The Healing Solaris Cleric

Chapter 97: Hunter’s Night (3)

Whoosh!

As soon as Kai activated Ethereal Body, his entire body transformed into blue particles. He appeared as if painted with a light wash of watercolors, looking hazy and translucent.

Clang, clang, clang!

The attacks from the Titan guild members passed through Kai’s body and struck the Earth Wall behind him.

All at once, their faces showed they were bewildered!

“Wh-what?!”

“Is he immune to physical attacks... or is he able to ignore them?”

“Isn’t this a trait of ghosts or banshees?!”

“I-is this the Ethereal Body skill?”

...Wait, did someone just recognize the skill?

Although Havir’s muttering from afar was quiet, Kai heard it clearly.

He was very curious about how they knew, but this wasn’t the time to ask how they knew.

In his ethereal state, Kai’s sword plunged into the throat of one enemy, while his left hand roughly grabbed an Archer’s lower face and unleashed Holy Explosion.

“Argh... Kugh!”

In the game, it was rare for someone to be attacked inside their mouth.

Facing this rare situation, the Archer panicked and struggled.

My attack power is definitely weaker in this ethereal state. But...

He still had plenty of time.

Kai calmly whittled away at the health bars of the enemies in his grasp.

Havir, unable to watch any longer, shouted, “Pull back and cast spells! Ethereal Body takes double damage from magic skills!”

What? They even know the weaknesses of Ethereal Body?

Kai scowled, making no effort to hide his displeasure at being found out, and various magical spells flew at him!

“Ice Spear!”

“Earth Horn!”

“Fire Ball!”

My magic resistance is high, so it won’t hurt much, but... there’s no reason to let them hit me.

Kai quickly released his grip on his captives and dashed forward. His movements were as graceful and nimble as if he were dancing the tango, and he effortlessly dodged the incoming spells.

Using magic was a good call, but that’s about it.

No matter how skilled the Titan guild’s Wizards were, they couldn’t surpass the Wizards from the Black Bee guild.

Kai had previously dodged an entire magical bombardment from the Black Bee guild members without taking a single hit, so from Kai’s perspective, the magic from the Black Bee guys was far more intimidating.

“Damn, he’s a monster! Retreat and regroup! Ethereal Body makes him immune to physical attacks!”

At Havir’s command, the remaining five enemies fled in different directions.

Kai silently took note of the directions in which they were fleeing as his Holy Power gradually depleted.

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Whooom.

At the same time, a pure white holy energy began to rise like smoke over his Armor of the Undead equipment.

***

“Huff, huff.”

Havir panted heavily, white puffs of breath escaping from her mouth as she ran.

That monster-like guy is only around level 100? As expected... The intelligence team can’t be trusted!

Kai had overwhelming strength to kill a level 120 player with just a few strikes, which wasn’t the kind of power a level 100 player should possess.

Sure, most of the hits were critical because they targeted vital spots, but still...

Even so, his attack power was incomprehensible by any standard.

And Ethereal Body... How did he get such an absurd skill?

She was even more shocked because it was a skill she had never expected, and as far as she knew, there was only one person who had acquired the Unique Ethereal Body skill.

Havir quickly activated the voice chat program and commanded her party members, “Regroup at the nearby Melbarun Graveyard immediately.”

[No members...]

“Once we’ve regrouped, we’ll go all out...”

[... voice chat.]

As Havir continued speaking, she felt something was off and gradually slowed down.

I keep hearing some kind of message.

Finally, she stopped and checked the message log, her pupils dilated in shock.

[No members are in the voice chat.]

“Wh-what?”

Gulp.

Havir swallowed hard, a lump of saliva sliding uncomfortably down her throat. With trembling eyes, she opened the party window.

The gray-colored IDs and skull icons next to them represented a simple meaning.

...Shit! They’re all really dead?

Everyone except her was dead. After realizing this, she found herself unable to move, as if her feet were nailed to the ground.

Did we pick a wrong fight?

The guild’s intelligence had reported that Unknown was around level 100. Confident in their victory, she and her seven teammates, who were level 120 to 130, had attacked him.

But how did we get so destroyed? This doesn’t make sense.

In the Titan guild, hunting someone was a sort of game. They became the hunters, surrounding and chasing their prey.

But this bastard... He’s hunting us instead.

Although she grinded her teeth in anger, she was able to keep her temper.

He’s probably coming for me now.

Knowing Unknown’s straightforward and thorough nature, he would be chasing Havir to finish the job.

