Chapter 79 – Kim Peter

Dark mage skills are diverse.

Therefore, Min Do-jun couldn’t know which skills Kim Peter had learned.

Still, he could guess one thing.

‘He might have Sleep magic.’

The evidence was the sleeping woman beside Gwak Seon-yeong.

Seeing her made him think the guy might have Sleep.

‘Though it could be sleeping pills or just knocked out…’

It seemed worth confirming.

So he deliberately irritated him by dodging his attacks here and there.

Trying to make him use his trump card first.

‘If he really plans to use Sleep, he’ll show an opening to approach and use Dark Binding.’

Fortunately, Kim Peter didn’t deviate from expectations at all.

He showed a clearly different opening than before, and Min Do-jun responded.

To his eyes it might have looked like taking the bait, but it was actually the opposite.

‘He took my bait.’

When his limbs were bound, sure enough, Kim Peter reached for his head.

He was trying to use Sleep, but Min Do-jun didn’t avoid it.

He was confident it wouldn’t affect him due to the Debuff Nullification trait obtained from Gil Chung-su.

Moreover, this moment when he reached out at close range was exactly what he’d been waiting for.

Because he couldn’t use barrier while casting Sleep magic.

‘Now’s my chance while the barrier is down.’

*Swoosh*

He changed his weapon to a cursed dagger.

He could see the guy’s confused face when Sleep didn’t work.

*Grab*

He grabbed his forearm and struck down hard with the dagger.

“Arggghhhh!”

Kim Peter screamed and retreated with his arm cut off below the elbow.

[Inflicted Curse of Blindness on target.]

[Duration minimized due to target’s high level.]

[Cannot inflict curse more than twice due to target’s high level.]

[Time remaining: 30 seconds]

Ignoring the notifications, Min Do-jun quickly changed to his ghost sword.

*THUNG!*

Though he swung his sword, the guy managed to cast barrier despite the pain.

‘Should I have just cut his head with the sword instead of cursing him?’

But the sword’s attack speed was slow, so he might have responded with barrier.

Maybe the attack landed because it was a dagger.

Though he regretted not inflicting a deeper wound, he still took an arm.

Plus with the curse landed, the advantage had greatly shifted to Min Do-jun’s side.

‘It would have been over if Petrification Curse had landed.’

Still, considering it fortunate Silence Curse didn’t land, he charged at Kim Peter.

*THUNG!*

Kim Peter blocked with barrier and poured out dark arrows.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM!*

“You cursed bastard, my eyes!”

Unable to see, he fired skills randomly.

But Min Do-jun wouldn’t fall to blind attacks.

‘Not much time left, probably due to his high level.’

25 seconds remained on the curse.

Deciding it was time to press the attack, Min Do-jun used his prepared skill.

‘Berserk.’

*Growl*

[Using Berserk.]

[Strength and Agility increased by 1.5x.]

[Strength +568, Agility +551]

[Time remaining: 2 minutes 59 seconds]

He felt uncontrollable power as his stats increased.

*BANG!*

Min Do-jun closed the distance instantly and changed his weapon’s form to a hammer.

A hammer with wider impact than a sword was better for breaking barriers.

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

With each hammer strike, Kim Peter lost balance and staggered.

He couldn’t regain his senses from the suddenly increased damage.

‘W-what’s happening…’

Unable to see, he couldn’t understand the situation.

He could only desperately maintain his barrier to defend.

*Crack crack*

‘My barrier made with 3,000 magic power…!’

Though he couldn’t see, he could tell.

The barrier breaking was just a matter of time.

‘I didn’t want to use this if possible…!’

Finally, Kim Peter had no choice but to pull out his hidden card.

Skill: Hellfire.

A powerful skill that sweeps a 10-meter radius with a firestorm, one that even dark mages were reluctant to use.

Because it took a portion of life force as payment for the skill.

Kim Peter cast that skill.

‘This should deal significant damage to him too.’

Kim Peter’s body turned red like heated iron, and a firestorm swept in all directions.

*WHOOSH*

“Ugh!”

Min Do-jun, caught in range, was pushed back by the pressure while engulfed in flames.

Though he had to suffer burns on his forearm from the unavoidable skill, the damage wasn’t as severe as expected.

‘The Fire Resistance trait helps at times like this.’

Min Do-jun had obtained the Fire Resistance trait after killing hunters near the columbarium alley.

‘Thanks to 20% increased fire resistance, I reduced the damage.’

If he’d taken the full damage, it wouldn’t have ended with just burns.

Just as Min Do-jun was about to spring forward again, Kim Peter’s vision returned.

30 seconds had passed.

“Die, you bastard!”

The previously random dark arrows now flew precisely at Min Do-jun.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM!*

Though the curse ended, Berserk was still active.

He easily dodged with increased agility and swung his hammer wide.

*BOOM!*

“Urgh!”

Even blocking with barrier, Kim Peter slid back.

‘That’s the sword from before?’

His eyes saw the hammer’s true form.

“You have quite the peculiar weapon.”

That was the end of his observation.

Having no intention of showing mercy anymore, Kim Peter fired dark arrows.

But the target wasn’t Min Do-jun.

