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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Dhritarashtra (Guardian King)
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[Hunter 'Soma Sangai' requests entry.]
A message popped up out of nowhere, and Gonghyeok gave a slight smile. He must have heard Yeonsi's scream from outside the boss room.
"Permission granted."
With Gonghyeok's approval, the boss door burst open, and a man strode in.
Towering nearly 2 meters tall, he was a hulking figure clad in an Egyptian priest's garb he'd picked up along the way, gripping a bronze staff.
The giant leaped forward.
Lightly clearing 9 meters.
Easily shattering the world record, he landed and swung his bronze staff down. The jackal biting Ha Yeonsi's leg had its neck crushed flat under the staff.
The jackal's jaws frothed with blood and foam as its mouth gaped open. Without pause, the giant seized the upper jaw of the jackal gnawing her arm with his brutish hand and yanked it back.
Its maw tore straight back to its nape, splitting the jackal's head in two—like flipping open a lid called its skull.
Yip! Yip yip yip!
The five jackals pinned by telekinesis and the two that had circled behind charged in.
Their target was Ha Yeonsi, but the giant enveloped her protectively, exposing himself to all seven jackals.
He offered his nape and every vital point on his body to their razor-sharp fangs.
Grrr! Grrr!
The jackals' sharp teeth tore into him, leaving mangled bite marks and spurting blood, but the man didn't flinch.
[Vajra Guardian (S+)'s ability 'Adamantine Indestructibility' activates!]
[Through 'Adamantine Indestructibility,' 'Soma Sangai' enters an indestructible state. No damage taken for 4 seconds.]
"Ahh, you poor things."
He rose lightly, as if merely nipped by kittens.
"I'd like to borrow Ksitigarbha's words and say, 'If I do not go to hell, who will?' to set the tone."
He locked eyes with each jackal gnawing at his body.
"But I truly can't tell which side is hell. At the very least, rest in peace beyond the river of three crossings."
[Spartacus (A++)'s third ability '!!!Revolution!!!' activates.]
[Deals 5x damage back to enemies who inflicted critical damage!]
His prayer-clasped hands struck like a rake across the foreheads of all seven jackals. Their brows caved in like tofu, and the jackals fell limply from his body.
"Hah, hah. You..."
Her outfit was different, but Ha Yeonsi remembered the giant with the wild hair.
The man dying motionless in the village corner from starvation and wounds—he was the hulking figure before her now.
'He came again this time, too.'
Gonghyeok knew who he was as well.
The one true heavyweight among the 200.
The Tibetan defrocked monk who possessed the avatars 'Vajra Guardian' and 'Spartacus.'
Guardian of the Tibetan government-in-exile and the Dalai Lama.
In the past, he had died seven times on the first floor. Even with traits like Super Regeneration (A) and Indomitable Fortress (A+), he couldn't overcome his injuries without aid.
But in the six regressions where he survived, he was a monster who shrugged off even the Four Heavenly Kings' assaults.
Aggro control, sustain, counterattack—flawless in every aspect as a top-tier tank.
His unyielding convictions had spawned countless enemies and hardships, yet no one ever doubted his nobility.
The vanguard leader of 'Nirvana,' one of the four major raiding clans.
Dhritarashtra (Guardian King)—Soma Sangai.
- Groooar, groooar...
Twelve minutes and forty-seven seconds into tag with Gonghyeok. The Temple Guardian was no longer sane, ravaged by spreading poison and blood loss. Its status window, viewed through GM, blazed with debuffs: exhaustion, confusion, poisoning, massive hemorrhage.
- Kweeegh!
Suddenly, the Temple Guardian vomited. Blood mixed with bile. Realizing its body's ruin, it fixed trembling eyes on Gonghyeok.
- Human. You are wise and strong.
"You're the one tiring out first during a stroll? No shine in your coat—want to hit the vet together?"
At Gonghyeok's mockery, the Temple Guardian gave a weary, bitter smile.
- You there. From now on, I cast aside my humanity.
The Temple Guardian, who had walked upright like a beastman, dropped to all fours.
['Temple Guardian' shifts to beast mode. Strength, endurance, agility rise 20%. Mind, mana, technique fall 30%.]
- Grrrrrr...
Intelligence long gone, it drooled mindlessly.
"Is that so. Then from now on, I'll..."
Gonghyeok drew two weapons from his inventory.
The troll's battle scythe and the Azan orc's halberd.
"This isn't a fight anymore. It's hunting time, you mangy pup."
- RAAAAAAGH!
The Temple Guardian's massive frame surged forward at several times the speed.
Twice as fast on all fours. Twice more from the stat grade boost—an absurd equation. At that velocity, Gonghyeok's stats wouldn't register it before death.
However.
- 'Beast Charge (E+)' direct hit in 0.32 seconds! Projected damage: instant death. Right arm and both legs severed! Internal organs fully ejected! Full-body muscle rupture! Cerebrum and hypothalamus...]
'I calculated the timing ages ago.'
The battle scythe gripped in both hands swung like a bat.
Tssshk!
Leather and flesh parted cleanly, the blade embedding with a thud.
The scythe lodged in the viciously gaping maw of the Guardian.
Crunch.
'Ah, that's my sound.'
[Master! 4th and 5th vertebrae shattered from recoil...]
The scythe's tip protruded from the Guardian's nape. Even with its reflex center medulla half-sliced, the Temple Guardian's charge didn't stop.
Thud!
[Clavicle double-fractured! Abdominal muscles 30% torn! Right leg fibula cracked!]
GM swiftly relayed the damage.
'Right. All told...'
Still combat-capable.
Weight × speed = destructive force. If the scythe hadn't snagged the medulla and slowed it, instant death as projected.
- AAAAAAARGH!
Its body barely responsive, yet the Temple Guardian shoved Gonghyeok to the wall with superhuman strength.
But Gonghyeok deftly braced the halberd against the wall.
Shluck.
Forcing him to the wall, the Temple Guardian had impaled itself.
The halberd fully pierced the heart it had once grazed. The heart emerged from the Guardian's back.
- Gruuuuh...
The Guardian dropped its scythe-pierced face onto Gonghyeok's chest.
Legs already buckled, body slumped against the foe.
Yet the Temple Guardian's eyes still burned with feral malice.
Gonghyeok felt that glare mirrored his own.
"Temple Guardian. You did more than enough."
Gonghyeok gripped his battle hammer from inventory one last time.
"So die already."
Ox God Art: Brutal Strike—Skull Shatterer.
The hefty iron mass plummeted onto the Temple Guardian's head.
The skull pulped, both eyeballs popped out like candy. From the sockets, only bloody flesh oozed—no more malice or venom.
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