Copying Runes to Become the World's Strongest - Chapter 9

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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 9
Starting with the boar, Hyeonjun hunted the monsters of the Mountain Area without discriminating.
The large bag grew heavy quickly.
Hyeonjun kept the battles going without pause.
His only breaks were the brief moments spent dressing the monsters and collecting their loot, but even that was enough.
The large bag filled up before long.
It was a pace several hours faster than usual.
“Phew.”
Hyeonjun sat down in a suitable spot and let out a short breath.
He pulled a chocolate bar from the bag, and for the first time, he took a proper rest while eating it.
“At this rate, even a Field Boss should be a cinch.”
Hyeonjun took out his smartphone and pulled up the Hunting Ground map he had downloaded in advance.
Hunting grounds don’t change their terrain, so people often make maps like this.
Of course, they aren’t perfect, but for Hunters whose goal is hunting, this was more than enough.
“Where exactly am I right now?”
With no GPS, you have to find major landmarks to figure out your location.
Gates or unusual natural formations generally serve as markers for position.
“I don’t see anything nearby.”
Wherever I look, there are nothing but ordinary trees.
None of the distinctive terrain marked on the map was visible.
“I should have bought a compass.”
A special compass for locating Bosses in an Anomalous Space.
To be precise, it’s a compass that points toward the direction where a strong magic creature exists, and it’s especially helpful inside Dungeons.
It was quite expensive, so Hyeonjun hadn’t bothered to buy one.
“Can’t be helped.”
Hyeonjun headed back toward where the Gate was.
He had left marks on the trees along the way, so he was able to arrive quickly.
“If I just go diagonally in a straight line, I should be fine.”
Following the map, Hyeonjun made his way toward the Field Boss’s lair.
He didn’t stop hunting even while moving.
Just when the bag seemed about to burst from being stuffed full, the mouth of a cave presumed to be the Tyrant’s lair began to appear through the trees.
“Is that it?”
Hyeonjun checked his location on the map once more.
The terrain matched the description exactly.
It was the Tyrant’s Cave.
“What a mess.”
The trees in front of the cave were all in a state that was anything but normal.
To be precise, there were almost no living trees left.
Most of them were snapped or broken.
Even the ones still standing upright were covered in gashes across their bark.
“How long did they fight here?”
Using the terrain to his advantage was something he’d better give up on.
He hadn’t planned on it to begin with, but losing one option still left him a little disappointed.
“Well, this might actually be better for gauging my own level.”
Let’s look at the bright side.
“I’ll leave the bag here.”
Hyeonjun set the bag down in a suitable spot and picked up a rock about the size of his fist from the ground.
“Phew. Why am I shaking?”
The Green Mane Tyrant.
The strongest F-Rank monster, one with no rival among its peers.
Just thinking about facing a creature like that made his heart pound.
Tension and excitement existed side by side.
Part of him worried whether he could win, while another part was curious just how strong it would be.
‘…I just hope it isn’t too easy of a fight.’
Tossing a stone into the depths of the cave, Hyeonjun thought exactly that.
With the power he had gained so far, he was slowly coming to understand the thrill of battle.
-Kuaaaaah!
The stone he had hurled with force drew a response almost instantly.
Hyeonjun drew his Kitchen Knife.
Thud!
The Green Mane Tyrant emerged from the mouth of the cave.
Standing upright, it would easily top two meters. Its fur, a blend of black and green, shimmered with a mysterious glow. Sharp fangs jutted from its mouth, and its heavy paws looked capable of crushing stone.
“That’s massive…”
Hyeonjun swallowed hard.
It felt entirely different from what he’d seen in the photos.
Its size was impressive enough, but what truly pressed down on him was the bloodthirsty killing intent radiating from the predator’s eyes.
“Kwooooaaah!”
The tyrant roared, furious that someone had disturbed its peaceful slumber.
Cold sweat trickled down his face, yet Hyeonjun curled one corner of his mouth upward.
“This should be fun.”
His grip tightened around the kitchen knife.
It was a strong opponent, but he felt sure he wouldn’t lose.
“Kwoooah!”
The tyrant kicked off the ground with all four legs and charged.
Its massive bulk barreled toward him like a truck with failed brakes, but to Hyeonjun’s eyes, it didn’t look all that fast.
‘A simple charge.’
Aside from being faster, it was no different from the Stone Wild Boar’s attacks.
Whoosh!
Hyeonjun easily sidestepped the charge and thrust out his arm.
He intended to slash open the tyrant’s flank with the kitchen knife.
Clang!
But the knife failed to pierce the tyrant’s thick hide.
‘Not going to work with this, huh?’
He’d handled the other monsters just fine, but it seemed the knife simply lacked the power to get through the tyrant’s hide.
Hyeonjun clicked his tongue and slid the kitchen knife back into its sheath.
The new weapon in his hand was a hammer.
