Chapter 83 – Facing the Boss

*Splat, splat, splat! Flutter, flutter!*

Badugi was running frantically, his leaves fluttering. A few steps behind, the boss monster was closely pursuing Badugi.

Badugi nimbly dodged the acidic solution that the boss monster spat out, *swoosh, swoosh*. It was an incredibly exquisite movement.

In the midst of this urgency, the system calmly congratulated her on the walk effect. It was detestable.

But that was only for a moment.

*Sizzle!*

Acidic solution splashed, and a portion of Badugi’s leaves burned away with a loud sizzling noise.

Instead of screaming, Badugi jumped up and down on the spot. Every time he bounded, the fine hairs attached to his roots fluttered around.

“No! Badugi!”

Hee-na, while cradled in Kang Jin-hyun’s arms, wriggled her body and stretched her hand toward Badugi.

“It is dangerous. You cannot.”

Kang Jin-hyun placed Hee-na down outside the danger radius, and then held her shoulders to make her sit.

“Gasp.”

Hee-na sat down with a thud. She was wearing heavy defensive gear, and since Kang Jin-hyun was even pressing her down, she could not stand up at all.

“Is that small plant-type monster over there an important existence to you, Ms. Hee-na?”

Kang Jin-hyun asked with a serious expression.

“…Yes.”

Hee-na quietly nodded.

Leaving aside the skill matter, Badugi was Hee-won’s precious pet plant, Osaek-i’s friend, and also a member of Hee-na’s family.

“Then, I will hear the rest of the story a bit later.”

With those final words, Kang Jin-hyun turned around quickly. He seemed to intend to deal with the boss monster first before deciding on what to do with Badugi.

Because he was stepping out in front of the monster bare-bodied without a single proper piece of defensive gear, Hee-na shouted urgently.

“You should take this, take this!”

“It is fine. Keep it on, Ms. Hee-na.”

A blunt reply was heard. At the same time, his back became blurred.

‘Where did he go?’

Hee-na turned her head here and there, looking for the disappeared Kang Jin-hyun.

*Bang!*

Not even a few seconds after Kang Jin-hyun disappeared, a *bang* echoed from far away.

Along with that, one of the petals of the boss monster spitting acidic solution was crushed.

Unlike Badugi, who was also a plant-type monster, the boss monster could even shriek.

[Screeech!]

The boss monster made a metallic screeching sound and wrapped its tentacles around the exploded petal. It was to block the sap that was flowing out.

But that was only for a moment. The vanished Kang Jin-hyun reappeared on top of the monster’s body. He was running along the massive petals.

Kang Jin-hyun balanced exquisitely on the monster’s swaying body. Then, he lightly brushed his hands. A dark shadow flowed out from his fingertips.

As soon as the pitch-black shadow brushed past, *thwack!* The petal he was standing on exploded.

[Screeech! Screeeeee!]

The boss monster let out an ear-splitting shriek and shot out the tentacle vines it had hidden beneath its petals. There seemed to be hundreds, no, thousands of strands.

However, Kang Jin-hyun merely glared at the tips of the sharp vines stretching toward him, not moving an inch from his spot.

Hee-na clenched both fists without realizing it. It looked as if Kang Jin-hyun would be impaled by the tentacle vines at any moment.

‘Ah, no!’

It was the moment she was about to let out a dry scream.

Kang Jin-hyun, who had been staring into the air, leaped from the spot. As always, he moved silently. No sound was made.

His pitch-black figure sliced through the air. Hee-na quickly moved her eyes, following his afterimage.

There was no sense of reality in his movements. As if defying gravity, he leaped over the giant monster’s body.

Kang Jin-hyun was resting in the air with his body floating and brought his hands together. Then, black energy blazed up along his fists, forming the shape of a long sword.

‘Is it an item? Or a unique skill?’

Just as she was thinking that.

*Whirrr!*

The air vibrated. At the same time, the dark energy rising along his fists amplified to a length of nearly three meters. It was overwhelmingly massive.

It was not just its size that was massive. The momentum emanating from the sword was so grand it felt as if it could split the sky in half.

*Patter-patter! Step!*

While she watched Kang Jin-hyun’s martial prowess with her mouth half-gaping, Badugi escaped from the boss monster’s range of attack.

“Come here! Badugi!”

Hee-na slipped off the Robe of Stealth and waved her hand. Badugi rushed to Hee-na’s side in a hurry, like a young child who had found their lost mother.

“I told you to go home! How did you end up bringing something like that with you?”

Hee-na scolded Badugi in a hushed voice while checking him here and there. It was because she worried if there were other damaged spots on his roots or leaves.

