Chapter 11. Constellation VS Constellation (3)
After smashing through the lion-shaped monsters blocking their path, Kang Yujin finally arrived at their destination together with Seok Taejun.
However, the one waiting for them was not the leader of the monsters.
“Welcome, Kang Yujin.”
“Why are you here?”
Kang Yujin frowned as he watched the Clown bow his head.
However, the Clown ignored Kang Yujin and instead greeted Seok Taejun.
“I suppose I should formally introduce myself to Seok Taejun as well. I am Apostle Arlecchino No. 49, assigned to Kang Yujin. I look forward to working with you.”
“Ah... Likewise.”
“Clown, what are you doing here?”
When Kang Yujin asked again, the Clown shrugged.
“Why else? I came to support you, Kang Yujin. Won’t you need a navigator?”
“A navigator?”
“You came here to kill Echidna, the leader of the monsters settled in this area, didn’t you?”
“Wait. Then...”
Seok Taejun spoke as if he had suddenly realized something.
“This... isn’t just a simple monster extermination, is it?”
“Exactly.”
The moment the Clown snapped his fingers, a message appeared in the sky.
[Event: The Mother Serpent]
Overview: She was a beauty. She was a serpent. With her motherhood and demonic nature, she gave birth to countless monsters. She even birthed new monsters using the seeds of the monsters she had already produced. Now, the mother of monsters has built a new nest and intends to give birth once again. Kill her before she covers the earth with new monsters.
Completion Condition: Defeat Echidna.
Completion Reward: 2,000,000 Coins.
“Echidna was brought here by ‘someone’ to serve as an event monster. An ancient Greek monster wouldn’t suddenly start rampaging around the southern region of Korea for no reason.”
“No, then...!”
Seok Taejun raised his voice.
“Are you saying the people around here were killed by monsters because someone deliberately brought that creature here?”
“You could say that.”
“Who the hell would do something like that? Was it the Constellations?”
“Who knows? I don’t know that much.”
The Clown shrugged.
“Does that really matter? Once you defeat Echidna, the problem will be solved anyway.”
“Damn...”
Seok Taejun bit his lip.
“Clown.”
“Yes, Kang Yujin.”
“There’s something I don’t understand.”
“What is it?”
“Why hasn’t something this dangerous been exterminated already?”
At Kang Yujin’s question, No. 49 tilted his head.
“Well...”
“Is it because Cheon Muhyeok controls this area? Because information about it never reached Contractors from other regions?”
“I don’t know about that. It may simply be because the visible reward isn’t very appealing.”
“Not appealing?”
“Two million Coins isn’t that much. And if you carefully read the completion condition, only the person who delivers the killing blow to Echidna counts as the one who clears the event and receives the two million Coins. If you monopolize it alone, it might be decent. But if several people form an extermination party, they would have to divide it among themselves. In the end, it becomes pocket change.”
“......”
After leaving the church facility, Kang Yujin had spent time talking with No. 49 and Seok Taejun’s group, gradually learning more about Contractors.
He still had a lot to learn, but he could more or less understand what No. 49 was saying now.
“Then we can just defeat it ourselves. I’m not particularly interested in getting paid anyway.”
“How dependable, Kang Yujin.”
“W-Wait a moment, No. 49.”
Seok Taejun called out to No. 49.
“You just said the visible reward wasn’t much, right?”
“Yes. I did.”
“Does that mean... there’s a hidden reward?”
Hearing that, No. 49 gave him a wide grin.
“Who knows? Even I don’t know. But if you think about it logically... wouldn’t there be something?”
“Can’t you tell us what it is?”
“As I said, I don’t know either. And even if I did know, telling you would violate professional ethics.”
No. 49 clearly had no intention of giving them any more hints.
“Now then, let’s begin the official broadcast. Unlike during the cursed village incident, I’ll be properly taking the role of BJ this time, so the Constellations should respond much more enthusiastically.”
Saying that, No. 49 raised one hand high into the sky.
“Then, let us begin.”
No. 49 disappeared.
Immediately afterward, messages began pouring down.
[D-Rank Constellation ‘Ghost Who Burned the Tower’ is watching the event.]
[C-Rank Constellation ‘Prince Who Killed His Father’ is watching the event.]
[C-Rank Constellation ‘Attendant Faster Than Light’ is watching the event.]
[B-Rank Constellation ‘Leader of the Expedition’ is watching the event.]
[B-Rank Constellation ‘Archer Who Overcame the Trial’ is watching the event.]
[A-Rank Constellation ‘Naval Commander Holding a Pitchfork’ is watching the event.]
[A-Rank Constellation ‘Knight of the Wagon’ is watching the event.]
[A-Rank Constellation ‘Knight of the Golden Tongue’ is watching the event.]
