I Became a Hunter with the Heavenly Slaughter Star Trait. - Chapter 45

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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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Episode 45

 

Episode 45

 

-Swish!

 

If it weren’t for the Blood Demon’s Shadow Armor,

 

I would have been helplessly struck by the poison needle.

 

“…How did you know?”

 

Sakura, who had been smiling cutely just moments ago,

 

was now looking at me with a face as menacing as a yakuza.

 

Heh.

 

As expected, my loser radar has never been wrong.

 

“No, it doesn’t matter.”

 

Muttering to herself, Sakura soon pulled something from her chest.

 

It was a sharp shuriken.

 

So she wasn’t just a healer after all?

 

“I’ll kill you…!”

 

Why do villains always shout the same lines?

 

It’s embarrassing to even listen to.

 

-Swoosh!

 

Sakura leaped up at a speed invisible to the eye.

 

She kicked off the ceiling and quickly threw a shuriken toward my neck,

 

-Sizzle!

 

What the shuriken pierced through was my afterimage.

 

[Echo Walker]’s passive blink movement.

 

I didn’t expect to use it in actual combat this quickly.

 

“…!!”

 

Sakura looked around in panic.

 

But it was already too late.

 

“You’re not planning to go easy, are you?”

 

I asked quite kindly,

 

-Swoosh!

 

But what came back was a shuriken.

 

“Okay.”

 

Then there’s only one answer.

 

-Pop!

 

I pulled out the shuriken stuck in the wall.

 

“Isn’t it illegal for a healer to use something like this?”

 

And then,

 

-Swish!!

 

The shuriken missed.

 

Or to be precise,

 

Sakura dodged the shuriken with artistic skill.

 

“Stupid!”

 

Just as she curled up the corner of her mouth and was about to throw another shuriken.

 

“Die…!”

 

-Thud!!!!

 

Sakura collapsed without finishing her words.

 

Sakura’s limbs were rapidly stiffening.

 

“Die.”

 

“…”

 

“That’s what you wanted to say, right?”

 

I asked, looking down at the fallen Sakura.

 

However, she was no longer in a state to answer.

 

Precisely,

 

The basilisk’s poison needle stuck between her brows.

 

Traces of the deadly poison spreading

 

remained as blackened blood vessels.

 

“Ugh…”

 

Sakura could barely move her eyes to look up at me.

 

“Any last words?”

 

“…”

 

Sakura couldn’t answer this time either.

 

The basilisk’s deadly poison had probably already spread to her heart.

 

-Let’s kill her.

 

I drew my crescent blade without hesitation.

 

-Kill her!

 

And just as I brought the cold blade to Sakura’s neck.

 

“…That’s enough.”

 

Someone grabbed my wrist.

 

“I’ll handle it from here.”

 

It was Choi Mu-ryeong.

 

“…”

 

How long had he been here?

 

Had I not sensed his presence because I was dealing with Sakura?

 

-Swish.

 

I sheathed my crescent blade.

 

-Drip.

 

Perhaps a wound was made from the blade’s pressure,

 

blood flowed from Sakura’s neck.

 

“Looking at me like that makes it seem like I did something wrong.”

 

I threw out a light joke, but

 

“…”

 

What came back was heavy silence.

 

I could feel it with my skin.

 

The fact that Choi Mu-ryeong was ‘tense.’

 

‘For someone ranked 3rd in the world, he sure has a lot of fears.’

 

I showed my empty hands and stepped back a couple of steps.

 

Then, Choi Mu-ryeong lifted the stiffened Sakura like a piece of luggage.

 

“The subdual was excellent.”

 

“…”

 

“However, your response afterward was the problem.”

 

Ah.

 

The fact that I tried to kill her?

 

“But she attacked first…”

 

“In this kind of situation, the appropriate response is.”

 

“…”

 

“To report to superiors after subdual.”

 

“…”

 

“Not to cut off her breath.”

 

Hmm.

 

It’s logically sound reasoning.

 

Unable to give any proper response, I could only scratch the back of my head,

 

and Choi Mu-ryeong let out a small sigh.

 

“The opponent is human.”

 

That’s true.

 

“Not a Tower monster, but a human.”

 

All valid points.

 

“I’ll be more careful next time.”

