Even if I Make It Roughly, Ex-rank Items Continue to Accumulate - Chapter 120
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Even Hastily Made Ones Keep Stacking Up as EX-Rank (120)
Why Aren’t You Following
Hunter’s Trial Ground.
That vast Sand Arena.
“Kugh!”
The Pasuin who had fallen hard to the ground let out ragged breaths. Every part of his body was screaming for mercy, but there was no time to lie there.
He barely managed to dodge another tentacle that came rolling toward him.
Swoosh!
The tentacle struck down precisely where he had been just moments before. With terrifying force, it pierced through the sandy ground and embedded itself firmly.
“Damn it…”
Swallowing his curses, he swung his hammer. As he raised his upper body, tremendous repulsion force filled the forearm gripping the hammer.
Whooom! The hammer head swung horizontally collided with the tentacle.
An ear-splitting sound of tearing air.
Immediately after, the sound of bones being crushed.
Was it the sound of his own shoulder being shattered, or the tentacle breaking?
It seemed to be the latter.
With a grotesque sound of flesh tearing, the Pasuin’s light traveled up the tentacle. Soon the monster burst into bright flames and collapsed helplessly in place.
“Huff, hah…”
Confirming that sight, the Pasuin caught his breath.
As he did so for a moment, a message appeared as if mocking him.
Ding!
[The trial of 〈Extreme Blood Battle〉 is in progress.]
[After defeating all monsters, proceed to the next stage.]
[Current monsters defeated: 47]
[3,418 monsters remaining.]
“Fuck, really.”
3,418 monsters.
The moment he saw that number, the curse he had been forcibly suppressing slipped out carelessly.
Knowing how his image was portrayed in the mass media, he had tried his best not to let curses pass his lips, but the situation itself was unavoidable.
Mental management was more urgent than image management.
‘What the hell kind of place is this?’
A while ago, the Pasuin who had fallen from the lake also dropped into the pitch-black seawater, just like Lee Si-hyeok.
The difference was that he didn’t have a protective artifact, but fortunately he was an S-rank Hunter. Among them, he was a close-combat type Hunter who belonged to the quite strong category, so there was no threat to his life.
Just releasing his mana was enough to withstand most impacts.
So he swam down to deeper places and discovered the Deep Sea Cliff Zone one step ahead of Lee Si-hyeok.
Then he opened what appeared to be the only path, a temple-like door, and entered…
“Hah.”
…only to find himself in this kind of situation.
〈Extreme Blood Battle〉. Since this was already the third stage, he should have adapted to some degree, but it was at a level he absolutely couldn’t handle.
From the beginning, passing the first and second trials had been close to a miracle.
Drawing out all his strength wasn’t enough—he’d even had to activate the special skill he’d hidden his entire life.
An ability whose nature completely betrayed his Hunter name ‘Bright Light’ and image. That’s why he’d never had the slightest intention of revealing it to others until his death.
‘I suppose it’s time to die.’
Of course, he had used it countless times to reach this position.
Without anyone knowing, secretly and insidiously. But to be forced to use it knowing Lee Si-hyeok was in the same Gate—it really seemed like his time to die had come.
His physical condition was actually like that too.
“Kuhheok! Kuk….”
With ribs piercing his lungs, the Pasuin let out a pained groan. Just allowing one attack had completely shattered his bones.
And that wasn’t all.
His half-severed earlobe, the large hole in his stomach, his left arm with no sensation. There wasn’t a single intact part of him.
…I’m dead.
That thought just came to him. Looking at the endlessly vast sand plains broke even his remaining will, and he lost even the desire to fight back against the monster charging from the distance.
What remained was only questions.
‘Why on earth.’
For what reason had Lee Si-hyeok wanted to come down to this place?
Certainly, the look in Lee Si-hyeok’s eyes that he’d seen above the lake had been filled with inexplicable certainty. As if he wasn’t simply here to investigate the Gate, but was looking beyond it.
Though that had been quite irritating and infuriating, having actually experienced this, he couldn’t help but be curious.
This place.
What kind of space was this Hidden Stage exactly?
In the first trial, he’d been trapped on some snow mountain and endured days with the cold, and in the second trial, he’d fallen into a labyrinth-like place and been attacked by all sorts of traps.
And in between, there had been monsters that even the S-rank Pasuin was encountering for the first time. Each one far beyond common sense.
By grade, they would probably be around Irregular level.
“…Heh.”
A sneer suddenly escaped him.
What meaning would there be in being curious anyway?
He’d only learned for the first time today that there was even a Hidden Stage. So there was no way he’d be qualified to know its truth.
No one but that damn Lee Si-hyeok would know.
Thud thud thud thud.
A low vibrating sound began to ring in the ears of him lying there powerlessly. At the same time, the ground shook at regular intervals.
A monster had spotted him and was running toward him like mad.
When he slightly raised his head, he could see a monster charging while flailing its bizarrely elongated limbs.
“Ha.”
He sighed and raised his body.
Dying was dying, but that didn’t mean he intended to give up.
By any means necessary, he would survive and climb back up.
That was the conviction he’d maintained while reaching this point.
Someone might say it was wrong, but to him it was truth and law.