“Damn it!”

The thought of XP and skill proficiency she would lose due to the death penalty made her feel faint. However, as a team leader of the Titan guild, she knew what she had to do.

Right. Even if I die, I need to extract as much information from him as possible...

Just as she was determined to face her fate, something wrapped around her leg.

Shh-clink!

“This is...!”

It was the strange skill Unknown had used!

Realizing this, Havir quickly drew her spear and used the Dragon’s Wrath skill to cut the chain.

“How dare you think you can pull this damn trick on me!”

Her confident shout echoed through the forest, but the chain that flew at her wasn’t the only one.

Shhh-clink! Sh-clink!

There were two, three, even four chains.

“Damn...!”

As more than a dozen chains wrapped around her, she lost control of her body and was dragged into the dark forest.

“Mmpph, mmpph!”

“...Members of the top ten guilds sure have a knack for being annoying,” Kai said in a bored voice, sitting on top of the tightly pulled chains. “I came for you last because I have something to ask.”

“Mmpph!”

“Oh, you can’t answer with your mouth covered, can you?”

As soon as Kai released the chains, Havir sprang to her feet and drew the spear from her back.

Kai lightly sighed at the sight, and slightly twisted his wrist.

Swish!

“Huh?!”

Kai wrapped the chain around Havir's neck and pulled it tight using the power of Holy Explosion. As he did so, the overwhelming force slammed Havir to the ground.

Thud!

Kai's sword pierced through Havir’s hand, pinning it to the ground as she tried to get up.

“Argh!”

“Don’t bother. You can’t beat me.” Leaving a short warning, Kai asked, “How do you know about the Ethereal Body skill?”

“Heh, you didn’t kill me because you were curious about that?”

“Yes.”

“Why should I tell you?”

“Because I’m curious.”

“Have you forgotten we’re enemies?”

“Answer me, and I’ll let you live. I promise.” Kai scanned Havir's equipment. “Rhinoceros Horn, a spear with a level 130 requirement, and a level 125 Black Warrior Armor set. Seems like you’re at least over level 130, so it would be better to avoid the death penalty, right?”

“Haha, you idiot. You still don’t understand the concept of being in a group. That’s why you’re making such a stupid offer.”

“What?”

“A loner like you would have a hard time recovering if you die. But do you think it’s the same for us? How long do you think it will take for those who died today to recover their levels and skill proficiency? A month? Or twenty days? No, with guild support, a week is enough, you bastard!”

Havir looked at Kai with the eyes of a victor. Kai stared at her, dumbfounded.

“In other words, it’s better to die once than to answer questions from someone like you and get on the guild’s bad side.”

“Hmm...” Kai slowly nodded.

He hadn’t expected such a fundamentally different mindset.

However, Havir wasn’t wrong.

This is why people want to be in a guild.

Though they could die following the guild’s orders, they had faith that the guild would quickly help them recover, and that was the main reason why guild members could follow orders without worry.

Well, if that’s the case, I have no other choice.

Convincing someone with such a firm mindset with words was no easy task.

Moreover, a significant amount of time had passed since the battle began, meaning reinforcements could arrive at any moment.

Kai decided to let go of any lingering attachments and finish Havir off.

“Heh... Remember this. An individual can never... defeat a group...”

“Shut up.”

Slash!

The forest fell silent only after Kai severed Havir’s neck.

“Well, this is a loss. A huge one.”

When he had turned the Black Bee guild into his enemy, he gained so much that he didn’t have any complaints, but he gained nothing this time.

The Titan guild has turned against me... but I didn’t get any monetary compensation, didn’t capture any amazing footage, and these useless guys didn’t even drop any items when they died.

The root cause of all this trouble was Goliath’s petty grudge.

“You’d think a guy could get kicked out of a chat room and be cool about it...”

Who would have thought Goliath would send guild members to take revenge for that?

Now I’ll have to revise my plans for the conquest event.

His original route had only considered interference from Black Bee, but now, he had to also worry about the Titan guild’s movements!

“Ugh, this is so annoying...”

Just as Kai was venting his frustration, a party passed by nearby.

“Wow, look at the number of followers!”

“The Unknown effect is really something.”

“We have to take more pictures next time we see him.”

“Are we becoming Instagram stars or what?”

The voices sounded familiar to Kai, and the name mentioned in their conversation was one he had heard a lot.

“...At least I won’t end up in a complete loss now.”

Kai got up as he sighed in relief.