‘Actually, this works out better.’
Because of its mysterious quality, the tyrant’s hide fetched a hefty price.
A blade was bound to damage that kind of hide.
But a hammer wouldn’t pose that problem.
‘I meant to go all out at first.’
He hadn’t known exactly how big the gap was between himself and this foe, which was why he’d drawn the knife in the first place.
‘Now that I’m actually in the fight, a blunt weapon should be more than enough.’
Hyeonjun gripped the hammer tight and rushed forward.
He moved faster than the tyrant could turn around, striking the back of its head.
Thunk!
A clean, solid hit.
The tyrant shuddered violently and staggered to a halt.
Hyeonjun tried to press the attack, but it recovered quickly and swung a forepaw.
Whoosh!
A sound that tore through the air.
It was truly tremendous force.
But—
‘Too slow.’
The tyrant’s attack crawled by, as sluggish as a scene from a dream.
Hyeonjun dropped low, pressing his body forward to dodge.
In the same motion, he stepped in and twisted at the waist.
Thwack!
The hammer, swung with everything he had, slammed into the tyrant’s side.
“Kwoo-aargh!”
The tyrant howled in agony.
It had only been two blows, but enough damage had built up that its movements dulled for a moment.
Hyeonjun didn’t let the opening slip.
‘The head!’
He leapt high toward the creature, which stood there dazed, and brought the hammer crashing down on its skull once more.
Crack!
This time, the sensation in his hands was wholly different from the first strike.
Something was breaking apart.
The center of its head caved in, and he could see it clearly.
“……”
Hyeonjun came down to the ground and watched the tyrant from close range.
It still stood on its two legs, but the light had gone from its eyes.
Even with Hyeonjun standing so close, it didn’t spare him a glance.
Thud.
The Green Mane Tyrant simply collapsed.
Three swings of the hammer, and the strongest monster in F-Rank was dead.
The hunt had been so effortless that Hyeonjun was left blinking in bewilderment.
“Is this what E-Rank strength feels like?”
Hyeonjun grinned and pulled out the Kitchen Knife.
He went straight to work, breaking down the tyrant’s corpse.
The hide was so tough that it took ages to separate it from the body with a kitchen knife.
“Phew. Finally got the whole thing off.”
He gave the hide a quick once-over.
The condition was good.
“This is top grade, at this rate.”
Next was the Magic Stone near the heart.
It was a little bigger than a fist.
Of all the Magic Stones he’d gotten today, this was the largest and heaviest.
‘Now the gall bladder.’
He cut open the lower abdomen, where the liver sat.
With steady hands, he worked free the sac clinging to the liver.
Dark brown sac about the size of half a fist. It was the gall bladder of a bear, known as Bear Gall Bladder.
“Whew. Not bad for a first try.”
He’d only seen it done on video, yet he pulled it off cleanly on the first attempt in the field.
Hyeonjun carefully wrapped the Bear Gall Bladder in a first-aid cloth.
“If I’d known I’d catch this one too, I should’ve brought a sealed container.”
Next were the teeth.
He forced the jaw open and jammed the Kitchen Knife into the gums.
After prying at it a few times, a huge canine slid right out.
“And finally, the paw pads.”
The part known as Bear Paw.
If Bear Gall Bladder is used as medicine, Bear Paw is used as an ingredient.
Made of thick layers of fat, it was a premium delicacy that enjoyed considerable popularity among gourmets.
Hyeonjun deftly cut through the four ankles and tucked them into a zipper bag.
“I’d love to take the meat too, if I could.”
The meat did sell, after all.
But it was cheap for its weight, so it wasn’t very efficient.
“Too bad, but there’s no help for it.”
Hyeonjun got to his feet and retrieved his bag.
He stuffed the small spoils into the bulging bag and laid the hide on top.
“Ugh, this is seriously heavy.”
Well, he’d caught every monster worth catching.
And he’d certainly tested his strength to the limit.
Hyeonjun started to head outside.
“Oh, right.”
The staff member’s words from earlier suddenly came back to him.
They’d asked him to bring back only the ID Card if he happened to find a body.
“There’s only one tyrant’s lair on this field, so if someone died to the tyrant, they’d be there, right?”
He didn’t really need to bother.
It wasn’t as if there was any reward for it.
Still, his feet wouldn’t move.
The thought that a person’s final trace would remain in this place forever left a deeply bitter taste.
‘It could have been me in the past, after all.’
Hyeonjun set his bag down for a moment and walked into the Cave.
Dark inside.
He switched on the flashlight on his smartphone and cast its beam around.
‘It’s pretty deep.’
The farther he went in, the more a strange smell stung his nose.
Before long, Hyeonjun spotted a bone lying at his feet.
It was a human bone.
“⋯⋯.”
He turned his gaze inward and scanned the interior.
Bones and scraps of clothing were strewn about in every corner.
