Chapter 128

SMH 128

Chapter 42 – Heal’s New Discovery (1)

TL: Boko

Editor: Frost

Because S-ranks dungeons were so uncommon, when they did appear, there would sometimes be a competition for them. Right now, Sung Joon was experiencing that competition.

“We’ve confirmed that another guild has used their possessory rights priority for the dungeon.”

Han Soo Eun, who had become Sung Joon’s exclusive clerk just a short while ago, relayed the fact that the other guilds were using their possessory rights priority on the S-rank dungeon that appeared.

Sung Joon furrowed his brow.

Because S-rank dungeons were so rare, it wasn’t a particularly unforeseen development, but the competition over the dungeon made him feel uneasy.

“Possessory rights priority… I believe I have that as well.”

“Yes. I’ll check how many you have right now.”

“You don’t need to do that. I’ll just use them all. That should be enough, right?”

“O-Of course it would, but… is that really alright?” So Eun asked for confirmation. Sung Joon possessed quite a few of those tickets right now. One might feel that they were being wasted, but Sung Joon unhesitatingly nodded his head.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll be waiting at home, so please tell me how it goes later.”

“I’ll contact you within two hours.”

Sung Joon returned to his studio apartment and passed the time by browsing Hunter.com. He had ambitiously decided to assault an S-rank dungeon, but because they were so rare, it wasn’t that easy.

And exactly two hours later, So Eun called him.

“Hunter! You’ve successfully acquired possessory priority for the S-rank dungeon!”

She had relayed quite the good news. Sung Joon was relieved. He had used all of his possessory rights priority tickets, but he couldn’t be sure of the results. After all, he would’ve lost the competition if someone else had used more tickets than he did.

“Really? That’s a relief.”

“As you requested, we have scheduled your appointment at the earliest time available,” So Eun said.

“So,when is my appointment?”

“In two days; three o’clock in the afternoon!”

“I understand. Good work.”

He did feel like it was a bit too soon, but Sung Joon had asked them to schedule the appointment at the earliest time available, and he had rested plentifully already, so he didn’t really have anything to say.

This was his first time soloing an S-rank dungeon. Though his combat abilities were superb, an S-rank dungeon was vast and the assault time was long. Therefore, he visited the Hunter Mart, a place he hadn’t visited in some time, and bought whatever he needed.

Time passed by quickly and it was already three in the afternoon, two days later. Sung Joon had finished all his preparations and appeared at the entrance of the dungeon.

“Hunter Kang Sung Joon? May I verify you one last time?” the Dungeon Bureau worker on standby asked. Before one could enter the dungeon, they needed to go through the verification procedure; that didn’t change even after he had become an SS-rank Hunter.

“Right here.”

“You’re verified. You may enter now.”

Sung Joon showed the worker his Hunter’s License and after finishing a simple verification process, Sung Joon was able to enter the dungeon.

“It’s a warp gate,” Rishubalt said. It was an uncommon warp gate, befitting an S-rank dungeon. Sung Joon wordlessly went atop the warp gate and applied his mana. Then, his sight was obscured by a white flash.

By the time he’d gotten a hold of himself, he was in a different space.

“Is it a fortress type dungeon…?”

There was an enormous fortress about 300 m away. And there were several mana responses along the way to the fortress.

“They seem like golems. I’m counting on you for the scouting.”

“As you command, my lord.” Rishubalt briefly disappeared, and returned around ten minutes later.

“They’re Iron Golems,” Rishubalt reported his findings.

“They’re the type that are kind of a hassle.”

Iron Golems’ bodies were A-rank monsters composed of steel and were difficult to face, but he was an aura user, as well as being an SS-rank Hunter, so they were only a pain in the ass to deal with because of their size.

“How many of them are there?”

“There are nine of them, all gathered together. I feel that if you advance, my lord, they will all attack you together simultaneously.”

“So they’re lying in wait?”

“Yes, that’s correct. Though you and I have already seen through the trap.”

If the trap was discovered beforehand, it would lose all its effectiveness.

“Let’s go.”

Sung Joon and Rishubalt began moving towards where the Iron Golems were lying in wait. As soon as he came closer, the Iron Golems on the ground stood upright and the ground shook, as it there had been an earthquake.

“Trespassing!”

“Is not permitted!”

One of the differences between Iron Golems and Stone Golems was that Iron Golems could speak through magic. Befitting A-rank monsters, the Iron Golems were faster than Stone Golems as well. In an instant, nine stone golems came into sight.

One of the golems charged, swinging its arm adorned with sharp awls, and the remaining golems threw projectiles at him that were the size of several combined adult heads.

“Slash.”

Sung Joon focused on the incoming Iron Golem first, and unleashed an aura slash. Though an Iron Golem was agile, it was impossible for it to avoid Sung Joon’s 52% aura slash.

He precisely aimed for a location that would be difficult for the Iron Golem to dodge.

Koong!

The Iron Golem attempted to dodge, but ultimately, it lost its leg to the aura slash and helplessly fell to the floor.

The sound of its heavy and giant body hitting the floor echoed, reaching even Sung Joon.

“Shield.”

Sung Joon utilized the shield formed by ‘Dragon’s Protection’ to the block the other projectiles.

“They’re coming,” Rishubalt warned. As soon as he blocked the ranged attacks, the other golems began charging towards Sung Joon. With a cold expression, Sung Joon raised his aura clad blade. Eventually, his body disappeared.

Koong! Koong! Koong!

