Chapter 160: When Strength Fails, Brains Must Work Harder

Episode 160

A few minutes before Juan arrived,

Kim Jinsung had already reached the vicinity and was facing Patavina.

“…That seems to be the boss.”

He said, looking at the giant purple cube floating in the air.

He had just tried resonating with the Mana in the dungeon again, just in case, and there was no being stronger than the cube in sight.

‘The energy it’s emitting is a bit strange. It feels empty inside, but it’s strangely radiating a tremendous amount of Dark energy.’

[I told you, the Void is also a being born in the demon world. The stronger it is, the more Dark energy it possesses.]

‘…It’s coming this way.’

The cube suddenly started moving towards him rapidly, and Kim Jinsung immediately prepared for battle.

As he took his stance, numerous Void projectiles started flying towards him.

They were much faster and thicker than the ones used by the Void Worms before.

He tried to dodge as many as he could.

The projectiles that missed him struck the ground, effortlessly piercing through it before disappearing.

Kim Jinsung thought to himself,

‘One hit would kill me… Huh?’

Patavina’s purple surface suddenly started glowing.

He instinctively sensed danger and leaped as far away as he could.

Almost simultaneously, a thick purple laser beam shot towards where he had been standing.

He looked back at his previous location after dodging, and

‘Whoa.’

He couldn’t help but be awestruck.

A bottomless sinkhole, extending diagonally, had formed where the laser had struck.

It was an overwhelmingly powerful attack, beyond his expectations.

‘It’s definitely a boss. It’s on a different level from the Void Worms. I need to be careful.’

He thought to himself, dodging the incoming Void projectiles.

Dantalian’s voice reached his ears.

[You seem quite calm for someone who’s surprised.]

‘……’

He didn’t answer.

Honestly, he was feeling more confident because of the Void trait he had just acquired.

Of course, he had no intention of telling Dantalian that.

‘And there’s no need to show it to the viewers.’

He was now faced with a dilemma.

How could he defeat Patavina using the Void trait without revealing it to the viewers?

‘…Let’s test if the Void trait works first.’

He temporarily cut off the resonance with Dantalian, thinking to himself.

He didn’t want anyone to hear the words “Void trait”.

He dodged an incoming Void projectile by leaning to the side.

He then extended his index finger, imbued it with the ‘Void’ state, and poked the side of the projectile.

His finger, covered in nothingness, went in and out of the projectile effortlessly.

‘…It works.’

He confirmed that a hole the size of his finger had been created.

This meant he could definitely defeat Patavina using the Void trait.

‘Should I try one more experiment?’

He dodged another incoming Void projectile and extended his finger, covered in Void energy, towards it.

The projectile hit his index finger, and

‘…Ugh.’

He winced in pain.

He rubbed his index finger with his other hand.

His finger hadn’t been cut off by the projectile. He had felt pain because his finger had almost been bent backward, unable to withstand the force of the projectile.

‘It’s fine as long as it doesn’t get cut off.’

His finger hadn’t been strong enough to withstand the force of the projectile, so he just needed to be more careful in the future.

‘This confirms that I can also defend with the Void trait.’

He felt much more relaxed after completing the experiment.

The moment he realized he could defend with the Void, he no longer had to worry about dying to Patavina.

‘Now, the only thing left is how to attack…’

He had to fulfill three conditions.

1. He couldn’t reveal the ‘Void’ trait, which was an incredibly powerful ability, to the viewers.

2. He had to be able to defeat Patavina.

3. He had to show a level of skill that was a step above the other participants to impress the Triunfo Clan members.

‘…Let’s think about number 3 first.’

He thought to himself and looked to his left.

He saw a man running towards him at high speed, then stopping abruptly with a surprised expression as he spotted Kim Jinsung.

It was Juan, the newest member of Hunter Team 1.

‘He’s said to be one of the top two contenders among the ten participants.’

He recalled what Ricardo, the leader of Hunter Team 6, had explained. Juan from Team 1 and Luca from Team 2 were already rising stars in the mercenary world before joining the clan.

‘First, I need to figure out his level.’

As Kim Jinsung thought to himself,

Juan was also looking at him and thinking,

‘How did that Russian guy get here before me?’

He had expected only himself or Luca to find Patavina first.

This was because only two of the ten participants were skilled enough to reach Patavina’s location this quickly.

He hadn’t even considered the possibility of the other newbies, including that Russian guy, reaching here first, but how…?

