The Unconquerable Gate (1)
Real Painting [Black Hand] was the most basic technique among the Real Painting abilities.
Accordingly, its mana consumption was the second lowest after Spike Claw.
However, drawing forty of them and then activating all forty at once was something even the original owner of the ability, the White Tiger, had never attempted.
In the first place, he had never even considered doing such a thing.
That was because with Real Painting, it was impossible to prepare different types of drawings in advance.
If he were to draw a massive number of Black Hand illustrations beforehand, that would mean he would be forced to use only the Black Hand ability. There was neither reason nor necessity to do so.
The mana possessed by a magic user who utilized Real Painting was limited, and using all of it solely on the Black Hand ability was extremely inefficient.
On top of that, the maintenance time of a Real Painting drawing was only twelve hours. Simply drawing them all over the place in advance and then using them later was, in itself, impossible.
For that reason, the White Tiger had never once used Black Hand drawings in the way Seon Yul was using them now.
More precisely, he had never poured all of his mana exclusively into Black Hand alone.
To the White Tiger, mana was an extremely important resource, so using his ability in such a manner was something he would not even consider.
But Seon Yul was different.
To Seon Yul, mana was not a particularly important resource.
It only became useful after he gained the ability to borrow the Real Painting ability; before that, it had been of no use to him at all.
That was why he could spend it so freely, almost wastefully.
Dudududududu.
The Black Hands continuously summoned from the ground tightly seized all eight of Arachne’s legs, and once the situation reached this point, Arachne seemed flustered.
Kiiik! Kiiiiiiik!
Arachne quickly spewed a stream of venomous saliva with powerful acidity from her mouth toward Seon Yul.
She judged that eliminating Seon Yul first was the priority, but of course, Seon Yul had no intention of taking that attack head-on.
After luring Arachne in as much as possible and securing her exactly at the position he wanted, Seon Yul immediately used a wire to launch himself to the side.
Chiiiiiiiik!
By a razor-thin margin, the acidic venom struck the spot where Seon Yul had been standing, melting everything in the surrounding area.
Seon Yul had not merely dodged the attack.
Now that he had secured Arachne in the precise position he wanted, it was time to begin dealing real damage.
Just like this!
Jiiiiiiiing.
Beneath the enormous Arachne’s abdomen, an entrance to Absolute Space that Seon Yul had prepared in advance opened.
Arachne was so massive, and she moved in such a low stance that her body was almost scraping the ground, that the space beneath her abdomen was normally out of sight. Originally, this made it impossible to open an Absolute Space entrance directly under her belly.
So Seon Yul had opened the entrance in advance.
This was the third entrance to Absolute Space.
In other words, to open this one, he had abandoned the steel box to which he had attached the previously used Absolute Space entrance.
Inside this third entrance that he had prepared through such effort, Seon Yul had installed the monstrous Gatling autocannon known as the GAU-8, also called the Avenger.
And not just one… two of them.
Seon Yul had received the GAU-8s from the Administration about a week ago.
The Administration had even covered the shipping costs and sent the GAU-8s along with an ample supply of ammunition (30×173mm rounds).
The moment Seon Yul received them, he registered them at the General Store and paid 10 kilograms of intermediate-grade magic stones to duplicate them.
Thus, Seon Yul came into possession of two GAU-8s.
And finally, today, he was putting them to practical use.
Moreover, the ammunition he had prepared was far from ordinary.
It was 30×173mm armor-piercing rounds made with depleted uranium penetrators.
The price had been quite high, but given their immense penetration power and destructive force, he had boldly used the General Store to purchase them in bulk.
In any case, after evading Arachne’s attack, Seon Yul focused his mind on the Absolute Space entrance opened beneath her abdomen.
The reason he had bombarded her from long range to draw aggro, lured her all the way to Cambolda West, and then provoked her as much as possible to pull her deeper into the residential district was precisely to secure this underbelly position.
One of the defining traits of the super-giant tarantula Arachne was her powerful regenerative ability and thick outer shell layer.
Her defensive power itself was not particularly high. In fact, the defensive strength of her outer shell was weaker than that of many other monsters.
However, it was extremely thick, and her regenerative ability was exceptionally outstanding.
Even now, despite having been struck by nearly hundreds of high-velocity glide bombs and shells fired by Seon Yul, there were hardly any visible traces on her exterior.
At most, only the thick outer shell layer had been damaged, and even that had completely regenerated within moments.
This was precisely why the numerous raid teams that had previously failed the Arachne raid had ultimately classified her as an unconquerable raid monster.
Having already obtained this information from the community, Seon Yul concluded that to defeat Arachne, he would have to target a completely different area. That conclusion led him to focus on her underbelly.
There was no such thing as a monster without a weak point.
That was Seon Yul’s belief. Strictly speaking, he regarded Arachne as nothing more than an enormous ‘spider,’ and based on that perspective, he deduced that… like spiders, her abdomen would be extremely vulnerable.
“Please let this work!”
The odds were fifty-fifty.
Either it would work, or it wouldn’t.
The moment Seon Yul concentrated, the two GAU-8s installed inside the third Absolute Space entrance began to slowly rotate.
Wiiiiiiing.
And then, without delay, they began spewing out 4,900 rounds per minute.
Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk!
A sound reminiscent of flatulence resounded from the two GAU-8s as they unleashed torrents of 30×173mm armor-piercing rounds, which immediately embedded themselves into Arachne’s soft underbelly.
Kwadudududududududud!
Kieeeeeeeeeeeek!!!
Arachne’s underbelly was pierced far too easily.
