Chapter 78 – A Calculated Move

Kim Peter’s eyebrows furrowed at being called an old man.

“You insolent…”

Disturbed from his pleasant time by this sudden intruder, he emanated dark energy.

The air grew heavy, almost suffocating.

Though Min Do-jun made a bold entrance, he was internally tense.

‘Still can’t see any weaknesses.’

When Min Do-jun first saw Kim Peter, his level was 1,050.

Now he was at 1,400, up 350 levels, but the man’s information was still all question marks.

‘This is why I said I needed to be at least A-rank…’

He had planned to fight after reaching level 1,500, but ended up drawing his sword earlier than intended.

He couldn’t ignore knowing Mr. Gwak Gi-deok’s daughter was in danger.

‘Should I have coldly ignored it? No. I’m here now, forget about it.’

There’s no time for other thoughts with an enemy before him.

Especially an A-rank hunter at level 2,433.

Min Do-jun quickly assessed the situation.

Gwak Seon-yeong was pinned under Kim Peter, tears streaming, with another woman sleeping nearby.

‘I can guess what he was trying to do.’

Gwak Seon-yeong looked his way but didn’t recognize him.

Because he had transformed into a different face, not Gil Chung-su.

‘Fighting here would involve those two.’

He needed to separate Kim Peter from the women first.

Kim Peter stood up and approached with an ominous aura.

“It couldn’t have been easy for an outsider to find this hidden underground place. How did you know?”

“One of your attendants told me after I roughed him up.”

Min Do-jun forced a casual smile while applying buffs to his ghost sword.

[Revenge trait doubles damage.]

[Hunter Killer trait doubles damage.]

[First Strike effect doubles damage.]

‘Need to intimidate him with this strike.’

The blade held damage amplified eight times.

*Swoosh*

Min Do-jun closed the distance instantly and swung his sword.

“Foolish one.”

Kim Peter deployed a barrier dismissively.

*BOOM!*

With an explosion, Kim Peter was thrown backward.

He nearly tumbled ungracefully but barely maintained his posture.

His relaxed expression instantly hardened.

“Attacking during conversation. How ill-mannered.”

Though he said this, Kim Peter was internally quite shocked.

‘Such damage from a single sword swing?’

Thinking he’d be in trouble if he underestimated this opponent, he quickly equipped his hunter gear.

*Shhhhing*

“It’s been a while since someone made me equip my gear. Very well. Though I don’t know why you’re attacking me, I can’t let you live after coming here. I’ll face you seriously.”

“The old man must have been lonely, talking this much.”

“Cheeky bastard. Wearing some strange mask on your face.”

‘So he can see the ghost mask in his eyes.’

That meant Kim Peter’s combat ability was superior to Min Do-jun’s.

‘At least that attack secured fighting space.’

He glanced over to see the sleeping woman waking from the explosion.

‘Run while I draw his attention.’

Fortunately, Gwak Seon-yeong quickly left with the awakened woman.

‘Good.’

Now he could fight without holding back.

Satisfied, Min Do-jun observed Kim Peter.

His equipped gear looked far from the holy appearance of this place.

He wore a pitch-black robe and held a skull staff.

“Where did you roll in from? Tell the truth and I’ll kill you painlessly.”

“Consider it a message from the Black Sea Guild.”

At those words, Kim Peter’s eyes changed.

“So you lot were after the sacred relic after all.”

‘Sacred relic?’

Min Do-jun was internally surprised at the sudden mention of a sacred relic.

‘I probed about Black Sea Guild connections, but what’s this about a sacred relic?’

Min Do-jun had suspected some organization might have helped the order obtain sleeping pills.

He had guessed it might be the Black Sea Guild and probed accordingly, which seemed to hit the mark.

‘But I didn’t expect talk of a sacred relic.’

Though he didn’t know the details, pretending to be from the Black Sea Guild seemed the best way to gather information.

“We’ve been targeting it for a long time.”

“I knew it. Something felt fishy about you lot approaching first, and now I see your scheme.”

Killing intent emanated from Kim Peter’s eyes.

Darkness seemed to ripple from his staff and robe hem.

“Don’t expect a peaceful death since you came for the sacred relic.”

That ended the conversation.

Dark arrows poured from the staff’s tip.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM!*

Though Min Do-jun nimbly dodged, the marble floor shattered.