‘…Well, he must have gotten lucky.’

He dismissed it as luck. He didn’t even consider the possibility that Alopsky had found the location through skill.

Besides, he couldn’t afford to focus on such trivial matters right now.

‘Damn it…! He found me too!’

Patavina, which had been attacking only Kim Jinsung, suddenly started firing Void projectiles towards Juan as well.

‘Let’s dodge and search for it.’

He dodged the incoming purple projectiles by twisting his body or taking a few steps back.

His movements were fluid and fast, showcasing his high level of skill.

‘I need to find the hidden core…’

He continued to look around while dodging the projectiles.

Having participated in a raid against Patavina before, he knew how to defeat it more easily.

“…There it is!”

He shouted with joy and leaped towards a purple tree in the left corner.

A faint purple light emanated from the roots of the tree. It was so faint that it was easy to miss if one wasn’t paying attention.

He swung his sword, cutting the tree down to ground level.

A large purple orb was pulsating inside the hollow trunk.

“Haaa!”

He extended his hand and unleashed his Mana towards the purple orb.

His Mana enveloped the orb and created a ‘Subspace’.

The purple orb shrank rapidly as soon as the Mana Subspace was formed and then disappeared completely.

“Yes!”

He cheered and looked at Patavina.

The purple cube had noticeably shrunk after the orb disappeared.

‘All I have to do is eliminate these orbs one by one, and then finally eliminate the shrunken Patavina!’

This was the most common method of defeating Patavina.

But he was certain that no one else among the participants, except for Luca, knew this method.

It was information that couldn’t be found on the internet or in libraries. One had to either experience it firsthand inside the dungeon or be told by a close senior hunter.

If they had known that the first round would be held in the Void Dungeon, they would have studied beforehand, but the newbie showdown was generally kept secret, making it impossible to prepare in advance.

‘That Russian guy doesn’t seem to know either. As expected, he just got lucky finding this place.’

He looked at Alopsky in the distance.

He could tell what Alopsky was thinking just by looking at his blank expression.

‘This means I’ll easily finish the first round in first place.’

It was obvious that he, who knew the method, would earn more points than Alopsky, who didn’t.

And Luca, his biggest rival, was nowhere in sight.

Everything was going his way.

‘Now, let’s quickly find the next core… Huh?’

As he was about to look around again, his gaze was fixed on the area near Patavina.

Three purple lines had suddenly appeared around Patavina, catching his attention.

‘It’s summoning ‘Void Eyes’!’

This was the most dangerous situation when facing Patavina.

It was when Patavina summoned three ‘Void Eyes’ at once.

The only way to deal with them was for a hunter to approach the rifts and eliminate them by creating ‘Mana Subspaces’. There was no other way.

‘Damn it!’

He immediately started running towards the rifts.

He managed to approach them, dodging all the incoming Void projectiles and laser beams.

“Haaaa!”

He unleashed his Mana with all his might, as quickly as he could.

He wanted to eliminate the rifts before another Void projectile hit him.

Fortunately, his desperate effort worked.

He managed to eliminate the rift just before the Void projectile reached him.

“Whoa!”

He quickly leaped back as soon as he eliminated the rift, narrowly dodging the projectile.

“Phew…! One down, next…”

He looked around to check the status of the other rifts.

His eyebrows twitched.

He saw Alopsky in the distance, standing still and creating a giant Mana sphere above his head.

‘What is that guy doing?’

He was dumbfounded.

His opponent was the ‘Void’. It was a special being that couldn’t be damaged by such conventional attacks.

‘Did he really get this far purely by luck?’

Could it be that he hadn’t encountered a single Void Rift until he reached Patavina?

…As he was wondering,

Alopsky, who had been concentrating on creating the Mana sphere, finally fired it towards the purple rift where a Void Eye was about to form.

**Boom!**

The Mana sphere exploded near the rift with a loud bang.

Juan chuckled and shook his head.

‘This is ridiculous. To think I was competing for first place with that guy…’

He was starting to feel pathetic for having tried his best until a moment ago, when

the smoke from the explosion cleared, and the area where the Void Rift had been came into view again.

“…Huh?”

He let out a surprised sound.

‘Where did the rift go?’

The purple rift, which should have transformed into a ‘Void Eye’, had disappeared without a trace. There was no sign of a Void Eye or anything purple.

He quickly realized what had happened and was shocked.

‘Did the rift disappear from that attack…?’

He looked at Alopsky again with disbelief.