Fortunately, Badugi seemed safe, except for having one leaf burned off. Although his entire body was covered in mud from how frantically he had run…

Badugi could not easily calm down the excitement of the chase. Shaking his body, he tried to pull Hee-na further away.

It was as if he was saying with his whole body, ‘It’s dangerous here, let’s run away quickly.’

“Badugi, calm down. It’s okay. It’s safe now. Shh, shh. Calm down.”

Hee-na calmed Badugi down, pointing at the fighting Kang Jin-hyun.

“It’s not dangerous. There is someone to help us. That person is strong. He will rescue us.”

Kang Jin-hyun was slicing away the tentacle vines of the boss monster rushing toward him.

Hee-na was a complete layperson when it came to combat, but she could at least tell that he was not the one driven into a corner.

Kang Jin-hyun, a human who felt insignificantly tiny compared to the house-sized monster, was maintaining an overwhelming upper hand.

‘Otherwise, there’s no way his gestures would be so relaxed.’

He was relentless. Every movement had an intention. It was as natural as flowing water, and at the same time, his attacks were unspeakably ferocious.

*Rumble, crash!*

Before long, the boss monster staggered, having lost almost all the tentacle vines that supported its body.

Every time the massive flower bud tilted, the ground thudded. It helplessly lost numerous limbs.

Kang Jin-hyun lunged toward the boss monster. It was a lightning-fast movement.

Kang Jin-hyun, who had been circling around the boss monster to slice its vines and twist its center axis, drove his giant blade into the gap of the open flower bud.

The blade, which was already close to three meters, stretched so long that its end was invisible.

Finally, the extended tip of the sword pierced into the deepest part of the boss monster’s throat.

[Screeech! Cough!]

The monster fell backward just like that, spitting acidic solution into the air.

‘Ah…!’

Hee-na pulled her robe deep over herself, fearing that the acidic solution might splash.

[Keeeee!]

However, thanks to Kang Jin-hyun exquisitely shifting the center of gravity, the boss monster collapsed in the opposite direction of where Hee-na was sitting.

*Swish!*

Kang Jin-hyun slashed the falling monster once more.

With a hissing sound, acidic steam belched toward Kang Jin-hyun’s face.

“Jin-hyun!”

Hee-na screamed, but Kang Jin-hyun covered his face with his sleeve as if accustomed to it. Then, he quickly escaped from the space filled with acidic steam.

*Thud!*

Simultaneously, the monster collapsed completely with a heavy sound.

The boss monster’s corpse crushed the dense jungle forest far away. Trees were flattened and broken under the monster’s massive body, and the damp, mossy soil melted in the leaked acidic solution, bubbling like lava.

“Is it dead?”

The moment the monster collapsed completely, Hee-na sprang up from her seat.

Of course, Hee-na’s reason did not think that the legendary S-class Hunter would be easily hurt.

Indeed, Kang Jin-hyun’s appearance seen from afar was very calm and relaxed.

But at the same time, she had witnessed him being exposed to the acidic solution spat by the monster. She worried about his safety.

‘What if he’s hurt? He would have been fine if he hadn’t given all of his defensive gear to me…’

Hee-na walked forward a step or two, dragging the heavy defensive gear she wore.

Badugi, tilting his flower bud, also moved his steps stealthily behind Hee-na.

There was a hand gesture that made Hee-na stop her steps.

“It is dangerous. Step back.”

It was a familiar warmth. Hee-na’s face brightened.

“…Mr. Jin-hyun? Are you okay?”

“I am fine.”

Kang Jin-hyun’s upper body was damp as if he had poured water from a canteen over his head. Sweeping back his wet hair, he suddenly stripped off his top.

‘Oh my goodness!’

Surprised by the sudden exposure of bare skin, Hee-na covered her eyes.

Of course, although the gaps between her fingers were wide open, barely obscuring her sight, she covered them out of courtesy.

‘Wow…’

Hee-na let out an exclamation inwardly.

Regardless of gender, Kang Jin-hyun possessed a strong body that anyone would envy. His solid frame was packed with smooth muscles.

The faint traces of scars visible here and there proved that his past life had not been very smooth.

She had thought he was tall, but she had never imagined that the muscles hidden beneath his clothes would be developed to this extent.

Hee-na rolled her eyes here and there, then spoke stammeringly.

“B-But Mr. Jin-hyun, why did you suddenly take off your c-clothes?”

“I got acidic steam all over my upper body. Although I washed it off roughly with water, it might cause injuries if it touches your skin, Ms. Hee-na.”

He answered Hee-na’s question and threw his discarded clothes in a heap.

The clothes fell onto the bushes and made a sizzling sound. It was the sound of the leaves of the bushes burning pitch-black.

‘My goodness…’

It was a chilling sight.

The Homemaker of the Dungeon