It was at the moment he grasped the hammer he’d received from Lee Si-hyeok in his hand.
―Flash.
[New news has arrived.]
[A new participant ‘Lee Si-hyeok’ has joined the battlefield of 〈Extreme Blood Battle〉! A newcomer has appeared. Work together to hunt monsters and proceed with the trial more easily.]
[※There is information not disclosed to you.]
[※This is hidden information about ‘Lee Si-hyeok’. Access is not permitted.]
Messages floated up, blocking the view of the monster charging at a terrifying speed.
The Pasuin unconsciously opened his mouth full of blood.
“…Lee Si-hyeok entered here?”
How?
Did he pass all the previous trials despite being non-combat class?
‘Even I had trouble with those?’
But no matter how many times he read it, the message remained the same.
Finally, the Pasuin who had been reading in disbelief shut his mouth tight.
Regardless of how he passed, a good idea had occurred to him.
“I’ll throw that bastard as bait and escape.”
Earlier, while frantically running away from monsters, he had discovered one secret location.
A safe zone that could only be found by crossing the vast sandy area to its end.
But since the area was full of monsters, he couldn’t dare enter and had no choice but to give up. They densely surrounded the entire area as if guarding something precious.
But…
What if he threw Lee Si-hyeok, who just entered, as bait there?
‘It might be possible.’
Of course, he wasn’t sure if Lee Si-hyeok would believe him outright. He was a guy who seemed surprisingly difficult to exploit, appearing to have an exceptional mind.
Still, in this dangerous place, they might somehow be able to communicate.
The Pasuin, having immediately decided on his plan, gripped his hammer tightly.
Thud thud thud thud thud.
The monster had already closed the distance.
First, he’d have to kill this one before thinking further.
With that intention, he raised his hammer high.
“…Hm?”
Suddenly, a shadow fell around where he was standing.
At the shadow that covered not just the surroundings but even the monster, both the monster and the Pasuin looked up at the sky in confusion.
However, nothing was visible in the sky.
Only one massive star, presumed to be an artificial sun, was emitting dazzling light.
What was that? There was definitely something there just now?
Just as he felt that doubt, a small cracking sound came from quite a distance away. A bursting sound as if something was being crushed.
Crack.
“…?”
Once more.
This time, a similar sound came from the opposite direction. Unlike before, it was a bizarre sound of something heavy snapping completely.
Kwadeuk.
Kkudeuk.
Pung.
Udddddddddeuk.
“What, what is that…?”
Confusion filled the eyes of the Pasuin who had been observing while holding his breath.
This wasn’t normal.
It was such a bizarre sensation that even those words were insufficient to describe it. The sound that had been coming from the left suddenly moved to the right. Something got smashed from behind, and now it was in front.
All he could discern by spreading his mana to its maximum was that monsters were exploding, being crushed, and dying like crazy.
The shadow that had just passed was created during the movement of whatever was causing all this.
“Shit, damn.”
It was something incomparably more powerful than any monster he had faced so far.
That monster up ahead that was panicking just like him. Even that bastard, who seemed familiar from the Nari Basin Gate in the past, was terrified.
Its tentacles trembled thinly, and it whipped its head around frantically every time a sound was heard.
Then, suddenly.
“…”
Silence suddenly descended.
The sounds of flesh being torn that had been coming incessantly from all directions could no longer be heard anywhere.
The silence that had settled.
It was broken exactly three seconds later.
Whiiiiik!
A tremendous wind suddenly blew from the surroundings, and sand dust covered everything. Something had arrived here cutting through the wind.
Spitting out the sand grains that had entered his mouth, he immediately looked up at the sky.
This time he could clearly see something.
High in the sky, falling upside down…
“…Gi, Giant?!”
A man with a monstrous physique.
Wearing white cloth that looked like something from ancient Greek mythology, he was crashing down here at a terrifying speed.
His entire body was soaked with blue blood.
Just like the Pasuin who was covered in monster blood.
—Kki, kkigeeek?!
The monster immediately started fleeing in terror.
The bastard that had been charging with murderous intent ran like crazy without looking back. The Pasuin was shocked by this sight while also preparing to flee himself.
He felt it instinctively.
That giant was the cause of everything.
With that massive body, he had flown around this entire arena and massacred all the monsters.
Pueok.
He felt the monster behind him crash into something with a thud.
A vibration hundreds of times greater than when a person collides with a dump truck was transmitted.
Then came the sounds of breaking and tearing.
Crack. Crunch.
“Please, please…!”
He ran with every ounce of strength he had, even the strength from when he was nursing.
At some point, he could no longer feel any resistance from the monsters.
Now only the Pasuin remained alone.
But somehow it felt strange.
He stopped his legs that felt like they were about to burst.
“Why… aren’t they following…?”
At the very least, he should be able to sense some presence, but it was strangely quiet.
It was the moment he blinked and turned around.
His head half-turned, but then a low voice came from the front again.
There was.
“It seems like it’s been a while since we’ve met.”
Riding on the shoulder of that giant he had seen just moments before.
“Pasuin.”
Lee Si-hyeok was there.
Upon confirming his identity, the Pasuin’s jaw involuntarily dropped wide open.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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