Instant Kill, Time-Stop Spellcaster

Yoo Chae-young tilted her head.

‘Master?’

Moreover, it was clear that Kang Hyun had been dismissing Aden.

‘E-rank as a master to an A-rank disciple?’

Not the other way around?

“That golem is a bit different from the training dummies you know.”

“Huh? Aren’t golems all the same?”

The expert knowledge of the demon specialist poured out.

“That one is a ‘Craghart’ type. When its feet are on the ground, its resistance to attributes is maximized. It channels all attribute mana into the earth.”

“Oh….”

“Let’s use a 4th-circle . Just crush it with physical force.”

“Yes!”

Yoo Chae-young, who was listening to this, thought,

‘…What, how does he know this?’

Just now, she had been rattling off strategies for the dungeon.

‘This is the research result from several trials in Seonghwa. Why does he know this?’

Monster information is a very valuable intellectual asset.

This is where the guild’s capabilities show.

For example, in an undead dungeon.

If the party is composed solely of physical attackers?

A party would be doomed against ghost-type mobs with physical immunity.

That’s why new dungeons are dangerous.

The death rate for Awakened individuals is extremely high.

That’s why the guild is important.

This type of information support is one of the guild’s functions.

That’s why Yoo Chae-young, the support team leader, was so shocked.

‘She Called him her master… is he a theoretical type? Maybe a doctorate in Monster Studies?’

If that’s the case, he’s a highly desirable asset.

A doctorate in Monster Studies is extremely difficult to train for.

And moreover, they’re all from Thea.

Even domestically, there’s no one left.

Aden nodded at the information and cast a magic circle in the air.

“Hey, hey. Lower the output. You’ll blow out your eardrums from the firing sound.”

“Yes!”

“How many circuits are you drawing? Consolidate it into the central mana road.”

“Yes!”

“You’ve entered the wrong targeting coordinates. The attribute constant should be Earth, not Ice.”

“Yes!”

Yoo Chae-young watched the two with wonder.

‘He’s also deep into magic. But right now, is he analyzing the magic circle with his eyes?’

Is that even possible?

Since she wasn’t a magician, she wasn’t sure.

It was certainly a technique she had never seen before.

“The right chest area is the core, aim for that.”

This was also a weakness discovered through research in Seonghwa.

‘…He’s much more impressive than I thought.’

At this point, the parachute makes sense.

‘He’s like me, weak in brute force, but specialized in something else.’

Expert knowledge in magic and monsters.

He was definitely a highly desirable talent.

“Done, fire.”

The magic circle shone, and large rocks began to levitate.

Yoo Chae-young was slightly surprised.

‘Already?’

To cast a 4th-circle spell this fast?

“!”

Five boulders the size of people slammed toward the golems.

Boom!

Crash, crash!

The golems exploded in a satisfying burst.

‘Aden’s impressive too.’

Yoo Chae-young, at F+ rank, had an excellent eye.

She quickly noticed the fine magic structure.

‘She must have received an A-rank for her magical ability alone, without results.’

An A-rank is really hard to get.

It’s difficult with pure combat strength alone.

Most of the current A-ranks have reached it through intense results and proof.

But Aden was clearly good enough to receive an A-rank just from her ability.

‘Her output could be better. She seems to be holding back on purpose.’

Her magic stat didn’t seem particularly high.

With that level, she would likely be a B-rank.

Of course, that would still put her among the top magicians.

“Shall we move?”

The next monsters appeared.

A group of stone goblins.

They were the weakest in this dungeon, E+ rank.

“Mr. Kang Hyun, would you like to show us?”

Kang Hyun hesitated for a moment.

“I’ll do it later.”

This dungeon was a result of the Abyssal Legion’s interference.

Anything could happen here.

He needed to conserve mana as much as possible, just in case.

“Huh? Are you feeling unwell?”

“I’ll observe a bit longer.”

It was strange that he was holding back in this test, but Kang Hyun wasn’t particularly concerned with evaluations.

“…Alright.”

Yoo Chae-young let it go.

Well, he was a theoretical type.

It wasn’t a problem if he was weak in real combat.

So, Aden stepped up to face this mob as well.

Yoo Chae-young was evaluating Aden.

Then, Kang Hyun spoke up.

“Team Leader Yoo.”

“Yes?”

“Step back four paces.”

“Huh?”

What was that about?

Puzzled, Yoo Chae-young moved back as instructed.

Just then, something shot up from the spot she had been standing on.

Boom!

“Ahhh!”

What was that all of a sudden?

“S-Stone Worm?”

Why was it here?

‘A mid-tier monster that should only appear in D+ rank dungeons?’

It was very sturdy. Yoo Chae-young, at F+ rank, couldn’t even scratch it.

It was a durability-type monster, taking even C-rank Awakened a long time to deal with.

‘This isn’t a monster that should appear here.’

Moreover, this was Seonghwa’s open dungeon.

The monster types had already been identified.

This was clearly a surprise situation.

The Stone Worm surged toward Yoo Chae-young at high speed.

“Ah, Aden!”

She screamed, but it was too late.

The worm opened its mouth.

In the moment she was frozen with fear,

Swoosh—

Kang Hyun whispered quietly under his mask.

“【Vera】”

A command to his weapon.

The sword pulsed with sharp energy.

Swish—

The Stone Worm was cleaved in half with a single strike.

“…Huh?”

Half of the Stone Worm fell beside the dumbfounded Yoo Chae-young.

Boom.

What just happened?

‘He sliced the Stone Worm in half…?’

In one strike.

