He had dealt with one of the packs of hyenas commonly found in Zombie Burst.
More precisely, another one.
It was already the third.
The remaining time limit.
『762/1,000』
『8 hours 01 minute 19 seconds...... 18 seconds.......』
All of it had happened in only five hours.
There was a reason Joo Do-gyeom had thought during the previous Red Zone attack that such behavior wasn’t merely average for the Red Zone, but average for the people of this era.
‘That’s why Villains were still everywhere even after the world reached that state.’
Anger unconsciously flickered through the eyes of Joo Do-gyeom, who remained calm in nearly every situation, before quickly fading.
Now wasn’t the time to dwell on such things.
Instead, Joo Do-gyeom closed his eyes for a moment and observed his inner self.
‘I killed people.’
In particular, when killing the final crossbowman, he had deliberately used the Heavenly Killer.
Had anything changed?
‘It’s quieter...... than I expected.’
Tranquility.
That was the perfect word to describe his current state.
There was no agitation.
No emotional stimulation.
From the Heavenly Killer’s perspective, he had committed a fairly tempting act.
Was it the power of the Mental Fortification Ring?
‘Or do I simply have a strong resistance?’
He couldn’t merely conclude that, from the Heavenly Killer’s perspective, humans and monsters were no different and were simply ‘things that had to be killed.’
That was because Joo Do-gyeom, the master of the Heavenly Killer, was himself human.
‘I don’t fully understand it...... but does this mean something at this level isn’t a problem?’
He observed himself a little longer, just in case, but the madness didn’t manifest in any other direction.
Joo Do-gyeom nodded and opened his eyes.
He then quickly searched through the Villains’ corpses, taking items that were small in volume but carried high prices.
Unsurprisingly, a trace of greed arose within him.
‘I need to expand my Inventory soon.’
There were many items scattered around him that could be sold for considerable sums if he took them outside.
***
Joo Do-gyeom continued toward his destination.
His improved martial arts allowed him to overcome most terrain, but whenever he encountered a location that was difficult to cross in a single movement, he used the Infinite Rope.
Though it was only useful by early-stage standards, it was certainly convenient.
Battles continued without rest along the way.
There were plenty of zombies.
There were also hyena-like Villains.
Having grown considerably stronger through his training, Joo Do-gyeom moved through them with ease while continually reassessing his condition—more precisely, the Heavenly Killer.
In a sense.
No.
It was unquestionably the most important matter.
To maximize the efficiency of his observations, he learned another martial art during combat.
『Skill, Divided Mind Art (1-Star), acquired.』
Divided Mind Art.
It was an inferior form of the Duality Mind Art.
Both divided the mind into two, but Divided Mind Art didn’t allow its user to perform two different actions simultaneously.
Joo Do-gyeom used it to observe his madness as though examining something separate from himself.
Thanks to that, he discovered something.
The madness that had seemed entirely quiet at first glance was actually suffering frequent fits.
It stirred while he fought.
It even stirred while he simply walked.
Naturally, its agitation became more intense whenever he killed.
What was surprising was.
The Heavenly Killer’s agitation settled far more quickly than expected.
After each battle.
Joo Do-gyeom had only turned his awareness toward it once the situation had already become quiet.
It was hardly strange that he hadn’t noticed it until now.
‘Why?’
Was it the power of the Mental Fortification Ring?
That certainly seemed to play a part.
Whenever the madness moved, he had clearly felt an alien current of Mana attempting to protect his brain.
However, that alone couldn’t explain it.
The energy released by the Heavenly Killer’s madness in those brief moments was far more intense than the Mana flowing from the Mental Fortification Ring.
Yet the agitation ended extremely quickly.
‘What’s the reason?’
As his thoughts deepened.
A conversation with Vivienne suddenly surfaced in his mind.
-Wow, Joo Do-gyeom. You’re one stubborn bastard. Doesn’t it hurt? You’re enduring this without letting out a single groan.
-It hurts.
-If it hurts, at least scream. Don’t just hold it in.
-Even so, I can endure it.
-......You’re tenacious. Good grief. In all my life, I’ve never met anyone as patient as you.
-That’s a strange thing to say. I’m not patient. Just the number of Villains I’ve killed with my own hands......
One word from that conversation remained especially vivid in his mind.
‘......Patience?’
The possibility seemed absurd.
Yet somehow, it also seemed correct.
His powerful patience was suppressing the Heavenly Killer’s madness.
‘If that’s true......’
It immediately explained both why the madness, which should have manifested much more aggressively, had instead emerged in the bizarre form of assaulting someone with a fish.
