Chapter 57:
Seo Jae-yi grabbed Grayson by the scruff of his neck, who had been leisurely observing the situation with his arms crossed, and hopped over the debris. Grayson, seemingly accustomed to her rough handling, allowed himself to be dragged along.
“Guild Leader.”
“So, have you finished evaluating my abilities?”
It seemed she had heard their conversation despite the distance.
“I just stated the facts. Quick decisions are crucial in this situation.”
“And you’re saying you’ll handle it?”
“Yes. And I happen to have a useless guy who’s been slacking off.”
“Hello, I’m the useless Grayson.”
“…He does seem somewhat useful in this situation.”
Seon Ju-hee would have refused if it were only Seo Jae-yi. It would be like burning down the house to catch a flea.
But with Grayson present, she readily yielded.
“Everyone, fall back. We’ll leave this one to them.”
“What? Who is he…? Wait, senior! Hold on!”
A Guild member who didn’t recognize Seo Jae-yi protested, but others quickly covered his mouth and dragged him away.
Now only Seo Jae-yi and Grayson remained before the boss monster.
Seo Jae-yi holstered her gun. It was better to use their abilities when fighting alongside Grayson.
“It’s been four years since we last fought together. How do you feel?”
“A bit worried.”
“You worry too?”
“It’s been a while since I’ve faced a boss monster. I almost overloaded while fighting a Rank 2 boss monster a year ago.”
“…Honey, I want to run away.”
“Where are you going? You’re the only one who can stop me if I overload. Stay by my side.”
“I’ll bring Baek Joo-won immediately if something happens…”
Heat started to rise around Seo Jae-yi, creating a shimmering haze.
Grayson, who had been sniffling, chuckled, feeling the heat infused with her energy.
It felt strangely familiar, even though it had been a long time since they last fought together. They had been through life-or-death situations, but Seo Jae-yi was still alive.
“Here it comes.”
The boss monster, sensing the ominous heat, launched its attack. Its branches extended in all directions with incredible speed.
A gentle breeze blew from somewhere. It was a soft wind, barely enough to tickle their hair and ruffle their clothes, but it turned into sharp blades when it reached the monster.
Several branches were sliced clean through.
Kyaaagh!
The monster shrieked and glared at Seo Jae-yi and Grayson. Even without eyes, its fury was palpable.
“How’s that? Enough to cover you, right?”
Grayson’s ability was wind manipulation.
“Then why didn’t you block the ones coming from the front?”
“Ah, those are your responsibility.”
Grayson grinned, the incoming branches serving as a backdrop.
Seo Jae-yi briefly considered letting the jerk get hit by a branch, but she changed her mind. He might hold a grudge and complain to Baek Joo-won.
Instead, she kicked him in the shin and grabbed the branches with both hands. The branches sizzled and snapped as her intense heat instantly cooked them.
But the boss monster, being a boss monster, didn’t panic or scream. It simply retaliated with even more branches.
Whoosh. Crimson flames erupted around Seo Jae-yi. The branches, unable to reach her, blackened and burned in the intense heat.
She effortlessly pushed the branches aside and charged towards the boss monster. A thick branch slammed down at her head.
Slice. Grayson’s wind sliced through the branch just in time. A liquid, either sap or blood, dripped from the severed end.
“Oh, I heard tree sap is good for your health. I wonder if monster tree sap has the same effect?”
Airok would know if she brought it back to him.
Seo Jae-yi punched the monster, thinking she should extract as much sap as possible.
Thud! The monster staggered, a satisfying sound echoing through the air. A few leaves, still clinging to the branches, fluttered down.
And the moment a leaf touched her shoulder…
Boom! Boom!
All the fallen leaves exploded. Seo Jae-yi’s head snapped back, and she stumbled, the impact shaking her.
“Seo Jae-yi!”
Her face, of all places!
Grayson, who had been slicing through branches attacking from other directions, was startled.
Even S-ranks had vulnerable spots, like their eyes and ears. Bullets bouncing off eyeballs only happened in movies.
Kaaagh!
The boss monster attacked the staggering Seo Jae-yi again. Grayson tried to pull her back with his wind, but…
“Oops. That was close.”
Seo Jae-yi grabbed the branch with both hands and ripped it off with a cracking sound. Being ripped apart alive was more painful than being cut. The monster shrieked, writhing in agony. More leaves fluttered down.
“Hey, you should have told me you had this kind of ability.”
