A Hunter on Borrowed Time Keeps Surviving - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 11.
The boss chamber of the Cemetery Fortress lay shrouded in heavy silence.
The Commander Skeleton had been thoroughly annihilated this time.
The skeleton soldiers were nowhere to be seen.
They had all fled.
After losing their boss twice over, they had concluded that this place was no longer their sanctuary.
Sioul stood alone in the center of the empty boss chamber.
And from out of sight, Kang Ho-chul and Baek Ga-hyun watched him in stunned silence.
“He’s gotten so much stronger than the first battle…”
Baek Ga-hyun marveled, recalling the combat that had just unfolded.
Whoosh!
The way Sioul had launched forward with a sharp crack of displaced air was truly impressive.
With a single push off the ground, he had cut straight through the skeleton soldiers’ encirclement in one breath.
His speed bore no comparison to the first battle.
‘It was like watching someone undergo a second awakening mid-combat.’
Sioul had passed through the skeleton soldiers and stood directly before the Commander Skeleton.
Then he swung his longsword with all his might.
Together with the Land Slash technique.
‘He used a B-Rank skill, which surprised me, but the attack was blocked. A B-Rank dungeon’s boss wouldn’t fail to stop such a straightforward pattern.’
When the attack was blocked, the skeleton soldiers’ counterattack inevitably followed.
Spears from the soldiers buried themselves in Sioul’s back in quick succession.
But in that moment, it was not Sioul who crumpled with a faint cry—it was the Commander Skeleton.
The Tracker’s Blade was embedded in the back of the Commander Skeleton’s skull.
‘He used his own body as a shield, while the real attack came from the dagger he threw into the air.’
A strategy that exploited an opening.
But such a strategy required several preconditions.
‘He needed the physical capability to reach the boss, and a powerful attack strong enough to seize every eye in the chamber. And he achieved it.’
Sioul’s Awakening Rank, as registered with the Association, was D-Rank.
Midway through the dungeon, Baek Ga-hyun had suspected he might be C-Rank, but that combat and the Land Slash technique revealed him to be a B-Rank hunter at least.
This alone was deeply puzzling, yet there was more to astonish.
‘That Rapid Healing… truly terrifying.’
Sioul’s back, which had been riddled with holes from the skeleton soldiers’ spears.
As though that had all been a dream, his body was now unmarked and pristine.
Judging purely by the abnormality of his trait, Baek Ga-hyun felt Sioul was a step above himself.
‘How is that person even a D-Rank hunter….’
Baek Ga-hyun’s face froze in denial.
“Now do you understand why I called forth the undead?”
Kang Ho-chul’s voice broke through Baek Ga-hyun’s reverie.
Kang Ho-chul’s expression, too, bore the lingering shock.
“I can’t make heads or tails of his rank. Right now he looks B-Rank, but when I think about how your trait was blocked at the shop, I suspect he could even be S-Rank potential.”
Confusion flickered in Kang Ho-chul’s eyes.
“I’ve spent ten years as a Special Hunter. Add my time as an ordinary hunter, and that’s fifteen years total in this business. And I… I’ve never seen anyone whose Awakening Rank I couldn’t get a read on.”
It was a confession difficult to hear from a veteran like Kang Ho-chul.
Baek Ga-hyun, too, could not shake the humiliation of his failed memory extraction.
For different reasons, both men had begun to regard Sioul as a subject demanding urgent study.
And one thing more.
The rumor they’d only heard in whispers—that disaster strikes when a Black Gate opens—had begun to gnaw at them.
* * *
“Thank you for your hard work!”
Outside Yongsan Station, where the Gate had vanished after the dungeon’s conquest.
Sioul and his party members exchanged farewells as they organized their gear.
“This raid was clean and efficient.”
“For a skeleton dungeon, it went pretty smoothly.”
Light banter drifted back and forth, followed by laughter.
Then Sioul took a careful step forward from the group.
“I… have something I’d like to tell you all, if you could spare a moment?”
