Copying Runes to Become the World's Strongest - Chapter 38

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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 38
“…….
The monitoring room set up inside the tent.
It had started with one screen, but now several monitors showed the side passages of the Ruins.
Nam Jaewoon and the staff member stood with their mouths hanging open, unable to tear their eyes away from the screens.
“T-team leader. Who is that guy?”
Nam Jaewoon couldn’t find his words.
Blood Vine, whose movements slowed down every time its vines were cut.
What that meant was simple.
Every single time, he had struck the creature’s weak point.
How many people among the E-Rank hunters in the world could possibly do that?
Even he himself wasn’t sure he could.
‘This test was supposed to measure how well people carried out what they’d been taught…’
Nobody taught a method like that.
Hardly anyone could spot the weak point of a Blood Vine right there on the spot.
Rather than going straight for a weak point, fighting in some other way would have been far more effective.
That was why Hyeonjun’s battle made even less sense.
‘And what was that last movement?’
It was a desperate, all-out attack that could easily have passed for the Blood Vine’s dying thrash.
He slipped past it so smoothly, as if he knew every path, and then struck the core right away.
Unless he could see the future, that kind of movement was impossible.
‘He knew where the core was in advance, knew which part of the stem was weak, and predicted every path of the attack…’
Any one of those would be hard to believe on its own.
Even fairly high-ranked, veteran hunters couldn’t pull that off easily.
Hyeonjun had done all of it.
‘Is this what real talent looks like?’
In today’s hunter world, talent means being born with outstanding traits and a high rank.
Even generously speaking, it applies only to those with good traits.
But it occurred to him that they might now have to add a new category to that.
People with a natural battle sense that couldn’t be explained by traits or rank alone.
If that wasn’t talent, and even genius, then what was it?
“Is he really E-Rank? He’s supposed to be D-Grade… no, even D-Grade wouldn’t make sense for that…”
“I feel the same way.”
They had expected something, but this went beyond expectation and was nothing short of shocking.
Even his assessment, which was already rated highly, could be raised dozens of levels without anyone batting an eye.
It was even a shame that the Guild executives weren’t here to watch this with them.
“Did we record all of it?”
“Yes. We did.”
“Send it outside right away.”
If it were up to him, he would have liked to scrap the footage entirely and somehow bring Hyeonjun over to the Management Bureau.
If the Bureau could offer him the greatest authority it had, maybe he could be coaxed in.
‘But if I did that, the backlash would be enormous.’
That would be different if they hadn’t known about Hyeonjun from the start.
Now that he had already made his mark, if his footage were simply missing, everyone would find it strange and protest.
From the large guilds down to the mid-sized ones.
Drawing sharp scrutiny from all of them was not a welcome prospect for the Management Bureau either.
“Another team is coming.”
On the screen, a group of hunters was belatedly following the path Hyeonjun had taken.
They were hunters from guilds who were trying to interfere with Hyeonjun’s test.
‘I’d completely forgotten about them.’
He had been utterly absorbed in Hyeonjun’s battle.
So much so that he had forgotten about the ones trying to get in his way.
“Good timing. It’s better for them to travel together than alone.”
“Do you think they’re going to help Hunter Ko Hyeonjun?”
“Even if they don’t help him, won’t they at least cooperate with each other?”
Nam Jaewoon shook his head.
“They’re all hunters from guilds. Hunter Ko Hyeonjun has kept taking first place in the tests, so they’re trying to get in his way.”
“Huh? Really? They’d go that far?”
“For some people, pride is everything.”
The staff member changed the screen, looking uneasy.
Hyeonjun pressed forward.
Behind him, the group inched closer, narrowing the gap little by little.
“What do we do? Do you think he’ll be all right?”
“You just saw him. He’ll be more than all right.”
“But he must be worn out from that last fight…”
“Does he look worn out to you?”
Through the screen, Hyeonjun’s face came into faint view.
“He… he looks like he’s smiling?”
“He’s enjoying himself. That situation is fun for him.”
“Good grief. What kind of person is he…?”
Still, for all his words, Nam Jaewoon was ready to dash out at any moment.
Smiling didn’t mean he wasn’t exhausted.
A head-on clash with hunters, maybe, but if he were ambushed mid-fight with monsters, he wouldn’t be able to respond easily.
