Max Talent Player - Chapter 211

Chapter 211

‘Let’s give it a try.’

There was nothing to lose by trying.

“Die.”

This place was connected to the Gran Seoul Dungeon. They destroyed the ‘Gravestone of the Gatekeeper Grave’ in the Gran Seoul Dungeon’s ‘Marvin Cemetery’, which brought them here.

In addition, Hyukjin hadn’t heard any notices like ‘The Gran Seoul Dungeon has been cleared’ or ‘You have left the Gran Seoul Dungeon’.

But the effect wasn’t complete.

The Dewinged Angel Statue stopped moving for a moment. Its red eyes and gems stared down on Hyukjin’s party like a hawk eyeing its prey.

But he did confirm something.

‘I can influence them, to some extent.’

He immediately adjusted the difficulty.

His authority was unable to exert its full strength.

He debuffed the statues using his title effect. That alone was a lifesaver. Now that the enemies were debuffed, it was time for their party to be buffed.

Hunter’s March. A skill that shined in a one vs. one battle. The duration was 120 seconds, and the buff target was, of course, Kim Hyukjin.

He immediately used another buff.

Conductor’s Hymn. A skill that shined in a group battle. The duration was, like Hunter’s March, 120 seconds. The buff targets were the party members here: Jo Sunghyun, Kim Sunhwa, and Hyun Junghwa.

“Consumable items will have a 30% increased effect. If you have them, use them all now.”

As he said those words, Sunhwa’s body glowed blue, indicating that she had absorbed something registered in her slots.

“I used a potion that temporarily increases defense.”

Sunhwa knew exactly what she had to do even without a detailed explanation from Hyukjin. She had to block that attack, that extremely dangerous beam.

Hyukjin nodded.

“Sorry, Sunhwa.”

“Nothing to be sorry about.” Sunhwa took out a large, white shield. “Blocking attacks is my job.”

The shield gleamed all over. Hyukjin knew about the item.

‘Shining with Glory.’

The shield’s name was ‘Shining with Glory’. The extremely large white shield was especially good at blocking long-ranged attacks. It was clear that Sunhwa had prepared the items she needed, as an excellent tank should, so she could switch as needed.

She held up the shield, her small stature dwarfed by its massive size. Sunhwa didn’t appear to find it at all heavy.

“I don’t think I can block it all the way.”

The difficulty might have been reduced, and the angel statues’ prowess was decreased, but what couldn’t be done just couldn’t be done. Hyukjin was well aware of that, too.

“Set knocking it away as your goal.”

These angel statues might even be stronger than the Fire Giants. Blocking an attack from one head-on was impossible.

“When Sunhwa knocks the attack away, Miss Junghwa and Sunghyun should work in tandem.”

Sunghyun nodded, realizing what he had to do.

“I will provide support.”

“You can do a good job, right? We don’t have many chances.”

“Yes.”

Sunghyun had already comboed many times with Choi Sung-gu. Sung-gu’s destructive power was greater, while Sunghyun had the upper hand in precision and speed.

“I’ve also worked with Miss Junghwa a few times.”

Hyukjin yelled, “Get down!”

Everyone instantly dropped. A red beam flashed past.

‘The destructive power has definitely gone down.’

Also, it was impossible to get close to them. These statues had a special ability that prevented approach.

“Sunhwa. Just like now, dodge everything you can dodge. I’ll give commands from the back.”

“Okay.”

There was no need to block every single attack.

“The angel statues’ attacks will get faster and faster.”

No one had told him that; he just knew from seeing them.

“The red gems are their strongest means of attack, as well as their most vulnerable point. That’s their weakness.”

He read that through Eye of Perception.

“They get weaker immediately after attacking.”

That was what his intuition told him—that directly after firing a red beam, they were at their weakest, and if they could strike the red gems at the exact timing, they could hunt these statues.

“The wind will get stronger and stronger.”

Right on cue, the wind blew in.

[]

There were five arrows. It wasn’t time yet. He bided his time.

“Fire when there are at least seven arrows and the wind is going upwards, immediately after the red beam is fired.”

Junghwa focused on Hyukjin’s words, her Sylphid’s Wing raised. It was incredibly nice to have someone assessing the situation for her and giving overall orders.

‘I just… have to focus on the bow.’

That was what she could do best. She set her mind fully on the bow, and the bow alone. It was obvious at a glance that those angel statues were nearly impossible to hunt by ordinary means. Junghwa understood Hyukjin’s words. The wind that went upwards was no ordinary wind. It was an artificial breeze harboring a little mana.

Junghwa focused.

‘Let the wind give me strength.’

That wind blowing in would pour strength into her bow. Happily, Sylphid’s Wing was an item with very high wind affinity.

‘Sunghyun’s precise control will bump the damage up even more.’

She had to attack at the exact moment.

“The target is the red gem.”

If she released the bowstring the moment Sunhwa knocked away the beam, her arrow would reach the red gem around the time when the red beam was fizzling out.

“Right…”

Hyukjin spoke.

“Now.”

The wind blew.

[]

It was a gale.

Sunhwa ran.

“Uryaaaaa!”

And with a loud cry—

“Sturdier than Anything!”

