I Just Subscribed and It’s the Best Hunter of All Time - 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.
As Jung Han-sung began to move, Maria naturally fell into step behind him.
Though the circumstances had caught her off guard, Maria possessed a sharp mind for quick decisions.
Rather than blindly trying to stop him, she posed a question instead.
“You won’t listen even if I try to dissuade you, will you?”
“Of course I’ll listen if you provide a rational reason.”
In other words, if she lacked persuasive power, no amount of talking would sway him.
Maria pondered for a moment before speaking.
“It’s obvious, but even among giants, there are significant differences in strength.”
Since attempting to stop him seemed futile anyway, she decided to offer useful information instead.
Only then did Jung Han-sung begin to listen intently to Maria’s words.
After all, the internet contained precious little information about giants—this was considered advanced knowledge.
“Is the difference substantial?”
“Yes. There are well over ten different types of giants alone.”
“Ah, I’ve heard of that. Some giants aren’t monsters at all but belong to the Aesir race, correct?”
“Exactly. Forest giants are the prime example.”
The Aesir race, simply put, referred to entities that appeared within The Tower possessing high intelligence and who didn’t indiscriminately oppose humanity.
Such beings either frequented the Neutral Zone within The Tower or appeared as mission allies.
Maria shifted her gaze toward the distant giant and continued.
“That giant there… judging by its appearance, it’s a stone giant.”
The giant’s skin bore a deep gray hue overall, with portions resembling solid rock formations.
The name “stone giant” suited its appearance perfectly.
Maria continued thoughtfully.
“Stone giants have incredibly hard skin. They possess formidable strength as a baseline. However, their intelligence isn’t particularly high—perhaps only marginally superior to goblins. And they’re extremely aggressive.”
“Does it have any weaknesses?”
“Hmm. They’re vulnerable to cold. But mere coldness won’t have much effect.”
Jung Han-sung nodded.
For a moment, I considered whether I should explore cold-based abilities, but I quickly dismissed the thought.
I had something else I wanted to test this time.
“I understand. Let’s increase our speed.”
Since I’d extracted all the useful information, I began accelerating in earnest.
As I started running, Maria immediately matched my pace and followed close behind.
Though the distance to the giant had been considerable, as we picked up speed, the gap closed rapidly.
‘Its size is absolutely enormous.’
I gazed up at the giant, my thoughts racing.
Even from a distance, it had seemed massive, but up close, it felt far more colossal.
In terms of sheer height alone, it rivaled the Serpent I’d faced previously.
But unlike the elongated Serpent, the stone giant was broad across its frame, with its entire body packed with muscle.
Naturally, the sense of overwhelming presence differed entirely.
Maria, following close behind, already wore an expression of exhaustion at the sight of the giant.
But to Han-sung’s eyes, all he could discern was the giant’s competitive spirit.
“Hey!”
Once he’d closed the distance sufficiently, Han-sung called out in a loud voice to capture the giant’s attention.
At the sound, the giant turned its head and looked toward Han-sung.
Their gazes collided in the empty space between them.
Without a moment’s hesitation, the giant slammed its palm down onto the ground.
Kwaaaaaang—!
As the colossal palm struck the earth, dust billowed outward in a violent cloud.
The giant then lifted its fist to inspect it, tilting its head in confusion.
It was the expression of something that had swatted at an insect only to find no trace upon its palm.
Of course, Han-sung and Maria had already noticed the movement and dodged before the palm could descend.
“That’s quite a greeting.”
“These things are always like that! What do we do now?!”
In response to Maria’s question, Han-sung looked up at the giant and spoke.
“I’ll engage it first. If it seems manageable, feel free to join in. If not, you can create distance.”
“I need a more concrete plan—!”
Boom—!
Before Maria could finish speaking, he pushed off the ground and launched himself toward the giant.
The giant belatedly noticed Han-sung and turned its body, but Han-sung’s blade descended faster.
Clang clang clang—!
Yet Han-sung’s sword failed to pierce the giant’s rock-like hide.
