Max Talent Player

wer of the Red Demon’s barrier, plus the extreme intimacy granted to him by Thousand Dog Master.
It would be difficult to clear if they only had one of the two.
But with both together, they should have a good chance of success.

Hyukjin turned to Sooji.
“Also, we need your poison.”

“What kind of poison?”

“A poison that can paralyze the opponent’s sense of smell.”

Sooji thought for a moment.
“I can’t make that immediately.”

“It doesn’t have to be terribly strong.
Their senses of smell are extremely keen, so they’re susceptible even to weak poison.”

“I think I can make it.
Within a short amount of time.”

“Do it.”

“…Okay.”

Sooji was struck with a strange feeling.
It was really, really weird.
That order of “Do it” made her feel… good.
It was like she was being made to obey.
She normally loathed the feeling, but for some reason, it was different when Hyukjin said it.

‘It’s like he’s already drawn this entire situation out in advance.’

That was the impression his actions gave.
She felt a strange confidence and sense of ease.
It was like he had already planned out this situation, knew that she and her ability to use poison would be here, and readied the stage to secure a big profit from it.

‘I must be overthinking it.’

No matter how amazing Kim Hyukjin was, he couldn’t be that all-seeing.

Hyukjin said, “As I said before, we will kill them without taking any damage.”

A notice came, almost exactly at the time Hyukjin predicted.

 

[Qualifications of a Guardian Tower Master 05 – Big Black Dog Chapter, is beginning.]

 

The Big Black Dogs began to slowly appear.
Hyukjin decided to do the best he could do right now.
He picked out the most dangerous spot, the place that would draw the most aggro, and moved to it.
This picture was his work.
And he, a sovereign, would stand right in the middle of that picture, the most dangerous spot.
He didn’t hide in the back like a coward.

Woof! Woof! Woof!

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He heard the barking of the Big Black Dogs.

‘Who would have thought we would really end up fighting Big Black Dogs in the beginner period?’

Not appeasement, but actual fighting.
But there was no place to run.
He did almost everything he could, so now, it was time to do his best.
Which meant it was time to slot in the final piece available to him.

He knew that not everything could go according to the conductor’s will.
Unless you were a god, you couldn’t direct everything exactly as you wanted.
He knew that very well—he had experienced it as early as the Tutorial.
But he knew exactly what he had to do in this position.

“Conductor’s Hymn.”

At the most dangerous position, the place closest to the Big Black Dogs, the sovereign stood in front of his teammates.
A faint golden splendor began to bloom from his body, quickly becoming so blinding it turned from golden to white.

The black bodies of the Big Black Dogs.

The white lines of the crosswalk.

It looked as if the shimmer the monsters appeared from and the shimmer of the golden ‘hymn’ were meeting.

Conductor’s Hymn, an ability that shined in group battles, imbued the bodies of every party member.
Sooji, naturally, heard the notices.

 

[Conductor’s Hymn is starting to take effect.]

[Curing status abnormalities of party members at a medium chance.
Duration: 120 seconds]

[+6% crit chance.
Duration: 120 seconds]

[+30% effect of consumable items.]

 

Sooji could tell right away that her poison would register as a ‘consumable item’ here.
Also, as one might expect from a powerful monster like the Big Black Dog, they had a ‘howling’ intimidation ability.

‘If status abnormalities are cured at a medium chance…’

That intimidation ability could be somewhat resisted.

 

[A Frenzy Hunting Barrier is beginning to perfectly activate.]

 

The world shimmering with white, black, and gold began to turn red.
More precisely, ‘red threads’ occupied the space, moving almost like an organic lifeform.
They flowed quickly in a set direction before suddenly dropping down on one of the Big Black Dogs and binding it down, almost like it was trapped in a spider web.

Seohye focused.
‘If I mess up, people will get hurt.’

She weakened the nature of the Frenzy Hunting Barrier to ‘Binding’ level, calming the killing energy.
But one misstep, and that energy could roar back to life.

‘Let’s do well.’

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Before she knew it, Hyukjin’s party members became precious people to Seohye, too.
In this world without a single person she could trust, they became the only friends she had.
And perhaps… they would remain friends with her in the future as well.

‘I, too, will protect them.’

She slightly regretted that she wasn’t able to answer Hyukjin’s question of ‘Do you trust me?’ right away, so she wanted to show him with her actions.
She wanted to show him that she trusted him.

Frenzy Hunting Barrier.

Cheon Sooji’s olfactory poison.

And the title effect of Thousand Dog Master.

With everything combined, they were able to successfully bind the movements of the Big Black Dogs to a considerable degree.
They flailed about, red [!!!] marks over their heads.
If they were to break free of those red threads, it wouldn’t be the monsters getting hunted, but the Players.

‘We’ll finish this quickly.’

If they couldn’t—

‘Then we’ll become the prey.’

Standing at the very front, Hyukjin took out the transcendent artifact Isabel.

“Let’s hunt.”

* * *

In the end, our party successfully hunted all of the Big Black Dogs, and we did it so swiftly that even I had a hard time believing it.
Even as the architect of this situation, I was surprised.

 

[Qualifications of a Guardian Tower Master 05 – Big Black Dog Chapter, has been completed.]

 

We really did it.
I did my best in the situation I was given, and the result was the scenario clear.

I looked at my teammates.
‘It’s not an exaggeration to say we took no damage.’

Yes, Seohye fainted from exhaustion and Yoohyun’s forearm was dangling limply, blood was running down Sung-gu’s forehead, Yeonseo’s left shoulder was broken, Sunhwa seemed to have broken a few of her ribs, and there was a big wound on Sunghyun’s cheek.
And yes, all the bones of my knee seemed to be destroyed.

But we did it.

Considering how strong the Big Black Dogs were, it really wasn’t an exaggeration to say we took no damage.
That was how I judged it, at least.

 

[Guardian Tower Scenario 01 – ‘Qualifications of a Guardian Tower Master’, has been completed.]

 

 

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