A Hunter on Borrowed Time Keeps Surviving - Chapter 25

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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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Chapter 25.
The iron door swung open, and Siule stepped into the Boss Chamber.
A heavy weight of magical power pressed down on his shoulders.
If Do Ihyeon had accompanied him this far, he would have broken into a cold sweat, his breathing turning shallow.
‘A-rank Dungeon Boss Chambers never fail to impress.’
Siule made a full circuit of the chamber, taking it all in.
The Bell Tower’s ceiling soared impossibly high, and from the circular floor erupted bizarre, twisted cracks that thrummed with energy.
But what dominated the space above all else was the overwhelming charisma radiating from the room’s master.
A stone statue of a king—leonine body crowned with massive wings.
It lay sprawled as though upon a throne, releasing a leisurely yawn.
‘So that’s the boss—the Stone King of the Bell Tower.’
Dozens of gargoyles ringed its domain, perched across the air and the railings, looking down at Siule with predatory focus.
They were primed to strike the moment he dared approach the boss.
“One-versus-many doesn’t frighten me anymore.”
The words had barely left Siule’s lips when the space beside him suddenly warped.
Zero released her Invisibility, her form materializing in full.
“King!”
The way she stepped forward with such confidence seemed to be telling Siule he wasn’t alone.
Siule smiled and reached over to ruffle her head.
“Reassuring.”
Despite her appearance as a small, baby-like creature, her combat prowess would eclipse these gargoyles—she was an ally worth any soldier.
“Let’s go.”
Siule murmured the order and stepped forward, preparing to strike first.
But in that instant, a sickening tremor shot through his feet.
A deep, resonant groan tore through the chamber.
Stone pillars erupted madly from the cracks, shooting upward without warning.
Not just one—the entire floor fractured into a grid of rectangular pillars that began rising and falling in chaotic succession.
“What—what is this!”
Siule staggered, losing his footing.
The pillars ascended and descended in maddening rhythm, disorienting everything.
“Damn it!”
The ground beneath Siule suddenly gave way, plunging downward with a sickening lurch.
He threw himself desperately onto the neighboring pillar, but the floor collapsed again, throwing him off balance.
Below yawned a chasm swallowed in darkness—a void like a black hole.
He couldn’t begin to imagine what horrors awaited if he fell into that abyss.
“Ah—ah—!”
Siule lost his grip and tumbled backward, slamming hard against stone.
The pillar tilted as though anticipating his fall, ready to sweep him into the void.
A sharp whoosh cut the air.
At the last instant, Zero’s tail coiled around Siule’s waist and yanked him back.
Using that momentum, Siule gritted his teeth and regained his center of gravity.
“Thank you!”
The terrain lurched and heaved beneath him in a dizzying dance.
Above, gargoyles slowly unfurled their wings, readying for combat.
And presiding over all of it, the Stone King of the Bell Tower lifted its head.
‘This boss won’t be an easy fight either.’
Siule exhaled a thin, mirthless laugh and unleashed a surge of magical power.
“This terrain is a mess. So here’s what we do—”
Siule’s body shot forward like a projectile.
“End it fast!”
【The skill ‘Dungeon Sprint’ activates.】
Zero spread her wings and launched into the air just behind him, her movement spirited and bold.
Two shadows tore toward the Stone King’s domain without hesitation.
* * *
Clang—! Clang—!
Outside the Boss Chamber’s iron door, within the Safe Zone wrapped in a Barrier, the sound of a Mining Pickaxe never ceased.
Do Ihyeon drove his pickaxe down again and again, extracting Mana Stones embedded in the floor.
“Haah—!”
The Mining Pickaxe that Siule had gifted him was far sturdier than expected, and it fit his grip perfectly.
As he grew accustomed to the tool, his mining speed noticeably accelerated.
Behind Do Ihyeon, purple Mana Stones had accumulated like a small hill.
“Won’t he be surprised when he gets back?”
Do Ihyeon chuckled to himself, lost in thought.
His mind spinning with the kind of cute daydreams a nineteen-year-old might indulge in.
— Did you mine all of this yourself?! That’s incredible. I can’t let this pass. How would you like to become my colleague? I want to scout you as a Special Hunter.
