Chapter 34 – Inspection Office (4)

The canyon made of rock cliffs over 100 meters on both sides gradually narrowed as they went deeper inside.

The surrounding colors became more murky, and the water that had flowed at the bottom of the canyon seemed to have been cut off long ago.

Fortunately, no more harpies were visible, and Sun-woo and Nan-seol, who had run at maximum speed using lightness skills, were able to reach the end of the canyon shortly after.

The end of the canyon was blocked by high cliffs, and there was a large hole carved into the cliff. In the hole large enough for even a massive mansion to enter was the contamination source they were looking for.

When the two arrived, a harpy twice as large as other harpies burst out of the cave.

The harpy, whose entire body was dyed in brilliant colors, soared into the air and screamed from the sky.

“That’s the contamination source!”

Sun-woo, who had confirmed the harpy with his phone, shouted, and Nan-seol gripped her sword tightly and kicked off the cliff to soar upward.

Screech!

But the first attack didn’t come from the sky. Another harpy’s scream was heard from the cave. Moreover, this scream shook Nan-seol’s internal energy as she soared into the sky.

“There wasn’t just one?”

Another harpy revealed itself from outside the cave. Though not as colorful as the harpy screaming from the sky, it was much larger. Moreover, unlike other harpies, this harpy could emit screams that even blocked internal energy.

Another contamination source. As announced when the mission began, this mission didn’t have just one contamination source.

“Could it be that a pair of leaders each became contamination sources?”

Both looked like women, giving a strange feeling, but that colorful one seemed to be the male and the larger one seemed to be the female.

Fortunately, for some reason, the larger one had no intention of coming out of the hole.

Eventually, Sun-woo had to move too.

“I’ll take this one!”

Sun-woo shouted toward Nan-seol and ran toward the hole.

Nan-seol was having difficulty drawing up her internal energy and was falling down while barely blocking the harpy’s attacks.

Fortunately, the harpy in front of the cave was directing its screams at Nan-seol, so Sun-woo could reach the harpy without interference, but he had to roll on the ground before he could attack.

Because the harpy, despite its massive body, nimbly swung its claws and beak to attack Sun-woo. Its movements were faster than those of an expert, so Sun-woo was busy just running away and blocking. Moreover, the surroundings were entirely made of rock walls, so sorcery didn’t work, and he had to endure using only martial arts.

If he hadn’t learned recently, he would have died helplessly.

Seven Star Steps was a martial art that combined lightness skills and footwork into one, befitting a beginner-level martial art. It was a martial art that walked seven steps in the shape of the Big Dipper, which could be used as lightness skills when stepped widely or as footwork when used in combat.

Sun-woo was able to train the footwork Seven Star Steps in real time here. Since he would lose his life if he took a proper hit, his footwork skills improved dramatically.

As Sun-woo began to get used to the attacks and dodging and blocking seemed easier, the giant harpy’s attacks began to change too.

Its massive wings, fitting its size, began to flap. Instantly, tremendous strong winds blew, and even small rocks flew backward and collided with the cliff.

Thud!

“Really, one thing after another.”

Sun-woo grumbled with an absurd voice, but the harpy felt the same. Despite creating such strong winds, the human dancing in front of it hadn’t been pushed back even one step.

Sun-woo was benefiting from sorcery again.

Though it was difficult to move the ground using sorcery in rocky terrain, it was possible to detect movements around him or stick his body to the ground like now. His body became one with the earth, like an ancient tree hundreds of years old rooted in the ground.

Even so, Sun-woo wasn’t at all advantageous. He couldn’t cut off the harpy’s claws, and all he could do was dodge the harpy’s attacks.

If the harpy had moved outside the cave, it would have been impossible to endure like this.

But Sun-woo’s goal wasn’t to kill the harpy.

Screech!

A harpy’s scream, not a cry, was heard from the sky. Nan-seol, who had been fighting the harpy while crossing between cliffs and empty air, had caught the colorful harpy.

The harpy with one wing and chest cut simultaneously fell down with a pitiful scream, and seeing this, the large harpy cried a mournful cry toward the sky.

Nan-seol didn’t miss this opportunity and mercilessly cut the neck of the harpy that had crashed to the ground.

After cutting the harpy’s neck, when Nan-seol began helping Sun-woo, the battle tilted rapidly to one side.

Sun-woo, who couldn’t use sorcery, was just a martial artist at the end of first-class level so he struggled, but Nan-seol was a peak-level martial artist.

No matter how strong it was or what special abilities it had, a contamination source that couldn’t move from its position couldn’t face a peak-level martial artist.

Soon Nan-seol succeeded in cutting off the harpy’s legs, and then Sun-woo’s sword pierced through the harpy’s chest.

[Level 3 contamination source eliminated. Since there are no remaining skill slots, points will be awarded.]

“Is it over?”

At Nan-seol’s question, Sun-woo shook his head.

The surroundings were still murky. There was still a contamination source remaining.

“But there’s no hostile energy around…”

Nan-seol was puzzled, but Sun-woo, who had checked the surroundings with his phone, stepped over the dead harpy and entered the hole.

There, branches and dried bushes were laid out, and several large eggs were placed on top of them.

This was a harpy nest.

“The large harpy couldn’t move because of the eggs.”

The two harpies couldn’t leave this hole to protect their eggs.

“Contaminated beings always lost their reason, but these two harpies maintained their instinct to protect their offspring.”

Love for offspring seemed to be a deeper instinct than contamination.

The two, who had been briefly sentimental, soon approached the eggs with hardened expressions.

There must be a remaining contamination source among these eggs. And all the other eggs must have been contaminated too, so they couldn’t be left alone.