‘I suspected from the skull staff, but he really is a dark mage.’

Before regression, Min Do-jun didn’t even know Kim Peter’s class.

He had so little information about him.

All he’d seen before dying was the man’s face showing yellowed teeth in a smile.

‘Dark mage skills must not be easy to obtain.’

Like magic swordsman, dark mage is a non-mainstream class.

But unlike the “trash” magic swordsman, dark mage is considered a powerful class.

In short, it’s a unique class any mage would desire.

‘This will be tough.’

The difficulty increased with this unique class on top of his high combat power.

‘I guess knowing his skills is fortunate, if anything?’

Though barely known now, in the future some dark mage skills became public.

He was familiar with what types of skills existed.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM!*

Dark arrows rained as marble shattered.

They weren’t guided attacks, so dodging wasn’t difficult.

“Like a little rat.”

Min Do-jun watched for an opening while dodging, then closed in instantly.

*THUNG!*

His attack was easily blocked by the barrier.

The sound differed from his first strike.

Because he’d used up the First Strike effect.

Min Do-jun quickly retreated.

There was no time for follow-up attacks.

Dark arrows were rushing in.

“Kuhehe, how pitiful. All that running around for just one sword strike when you saw an opening.”

Kim Peter regained his composure after his initial tension.

“Weaker than your first strike. Probably a one-time attack.”

Kim Peter leisurely pursued Min Do-jun with dark arrows.

*BOOM! BOOM!*

He didn’t care about the marble floor becoming a mess.

Nothing was more fun than cornering an insect.

Meanwhile, Min Do-jun calmly dodged the arrows.

‘Can’t let my guard down. Stay focused.’

He was busy just dodging as arrows poured in, leaving no opening to close distance.

But Min Do-jun didn’t lose hope.

He had many hidden cards.

‘I have one way to win. Using my hidden cards.’

He had many trump cards Kim Peter couldn’t imagine, like Magic Control, Berserk, Ghost Wolf, and Weapon Transform.

‘If there’s a power difference, I have to use these.’

Though Kim Peter wasn’t showing his full ability either, Min Do-jun was confident.

His cards would be far stronger than his opponent’s.

“Are you really from the Black Sea Guild? How could you assassinate me being this weak?”

Min Do-jun silently continued dodging arrows despite the mockery.

Then when he saw a brief opening-

*Swoosh*

He instantly closed in and swung his ghost sword.

*THUNG!*

His attack was blocked again.

And back to dodging arrows.

“Tsk tsk.”

Kim Peter couldn’t understand.

Why he kept attempting such inadequate attacks.

But he sensed Min Do-jun was planning something.

‘Hurry and show your hidden cards.’

But he showed no signs of revealing them first.

‘Fine. Then I’ll show mine first.’

Kim Peter showed an opening while shooting arrows.

But this opening was different from before.

It was clearly intentional.

Min Do-jun rushed in as if drawn to the opening.

‘Keke, caught you.’

Kim Peter smiled triumphantly.

As he aimed his staff, black ropes appeared from thin air binding Min Do-jun’s limbs.

Dark Binding, a signature dark mage skill.

Though usually hard to land, it’s perfect against opponents charging straight in.

‘Of course, a warrior could easily break free with strength.’

No matter.

Even binding him briefly was enough.

“Know why warriors can’t beat me?”

Kim Peter rushed to Min Do-jun before he could break free.

*Tap*

He placed his hand on his head.

“Because they’re stupid enough to walk into traps.”

He immediately cast his skill.

Sleep.

A simple skill that puts targets to sleep.

But it’s lethal when landed in combat.

Being asleep meant being completely helpless.

‘It’s over.’

Kim Peter was certain when the skill landed.

He’d collapse with a thud.

But unexpected messages appeared.

[Cannot cast Sleep on target.]

[Debuff nullified.]

‘What?’

Sleep’s success rate increases with magic power.

With nearly 3,000 magic power, he had never failed.

Even if it failed, it wouldn’t show “cannot cast” – just “failed.”

‘How did…’

Suddenly Kim Peter saw Min Do-jun break free and grab his arm.

*Grab*

“Got you.”

As Kim Peter tried to quickly activate his barrier-

“Too late.”

Min Do-jun, who had drawn a dagger, cut off Kim Peter’s arm.

[Inflicted Curse of Blindness on target.]