Even if I Make It Roughly, Ex-rank Items Continue to Accumulate - Chapter 171

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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 (171)

A Junior from Ages Past

A moment later, when Aurelie del Lumiere finally regained her composure, Lee Si-hyeok brought up the main topic.

“So. Have you ever seen any artifacts related to flames or lightning?”

It was to obtain materials for the hand axe.

Each handle required pure elements, and Lee Si-hyeok speculated that they might be somewhere in this place.

Since the ‘trial’ itself originated from ruins that flowed out through a Gate Break, he figured they must have been lost somewhere in the desert along with it.

“Anything is fine. As long as it’s related to those two things.”

“Hmm…”

Aurelie del Lumiere pondered deeply. However, she didn’t seem completely clueless, but rather had the look of someone hesitating about whether it was okay to share this information.

“Um, Mr. Lee Si-hyeok. If it’s an artifact containing lightning… I know of one.”

It was a Hunter who had been nearby.

A Hunter that Lee Si-hyeok had rescued not long ago, and among them, the one who had shown the strongest power.

“Please tell me.”

“It was when I was captured by Jeolmongoe. Since I kept resisting the brainwashing they were putting me through, they took me underground. And there, I passed by what looked like a storage facility.”

“A storage facility?”

“Yes. There were tons of things like artifacts on display there, and I think I saw what you mentioned, Mr. Lee Si-hyeok.”

A glint of interest flashed in Lee Si-hyeok’s eyes. Seeing that reaction, the Hunter excitedly continued his explanation.

“It looked like a round jade stone. Whenever those Jeolmongoe bastards touched it for whatever experiments they were doing, lightning would spark and flash… Whew. It was the first time I’d seen lightning of such high purity.”

“You saw that at Jeolmongoe’s headquarters?”

“That’s right. It was in a storage facility somewhere underground.”

Lee Si-hyeok nodded.

It was definitely helpful information. Just in case, he looked around at the other Hunters, but the rest seemed to know nothing and subtly averted their gazes.

Aurelie del Lumiere, who had been listening quietly, tapped his shoulder with an expression as if she had made some decision.

“Want to come with me? I have something to tell you.”

Something to tell?

Lee Si-hyeok tilted his head and followed her.

* * *

When they went outside, Aurelie del Lumiere was waiting, leaning against the wall. For some reason, she looked a bit anxious.

“What’s this about?”

Wasn’t she going to talk about artifacts?

“First, let me answer you. The artifact containing flames that you mentioned. I have a place in mind. No, I’m confident there will be one.”

“…!”

“But there’s a bit of a problem.”

A problem?

“What is it?”

“The recent incident where my daughter left to help the Master’s operation. Do you remember?”

Of course he remembered. The Snow Flame Empress had come here because of that matter in the first place.

“Is it related to that?”

“Yes. The thing is, our Muksi Guild is currently in conflict with a certain group. It’s been going on for quite a while. You probably already know who they are.”

“I do?”

“The original owners of the underground ruins.”

“The original owners, you mean…”

“Those who call themselves Hunters.”

“…!”

Lee Si-hyeok’s mouth fell slightly open.

The Hunters. The original rulers of the City of the Hunters, whom he hadn’t been able to meet at the Nari Basin Gate.

He had thought they would be somewhere on Earth.

The moment he learned that the underground ruins originated from the Great Creator, he had speculated that they, being creations of the Great Creator, must have also crossed over to Earth along with the Gate Break.

But they were in conflict with the Muksi Guild?

“I say conflict, but we’re actually at a disadvantage. Those guys are incredibly strong. Even the Master would struggle against just one Hunter.”

“…Then how is it possible that you haven’t been completely overwhelmed yet?”

He asked Aurelie del Lumiere, who had a gloomy expression.

“They have many enemies. Because Jeolmongoe suddenly attacked them, they were fighting with Jeolmongoe until recently too.”

“When you say until recently?”

“The fighting ended. You could call it a ceasefire. Lin Qingwu, the leader of Jeolmongoe, suffered serious injuries from the Hunters’ leader and retreated.”

The more he heard, the more surprising the story became.

Lin Qingwu, who had persistently attacked Lee Si-hyeok.

To think he was currently in a state of severe injury.

As he was organizing the information, Aurelie del Lumiere let out a deep sigh.

“That’s why the Master went to find the Hunters alone. He knew that bringing other personnel wouldn’t make a difference, so he just went by himself. To conduct negotiations.”

“Don’t tell me it’s negotiations to return the ruins?”

“Exactly. You really are smart. However, if that happens, we’ll have to leave the land we’ve lived on since the guild’s establishment. Along with losing all the artifacts we’ve collected from that place…”

It was literally a painful sacrifice.

They had judged it better to give up what they had rather than clash and cause casualties.

Of course, the original owners of the ruins would be the Hunters.

“Then why did the Snow Flame Empress go? You said the Master was going alone.”

“That’s…”

That was the moment.

Tears suddenly began dripping from Aurelie del Lumiere’s eyes.

Bewildered by the unexpected sobbing, Lee Si-hyeok took Blackie out of his inner pocket and offered it to her.

“…?”

She looked at it while crying, as if asking what this was.

“…Tears. Use this guy to wipe them. He’s like a cotton ball, so he’ll absorb them well.”

“Oh my. Oh my goodness?”

She looked at him as if dumbfounded for a moment, then soon began laughing, “Ho ho ho.” Lee Si-hyeok’s action had struck her as quite absurd.

