I Just Subscribed and It’s the Best Hunter of All Time - Chapter 131
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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 131.
Jung Han-sung gazed up at the core resting upon the Altar, muttering to himself.
“Is that a corrupted core?”
Though I was seeing one for the first time, I could instinctively recognize it at first glance.
The aura certainly resembled the core in my Territory, yet something far more sinister and twisted lurked beneath the surface.
But what truly mattered right now was something else entirely.
‘The most important one isn’t showing itself.’
The entity that had designed this Dungeon and corrupted the core.
The being commonly called a Dungeon boss by climbers was nowhere to be seen.
“Hmm.”
Jung Han-sung swept his sharp gaze across the interior of the chamber once more. Then he quickly spotted something suspicious.
A stone coffin lay directly in front of the Altar.
Unlike the coffins arrayed along the walls, this one stood alone before the Altar, and it was considerably larger.
“Alright.”
After a moment’s deliberation, Jung Han-sung drew a spear from his inventory.
Crackle, crackle, crackle!
He infused the spear with lightning energy and hurled it forward with all his might without hesitation.
Crash!
The spear flew in a straight line and pierced directly into the stone coffin before the Altar.
Cracks spider-webbed across the massive coffin from where the spear had struck, and as those fractures reached their limit, a weighty aura erupted from within.
Boom―!
Stone fragments scattered in all directions as the coffin shattered, and something emerged from within.
“Hmm.”
Jung Han-sung’s eyes narrowed.
It was an undead.
An iron crown sat upon its head, and a dense magical aura billowed behind it like a cloak.
But that wasn’t all.
A crimson glow emanated from its eye sockets, and in its hand it gripped what appeared to be a dented and curved ceremonial staff.
―How dare you….
As an eerie voice spread outward, Jung Han-sung found himself muttering involuntarily.
“Arzka?”
―You dare compare me to that wretched undead!
Arzka responded immediately in an outraged voice.
But Jung Han-sung protested indignantly.
“No, doesn’t it look similar to you?”
―Completely different! Unlike this body, which was once a great warrior and mage, that thing is merely a lowly corpse fashioned from dragon bones!
Jung Han-sung let Arzka’s words go in one ear and out the other as he observed the boss glaring at him with a terrifying gaze.
At least, I thought I understood what Arzka was saying.
Arzka was essentially something akin to a lich. The method was somewhat different, but the resemblance was striking.
And true to his own words, he was both a powerful mage and a warrior.
My consciousness remained perfectly clear.
―Kneel…!
Meanwhile, the undead that emerged from the sarcophagus didn’t appear to have a particularly lucid mind at first glance.
All I could sense was a vicious murderous intent and resentment.
Grrrrgh!
As the enemy swung the staff in his hand, bone dragon soldiers began crawling out from the sarcophagi packed densely throughout the cavity.
These bone dragon soldiers appeared to be of a far higher caliber than the ones we’d faced on the way here.
In simpler terms, they seemed to have a higher dragon bone content.
Moreover, according to Arzka’s account, the boss had molded his body from dragon bones.
The implication was straightforward.
‘If I absorb all of them, my undead forces will multiply several times over.’
Most of the undead I’d brought would likely be reborn as proper bone dragon soldiers.
―Kill them…!
Then the boss swung his staff once more.
Black energy radiated outward from him and was drawn into the bone dragon soldiers.
I could feel the momentum of the bone dragon soldiers amplify several times over.
It wasn’t for nothing that he wielded the crown and staff—the morale-boosting effect was tremendous.
Shrieeeeeeek!
Soon the bone dragon soldiers charged forward with bloodcurdling roars, and my undead rushed to meet them.
Of course, Jung Han-sung didn’t simply stand by and watch this time.
Tap!
Lightly pushing off the ground, Jung Han-sung began sprinting directly toward the boss.
Naturally, bone dragon soldiers stood in his path, but Jung Han-sung used them as stepping stones and surged forward relentlessly.
