Chapter 180: Most of the Variables

As Shin Kangheon began rampaging, Kim Bokja, who had been watching from behind, also started preparing her spellcraft in earnest.

[Kkagwi. Shaggy Dog. King Snake. Protect me.]

When she summoned her controlled anomalies, the three anomalies appeared and protected their master. At the same time, the shapes of Pilcheon Style clung to each anomaly, making them look as if they were wearing armor.

Kyahhhh—!

Woof! Woof! Woof!

Shhhhk!

Kim Bokja glared at her now much more imposing, roaring anomalies.

[Why are you yelling? Don’t draw aggro for no reason and get taken out like small fries. Stay quiet!]

At her single remark, the controlled anomalies whimpered and became obedient.

Kim Bokja wanted the anomalies she had grown somewhat attached to not to disappear.

Even if they were anomalies existing as spirit bodies rather than physical forms, there was no guarantee they would not be destroyed in a battle like this.

[I’m going to work you for the rest of my life, after all.]

Kim Bokja smiled brightly at the anomalies trembling at her declaration of lifelong slavery, then took something out from inside her clothes.

It was a pure-white gourd bottle she had never been seen with before.

It was a spellcraft tool the Blood Tiger Gang had obtained with difficulty from a foreign black market.

Viiiiing—

When she opened the stopper of the gourd bottle, the sound of insects beating their wings came from inside.

[You were hungry, weren’t you? There’s a delicious tree you love over there.]

When she tilted the gourd bottle into the air as if pouring alcohol, white ants poured out from inside it, spread their wings, and flew up.

Viiiiiiing—!

The sight of white termites pouring endlessly out of the gourd bottle and flying into the sky was truly spectacular.

At first, the white termites had been tiny as dots, but as they flew upward, they increased in size, and in an instant, each one became as large as two joints of a finger.

Of course, they were not ordinary termites, and their number exceeded thousands—no, tens of thousands.

“A-are all of those anomalies?”

“They’re even a species that’s never been discovered domestically!”

Even the spellcasters of Mystic Hall looked flustered by the sight they were seeing for the first time.

Then one of them muttered in a voice filled with fear.

“If those anomalies were to slip out of the spellcaster’s control.......”

The spellcasters’ faces turned white as they imagined the horrific scene.

No matter how small an anomaly was, bringing it into the country without going through the official process was illegal, and even attempting it could bring severe punishment.

But then Dr. Man spoke in a cold voice.

“That child is my one and only disciple. Everything my disciple does has been permitted by me, her master, so if you intend to report someone, report me.”

At the Grand Spellcaster’s words, which sounded like a chilling warning, the spellcasters exchanged glances.

“Ahem. In that case......”

“It must have been an unavoidable choice to reduce the damage.”

“Isn’t hunting the Great Anomaly the most important thing right now?”

Only after receiving their tacit promise that they would not speak carelessly even after this incident was over did Dr. Man’s expression soften as he said,

“When the battle is finished, I will take responsibility for destroying those white termites, so you do not need to worry. No, in the first place......”

Dr. Man smiled with satisfaction as he watched the small shapes made with Pilcheon Style cling to the white termites one by one.

“When it comes to handling anomalies, that child is far better than I am.”

As if she had heard those words, purple ghost fire blazed in Kim Bokja’s two eyes beneath her wolf mask.

[White termites, go and gnaw away as much as you want!]

The storm of termite anomalies, now strengthened with Pilcheon Style, engulfed the Giant Tree Ghost.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

The termite anomalies were small, insignificant anomalies that could not compare to the Giant Tree Ghost.

But their numbers reached the tens of thousands, and they possessed the unique trait of gnawing away at anything that was wood.

To the Giant Tree Ghost, which possessed the wood attribute, they were like extremely annoying mosquitoes.

But even mosquitoes could become a significant threat to a Great Anomaly if there were this many of them.

Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch!

The termite anomalies clung to the Giant Tree Ghost’s outer hide and began gnawing it away.