The targets were the attendants Min Do-jun had knocked down when first bursting in.

*Thud!*

“Urk!”

*Thud! Thud!*

“Gak!”

The unconscious attendants at the entrance lost their lives one by one.

Seeing him casually kill his subordinates, Min Do-jun felt more puzzled than surprised.

‘What’s he doing? Don’t tell me?’

Kim Peter struck his staff on the ground with his remaining arm.

*Thump*

With that, the dead attendants rose in grotesque forms.

Ghouls.

‘He killed them to use Ghoul Summoning?’

Ten ghouls surrounded Min Do-jun, baring their hideous teeth.

But such undead posed no threat.

*Swoosh*

Ignoring the summons, he struck the barrier.

*BOOM!*

Though the barrier shook heavily, Min Do-jun could tell from hitting it directly.

The feeling was different from before.

‘What’s this? The barrier feels stronger?’

He dodged dark arrows with nimble movements.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM!*

‘The damage seems stronger too…’

Kim Peter seemed generally stronger after summoning the ghouls.

As Min Do-jun moved to pound the barrier regardless-

“Protect me!”

The ghouls rushed forward to block Min Do-jun’s path.

*Smash! Smash!*

Min Do-jun mercilessly struck down the ghouls with his hammer.

Whether they were once human or not, now they were just monsters hindering him.

“Kuhehe, foolish one.”

Despite his summons being crushed, Kim Peter smiled triumphantly.

“How can you defeat my ghouls with such brute force?”

At those words, Min Do-jun looked at the ghouls with surprised eyes.

Indeed, the crumbling summons were reforming and standing again.

“I told you, warriors can’t defeat me.”

At some point, a green magic circle had appeared beneath Kim Peter’s feet.

‘Could it be Field of Immortality?’

Field of Immortality was a skill that protected all summons within from physical attacks.

A skill every dark mage would desire.

As hard to obtain as it was desirable, he hadn’t even considered it…

‘To think Kim Peter had mastered it…’

If Kim Peter hadn’t fallen into cultism and focused only on dungeon hunting, he could have reached the peak as a dark mage.

Perhaps because he had such ridiculous thoughts during battle?

When he smirked, Kim Peter misunderstood and chuckled.

“Laughing from despair? Well. It must be hopeless. Before an immortal army, anyone would…”

*Whoosh*

Kim Peter’s eyes widened at the suddenly appearing flames.

“What is this…!”

*BOOM!*

A ghoul’s corpse scattered everywhere as the Fire Blast hit.

“Unfortunately, I’m not a warrior.”

As if proving this, wind blades lined up above Min Do-jun’s head.

*WHIRRR!*

The rapidly spinning blades mercilessly shredded the ghouls.

“If physical damage doesn’t work, magic will do.”

Kim Peter, who had thought Min Do-jun was just a warrior, was somewhat shocked seeing him freely use magic.

‘To kill my ghouls so easily…’

This wasn’t amateur magic use.

The magic’s power showed he had raised considerable mana.

That wasn’t all that was surprising.

‘Magic moving so freely…!’

Spells that should be non-targeting were freely flying through the air, cutting ghouls to pieces.

Even when they tried to dodge nimbly, the magic gracefully curved to blow off the ghouls’ heads.

Ironically for a skill called Field of Immortality, the area was filled with ghoul corpses.

Though immortal to physical attacks, they were just ordinary ghouls against magic.

“Eeek…!”

Kim Peter, who had planned to use the ghouls as shields, was now cornered.

*BOOM!*

Min Do-jun pounded the barrier with his hammer.

[Time remaining: 19 seconds]

Not much time left until Berserk ended.

‘Awo! You join in too! We don’t have much time!’

[Woof!]

The ghost wolf he had been hiding also joined in pounding the barrier.

Kim Peter’s face showed anxiety.

‘W-what is that thing!’

He never expected a summon too.

‘I can’t hold out like this! I need to at least catch that dog!’

Kim Peter hurriedly fired dark arrows but.

*Whoosh whoosh*

Arrows could never catch the ghost wolf’s movements, doubled in speed by the Assault skill.

He tried firing dark arrows and Dark Binding at Min Do-jun to buy time, but they still missed.

Min Do-jun in Berserk state was rampaging like a mad dog.

*Crack! CRACK!*

The barrier cracked and finally shattered.

The defenseless Kim Peter closed his eyes seeing the approaching hammer.

‘God. Please forgive me for failing to protect the sacred relic…’

Though he expected pain, nothing happened.

Opening his eyes slightly, he saw the hammer stopped right in front of his face.

“Think I’d kill you easily?”

“Y-you damned vermin…!”

*Slash!*

The ghost sword, having changed form, cut off Kim Peter’s remaining arm.

“Aaaaargh!”

“The sacred relic. Where is it?”

“Kugh, as if I’d tell the likes of you!”

*Slash*

This time Kim Peter’s leg was cut off.

“Kuaaagh!”

“Tell me where it is and I’ll end your pain.”

“Never, you’ll never get the sacred relic…”

“Sigh, forget it.”

*Slash*

*Thud*

Deciding it was a waste of time, Min Do-jun cut off Kim Peter’s head.

“I’ll just ask someone else.”