The screen vanished as soon as it had appeared.

’Thirty seconds are more than enough.’

I stood directly above the fallen prince and looked down at him.

"Are you gonna stand up, or should I just behead you right here?" I asked. My voice carried a sharp edge that made Trion’s laughter stall for a fraction of a second.

Then, the prince laughed once more and stood up without saying anything.

He wiped a fresh smear of blood from his chin and forced his trembling legs to straighten.

Even with his corrupted black aura completely drained by the cloth artifact, he still towered over me.

"Even if I have lost most of my powers, I can still kill someone like you with a flick," Trion hissed.

The moment the words left his mouth, he charged.

He didn’t have his supernatural speed anymore, but his physical frame was still that of a boss monster. He lunged forward with his hands aimed directly at my neck.

I didn’t step back.

With the [Shared Evolution] skill active, my reflexes felt sharper. I sidestepped his first desperate swipe, and the tips of his claws grazed the edge of my paper bag mask with a sharp whooshing sound.

Using his own momentum against him, I drove the butt of my dagger squarely into his ribs.

CRACK.

Trion grunted in pain and stumbled sideways, but his instincts as a warrior prince weren’t giving in. He spun around instantly and used his legs to sweep across the floor. The heavy blow caught me right in the shins before I could jump clear.

"Ugh!"

The sheer force of the impact swept my feet right out from under me. I went down, and my back slammed hard against the floor tiles.

The breath was knocked out of my lungs in a violent burst of bubbles, and for a second, the blue film of the breathing potion flickered dangerously.

"Woo Jin!" Vera’s frantic voice echoed from the throne stairs.

I could hear the sharp rustle of her damp paper bag as she shifted her weight and her entire body tensed up to leap across the room and tear Trion apart.

"Stay there!" I shouted back, coughing into my mask as I rolled to the side just in time to avoid Trion’s heavy foot crashing down onto the spot where my head had been. "I told you... I have got this."

Just as I scrambled back onto my feet, a series of heavy splashes echoed from the dark pathway behind the throne room.

The remaining Hunters had returned.

Seok was at the front. His blue spear was completely devoid of its aura, but his face was filled with relief until his eyes locked onto the chaotic scene inside the grand hall.

Behind him, Hana, the archer, the couple, and the others waded into the room, their expressions were also a mix of sheer exhaustion and utter confusion.

"What is happening?" the archer stammered, his bow slung loosely over his shoulder as he stared at the cratered floor. "The golden light... the altar stabilized! The Gate should be clearing, so why are they still fighting?"

"Look at the girl," Hana whispered as her wide eyes darted toward the stairs where Vera sat perfectly still with her hands gripping the fabric of her clothes so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. "Why is she just sitting there? She was handling the boss a few minute ago!"

"And why is the boy fighting only now?" the shield-bearer muttered as he rested his heavy steel shield against a pillar and watched me duck under another fierce swipe from the prince. "He didn’t lift a finger before. Did he save his strength just for this?"

They didn’t understand anything. To them, it looked like a bizarre tactical shift. They thought I was some hidden mastermind who had orchestrated the entire raid, and now I was finally stepping in to claim the final kill.

Trion didn’t care what they thought. His face was twisted in humiliation. To be reduced to a clumsy brawl with a vermin wearing a strange mask on his head was a fate worse than death for the exiled prince.

"Die! Die! Die!" he roared and unleashed a frantic flurry of punches.

I managed to block the first two with my arms, but the power behind his blows sent a numbing sensation straight through my shoulders, and the third strike caught me squarely in the jaw.

BANG!

The impact tore the corner of my paper bag mask, and a sharp line of crimson blood leaked from my lip, floating upward into the water.

I stumbled backward, and my vision blurred for a brief second as my back hit a broken marble pillar.

"Look at him... he’s getting hurt," one of the Hunters whispered from the back. "If he is the true hidden mastermind, why is he struggling against a weakened boss?"

"He’s not struggling," Seok said suddenly. His analytical eyes narrowed behind his glasses as he watched my movements closely. "Look at his body and movements. He is not panicking. He is measuring him."

Seok was right.

Despite the stinging pain in my jaw and the deep bruises forming on my ribs, my mind was perfectly calm. I was watching the digital timer ticking down in my vision, displayed at the top right corner.

[Time Remaining: 12 Secs]

The skill time was about to end. I couldn’t keep trading physical blows with him in a pure contest of strength. I had to use my head.

Trion saw me leaning against the pillar and thought I had finally broken my resolve.

A triumphant, ugly sneer spread across his face as he raised both of his webbed hands above his head, interlocking his fingers to form a massive hammer to crush my skull.

"This is the end of your little act!" Trion shouted.

He lunged forward while throwing his entire weight into the downward smash.

But he was too angry. Because he was completely blinded by his rage, his posture was entirely off-balance, leaving his throat and chest wide open.

’Got you,’ I thought.

Instead of trying to dodge to the side or block the blow, I kicked off the marble pillar behind me and launched myself straight forward, diving underneath his raised arms.

It was a reckless and high-risk maneuver that would have gotten me killed if my timing had been off by even a second.

But the black claws on my fingers dug into the sapphire floor tiles, giving me the perfect leverage to slide right past his waist.

As Trion’s heavy fists crashed violently into the empty marble pillar behind me and shattered it into pieces, I spun around in the water.

My right hand shot forward with a speed I had never possessed before.

The dagger in my grip didn’t have a magical aura, but with the last remaining seconds of the skill, I drove the blade straight into the soft, unarmored gap right beneath his jawline.

THRUST.

The sharp metal tore through his throat, and the tip embedded itself deep into the roof of his mouth.

Trion’s yellow eyes widened in shock. The sneer on his face instantly froze and was replaced by a dull, hollow stare as a massive wave of blood erupted from his neck, clouding the water around us.

"Gah... ugh..."

A few choking gasps escaped his throat, but the damage was done.

I twisted the hilt of the dagger firmly, ensuring the severance was complete, before pulling the blade out in one clean motion.

"Guh!"

.

.

.

"Mother..."

"I only wanted..."

"...the throne..."

The final boss of the C-Rank Gate slumped forward. His massive, scaled body writhed weakly for a brief moment before going completely limp, sliding down onto the sapphire tiles until he rested motionless at my feet.

Silence fell over the grand palace hall.

The Hunters from different backgrounds stood completely frozen, their eyes moving from the dead prince to the bloody dagger in my hand, and finally up to my torn paper bag mask.

"He... he did it," Hana whispered as her hands covered her mouth in sheer awe. "He killed the boss alone... with just a common dagger."

"Unbelievable," the archer muttered, his face turning pale as he realized how close he had come to pushing his luck with someone who could casually execute a final boss after giving everyone instructions like a commander. "He really was the hidden expert..."

I ignored their whispers entirely.

The tingling sensation in my fingers faded away as the black claws retracted back into normal nails, and the heavy pressure of the skill finally dissipated from my veins.

[Skill ’Shared Evolution(Rare)’ Deactivated!]

[System Notification: Gate Boss ’Exiled Prince Trion’ Has Been Defeated!]

[100 Points have been added to your stats screen!]

[You have the highest contribution to clearing the Gate! Calculating a random reward according to your contribution.]

Suddenly, a light began to shine in front of me out of nowhere and soon turned into a large golden key, and instinctively I grabbed it.

Ding!

[Kingdom Key Fragment (1/5)]

[Hidden Main Storyline Unlocked]

[Requirements for Next Fragments Updated]