But the leaves exploded before they could even reach Seo Jae-yi. Flames, shooting out from her fingertips like bullets, had incinerated them all.
“Jae-yi, are you okay?”
Grayson rushed over and checked her face. Fortunately, there were no injuries, only a slight redness on her skin. Her eyes were fine too.
“Can you hear properly?”
“Yes. I shielded myself with heat when they exploded.”
Explosions didn’t affect her much. She wasn’t a simple fire manipulator; she controlled “heat” itself, so she could control even the heat from explosions.
But that was only possible at her peak. Her current condition was different, so Grayson couldn’t help but worry.
“The leaves exploding like bombs… We didn’t know because the other monsters were all withered and had no leaves.”
“Right. We thought it was just a parasitic tree. This is unexpected.”
“There are still quite a few leaves left. We should finish this quickly.”
The explosions didn’t affect them much, but it would be a disaster if even one leaf escaped. They couldn’t waste any more time.
“Ugh, I wanted to collect the tree sap…”
This wasn’t the time for that.
Seo Jae-yi wiped away a tear and waved her hand. Crimson flames engulfed her. The temperature rose, and the wind started swirling around her.
Grayson gasped, feeling the wind between his fingers being pulled towards her.
Ah, he loved this feeling.
“Focus and work.”
“Okay, okay.”
Grayson wrapped the boss monster with the wind that hadn’t been sucked in by Seo Jae-yi. But something wasn’t right.
“Honey, something’s strange. I can’t lift it.”
“Huh?”
“It’s like its body is fixed to the ground…”
They instinctively looked down.
At the base of the boss monster, or rather, the roots of the tree.
“It’s rooted.”
Trees didn’t just have branches and leaves. They had roots, which were far more important.
The monster was anchoring itself to the ground with its roots.
“We don’t know how far its roots have spread. It’ll be a disaster if they reach the surrounding area.”
The larger the tree, the larger the roots. And roots had the ability to absorb nutrients.
They had to finish this before the monster consumed all the land with its roots.
“I’ll handle it. Get ready.”
The flames dancing around Seo Jae-yi gathered into a ball. She left it with Grayson and charged towards the boss monster again.
No wonder only the leaves had fluttered down when she punched it before, and its body hadn’t moved. It must have already started rooting itself.
Kaaagh!
The boss monster swung its branches and launched leaves at Seo Jae-yi, who had closed in.
But it was a predictable attack. She effortlessly dodged, creating a heat barrier around herself, and punched the ground.
Boom! The ground shook as her arm sank into the earth. Her hand grabbed a thick, sturdy root.
“Let’s see how much you’ve planted.”
Intense heat gathered in her palm.
Kraaagh! Aaaaargh!
The heat spread through the monster’s roots. It shrieked in pain, desperately trying to shake her off, but its branches withered in the heat and were sliced by Grayson’s wind.
Seo Jae-yi opened her eyes, a glint in them.
“Whew, that was close.”
She had completely mapped the roots’ location with the heat she had spread around. She started ripping them out.
Kyaaaagh!
The ground cracked around the boss monster. Thick roots emerged from the fissures.
The monster struggled to survive, but it couldn’t withstand Seo Jae-yi’s powerful grip.
“With this…”
The boss monster, losing its support, staggered. Some roots remained, but it didn’t matter.
Seo Jae-yi drew her gun and fired at the ground where the remaining roots were. The roots jumped out with each shot, like a cat on a hot tin roof.
She grabbed the giant tree trunk and lifted it. All the roots were ripped out under her immense strength.
“Maggie!”
Grayson, who had been waiting, gathered his wind and wrapped it around the boss monster. The monster, completely unsupported, was lifted into the air by the wind.
Kaaagh! Kraaagh!
Its roar shook Seoul.
But it couldn’t survive without roots to support it and soil to provide nutrients.
Whoosh. The struggling boss monster flinched at a terrifying sound.
Heat. An intense heat, capable of incinerating it instantly, was approaching.
It had lost its will under the parasite’s control, but its survival instinct remained, so it desperately struggled to live.
But it was all over the moment the wind, infused with fire, reached it.
Whoosh. Grayson’s wind, carrying Seo Jae-yi’s flames, engulfed the boss monster. Sparks flew dangerously, but the wind gathered them and kept them contained.
The boss monster was being incinerated in mid-air, where no one could interfere and no one was in danger.
Kyaaagh!
A giant insect, far larger than the others, emerged from the burning tree monster.
Its massive body, its rapidly beating wings…
The true boss of this dungeon. The parasite.