It also explained why Vivienne had tried to make him the master of the Heavenly Killer.
Even if one searched the entire world, there would be few—if any—people capable of using the Heavenly Killer as stably as Joo Do-gyeom.
The unfortunate truth was.
‘That also means there’s no way to separately prevent incidents like beating someone with a fish.’
It would probably happen again from time to time.
An influence of his patience taking the place of murderous intent.
It was strange enough to make him laugh hollowly.
‘......It isn’t bad.’
Whatever the case, it was safer than the madness the Heavenly Killer originally contained—murderous intent toward living beings.
‘......It’ll be fine.’
Truly.
‘Probably.’
With a conclusion tinged by subtle doubt, Joo Do-gyeom smashed or sliced through the points of death visible to his Sure-Kill Eye.
There was no more efficient way to bring down zombies, beings that were already dead.
While doing so, he realized something else.
‘The Sure-Kill Eye......’
It activated almost automatically whenever he raised his Mana, but he could turn it off.
More precisely, through Divided Mind Art, it disappeared when he focused on the half of his mind where murderous intent had never risen in the first place.
That was a fairly significant discovery.
Because.
‘Maintaining it for too long causes my internal energy consumption to increase rapidly.’
At first, maintaining the Sure-Kill Eye hadn’t been especially difficult.
But as time passed, its consumption of internal energy increased exponentially.
The same happened whenever a variant appeared among the otherwise identical zombies.
In other words, whenever he faced a stronger individual.
The frequency of the madness’s fits also increased.
As repeatedly stated, it didn’t seem to be enjoying much success because his patience kept crushing it down.
‘The risks will grow if I keep using it.’
His internal energy might run dry, causing his reason to falter until the Heavenly Killer’s madness ultimately consumed him despite his natural resistance.
Or he might simply lack enough internal energy to fight and fall into serious danger.
‘Neither outcome would be good.’
With that thought, Joo Do-gyeom swung his sledgehammer once again with his ordinary eyes, the Sure-Kill Eye now gone, and swept away a large group of zombies.
A message rang out.
『Objective achieved. Zombies exterminated: 1,000/1,000』
『Return to Earth? Y/N』
Joo Do-gyeom firmly shook his head.
“I refuse.”
Another message immediately followed.
『Dungeon exploration continues.』
『Remaining time: 6 hours 59 minutes 20 seconds...... 19 seconds.......』
『Return is available at any time.』
His gaze turned into the distance.
He looked toward the exact center of the city-shaped Zombie Burst dungeon.
It wasn’t difficult to identify.
A mountain of corpses had been piled as high as an apartment building.
That place held the final objective Joo Do-gyeom intended to obtain from this run through Zombie Burst.
‘Death Reprieve.’
The Unique Skill, Death Reprieve.
Its effect was exactly as its name suggested.
When its owner should have died, it granted them a reprieve from death.
Its duration was approximately ten minutes.
During that time, the owner wouldn’t die even if their heart was destroyed or their brain burst apart.
What if they restored their heart or brain during that time with the help of healing Skills?
They would naturally recover completely.
For a Martial Artist like Joo Do-gyeom, who fought in close combat, it was difficult to find a more powerful survival utility.
‘I still need to be careful about my brain, though.’
If his brain burst, he wouldn’t die, but he would lose much of his ability to think.
Simply put, he would become a berserker.
Of course, later on, it was possible to obtain a Skill or Trait that allowed one to move normally even after the brain was destroyed.
‘It’ll be difficult to obtain a Skill of that level right now.’
In any case, Joo Do-gyeom needed Death Reprieve.
As stated, it was useful for someone like him who fought as a close-range warrior.
There were also several additional benefits he could gain from using it, all of which were included in his plans.
For that reason, Joo Do-gyeom remained inside the dungeon even after completing its objective and headed toward the mountain of corpses in the city center.
He swept aside the zombies that continued attacking him with his sledgehammer.
He moved at a considerable speed.
***
VROOOOOOM—!
The roar of an engine echoed loudly through the dungeon, a sound difficult to hear in a place where zombies attacked in hordes.
It came from a woman pulling the motorcycle’s throttle as hard as she could.
Her name was Kim Han-yul.
Most of her stats had already reached D- or D-Grade, making her powerful enough to be called one of the strongest Hunters allowed inside the Zombie Burst dungeon.
Yet she was being chased.
Why?
THUD, THUD, THUD—!
Because the things pursuing her weren’t merely a group of MZ zombies.
Among them was the boss monster of the Zombie Burst dungeon—the Corpse Giant.
Cold sweat streamed down the palm gripping the throttle and along her back.