This caught Han-sung off guard.
It certainly looked solid, but he hadn’t expected the blade to fail to bite at all.
He had cleaved through the hide of a Mistral Serpent without difficulty, and that creature was renowned for its hardness and toughness.
“Graaaaaaah! Human!”
Yet it wasn’t entirely without pain, for the giant shrieked in irritation and swung its arm once more.
Whoooosh!
It was no special technique—merely a swing of its arm—yet a violent wind followed the arc of its limb.
Pure, overwhelming violence born of sheer mass.
And with such an enormous reach, dodging required reading the movement in advance and reacting accordingly.
Meanwhile, attacks from Han-sung’s blade proved futile against such a foe.
It was like poking a boulder with a toothpick.
‘This is troublesome.’
The Han-sung of old would have struggled considerably against such an opponent.
But the Han-sung of now did not.
‘Still, I can see it.’
The sheer size and linear nature of its movements made it clear.
The creature’s flow.
Han-sung watched as the giant raised its fist once more.
‘Now.’
Before the giant could swing its arm, I pushed off the ground and leaped upward.
Whoooosh!
The giant’s arm stretched out beneath me as I rose into the air. I landed lightly upon its limb.
It was as though our movements had been perfectly synchronized.
The giant naturally tried to shake me off, thrashing its arm violently, but I remained steady atop it, my feet clinging to its flesh as if magnetized, and I sprinted forward without hesitation.
‘If I read the flow and move with it, that’s all I need.’
Arthur was right—everything possessed a ‘flow’.
I couldn’t yet move freely in harmony with the flow at will, but catching glimpses of it, riding it for brief moments, was within my grasp.
In an instant, I had scaled the giant’s shoulder and raised my blade.
I had already tested the giant’s hide before—even a sharp sword couldn’t leave so much as a scratch upon it.
There was no point in striking such impenetrable skin; all I would accomplish was dulling my blade.
So instead of attacking the giant itself, I focused on the overall flow surrounding it.
And I swung my sword in accordance with that flow.
Skreeeech!
The blade sank into the giant’s shoulder with remarkable ease.
“Grraaaagh!”
The giant’s eyes snapped wide with agony, and it convulsed violently.
Rather than clinging desperately to the thrashing creature, I smoothly withdrew my blade and leaped backward.
Boom! Crash!
The giant lashed out with its fists in wild desperation, but they only pounded the empty ground.
“It hurts! It hurts!”
And in the process, the wound on its shoulder tore wider, blood streaming freely.
But then, the giant suddenly cried out in a booming voice.
“Ooo! Here! Danger! Enemy present!”
Hearing this, Maria rushed toward me in panic.
“That’s a call for the other giants! It’s dangerous! We need to retreat immediately—”
Boom! Thud!
Thud, thud, thud—!
Before Maria could even finish her sentence, a thunderous sound of footsteps echoed from the distance.
The giants, having heard the distress call, were approaching.
Maria’s face went even paler. But I spoke in a calm voice.
“I should be able to handle two. If more than three arrive, just lure one of them away.”
“What? That’s—”
“Are you uncertain?”
Gulp.
At those words, Maria’s mouth fell open before she clenched her teeth and spoke.
“So I just need to lure one away?”
“Yes. After all, our goal isn’t to kill them all, is it?”
The objective of this floor was merely to earn the giants’ acknowledgment.
There was no need to slaughter every giant that came at us.
“Understood. I’ll do my best to keep them from approaching.”
“Good.”
The moment our conversation ended, I charged toward the giant once more.
In truth, this floor had no time limit, so moving methodically as Maria suggested would have been perfectly acceptable.
But I didn’t want to.
Something felt tantalizingly within reach.
A sensation that if I pushed forward just a little more, I could break through the wall blocking my path.
So instead of retreating, I surged ahead.
“Human!”
The giant raised both arms and locked into a defensive stance as I rushed toward him again.
Unlike before, he wasn’t wildly swinging his limbs—it seemed wariness had finally taken root in that thick skull of his.