After laughing for quite a while, she returned Blackie to him.

“Ho ho. Thank you. Thanks to that, I feel a bit better.”

“That’s good then. Please continue what you were saying. I still don’t know why you were crying, Leader.”

“Ah, right. That’s true.”

Aurelie del Lumiere smiled awkwardly and continued.

“Not long after the Master left for the Hunters’ settlement, contact was completely cut off. Radio, mana communication, magical messenger birds… All communication was severed.”

“…”

“That’s why my daughter stepped forward.”

Her explanation was as follows.

Needing someone to discuss this situation with, they sent Bae Jun-wan to Korea to call the Snow Flame Empress. However, in this process, they didn’t reveal the Master’s disappearance and disguised it as a different matter.

Given the Snow Flame Empress’s personality, if she learned the truth, she might immediately rush into the Hunters’ den.

“For that reason, we only casually mentioned it after she arrived at headquarters…”

“She departed alone.”

“…Yes. What we feared happened. I pleaded with her all night long that we should plan an operation together and go in the morning when dawn broke. She really takes after the Master, always trying to do everything alone.”

But even so, it was difficult for Aurelie del Lumiere to belatedly organize an elite force and set out, because the moment they left headquarters, it would become very vulnerable.

As the Muksi Guild maintained an adversarial relationship with Jeolmongoe, they could be subjected to their surprise attacks.

Lee Si-hyeok summarized the story he had heard so far.

“In short, both the Master and the Snow Flame Empress have gone missing at the Hunters’ settlement. And there’s a high probability that the artifacts I’m looking for are there too.”

“Right. And I’m sorry to you, but I have a favor to ask…”

“I’ll go.”

“What? Really?”

“I just thought of a good method.”

When Lee Si-hyeok grinned, Aurelie del Lumiere’s eyes widened.

His confident attitude.

If anyone else had said it, she wouldn’t have believed them, but since it was Lee Si-hyeok who had reached the 49th trial saying it, somehow it seemed trustworthy in itself.

“It’s killing two birds with one stone. If the Snow Flame Empress disappears like this, managing Orbes connected to Korea will become difficult. Plus, what I need happens to be there too.”

“That’s right, Orbes! I need to go there soon too…!”

“Come visit next time. Or you could even move your residence there entirely.”

At his casual tone, life returned to Aurelie del Lumiere’s face that had been filled only with worry. After finishing their brief conversation, Lee Si-hyeok immediately got in the car and left.

* * *

This time too, Kim Jin-seok took charge of driving.

However, unlike before, he only drove him to the vicinity and returned. This was because Lee Si-hyeok had told him to do so.

‘There’s no need for him to come along this time. Kim Jin-seok wouldn’t know the Hunters well anyway.’

A settlement that was quite large in scale, larger than expected.

Lee Si-hyeok inwardly admired the exterior of the buildings, which were much more stylish compared to Mukshiseordan Village. When he activated his skill, he could feel powerful mana from the settlement.

“Shall we begin?”

He hadn’t come without any plan.

As he had told Aurelie del Lumiere, there was a good method.

While Kim Jin-seok didn’t know about the Hunters, Lee Si-hyeok had someone who knew more about them than anyone else.

[Activating 『Subspace』.]

[Summoning target ‘Lumibra’!]

As the air rippled, a massive silhouette appeared.

She… no, he stood imposingly before Lee Si-hyeok.

“You called, kiddo?”

The muscles writhing beneath the thick fur were disgusting, so Lee Si-hyeok usually deliberately focused only on the face.

But this time, he lowered his gaze and stared directly at Lumibra’s ‘body’.

Then Lumibra covered his body with his arms as if flustered.

“Wh-where are you looking like that? It’s embarrassing.”

“I’m looking at your body, Lumibra.”

“Wh-what.”

However, what Lee Si-hyeok was focusing on wasn’t the physical appearance, but the essence of that body. More precisely, the origin of the body.

‘Lumibra was originally a dragon. But after giving me the Dragon Heart, he disappeared.’

Lee Si-hyeok had thought Lumibra had gone to eternal rest.

But Lee Si-hyeok had taken that Dragon Heart to Gyeongdo Pavilion and dropped it into a test tube containing the corpse of a Hunter he had discovered in the City of the Hunters.

Then the corpse and heart reacted and combined, allowing Lumibra to be reborn in that body.

‘In other words, Lumibra has the same body as the Hunters.’

While there might be individual differences, it meant their fundamental nature was the same.

Then what if he utilized this point?

Just then, Lumibra also seemed to sense something and muttered.

“From inside there… I can feel familiar auras.”

“The Hunters.”

“Yes, that’s right. Hunters. The Great Creator’s creations. I’m meeting my distant juniors here again.”

Wait.

What did he just say?

“Hehehe. My heart is pounding, kiddo. I remember what those kids said at the end back then. They called me ‘a worm that even the Great Creator couldn’t protect.'”

Lumibra’s lips curved wickedly.

“I could tolerate other insults generously, but I absolutely cannot forgive that one. In the old days, they wouldn’t have dared to even speak to me casually, yet those with such low numbers dared to say that to the Great Creator’s first creation!”

Without even bringing up the topic, he strode into the settlement first.

“Finally, I can teach them a lesson. Hehehe. Hehehehe…”

“…”

Lee Si-hyeok swallowed and carefully followed behind him.

This might turn out to be much easier than expected.

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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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