Chapter 167: Ruler of the Jungle (1)

Episode 167

Kim Jinsung’s fist landed squarely on Juan’s head.

‘Ugh!’

Juan winced, his entire suit shaking from the impact.

He instinctively hesitated, unsure of how to react.

‘I need to stay under the tower and stall for time… Huh?’

He was surprised to feel his body suddenly weaken and checked the system window.

– Your HP has reached 0%.

– You have died.

– 1 death has been added.

– You will respawn at the Healing Fountain in your Nexus in 11 seconds.

‘What?!’

He was dumbfounded.

His HP, which had been at 30%, had been completely depleted by a single hit?

He stared at the window in disbelief, and then he heard a voice he really didn’t want to hear.

– What are you doing?

Luca’s nagging voice, the last thing he wanted to hear at this moment, continued.

– What do you think you’re doing, dying in the mid lane, the most important lane to hold? Don’t you know that this game is most vulnerable when the mid lane collapses?

“But something unbelievable just happened! How could I be defeated in one hit…”

– Are you trying to make excuses? The great Juan, the most promising prospect of the Triunfo Clan, wouldn’t do that, would he?

“……”

– Please be more careful from now on. Look! The mid tower has already lost a fifth of its HP!

Luca’s relentless criticism continued, and Juan, unusually, remained silent, unable to offer any excuses.

Of course, his face couldn’t help but turn red with anger.

Luca, watching him, smirked.

– You’re blushing, so you must be ashamed. That’s at least a relief.

‘Damn you… Just you wait! I’ll get you back…’

Juan gritted his teeth inwardly, fuming, and then his expression turned to one of confusion again.

‘How could I lose over 30% of my HP from a single punch? It’s impossible to deal that much damage with a single hit while wearing this suit.’

Aside from its various system functions, the suit was fundamentally designed to be durable.

It had high base defense.

Even Chano, who had been the first to die earlier, had taken almost ten hits from Alopsky before dying.

‘But how did I…?’

He still couldn’t understand.

And there was another Red Team member who was just as curious as Juan.

It was the newest member of Hunter Team 8.

– Wow…! What was that just now?

He asked in surprise as he returned to his original position after taking the tower missile for Kim Jinsung.

– How did he kill Juan in one hit…?

“I wonder too. It’s amazing.”

Kim Jinsung replied vaguely.

‘Judging by their reactions, it seems like they didn’t notice I used the Kill skill.’

The skill he had used to defeat Juan was the ‘Kill’ skill, which could be easily used even with low Mana.

‘There aren’t many useful skills I can use with only 400 maximum Mana.’

The skills he could currently use all required at least 200 Mana: Confusion, Ability Seal, Neck Cutter, etc.

Naturally, he couldn’t even use ‘Invulnerability’, which required well over 1,000 Mana.

But ‘Kill’ was different.

The ‘Kill’ skill, which consumed half of his maximum Mana, could be used without burden even with low Mana.

‘It’s actually a burdensome skill to use when my Mana pool increases as I level up. I need to use it a lot now while my level is low.’

He thought to himself and started moving up through the enemy jungle.

**Whoosh~**

The sound of wind could be heard behind him.

He was actually using the wind element to propel himself forward, having transformed the nearby Mana into wind.

This had doubled his running speed.

This was why he had arrived earlier than expected when he helped the Team 7 member and when he went around the enemy jungle to attack Juan.

‘Using elemental abilities is more efficient when my Mana pool is this small.’

The fact that he could use all elemental abilities thanks to the ‘Master of Mana’ trait was a huge advantage in this situation.

Especially since he had several traits that reduced Mana consumption when using elemental abilities.

—

▷ Mana Efficiency: Doubles the effectiveness of all Mana-consuming skills and halves MP consumption.

▷ Soil Nutrient Absorption: Absorbs soil nutrients while standing still. Increases HP and MP recovery speed by 10 times. This trait cannot be activated without soil nutrients.

—

‘That Soil Nutrient Absorption trait I got from defeating Forghinae is amazing.’

He could see his Mana regenerating at an incredible speed even when he was standing still while fighting jungle monsters.

It was so fast that it was even faster than his Mana regeneration from using elemental abilities.

‘Let’s quickly move to the top lane and hide in the bushes for a few seconds. My Mana will be fully recovered then.’

He glanced at his almost empty MP bar and ran towards the top lane even faster.

