I Became a Mythical Hunter After Killing the Golden Goblin - Chapter 115

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 115. The Holy Spirit Festival (2)
Knock, knock, knock.
At the sound of someone rapping on the door, the woman inside the room hastily masked the anxiety, melancholy, and disappointment etched across her face before speaking.
“Yes, please come in.”
In response to her words, the door swung open, and the large, stern-faced man who entered bowed his head toward her.
“Ah… you’ve arrived. Gun-dan. The task… it didn’t go well, did it?”
“…I’m sorry. …It seems already too late to do anything…”
Min Cho-rong could only exhale a sigh born of despair and hopelessness. She turned her gaze toward the window. The vibrant and blossoming panorama of the Kingdom spread before her eyes.
The atmosphere befitting those standing on the precipice of the grand Holy Spirit Festival. Yet she found herself utterly unable to harmonize with their jubilant spirit.
“How could this happen!”
Min Cho-rong’s involuntary cry escaped before she caught herself, startled by her own outburst. She exhaled deeply and spoke again.
“How could they defile a competition that should be sacred and pure in such a manner?”
“…I’m sorry.”
“There’s no reason for you to apologize, Gun-dan. This isn’t your fault.”
The Saintess Competition. This contest, held to select the next generation’s Saintess, was originally meant to be conducted without any interference—a pure selection of which woman possessed the greatest purity, devotion, and sanctity.
It was a tradition passed down since the first Saintess and an inviolable law. In fact, the first Saintess had even established a rule that no external pressure or interference could be exerted upon the Saintess Competition.
This final competition had cast such rules to the wind.
To be frank, Min Cho-rong was an overwhelmingly dominant candidate for Saintess. Though her recognition might pale slightly compared to Isabel’s disciple—the current Saintess who would soon become the previous Saintess—she surpassed her rival in every other aspect.
In skill, charisma, and talent alike. There had been a perilous moment, but she had navigated it safely by meeting a noble soul. Through that experience, she had learned the preciousness of life even more deeply and gained new bonds besides. She had undoubtedly grown stronger.
Because of this, she had believed without doubt. That she would emerge victorious.
Yet in the final competition, everything unraveled. The final competition consisted of three trials in total.
From the very first trial, a peculiar current began to manifest.
Everything—from the test format to the process and results—was arranged with absolute advantage toward her opponent.
But the crucial point was that it was all packaged cleanly as though nothing was amiss on the surface. Beneath, however, every aspect of the competition had been manipulated to push her rival toward the position of next Saintess.
And that wasn’t even the end of it. From the moment the first trial began, countless traps awaited her.
Even when she smiled and performed good deeds as always, they were written up as malicious and inflammatory articles that began to defame her.
Even when she exerted effort and worked hard for the trials, it was packaged as undeserved effort and spread across the world.
It was utterly absurd. With so many journalists present, only a handful wrote favorably about her.
As her defeat in the final competition became certain, Saint Isabella took action. Disregarding the rules of the Saintess Competition entirely.
In merely two trials, over approximately a month and a half, Isabel’s disciple had become an almost saintly, transcendently sacred being. Min Cho-rong, meanwhile, had been transformed into a filthy woman who preyed upon others in back alleys with sordid dealings.
People believed only what they were shown. Watching maliciously edited and altered videos, they cursed Min Cho-rong. The Min Cho-rong who had always smiled, warm and kind and good, lost her smile.
Seeing her like this, people cursed her further. They said she no longer smiled at them, that she had finally revealed her true nature.
Particularly because the first and second rounds of the final competition were held in England, the homeland of the Saintess and her disciple, the anger and insults were even more severe.
Min Cho-rong wanted to give up entirely, but she endured by forcing herself, again and again. Her overwhelming sanctity and talent granted her a single victory in this dire situation, and the score became one to one.
She lost the first trial by a narrow margin. She managed to win the second trial by a narrow margin.
Now only the final third trial remained. Since it would be held in the Holy Kingdom in the Abyss rather than on Earth, she believed she would finally be evaluated fairly and compete justly. But…
The moment she arrived at the Holy Kingdom, she learned that the Saintess Competition had been pushed to its final day and the trial content had changed. Moreover, it was already common knowledge that Saint Isabella had met with a Cardinal upon arriving at the Holy Kingdom on the first day.
In essence, the competition was already decided.
“My aunt was right. I should have faced that woman with my life on the line.”
She had been too pure. Who could have imagined they would break even the rules and commit such atrocities? No matter that she was Ki So-young’s niece—the source of Isabel’s inferiority complex—and a strong candidate for Saintess, this crossed every line.
Ki So-young was my life’s goal and my only remaining family. I desperately wanted to accomplish what she could not.
Min Cho-rong murmured softly to herself, laughing with bitterness.
“…Don’t…give up.”
Watching her, Gun-dan also sighed and offered her comfort.
