Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 132

While the three of them were surprised at Cheok-Liang, he spoke to Ji-Cheok.

?Master, I made a big flame barrier so they can’t get out, but some may have already escaped…?

‘There is nothing we can do about that. I’ll have to deal with the ones here first.’

The Ghouls were wandering around inside the huge circular flame barrier created by Cheok-Liang. However, this was simply a method to buy time; as it turned out, the monsters could?run out of the flames without caring about being burned. After all, even though the area under the warehouse had already been purified by Seong Kwang, the Ghouls had still crawled in and started to knock on the walls. It was probably because they were eyeing the prey taking shelter on the roof.

“Okay, Cheok-Liang, Go! Take my shield with you!”

?Yes, Master.?

The three workers got on top of Cheok-Liang and he jumped down. The shield moved with him. Ji-Cheok could see the Ghouls’ eyes following Cheok-Liang as they started going after him, but they soon lost interest. It was partly because Cheok-Liang was incredibly fast and partly because he used [Blaze Walk] and [Cthugha’s Steps] together.

Seeing them leaving, Ji-Cheok felt a little relieved.

“Whew… I think we saved them all. That’s good news,” Ji-Cheok said.

“It’s all thanks to Mr. Ji-Cheok. Really… Thank you…”

“You’re welcome! I’m just glad I was here at the right time. Imagine if I wasn’t…”

Something unimaginable could have happened if Ji-Cheok wasn’t here.

“Ugh, let’s stop thinking about what might have happened. Anyway, I guess I will have to deal with them. I made a barrier with fire, but it’s rather thin, so if you want to break through it, you can go out now,” Ji-Cheok said.

There was a circular flame wall with a diameter of one kilometer centered on the orphanage. It was still burning, using Ji-Cheok’s mana and Qi.

“How much mana do you have left, brother Ji-Cheok?”

“Roughly…eighty percent.”

“What? That much? How…?”

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“I just have a lot of mana.”

‘And this is all possible because I have many recovery skills.’

Anyway, Ji-Cheok was glad that it was not that big of an emergency. He was thinking of using all his Likes if he had to.

“I didn’t use many skills either, so I still have sufficient mana left. The problem is the number of monsters,” Seong Kwang said.

The Ghouls seemed to be in the hundreds. They had stopped flooding out of the gate, but even so, the sheer number of Ghouls was a huge problem.

‘How should I deal with all of them at once?’

Ji-Cheok thought about using his [Cthugha’s Steps] and [Blaze Walk]. They would obviously suffer when touched by the flames created by the two skills, but it didn’t seem like the skills dealt damage significant enough to take them down in one blow. Ji-Cheok knew that he would wear them down eventually if he grilled them for thirty minutes or so, but…

“Only if I had a massive taunt skill… A taunt skill that would make hundreds of Ghouls look at me and only chase me…”

As Ji-Cheok mumbled, he heard his answer from beside him.

“There is one,” Seong Kwang said.

“What?”

“You have a taunt skill? A priest?”

Ji-Cheok looked at Seong Kwang and saw that his companion was smiling.

“I have one.”

“Do healers have taunt skills?”

“Yes, we do. It works really well against the Undead.”

“Oh my, please tell me more.”

“Ji-Cheok asked him about the taunt skill.

* * *

“Alright, are you ready?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s begin.”

Both of them got on the Mono Bike G. The plan had been discussed in advance. First, Seong Kwang was going to use a skill on Ji-Cheok.

“Oh, apostle of the great cow! I have brought in front of thee a subject that craves thy power! I beg thee to shine upon us with thy great might!”

[The buff skills of Zealot, Seong Kwang, fill up your vitality quickly]

Ji-Cheok could feel a sense of regeneration pumping inside him. At the same time, even the Ghouls that were quite far away turned their heads toward him. This was the taunt skill that Seong Kwang was talking about: increasing vitality. The Undead hated the living and craved their flesh at the same time. As the presence of living things—in other words, the amount of vital energy—increased, the Undead would chase the source of said vitality to the end of the world.

That was why, when fighting the Undead, healers had to be extra careful. For the Undead, healers using their skills were basically a lighthouse in the dark, burning with vitality. In fact, the healer’s skills affected the taunt skills of the ally tanks so much there were times when the taunt was released. It was a well-known matter in the academic world—monsters that had been taunted by the tank would suddenly change directions and attack the healers who overused their healing skills. Because of the nature of the Undead hating the living, healers had to be more careful.

The buff that Seong Kwang had given Ji-Cheok was a buff that only priests could use. It was divine magic that increased a tank’s Stamina by twenty percent. Since Seong Kwang used his skill on Ji-Cheok right in the middle of the burning arena full of Ghouls, even the Undead from a distance away were aggroed.

“Kiaaa!”

The monsters that were already near the warehouse were now frantically knocking on the walls and clinging to them, trying to climb up, while those that were far away started running desperately toward the two Hunters.

“This is what you used on Ji-Byeok in the last Undead dungeon,” Ji-Cheok said.

“Yes. It worked well, as you can tell.”

‘No wonder the taunt wasn’t flashy.’

If they left the Ghouls alone, they would form a wall to come up to the roof of the warehouse. Ji-Cheok couldn’t let that happen.

“Okay, let’s go!”

“Right behind you, Brother!”

Seong Kwang wrapped his one hand around Ji-Cheok’s waist and held onto his belt tightly. With his other hand, he held a staff with a holy mark on it. Ji-Cheok used [Acceleration] on Mono Bike G and immediately jumped off the roof.

“Activate [Cthugha’s Steps] and [Blaze Walk]!”

Two blazing trails clearly marked the motorcycle’s route. At the same time, Ji-Cheok activated the [Bike and Self as One] skill, rushing forward with his Sword Qi wrapped around the bike.