 

I cleanly acknowledged it and nodded my head.

 

At that, Choi Mu-ryeong seemed somewhat relieved.

 

Choi Mu-ryeong appeared lost in thought for a moment, then,

 

“Don’t worry.”

 

“About what?”

 

“The report.”

 

The report… huh.

 

“I’ll report that I was the one who dealt with this attack.”

 

I hadn’t particularly been worried about it.

 

After all, I didn’t ‘kill’ anyone.

 

Still, I should at least say thanks, right?

 

Thanks to this, I won’t get entangled in complicated matters.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“…Don’t mention it.”

 

Choi Mu-ryeong, who had been looking at me for a moment,

 

bowed his head slightly and soon left.

 

“Hmm.”

 

I stared at the spot where the shuriken had been embedded,

 

then left Sakura’s room.

 

‘By the way…’

 

How did Choi Mu-ryeong know to come here?

 

* * *

 

“…”

 

After detaining Sakura and returning to his own dormitory, Choi Mu-ryeong was lost in thought for a long time.

 

It wasn’t strange that Sakura targeted Lee Tae-pyeong.

 

He had expected it to some degree.

 

However, he had thought it would be persuasion,

 

not a plan to completely eliminate Lee Tae-pyeong.

 

Still,

 

because he had been on high alert from the beginning,

 

he was able to stop Sakura’s plan.

 

No,

 

could this be called stopping it?

 

Rather than that,

 

Lee Tae-pyeong had dealt with Sakura himself.

 

In a much more primitive way than the Management Bureau’s methods.

 

No matter how much Sakura was a healer,

 

considering the level difference between the two,

 

it should have been impossible for Lee Tae-pyeong to subdue Sakura.

 

Moreover, Sakura had even prepared basilisk poison needles.

 

Nevertheless,

 

Lee Tae-pyeong had stuck a poison needle into Sakura

 

before they could even exchange three moves.

 

As naturally as if

 

he had been practicing for this moment his entire life.

 

And furthermore…

 

The scene that followed

 

was truly unbelievable.

 

In reality,

 

no matter how highly trained individuals might be,

 

they tend to hesitate when faced with killing.

 

Especially

 

in cases of close-range killing rather than firearms.

 

But Lee Tae-pyeong was different.

 

After paralyzing Sakura’s limbs with the basilisk poison needle,

 

so naturally,

 

he had tried to ‘kill’ his opponent.

 

No matter how much of a Hunter he was,

 

no matter how many monsters and other races he had killed since becoming a Hunter,

 

for someone who had been just an ordinary person until a few months ago

 

to show no hesitation in killing another ‘person.’

 

If Choi Mu-ryeong hadn’t revealed himself,

 

Lee Tae-pyeong would have stabbed Sakura’s throat just like that.

 

However, on the other hand,

 

Lee Tae-pyeong was…

 

also someone who knew how to sacrifice for his teammates.

 

He had readily given Cha Ye-rin the [Panacea],

 

given Yu In-seok many items to use as wedding funds,

 

and even made a purchase reservation for a left arm item for Kang Da-gyeong.

 

Recently, he had even personally taken in Ujeongmin, whom he had saved from rental scammers.

 

There were such reasons why Choi Mu-ryeong held Lee Tae-pyeong in high regard.

 

Babel Tower was a place where,

 

if not the lower floors,

 

the higher you climbed…

 

you had to think about your ‘companions.’

 

That was also why parties became essential the higher you climbed.

 

That was also why many people dropped out the higher they climbed.

 

And it was precisely for that reason that many people gave up on the higher floors.

 

-Clack.

 

Choi Mu-ryeong closed the laptop he had been using to write his report.

 

Would Lee Tae-pyeong indeed

 

become a fortunate existence for South Korea?

 

Or

 

would he become another disaster?

 

Choi Mu-ryeong decided to keep watching.

 

* * *

 

“I heard Sakura was detained?”

 

As soon as I entered the meeting room after finishing breakfast,

 

I heard Ban Hae-yeong’s flustered voice.

 

“Then we’re short on healers, aren’t we?”

 

Han Si-on asking calmly.

 

“The Chinese side agreed to provide a healer.”

 

Choi Mu-ryeong answering curtly.