‘F*ck. Why did I suggest we fight that thing?’
The Zombie Burst dungeon.
Its clear objective was to kill one thousand zombies, but it also contained a boss.
As just stated, it was the Corpse Giant currently pursuing her.
Nearly every Hunter knew that fact.
And at that point.
Every Hunter inevitably had the same thought.
Wouldn’t defeating a boss monster that wasn’t even part of the clear objective produce some incredible reward?
It was only natural.
Dungeons granted greater compensation for performances beyond what had been anticipated.
Sometimes they even revealed hidden pieces concealed within them.
That was why Kim Han-yul, who was on the verge of graduating from the Zombie Burst dungeon, had gathered a team and attempted to defeat the Corpse Giant.
How did she feel now?
‘I should’ve listened to my seniors. Damn it......’
Would the other veteran Hunters who knew about it so well truly never have attempted it?
Yet every one of them had said the same thing.
That thing hadn’t been designed to be defeated, so she should simply give up.
Kim Han-yul had believed she was different.
Everyone knew that even among Hunters with the same stat Ranks, there could be an enormous difference in ability depending on their sense for using Skills, their Mana control, their combat instincts, and the compatibility of their Traits.
Judged by those standards, she was an exceptionally capable Hunter for her Rank.
But this wasn’t possible.
‘The Corpse Giant......’
That thing truly hadn’t been created to be defeated.
“Aaaaaagh—!”
A scream escaped her without her realizing it.
BOOM—!
With an explosion, flames erupted across the Corpse Giant’s body.
Kim Han-yul instinctively shouted in delight.
“What?! Did it work?! Wow!”
One of her teammates had been hiding on a rooftop.
The mage, who should have created and launched that enormous fireball ten minutes earlier, had finally landed the spell.
‘There were probably so many subordinate zombies that they were chased around and only managed to fire it now.’
Even so, it was fortunate.
They had finally launched it.
Fire was the weakness of the undead.
The Corpse Giant had taken an enormous fireball directly.
No matter how powerful it was, something must have been damaged.
It would be even better if it had died.
Just as she thought that.
GRAAAAAAAH—!
The Corpse Giant released an inhuman roar and emerged through the cloud of dust raised by the fireball.
What did it look like?
“......Only the outside got lightly cooked.”
More precisely, a small hole had opened in its body.
However, the surrounding zombies immediately threw themselves into the opening and filled it.
The giant returned to its complete form in an instant.
It looked at Kim Han-yul and charged again.
THUD, THUD, THUD.
GRAAAAAAAH—!
No.
Now it was swinging both arms and destroying buildings as well.
The monstrous strength of a boss more than six meters tall was more than enough to split an apartment building from the twenty-first-century-themed dungeon in half.
Because of that, the mage—one of her teammates who had been hiding inside the building and preparing another attack—fled while screaming.
They seemed to have decided there was no chance of victory.
Kim Han-yul agreed.
‘......This really isn’t possible.’
She had to run.
As far as she could.
The problem was that the Corpse Giant was persistent.
Once it chose a target, it would usually pursue them until they died.
‘Even so, if I pull the throttle as hard as possible, get far away, and keep its aggro on me......’
Wouldn’t something work out?
Just as she thought that.
Three Mutant Zombies appeared simultaneously in front of the speeding motorcycle.
“Oh, damn it......!”
Kim Han-yul cursed, rose from her seat, kicked the motorcycle, and sent it flying straight toward them.
She brought her hands together.
Blue Mana flickered around Kim Han-yul’s hands as she rose into the air, forming a Mana gun.
She pulled the trigger.
The Mana bullet collided with the motorcycle flying ahead and caused an explosion.
CRASH—!
Thanks to that, all three Mutant Zombies were eliminated at once.
The problem was......
GRAAAAAAAH—!
The Corpse Giant.
Its full name was the ‘Horribly Fused Corpse Giant.’
It had caught up directly behind her.
A gigantic shadow fell over Kim Han-yul as she landed on the ground.
She turned her head and looked directly into the drooling face of the monster.
“H-ha, haha...... I’m completely f*cked.”
Immediately afterward, the Corpse Giant’s enormous palm filled her vision.
Kim Han-yul swallowed hard, preparing herself for death.
BOOOOM—!
With an explosive impact, the flesh composing the Corpse Giant’s hand burst apart and scattered in every direction.
Before the wide-eyed Kim Han-yul stood a man who had finished swinging a sledgehammer in a powerful, refreshing arc.
The man, Joo Do-gyeom, turned his gaze toward her and spoke with a hint of confusion.
“Kim Han-yul?”