The Otherworldly Magic Swordsman Who Disciplines the Hunter World Chapter 42

“It seems like we’ve entered the deep zone, but do you feel anything strange? To me, it looks pretty much the same as before… Since the status window is out of order, it’s somehow frustrating.”

Julian swallowed his words, saying, “Well.” His gaze was dry as he scanned the surroundings filled with red rocks.

“The terrain is familiar. There’s a region similar to this one before you enter the canyon. If monsters appear here, they’ll be golems or snakes.”

Even as he said so, he was certain it would be the latter. Looking only at the terrain, it was the optimal place to create golems, but for that, it required a high-grade monster with at least higher intelligence than a golem.

At the very least, there should be a Lich or undead, but he didn’t think something like that would be here. For one, he couldn’t feel a flow of mana of that magnitude.

As if mocking Julian’s thoughts, the ground immediately rumbled and shook. The red rocks began to crack with a cr-crack.

Shadows of black snakes appeared, wriggling through the crevices of the stones. The red stones clumped together into human forms and let out bizarre cries.

“…It’s golems and snakes…”

Watching the monsters appear at such exquisite timing, Julian muttered hollowly.

Among the party members who immediately assumed combat stances, Julian also raised his sword. His stomach churned as if he were seasick, but it was much better than before.

While he was coating the blade with mana, Gong Siyoung darted forward. A pale blue wind rose from his fingertips. The writhing snakes froze into lumps of ice in the very positions they were pouncing.

Thump—!

Broken ice and rocks clumped together and rolled. Golems revealed themselves here and there along with a noise that tore at the eardrums.

The numbers gradually increased. A dusty wind rose from the red rocks, and in an instant, the surroundings became thick and blurry.

Cough, Julian coughed and covered his mouth with his sleeve.

“Hunter Siyoung will suppress them, and Hunter Yujin will take the rear! Keep moving forward without stopping!”

Following Myeong Haejin’s instructions, all members moved in perfect order.

When Gong Siyoung froze a monster, Woo Yujin followed up by slicing its neck with the saw. Thanks to their perfect coordination, there wasn’t even a need for Julian to step in.

“They fight… well.”

At a single gesture from Gong Siyoung, the golems froze solid into white ice. The corpses of the monsters, crumbling helplessly, piled up in layers.

It was simply fascinating to see him move without hesitation, like a fish in water. Julian sheepishly lowered his sword.

“The numbers are high.”

The speed at which the numbers grew was faster than Gong Siyoung could eliminate the monsters. While he didn’t show any particular signs of exhaustion, there was no end in sight at this rate. Myeong Haejin quickly scanned the surroundings.

Before they knew it, the ground was drenched in green blood. Beneath the pools of blood, more snakes appeared, writhing.

When a snake was dealt with, a golem followed. Even as they continued to freeze and break them, the numbers did not decrease but increased.

“Surely all these rocks aren’t monsters, right?”

At Myeong Haejin’s words, Julian swallowed a groan. Gu Jayoung and Myeong Haejin also immediately assumed combat stances.

Julian, raising his sword once more, rubbed his forehead.

“I think that thought is correct.”

“This is the worst.”

A fight against monsters made of stone in an endless field of rocks. If the fight continued like this, it was obvious who would tire out first.

Whether Gong Siyoung had the same thought, his expression gradually hardened. Creating an ice spear, he split the head of a wide-mouthed snake in half and swung the spear to shake off the blood with a splat.

“Let’s get out of this area first. We’ll move as fast as possible!”

The best policy was to avoid a fight with no chance of winning. Julian also nodded at Myeong Haejin’s instruction.

Just as the Belvoids disappeared as soon as they left the lightning-strike area, perhaps the golems would naturally disappear once they passed this zone. In a way, moving to avoid an unfavorable environment was a strategy.

He plunged his sword into the head of a snake crawling on the ground.

“Maintain the formation as it is! Hunter Yuri, please take the rear!”

Gong Siyoung and Woo Yujin were in the lead, Myeong Haejin and Gu Jayoung were in the middle performing area-of-effect attacks, and Julian took the rear.

For a first time, their coordination was quite good. Julian also moved as if running, dealing with the golems and snakes following behind.

However, before long, something strange happened. The monsters that had been blocking the way began to pass right by the leading group.

Ignoring Gong Siyoung and Woo Yujin, the golems headed to the back and attacked Julian. As the numbers began to swell, it was no longer possible to maintain the formation.

Flustered, Myeong Haejin used a skill. Black mist began to rise and seep out, covering the surroundings.

Monsters that touched the mist gradually melted away. The monsters, crushed like clay, moved sluggishly.