Sung Joon reappeared. The Iron Golems’ ‘cores’ were destroyed in a single blow and they helplessly fell to the ground.

“Absorb.”

After Sung Joon had replenished his stamina and mana through ‘absorption’, he moved in the direction of the fortress. Now, there was no mana he could feel from outside the fortress.

It seemed like the Iron Golems were the only things guarding the road.

“It’s steel. And there’s protective magic as well.”

As soon as they neared the front gate, Rishubalt finished his analysis and reported. Though a steel gate with protective magic would increase its durability exponentially, it was pretty meaningless before Sung Joon’s aura.

Sung Joon shattered the steel gate with his aura clad blade and entered into the fortress.

“They’re Living Armors,” Rishubalt reported. As soon as he entered the fortress, he sensed several strong mana reactions, accompanied by hundreds of Living Armors surrounding him.

It looked like there were at least 20 A-rank Living Armor Commanders.

“Rishubalt.”

Whilst the Living Armors closed in on him, Sung Joon called for Rishubalt with a calm expression.

“Please speak, my lord.”

“At my current synchronization rate, can I cut through their armor with sword winds?”

“You probably can’t cut through the commanders, but the normal B-rank Living Armors’ armor isn’t very thick. You should be able to take care of them with either your Gale or Tempest Sword,” Rishubalt explained. Sung Joon nodded his head and raised his sword. As soon as he drew his mana, the Living Armors immediately closed the distance.

One of the Living Armor Commanders attacked him simultaneously with nineteen other Living Armors.

“Ha!”

Sung Joon let out a battle cry and bisected the Living Armor Commander with a single blow. Then, he got past the nineteen Living Armors’, and entered deep into the enemy ranks.

“Gale Sword.”

With the utterance of the activation words, he swung his sword, unleashing sword winds. The Living Armors helplessly fell, and only the thickly armored Living Armor Commanders were left standing. But even they couldn’t hope to match Sung Joon.

Sung Joon cut through them with his brilliant swordsmanship. Though the Living Armor Commanders were skilled in their own right, their swordsmanship couldn’t hold up against Sung Joon’s.

“Scout.”

Sung Joon, who’d annihilated the Living Armor Commanders, commanded Rishubalt to scout out the dungeon. Eventually, Rishubalt finished with his reconnaissance and returned.

“There are some facilities underground as well. The doors are locked and the mana interference is quite severe, so I couldn’t go in. It seems like that’s where the Boss is.”

“Does one of the monsters have a key?” Sung Joon asked. If there wasn’t a monster who held a key to the underground door, then he would have no choice but to use the ‘Anvel’s Master Key’.

It felt like a bit of a waste.

“There’s a tower inside. And at the top of that tower, there’s a box that contains the key,” Rishubalt replied.

“Then we should head there first. Lead me there.”

“I understand.”

Rishubalt lead Sung Joon into the fortress. Though there were several Living Armors and Iron Golems that blocked his way, Sung Joon was easily able to defeat them.

But the problem was that the fortress was so wide. It took five hours before he got to the tower, as he had to fight his way through.

There were no monsters at the tower. Sung Joon got all the way to the top, took the key from the box, and left.

“Now take me underground.”

Sung Joon and Rishubalt went towards the basement. There was a mansion within the fortress that had an iron gate leading underground. It was small, but because it was equipped with powerful magic that would allow it to even withstand aura, he had no choice but to use the key.

As soon as he opened the door leading underground, he felt a powerful mana.

“Stealth.”

Sung Joon readied for an ambush by utilizing his item to stealth, and hid his presence.

“Are you a trespasser?”

It was a voice produced by mana. Below the torch that silently radiated within the darkness, there was a Living Armor wielding a giant greatsword.

“It’s a master-ranked Living Armor.”

Though master-ranked Living Armors were considered low-ranked within their tier, they were still S-rank monsters which possessed superb swordsmanship and could use aura armor as well. Therefore, they were a difficult opponent to face in battle.

‘Seems like there’s not just one of them, huh.’

He could see two more of them. Three in total. They were equipped with a greatsword, a longsword, and a spear. Sung Joon had attempted to hide his presence, but because he had been fighting for so long, he was a bit careless, and the master-class Living Armors were able to sense the mana flow of someone in stealth.

“Aura armor!”

Altogether, the three Living Armors activated their aura armor and raised their weapons.

“My lord! You must strike now!” Rishubalt said. He wasn’t wrong. If Sung Joon stayed put for just a little while longer, they’d be able to find out where he is.

Sung Joon acted, rather than responding to Rishubalt. He closed the distance with the long sword wielding Living Armor in an instant. Because he had used high-speed movement, his stealth was released, but the targeted Living Armor couldn’t even respond due to his speed.

“Ha!”

“T-This…!”

Sung Joon let out a battle cry and cleaved through the longsword wielding master-class Living Armor. Though its aura armor was protecting its entire body, Sung Joon’s aura was much stronger. When the Living Armor fell, the remaining two Living Armors attacked him, but Sung Joon was able to block their strikes and mixed in feints to counterattack.

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The remaining two weren’t able to last for even a few minutes and fell. But the fact that they even lasted a few minutes against Sung Joon was quite the feat.

“How much longer before we get to the Boss room?”

“If we factor in your speed, it should take about ten more hours.”

Sung Joon sighed, but continued with his dungeon assault. He rested a couple of times through the assault. Because of his ‘Absorption’, his mana and stamina consumption was minimal, even without resting much.

“It’s the Boss room,” Rishubalt said. He could feel a powerful mana from within.