SFRW-Chapter 36

Ch. 36 Sword God From The Ruined World 

Thud!  

A small humanoid monster, less than a meter tall.  

Even if it weren’t a monster, it looked like a primitive human that might actually exist deep in the jungle—an under-evolved being. The head of the Delcate (a monster only found in Brazil, referred to by Brazilians as the ‘Natives of the Rift’) burst like a ripe watermelon.  

The Delcate moved as if gliding through the swamp, its nimble movements, venomous sting held in its mouth, and the sharp stone clutched in its hand were threatening enough to have taken the lives of countless Brazilian Heroes.  

On top of that, Delcates lived in groups of at least several dozen.  

Because of these reasons, even Brazilian Heroes hesitated to face them, so for the members of the Silk Flower Guild encountering them for the first time, it was a living nightmare.  

They had no particular weaknesses, and the guild members didn’t know any effective ways to fight them.  

Above all, fighting in the swamp imposed severe movement restrictions, making it impossible for them to even utilize half their usual strength.  

If it weren’t for Seo Do-jun, there would have undoubtedly been many casualties or severe injuries among the Silk Flower Guild members.  

But because Seo Do-jun not only took down the Delcates at the frontlines but also helped endangered guild members like a ghost, they managed to escape with only minor injuries.  

“Th-thank you!”  

One guild member, who had almost been ambushed by a Delcate sneaking up silently from behind, bowed his head in gratitude after being saved by Seo Do-jun.  

“Don’t just rely on your eyes to track their movements. Secure your surroundings properly.”  

Securing the surroundings.  

It was advice to focus not just on sight but on all senses to perceive the environment.  

After saying that, Seo Do-jun went back to slaughtering Delcates.  

While others struggled to deal with even a single Delcate, their limbs flailing in desperation, Seo Do-jun severed their lifelines with terrifying ease, as if he could predict their movements in advance.  

To the Silk Flower Guild members, it was nothing short of awe-inspiring.  

“Even most S-ranks wouldn’t stand a chance, right?”  

“Of course! Honestly, even Hyun Joo-yeon…”  

They couldn’t bring themselves to say she was incomparable.  

“How can someone be that strong?”  

“Maybe… That rumor is true?”  

“What rumor?”  

The guild member who had brought it up answered cautiously to the curious onlookers.  

“You know, the one about how eating monsters enhances your abilities.”  

One of the listeners frowned deeply.  

“Wasn’t that just some crazy nonsense spread by a lunatic?”  

It was indeed a famous rumor.  

But since no factual evidence supported it, it had been dismissed as baseless.  

“That may be so, but… Think about Seo Do-jun’s age. No, look at his skills. That’s not normal. Has there ever been a Hero that young with such overwhelming power? I’d say he might even be as strong as Cain Lester.”  

“What, Cain Lester?”  

Mentioning Cain Lester, widely regarded as the world’s strongest Hero, made the others shake their heads.  

“Comparing him to Cain Lester is going too far. No matter how strong he is, putting him on the same level as the world’s strongest Hero is excessive.”  

“Yeah, comparing Seo Do-jun, who just became S-rank, to Cain Lester is a stretch. Maybe top 100, but…”  

Faced with their skepticism, the guild member who had brought it up raised a reasonable doubt.  

“Why can’t we compare them? Even Cain Lester wouldn’t be able to knock out a Blue Croco bare-handed so easily, right? And what about the Delcates? Look at him. I’ve watched Cain Lester’s combat footage countless times, but movements like that would be impossible for him.”  

Indeed, the skill Seo Do-jun displayed seemed beyond even Cain Lester’s capabilities.  

But.  

“That’s relative. Just because he can knock out a Blue Croco bare-handed doesn’t mean he can instantly annihilate thousands of Zytirex, right? And his agility is just his specialty in close combat. By that logic, Seo Do-jun can’t even fly, can he? You can’t compare them like that.”  

