Chapter 134

SMH 134

Chapter 44 – Lord (2)

TL: Boko

Editors: Frost, StellarRain

Dozens of Wind Cutters flew through the darkness, severely injuring the incoming Flame Berserkers.

There were seven of these Flame Berserkers, who had quickly closed the distance. Of the seven, three were sliced into pieces and fell to the floor.

“I’ll begin casting the next spell!”

Shin Chul raised his mana. Because of his Double Casting, he was simultaneously responsible for both offense and defense. There was just too much for him to do.

“Sung Joon! I’ll go!”

“I’ll take care of the remaining four. Park Jang Hoon, protect Shin Chul! I feel like there’s an ambush coming.”

“U-Understood!”

Jang Hoon obediently obeyed Sung Joon’s command. Though Jang Hoon was extremely prideful and powerful, he was well aware of how he should act before someone more powerful than him.

Flame Berserkers were A-rank monsters. Sung Joon calmly closed the distance between them, and swung his aura clad blade.

A-rank monsters were nothing before an SS-rank Hunter. The Flame Berserkers were cut down by Sung Joon’s blade and helplessly fell. The shredded flames scattered into the air.

“AH!”

From behind, he heard an anguished voice; it was Shin Chul’s voice.

“It’s a Dark Assassin,” Rishubalt reported. Sung Joon turned around and looked towards Shin Chul and Jang Hoon.

Shin Chul was bleeding and Jang Hoon was swinging his greatsword in an attempt to ward off the Dark Assassin. He was fighting back, even going as far as activating his aura armor, but the situation wasn’t looking good, as there were more than ten Dark Assassins present.

Although he was ambushed by a group of A-rank monsters, Jang Hoon was able to stave off most of the Dark Assassins’ attacks and was able to cut down three of them in one blow.

“I’ll be right there!”

Sung Joon used his high-speed movement and healed Shin Chul with his ‘Heal’. Shin Chul, who had been healed of his injury, unleashed fire in the immediate vicinity, forcing the Dark Assassin’s to back off, albeit for a moment. Because of that, Jang Hoon was able to catch his breath, and Sung Joon was able to group back up with them.

Vroom–

He swung his sword, cutting through a Dark Assassin. Sung Joon swung his sword just a few times, yet all the Dark Assassin’s were destroyed, leaving their ‘cores’ behind.

“Absorb.”

Sung Joon, who’d defeated the rest of the Dark Assassins, absorbed their mana, leaving only the magic stones behind.

“How are your injuries?”

“They’ve been completely healed,” Shin Chul said. Sung Joon nodded his head. Shin Chul’s injuries weren’t severe. As it had been just a small cut on his arm, an SS-rank Healer’s Heal restored him instantaneously.

“Good. Then collect the magic stones,” Sung Joon said. There were two reasons he’d decided to hunt as a party. Firstly, he wanted to test how efficient it was, and secondly, it would save time when collecting magic stones.

Whenever a battle ended, it was really a pain in the ass to pick up each and every magic stone. Even so, an S-rank dungeon was much too dangerous to hire an assistant to pick the magic stones up for him. If the assistant died, there’d be a huge price to pay.

‘No matter how I think about it, this way seems best.’

Compared to him, Shin Chul and Jang Hoon were talented A-rank Hunters. Because they weren’t at the same level as the dungeon, they wouldn’t be rewarded much. It was much more cost-efficient than clearing the dungeon with another S-rank Hunter like Eun Joo.

Sung Joon was capable of clearing the dungeon by himself, but at the end of the day, he needed personnel.

“You really are impressive, Sung Joon! You not only knew it was an ambush, but you were also able to take down these A-rank monsters so easily!”

“As expected of an SS-rank Hunter. I’m honored to be a part of your assault team.”

Sung Joon listened to their admiration and smiled.

“There are several monsters  about 500 meters away and another ambush waiting for you. It seems like you’ll have to be careful,” Rishubalt said. He had taken the initiative to scout beforehand, and report on the situation. Sung Joon very slightly nodded his head and replied.

