Absolute Dweller

[Episode 17] Skirmish (2)

Go In-seok watched Ha Dong-geon fly out.

‘He’s not an ordinary human.’

He had intended to smash his head.

But at the moment of impact, Ha Dong-geon lifted his body into the air, drastically reducing the force of the blow.

Moreover, Ha Dong-geon reacted precisely to his punch.

Although he couldn’t fully block it and his spear shaft broke, his reaction speed was impressive.

In addition.

Fwoosh.

Go In-seok looked at the broken spearhead embedded in his chest, emitting a black fire.

This was evidence of a counterattack.

Just before being sent flying, Ha Dong-geon had thrown his spear.

Despite the unstable posture, the spear had enough power to pierce Go In-seok’s skin.

‘That was close!’

If it had gone a bit deeper, it would have pierced his heart.

Go In-seok pulled out the spear, but the wound still burned with the black energy.

He frowned and used his blood to extinguish the black flames.

Sizzle—

‘I need to kill him first!’

Just as he was about to run over and finish off Ha Dong-geon.

Dadadada!

A loud gunshot rang out right in front of Go In-seok.

However.

Ding—Ding—

The bullets couldn’t penetrate Go In-seok’s skin and bounced off in all directions.

As Go In-seok ran in to kill Ha Dong-geon, he swung his fist with all his might towards the source of the gunfire.

Whoosh!

He missed again, but it wasn’t entirely in vain.

Crack!

“Urgh!”

Moon Byeong-ho, unable to completely avoid the punch thrown from such close range, appeared as the invisibility was broken.

When Go In-seok intended to deal with this pesky fly first and lifted his leg…

Thud!

Suddenly, burning pain shot through both his eyes.

“Arrrrggh!”

Go In-seok grabbed his eyes and screamed.

His vision went dark, but just before losing his sight, he clearly saw it.

Moving bullets appearing out of thin air.

He stomped the ground where Moon Byeong-ho had been.

Boom!

Of course, Moon Byeong-ho was no longer there.

“Tsk!”

A light arrow flew towards Go In-seok, whose eyes were streaming with blood. He instinctively felt the threat and moved away.

Thud!

The light arrow containing Piercing narrowly missed him, but it grazed his left arm.

“Damn it!”

He cursed and charged towards the source of the arrow.

“Rise!”

At that moment, steel knights emerged, blocking his path with their bodies.

Crunch!

Go In-seok swung his fists wildly, crushing the armor of the steel knights.

However, it didn’t matter if a few fell away.

Kang Deok-su could summon up to thirty steel knights.

One by one, they hung on to Go In-seok’s arms and legs.

“You dog bastards!”

Go In-seok was furious.

Individually, none of these opponents were a match for him.

The one using invisibility was only mildly annoying, and the one summoning steel golems was also only wasting his time.

The only real threats were Kim Ga-yeong, who shot suspiciously powerful penetrating arrows, and Ha Dong-geon, with his black flames.

Even then, they would’ve been crushed in an instant if they fought against him alone.

‘Worthless things!’

Individually, they were insignificant, but combined, their coordinated attacks overwhelmed him.

Moreover, it was difficult to respond with his vision impaired.

‘I need to regenerate my eyes first!’

He focused all his regenerative power on his eyes.

Just then.

Swoosh!

Sensing something flying towards him with threatening energy, Go In-seok twisted his body. It wasn’t possible to dodge fully because the steel knights hampered his movements.

Thunk!

Soon after, something sharp pierced his shoulder.

Fwoosh!

He had experienced this energy once already.

Go In-seok clicked his tongue as he felt black flames flicker across his right shoulder.

Just a bit longer.

He just needed to hold on a little longer.

Whoosh!

A light arrow narrowly missed his heart.

And then.

‘It’s done.’

Go In-seok slowly opened his left eye.

He had concentrated all his regenerative power in one eye to restore it as quickly as possible.

At first, his vision was blurry, but it got clearer with each blink.

As the world came back into focus, he saw an arrow of light heading straight for his heart.

Crack!

Go In-seok easily dodged it with a twist of his body and began to move in earnest.

Boom!

He instantly shook off the steel knights clinging to him and pulled the spear out from his shoulder. Then, he charged towards the woman with the bow.

Because he judged her light arrows to be more threatening than Ha Dong-geon’s thrown spears.

Bulge!

Veins bulged on his legs as he surged forward.

BANG!

He crushed the concrete beneath him and practically flew towards Kim Ga-yeong, aiming his fist at her heart.

But then.

Whoosh!

Moon Byeong-ho appeared out of thin air.

Perhaps remembering the experience of losing his eyes while trying to attack before, Go In-seok reflexively closed his left eye.

He reached out towards Kim Ga-yeong and Moon Byeong-ho, intending to grab and drain them of blood.

However.

Whoosh!

Just before his hand could reach them, both of them disappeared into the air.

With nothing in his hand, Go In-seok opened his left eye slightly, his expression twisting as he clicked his tongue.

Turning slowly, he saw Ha Dong-geon, Kang Deok-su, Moon Byeong-ho, Kim Ga-yeong, and dozens of steel knights surrounding him.

That wasn’t all.

“Graaahh.”

From where the poison mist had cleared, a bear was running with a woman riding on its back.

As Oh Eon-ju approached with Kim Da-jeong on her back, she stretched out her hands towards Ha Dong-geon’s party.

Wooong!

A bright light enveloped the four members, and their auras grew even stronger.