The black blades the bone dragon soldiers swung couldn’t even graze Jung Han-sung’s collar.
Thus the distance between Jung Han-sung and the boss closed in an instant.
Jung Han-sung swung his sword without hesitation.
Crash-crash-crash!
Sword and staff clashed fiercely, testing each other’s strength.
At first, the staff shrouded in black mist seemed to hold its own reasonably well. But it was only a moment. The staff began visibly giving ground.
And while his opponent focused on the sword, Jung Han-sung unhesitatingly swept his leg.
Boom!
The boss, struck defenseless, was driven straight downward.
―Vanish…!
Still, worthy of being called a boss, the creature immediately sprang to its feet and raised the staff.
―Vanish…!
The surprising part came next.
The moment the boss cried out in that gloomy voice, ominous energy suddenly surged forth from the corrupted core atop the Altar.
Naturally, Jung Han-sung didn’t simply observe this and immediately approached to swing his sword once more.
Slash-slash-slash!
The energy that spread like a black curtain before the descending blade was torn asunder.
However, the aura pouring from the core was endless, quickly filling the void once more.
Jung Han-sung narrowed his eyes, observing the phenomenon.
‘That core’s power seems more dangerous than I thought.’
With countless battles under his belt, Jung Han-sung had assessed his opponent’s full strength the moment they first clashed.
Several tiers below Arzka, and not a particularly difficult adversary.
But when the boss drew upon the core’s power, that strength amplified several times over.
“Right. It would be anticlimactic if this ended too quickly.”
Jung Han-sung’s lips curved upward as he drew upon his mana even more intensely.
Crackle, crackle, crackle!
Thunder roared as the veil blocking Jung Han-sung’s path was torn asunder.
The veil recovered at remarkable speed, but Jung Han-sung paid it no mind, only increasing the velocity of his blade strikes further.
Slash!
Then, in a single moment, the veil split in two, and a straight path opened between the boss and Jung Han-sung.
Without hesitation, Jung Han-sung hurled himself through that opening, his blade extended.
Boom―!
With a thunderous crash, the boss’s body was sent flying backward. A massive hole had been carved through its form.
For an ordinary living creature, such a wound would have meant instant death, yet the creature’s eyes still blazed with fierce luminescence.
Moreover, black smoke gathered into that cavity, slowly beginning to seal the wound.
The pace was not particularly swift, but the creature had ample time to recover.
Slash!
Jung Han-sung was locked in combat with the auras hurtling toward him.
As I had anticipated, this aura emanating from the core was far from easy to contend with.
It pursued Jung Han-sung with relentless persistence, as though alive, and the most troublesome aspect was how difficult it proved to land a truly effective blow.
‘Tenacious.’
Jung Han-sung continuously slashed through the aura, advancing ever forward.
His destination was not the boss embedded in that wall recovering, but toward the Altar.
The true threat now was not the boss, but the aura pouring forth from the core.
Then the target was clear.
Destroy the core.
Yet the enemies could not possibly be ignorant of this.
Tap, tap, tap!
Dragon-fanged soldiers rushed forth from all directions, surrounding the vicinity of the Altar.
Currently, the battle between the dragon-fanged soldiers and Jung Han-sung’s undead was decidedly in his favor. Nearly overwhelming, one might say.
However, they had not yet pushed far enough to breach the Altar at the rear.
‘This displeases me.’
Jung Han-sung’s expression twisted.
Fighting enemies who charge forward with desperate resolve is enjoyable, but battling those who hunker down determined to endure is not.
―Judging by how they’re stalling for time, they must be scheming something.
“I agree.”
Whatever that creature was plotting, Jung Han-sung had no intention of dancing to its tune.
Crackle, crackle, crackle!
Rather than cutting down the malevolent aura targeting him, Jung Han-sung raised his sword.
Black smoke seized the opening and clung to his body, pouring curses into him, but he endured it while focusing all his concentration on the blade.