[A-Rank Constellation ‘Adventurous Sailor’ is watching the event.]
[A-Rank Constellation ‘Hero of the Golden Reins’ is watching the event.]
[S-Rank Constellation ‘Grand Preceptor of the Golden Whip’ is watching the event.]
[S-Rank Constellation ‘King of Avengers’ is watching the event.]
“K-Kang Yujin, there are an insane number of them coming in! There are even more than last time!”
Seok Taejun made a huge fuss beside him.
But Kang Yujin was focused on only one sentence.
[S-Rank Constellation ‘***’ is watching the event.]
Just that single sentence.
That alone was enough.
Please watch me, Nameless One.
Kang Yujin clenched his fists and made a vow in his heart.
I will use the life you saved to carry out justice.
A monster began to appear in the distance.
Its upper body was that of a woman, while its lower body resembled a serpent.
Its upper body was about the size of an ordinary human, but the serpent half beneath it was unbelievably long.
The snake portion alone looked to be at least ten meters long.
So that’s Echidna.
But Echidna was not alone.
First, there were two gigantic dogs.
Calling them dogs was almost ridiculous, considering their shoulders seemed to reach five meters high.
One had two heads.
The other had three.
There was also a serpent with multiple heads.
Its body was far larger than Echidna’s, making it look like the most threatening monster among them.
“Kang Yujin, this looks pretty dangerous.”
Seok Taejun gulped nervously beside him.
“That thing looks like a Hydra.”
“A Hydra?”
“I’ve read about it before. It’s a serpent with nine heads, so I’m sure it’s the Hydra. Even if you cut off its heads, they grow back. It has almost immortal vitality.”
“Really?”
“And it possesses an unbelievably powerful venom. Even the slightest contact with that poison can kill you. That thing is the most dangerous one here.”
“Venom...”
“The multi-headed dogs must be Orthrus and Cerberus. Every one of them is terrifying.”
Fear filled his voice.
“Now I understand why Cheon Muhyeok said even he would have difficulty exterminating them with his own strength. We don’t stand a chance.”
“Who says we don’t?”
Kang Yujin slowly stepped forward.
“You never know until you try.”
“Kang Yujin!”
The Hydra was the first among the monsters to move.
Echidna merely watched coldly, while Orthrus and Cerberus remained by her side as if protecting their mother.
It really is huge.
Raising all nine of its heads, the Hydra charged forward with the smooth, gliding motion unique to snakes.
An ordinary person would have been overwhelmed with terror and fainted on the spot.
But...
Kang Yujin held his head high and stared directly at the Hydra.
I can handle this.
He had recently fought the Undead Saurus.
A dinosaur and a snake couldn’t be all that different.
“Shaaaah!”
The approaching Hydra let out a horrifying hiss and rushed at Kang Yujin.
Its enormous jaws opened wide as it tried to swallow him whole, but Kang Yujin avoided them by a hair.
“Ugh!”
But avoiding its jaws wasn’t enough.
The Hydra’s writhing body itself was a dangerous weapon.
Even a slight collision sent an enormous shock throughout Kang Yujin’s entire body.
If this continues...
His awakened Skill, [Complete Destruction], was an ability that found the absolute weak point of an object and destroyed it with a single strike.
However, it was difficult to use while being battered from every direction by the Hydra’s constantly moving body.
“Haaap...!”
To break out of the situation, Kang Yujin kicked off the ground and leaped into the air.
Just like when he fought the Undead Saurus, he intended to land on the Hydra’s neck.
But perhaps the Hydra had been waiting for exactly that.
One of its heads spotted Kang Yujin while he was suspended in midair.
“Ugh!”
The Hydra’s poisonous fang grazed Kang Yujin’s shoulder.
Blood poured from the wound as Kang Yujin crashed back to the ground.
Several Hydra heads immediately lunged toward him, refusing to miss the opportunity.
“Kang Yujin...!”
Along with Seok Taejun’s scream from a distance—
One of the Hydra’s heads opened its enormous mouth and swallowed Kang Yujin whole.
See?! What did I tell you?!
Seok Taejun felt like he was losing his mind.
As expected, even Kang Yujin was no match for them.
What do we do? Is this really the end?
Just as despair overwhelmed him, a message appeared in the air.
[A Blessing (Extra Large) descends from Kang Yujin’s contracted Constellation ‘***’.]
[All of Kang Yujin’s stats greatly increase for five minutes.]
“Damn it, you’re already too late!”
Seok Taejun shouted with a distorted expression.
“That might have meant something if he’d only been swallowed by the snake! But the Hydra already poisoned him! Even getting grazed by that poison is enough to kill someone!”
After acting so impressive all this time, was this really all that Constellation could do?