And she let out a screech unlike anything heard before.
It worked perfectly!
Seon Yul’s prediction was correct. Arachne writhed in agony, desperate to escape the pain at once, but the Black Hands, now numbering in the thousands, clamped down even more firmly on her legs.
Chwaaaaaak! Chwaaaaaak!
In response, Arachne shot spider silk toward her own body, trying to wrap up the Black Hands that were clinging to her eight legs.
She intended to bind them with silk first, then activate Web Blade and slice them all apart.
Kieeek, kieeeeeek!
All the while, the two GAU-8s continued to mercilessly grind into her underbelly, threatening to fully bore through her body. Arachne concentrated all of her regenerative ability on that area, barely managing to endure.
She was enduring… nothing more.
And even this stalemate seemed likely to break, her regeneration eventually losing to the overwhelming firepower.
Thus, while her regeneration still held, Arachne attempted to cut away the Black Hands and escape from this place.
But Seon Yul had no intention of simply watching.
Chwarurururuk! Deudeuk!
A wire shot out from Seon Yul’s right palm and coiled around one of the antennae on Arachne’s head.
Tatak!
Pulling the wire wrapped around the antenna, Seon Yul leapt up onto Arachne’s body.
Under normal circumstances, climbing onto her like this would have been impossible, but now her attention was entirely focused on the Black Hands gripping her legs and the hole forming beneath her abdomen, allowing him the opportunity.
Kieeek! Kieeek!!
Of course, she did not remain still. Arachne shook her head violently in resistance.
Deudeuk, kkwaaaak!!
Seon Yul endured, pulling hard on the wire wound around her antenna.
The situation was absolutely in Seon Yul’s favor.
Arachne had yet to free herself from the Black Hands, and at this rate, within minutes, a massive hole would open in her body.
But Seon Yul had no intention of being satisfied with merely having the upper hand.
Arachne’s regenerative ability surpassed even that of a troll. Even with such a decisive advantage, if she somehow managed to escape, there was no telling how the situation might reverse.
Therefore, while he held the advantage, he had to finish it definitively.
“Against bastards with high regeneration, nothing beats this!”
Seon Yul happened to possess an item that could be considered a perfect remedy against enemies with powerful regenerative abilities.
Thud!
He grasped the end of the spear shaft protruding from his right palm.
“Ugh.”
A slight dizziness washed over him at that moment, but he had grown accustomed to it and endured it with only brief discomfort.
Grrrrr…
Slowly, Seon Yul drew the spear out from his palm.
If it were the “Death Spear Forged from a Curse,” it would certainly be able to end Arachne.
And then…
“Hyah!”
Swaeak, puuuk! Kwadudududud!
The instant he drove it deep into Arachne’s head.
At last, the raid against Arachne…. declared unconquerable by everyone, was brought to its conclusion.
Kieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!
Her eight legs were completely immobilized by the Black Hands.
A hole was being torn through her abdomen in real time.
And in her head was embedded a spear that was the very embodiment of a curse.
No matter how formidable Arachne was, enduring all of this was impossible.
In particular, the powerful aura of death emanating from the spear reduced Arachne’s regenerative ability to roughly ten percent of its original capacity. As a result, her underbelly began to be shredded into pieces in a literal sense.
Of course, aside from embedding the legendary spear into her head, there was nothing more Seon Yul could do.
Maintaining the attacks of the two GAU-8s while driving in the legendary spear had already drained all of his mental strength and stamina.
Even his mana had been entirely consumed by the Black Hands. In truth, Seon Yul too had reached his limit.
Both Arachne and Seon Yul had reached their respective limits.
The difference was that at the end of Arachne’s limit, death was waiting.
At the end of Seon Yul’s sweet victory awaited.
The limit was the same, but the outcome was clearly divided.
Even so, Seon Yul held onto the spear until the very end.
Until the system clearly confirmed that Arachne was dead, he had no intention of letting go.
And finally.
The system provided the final confirmation he desired.
[You have eliminated the raid monster Super-Giant Tarantula Arachne.]
[Calculating your contribution related to the elimination of Arachne.]
[Contribution 100%. All experience points and loot will be awarded to you.]
[Eliminating a ‘Surviving Being’ grants a large amount of bonus experience and additional loot.]
[You have gained a large amount of experience. Your level has significantly increased (lv60 → lv63).]
…….
…….
At last, the Arachne raid was over.
“Easier than I thought…”
Seon Yul had prepared several additional contingencies in case it turned into an even bloodier battle than expected.
But everything had aligned perfectly, allowing him to end the raid more easily than anticipated.
In particular, the greatest ability Arachne had gained as a Surviving Being was ‘Amplified Regeneration,’ and Seon Yul had countered it precisely.
Fortunately, all official raid events had already concluded, so the fact that Seon Yul had defeated Arachne was not posted to the community.
If an announcement had gone up, there was a very high chance that troublesome complications would have followed.
“No announcement? Then that works for me.”
Having been prepared even for a public notice when he chose to hunt her, Seon Yul nodded with a satisfied smile.
Then he looked around and, since there had been no announcement, decided he might as well erase any remaining traces thoroughly before leaving.
“But the experience, and the rewards… they’re better than I expected?”
To gain three levels in the level 60 range, one would normally need to hunt diligently for more than four months in a properly leveled hunting ground.
Yet Seon Yul had gained three levels in merely a matter of days.
“Unconquerable raid… If it’s possible to conquer it, maybe this is the answer…”
Seon Yul seriously contemplated the prospect of conquering unconquerable raids.
That was how much of a ‘jackpot’ this raid had been for him.
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