“There’s a group of monsters 500 meters away. It seems like there is an ambush waiting for us as well.”

“Holy… You can sense them from that far away? Impressive!”

Shin Chul couldn’t hide his astonishment at Sung Joon’s statement. He’d heard about S-rank Hunters’ abilities through rumors and had also seen them up close, but because Sung Joon was South Korea’s sole SS-rank Hunter, he couldn’t help but be surprised.

“There are a lot more ambushes than I thought there’d be, though I suppose that could be because it’s an elite dungeon,” Rishubalt added. Sung Joon looked at Shin Chul and opened his mouth.

“I think there will be a lot of ambushes waiting for us. Can you use your spells on those monsters at the edge of 500 meters?”

“Yes, I should be able if you just give me some time.”

It would be impossible for other A-rank Mage hunters. However, Shin Chul said that he could do it. Seeing that, Sung Joon affirmed that he wasn’t wrong in his assessment of Sin Chul.

He had potential.

“You only need to hit one, so that all the monsters aggro and come rushing over to us.”

In a dungeon, it was normal for monsters to remain in their original positions, but it was also normal for them to pursue any attackers.

“If you force the stealthed monsters to move as well, then it becomes much easier to sense their presences. As expected of Korea’s only SS rank hunter!”

Jang Hoon said something quite obvious and nodded his head. Shin Chul channeled his mana and began casting. At the same time, he finished casting his long-range aiming spell, targeting the enemies from afar.

“Ice Spear.”

Shin Chul spoke the activation words and completed his spell. He had created a single ice spear. He could’ve created several of them, but it seemed like he wanted to be completely accurate, so he only made one.

Shin Chul slightly waved his staff and the ice spear cleaved through the air. At the same time, Rishubalt quickly moved towards the monsters’ position in order to ascertain the situation.

“It seems like it hit.”

Shin Chul smiled. It wasn’t easy, but he spoke so nonchalantly about it. Eventually, Rishubalt returned to Sung Joon and reported.

“One of the Flame Berserkers was hit. The group of monsters is coming over here now. The monsters that were laying in wait are coming over here as well.”

Sung Joon’s eyes narrowed as he kept looking forward. He felt their presences, and was able to see them before long.

“It’s a Cold Mage! Yoo Shin Chul!”

“Shield!”

Sharp shards of ice poured down upon them, and Shin Chul responded with a defensive spell. Sung Joon surveyed the monsters to choose a target for his petrifying beam. It was difficult to dodge and was a frightening skill that would apply a petrifying curse, even if one were to defend against it. However, the mana consumption of the skill was severe, so he decided he’d only use it against S-rank monsters and up.

‘Found you.’

Sung Joon’s eyes gleamed. The S-rank monster, the Lava Warrior, had come under his gaze.

“Petrify!”

Once he channeled mana into his eyes and spoke the activation words, a red beam shot out from his eyes. The Lava Warrior raised its giant shield and protected itself against the beam, but that was a mistake. The petrifying beam had to be avoided at all costs.

The shield began to turn to stone, and like an infectious disease, spread to the Lava Warrior’s body.

“Is that an artifact?” Shin Chul asked. Sung Joon nodded his head and opened his mouth.

“Yeah. It’s an S-rank item called ‘Medusa’s Eyes’.”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen an S-rank item used. It seems like I’m experiencing many strange things when I’m with you, Mr. Kang Sung Joon,” Shin Chul said, and began casting once more. Jang Hoon hastily utilized high-speed movement and took care of the exposed Dark Assassins.

“Gale Sword.”

Sung Joon instantaneously closed the distance with Gale Sword, and took down five A-rank monsters, as well as two S-rank monsters with his impressive swordsmanship. Seeing that, Jang Hoon was astonished.

The battle ended rather quickly. Shin Chul and Jang Hoon collected all the magic stones, and Sung Joon continued with the assault.

