Hwang Dongsoo looked up and saw the guy in the red cape again, who seemed to be out of his mind.
"Haha, never mind."
He stretched his arms as he thought to himself.
'I was sure I broke his left arm, but it healed. Is that why?'
He recalled the magic he had seen earlier.
A shield that looked like a high-level spell, slow to cast and probably costing a lot of mana. A mana beam strong enough to be dangerous, yet unable to break through his defense. A spell that created a long icy sword, and finally, a teleportation spell.
He smirked because he knew he had already adapted to those attacks. He would not fall for a surprise strike like before. A long chain materialized in his left hand as he gripped it together with his dagger.
When he swung his dagger, he felt that ominous sensation again.
Something was wrong. His instincts told him to run while he still could, but he could not prove this strange feeling that he might lose in a horrible way.
Hwang Dongsoo chuckled. "Nah. The victory is mine."
Meanwhile, Clark noticed Ken was too absorbed. First he formed a hand and poked Ken's cheek. Nothing. There was only one thing left to try. The slime hand slapped Ken across the face, and Ken finally snapped out of Elemental Sight.
"Jeez… that was dangerous."
Ken remembered it now. His mind absorbed everything the moment he used Elemental Sight for the first time. Instead of overloading, his brain devoured the information like someone who had never eaten. Instead of hurting him, his body mistook it for a burst of joy.
Even so, Ken looked down and saw Hwang Dongsoo preparing to attack again.
Hwang Dongsoo swung the chain with the dagger attached at the end.
It flew toward him.
Ken pressed his middle and index fingers against his thumbs.
'I understand now…'
The merit of Elemental Sight was that he could borrow a power that similar to a god. In that state, he became nearly omniscient. He learned things even other mages would never grasp. Elemental Sight allowed him to see everything as information and analyze it in incredible detail, and all the calculations happened instantly.
[Elemental Sight]
Time seemed to stop in his vision again. In reality, his mind was making calculations in thousandths of a second. In that moment, he calculated the dagger's trajectory and the countermeasure, but he had no interest in dragging out the fight.
[MP: 2310/12800]
Aura farm for twenty seconds drained his mana like crazy. Elemental Sight consumed an enormous amount.
'Mages are essentially omnipotent because they can control the world's phenomena through knowledge and mana. But most mages never gain the privilege I have, to become omniscient and omnipotent at the same time.'
Using Zoltraak as the base, he gathered mana at the tip of his finger. He created an imaginary space to compress it and seal it from the outside. His "eyes" focused on the mana with a mass of ten milligrams. To use it, he decomposed it and multiplied its mass by the speed of light squared, converting it into energy.
[Material Burst]
A blinding light formed into a small sphere. Ken flicked his finger and launched it toward Hwang Dongsoo. Dongsoo saw the tiny dot racing toward him. It was too fast. Unlike the other spells, he could only watch as the tiny purple point exploded in front of him, lighting up the entire abandoned district.
Ken descended from the sky and found what was left of Hwang Dongsoo. Only one leg remained, lying in a deep crater.
[Ding!]
You have completed the quest.
[Quest: Defeat Hwang Dongsoo]
[Reward: SR tier pull + 1500 AP]
At that moment, Jin-woo, Song-yi, and many members of the White Tiger Guild, including Baek Yoonho and Woo Jin-chul, stood in shock as they watched the aftermath. The spell had wiped out the poor guy and the area around him.
Song-yi noticed something strange.
She narrowed her eyes, trying to make out the hunter's face with a red cape.
"Ken?!!"
She had suspected him before, and now she was certain.
---
(Ken's POV)
When I open my eyes, the first thing I see is an unfamiliar ceiling. The sharp, sterile smell confirms what I already suspect, a hospital. The memories of the spell I cast, the one I barely managed to create thanks to Elemental Sight, still echo faintly in my mind. It was… honestly incredible. If nothing else, I'm pretty sure I won.
"You. You're finally awake."
I turn my head toward the voice and nearly choke.
There, sitting beside my bed, is a guy in a black hoodie calmly peeling an apple.
Bruh.
I didn't have high expectations, but I was at least expecting a girl. Instead, holy shit. What in Odin's beard is Jin-woo doing here?
---
(Jin-woo's POV)
"Jin-ah went to the store to buy some food and fruits, so I'm here on standby," I said.
Ken let out a small sigh. "I see. Thank you."
When I stepped out of the Gate earlier, I learned everything. Apparently it was thanks to this kid that several trapped hunters managed to make it out alive. I stayed behind to finish clearing the red gate, but that spell he cast… it's still stuck in my head. An S-rank hunter, killed instantly. I honestly didn't think something like that was possible. I wonder how strong he is compared to me.
And then there was the way he tried to protect me and Song-yi because I'd killed that S-rank hunter's brother inside a C-rank dungeon with Yoo Jinho.
Does he want my approval that badly?
He must like my sister, then. I don't really mind. If Jin-ah ended up with an S-rank boyfriend, that wouldn't be a bad thing. At least she'd be safe.
Hold on.
If I used a health potion from the System, he might recover faster.
I pretended to reach into my hoodie pocket as I materialized a health potion in my hand.
I stood up from my seat.
"Hey," I called out.
"What?" Ken answered, sounding uneasy.
"Open your mouth wide."
"Huh? Dude."