Chapter 12: Phase 2 (3)

Han-seong’s entire body bristled with goosebumps at the sight of the Collector rushing madly towards him.

Though he wondered how his observation had been detected, that wasn’t important right now.

‘I have to stop it!’

The distance between him and the Collector was just over 200 meters.

And it was rapidly closing even now.

The situation urgently called for a way to pin down its feet. Fortunately, Han-seong had a suitable skill and immediately used it.

[Activating skill.]

[Remote: Decoy Dummy]

Predicting the Collector’s path, Han-seong set up the dummy. The steel doll made an unpleasant sound, provoking the Collector.

Halt!

The Collector’s movement slowed in response.

The creature that had been grotesquely moving its dozen or so heads immediately changed direction.

The Collector began swinging its long arms like whips at the doll. Having succeeded in diverting its attention, Han-seong breathed a sigh of relief.

He then proceeded to his next task.

[Remote: Call Lightning]

A skill that takes about 5 seconds to cast.

Now that he had pinned it down, this was an appropriate skill to use. As soon as he activated it, dark clouds gathered in an instant, followed by a thunderous roar.

Rumble! Kwaaang!

Lightning struck the Collector.

Along with the trembling of the ground, the creature shrieked and shuddered violently.

“Aah, aaaah, aaah!”

It meant the attack had hit properly.

The Collector crouched down, twisting its body wildly. In the process, the victims’ heads attached to its body fell off in droves.

But it still hadn’t collapsed. Han-seong prepared another attack skill.

[Remote: Magic Arrow]

[Remaining arrows: 5]

‘Rather than attacking recklessly…’

He needed to find its weak spot. Just like how zombies could be killed with one shot by aiming for the head.

However, the Collector had no head.

In the place where a head should have been, only the heads of victims were hanging. So he aimed for the chest and fired a Magic Arrow.

Thud!

But the impact didn’t feel significant.

It didn’t seem to have inflicted a critical wound either.

This meant it wasn’t a weak spot. So this time, he aimed for the vertically split lower abdomen.

But the Collector was still fine.

“What? This isn’t it either?”

If not the chest or abdomen, then where?

Could it be those arms that need to be attacked? Or the hard shell protruding from its back? As all his guesses missed the mark, Han-seong swallowed his bewilderment.

That’s when the Collector moved again. The creature that had been crouching rose and swung its arm again to strike the dummy, followed by a loud noise.

Crack! Snap!

It was the sound of the dummy doll breaking in half.

With this, the luring and disruption effect of the Decoy Dummy skill disappeared. After destroying the doll, the Collector tilted its body halfway and muttered.

“Aah, aah, not this? Not…”

Its upper body twisted and bent grotesquely.

It glared again in the direction of Han-seong’s 9th-floor officetel room. However, it didn’t charge madly like it had at first.

As if wary of another lightning strike.

This was fortunate for Han-seong.

‘What should I do?’

Three arrows remained.

He had to somehow find the Collector’s vital point with these. Only then could he pour all his remaining skills into that spot to subdue the creature.

‘Should I use Tinder?’

The thought suddenly occurred to him, but it wasn’t a particularly good choice. Tinder, like Call Lightning, was an area-of-effect attack skill.

While it might deal damage overall, it would be difficult to find a weak spot.

‘Moreover, it consumes a massive amount of mana, so it’s not efficient for a single target.’

He chewed his lip anxiously.

As he continued to ponder, suddenly the Collector thrust its arm into its own stomach. Then it pulled out something as if emptying its contents.

“Th-that’s…!”

It was the torso of a victim. The Collector preciously embraced about a dozen corpses, and not long after, an anomaly occurred.

Crack! Crunch!

The headless corpses began to twist bizarrely and stand up. Soon after, they all transformed into monsters with familiar appearances.

They were zombies.

The creatures moved according to the Collector’s commands, holding each other’s hands and beginning to advance. Seeing this, Han-seong grasped the Collector’s intention.

‘It’s planning to use the zombies as shields!’

It was a wise decision for the Collector, not knowing when lightning might strike again. Of course, this was a tricky move for Han-seong.

“…I have no choice.”

If he delayed, he’d have to deal with the zombies and the Collector separately. He needed to strike both the zombies and the Collector before the gap widened.

Han-seong used the skill he had been saving.

[Remote: Tinder]

[3 mana consumed per second.]

The flames manifested in the center of the zombie horde.

Displaying mighty firepower, the flames instantly reduced the designated targets to ashes, then spread to the surrounding zombies.

“Graaaaaah!”

“Aeuuuuugh!”

Zombies engulfed by the flames in an instant.

As they collapsed one by one, the flames also clung to the nearby Collector.

“Kiaaaah! Kiiiaaaaah!”

It screamed and rolled on the ground, just as it had when struck directly by Call Lightning.

But Tinder was a flame conjured by magic.

It wouldn’t be extinguished by pouring water or rolling on the ground. These flames would continue to burn until the target died.

‘If only I had enough mana…!’

He would have maintained it until the creature burned to death. However, contrary to Han-seong’s wishes, his mana depleted rapidly.

[Current mana: Below 50%]

[Side effects are occurring.]

“Ugh!”

The headache and dizziness that followed.

While Tinder’s mana consumption was massive, it was more due to the mana already spent on Decoy Dummy and Call Lightning.

At this rate, Han-seong might collapse before the Collector. However, Han-seong had something he could rely on.

“Rapid Meditation!”

A skill to recover mana in a state of super concentration.

Han-seong fell into Rapid Meditation while maintaining Tinder, and soon the headache disappeared as if washed away.

Some time later.

[Recovered 30% of maximum mana.]

[Ending Rapid Meditation.]