The inside of the dungeon was quite expansive, befitting an elite S-rank dungeon. Unlike Sung Joon, Shin Chul and Jang Hoon couldn’t utilize ‘Absorption’, so they had to rest much more compared to Sun Joon.

“Let’s rest a bit here.”

Sung Joon set his light drones to patrol mode and sat in the middle of the light. As they were on patrol mode, the light drones would patrol a set distance away whilst illuminating the darkness.

“I have an interim report for you,” Rishubalt said, approaching Sung Joon. As Shin Chul and Jang Hoon were right next to him, Sung Joon couldn’t nod his head or reply. However, his gaze looked as though it were conveying ‘go on’, so Rishubalt spoke with a calm expression.

“Your clear speed is about 20-30% faster than when you solo the dungeon, even when factoring in the increased breaks. However, the rate at which your synchronization rate goes up is about 10-20% less.”

Sung Joon listened to Rishubalt’s report and ate a piece of beef jerky.

“Thus, I recommend that you hunt as a party if you intend to make money, but if you want to become stronger, solo play is best.”

He didn’t nod his head, but Sung Joon agreed with Rishubalt. Sung Joon ate warm soup and beef jerky while organizing his thoughts.

Their breaks weren’t very long. After finishing their meals, they immediately continued with the assault.

“Ambush!”

It had been thirty minutes after resuming their assault. They were no longer underground and had arrived above ground. Once Sung Joon’s party appeared in the wide hall of the mansion, heavily armed humanoid monsters appeared.

Sung Joon loudly warned Shin Chul and Jang Hoon and at the same time, he severed the right arm of the closest monster aiming for his life.

“Vampires?”

Their opponents were top-tier A-rank monsters, ‘Vampire Knights’. A red aura danced upon their blades.

“Sung Joon! We’re ok over here!”

It was Jang Hoon. They were doing well against the top-tier, A-rank Vampire Knights. Worrying about them was unnecessary.

“There’s a Vampire Noble who appears to be the commander at eleven o’clock. He’s wearing the Species Alliance’s insignia, and I suspect he’s a baron,” Rishubalt said.

Sung Joon smirked. A Vampire Noble, or more specifically, a baron, was a low-rank S-rank monster.

‘I don’t think I’ll even need to use my Illusionary Sword.’

Sung Joon used his high-speed movement, instantaneously closing the distance with the Vampire baron.

“H-He’s fast!”

The Vampire baron was incredibly taken aback at the unexpected speed of Sung Joon’s high-speed movement and swung his sword at Sung Joon. Simultaneously, the vampire used blood magic to confuse Sung Joon, but he wasn’t Sung Joon’s match.

After five minutes of dueling, the vampire’s head went flying.

Shin Chul and Jang Hoon had almost finished taking care of the eleven ambushing Vampire Knights. The Two A-rank Hunters were able to fend off the ambush of top tier A-rank monsters and although it wasn’t easy for the two to defeat the Vampires, they still managed to pull it off.

“The Boss Room should be close,” Shin Chul said. Rishubalt, who had been listening to the side, nodded his head and opened his mouth.

“Yoo Shin Chul is right. The Boss Room is close.”

There were monsters along the path to the Boss Room, but they were able to take care of them without difficulty. The Boss Room appeared around ten minutes after they took down the final enemy. As soon as they opened the door, they were met by a long-haired Vampire wearing golden armor.

There were ten Vampire Knights at his sides as well.

“You probably can’t understand me, but welcome Otherworlders,” the Vampire said. Sung Joon knew who he was.

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“It’s Marquis Laote of the Species Alliance. I thought he’d died in the Ridonia Great Plains, but… he somehow survived.”

His name: Vampire Marquis Laote.

He was one of the Vampire nobles in the Species Alliance who had participated in the battle in the Ridonia Great Plains against Roukel.

“Based on the quantity of his mana, he should be SS-rank,” Rishubalt reported.

“If the Species Alliance is my opponent, then I have no complaints,” Sung Joon said silently. His eyes were overflowing with hatred.