His plan was to hide in the bushes nearby, quickly recover his MP, and then find an opportunity to kill Gian from Team 3, the enemy top laner.

* * *

– Allied ‘Team 1’ has been slain.

Gian checked the minimap after seeing the system window that had appeared on his screen.

He saw the Team 8 member and Alopsky from Team 6 successfully diving Juan under the tower and escaping.

‘…Oh dear.’

He was particularly drawn to Alopsky, who was hiding in the allied upper jungle.

If Alopsky continued in that direction, he would end up at Gian’s location.

In other words, the chances of him being ganked had increased.

‘This could be dangerous.’

He couldn’t help but take a few steps back.

He naturally moved away from the enemy tower, and Hans from Team 5, the enemy top laner, was able to freely kill mini-monsters and gain Souls and experience.

It was then that,

– Hey, Chano! Quickly go top!

Juan’s voice, filled with anger, came through the speaker.

– Alopsky is heading top! Go and help him! If you don’t, he might get ganked!

– Yes, sir.

Chano replied, finished killing the jungle monster he was fighting, and started moving towards the top lane.

Gian sighed in relief.

‘At least I won’t die now.’

He couldn’t shake the image of Juan being tower dived earlier.

With Chano coming to help, he wouldn’t be tower dived and killed.

– I’ll hide in these bushes.

Chano said and started walking towards the thick bushes between the two towers.

Gian, watching him casually,

“…Wait!”

He suddenly shouted, remembering something.

“Place a ward before going in! He might be waiting there already!”

He remembered how Alopsky had arrived at the mid lane and the allied jungle much faster than expected earlier.

Chano stopped abruptly in front of the bushes.

Just as he was about to place a ward inside the bushes,

– …Uh oh?!

Chano suddenly sounded flustered.

Gian saw smoke billowing from the bushes.

It was the same color as the thundercloud Alopsky had created in the mid lane.

“It’s Alopsky! Run!”

– Aaaargh!

Chano screamed and started running away without looking back.

Alopsky emerged from the smoke and chased after him.

Gian tried to follow and help, seeing Alopsky quickly closing the distance.

But,

**Clang!**

He had to stop and raise his sword to block Hans from Team 5, who had attacked him.

Hans’s attack was weak. He had swung his sword just to prevent Gian from helping Chano.

“Damn it…!”

Gian looked at Chano again with a troubled expression.

He saw the distance between them rapidly shrinking and shouted,

“Use Flash to jump over the wall! Alopsky doesn’t have Flash!”

– …Ah!

Chano exclaimed and immediately used Flash, his basic skill, towards the wall.

He teleported to the lane next to him and sighed in relief.

– Phew…! I’m safe for now! Be careful, Gian.

– Yes, be careful! Don’t push too far forward and stay back!

Juan urged, and Gian replied, staying in his position,

“I can escape safely even if he ganks me from here.”

He was currently standing in the middle of the top lane.

He could clearly see the jungle entrance next to him, so he could easily spot Alopsky and retreat safely if he tried to gank him.

– What if he comes from behind the tower?

Chano asked, and Gian replied as if it was absurd,

“He’d have to take at least two tower missile hits if he came from there. And taking two hits now is suicide.”

The path Chano was talking about was literally behind the allied tower.

If Alopsky tried to gank him from there, he would have to enter the tower’s range.

Later on, when they leveled up and purchased good traits with Souls, they could withstand two tower missile hits, but not now.

“It would be a gift if he came from there. I could just move back and kill him… Huh?”

He suddenly sounded extremely flustered.

He had just seen Alopsky emerge from that very path.

‘He’s really ganking from there?’

He looked at Alopsky, who was running towards him from behind the allied tower, with disbelief.

What kind of confidence did he have to run through tower missile fire at level 4, with only 400 maximum HP?

‘Does he have some kind of solution?’

The route was so absurd that he started to suspect there might be some secret strategy.

As he was wondering,

the tower fired a homing missile at Alopsky, who had entered its range.

The missile flew towards Alopsky at high speed.

And…

“……!!”

Gian’s eyes widened.

Alopsky had instantly transformed into smoke, and the tower missile flew through the smoke and hit the ground.

He was stunned as the smoke transformed back into Alopsky.

‘He transformed into smoke…?!’

He had thought Alopsky was just emitting smoke from within the thundercloud he had created in the mid lane.

But he had been mistaken.