Survival Story of a Sword King in a Fantasy World

Making a Sword King By Rote (3)

Uto Ksarik’s head turned.

“…?”

While it was briefly distracted by ‘flies,’ its original plan to hunt them down changed.

There was a small human covered in dark red light.

It was certain.

Energy much stronger than before was overflowing throughout his body.

It was a bit questionable since blood was mixed in with it, but it was a very interesting change regardless.

Uto Ksarik thought fighting him would be more interesting.

“Moooooooooo!”

Ignoring the Templar Lords, Uto Ksarik charged toward Ryu Han-bin.

“H-he’s moving!”

“That’s it!”

“To your next positions!”

Artis, Effir, and the six Templar Lords began to scatter around the dome with a sigh of relief.

Uto Ksarik ignored them.

Those flies weren’t worth chasing.

At least that ‘red man’ was deserving enough for it to play with.

“Come on, you monster!”

Ryu Han-bin burst into a roar and rushed at Uto Ksarik.

At the same time, he swung his sword with his fighting spirit’s power coating its blade.

– Crosscut!

For the first time, Uto Ksarik was forced to defend.

Paaaaaaaaaaaa!

Their Auras collided.

However, as expected, Han-bin was sent flying.

But he no longer threw up blood.

He assumed a stance and released another skill!

– Vertical Cut!

The bull smiled.

Unlike before, his attack was actually quite powerful.

It was a waste not to take it head-on.

“Moooooooooops!”

Its two swords were waved in an elegant curve and smoothly split apart Han-bin’s Vertical Cut.

“Huh!”

Ryu Han-bin, who was about to use Stab, stepped back in fright.

It was completely wrong.

If he tried cross-impact right then, he would have been sent to his death.

Hence, he returned to his previous position and started over!

– Crosscut!

Using basic skills, Ryu Han-bin continued to attack the divine beast.

Uto Ksarik likewise stood its ground and fought against the attacks undauntingly.

Shockwaves constantly spread as a terrible storm of destruction ceaselessly bombarded the place.

“Oh, my gosh…”

Panting, Ryu Han-bin adjusted his timing.

The gap was still noticeable even though his fighting spirit had been activated.

If he didn’t step back soon, he would die.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Han-bin shouted a signal.

“Save me!”

It didn’t make him look good at all, but it was an intuitive sign.

His colleagues approached Uto Ksarik again.

Uto Ksarik roared when it noticed them getting ever closer.

“Moooooooo!”

Its Aura’s ripples spread in circles and covered up the Templar Lords.

Boom!

Again, the flies worked hard to escape damnation, sacrificing their artifacts in the process.

However, Uto Ksarik didn’t launch any further offensive.

Ryu Han-bin was running away again.

Uto Ksarik didn’t want to miss out on a better catch by worrying about flies like them.

“Grrr!”

The bull rushed at him with a terrific speed.

In an instant, the distance between Ryu Han-bin and Uto Ksarik narrowed.

“Ugh!”

In a hurry, Ryu Han-bin threw himself inside the dome’s building.

The divine beast’s swords shone.

– Aura Blast!

A tremendous amount of light covered the whole building.

The mountain roared as if it were collapsing, and an explosion soared high in the sky.

Boom!

At the same time, the hunt completely stopped.

Looking at the utterly ruined building, Uto Ksarik was convinced.

Its prey was dead.

It had killed its opponent with certainty.

Smiling satisfactorily, Utuksalik turned around.

It was to find the traces of the flies.

Using the unique ability of Dungeon monsters, it tracked the scent of humans.

After a while, the divine beast clicked its tongue.

They had already fled a long-distance away.

Well, it wasn’t interested in them anyway.

They weren’t worth tracking.

Its killer instincts were satisfied enough by ending its main target’s life.

“Grrrr…”

The huge silver bull left the dome and drifted off to the far side of the ruins.

After a long while, a head rose through the collapsed pile of buildings.

“Oh, I barely survived…”

Ryu Han-bin’s face was covered in blood.

Han-bin sighed deeply with an exhausted face.

“Oh, my God, I might not die due to natural causes…”

* * *

A lake in the south at the lowest bottom of the Grand Maze Kaltan, infested with blood-red waters, served as a shelter for Han-bin and his party.

They didn’t secure a Clean Area and created their shelter in there as Hunters did in any other dungeon.

It sometimes took months to make a Clean Area at the lowest bottom of the Grand Maze, and they didn’t have that much time in their hands.

Instead, they killed all the monsters around their vicinity and made it a temporary base.

Looking around, Effir murmured.

“We should be safe here for a while, right?”

The higher the level of monsters in the dungeon, the longer the respawn time.

Trexal, a level 100 monster, was native to the place they were staying at. The average respawn time was about three to four days.

At least for the time being, they could rest without any problems.

Artis was exhausted due to injury and fatigue, and the same could be said for the other Templar Lords lying across the place and groaning in pain.

“Oh, my God…”

“I’ve heard a lot about the Three Gods of Kaltan, but I didn’t expect it to be that strong.”

White-silver bull, Uto Ksarik.

The legendary prestige of the divine beasts wasn’t exaggerated.