If it had granted the blessing just a little earlier, Kang Yujin wouldn’t have been defeated so helplessly.
Constellations truly were useless.
Whether D-Rank or S-Rank, were they all the same?
“What kind of S-Rank are you?! You stupid Constella—”
He had been about to shout, You stupid Constellation bastard!
But he swallowed the rest of his words.
The Hydra head that had just swallowed Kang Yujin suddenly coughed up blood.
“W-What?!”
And then—
Someone violently tore the Hydra’s jaws apart from the inside and burst out.
“Hoo.”
He held one enormous venomous fang in each hand.
“As expected, poison doesn’t work on me.”
“W-What did you just say...?”
“About what you said earlier.”
Kang Yujin, his entire body covered in blood, spoke calmly.
“No poison works on me. So I figured the Hydra’s poison probably wouldn’t work either.”
“Y-You’re immune to all poisons?”
Within Seok Taejun’s shocked field of vision, the Hydra’s gigantic body slowly collapsed.
The Dawn Star Order had wanted their modified human to remain unaffected even by attacks using poison.
Because of that, neither hemotoxins nor neurotoxins worked on Kang Yujin’s body.
Even if poison entered his body, it would either be broken down immediately or prevented from taking effect.
“Hmm.”
Kang Yujin turned his head and confirmed that the Hydra had collapsed, its entire body convulsing.
He had ripped out the poisonous fangs from inside the Hydra’s mouth and inflicted numerous wounds with them.
Now the Hydra had been poisoned by its own venom.
It might possess resistance to its own poison, but judging by its current state, it would at least be unable to fight for a while.
[C-Rank Constellation ‘Attendant Faster Than Light’ is delighted that you are safe.]
[B-Rank Constellation ‘Archer Who Overcame the Trial’ admires your dramatic reversal.]
[B-Rank Constellation ‘Leader of the Expedition’ looks at your hidden ability with sparkling eyes.]
[A-Rank Constellation ‘Knight of the Golden Tongue’ sponsors you 500,000 Coins.]
[A-Rank Constellation ‘Adventurous Sailor’ sponsors you 1,000,000 Coins.]
Countless messages poured down above his head, but Kang Yujin had little interest in them.
He immediately jumped over the Hydra’s body and began running.
“GROOOAR!”
Orthrus and Cerberus charged at him with thunderous roars.
Their five heads growled at once, trying to intimidate him, but Kang Yujin remained completely unfazed.
He had just fought something with nine heads.
Five heads seemed almost cute in comparison.
“Hup!”
He slid across the ground and passed between the legs of the two monsters.
At the same time, he stabbed one Hydra fang into each monster’s leg.
The two monsters immediately let out pathetic whimpers and collapsed.
“Oooooh...!”
Seeing her children fall one after another, Echidna cried out with a shocked expression.
Her upper body might have been human, but apparently she couldn’t speak like one.
“GRRAAAAAH!”
With a monstrous scream, Echidna charged forward.
But in Kang Yujin’s eyes, after defeating the Hydra, Orthrus, and Cerberus, she now looked like nothing more than small fry.
He stepped onto the massive serpent tail Echidna swung at him and used it to leap into the air.
“Listen carefully!”
Kang Yujin shouted while soaring through the air.
“I am Kang Yujin! The one who follows the will of the Nameless One!”
He no longer had the Hydra’s fangs in his hands because he had already buried them in Orthrus and Cerberus.
But his two fists were more than enough.
“As long as the Nameless One protects me, there is no such thing as impossible for me...!”
He charged straight toward Echidna and repeatedly drove his fists into her head and abdomen.
He wasn’t even using his awakened Skill.
He simply punched with everything he had.
With all his faith behind every strike.
And that was enough.
Echidna coughed up blood without even managing to scream.
The mother of countless monsters and all her children had been completely subdued in only a few short minutes.
[D-Rank Constellation ‘Ghost Who Burned the Tower’ cheers for your performance.]
[C-Rank Constellation ‘Prince Who Killed His Father’ claps enthusiastically.]
[B-Rank Constellation ‘Leader of the Expedition’ proposes that you terminate your current contract and form a Constellation Contract with him.]
[A-Rank Constellation ‘Knight of the Golden Tongue’ admires your martial prowess and takes an interest in you.]
[S-Rank Constellation ‘Grand Preceptor of the Golden Whip’ gives you a short round of applause.]
[C-Rank Constellation ‘Attendant Faster Than Light’ sponsors you 300,000 Coins.]
[A-Rank Constellation ‘Naval Commander Holding a Pitchfork’ sponsors you 1,000,000 Coins.]
[A-Rank Constellation ‘Adventurous Sailor’ sponsors you 3,000,000 Coins.]
At this moment, Kang Yujin was no different from a hero straight out of mythology.
