Lee Ye-rin presented him with an enticing request, he assumed it had complicated issues underneath.
Unless she was a fool, she wouldn’t just throw a request at him as a favor.
Now that he had confirmed Kim Mok-hyun was here, it was time to move to the next step.
“Kim Mok-hyun.”
“What?”
“I want to offer you a decent choice.”
“Why are you wagging your tongue now?”
“Give up all the items you have, and I’ll let you live.”
“What are you talking about, idiot? With my current item setup, I rival a level 100 mage. Are you stupid?”
There was no need to go far to find a person fitting the expression ‘speaking with a mouth full of rags.’
Kang-hoo smirked slightly upon hearing Kim Mok-hyun’s response.
The first and last negotiation had just broken down.
“Do you hear this sound now?”
“What sound? You’ve been talking nonsense for a while now. What is it?”
“It’s the sound of your only bright future turning to dust.”
Wham!
Right after finishing his words, Kang-hoo dashed up the stairs, the only path leading to the upper floors.
Kang-hoo had some prediction of Kim Mok-hyun’s attack repertoire.
This was because Kim Mok-hyun’s mentor and teacher, Jeon Jung-ho, had once been severely defeated by Jang Si-hwan in the original story.
Of course, the person who designed the battle scene was the original author, now Kang-hoo himself.
And the combat setup was exactly like that situation.
Tadadadat!
Kang-hoo quickly ascended and locked eyes with Kim Mok-hyun, who immediately used a skill granted by his constellation.
It was sight theft.
Before seeing Kim Mok-hyun, Kang-hoo had already figured out his strategy using the constellation information that had been floating around earlier.
Without slowing down, Kang-hoo responded by holding up his dagger to block his vision.
Covering his eyes with the side of the dagger to avoid sight theft was a classic but difficult maneuver.
“……What?”
Kim Mok-hyun was puzzled.
Sight theft usually works when the target turns their body backward, closes their eyes in advance, or even when their eyes are covered.
It’s effective only if you precisely cover your eyes just before the effect of sight theft hits.
Kim Mok-hyun had never seen a hunter smoothly counter sight theft like this.
It was a move only possible with a complete understanding and anticipation of the skill’s mechanism.
Surprise was short-lived.
Kang-hoo’s hand twitched as if to make a fist, then stopped moving.
The movement was so brief that even the perceptive Kim Mok-hyun couldn’t discern it as any specific skill’s preparatory action.
Suddenly,
“Kwack!”
Kim Mok-hyun’s body floated in the air and was pulled towards Kang-hoo without a chance to react.
It all happened in a flash.
Kim Mok-hyun was dragged away, not understanding what was happening to him.
That was because the Abduction skill was a trademark of Demon Iberia, not typically accessible to hunters.
Otherwise, everyone would have sought to acquire it.
Kang-hoo, having moved horizontally right after the Abduction, positioned himself behind Kim Mok-hyun in that moment.
His seamless combination completely removed him from Kim Mok-hyun’s line of sight.
Kang-hoo didn’t miss this chance and thrust his dagger forward.
Using the long sword at his waist would have created a gap, possibly missing the right moment.
Puuk!
“Aaaagh!”
The forcefully thrust dagger pierced the right side of Kim Mok-hyun’s back.
The attack was aimed at the left.
But as Kim Mok-hyun instinctively twisted his body after losing sight of Kang-hoo, the final impact point ended up on the right side of his back.
Chaaak!
Blood splattered on Kang-hoo as he roughly yanked the dagger out.
The chance to attack was still Kang-hoo’s. He immediately attempted to stab deeper into the back of the neck.
However, Kim Mok-hyun wasn’t an easy target and countered immediately.
Chiik!
‘Mana Burn.’
It was a dark wizard skill.
An aggressive skill that burns all the mana in the target area.
Papat.
Kang-hoo stepped back to avoid the attack that could burn his entire face.
‘Awakened state.’
Kang-hoo frowned.
Kim Mok-hyun’s reactions and counterattacks were much faster than he had expected. The reason had to be the awakened state.
Kim Mok-hyun used his own mana as collateral to dramatically increase his attack tempo, an effect of ‘Awakening.’
It didn’t seem related to the constellation, so there must be an item among his possessions causing the arousal effect.
Paat! Paat! Paat!
Kim Mok-hyun, having bought some time, began to hurl a succession of Deep Purple Flames at Kang-hoo.