She used her skill ‘Sturdier than Anything’. Another large white shield appeared in place over her white shield.

She followed that up with another skill.

“Platinum Shield.”

It was a beginner skill, but it was easy and quick to activate and had a good effect. Platinum Shield was stacked on top.

‘Slightly lower my body…’

The wind was blowing upwards, which meant it was blowing against the beam. The mana within the wind was clashing against the mana of the beam. Right now, the wind was on their side.

‘Lower my center of balance.’

She twisted halfway at the waist, pointing her shoulder forward and bringing ‘Shining with Glory’ up to the red beam.

Surface to surface, beam to shield, force against buttress.

At exactly the moment when she made contact, she tilted the shield ever so slightly.

‘Ngh…!’

Her shoulder felt like it was going to be destroyed. The pain that raced up her shoulder rattled her insides, burning. It was like her whole body was on fire. The savage mana imbued in the red beam swept through Sunhwa’s body.

‘I can endure it…!’

It was agonizing, but she didn’t fear it. She was no longer the girl who was rendered helpless by a Goblin child.

‘I can do it!’

The trajectory of the red beam changed and shot into the sky, then turned in the wind like a boomerang, piercing the clouds.

Meanwhile, Hyun Junghwa set her sights on the red gem.

‘Focus.’

Only the red gem and she existed in the world. She only saw the red gem. It loomed large in her eyes, and she heard nothing. An intense gale was gusting around her, but that gale could not shake her.

That was because Jo Sunghyun was helping her. The wind magician bolstered by the Tome of the Divine Wind Physique had wind affinity second to none other. He controlled the wind, supporting her.

Fwip!

Junghwa released the bowstring.

Sunghyun’s wind gave an added boost. His wind, which usually assisted Choi Sung-gu’s Flame Whip, now assisted Hyun Junghwa’s arrow.

[]

Sunghyun’s magic, Junghwa’s arrow, and the powerful mana-charged gust. All three came together into one devastatingly powerful shot.

Bam!

The arrow landed precisely in the middle of the Dewinged Angel Statue’s forehead.

Crack–cra-crack–!

Cracks began to spider along the red gem.

Sunghyun rapidly gathered his magic. “Wind Arrow.”

It was a simple spell, but the gale was still blustering right now. The spell was as fast as it was simple. Junghwa also drew the bowstring again, using her innate ability, Consecutive Rapidfire.

The three arrows shot off one after another, all of them landing directly on the red gem.

A considerable amount of EXP and Coins came in. Hunting a level 20 monster normally yielded about just twenty Coins, but they had gotten seven hundred. That meant the statues’ levels were extremely high.

‘We did it.’

They successfully hunted one of them. Junghwa felt certain now that they would be able to hunt the other one as well.

‘Huh?’

But somehow…

‘The other one…’

Was destroyed.

‘What happened?’

She had put every bit of her focus on destroying one red gem, entering a state of extreme concentration where only she and the gem existed, leaving her no presence of mind to pay attention to things happening around her.

Junghwa heard Hyukjin’s voice.

“Good work.”

Her eyes whipped towards him, noticing there were beads of sweat dripping down his forehead and his fingertips were faintly trembling.

Junghwa wasn’t able to hold back her curiosity.

“Mr. Hyukjin. I’m embarrassed to say this, but I was so focused on one red gem that I didn’t see anything else.”

She was curious. Just what in the world happened to the other one? Was it set so that destroying one would destroy the other?

“I destroyed it.”

“What?”

“I’m also good with the bow.”

“With… the bow?”

It wasn’t impossible. Junghwa herself had pulled it off. But she had done it with Jo Sunghyun’s help.

“I have a sovereign ability that can buff me.”

“Even so…”

“A non-archer class Player like myself can’t do something like this? Is that what you want to say?”

“…”

“You saw it yourself. Ah, you were focusing on the other gem, so you didn’t. But the result is as you see.”

Both Dewinged Angel Statues were destroyed. Junghwa was burning with curiosity. Kim Hyukjin didn’t even have the archer class and wasn’t aided by Jo Sunghyun, so how? How did he achieve the same result? Just what did this man have? What did he do, to reach the same result with that sloppy form?

‘If I find that out…’

I’ll be able to reach another level, too.

“It is presumptuous of me…” It was taboo to ask about another person’s secrets or abilities, but just this once, she really had to ask. “But how did you do it? It doesn’t seem like you simply fired your bow. I’m certain there was another factor in play.”

“Do I have to tell you?”

“You are not obligated to, no.” As desperate as she was to know, she still didn’t cross the line. “However, if you teach me, I will be sure to repay your kindness.”

Hyun Junghwa hated saying this sort of thing. But today, she decided to pull out all the stops.

“I am a second gen chaebol. And I’m the youngest child.”

She was convinced that this was an opportunity she could not afford to miss, a chance for her to grow as an archer. Enlightenment seemed within arm’s reach.

“…”

“…”

A slight period of silence descended, and Junghwa’s face turned bright red.

“Th-That’s how earnest I am right now. I want to grow stronger.”

Hyukjin grinned. “I’ll tell you,” he said, thinking that his ‘secret’ probably didn’t have much to do with her growth.

Unaware of what Hyukjin was thinking, Junghwa’s heart began to thump.