The team members’ attention fixed on Sioul.
Sioul cleared his throat once, then began.
“After today’s raid, I intend to go back to operating alone from now on.”
At Sioul’s sudden declaration, the team members stiffened.
“Why so suddenly?”
“Is it because our skills are lacking…?”
“Have we been depending too much on you?”
Beneath the team’s questions lay a poorly concealed sense of disappointment.
“No. Really, no.”
Sioul shook his head firmly, then continued at once.
“I’ve genuinely enjoyed working with you all. The combat, the coordination, the atmosphere—it’s all different.”
He meant every word.
Raiding with Min Hyung-sik’s team had been invaluable, showing Sioul what it meant to fight alongside others rather than alone.
“But my circumstances have changed somewhat.”
Sioul kept his explanation as concise as possible.
“There’s no reason for me to stay in B-Rank Dungeons anymore. I’m going to focus on clearing A-Rank Dungeons.”
That was all the explanation he gave.
He didn’t say why, or by what measure, or what circumstances lay behind it.
There was simply too much he couldn’t reveal.
‘B-Rank Dungeons won’t generate quests for me anymore. To face enemies with a Danger Rating of 10 or higher, I need at least A-Rank Dungeons—and this team can’t handle that.’
With Min Hyung-sik’s team averaging C+ Rank, A-Rank Dungeons wouldn’t even offer them contracts.
Sioul had no reason to stay.
“That’s excellent news.”
After a brief silence, Min Hyung-sik smiled and spoke first.
“You’ve completed your objective. I knew you weren’t someone who’d stay long.”
Min Hyung-sik had assumed Sioul had finished one task as a Special Hunter and accepted it matter-of-factly.
“It’s a shame, but still—thank you for everything. I learned a great deal working with you.”
Min Hyung-sik shook Sioul’s hand one last time.
The other teammates still looked disappointed, but soon offered smiles of encouragement.
“Thank you for your hard work, Sioul!”
“Do your best in the A-Rank Dungeons!”
“Let’s grab a drink on our next day off!”
It was a brief farewell, but far from a light one.
Min Hyung-sik’s team scattered to their separate ways, and Sioul gathered his gear bag and headed home.
“Sioul!”
But then he heard hurried footsteps rushing up behind him.
When Sioul turned, Park Do-hyun was waving at him, breathing hard.
“Do-hyun?”
Park Do-hyun had sprinted to catch up.
“What’s the matter?”
“Well, it just occurred to me….”
Park Do-hyun caught his breath before continuing.
“Are you looking for any particular A-Rank Dungeon?”
“Not really, not yet anyway.”
“Then this is perfect!”
Park Do-hyun grinned brightly and pulled out his smartphone.
“Like I mentioned before—my whole family are Hunters. Actually, my father is an A-Rank Hunter.”
Park Do-hyun found a contact on his phone and sent it to Sioul’s.
“My father runs a small-to-mid-sized guild. It’s not huge yet, but he’s been acquiring ownership of A-Rank Gates to build up results.”
Sioul’s eyes flickered with interest.
“Is that truly so?”
“Yes. If you’re interested, I can introduce you. Should I call my father?”
The offer came as a surprise, but it was a golden opportunity for Sioul.
For a officially-recorded D-Rank Hunter, the chance to raid A-Rank Dungeons was virtually impossible.
He’d been debating whether to contact Jang Jin-young from the Daeho Guild again.
“I’ll explain things to my father properly. I’ll just tell him you’re a Hunter who operates independent of official rankings. Your situation’s something you can’t disclose, right?”
As Sioul formed an expression of consideration, Park Do-hyun waved a hand with a smile.
“Don’t worry about explaining to me. My father only cares about ability regardless of rank—he’ll definitely say yes.”
“I’m truly grateful. I owe you for this, Do-hyun.”
“I’m the one who owed you. I’m just trying to repay it.”
Park Do-hyun immediately called his father right then and there.
Just as Park Do-hyun had promised, his father didn’t care what Sioul’s rank was.