He got ahead of himself imagining Siule saying something like that after defeating the boss and returning.
“Ugh, this is exhausting.”
But after swinging the Mining Pickaxe repeatedly, his shoulders had begun to throb.
Do Ihyeon set aside his dreams of Special Hunter recruitment for a moment and wiped the sweat from his brow with a towel.
Then his eyes drifted toward the iron door at the Boss Chamber entrance.
‘I wonder if Hunter Siule is fighting well in there….’
Beyond the barrier, no sound could be heard.
Not even the tremor of clashing Mana reached this side—the space was sealed off.
‘Should I weaken the barrier just enough to hear something?’
For a moment concern seized him, but then the image of Siule’s combat flashed through his mind.
The way he’d cut through a horde of gargoyles, advancing without hesitation.
That gaze, completely unshaken even in dangerous moments.
‘Why am I worrying?’
Do Ihyeon scolded himself for the foolish thought.
‘Hunter Siule will handle it without any trouble.’
The words he’d spoken carelessly, so casually.
Yet somehow that word lingered in Do Ihyeon’s mind.
‘He really did handle it without any trouble….’
The moment when his left arm was severed, yet he wielded his blade without the slightest sign of pain.
And then… in the blink of an eye, his arm had regenerated.
‘He didn’t use any special items, so it must be a Regeneration Trait…?’
Do Ihyeon couldn’t imagine anything else within the bounds of his knowledge.
But soon he tilted his head in confusion.
Do Ihyeon read any book related to Hunters, regardless of genre.
Just days ago, he’d finished the autobiography of Err Mika, the world’s greatest healing Hunter.
— Instantly regenerating a severed body part is nearly impossible, even for the highest-level healing Traits.
That’s what the book clearly stated.
‘But even Err Mika said it was impossible….’
The doubt was unavoidable.
What kind of Trait did Siule possess to restore his body at such an extraordinary speed?
“Ugh…!”
Do Ihyeon pressed both hands against his throbbing temples.
The more he thought, the further the answer receded.
His head only grew more muddled.
After a while of groaning over it, Do Ihyeon finally dusted off his hands and reached a firm conclusion.
“I don’t know! Hunter Siule is just incredibly amazing!”
He abandoned his convoluted reasoning.
It was the cleanest conclusion he could manage.
Feeling considerably lighter, Do Ihyeon picked up the Mining Pickaxe again.
Clang—! Clang—!
Another purple Mana Stone burst from the earth.
“That’s it! I’m going to mine so much he’ll be absolutely flabbergasted!”
* * *
Flutter!
Zero’s tail wrapped firmly around Siule’s waist while steady wingbeats held them suspended in the air.
Siule looked down, covered in blood.
The Boss Chamber was chaos.
Rectangular stone pillars rose and fell as if alive, twisting the chamber, and upon them lay gargoyle corpses scattered sparsely.
All the blood on Siule’s body belonged to them.
“I thought they’d all rush in together, but they’re not moving even now?”
Siule caught his breath and looked straight ahead.
The Stone King of the Bell Tower—a colossal stone beast statue in the form of a winged lion—stared at him without the slightest movement.
In its crimson eyes, only Siule was reflected.
“Are you scared, or just lazy?”
The Stone King’s mouth opened at last.
“Grroooowwwl!!”
A Lion’s Roar erupted, tearing through eardrums.
Cracks spider-webbed across the stone pillars as the chamber rang.
“Oh my, how frightening.”
Siule’s hollow remark finally stirred the Stone King into motion.
The Stone King unfurled its massive wings and slashed through the air, charging toward Siule with vicious intent.
“Zero.”
Siule responded at once.
“Woof!”
Zero barked with full force, lifting Siule’s body with his tail in one swift motion.
Then he hurled him forward with all his strength.
Whoosh!
Siule’s body shot through the air like a projectile.
In mid-air, Siule collided head-on with the Stone King of the Bell Tower.
“Grroooowwwl!”
The Stone King brought down its foreleg with brutal force, trying to crush Siule’s head.
Flesh and bone shattered instantly, and Siule’s body came apart completely.
Flicker—.
But the scattered pieces fused back together in moments.
Completing his arm’s regeneration in a flash, Siule plunged his short dagger into the Stone King’s flank before the rest of his body had even reformed.
“Rraaugh!”
The Stone King thrashed in agony.
