I Became a Mythical Hunter After Killing the Golden Goblin - Chapter 17

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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 17. Catching the Hidden Rat
〚You have cleared the 1st Floor!〛
〚You have obtained 1 Unknown Fragment as a basic clear reward.〛
〚Holy Relic: Noon Sun Disc [Mythic] obtained — Exit OR Accumulate Rewards and Ascend to 2nd Floor〛
〚Please choose.〛
My plan had nearly fallen apart, but in the end, everything concluded perfectly. Seo Mi-na had awakened, I had gained justification to kill Lee Ji-hyung, and I had conquered the 1st Floor of the Hidden Stage.
Once the boss’s rewards were fully distributed, the next message that appeared was urging us to make a choice.
‘That’s it! The Mythic-grade Holy Relic that promising prospect before my regression boasted about so much!’
The Holy Relic was an enormous disc shaped like the sun itself. It floated above one’s head like a halo and came equipped with countless functions, including bestowing tremendous buffs. Unlike my wings, which could only exert one-twelfth of their power, this was a completely overpowered item with full Mythic-grade specifications.
However, I firmly rejected the reward. Or rather, I chose to accumulate instead of forfeit.
Clearing just one more floor would surely grant me far greater and superior rewards, and I had no intention of giving up.
“I’m going up.”
“I have no intention of giving up either. Even if it means death.”
Our choice was the same. The Hidden Stage wasn’t some trivial matter, and once you exit, it’s over—why would we forfeit?
Based on the information I remembered from before my regression, the Hidden Stage had only been discovered three times total.
I couldn’t waste such a precious opportunity so carelessly.
Even if it meant risking death, pushing forward was the right call.
But I was somewhat surprised when Seo Mi-na, who had truly walked the line between life and death, declared she would ascend without a shred of hesitation.
‘She must be terrified. Yet she’s completely resolved.’
She had learned and gained much from just that single real combat experience, so she wouldn’t want to give up. But a miracle like the one that just occurred wouldn’t happen again. That was fortune borrowed from the power of my own authority, after all.
Honestly, it wouldn’t have been strange if she had died.
‘I shouldn’t rely too blindly on information from before my regression.’
With that thought, I lowered my sword.
“Then let’s rest for a few hours before we move. If we push ourselves relying on another miracle like before, we might actually die.”
“Ha…! That’s a good idea. I’m nearly at my limit right now.”
The moment my words ended, Seo Mi-na collapsed against the wall, sliding down it. Letting out a hollow laugh at the sight, I immediately took a seat on the opposite side, closed my eyes, and fell into thought.
‘I have justification. I have a witness. Now it’s time to deal with it. As long as bad luck exists, I can’t move forward with this tail dragging behind me.’
Once I had finished organizing my thoughts, I twisted my lips into a bitter smile.
I had already sensed it three times. Once when I was digging in the Desert, once when entering the Hidden Stage, and once more during the boss fight.
‘But I can’t kill it easily. There’s what it did to us.’
Now, I would set a trap and make it die as painfully and fearfully as possible.
I opened my inventory and checked my ownership percentage. My ownership had already surpassed 8.5%. The items I could retrieve ranged from Normal to S-grade, totaling fifty pieces.
During the three hours of rest, I sifted through my inventory, taking note of items suitable for traps, and then we ascended to the 2nd Floor.
***
〚Hidden Stage: Pyramid Where the Sun Sleeps 2nd Floor—The Trap Layer〛
The structure of the 2nd Floor was remarkably straightforward—a single massive corridor that seemed to beckon us forward, as if it had meticulously prepared an elaborate full-course meal of traps exclusively for our arrival.
“Fortunately, there don’t appear to be any monsters.”
Seo Mi-na exhaled a quiet sigh beneath her brave facade, her fists clenched tightly as though steeling herself against her inner fear. She steadied herself and remained vigilant, scanning her surroundings.
‘It’s not registering on my senses.’
Not a single trap within the corridor had been triggered yet. No matter what concealment items or skills one employed, the stage itself could never be deceived.
That creature clearly hadn’t even attempted the trial here—it had simply waited for us with brute ignorance.
‘One point into the Limitless stat.’
As my Limitless stat rose to 31, my senses sharpened considerably. Yet it remained insufficient. The creature’s skill possessed considerable rank; my perception was still being deceived.