Equipment that someone must have used was lying there as well.
Hyeonjun rummaged through the clothes.
He managed to salvage a few wallets and several Hunter ID Cards.
“Six of them, maybe.”
Their ages varied, too.
From their twenties to their fifties.
Hyeonjun offered a brief prayer for the repose of their souls.
“Did that thing kill them all just now?”
Monsters respawn once enough time passes.
There was no way to know whether all six had fallen to the Tyrant from a moment ago.
“Leave the clothes and bones right where they are.”
I’d like to take them, but the Management Bureau only handles the ID cards to track down the families. Everything else would be my problem to deal with if I carried it out, so it’s not worth the trouble.
Taking anything beyond that would just mean a headache for me.
“I wonder if there’s anything useful left.”
Hyeonjun sifted through what remained. The armor was all tattered beyond repair, and none of the weapons were particularly good.
“Ah, this one’s not bad.”
A single dagger of fairly good quality.
With a little upkeep, it would make a far better weapon than a kitchen knife.
“I can at least hold a funeral now. I don’t know who you were, but I’ll put this to good use.”
He had gathered the dagger and was just turning to leave when—
Something translucent and round caught Hyeonjun’s eye.
“Oh? Could it be?”
Hyeonjun stepped closer and picked up the translucent disc that had fallen to the floor.
Unfamiliar characters were engraved on the disc.
They were the same characters found on runes, and the world called them Rune Script.
“It’s a Soul Trace.”
Just as monsters leave Magic Stones when they die, Awakened leave Soul Traces behind when they perish.
Soul Traces hold the runes they absorbed while alive, and if they’re processed through a special method, some of those runes can be extracted.
“So they died in here.”
If they’d been swallowed alive, the Tyrant would have digested them right then and there.
“Is there more?”
Hyeonjun searched every corner thoroughly.
In the end, he found two more Soul Traces, bringing the total to three.
“Wow, how much is all this worth?”
Densely packed characters covered the disc.
All of them were F-Rank runes.
Adding them all together, there had to be around four hundred.
“With a recovery rate of thirty percent, that’s about a hundred and twenty, right?”
He wouldn’t be able to keep all hundred and twenty.
The reason was ‘Rune Killing,’ a crime that had once thrived by targeting Soul Traces.
Quite literally, it was a crime in which Hunters were killed within hunting grounds or dungeons to obtain the runes in their Soul Traces. To stamp it out, the government enacted a number of regulations.
One of them was the strict supervision of special processing technicians.
All technicians were placed under the Management Bureau, so runes could only be extracted through the Bureau.
‘And they take a whopping half as their fee.’
Apparently, that was what made it effective as a preventive measure.
No one would be willing to take on the risk of killing a Hunter while also paying a fee of half.
“I used to just shrug at it, but now that crushing fee has become my own problem.”
What a waste.
A hundred and twenty runes shrinking down to sixty.
Still, there was some comfort in the fact that the many regulations had worked remarkably well.
Other rules had played a part too, but in any case, Rune Killing had dropped sharply, to the point where it’s now almost never seen.
“Well, if it keeps things under control like that, I suppose that’s for the best.”
Hyeonjun carefully gathered the Soul Traces.
It was an unexpectedly large windfall.
.
.
.
The staff member stared at the ID card the Hunter had handed over, dumbfounded.
“R-really, you actually brought one back?”
“It was in the tyrant’s lair, that’s all.”
The staffer’s gaze drifted past Hyeonjun’s shoulder.
A massive bag, and draped over the top of it, the hide of the Green Mane Tyrant.
Even as he looked, it was a suspicious sight.
‘Who is this guy?’
An F-Rank, and not just any F-Rank, one who had only set foot in the Mountain Area today.
And a person like that had taken down the Green Mane Tyrant all on his own.
‘And the bag’s stuffed to the brim, too.’
Stuffed to the point it looked ready to burst.
The sheer amount of loot was staggering.
At this rate, it wouldn’t be strange if he had cleared every monster around the Gate single-handedly.
‘No wonder. The Hunters who went in came back out empty-handed.’
There had been a reason for it all.
I never imagined it would be this man, though.
“Then I’ll be going now…”
“Huh? W-wait just a moment!”
The staffer snapped back to attention, pulled something out of a drawer, and handed it to Hyeonjun.
It was a small box.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a sort of token of gratitude the Management Bureau gives to Hunters who’ve contributed to the public good. I suppose you could call it a medal. It doesn’t carry much weight, though…”
“So it’s like the Brave Citizen Award.”
“Ah, yes, exactly.”
Hyeonjun took the box and opened it.
Inside was a badge designed with the Management Bureau’s emblem.
“I’ll put it to good use.”
“Thanks to your efforts, someone’s family was able to come home. Thank you.”
The staffer bowed deeply.
Hyeonjun returned the bow, turned on his heel, and left.

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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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