I Just Subscribed and It’s the Best Hunter of All Time - Chapter 174

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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 174.
Under normal circumstances, this would be a situation that should send chills down one’s spine.
A voice called out from directly above my head as I approached the Cave, where the stench of blood hung thick in the air.
Anyone could tell that the owner of that voice harbored no good intentions.
Yet Jung Han-sung showed no change in expression, simply tilting his head upward in a smooth, unhurried motion.
There stood an elderly man whose face was unnaturally pale.
A flicker of bewilderment crossed the old man’s eyes for a brief moment.
Normally, when one pulled off a surprise like this, people would scatter in panic, and even those with composed temperaments would flinch.
Yet Jung Han-sung remained perfectly calm, as though he had known all along that the man was there.
“What?”
So the old man found himself asking a question without thinking.
Jung Han-sung tilted his head and countered.
“What what?”
“Why aren’t you surprised?”
“Should I be?”
“Most people would be.”
“I see.”
The two stared blankly at each other. But only for a moment.
Rather than continue this strange standoff, Jung Han-sung raised his weapon and asked.
“You’re the Blood Pursuer, right?”
“That’s right. You came looking for me?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Then let’s have some fun.”
The Blood Pursuer said this, then kicked off from the branch he’d been standing on.
Watching this, Jung Han-sung’s eyes narrowed slightly.
That brief movement alone was enough to gauge his opponent’s ability.
The branch he’d been standing on didn’t look particularly thick, and when he leaped upward, it barely trembled at all.
It was clear that his mastery of lightness technique had reached an extraordinary level.
The old man soared high into the air and swung his arm toward Jung Han-sung.
Whoosh!
Jung Han-sung twisted his body to the side in a flash.
Then, with a sharp crack, hidden blades embedded themselves in the ground.
‘Throwing knives?’
So that was his specialty. As I pondered this, the Blood Pursuer descended toward me again, both arms extended.
Jung Han-sung saw something sharp glinting at the tips of the Blood Pursuer’s fingers.
Clang!
A sharp metallic sound rang out immediately after.
The Blood Pursuer had descended while wielding his weapon.
‘Claws?’
Jung Han-sung examined his opponent’s weapon.
Sharp blades protruded from the Blood Pursuer’s hands—a rare exotic weapon known as claws in the West, or as claw techniques in martial arts traditions.
It wasn’t a commonly used weapon.
But that didn’t mean I’d never faced one before.
Given the countless enemies I’d encountered throughout my journey, I’d crossed blades with claw-wielders a handful of times.
Clang, clang, claaang!
So while Jung Han-sung struggled slightly at first, he quickly adapted to his opponent’s movements and began turning the tide in his favor.
It was the Blood Pursuer who found himself flustered.
Few martial artists specialized in claw techniques.
This meant the Blood Pursuer typically gained at least a fifty percent advantage in any confrontation.
He fought with a familiar weapon while his opponent grappled with an unfamiliar one, preventing them from displaying their true capabilities.
Yet Jung Han-sung showed no such signs of struggle.
His composure was only natural.
Moreover, for the Blood Pursuer—one accustomed to being the source of surprise rather than its recipient—this was deeply wounding to his pride.
Unfortunately, that was merely the beginning.
“Hmm.”
After an intense exchange, Jung Han-sung nodded slightly, retreated a step, and scattered something across the ground.
The Blood Pursuer, thinking Jung Han-sung was hurling hidden blades or poison, leaped back—only to freeze as he recognized what had been thrown.
“Jiangshi?!”
Indeed, what Jung Han-sung had cast were bone fragments.
‘So this is what it means to be called a Floor Master.’
Initially, I’d regarded him with suspicion based on his casual demeanor and tone, but through our exchange, the truth became undeniable.
The Floor Master was in no way inferior to the previous Floor Masters I’d faced.
In fact, he was considerably more threatening in certain respects.
‘He’s clearly cunning and underhanded.’
The Floor Masters I’d encountered before, despite their immense power, had displayed a certain straightforwardness in combat.
Even Arzka, who possessed some tactical acumen, hadn’t employed particularly complex schemes.
By contrast, this Floor Master appeared willing to employ any means necessary without hesitation.
That’s why Jung Han-sung decided not to prolong the engagement and immediately summoned his undead.
“Attack.”
Jung Han-sung issued the command without delay.
The Blood Pursuer, watching the jiangshi—or rather, the undead—charge toward him, was startled once more.
Their movements were remarkably fluid.
Of course, they weren’t jiangshi but undead, and like all undead, their motions carried a certain rigidity.
Yet everything is relative by nature.
To the Blood Pursuer, who had only ever encountered jiangshi, the undead’s movements seemed almost as natural as those of the living.
This realization sparked another hypothesis.
“Could these be the legendary blood jiangshi?!”
Blood jiangshi—creatures that existed almost solely in legend, as the Blood Pursuer himself would attest.
They retained nearly all their former strength and moved with such natural grace that distinguishing them from the living was nearly impossible—true monsters among monsters.
The moment this possibility crossed his mind, the Blood Pursuer spun around and bolted.
Blood River Technique is crafted using martial masters of peak rank or higher as materials.
To Blood Pursuer’s eyes, the undead charging forward looked exactly like a swarm of peak-level masters rushing at him.
―He’s fleeing?
Meanwhile, Jung Han-sung was equally taken aback upon seeing Blood Pursuer escape toward the Cave.
Not only was his movement far faster than anticipated, but Jung Han-sung had never imagined such a skilled fighter would abandon all hesitation and choose retreat so readily.