‘I have no choice but to use it.’
It wasn’t unexpected. When I had manifested my wings earlier, I’d sensed the creature precisely because my stats had surged by a full 10 points. Before that, I’d only detected it when its concealment had nearly faltered momentarily.
But I had already prepared a solution for that problem.
I opened my inventory and used one of my fifty opportunities, retrieving a bottle filled with luminescent green liquid and drinking it immediately.
Gulp!
〚You have consumed Buff Potion: Sensory Expansion Agent [Common-A+].〛
〚Your senses are temporarily amplified by 1.5 times!〛
〚Duration: 1 hour〛
Stagger!
I stumbled, unable to immediately adapt to my suddenly heightened senses. Even with the robust physique granted by the Limitless Heavenly Meridian, dizziness was unavoidable.
“Are you alright? If you’re not feeling well, we can rest here longer!”
“No… it’s fine. My stats just increased, so I was dizzy for a moment.”
And within my expanded perception, I discovered it—a human figure crouched in the corner, anxiously gnawing at their fingernails, glaring at this place with unease.
‘Found you!’
“Shall we go then?”
With all preparations complete, I turned my head and confidently stepped into the trap-laden corridor. Exactly ten minutes after we entered the passage, a faint shadow emerged from the corner and followed us into the corridor.
***
The traps were simple yet menacing. Arrows shot from all four directions, axes that descended as if intent on crushing skulls, and ground that gave way beneath my feet as though eager to plunge me into an abyss.
Moreover, the moment I entered the trap zone, two of my five senses vanished—sight and hearing—as if they were penalties imposed upon me.
I could hear nothing. I could see nothing.
Each step forward was a taut, harrowing experience that exhaled the terror of death.
‘I’m glad I drank that sensory amplification buff potion.’
Naturally, even with two senses stripped away, my three remaining amplified senses allowed me to navigate every trap flawlessly.
It was such a perfect clear that even Seo Mi-na, following in my wake, gasped in admiration.
“Bury that one here, and attach this one over there.”
Because the clear had been so effortless, I was able to install my preparations with even greater precision.
From the 49 remaining opportunities, I had used 40 to accumulate countless trap consumables.
Starting with mana-detonating bombs, there were poison-gas potions that burst into noxious clouds, predatory liquid slimes whose nature I preferred not to contemplate, tear-inducing mists, and more.
Traps far more vicious and malevolent than those I had overcome now filled the path we had traversed. The creature pursuing us would surely arrive before us maimed in at least one way.
After roughly thirty minutes of navigating traps and installing our own, the message appeared.
〚2nd Floor cleared!〛
〚Obtain Skill Book: Blessing of the Sun and exit OR accumulate rewards and enter Floor 3〛
〚Choose.〛
The same vast cavern where we had first been summoned materialized as a rest space before us, and the clear message hung in the air.
“Nice…! Floor 2 was a complete carry!”
Leaving Seo Mi-na to her joy, I planted my sword into the ground before the darkened trap corridor and waited quietly for the fool who would not be leaving this passage on his own feet.
“Come on out. Let me see your face, you bastard.”
I spoke with a malicious smile spreading across my lips.
***
‘Ah…! Thank goodness! She’s alive!’
Lee Ji-hyung, who had arrived on the 2nd Floor first and been waiting for Shin Ju-ha, caught sight of Seo Mi-na appearing after him and forcibly swallowed the shout threatening to burst from his lips.
Just how panicked and shocked had he been?
He had merely opened the boss room door wide to lure Shin Ju-ha in, intending to mess with him as he led the charge through the dungeon, but the boss turned out to be far stronger than expected.
He had heard during the promising talent training session that the boss was formidable, but he never imagined it would be this overwhelming. Under normal circumstances, it was absolutely not a creature that a single promising talent could defeat.
As a result, he had panicked and his concealment skill had partially unraveled, causing him to flee without even witnessing the entire situation.
Fortunately, it seemed they hadn’t noticed, but controlling mana still felt awkward and his low proficiency caused the concealment skill to constantly flicker.
Even if they sensed something amiss, it didn’t matter. He would kill him here anyway, and he knew they couldn’t perceive his concealment.
‘I’ll wait until they’re exhausted from tanking the traps with their bodies, then ambush and kill Shin Ju-ha.’