Even the six Templar Lords, the strongest members of each church, ran away with all their might when met with its presence.

The result they got was only possible because they had carefully planned the operation, aligned their movements, and focused only on escaping.

“Phew…”

Sabine Asil sighed.

“I’m just ashamed of my weakness. Is this the only way I can be of use as Althea’s sword…?”

Angelica smiled.

“Wouldn’t it be enough to survive?”

Level 90s encountered a level 168 monster and lived to tell the tale.

That alone was an achievement worthy of going down in history.

Lord Palmer replied, throwing away his corroded ring and necklace.

“Thanks to that, we are spending way too much. The value of the artifacts I lost today is more than my entire wealth!”

Merdill shrugged.

“Aren’t the Churches paying for it anyway?”

“What do you take the Churches’ money for? They’re precious donations from the believers.”

Ryu Han-bin, who Leon Hart was treating, intervened in the conversation.

“Then put it on the Goddesses’ tabs. After saving the world, won’t they pay that back?”

Palmer replied solemnly, stroking his rich dwarven beard.

“You shouldn’t desire payment in exchange for your services to a Goddess.”

He then immediately changed his expression and laughed.

“But you’re an Alien, so there’s no problem asking for a reward. You can take it and give it to us.”

“… You guys have become more flexible.”

‘Is it because we’ve been hanging out for quite a while?’

By that point, everyone seemed to be close enough to joke around with Ryu Han-bin, an Alien.

Kibie looked back at everyone and spoke in a serious tone.

“It’s a good thing everyone got back safely.”

She wasn’t involved in the battle against the divine beast.

If something went wrong, she would be in big trouble.

Hence, she was forced to hide alone and wait for her party to come back.

Of course, no matter how many nearby monsters they killed, the Grand Maze’s lowest floor remained dangerous.

If they were only concerned about safety, they shouldn’t have come there in the first place.

However, Kibie alone couldn’t be separated on the ground.

Leon Hart’s plan required the participation of the six Templar Lords as well as Han-bin’s party.

With that amount of power, running away from the divine beast became possible.

Thanks to that, the Holy Punishers’ leaders were all gone, but it was unavoidable.

If too many humans united and moved in the dungeon, the probability of mobilizing a large number of monsters increased.

Therefore, it wasn’t possible to reinforce their power with other low-level Templars.

They had to move with only a handful of the strongest.

Since all the completely trustworthy people were in the Grand Maze, it was safer to move with Kibie.

As she stared beyond the red lake, the black-haired beauty murmured boldly.

“Shame on me. Everyone’s risking their lives while I’m hiding in a safe place like a princess in a tower…”

Ryu Han-bin teased her.

“Aren’t you more ashamed of being a Goddess who lost your divinity in the first place?”

“… But that happened long ago, and it’s too late now to do anything about it, isn’t it?”

Kibie placed her hand at Han-bin’s body.

“I’ll help with your treatment, at least.”

Then, she tightened the bandage hard.

Ryu Han-bin burst into a scream.

“Hey! that hurts! You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

“Hold on. It’s supposed to be tight.”

Han-bin’s injury was still quite serious even after Leon Hart had treated him extensively.

He could erase the residual Aura caused by the fighting spirit by himself, but the residual Aura of Uto Ksarik remained.

Leon Hart, who made the diagnosis, spoke out.

“It’ll take me two days to heal you completely.”

Ryu Han-bin smirked even though he was sick.

“It’ll be easier in the future. I can fool the sense of divine beast.”

* * *

Leon Hart asked Ryu Han-bin to fight with the divine beast a few times and run away with all his might.

“The problem is, considering the level difference between the bull and us, even escaping is impossible.”

They wouldn’t be able to increase the distance between them and run away.

The divine beast was much faster than Ryu Han-bin.

‘Then what should we do?’

“We have no choice but to deceive the sense of Uto Ksarik.”

Han-bin gained some distance with the help of his colleagues.

And Leon Hart’s opinion was that he had no choice but to fake death after being taken out of the divine beast’s sight.

That made Ryu Han-bin wonder.

“Is there a way to fool a monster that I’m dead?”

He didn’t understand.

If there were such a way, why hadn’t other Hunters ever used it?

Was it because the skill was too difficult to use?

However, that wasn’t the case at all.

The other Templar Lords also raised the same question.

“Huh? How would that work, Lord Leon Hart?”

“By any chance, did you develop it recently?”

“If you know how to do that, teach me!”

Leon Hart shook his head firmly.

“No, there is no such a trick.”

Everyone, including Ryu Han-bin, had a blank look on their faces.

‘So what the hell are you talking about?’

“It’s impossible for us, at least.”

Leon Hart looked back at Han-bin and continued.

“But that guy might be able to do it.”

“What do you mean? Is there any other special function in the Guideline that I don’t know?”

“It’s not like that. Other Aliens have never deceived the senses of monsters, at least as far as I know.”

Leon Hart observed Ryu Han-bin’s entire physique.

“Have you ever thought about it, Han-bin? Why you’re level six.”

“That’s because my Guideline is defective. You already know that.”

“But that’s…”

Leon Hart’s eyes shone sharply at the moment.

“What’s wrong with the Guideline then that keeps you at level six?”