‘I can’t afford to lose a valuable talent for nothing.’
Part of him also expected Hyeonjun to overcome everything.
Still, even a sliver of possibility couldn’t be ignored.
Preparing in advance was never a bad idea.
“Next zone.”
Before long, Hyeonjun made his way out of the long corridor.
The Altar Chamber, where the collapsed altar stood.
Between the open coffins scattered everywhere, mummies wrapped in bandages and Skeletons clutching weapons wandered about.
***
“Oh, Skeletons.”
Hyeonjun slid his Dagger back into the sheath at his waist and drew a new weapon from the other side.
The War Hammer he had smashed robots with during yesterday’s live combat training.
“Good thing I brought it.”
Skeletons were hard to damage with a Dagger.
Smashing them with a War Hammer was the fastest and easiest way to clear them.
“These guys are way easier than Blood Vine.”
The enemies came closer.
Instead of charging in right away, Hyeonjun glanced sideways behind him.
‘Someone seems to be following me.’
A presence he’d been sensing for quite a while now.
He had a rough idea who it was.
‘I thought we wouldn’t cross paths.’
Apparently, they’d pretended to head into the ruins and then trailed after him.
Hyeonjun shook his head slowly.
“Always up to something, aren’t they? Right?”
“Krraah!”
The Skeleton that had closed in swung the Longsword it was holding.
Compared to Blood Vine’s attacks, it was a painfully slow strike.
Hyeonjun dodged lightly, then smashed the skull with his War Hammer.
Crunch!
The Skeleton’s head, struck head-on by the War Hammer, shattered and scattered apart.
Its body, stripped of strength, crumpled forward.
The bone fragments that had held its body together lost their cohesion and sprawled across the floor.
“What should I do with these guys…”
It didn’t seem like they’d listen if I simply talked to them.
If possible, I wanted to finish them off quickly.
If I dragged it out and got pounced on mid-fight with the monsters, that would be a disaster.
‘I should settle this right here.’
Hyeonjun quickly laid out a strategy.
Monsters were everywhere around him.
Plenty of places to hide, and a cramped space.
‘Let’s hurry.’
Hyeonjun charged into the midst of the enemies, War Hammer in hand.
Thwack!
As if cut down by a sword, the Skeleton split clean in half at the waist.
The upper half of the Skeleton hit the ground.
Hyeonjun brought his hammer straight down on its head and smashed it to pieces.
Thwack!
Crunch!
It was a one-sided battle.
The monsters were wiped out in an instant.
Hyeonjun took a short breath to steady himself, then slipped into the coffin beside him.
‘Hide, then strike when they least expect it.’
Five of them.
I didn’t feel like I’d lose, but I’d rather stack the odds as high as I could.
-Is it this way?
-I can’t hear anything.
Before long, voices began to drift in.
Hyeonjun held his breath.
“Ah, looks like this is the place.”
“The monsters are dead over here.”
“Did he take down that thing and these guys too?”
Hunters roaming around the altar.
Several lights swept across every corner of the Altar Chamber.
Lying inside the coffin, Hyeonjun watched the light slide across the ceiling.
“If that’s the case, he must be properly worn out by now.”
“Where’s he resting?”
“He might’ve gone further ahead.”
“Just in case, check everything.”
The hunters began combing through every nook and cranny.
“Do we have to check inside the coffins too? I don’t want to touch them.”
“Check every single one carefully. He could be hiding in there.”
Hunters checking the coffins one by one.
Soon, light spilled into the coffin where Hyeonjun was hiding.
The hunter who had shone his light there without a second thought met Hyeonjun’s eyes.
His pupils widened a beat too late.
He opened his mouth belatedly.
“Hey⋯⋯.”
Hyeonjun shot upright and struck the hunter’s jaw with a shield made from Blood Vine’s shell.
A heavy uppercut.
The hunter’s body lifted into the air, then crashed back onto the floor.
The hunter was subdued in an instant.
He moved so fast that the other hunters couldn’t even pinpoint where he was.
“It’s him!”
“Where is he!”
Hunters tore through the darkness with their lights.
Hyeonjun slipped out of the coffin and moved swiftly into the shadows.
The hunters caught only a silhouette and were too slow to react.
“This way!”
“Over here!”
Chaos within the chamber.