Lee Ji-hyung tenderly caressed the ring adorning his finger, recalled the two people who had vanished into the trap corridor, and rose to his feet.
“Enough time should have passed by now.”
In truth, he could have simply followed them in. But he was wary—what if that monster of a man, Shin Ju-ha, noticed something and did something unexpected.
With such thoughts of what was to come, Lee Ji-hyung stepped into the trap corridor.
Click!
Boom!!
The moment he entered, he stepped directly on a mana mine bomb installed beneath his feet.
“You son of a—!!!”
A tremendous explosion erupted immediately, and flames engulfed Lee Ji-hyung without giving him a moment to evade.
“Gaaahhh!!!”
Amid the thick smoke, Lee Ji-hyung screamed and rolled across the floor, his entire body flushed red as though ravaged by severe burns.
“Damn! Damn! Damn!!!”
Lee Ji-hyung, shrieking in pain and spewing crude curses, clenched his teeth and hammered the ground with his fists.
‘What the hell?’
Why was there a mine right at the entrance?! Could they have actually dodged and broken through this trap?
He wasn’t a prophet! Was such a thing even possible?
If not for his ultimate trump card, the Inferno Body skill, that mine would have had enough power to blow both his feet clean off.
Bombs and mines made from mana stones were all strictly controlled by the government and weren’t easily obtainable.
That’s why Lee Ji-hyung had never considered the possibility that Shin Ju-ha had installed the mines.
“Tch, damn it. If I hadn’t lost my hearing and sight, I would’ve been discovered!”
Though he cursed aloud and wailed in agony, no sound escaped his lips.
Consoling himself with “a blessing in disguise,” Lee Ji-hyung hastily retrieved a pre-prepared potion, drank it, and resumed his advance.
Indeed, it seemed he had correctly avoided the mine trap. All the other traps had been disarmed and lay scattered haphazardly across the floor.
‘Damn it, even the recovery potion doesn’t heal completely!’
The problem was that the burns covering his entire body wouldn’t fully heal even with the potion. Since he hadn’t originally planned to enter the Hidden Stage, his scout hadn’t provided him with high-grade recovery potions.
Cursing inwardly, after taking exactly five steps forward.
Thud!
‘Huh?’
While navigating around the traps scattered on the floor, something struck his foot and immediately shattered, unable to maintain its form.
‘This is really irritating.’
Thinking it was merely a spent trap, Lee Ji-hyung walked past the shattered remains and continued forward.
Sizzle.
Glancing down at my suddenly cool feet, I realized with horror that my shoes had completely melted away.
‘Damn it! What now?!’
The moment I sniffed the air, a acrid, stinging atmosphere assaulted my senses. Instantly recognizing the scent as poison gas, Lee Ji-hyung bolted forward in a desperate sprint.
Had he possessed even a modicum of experience, such elementary traps would never have ensnared him—but he was merely a promising prospect who had experienced actual combat only a handful of times.
‘Damn it!!’
Cursing as I ran, I triggered most of the traps Shin Ju-ha had set, suffering their full effects.
How long did I endure this relentless torment, half-conscious from the agony as I fled?
Through my obscured vision, a brilliant light seemed to pierce through.
‘Finally!’
My mind snapped back into focus, and the sweet promise of escape momentarily eclipsed my suffering. But the instant I took one more desperate stride forward—
Crack!
As if it had been waiting for precisely this moment, I stepped directly onto the final malevolent trap—a predatory slime disguised as pooled water on the floor. Feeling my sole being devoured whole, I erupted in a scream of anguish.
“Aaaahhhhh!!!”
‘No. Pain. Help me. Save me. Kill me. I’m losing it. Who am I. Where is this. Hehehehe. Aaaaaaahhhhh!!!’
Lee Ji-hyung had descended into partial madness. Yet desperate to escape this nightmarish corridor, I clawed across the floor, leaving a long trail of blood before finally breaking free.
And in that moment of liberation and relief, a chilling, spine-freezing voice reached my ears.
“You came? So it really was you. Flame Demon Lee Ji-hyung.”
Lee Ji-hyung lifted his trembling face to look up, and upon seeing Shin Ju-ha gazing down at him with eyes as cold as ice, he lost control of his bladder entirely.

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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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