Some mana had been recovered.

Of course, since Tinder was still active, the mana would become insufficient again soon, but for now, he was satisfied with having bought a short amount of time.

‘I need to make good use of this opportunity.’

Not knowing how much health the Collector had, he needed to find its weak point as much as possible.

Han-seong decided to aim for the Collector’s long arms instead of its chest and abdomen. Just as he was about to fire the third Magic Arrow, at that moment.

A loud shout was heard from beyond the window.

“It’s the neck!”

The voice came from a place several dozen meters away from the Collector. It was an area densely packed with various shopping malls behind the construction site.

Soon, a familiar face appeared.

‘That girl is…’

Seo Ha-eun. A high school student who lived in the same officetel as Han-seong. Suddenly appearing, she shouted with all her might towards the Collector.

“The contact surface between the victims’ heads and the Collector’s body is its weak point! If you aim and attack there, it will definitely be effective!”

The contact surface between the head and body is the weak point?

How did she figure that out? For a moment, Han-seong was doubtful, but he soon understood.

‘Could it be a skill?’

It was a plausible guess.

After all, in a world where there are skills to summon lightning from the sky, there must be skills to identify the enemy’s weaknesses or vital points.

Meanwhile, the Collector, which had been rolling on the ground, suddenly stood up at Ha-eun’s appearance. Then it immediately began running towards her.

“No! I have to stop…!”

Han-seong tried to stop its charge with Magic Arrow. But fortunately, someone else acted before him.

“Eat this! You monster!”

A man appeared wielding a fire extinguisher.

The man in his early 30s was Yoo Min-cheol, a survivor from Ha-eun’s group.

He threw the fire extinguisher at the Collector, and soon a shockwave occurred with a loud collision sound. This made the Collector stagger for a moment.

Taking advantage of this, five zombies appeared from somewhere and clung to the Collector.

“Kuaaaaaah!”

“Grrrk! Krrrk!”

Kim Tae-min, the leader of Ha-eun’s group and a Necromancer by profession. These were the zombies he controlled.

Tae-min used the zombies to prevent the Collector from swinging its arms. Then he instructed them to tear off the heads attached to its body.

That’s when something peculiar was seen.

‘That is…’

The contact surface between the head and body.

There was a red mark drawn on the weak point of the Collector that Ha-eun had mentioned.

Could that be the Collector’s vital point?

As that thought reflexively crossed his mind, Tae-min’s shout reached Han-seong’s ears.

“Now, Mage!”

Although they hadn’t discussed any strategy beforehand, Han-seong instantly realized what he needed to do. So he poured all his remaining Magic Arrows into the Collector’s mark.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

A series of attacks. And the Collector showed a markedly different reaction from before.

【Kieeeeee!】

Instead of the victims’ voices, a painful scream came from the lower abdomen. This meant Han-seong’s attack had hit properly.

Then there was no need to hesitate anymore.

[Remote: Wind Cutter]

[Remaining blades: 7]

A skill several times more powerful than Magic Arrow.

And since it charges 7 blades at once, the mana consumption is also enormous. Just activating the skill consumed 420 mana.

And the consequences came.

[Current mana: Below 30%]

[Mana depletion side effects are occurring.]

“Ugh, uweeeeek!”

Immediately after activating Wind Cutter, Han-seong felt his stomach churn and vomited all the food he had eaten earlier.

But somehow maintaining his consciousness, he poured Wind Cutter towards the Collector’s weak point.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Along with the sound of wind being cut, the Collector’s weak point began to split.

In the midst of this, Tae-min’s zombies were caught in Wind Cutter’s impact range, and whether fortunate or unfortunate, Han-seong was given an additional attack opportunity.

[Defeated an enemy with Wind Cutter.]

[30 mana is consumed.]

[One blade is recharged.]

Han-seong poured even this into the Collector. He didn’t cancel the activation of Tinder either, which kept consuming mana.

And as a result.

His mana dropped to the bottom.

[Current mana: Below 10%]

“Cough!”

Blood poured from Han-seong’s mouth.

Dark red blood also flowed from his eyes, nose, and ears. When he forced his eyes open through the pain, the whole world looked bright red.

Whether it was because the sky was red, or because blood covered his corneas, he wasn’t sure.

“Now, finally, fall…!”

Desperately clinging to consciousness, Han-seong fired the last remaining Wind Cutter at the Collector’s weak point.

And his wish came true.

Thud!

A hole was punctured in the Collector’s mark.

The creature that had been staggering like a puppet with its strings cut collapsed on the spot. As he watched the scene with a tense face, suddenly a notification message appeared.

Along with the news he had so desperately wanted.

[Subjugation successful.]

[Elite Monster: Collector defeated]

‘I won!’

He finally brought it down.

Feeling the tension drain from his entire body, Han-seong let himself go limp. His body, now devoid of strength, toppled towards the floor.

Even in the midst of this, the messages continued.

[Your level has increased.]

His level rose by 3 consecutively.

This meant it had been that powerful an enemy.

‘But since my level went up…’

He should no longer suffer side effects from mana deficiency. Han-seong thought this with relief, but reality differed from his expectations.

[Current mana: 0]

[All active skills are canceled.]

‘…Huh?’

What? Why isn’t my mana recovering?

Come to think of it, I can’t move my body either. Not just my lower body, but not even a finger.

Soon after, the reason became clear.

[Penalty: Mana Depletion]

[You fall into a state where mana cannot be recovered by any means except meditation.]

[Your body enters a state of suspended animation.]

[Forced meditation begins.]

With this completely unexpected notification as the last thing he saw.

Suddenly, his vision became blurry.

Soon, with the feeling of his consciousness flying away, Han-seong lost consciousness.