Murim Login - Chapter 470

“What… what is even happening right now?”

Even in the midst of such urgency, I found myself momentarily stunned before I barely managed to open my mouth.

“W-Wait a moment, Cheongpung.”

“This is the first time I’ve seen something like this in my life! Just like my grandfather said, the world truly is vast! I’m so glad I left Mount Hua!”

“Well, it’s true the world is vast, but this has nothing to do with that—”

“Wow! It moved again just now!”

He wasn’t listening at all.

I had known for a while that Cheongpung was a bit unhinged, but I never imagined it was to this extent.

“What kind of person is this?”

Even veteran hunters who encounter monsters more often than they see their parents would naturally feel fear when faced with a giant monster of this magnitude.

But instead of succumbing to the effects of Fear, this guy was jumping around in excitement.

I had underestimated Cheongpung. He wasn’t just a little crazy; he was completely insane.

“Still, this is far better than trembling like the others.”

He was fundamentally different from normal people. The fear of the unknown, evoked by encountering something unheard of, didn’t apply to Cheongpung.

Because to him, everything was fascinating and exciting.

“It’s like pointing a gun at a toddler who doesn’t even know what a gun is—they’d just laugh in amazement.”

I could swear on Hyeok Mu-jin’s balls that no martial artist in this world, no matter how thoroughly you searched, would react to such an enormous monster like Cheongpung did.

“…Well, I guess this is better.”

Meanwhile, Gong Gi-bang and Hyeok Mu-jin were still half out of their minds.

In a situation where even the help of a cat’s paw would be welcomed, Cheongpung, unaffected by Fear, was a huge advantage.

Grabbing Cheongpung by the shoulder as he alternated his sparkling gaze between Mimi-chan and the mutated Water Dragon, I spoke.

“Staring at it isn’t going to make it evolve. Pull yourself together and protect Sa Gong and Dongting Fisherman.”

“What about you, Benefactor?”

“I’ll wake those two idiots up first.”

Before I even finished speaking, I rushed over to Gong Gi-bang and Hyeok Mu-jin, who were standing dazed, and slapped them hard across the face.

‘Slap! Slap!’

With crisp smacks, the two toppled over.

Like people waking from a nightmare, they flailed their arms and legs, looking up at me with trembling eyes.

“Huff, huff.”

“C-Captain…”

I had put a fair bit of strength into those slaps.

From the blood dripping out of their split lips, it was clear they had been hit hard, but Gong Gi-bang and Hyeok Mu-jin didn’t even have the presence of mind to feel pain.

“…I thought it was a dream. Why am I still seeing things?”

“W-What is that…?”

Even if I’d helped them snap out of Fear, I couldn’t erase the primal terror within them.

While the two stared blankly past me with vacant eyes, a deep, guttural roar shook the surroundings.

‘Grrraaaaah!’

Damn it. I didn’t need to turn around to know the colossal monster behind me was furious.

And it was quickly closing in, the ominous sound of the air splitting making its presence clear.

“Cheongpung!”

Shouting, I grabbed Gong Gi-bang and Hyeok Mu-jin by the scruff of their necks and threw myself aside.

At the same moment, something massive struck the spot we had just been standing on with incredible force.

‘Whoooom! Bang!’

A deafening crash, accompanied by a geyser of sand and mud.

The object, which had narrowly missed us by mere steps, was a massive boulder, towering nearly ten meters high.

“…It flung something like this all the way here?”

The rock, easily weighing thousands of pounds, had been hurled from afar.

Its power was terrifying, but its precision was even more shocking. If I hadn’t moved quickly, we would’ve been crushed without question.

“Such precision. Was it a Major League pitcher in a past life?”

As I stared at the monster with a grim expression, an all-too-familiar notification rang in my ears.

‘Ding.’

– A sudden quest, [Corrupted Divine Spirit], has been generated.

– You cannot decline this quest. It has been forcibly accepted!

– Logout will be disabled until the quest is completed!

—

[Corrupted Divine Spirit]

For countless years, this noble being awaited ascension deep within the river’s waters. However, it has been corrupted by an unknown force.

Once a radiant and intelligent creature of unparalleled beauty, the Divine Spirit has become a grotesque abomination. Due to the countless deaths it has caused, it can no longer return to its former self.

Now, you must stop this tragic yet formidable entity.

Dispel the dark clouds looming over Hubei Province!

Grade: Supreme

Restrictions: Jin Taekyung

Objective: Defeat the Mutated Water Dragon

Rewards: Successive Quest
Massive Experience Points and Fame
???

Failure Penalty: Death or an equivalent penalty

‘This quest cannot be declined.
‘Logout is restricted until the quest is completed.

—

Quickly skimming through the quest window, I summed up my thoughts concisely.

“…This is crap.”

The worst quest for the worst situation.

A forced quest acceptance and logout restriction. On top of that, they’d nailed the coffin shut so I couldn’t even escape.

I had only two options: defeat this colossal monster or die right here.

And the penalty for failure? Equivalent to death. What kind of penalty could be so severe?

I didn’t want to think about it. Or rather, I didn’t even have the time to think further.

‘Bang! Whooosh!’

In the next moment, I saw it.