‘As expected—this kind of assault it can’t handle easily.’
Siule’s newly regenerated mouth was already curling into a smile.
In the previous dungeon, Siule had learned to weaponize his Regeneration ability through his battle with the slimes.
Before their bodies could fully reform, the slimes would writhe and continue their next movement anyway.
Their incomplete forms would actually catch opponents off guard.
‘Never give the enemy time to think. The true terror of immortality lies right here.’
Endless assault. No mercy. No reprieve. Relentless pressure.
A tactic only Siule could execute.
“Zero!”
At Siule’s call, Zero’s Fire Breath engulfed the Stone King.
Whoooosh!!
The compressed flames scorched the Stone King’s wings, and the stone feathers melted away as it lost its balance.
‘Now.’
Siule dropped onto the lower pillar and launched himself upward again, using the rebound from his landing.
He looked up at the falling Stone King and channeled Mana into his longsword.
‘End this.’
The mana-imbued blade slash cut through the air with a piercing cry.
The Stone King made one final, desperate move.
Even as it fell, it wrenched its enormous jaws wide and tried to swallow Siule whole.
Crunch!
Sharp teeth locked together as Siule’s body tore apart once more.
But the outcome remained the same.
His ruptured form regenerated, and his arm continued its arc.
Shing!
The Stone King’s head separated, spinning uselessly through the air.
The bisected body disappeared below into the pitch-black pillars.
【Quest Complete!】
【You have skillfully defeated the life-threatening enemy by severing its head.】
【You receive 3 Level-Up Points as a reward.】
【Current Accumulated Points: 9】
Siule finished his regeneration while scanning the cascade of notifications.
As he descended onto the stone pillar, now still at last, another notification appeared—the one he’d been waiting for.
【Consecutive Quest Milestone Achieved!】
【For completing 7 consecutive quests successfully, a bonus reward is granted.】
‘That’s it.’
The moment he’d most anticipated in this raid had finally arrived.
The seventh-quest bonus—each reward was unpredictable, but always worth the wait.
Since better rewards came with higher consecutive counts, Siule’s attention now fixed on this bonus far more than on the accumulated points reaching nine.
‘Come on, tell me what it is.’
The quest window responded to Siule’s request with the following message.
【Please select one of two rewards.】
【Level-Up Points 3 or Hidden Roulette】
Siule’s pupils contracted sharply.
Three Level-Up Points.
This was an exceptionally high score—enough to claim a quest’s reward without having to clear another one.
‘I suspected the pattern was climbing one point per bonus reward, but three is actually massive.’
At lower ranks, Hunters don’t truly grasp how precious Level-Up Points are.
But when you reach A-rank and look back, everything changes.
‘Dungeon runs get harder and harder. But what’s genuinely exhausting and mind-numbing is that finding a Gate itself becomes another mission.’
Siule stands on the threshold of A-rank advancement.
After that, he’ll have to hunt for S-rank Dungeons.
The problem is, there are barely any S-rank Gates in the country.
Even if a chance to enter an S-rank Dungeon somehow arose, solo clearing would be practically impossible.
Falling short of the direct-kill condition would mean risking quest failure.
‘Banking points before my streak breaks is the safer play.’
Even as Siule thought this, his eyes drifted to the opposite option.
【Hidden Roulette】
‘What even is that?’
The name alone gave him no sense of what it might be.
Which only made him more curious.
What extraordinary thing might it offer?
A Hunter with limited time keeps surviving
Author | Kutsumattsu

Publisher | Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.

Editor-in-Chief | Editorial Department

Published by | Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dreambooks

Address | 7th Floor, Gwangseong Building, 28 Bongeunsa-ro 114-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

UCI | G720:N+A063-20260731071

Blog | blog.naver.com/dreambookss

Twitter (X) | @dreambookss

Submissions | [email protected]

No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without written permission from Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dreambooks.

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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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