The guild member who had been defending Seo Do-jun fell silent, as if out of arguments.  

Cain Lester stood at the pinnacle of long-range combat abilities and magical prowess—a talent that appeared in only one out of ten thousand Heroes. Comparing him to Seo Do-jun, who excelled in close combat, was laughable in itself.  

“Their specialties are different, but one thing’s clear, Seo Do-jun’s skills are anything but ordinary.”  

With that statement, everyone nodded, ending the debate.  

“But seriously, could eating monster meat really enhance abilities?”  

The conversation looped back to the origin of Seo Do-jun’s strength.  

“Ugh, no way! You’re seriously considering that?”  

“No one knows for sure! Just look at him insisting on eating Blue Croco meat. We have plenty of rations left, so why would he do that unless there’s a reason?”  

“Y-you think so?”  

Once doubt took root, it wasn’t easily dispelled.  

“Sh-should we try eating some too?”  

“What if something goes wrong?”  

“But Seo Do-jun eats it all the time, and we’ve never seen him suffer any side effects. Worst case, we just lose nothing, right?”  

“Well, that’s true…”  

Among the Silk Flower Guild members, the aversion to monster meat was slowly fading.  

***  

“There’s no Boss Monster in here, right?”  

At Seo Do-jun’s question, Hyun Joo-yeon nodded.  

“No Boss Monster. Instead, there are two sub-boss-level monsters. One is the Blue Croco, and the other is…”  

She paused briefly before continuing with a sigh.  

“The Lynx. You’ve heard of it, right?”  

“So that’s where it was?”  

Seo Do-jun was familiar with the monster.  

Even in the ruined world, it was infamous for its ferocity, earning the title ‘Swamp King’.  

In terms of sheer physical strength, it was several tiers below the Blue Croco.  

But the Lynx possessed a unique ability unrelated to brute force.  

“If you’re entranced by the Lynx’s cry, your mind instantly becomes foggy, and you lose your combat abilities. So we need to plug our ears tightly.”  

Seo Do-jun clicked his tongue at the sponge earplugs Hyun Joo-yeon offered.  

“That’s useless. It’s not the cry—it paralyzes the brain directly through the eyes.”  

“…The eyes?”  

Hyun Joo-yeon stared at him in disbelief. This was the first she’d heard of it.  

The Lynx was another monster exclusive to Brazil.  

And an extremely rare one at that, found in only four rift zones.  

The problem was that the Lynx had been hunted fewer than ten times.  

Not because of its rarity, but because the casualties among Heroes were so devastating that reckless hunts were avoided.  

“The cry is a fake. The real danger is its eyes. So those things are completely useless.”  

At Seo Do-jun’s firm and confident words, Hyun Joo-yeon stared blankly at the earplugs in her hand.  

Should she believe him? The thought crossed her mind, but she already trusted him.  

Not only had he known the McCarthian’s weakness with uncanny precision, but everything she’d seen of Seo Do-jun so far proved he wasn’t the type to spout nonsense.  

And if the Brazilian Heroes were right—if the Lynx’s cry was truly the problem—then why were there so many casualties every time it was hunted? Why had they stopped hunting it altogether?  

I should… Trust Seo Do-jun.  

Resolved, Hyun Joo-yeon stuffed the earplugs into her pocket.  

She wondered how he knew something even Brazilian Heroes didn’t, but now wasn’t the time for doubts. The priority was completing the rift zone hunt without a single casualty.  

The Silk Flower Guild’s rift zone hunt was proceeding smoothly.  

All thanks to Seo Do-jun.  

At the forefront—or whenever someone was in danger—he helped like a ghost, ensuring only minor injuries.  

Considering this was a rift zone even the Brazilian Hero Association had deemed too dangerous to manage and decided to close, the situation was unbelievable.  

Yet, no one let their guard down.  

Because Jung In-joo kept warning them that danger could strike at any moment.  

“Park Do-chul! You wanna die, you bastard? Keep your guard up! You wanna go back to South Korea as a corpse?”  