Go In-seok smirked.

“So, you’re the ones that killed that fool Jeong Yeong-hoon.”

Ha Dong-geon’s party stared at him silently.

Go In-seok observed them and said with a bitter expression.

“What a pity. I was too arrogant.”

The tension on the battlefield was palpable.

“Two… No, if I had just brought one more, it would be your side who would die.”

Then, Go In-seok moved first.

“!!”

However, this time, he wasn’t moving towards Ha Dong-geon’s party but in the opposite direction.

Ha Dong-geon shouted after seeing Go In-seok attempt to leap over the fence blocking both sides.

“Chase him!”

But at that moment,

[There’s no need for that.]

Kim Jae-hyun’s voice was heard.

At the same time.

“Arghhh!”

A death cry from the higher vampire echoed from beyond the fence.

Immediately after, silence fell over the area.

“…What?”

Moon Byeong-ho, who had teleported to the top of the fence, stared blankly below.

There, a middle-aged man, whose entire body was covered in a blue aura, stood with one hand piercing through the higher vampire’s heart.

Soon, the vampire’s corpse disappeared as if evaporating.

Moon Byeong-ho was momentarily paralyzed with shock.

‘Even if we had weakened him…’

The vampire’s skin, heated to a red glow, was impervious to bullets.

Only Ha Dong-geon’s black-flamed spear and Kim Ga-yeong’s piercing arrows had inflicted effective damage.

Yet, here was someone who had penetrated the vampire’s heart with his bare hands.

Watching the man who destroyed the higher vampire’s heart in a single strike, Moon Byeong-ho shuddered.

‘Who is this guy?’

Then.

Whoosh—

The man’s figure vanished and reappeared next to Moon Byeong-ho.

“Whoa!”

Seeing someone other than himself teleport for the first time, Moon Byeong-ho lost his balance and fell off the fence.

Whoosh—

In an instant, the man disappeared again and caught Moon Byeong-ho just before he hit the ground.

The man smiled gently and asked Ha Dong-geon’s party.

“You must be my son’s friends, right?”

While the others were still in shock, Ha Dong-geon, already familiar with the man, greeted him.

“Long time no see, Sir¹아버님 – Mr. Father/Dad, Father/Dad Sir, Father-nim/Dad-nim..”

“Sir?”

Ha Dong-geon introduced the man to the others who were tilting their heads.

“This is Mr. Jae-hyun’s father.”

Following Ha Dong-geon, Kim Dong-hyuk also greeted him.

“Nice to meet you.”

Watching my dad finish off the vampire, I let out a sigh of relief.

“Phew.”

When Ha Dong-geon’s party began to pursue the higher vampire, I reached out to my dad for help.

‘I knew he was strong because of the kin buff, but I didn’t think it’d be this overwhelming.’

Even though Ha Dong-geon’s party had their own buffs from titles and were stronger than their levels suggested, they couldn’t compare to my dad, who was shrouded in Self-Defense Spirit.

[You have hunted a Higher Vampire (Lv. 50).]

[You have gained a large amount of experience points.]

There was no settlement money due to the kin penalty, but the experience points were significantly boosted.

Naturally.

[Your skill level has increased.]

I leveled up.

“Haa.”

I braced myself for the pain that came along with the expansion.

—

It felt like my brain was going to melt from the pain.

Fortunately, the expansion process was faster than last time, perhaps because I only leveled up once.

“Tss, whew.”

[A being satisfying the conditions to be recognized as a citizen has been found.]

[Would you like to grant citizenship?]

After checking the new people included in the expanded area and granting citizenship one by one, I collapsed onto the sofa.

“Are you okay now, oppa?”

“Mm, it’s done.”

Seo Ye-jin handed me a glass of cold water.

“Good job.”

“Thanks.”

As I drank the cold water and crunched on the ice, I felt a bit more relaxed.

‘I have to endure this pain four more times to get skill points.’

At that moment.

[Citizen Moon Byeong-ho has used all available quest attempts for today.]

[Evaluating the quests completed by Citizen Moon Byeong-ho.]

[Evaluating …]

I made sure that all of the vassals, including Ha Dong-geon’s party, completed three quests each day.

The efficiency was great for the cost, so I didn’t miss a single day.

Naturally, the rewards from the daily quests were piling up, though I didn’t particularly expect much.

‘Will it increase my mental strength this time?’

I pondered seriously while looking at the notifications.

‘Is there a way to develop pain tolerance?’

If I gave them painful quests, would their pain tolerance increase?

As the number of people grew, so did the number of those doing stupid things.

I wondered if I could punish those people and find a way to increase my pain tolerance to prepare for leveling up.

While I was lost in such nonsensical thoughts.

[Evaluation Complete]

Moon Byeong-ho’s daily quest evaluation was completed.

[Jackpot Winner!]

[Congratulations.]

[You have gained a skill point.]

The reward I had received once before, appeared before my eyes.

“Huh?”

I was stunned by the unexpected gift.

***

A man slowly rose from a bathtub filled with blood.

Sculpture-like muscles emerged from beneath the blood.

The room, over 355 square feet in size, was like a small bathhouse.

As he stood up, a naked woman who had been waiting beside him diligently wiped the blood off him with a towel.

The man waited briefly before slowly opening the bathroom door.

A woman was kneeling outside, waiting for him.

He spoke to her.

“Go In-seok is dead.”

“!!”

“You need to go to Busan.”

“Understood.”

The woman bowed her head deeply.

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