He evaluated Sioul solely on his track record to date.
And the verdict was.
“Just come by next Monday, and you’ll be all set!”
* * *
Sioul’s studio apartment unfolded in its familiar layout.
A griddle, tongs, a pack of beef on the table, and a few cans of beer.
The only difference was that tonight’s dinner came with a clear reason to celebrate.
“Congratulations on reaching B-Rank!”
Sioul murmured the words to himself, congratulating his own progress as he laid the meat on the hot griddle.
Sizzle!
“Why do I love the smell of beef sinking into the walls of my apartment…?”
Sioul inhaled deeply through his nose, savoring the aroma of prosperity.
Then he cracked open a beer and took a long, satisfying sip.
“Ah, this is happiness.”
No other words could capture the moment.
A B-Rank Hunter. A position that meant he could own a house in Seoul, drive a foreign car down the streets whenever he pleased.
Of course, to someone under a terminal illness diagnosis, what did a house or car really matter? But the real advantage was simple: whenever he needed something, he could afford it without thinking twice.
‘Once the A-Rank Dungeon earnings come through, I can buy even better equipment.’
Better equipment means faster quest completion.
Faster quest completion means my Awakening Rank will climb that much quicker.
A higher Awakening Rank opens access to better dungeons, and the earnings follow suit.
‘Is this what they mean by the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer?’
His quality of life rose with each step upward.
Before he died, he’d finally get to taste the wealth he’d never experienced before.
And naturally, the best ending would come at the peak of this growth—facing the Judgment Dragon once more.
‘The speed at which I’ve gotten here has been genuinely fast.’
Less than a month had passed since he received his terminal illness diagnosis.
That’s why his hope burned even brighter.
Could he not create a miracle if he pushed hard enough over the remaining five months?
“Hmm.”
But the happy fantasy didn’t last long.
Sioul suddenly stopped mid-chew and stared up at the ceiling.
“The problem’s ahead.”
Thanks to Park Do-hyun’s introduction, he’d be deployed into an A-Rank Dungeon.
As an opportunity, it was luck beyond measure.
But at the same time, it brought complications with it.
‘I’ll have to enter the Boss chamber with the rest of the party members.’
When he worked with Min Hyung-sik’s team, monopolizing the boss had been possible.
But from now on, he’d have to fight the boss as part of a coordinated raid.
‘Before my immortality trait gets exposed to the others, I’m worried about failing the quest.’
The mandatory condition for quest success is to ‘directly eliminate’ an enemy with a Danger Rating of 10 or higher.
If a quest triggers when facing a boss in an A-Rank Dungeon, but another hunter kills that boss first, Sioul’s quest fails.
“That would be all the hard work ending in nothing….”
Sioul took another sip of beer, letting the worry settle deeper.
‘I can’t just brush this off as a possible failure. I’d be throwing away the streak of consecutive successes I’ve built up until now.’
His current cumulative quest success streak stood at four consecutive wins.
According to the information the quest window provided, a bonus reward would come at the fifth consecutive success.
What made this bonus so tempting was that the rewards increased incrementally with each new streak milestone.
‘If I break at four, it’s not just wasteful—it’s catastrophic.’
He’d have to build the consecutive count from scratch all over again.
‘How can I monopolize the boss…? Should I wait for a killing blow, then move? Is that even possible in the chaos of a boss fight?’
The odds were close to gambling.
There was also the risk of targeting only the boss, earning the team’s resentment, and being excluded from the next raid.
……
A heavy silence fell over the room.
The meat on the griddle sizzled and blackened as it charred.
Lost in thought, Sioul let only his eyes move for a long while.
Then, finally.
“Ah.”
Something came to him.
A certain word that he’d dismissed until now suddenly struck his mind with peculiar force in this moment.
‘Special Hunter?’
The Terminal Illness Hunter Continues to Survive
Author |
Kutsumattsu
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(주) Samyang C&C
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Editorial Department
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No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without the written permission of (주) Samyang C&C – Dream Books.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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