At Jung In-joo’s icy shout, Park Do-chul, who had let his focus slip, quickly shook his head.  

“Sorry!”  

“Let me make this clear—this is a place where anyone could die at any moment! If I let my guard down even a little, the person next to me could drop dead!”  

The guild members responded in unison.  

Seo Do-jun glanced at them briefly.  

“That’s just sister Jung In-joo’s style. She can be as warm as family, but once she gets serious, she shows no mercy.”  

“That’s good.”  

He was about to add, ‘If only their skills matched their discipline’. but stopped himself.  

Oooooooooo…  

A strange, haunting cry pierced their eardrums, freezing them in place.  

It’s here.  

Seo Do-jun’s eyes gleamed just as Jung In-joo’s face hardened.  

“The Lynx! Everyone, cover your ears first!”  

As she shouted, she was the first to plug her ears tightly with sponge earplugs.  

The Silk Flower Guild members followed suit, hastily blocking their ears against the Lynx’s cry.  

Meanwhile, Seo Do-jun searched for the source of the sound.  

The Lynx’s cry echoed throughout the entire space, making it difficult even for him to pinpoint.  

As he focused, the cry grew louder.  

Ooooooooooooooo!  

The sound was sorrowful, pitiful, heart-wrenching, and affectionate all at once. Just hearing it made their chests ache and filled them with inexplicable melancholy.  

It was a sound that didn’t belong on the battlefield—yet somehow fit perfectly.  

“Y-you’re sure we don’t need to cover our ears?”  

Hyun Joo-yeon trusted Seo Do-jun and kept her ears uncovered, but the Lynx’s cry stirred her heart so violently that she wanted to plug them immediately.  

“The cry alone can’t control your mind.”  

“M-mind control?”  

Hyun Joo-yeon looked startled at the unfamiliar term.  

Wasn’t the Lynx’s cry just supposed to incapacitate?  

At least, according to the information provided by the Brazilian Hero Association, that was all it did.  

Seo Do-jun, however, scoffed at such incomplete intel.  

The Lynx’s most terrifying trait?  

Whether human or monster, it completely incapacitated its prey—then, depending on the situation, directly controlled its chosen targets.  

In the ruined world, countless people had died under the Lynx’s control without even realizing it.  

And it controls them very cunningly.  

Just as a cold glint flashed in Seo Do-jun’s eyes—  

He focused his mind and pinpointed the Lynx’s hiding spot.  

Without hesitation, he picked up a piece of rock from the ground and hurled it.  

The stone, wrapped in red mana, shot forward at terrifying speed—  

Screeeeech!  

A scream of pain, unlike any before, echoed through the swamp.  

Seo Do-jun kicked off the ground and charged, followed by Hyun Joo-yeon, Jung In-joo, and the rest of the Silk Flower Guild.  

When they caught up to him—  

“…My god!”  

“Wh-what is this…?!”  

“Th-that… That thing…!”  

Horror and disbelief were all that greeted them.  

A horde of monsters, numbering in the hundreds, stood gathered in a massive group.  

Among them, dozens of Delcates and three Blue Crocos were particularly imposing.  

And at the center, protected by the swarm, was a single small monster with bluish fur.  

A canine-like creature resembling a cross between a wolf and a fox—the Lynx.  

“The Lynx?”  

The Lynx, limping on one leg, locked its blood-red eyes onto Hyun Joo-yeon’s gaze.  

Just as she felt herself being drawn into its stare—  

Whoosh.  

A hand far too soft for a man’s covered her eyes.  

“I told you to be careful.”  

Clicking his tongue, Seo Do-jun drew the sword strapped to his back for the first time.  

Sshhhink.  

The blade gifted by Choi Cheol-gwan slid smoothly from its sheath.  

“You weren’t on my list, but your eyeballs seem… useful.”  

Greed laced Seo Do-jun’s voice as he stared at the Lynx’s crimson eyes.