The Giant Tree Ghost swung its branches and roots, but because the termite anomalies were small and quick, once they had latched on, they did not fall off easily. Kim Bokja used that advantage to make the Giant Tree Ghost uncomfortable and torment it.

Like clothes becoming soaked in a drizzle, the Giant Tree Ghost’s outer hide peeled away little by little, and damage slowly accumulated.

Kyaaaaaaak!

Kim Bokja glared at the Giant Tree Ghost as it screeched in irritation and snorted.

[Fight poison with poison. Shouldn’t an anomaly be dealt with by another anomaly?]

The enraged Giant Tree Ghost swung a branch to crush Kim Bokja, but—

BOOM—!

The three anomalies wearing armor made of Pilcheon Style knocked away and blocked the Great Anomaly’s attack that threatened their master.

Kyah!

Woof, woof!

Shhhk!

The anomalies, having sturdily protected their master’s side, got cocky and let out timid roars.

[I told you not to act up and to stay quiet!]

Kyat! Woof! Shhk!

With the battlefield thrown into even greater chaos through the efforts of Shin Kangheon and Kim Bokja, Hwang Suksu and Han Jaechun also quietly joined the battle.

[Jaechun. It’s about time we moved too.]

[Yes, sir!]

Before the Giant Tree Ghost hunt began, Kim Muhyuk had called aside the former-and-current wandering duo and spoken to them seriously.

—Once the hunt begins, it will eventually turn into a melee. When that happens, your role will be the most important.

While the other crew members drew attention by fighting the Giant Tree Ghost, Hwang Suksu and Han Jaechun stealthily approached the rear of the Giant Tree Ghost.

—Hwang Suksu is the most experienced veteran in Blue Wolves. And Han, you’re someone I can trust to cover my back in any situation.

Kim Muhyuk showed them firm trust and entrusted them with what might have been the most important mission.

—So this is...... something I can only ask the two of you to do.

If a man hears something like that and still fails, he can’t hold his head up!

Muhyuk trusted me. I’m definitely going to pull this off!

The two were determined to live up to their crew leader’s trust.

FWOOOOSH!

Crunch, crunch, crunch!

They could not wield tremendous flames like Shin Kangheon or perform incredible spellcraft like Kim Bokja.

But the role given to the two of them was by no means smaller than Shin Kangheon’s or Kim Bokja’s.

Ruuuumble......!

The Giant Tree Ghost’s roots moved constantly like living creatures.

Some of them surged up from the ground and attacked the enemies, while others supported the Giant Tree Ghost’s enormous body and were used to move little by little.

In other words, to hunt it, the roots were a part that absolutely had to be targeted.

[Let’s start around here. This bastard. I expected it, but it isn’t paying us any attention at all.]

Hwang Suksu grumbled as he took out the two tanks strapped to his back and the high-pressure sprayer connected to them.

[Of course not. We’re the two weakest people in martial arts inside this place.]

Han Jaechun smiled bitterly as he also took the high-pressure sprayer from his back and turned the lever on the tank so it could be used at any time.

The two of them held the high-pressure sprayers as carefully as famous swords and approached the Giant Tree Ghost’s roots.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

At present, the Giant Tree Ghost’s attention was scattered across several places.

Sunwoo Jeha, who was charging in to destroy its heart. Shin Kangheon, who was burning the puppets without hesitation. Kim Bokja, who was commanding a swarm of termites. Dr. Man, who was constantly restraining it with the spell formation.

With so many troublesome enemies around, Hwang Suksu and Han Jaechun, who possessed the weakest presences, might as well not have existed.

Sssssss.......

The liquid sprayed from the two men’s high-pressure sprayers was scattered near the Giant Tree Ghost’s roots.

Twitch.

When Hwang Suksu saw part of a root twitch, he cheered.

[It worked! It’s reacting! That kid was right!]

[Now let’s move while slowly controlling the amount.]

The liquid sprayed from the high-pressure sprayers was none other than a highly concentrated rapid-growth stimulant.

It was a special nutritional meal for the Giant Tree Ghost, made by sparing no spiritual medicine and grinding it all in for this day.