Through the translucent hologram window, I caught sight of a collapsing cliff in the distance and the sky filled with dozens of falling black figures, resembling meteors.

Witnessing the overwhelming sight, Hyeok Mu-jin and Gong Gi-bang muttered blankly.

“Are those stars? Yeah, they must be stars.”

“They’re too dark to be stars. And they’re getting closer.”

“Stars these days are like that.”

“Come to think of it, that’s true. Captain always told me to get rid of preconceived notions…”

“You idiots!”

—

I grabbed the two who were still spouting nonsense, unable to come to their senses, and leapt.

Cheongpung, who carried the unconscious Dongting Fisherman and the old boatman under each arm, was no exception to the chaos.

“Benefactor! It’s huge! And there are so many!”

Although his language skills were on the level of an elementary schooler, it was more than enough to understand what he meant. Even to my eyes, the number of massive rocks falling toward us was overwhelming.

There was no doubt that they would cover and completely bury the narrow ground where we stood.

Damn it, there was nowhere to run. As I flung the two I was holding behind me, I muttered the activation command in my heart.

“Inventory open, summon.”

As soon as Baekyeom, which I had stored temporarily in my inventory, was back in my grasp, the shadow of an enormous falling boulder loomed overhead.

Without hesitation, I unleashed my internal energy and swung the spear with all my might.

‘Shu-shu-shu-shing!’

The bluish-white energy from the spear tore through the air.

The concentrated energy, capable of slicing even steel like tofu, struck the enormous rock that had likely formed over countless years through sedimentation and weathering on a cliffside.

‘Split apart.’

‘Sak!’

The boulders caught in the spear’s trajectory were shattered into fragments and fell apart instantly.

‘Bang!’

A thunderous crash shook the earth as sand and river water shot up.

Amidst the shrill screams of Hyeok Mu-jin and Gong Gi-bang, I spotted Cheongpung overcoming the danger in a similar manner to me.

However…

‘Crunch!’

‘Damn it, I forgot about that.’

Seeing the shattered remains of the boat, now unrecognizable, made my stomach churn.

Had the old boatman been conscious, he might have fainted on the spot.

‘If we stay here, we’ll just be sitting ducks. I need to use the debris to move our position…’

Before the thought could finish, my body froze.

On the surface of the water, I noticed something missing that should have been there.

Amid the torrential river currents and crackling lightning, the massive entity that had stood tall and ominous was gone without a trace.

‘This is…’

A red alarm blared in my head.

Eyes wide, I let out a scream that was more like a howl.

“It’s coming!”

And then, in the next moment—

‘Crraaaaaash!’

A massive wall of water, towering over ten meters, surged up, accompanied by a colossal form that dwarfed the falling boulders.

The creature’s gigantic body, far more massive than anything I had ever seen, loomed beneath the darkened sky, its long, vertical slit-like blood-red pupils reflecting my face.

The breath from the corrupted monster’s maw was chilling to the bone, and the sheer presence of its colossal body exuded murderous intent that crushed everything around it.

‘What kind of monster is this…’

As I stared up at it in horror, a blinding flash of light burst forth.

Countless glowing threads rained down from all directions.

The whisker-like tendrils, each stretching several meters long and covered in tough scales, shot forward in straight lines or twisted and curved like living creatures, targeting us from all angles.

There wasn’t even time to cry out.

Every hair on my body stood on end, and all my senses heightened. In the slowed-down world around me, I twisted my body.

‘Bam-bam-bam! Slash!’

A sharp pain spread from my shoulder. The splattering droplets of blood on the muddy surface left no doubt about their source.

Still, if I managed to evade such an unexpected strike with only this injury, I’d consider it a bargain.

Now, it was time to return the favor.

“Haaah!”

‘Slash!’

With a loud battle cry, I swung my spear, severing dozens of the whisker-like threads.

As the fiery tail of the technique known as Fire Dragon’s Tail cleaved through the air, it headed straight for the creature’s jaw.

But just then—

With a deafening roar, a crushing force surrounded me, and everything was engulfed in darkness.

Time seemed to stop, the world slowing down to a crawl. In that moment, I saw it.

Something enormous was sweeping toward me.

‘Ah, damn it. The tail.’

The realization hit me just as a massive impact swept through my entire body.

‘Bam!’

My clear vision blurred.

In less than a second, the sky and ground flipped countless times, and everything around me shook as if an earthquake had struck.

No, it wasn’t the world that was shaking—it was just me.

When I regained some semblance of clarity from the immense shock that had scrambled my senses, I found myself hurtling through the air like a lightning bolt, crashing into a cliff.

‘Damn it. I need to dodge, even now…’

But the force behind the blow had been so immense that I could barely move my body.

Gritting my teeth, I tried to brace for the imminent second impact.

No, I wanted to brace myself.

‘Thud. Crrrack!’

A light shock hit my back, followed by the sensation of sliding across the ground as the speed of my fall reduced.

Blinking my eyes, I heard a voice reach my ears.

“Are you okay, Benefactor?”

It was Cheongpung.

Exhaling the breath I had been holding, I stood on my two feet. And in that moment, I realized why this quest’s grade was marked as Supreme rather than a question mark.

“You filthy eel bastard!”

Hearing a familiar voice shouting, I couldn’t help but crack a small grin.