Crunch! Slash!

The Ghouls that were trying to attack Ji-Cheok were torn apart by the collision. However, when Ji-Cheok collided with the Ghouls, the impact felt quite heavy. It appeared clear that if there were five Ghouls blocking them in a row, Ji-Cheok would find it impossible to get past them. Also, Ji-Cheok realized his Mana and Qi were consumed quite a bit. Sword Qi was a cultivation skill that continuously consumed his Qi anyway, and if the monsters were tough and hard to cut, he had to use even more Qi to make sure he dissected them properly.

‘From the looks of it… I used around one percent of my Qi to kill one Ghoul. In this state, I’m done after killing one hundred monsters.’

Of course, this was the case when he didn’t have any healing agent, like a mana potion, and he didn’t receive any buffs because he was in a hurry. In other words, the way he was right now.

“Activate [Silph’s Blessing], [Mana Shield], [Strength Boost], [Mana Boost], and [Jump Boost].”

Flashing lights exploded from his body in succession. He used all the buffs he could. In response to his actions, Seong Kwang also started to use his skills from behind Ji-Cheok.

“Oh, apostle of the great cow, grant us thy strength!”

[You have acquired divine power from Seong Kwang’s buff skill.]

‘I’ve been thinking about it, but it’s so hard to figure out Seong Kwang’s actual skill name.’

A ray of light came upon his body. Even after that, Seong Kwang continued to apply a large number of buffs to Ji-Cheok. He was truly a Super Rookie in the healer world.

‘I can feel power boiling inside my body!’

Ji-Cheok’s Sword Qi did not actually mix with the divine power he received, but….

Ding.

[The divine power permeates the sword QI.]

[The skill has changed into Holy Light Sword Qi.]

‘Wow, I didn’t know something like this existed. It’s strange. Let’s go at it and see how it works, I guess!’

Vrooom!

Slash!

The Ghouls that touched the bike were sliced like cucumbers.

“This is awesome!” Seong Kwang yelled.

“I never knew this skill could be this powerful. Why is it so powerful? Is it because it’s a combination skill?”

“Brother Ji-Cheok, how am I supposed to know that?”

Ji-Cheok kept moving around. As he drove toward the orphanage, Ghouls attacked from all sides, but with the flames behind the bike’s wheels and the two Holy Light Sword Qi blades, Ji-Cheok swept through the Ghouls as if they were made of jelly.

‘Wow. I think I can actually kill a hundred of them at once!’

Screech!

He stopped at the flame barrier and turned around. The Ghouls were no longer following them. Instead, they started to behave bizarrely.

“Huh…?”

“What… What are they doing?”

Seong Kwang and Ji-Cheok were astounded at what the Ghouls were doing.

The monsters had started to cling to each other. Then, they bit and tore each other’s bodies apart with their claws, and began to merge like a crushed lump of mud.

“...They’re going to do that?”

Ji-Cheok figured out what they were doing. He had seen a corpse like that back when he was working as a Hunter Assistant in a dungeon. It was a hideously mangled corpse abomination. Using his [Eye of Insight], he confirmed that this was, in fact, a monster created by merging multiple corpses. It was a horrible sight, almost defiling one’s eyesight, and it was also famous for being as powerful as a boss monster.

“...I’ve never seen Ghouls transform into something like that.”

Ji-Cheok could feel Seong Kwang’s voice trembling.

“Me neither As far as I know, depending on what kind of corpses are merging, that monster became stronger or weaker,” Ji-Cheok said.

And usually, it wouldn’t become that big; it would reach three to four meters in height at the most.

“Okay… But that… that is…”

It just kept getting bigger and bigger. Eventually, the Ghouls coalesced into a gigantic monster that was almost eight meters tall. Actually, the size wasn’t the problem as much as the fact that it looked simply horrible and disgusting. Ji-Cheok felt like vomiting just by looking at it. Of course, he was fine thanks to the effects of his titles. He looked at Seong Kwang and saw that his companion was also not affected by the grotesque figure.

‘Cheok-Liang is holding onto the [Guardian of Hope] right now, so it’s not that. I guess Seong Kwang has some kind of skill that works against negative mental influences.’

“Brother Ji-Cheok, it’s moving,” Seong Kwang said.

They saw the hideously mangled corpse abomination turn its head toward them. Ji-Cheok didn’t know if that thing really looked at them, but it definitely felt as if it glared at them.

Then, it started to walk in a different direction.

‘What? Where are you going?’

“No way… We have to stop it! Ji-Cheok! We have to stop that!” Seong Kwang shouted from behind Ji-Cheok, pointing in the direction the creature was walking.

“That is where the shelter is!” Seong Kwang said.

“Damn it, hold on tight.”

‘You can’t go to the shelter! That’s where the kids are!’

Ji-Cheok accelerated like never before.

‘How the hell does that thing know to go in the most fucked-up direction?’

* * *

Munbal District, Paju City, Gyeonggi Province.

This place, located between Goyang City and Paju City, had sported a publishing industry complex in the past, but after the Gate incident, it had become a place where various companies for Hunters were built. This was because small stores selling handmade products had settled down in the vicinity, and a market had been formed to buy and sell their products.

Since the North Korean region had been completely destroyed by monsters, Paju City and Goyang City had become a barrier that virtually protected Seoul, which meant that the real estate prices here solely depended on the owner. In other words, it changed depending on the price of the Warding Stones, the national defense budget, and which government Hunter was there at that time. As a result, people elected members of the National Assembly from this district who prioritized national defense. These National Assembly members would then spend tons of money to install more Warding Stones, send more military supplies, and build more concrete walls.