If the enemy wanted to maintain a stalemate, I would do the exact opposite.
Accept the damage and land a proper, decisive blow.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
Soon, violent lightning condensed at the tip of Jung Han-sung’s sword, and the air itself trembled.
―Vanish, vanish away…!
Sensing something amiss, the enemy—who had been focused on recovery—hastily climbed onto the Altar and raised its staff.
Then the black curtain spread across the Altar grew even darker.
At the same time, the black aura enveloping Jung Han-sung’s entire body began to devour him from within.
Yet Jung Han-sung remained unmoved, his stance unwavering, his eyes narrowing as he traced a single trajectory.
A path that would tear souls asunder and shake the earth itself.
Boom!
Immediately after, Jung Han-sung kicked off the ground and launched himself upward. Then—.
Craaaaaaash!
Descending like a bolt of lightning, he tore through the black curtain above the Altar.
Crash, crash, crash, crash!
The boss’s body, still standing with staff raised, literally shattered into fragments and scattered.
For a boss’s final moments, it was anticlimactic, but the truly astonishing event came next.
Whoooosh!
The sword, descending with the force to tear everything apart, stopped directly above the Core.
It was not Jung Han-sung’s own will that halted the blade.
An enormous force emanating from the Core was pushing his sword back in real time.
It was a force so overwhelming that the slightest misstep would send Jung Han-sung himself flying backward.
Grit—.
But Jung Han-sung gritted his teeth, enduring the pressure while continuously pouring mana into the blade.
Then the halted sword began to descend slowly, ever so slowly.
Uuuuuuuung!
The Core vibrated as if screaming. Yet the sword did not stop.
When the blade’s tip touched the Core.
Crack!
The entire Altar shook with the impact, and the black curtain enveloping the Core warped grotesquely and tore apart.
Cracks spread with a deafening rupture, and the sword drove relentlessly downward.
Crackle, crackle, crackle!!
Lightning flared once more from the tip of Jung Han-sung’s sword, beginning to penetrate into the Core.
It was not a mere physical strike, but a destructive current that would tear everything asunder.
Craaaash—!
At last, a rupture erupted from the Core’s center.
Jung Han-sung, leaning half his weight on the sword, endured the shockwave bursting outward.
And immediately after, black energy surged forth from the core.
It circled above Jung Han-sung’s head as if making a final desperate struggle, but before it could attempt anything, it simply scattered into the air.
In that moment, a message appeared.
[The corrupted core has been destroyed.]
[The Dungeon’s central energy source is dissipating.]
[The core’s energy is being absorbed by the core existing in the Territory.]
At that instant, the dragon-bone soldiers guarding the Altar all ceased their movements simultaneously.
Some froze mid-swing with their swords raised, while others remained on their knees with their heads bowed.
As if the strings of puppets had been cut.
“Phew.”
Jung Han-sung exhaled slowly upon witnessing this, letting his sword hang at his side. And immediately after.
[You have cleared the B-rank Dungeon, Unholy Lord’s Tomb.]
[Descend the Staircase to confirm your rewards.]
Another message appeared. This time, it was a Dungeon clear notification.
However, the content of this message differed slightly from what I usually received.
‘Confirm my rewards?’
Normally, Dungeons granted something beneficial to the Territory rather than direct material compensation.
But this time, it seemed different.
In any case, I could immediately identify what the message meant by the Staircase.
After the core shattered, the pedestal supporting it collapsed as well, revealing the hidden Staircase beneath.
“I’ll check and be back, so wait here.”
Jung Han-sung said this to the undead before descending the Staircase alone.
The Staircase wasn’t particularly long, so Jung Han-sung reached the Basement before much time had passed.
And there, I could confirm the true nature of the reward the message had mentioned.
“Wait, is that…. Am I seeing this right?”
Jung Han-sung’s eyes, which rarely widened in surprise, grew large.
There, a dragon’s skeleton lay in place.
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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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