Chapter 128 (1/2)
Stomp, stomp—
It had been about 5 minutes since people started following Su-hyeun. Nothing appeared so far. It was a situation where nobody knew where and what things would appear all a sudden. If they moved without caution and got caught in a trap, it could cause trouble.
“Wait a minute! There is something!” Mirald, who was following Su-hyeun, found out something strange and shouted at him.
At that moment, a bright white light flashed in front of Su-hyeun.
Slash—!
Rip—!
A giant earthworm that soared from the ground was cut in half, and blood splashed everywhere. Su-hyeun cut the body of the monster as soon as he drew the sword out.
He spoke casually, shaking the blood from the sword. “Let’s keep moving.”
“…Okay.”
Similar things happened after that. Other people tried to warn Su-hyeun about traps or monsters to get more achievement points, but it was useless. Su-hyeun’s reaction was always faster than the other four.
<<Damn it. If he finds the exit in this way…>>
<<What’s going to happen? He will take all the achievement points like this.>>
They tried to grasp the situation. More monsters and traps appeared, but Su-hyeun, who was leading the way, easily removed all of them. It was obvious that he would advance to the finals. Now, there was only one seat left.
<<Who will make the cut besides of him?>>
A common thought that came to everyone’s mind. At that time, a familiar voice was heard in the heads of the three people.
—Hey. I would like to suggest something. If you agree with that, please nod your head after listening.
Three people were startled and looked at Mirald.
—Don’t look at me. He will notice.
Stomp, stomp—
Their gait, which had been disturbed for a moment, went back to normal. Su-hyeun, who was walking ahead, glanced at the back once and started moving again. Mirald felt relieved and continued her talking.
—…So, what do you think?
The three people worried for a moment but nodded one by one. It was not a bad offer. Anyway, nothing was foul in this test, except murder.
***
Crack, crack—
The ground turned upside down and a giant earthworm soared. It was an earthworm with many large and small mouths all over its body. It was over ten meters and gushed out severe poisonous fluid from its body.
“Watch out! It’s a meat-eating earthworm!” Mirald shouted the name of the monster as if she had seen it before. “The clear fluid on its body is extremely poisonous. The teeth are hard enough to chew even steel.”
“How should we attack it?” one awakener asked.
“It is weak to fire. The skin is not tough, either….”
Whiz—
While Mirald was talking, Su-hyeun stormed out and went inside of the mouth of the meat-eating earthworm. Everybody was surprised at what just happened. That time, the body of the meat-eating earthworm began to shiver.
Rip—!
Drip, drip—!
Kiyaaaak—!
Its body was cut from the inside and burnt down. The meat-eating earthworm screamed. Screaming didn’t go on for long. Soon, its body was cut in half. The dead worm fell on the ground. The other four, who had escaped to the top of the trees, were speechless. They never thought Su-hyeun would go inside of the giant worm and attack it from there.
“A-are you okay?” Mirald approached Su-hyeun and asked.
Even though everything was a hallucination, if Su-hyeun was poisoned by the meat-eating earthworm, he might be eliminated from the test.
“Yes. I am fine.”
“How could you possibly be okay from the poison of the meat-eating earthworm?”
“I guess a hallucination is just a hallucination. That great Johnny Brad could not incarnate the poison of the monster I assume,” one awakener behind of Mirald said, snorting. Then, he muttered that the contest was very crude. He bobbed his head to Su-hyeun and continued to say, “If you are done, let’s move again. Obviously, you will pass the test as soon as you find the exit.”
His tone was very sarcastic as if he was asking Su-hyeun if he was satisfied to get all achievement points by himself. Other parties’ faces were not much different from him. Su-hyeun looked around their faces and nodded his head. The party started moving again. Su-hyeun touched the wall.
<<The exit is not that far.>>
He glanced back. Other people were touching the wall like him. At this distance, they would have also located the exit. The level of traps and monsters was not so high. The level might be difficult for only one S-Rank awakener, but it was almost too easy for five of them. As Su-hyeun had guessed from the beginning, the goal of this test was not to escape the maze.
<<It is about who gets more achievement points or…>>
As his thoughts got deeper, he stopped his steps and said, “It’s a trap.”
Hiss, hiss—
Numerous snakes crawled down the walls of the maze. It was the same on the ground. From red to purple, tens of thousands of slender snakes appeared.
Su-hyeun looked down at his feet and asked, “What does this mean?”
The black teeth that sore up from the ground bit Su-hyeun’s ankle. The teeth were hard and sharp enough to dig into his ankle. It bit tighter as if it was not going to miss his foot. Su-hyeun stared at the man behind who summoned these black teeth.