The two lifted their swords with solemn faces and pierced the eggs one by one. The swords imbued with internal energy penetrated the egg surfaces without resistance, and the life force felt inside the eggs disappeared one by one.

That’s when it happened.

Crack!

One of the inner eggs broke open, and a baby harpy that had just hatched burst out at tremendous speed.

The two who were disposing of other eggs were bewildered by the sudden situation, but soon came to their senses and hurriedly finished the remaining eggs and began pursuing the baby harpy.

The escaped baby harpy seemed to be the final contamination source.

***

The child-sized harpy couldn’t fly yet as its wings hadn’t dried, but its running speed was comparable to lightness skills.

The two chased the harpy earnestly.

If time passed and it became able to fly, it might become difficult to catch.

“Why is a contamination source running away!”

Sun-woo shouted in bewilderment, but it was useless.

The baby harpy ran up the path Sun-woo and Nan-seol had come from toward where the party was.

***

The party was all sitting on the ground holding their heads.

Having faced harpies that occasionally attacked while listening to screams, they were finally able to escape the screams when the harpies had all fallen a little while ago.

When Sun-woo and Nan-seol killed the leader harpies, all the harpies that had been contaminated by the two contamination sources died and fell to the ground.

The party was still frowning at their throbbing heads, and among the female magician and Daniel who had been able to endure the screams, only Daniel was guarding the surroundings next to the party.

The female magician was restlessly worrying about the Spear Master who had collapsed on the ground.

The Spear Master still didn’t seem to have stabilized his internal energy.

Seeing the baby harpy running away and Sun-woo and Nan-seol pursuing, the party immediately understood what was happening.

“Bingo! Bonus points?”

Michael, whose headache had subsided, excitedly raised his gun, but he soon grimaced.

Because the sniper sitting some distance away had raised his gun and was aiming at the baby harpy.

The range difference between his rifle and the sniper rifle was enormous. Moreover, he was a summoned with exceptional marksmanship.

The sniper stopped breathing and began pulling the trigger.

At that moment, the Spear Master moved.

Whoosh!

His hand moved like wind, and the spear that left his hand penetrated the sniper’s abdomen.

The sniper, who might not have even felt pain, looked at the Spear Master with an absurd expression before dying, and the magician screamed.

“Ahhhh!”

“Could he have gone mad from qi deviation?”

That was Sun-woo’s first thought seeing this from afar. But Nan-seol had an incomprehensible expression.

A rampage due to qi deviation couldn’t be like that.

The spear that had penetrated the sniper circled through the air once and returned to the Spear Master’s hand, and he stood up with an expressionless face and launched himself toward the other party members.

“Crazy!”

The thief who became the target began running away frantically.

He set off a smoke bomb for escape that he carried for emergencies and immediately ran into the smoke, but escaping from the Spear Master’s hands was impossible.

The Spear Master immediately jumped into the smoke, and then the thief’s scream burst out from within the smoke.

“Why are you doing this? Please come to your senses!”

The magician shouted at the top of her voice, but the Spear Master didn’t stop there. He soared into the sky through the smoke and shot his spear toward Sun-woo’s party.

The next target was Michael. His face turned pale at the flying spear.

“Damn it!”

Just as Michael was falling into despair,

Clang!

The spear stopped dead in mid-air.

“Ugh! What power…”

Hayden’s telekinesis had blocked the spear. Blood trickled from Hayden’s mouth as he forcibly blocked the severe difference in ability, and it looked like his telekinesis could barely block the spear even for a moment.

Eventually, the spear broke through the telekinesis and advanced again. But in that brief moment, Sun-woo and Nan-seol could arrive.

A wall rose in front of the party, and Nan-seol rushed at the Spear Master.

Thud!

The earth wall couldn’t stop the spear. The spear that penetrated the earth wall smashed where Michael had been and embedded deeply into the ground.

Michael, whose face had turned pale, sat down on the ground and looked at the spear embedded right in front of him with the ground turned over.

If he had stayed in that spot, survival would have been impossible. Fortunately, Sun-woo had rushed in and pushed Michael away.

Thanks to Sun-woo erecting a wall to block the Spear Master’s line of sight, he could save Michael. Since it was a spear moved by energy, if he hadn’t blocked the line of sight with a wall, dodging would have been impossible.

While Sun-woo saved Michael, the battle between Nan-seol and the Spear Master began.

Since it was a confrontation between sword and bare hands, Nan-seol seemed advantageous at first. But the difference between peak and transcendent level was great.

The Spear Master blocked Nan-seol’s sword with arms hardened by surrounding them with energy, and the spear techniques deployed with his hands bounced Nan-seol’s sword in all directions.

Nan-seol did her best, but before ten exchanges passed, she was hit by the Spear Master’s fist and flew away coughing up blood.

When Nan-seol was knocked away, the Spear Master reached toward the earth wall, and his spear embedded in the ground was pulled out, penetrated the wall, and returned to his hand.

That’s when it happened. Earth rose around the Spear Master, and the ground where the Spear Master stood sank deeply into the floor.

The risen earth became walls that shot upward, and the walls that shot up collapsed toward the Spear Master.

It was as if all the surrounding earth was rushing at him.

This was all Sun-woo’s sorcery. He had used all his internal energy and sorcery to attack the Spear Master.

With energy flow beyond his limits, blood burst from Sun-woo’s nose and his hands touching the ground trembled, but Sun-woo didn’t stop.

Though it was an ability with all his might, Sun-woo’s efforts came to nothing.

Boom!

A bright light surged from among the pouring piles of earth, and all the walls and earth Sun-woo had built up exploded outward.

And in that place, the Spear Master appeared in perfect condition.

He smiled at Sun-woo and raised his spear.