Since the Dungeon Blackhole incident, Gun-dan had grown close to Min Cho-rong, treating her like a comrade and younger sister. After being selected as the Saint’s guard, his own talents had begun to flourish brilliantly, and he witnessed everything unfold.
Yet there was nothing he could do. The person he needed to protect was suffering so deeply, but he had no way to break through this situation.
No matter how mythic his stats were or how great his potential, he was a man focused on defense rather than offense. He was still nothing more than a tiny seed.
The day he would become a towering giant was still far in the distant future.
Watching Min Cho-rong crumble and despair, Gun-dan gazed out the window and thought of a man.
A man who shone brighter than anyone else in this unreasonable and hopeless situation, offering salvation. His sturdy, broad back—the one that would never leave Gun-dan’s mind—came to him.
He seemed like he could become the greatest shield of anyone in this world. Yet there was one person whose back he could never catch up to.
‘…Ju-ha.’
Gun-dan called that man’s name softly and exhaled. He couldn’t help but wish he were here now.
That man would push forward without blinking an eye at such a cursed, unreasonable situation and shatter everything in his path.
That was the brilliance Gun-dan had witnessed in Shin Ju-ha. Min Cho-rong was thinking of that same man.
A man more trustworthy than anyone. The man who lit a fire in her heart when she was just a girl. A man who never reached out, no matter how busy he was. A man who kept ending up in the hospital room from some catastrophe. Yet always moving forward and growing stronger.
Thinking of the person she most wanted to see now, she tried to escape this bleak reality. And she prayed carefully.
That he would appear here where she was, appearing magnificently once more, and shatter this unreasonable and dark situation she found herself in.
In the minds of these two people, that man who had become their hope and their star was now….
“D-dammit! Ugh! Do I have to see this again?!”
He was suffering as he ascended from the underground.
***
Underground Floor 4 was nothing short of a grueling ordeal. From the fragments of Behemoth onward, witnessing calamity-class monsters tested the very limits of my endurance.
I endured the crushing, immense pressure that Behemoth’s very existence exerted, crawled across the floor to evade the Turtle’s planet-incinerating inferno, and only after witnessing the Planet Predator’s revolting maw once more and retching violently could I finally reach Underground Floor 1.
“Tch~~aren’t you being a bit too weak? You should be able to handle this much. How pathetic, getting nauseous over such trivial things. And here you claim to be the successor of a Demon King. There are plenty of creatures in the Demon Realm who would find those beasts laughable~~.”
All of this had transpired in less than two days, so it was only natural that my mental fortitude had been completely depleted.
Belial gazed at me with a wry smile, gently stroking my head before subtly burying my face into her ample bosom.
As I hastily tried to pull away, she merely laughed seductively, tracing her lips as she whispered.
“What’s wrong? Is something the matter? You seem so exhausted. I’m just trying to help you relax. It’s not every day you get such an opportunity, is it?”
Healing… I suppose it was. I realized I couldn’t escape anyway and remained still.
I made a mental note to investigate this Demon King called Belial once this ordeal was over.
After that pleasant interlude passed, I finally opened the door connected to Underground Floor 1 and arrived at this place.
“Phew~~! I thought I was done for. That bastard Aoyra. He never stops infuriating me.”
I’ll make you truly miserable. First, I’ll finish the plan you set in motion, then I’ll kill you.
As I turned my head to the side with that thought, a man emerged from the darkness.
“Seems you hid quite well?”
A man who harbored enmity toward Aoyra, and the deepest prisoner held on this Underground Floor 1. I had restored him and descended further, yet he was still alive.
To be honest, I had assumed with over 90% certainty that he was dead.
It made sense. Aoyra would surely have entered this place after I headed underground—whether as a puppet or in person. To collapse the secret passage and prevent my easy escape.
Naturally, the secret passage would be somewhere beyond this entrance, which meant I was bound to encounter that man.
Whether he had managed to hide well or Aoyra had hastily dealt with only the secret passage and left, he seemed unaware that the man had nearly fully recovered.
“Will you help me?”
“Without question. Our goals are the same.”
Our gazes crossed. The emotion reflected in both our eyes was singular: rage.
I summoned my blade with satisfaction and severed the iron bars. Surprised at how easily they were cut, I didn’t linger and pressed forward.
“Mmm~~!”
I ignored Belial, who gazed at both the man and me with that characteristic seductive and sensual expression, whatever she was thinking.
“Since I’ve received your favor, I suppose we can exchange names. Pleased to meet you. I am called Nabilung.”
“Pleased to meet you. I am Shin Ju-ha. Since our goals align, I trust you won’t stab me in the back.”
At my words, he chuckled softly, clasped his hands together, and swore an oath.
“I swear by the name of my god that until this matter is concluded, I shall cause you neither harm nor injury.”
I nodded and accepted his sincerity. Truthfully, I didn’t trust him completely, but he seemed useful enough as a card to play, so I said nothing.
Thus, I finally escaped this accursed Underground Prison.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————