Still, the undead showed no panic and immediately launched attacks to capture Blood Pursuer.
Yet Blood Pursuer evaded every assault with movement techniques honed to their absolute pinnacle.
Whoooosh!
When webbing flew toward him, he bent his body low to the ground, nearly touching it, and slipped past.
Boom!
As Nox closed in from the side and threw a punch, Blood Pursuer used the full force of that impact to propel himself further away.
Thus Blood Pursuer vanished completely into the Cave.
Since the Cave itself wasn’t far away, there was nothing to be done about it.
“Stop.”
Jung Han-sung halted the undead that were about to follow inside.
There was no telling what lurked within—reckless entry was forbidden.
―A Floor Master in retreat. That’s quite a rare sight indeed.
“Indeed.”
Having encountered only aggressively hostile creatures until now, this was genuinely refreshing.
Jung Han-sung began walking slowly toward the Cave.
Since he’d already intended to enter it anyway, he simply thought of this as the order being reversed.
As he drew closer to the Cave, the stench of blood grew progressively thicker.
Whatever had transpired inside, it was certain the sight would be far from pleasant.
“Let’s go.”
Of course, turning back was never an option.
Jung Han-sung formed a proper formation with his undead and entered the Cave.
Once inside, the blood scent became suffocating, yet something else demanded attention even more.
A corpse hanging from the ceiling.
Its placement seemed designed as a warning to intruders, and like the bodies witnessed in the Village earlier, all blood had been drained from this corpse as well.
Jung Han-sung proceeded past the body, surveying the interior thoroughly as he advanced.
Dark red stains had dried and hardened across the floor in various spots.
What those stains signified required no deliberation—the reek of blood intensified sharply whenever he approached them.
What troubled him was that these stains weren’t scattered randomly.
Upon closer inspection, they followed a distinct pattern, yet their precise purpose remained unclear, which only added to his unease.
At least there were no traps within the Cave itself.
Thanks to this, Jung Han-sung and his undead progressed unobstructed.
Before long, they arrived at a considerably spacious Cavern Chamber.
―Hmm.
Onyx, upon seeing the Cavern Chamber, licked his lips with evident intrigue.
―A primitive Altar.
“An Altar.”
Jung Han-sung spotted it in the center of the Cavern Chamber.
It looked exactly like a massive Altar, just as Onyx had said. And standing at the center of that Altar was the Blood Pursuer.
“Kekeke. So the rat has finally come scurrying after all.”
The Blood Pursuer laughed with a sickly rasp upon seeing Jung Han-sung and the undead appear.
“Fool! Had you simply turned back, you might have preserved your lives!”
Sensing the overwhelming confidence radiating from his opponent, Jung Han-sung’s eyes gleamed with intrigue.
Based on what I’d observed thus far, this place resembled the martial arts worlds I’d encountered through various media back home.
Yet the Blood Pursuer had prepared an Altar that looked precisely like something a dark sorcerer would use.
Naturally, I found myself curious about its true purpose.
Unaware of this, the Blood Pursuer, seeing Jung Han-sung’s silence, smiled even more broadly and raised both arms, gesturing toward the undead.
“I’ve already discerned that those things are not Blood Puppets!”
Instead of answering, Jung Han-sung thought to himself, ‘So he’s only just realized that now?’
After all, I’d never claimed they were Blood Puppets in the first place, nor had I intended to deceive him with such a claim.
Whether he knew or not was irrelevant.
The Blood Pursuer, lost in self-intoxication, continued his tirade before raising his other arm as well.
“Excellent! Now I shall use you wretches as nourishment for my ascension!”
And in the next instant.
The Blood Pursuer suddenly dropped to all fours, then tilted his head back and began to emit a low, rumbling roar.
Jung Han-sung frowned upon seeing blood and saliva mixed together dripping from between his fangs.
‘Blood Art, then.’
A martial technique he’d heard about from the Heavenly Demon came to mind.
The Heavenly Demon had once said that among all martial arts, Blood Art was the most alien and bizarre.
Blood Art operated on entirely different principles than ordinary martial techniques, often requiring sacrifices for cultivation, and frequently combined with sorcery.
And the Blood Pursuer standing upon that Altar satisfied every single one of these characteristics.
In hindsight, the very fact that his epithet contained the character for “blood” was already ominous.
“Krrgh.”
Even as these thoughts crossed my mind, the Blood Pursuer’s body began to swell grotesquely.
Until now, he’d appeared as an ordinary old man, but his face remained unchanged while his body inflated like that of a robust, muscular man.
Boom―!
And in the next moment, the Blood Pursuer kicked off from the Altar with both hands and feet, charging straight at Jung Han-sung.
Naturally, the undead had no intention of standing idle.
They immediately launched attacks to intercept the Blood Pursuer.
Crash!
The Blood Pursuer swung his muscular arms and shattered their attacks.
His movements remained similar to before, but the power contained within them was incomparably different.
Moreover, whether his intelligence had been lost in the transformation or not, he feinted attacks at the undead before slipping through their defense and closing the distance to Jung Han-sung in an instant.
Despite his confident declaration that they weren’t Blood Puppets, some caution still remained.
However, charging at Jung Han-sung proved to be an equally unwise decision.
Crackle-crackle-crackle!
After all, Jung Han-sung was the strongest presence in this place.
Crack-boom!
Without a shred of hesitation, Jung Han-sung drove a bolt of lightning down upon the Blood Pursuer.

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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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