An E-rank did that?

Kang Hyun looked down at the Stone Worm.

‘The dungeon really is strange.’

The Abyssal Legion leader.

What was his goal?

‘Is it to kill the Awakened, beyond just the dungeon’s oddities?’

He still didn’t know for sure.

However, Yoo Chae-young was staring at him from the side.

“….”

“….”

Mumbling as if to make an excuse, she said,

“…The sword is sharp.”

“…?”

“Really, expensive swords are different.”

At that, Yoo Chae-young stared at the weapon.

She recognized it.

It was a sword from the highest-tier line at the Awakened Shop.

A sword that cost a little over 100 million, “Red Moon.”

But it was a lightweight sword, with its main advantage being how light it was.

It wasn’t even classified as a treasure under item judgment.

It wasn’t worth the price.

‘…Because of the sword?’

That didn’t make sense.

When Yoo Chae-young didn’t respond, Kang Hyun awkwardly turned to Aden.

“Hey, hey, you got the spell wrong. Do it properly.”

“Huh, is that so? …Huh? I’m sure this is correct, isn’t it?”

Aden, who had been focused, seemed unaware of the situation.

Yoo Chae-young was left standing there in silence.

‘What was that… just now?’

She was so curious but decided to hold off for now.

It was time to deal with the unexpected situation.

“We may be facing a dungeon anomaly. We need to get out.”

A dungeon anomaly.

It referred to a phenomenon where a previously identified dungeon changes or its difficulty spikes dramatically.

“Does this happen often?”

“No, not at all.”

Awakened individuals don’t usually pay attention to dungeon anomalies.

The probability of encountering them was too low.

It was like someone being afraid of car accidents and refusing to drive; it was an unnecessary worry.

“I’ll guide you to the entrance.”

A new, unknown dungeon.

And one that had already been identified.

The difficulty and death rate of the former were overwhelmingly high.

The current situation was a deadly emergency.

Thankfully, this was an open dungeon.

“Here’s the entrance… huh?”

However, the entrance was blocked.

The gate had transformed.

They couldn’t leave.

“My God…”

Yoo Chae-young collapsed onto the ground.

‘Given the Stone Worm, the dungeon’s difficulty has drastically increased. But our current forces are…’

F+, E-, and A-rank.

Considering the dungeon’s difficulty, only Aden was a valid force.

‘But she has no experience, so solo clearing is impossible.’

From the start, it was assumed that E+ rank dungeons were impossible to clear solo.

Now that the dungeon rank had risen, though…

‘Kang Hyun did show some exceptional skill for a moment…’

But still, the dungeon rank would likely stay close to E-.

With that level, it was ridiculously insufficient.

‘It’s over…’

They were now facing the terrible situation they had heard of.

The dungeon anomaly had struck.

Aden also realized the severity of the situation and began to tremble.

“Master… what do we do now…?”

“Disciple.”

“Yes, yes?”

“Loosen up.”

Kang Hyun spoke nonchalantly, unlike himself.

“We’ll clear this dungeon together.”

Kyle, the strongest hero.

To earn that title, he had overcome countless impossibilities.

An above-average closed dungeon?

Such obstacles were part of his daily life.

“Yes, yes!? How are we supposed to clear this with just the two of us? This is a dungeon anomaly, a dungeon anomaly!”

“What can’t we do, huh? If we try, we can do it.”

“It’s impossible! I have little experience, and while you’re amazing, your mana pool is limited! There’s no way we can clear it!”

Kang Hyun snorted.

The younger generation always said things were impossible without trying.

“Instead, I have experience, and you have the mana pool.”

“Yes?”

“Just follow my instructions. Did you forget everything you’ve learned about magic? Come on, have some confidence!”

Zing!

“Ah!”

Kang Hyun showed an oddly relaxed attitude.

In that calmness, Yoo Chae-young felt an inexplicable sense of reassurance.

“Yoo Chae-young? Stay close and follow me. If anything pops up, shout.”

“Ah… yes.”

No matter how she thought about it, clearing this dungeon seemed impossible.

But for now, she just followed the instructions.

Unknowingly, Yoo Chae-young stuck close to Kang Hyun.

When she was behind him, her anxiety strangely faded.

Kang Hyun, leading the way.

‘At this point, it’ll be hard to hide the Word Magic.’

A situation where they had to give their best.

Staying alive was the priority.

The truth could wait.

‘I’ll think about excuses later.’

Clearing the dungeon first.

“G-Golem! But it’s huge!”

A 7-meter-tall golem.

It was almost the size of a house.

Even if they conceded everything, the monster in an E+ dungeon was definitely not this big.

“It’s coming! Its strides are huge and really fast!”

“A must-have trait for magicians.”

“Stay Calm”

“Deep breaths.”

“Huff… huff….”

Yoo Chae-young involuntarily followed along.

“We’ll go with .”

“That won’t work with a 4th-circle!”

“It will, if I do it.”

Kang Hyun placed his hand on Aden’s back.

“Do you remember when we broke the mana crystal? Give me control of the blood flow, and I’ll handle the output.”

When Kang Hyun’s hand touched her, Aden’s body quickly relaxed.

“…! Yes!”

Yoo Chae-young watched the rising magic circle.

‘The structure is the same as before, but much bigger.’

And faster.

Much faster.

It must have been thanks to Kang Hyun’s involvement.

“Fire.”

“Wait! The targeting system is off!”

“I left it empty on purpose.”

“Can we do that?”

“I can.”

The magic circle glowed brightly.

And the boulder that rose was much larger than before.