Although Leap was useful, it wasn’t sufficient to ignore a barrage of attacks.
Just because he couldn’t be followed by the eye didn’t mean he wasn’t in the space.
‘Seems like I definitely need to strip him of his items.’
He possesses overkill items. Effects like Arousal. Wonder whose back he stabbed to acquire these.
Tadadat!
Using Leap, Kang-hoo retreated as far back on the battlefield as possible.
There was no need to exert extra effort in dodging since Deep Purple Flames were flying towards him like bullets.
Kang-hoo quickly moved to a location near a prominent pillar at the center of the building.
Kwa-kwa-kwang!
The Deep Purple Flames targeting Kang-hoo all hit the concrete pillar and scattered.
The fragments flew in every direction, but the solid pillar remained unscathed.
“Stop playing tricks! How long will you hide there?”
Kim Mok-hyun shouted.
Kang-hoo didn’t respond.
Instead, he used the opportunity to deploy Illusion Technique from behind the pillar.
Five illusions appeared, and only one of them was sent out from behind the pillar.
At the same time.
Swoosh.
Targeting the front pillar, he used a lateral movement skill.
His body moved behind the pillar, entering a state of stealth naturally.
The deception of throwing an illusion as a real body and the perfect disguise by hiding himself.
After a brief pause, Kang-hoo sized up Kim Mok-hyun. As expected, Kim Mok-hyun’s attention was on the illusion.
Bang!
With a sound that tore through the space, Kang-hoo, who had Leaped, closed the distance to Kim Mok-hyun in an instant.
Clearly, Kim Mok-hyun had become seasoned from handling several hunters.
Dang!
The first attack, propelled by the force of Leap, was narrowly blocked.
Kim Mok-hyun used the level 50 basic skill, Devil’s Wall, to fend it off.
The block was more instinctual than calculated.
Kang-hoo immediately followed with his next move.
He pressed his body halfway onto Kim Mok-hyun and swiftly thrust the dagger.
The attack was hopeful, filled with mana, and executed as a rapid triple strike.
Puuk! Puuk! Puuk!
“Kwack! Ack! Kwack!”
Kim Mok-hyun groaned as the dagger stabbed him in quick succession in the collarbone, inside the left armpit, and the side of the waist.
Kang-hoo knew Kim Mok-hyun wore a chest plate item beneath his clothes.
So, he targeted the less protected gaps instead of the well-armored areas.
His strategy was a resounding success.
Kim Mok-hyun began bleeding profusely from the three wounds, like a burst water balloon.
“Ha.”
Kim Mok-hyun’s short exhalation contained all his emotions.
Panic, surprise, and the fear of death.
Sweat broke out on his forehead.
It was too strange.
Every skill Kang-hoo used was extremely effective, deserving of the term ‘extreme.’
The way he cleanly switched to stealth and the short time it took to leap toward him afterward was noteworthy.
Even a level 100 hunter wouldn’t have all skills so finely honed.
Normally, general logic would apply, but Kang-hoo was the exception.
“Sht, sht!”
Unable to bear the humiliation, Kim Mok-hyun explosively unleashed his darkly tainted venom.
Diving into a deeper Aroused State, he began to pour all his skills toward Kang-hoo.
He used a skill that temporarily made the ground mucky to hinder mobility, ‘Hand of the Fallen.’
On top of that, he invoked the wide-range skill ‘Infernal Descent,’ causing flames to rain down from above.
Kang-hoo moved behind the pillar again, using Leap twice in quick succession.
‘No, now’s the time.’
Kang-hoo bit his lip as a headache slowly crept up on him.
He took a brief respite behind the pillar, then immediately moved out.
Illusion Technique?
No.
It was a feint, making it seem like an illusion while he actually moved. The deception was layered.
Seeing Kang-hoo apparently emerge from the opposite side of the pillar, Kim Mok-hyun scoffed,
“Idiot! You think I’d fall for that again?”
His gaze shifted to the other side.
As Kang-hoo advanced, using a dash instead of Leap, Kim Mok-hyun dismissed him even more, deeming him an illusion.
Had it been the real Kang-hoo, he wouldn’t have approached so openly, giving away so much time.
Consequently, Kim Mok-hyun activated the defensive skill ‘Devil’s Wall’ at the spot where he predicted the real Kang-hoo would appear.
At that instant.