—If you spray something like pesticide, the Giant Tree Ghost will absolutely never absorb it. It might be different if you took the opposite approach.

—......Opposite?

The plan to make the Great Anomaly absorb spiritual medicine had been an idea Jung Minhyun proposed after coming to the hideout as a guest member.

If they sprayed something harmful to it, like pesticide, the Giant Tree Ghost would never accept it.

But what if, conversely, something no different from spiritual medicine was sprayed over its roots?

—It’ll definitely eat it. Especially if it’s in the middle of a fight, it’ll suck it right up without even having time to think.

—What are we going to do after giving that monster spiritual medicine?

—If you eat too much of something delicious, you get an upset stomach. Last time, after I went to VIPS with Brother Muhyuk, the next day I had so much diarrhea that......

—Why does this kid talk so much? Stop with the dirty stories and get to the point!

The Giant Tree Ghost must have been thirsty because of the flame demon Shin Kangheon had created. On top of that, its outer hide was being gnawed away by the termites’ attacks.

In addition, the Transcendent Extremity Gate martial artists, who had begun focusing on the hunt, had joined in again, and Sunwoo Jeha was leaping up madly toward the Giant Tree Ghost’s heart.

Glug, glug, glug, glug!

In this situation, the highly concentrated growth stimulant was like sweet rain after a drought. The moment the nutrient solution touched its roots, the Giant Tree Ghost absorbed it in an instant.

Watching that, Hwang Suksu gave a sinister smile.

[Hehehe. Eat a lot, all right?]

As soon as it absorbed the energy of the highly concentrated spiritual medicine created to accelerate rapid growth, vitality returned to the Giant Tree Ghost’s movements.

BOOM! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Its roots swelled visibly, and its broken and burned branches regenerated quickly. The parts that had absorbed the nutrient solution grew so large that, for a moment, the Giant Tree Ghost’s form looked as if it were tilting.

The two men soothed the roots approaching as if demanding more nutrients and slowly backed away.

[All right, you ate enough to burst your belly, so now you have to pay the price.]

[Boss. Should we start mixing it?]

At Han Jaechun’s words, Hwang Suksu nodded, and the two of them shook the spiritual-medicine tanks strapped to their backs with all their strength, then cut them open with knives and threw them to the ground.

[Eat to your heart’s content! It’s your last supper!]

All the remaining liquid flowed out from the smashed spiritual-medicine tanks, and the Giant Tree Ghost’s roots devoured it greedily without the slightest rejection.

—There are spiritual medicines like that, aren’t there? Each one is medicine on its own, but if you mix them and eat them together, they turn into deadly poison....... What if you mix that in at the end and feed it to it?

The moment Hwang Suksu and Han Jaechun remembered Jung Minhyun’s sparkling eyes and began backing away—

Kyaaaaaaaaaak!

With a terrible ghostly wail, the Giant Tree Ghost’s roots began rotting away.

As if the Giant Tree Ghost were twisting in pain, its huge body swayed so violently they could feel it. A portion amounting to almost one-fifth of its roots was corroding as if rusted.

[Uahahahaha! A huge success!]

[How does Blue Wolves’ hidden claw taste!]

The wandering duo looked up at the Giant Tree Ghost’s face, which was hideously twisted in pain, then turned to each other and high-fived.

[All right, then from here on, pretend an elder is chasing us from behind.......]

[And run like hell!]

The two turned around and began running like absolute madmen.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG—!

The enraged Giant Tree Ghost’s roots slammed the ground and chased after them with enough force to turn them into dried filefish, but—

[Run awaaaaay!]

[Uaaaaaagh!]

Fortunately, thanks to having gone through Choi Geon’s training, which had been practically real combat, the two managed to escape the Giant Tree Ghost’s attack safely and without injury.

With this, most of the variables the Giant Tree Ghost had prepared had been rendered useless.

Now I only need to confirm one thing.

But Kim Muhyuk still did not let his guard down.

Because Sunwoo Jeha’s charge toward the Giant Tree Ghost’s heart had not stopped yet.