But I paid it no mind.
Thwack!
Instead of leaping upward as before, I closed the distance rapidly, sliding toward his feet.
The giant, realizing he could no longer allow me to approach, brought his fist crashing down from above.
Boom!
But once again, I evaded the attack with ease and slashed with my blade.
Slice!
“Gaaaahhh!”
My sword bit deep between the giant’s thick hide once more.
And this exchange repeated several times over.
I hadn’t sustained a single scratch, yet the giant’s body was now covered in numerous wounds both large and small.
Yet this hardly meant I held the advantage.
‘There’s still nothing I’d call a mortal wound.’
The giant meticulously protected his vital points above all else.
At this pace, I’d need to swing my blade a hundred more times before bringing him down.
Moreover, each casual swing of his fist forced me to dodge with considerable movement, inevitably draining my stamina at an accelerating rate.
Of course, I hadn’t exhausted all my options either.
I could have called upon Indra’s lightning, or acquired a new ability as I had in the previous battle.
‘Just a little more. Just a little more.’
But I didn’t.
Boom!
“They’re here!”
At that moment, the other giants finally arrived on the battlefield.
Three giants in total.
Maria called out a warning to me, then immediately rushed toward them to honor her promise.
I’d never seen her fight properly before, so her abilities intrigued me, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on that.
The giant I faced, seeing his allies arrive, shifted from defense to offense.
“Dangerous, human!”
“I’m coming to help!”
And so, one more giant joined the fray.
It seemed I had succeeded in luring two of the three, but there was no joy in that victory.
Whoooosh!
Crash!
The moment the additional giant joined the assault, the difficulty of evading their attacks skyrocketed.
Doubling their numbers didn’t simply double the challenge.
The giants weren’t standing side by side, taking turns with their strikes.
When I focused on the front, a fist came hurtling from behind; the moment I tried to counterattack, the other giant would strike.
“Pathetic vermin!”
“I’ll crush you beneath my feet!”
Watching me weave and dodge, the giants grew increasingly enraged, their attacks becoming ever more ferocious.
As I evaded their assault, my mind raced.
‘Have I grown overconfident?’
Should I have deployed every resource from the start to overcome them? Or should I do so now?
But somehow, I didn’t want to.
Throughout my life, I had been surrounded by countless obligations—things I had to do.
In that hamster wheel of repetition, there had been no room for what I wanted, for what I loved.
That’s why, when I awakened my ability and confirmed its power, I felt genuine joy.
Not simply because I could earn vast wealth, but because I finally had the chance to live as I desired.
And when Arthur showed me the way, I became captivated.
By its beauty. By its possibility.
And so.
‘I won’t surrender yet.’
I opened my eyes wide.
Boom―!
A savage roar accompanied the spray of stone fragments.
Rather than dodging them entirely, I absorbed the impact with my body, drawing my focus to its peak.
Minor wounds were nothing—I could recover from them easily.
What mattered was the flow.
Seeing the path through which all things connect, and moving with it.
Crash!
The moment I began concentrating on the flow, my movements paradoxically slowed.
Attacks I would have perfectly evaded before now grazed me, and even the slightest contact sent waves of excruciating pain through my body.
Yet I didn’t lose focus.
Rather, that pain elevated my concentration to even greater heights.
And then, in an instant.
“Ah.”
My eyes widened as I came to a complete standstill.
Watching the fist approach me, I whispered softly.
“Light feet, and when you strike, move like the wind.”
The phrase I recalled when I first accepted Arthur’s swordsmanship reassembled itself in my mind.
The circle Arthur had revealed at the end came back to me.
And.
“Thus, there is nothing that cannot be cut.”
My blade became the wind.
Schwick!
“Huh?”
The giant who had swung his fist with all his might let out a dumbfounded sound.
Boom!
Immediately after, his severed hand fell to the ground with a thunderous crash.
“Gah, gaaaaaahhhhh!”
The giant staggered backward, letting out a agonized scream belatedly.
Now it was just beginning.

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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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