The hunters kept shining their lights and shouting Hyeonjun’s position, but it meant nothing to someone moving as quickly as he was.
Thwack!
Amid the chaos, a heavy impact rang out from the darkness.
Han Chanwoo quickly swung his light toward the sound, but all he found was a fallen comrade.
“Shit! Where are you! Fight me fair and square!”
Crack!
Despite his shouting, the hunters kept going down one after another.
In the end, only one light remained in the Altar Chamber’s darkness, the one in Han Chanwoo’s hand.
“Come out!”
“I’m out.”
Hyeonjun abruptly emerged from the darkness.
Han Chanwoo recoiled and swung his weapon wildly.
Hyeonjun easily dodged the blind strike. The keen Longsword only sliced through empty air.
“You’d better know your place before you come at me.”
“Aaaargh!”
Hyeonjun’s War Hammer slammed into Han Chanwoo’s jaw.
The hunters were quickly dealt with.
Hyeonjun stripped the unconscious hunters, bound them tightly, and tossed them into a corner.
“That was anticlimactic.”
Hyeonjun collected the spoils from them.
Perhaps the Guild had issued them, but he managed to get some pretty decent armor and weapons.
“They say a servant should serve a noble’s household, but even an E-Rank gets gear like this, huh.”
Hyeonjun packed the equipment into his bag.
If he sold all this, it should fetch a fair amount of money.
“There are some Magic Stones here too. Did they go hunting before they came after me?”
Hyeonjun gathered even the Magic Stones and the spoils from the Monsters before leaving the spot.
Deep down, it left a bad taste, but since they had attacked first, he decided to treat this as the cost of the trouble.
.
.
.
After passing through the altar, Hyeonjun pushed through the Monsters at a relentless pace.
In this way, he successfully reached the innermost depths of the Ruins.
‘It’s bright.’
Hyeonjun turned off his Light.
Unlike the passages he had come through until now, Magic Stone lamps embedded here and there were casting a blue glow, driving back the darkness.
‘Is that it?’
A stepped altar.
Inside a translucent case atop it, a Golden Key glittered.
And in front of it stood an unexpectedly formidable foe.
‘That thing shouldn’t be here.’
A monster with the head of a bull and the body of a human: a Minotaur.
The creature sat there in armor, and beside it lay a heavy double-bladed axe that looked weighty even at a glance.
‘Did the Management Bureau put it here?’
It was a remarkably audacious setup.
A Minotaur was a D-Grade Monster. Since most Hunters were E-Rank, one careless move could easily get someone killed.
‘This is less a trial and more a message that says, don’t even dream of touching that Key.’
He had fought countless Monsters on the way here, yet waiting at the end was a final Boss beyond anything he had imagined.
An ordinary Hunter, exhausted to the bone, would have lost all fighting spirit and turned back.
‘I don’t really want to fight this one either.’
The opponent was a Minotaur.
Confident as he had become in battle, this was no creature to rush at on confidence alone.
‘Can’t I just grab the Key and run?’
Hyeonjun examined the canister holding the Key carefully.
In the end, that was impossible.
The canister itself was chained to the Minotaur’s armor.
Unless he cut through the chains, he couldn’t flee with the canister alone.
‘Looks like I have no choice but to fight.’
Hyeonjun took a deep breath.
The opponent was a Minotaur.
It was a far different breed from the Monsters he had faced until now.
‘You could call this a true Monster, the kind that actually deserves the name.’
Its bulk overpowered even the Mini Yeti and the Green Mane Tyrant.
Its muscles, with veins bulging as if injected with some drug, were enough to steal the breath from your chest just by looking at them.
‘Why am I trembling like this?’
His heart pounded.
It wasn’t just simple fear.
A strange thrill at facing a strong enemy.
For some reason, his fighting spirit was rising.
Clank.
Hyeonjun put on the armor he had just taken from the hunters.
Until now, he hadn’t worn it, for fear that it would lower the value of the goods when he sold them at the Exchange.
But this time, the opponent was a Minotaur.
Even a grazing hit could be fatal.
Charging in without any protection at all would be sheer madness.
‘I can’t afford to let my guard down.’
Hyeonjun, now fully armored.
Hyeonjun gripped the dagger and fixed his gaze on the Minotaur.
[Activating Discernment.]

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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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