Julian kicked a golem’s head away. Having inadvertently touched the ground, he let out a scream as he discovered a pile of writhing clay beneath his feet.

“Gah!”

The melted snakes and golems were entangled together, writhing. Julian shuddered at the horrific sight. He quickly retrieved his sword and stepped back.

Even at that moment, the monsters pounced toward Julian. Almost all the monsters present in the vicinity were looking at Julian.

“…What’s wrong with them?”

Hundreds of eyeballs watched him. The bizarre scene gave him goosebumps. The golems, the snakes, and even the monsters melted by Myeong Haejin’s attack rolled their eyes to look at Julian.

Even while mechanically attacking the monsters, the bewilderment did not disappear. He even saw golems that turned their backs completely to attack only him.

He saw Gong Siyoung approaching quickly, but he ended up surrounded by monsters before that.

The numbers were overwhelmingly high. Julian, springing off the ground, swung his sword as efficiently as possible. He thought it would be better to climb up the golems to avoid being caught by the ankles by the snakes.

He repeatedly struck only the golems’ heads with a thwack. Stepping on the collapsing monsters, he moved over to the other side.

“Hunter Yuri!!”

Rumble, the ground shook. It was a resonance so massive it was hard to keep one’s balance.

Julian lowered his posture while grabbing a golem’s head. Did another monster appear?

To him, as he looked around with a wary gaze, Myeong Haejin, who was below, shouted.

“Reset! I think it’s resetting now! Get down from there quickly!!”

“Reset?”

Julian drove his sword into the head of a golem that was flailing its arms. Then, he leaped away to avoid the immediately collapsing golem.

While scanning for a place to land and debating whether he should use magic, the ground rumbled once more.

He saw Gu Jayoung, Woo Yujin, and Gong Siyoung gathered near Myeong Haejin. Fortunately, the distance wasn’t that far. Woo Yujin was smashing a golem with his chainsaw.

Julian frowned at the sight of Myeong Haejin continuously talking about the reset.

“What is a reset?”

As if answering his mutter, the surroundings were instantly drenched in light.

[ Limited Use: The 1st Circle ‘Limbo’ is resetting. (B→A) ]

[ Disabling Limited Use until the reset is complete. 00:00:30 until reset ]

The status window kept displaying information along with the numbers decreasing every second.

At first, he didn’t know what it meant, but he gradually realized. The status window, which had been frozen since he entered this dungeon until now, was only responding just now.

Everyone stared into the air with dazed faces. Their minds were dizzy at the traces of the status window being densely overwritten like a Go player beginning a review.

In the midst of that, only Julian was looking at a completely different phrase.

[ Why are you there? ]

It wasn’t even certain who was speaking, or if those words were being directed at him.

Without time to answer, 30 seconds passed, and the moment he blinked, the status window had changed to something completely different.

[ Limited Use: 12:00:00 until ‘Limbo’ reset ]

Tick-tock. Once again, the numbers decreased from 12 hours.

Silence followed. Neither the golems that had been surrounding them nor the monsters were visible anymore.

With the reset, the grade was adjusted and the environment changed. The sense of displacement he had felt every time he passed through a gate became vivid once again.

Was the reason the grade and environment kept changing from a snowfield to a meadow because of the reset?

Instead of rocks full of the smell of dust, mist filled the surroundings. Even with blurred vision, a massive presence could be felt.

Everyone wore blank expressions as if they had lost their words. Looking back at his dazed party members, Julian pointed upward with a troubled face.

“…What, what are we supposed to do about this?”

A giant stone statue that had appeared before their eyes without a sound slowly blinked its eyes.

In front of the living stone statue that looked to be at least 30m tall, they couldn’t say anything for a while.

∞ ∞ ∞

“What we’ve confirmed so far. First, this place is strange. It is absolutely not a normal dungeon.”

The party members sitting huddled in a circle nodded. Myeong Haejin folded one more finger.

“Second, a reset literally means a reset. Once that time passes, the environment inside the dungeon changes. Including monsters and even the grade—everything.”

Nods followed again. Myeong Haejin folded his third finger.

“Third, it’s hard to be certain whether it’s a temporary phenomenon or not… but the monsters are targeting Hunter Yuri.”

With those words, everyone looked at Julian. Julian, who had been crouching, nodded promptly.

“Is that guy still looking at me?”

Myeong Haejin glanced behind Julian. A giant stone statue, easily over 30m or the height of a 10-story apartment building, was staring intently at Julian. At the situation that remained unchanged, he smacked his lips.

“Yes. It’s still looking.”

Fortunately, unlike the golems, the statue only stared and didn’t attack first.

However, there was no certainty as to how long this peace would last.