 

“Good morning.”

 

I gave a light greeting to the three of them,

 

then sat down and began flipping through the report about the Special Floor.

 

The Babel Tower Special Floor that occurred in China this time

 

allowed a total of three entries.

 

If they couldn’t clear it within three attempts,

 

they would receive the penalty of surrounding area becoming a demon realm.

 

The first and second test entries were already completed.

 

During the second entry, China apparently created a dream team to challenge it but failed.

 

So before the final third entry, they requested help from South Korea and Japan.

 

But due to some incident, Sakura had to drop out.

 

Now the question was who would fill the remaining spot.

 

‘I wonder if a hastily brought healer will actually be helpful…’

 

Well, I don’t particularly care who the healer is.

 

In Ban Hae-yeong’s case, being a tank, the absence of a healer seemed quite concerning.

 

Anyway, since a new healer was coming,

 

the joint training proceeded as scheduled.

 

A large group of no less than 10 people.

 

Could we really coordinate properly?

 

‘There’s probably going to be a leadership issue too…’

 

Choi Mu-ryeong, ranked 3rd in the world,

 

and Zhang Yuan-long, ranked 8th in the world.

 

A clash of their pride,

 

or rather, I heard it was Zhang Yuan-long’s one-sided pride battle.

 

‘Well, this is also not my problem.’

 

Even if there were problems, Choi Mu-ryeong would handle them.

 

With a fairly light mindset,

 

I headed to the training grounds.

 

And then.

 

“Before we begin full-scale training, how about we have a light spar?”

 

Making my declaration that it wasn’t my problem seem meaningless,

 

something that ‘concerned’ me ended up happening.

 

* * *

 

The one who proposed the martial arts match was none other than Zhang Yuan-long.

 

Ostensibly it was to build camaraderie,

 

but the real purpose was obvious.

 

‘He wants to crush our spirits.’

 

Seeing each other’s skills

 

and trying to coordinate was all an excuse.

 

What he really wanted was:

 

-Read the room and know your place.

 

That’s it.

 

Wow.

 

This is how the world’s 8th ranked hunter vents his frustration?

 

Pathetic.

 

So pathetic.

 

“What could be better than teaching and learning from each other on such a great opportunity?”

 

His words are certainly flowery.

 

He’s not a dragon but a snake-like man.

 

The format of the martial arts match was simple.

 

Korean Hunter Network.

 

Chinese Hunter Network minus the healer.

 

Basically one-on-one matches.

 

Winners would face the next opponent in succession.

 

Ugh.

 

Can’t Choi Mu-ryeong and Zhang Yuan-long just duke it out between themselves and be done with it?!

 

…was something I had to swallow internally.

 

After all, this was about building friendship.

 

There was no justification to refuse, no justification.

 

And on the other hand,

 

my body was quite stiff from yesterday’s events.

 

‘Maybe I’ll give them a decent match.’

 

Since we decided to proceed starting from the lower rankings,

 

the first turn was naturally mine.

 

I was a rookie hunter without any real ranking.

 

The Chinese hunter was Wang Luoxin.

 

I heard he’s a hunter with a trait called Mountain Strength.

 

I don’t know the details exactly.

 

‘Well, we just met today for the first time…’

 

If he’s a tank, it’s obvious.

 

He must be a damage-absorbing character.

 

I brushed off my hands and stepped into the training room.

 

No, I was about to step in.

 

“Hunter Lee Tae-pyeong.”

 

Choi Mu-ryeong stops me.

 

“You don’t necessarily have to do this.”

 

At first glance, it seemed like words of consideration for me.

 

But I could immediately understand the underlying meaning.

 

-Don’t do it if you’re going to cause trouble.

 

Is he saying this because of yesterday’s incident?

 

‘What does he take me for…’

 

I brushed off Choi Mu-ryeong’s hand.

 

“It’s fine.”

 

“…”

 

“We need to build friendship, after all.”

 

As I entered the training grounds,

 

-Whirrrr!

 

A protective barrier unfolds.

 

Wang Luoxin standing on the opposite side.

 

He’s already grinning widely.

 

“I’ll finish this in one go.”

 

I looked straight into Wang Luoxin’s eyes and smiled coldly.

 

“Me too.”

—————
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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