I Just Subscribed and It’s the Best Hunter of All Time - Chapter 186

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

#Chapter 186.
I’d defeated the Insect Summoner.
But that didn’t necessarily mean it would help with exploring the Ancient Ruins.
The Insect Summoner was, after all, just another person who’d come to explore the Ancient Ruins.
Eliminating someone who’d been constantly obstructing us would certainly make things easier going forward, but I’d also wasted time dealing with him.
“There’s a corpse here too.”
“Looks like his handiwork.”
But as we continued exploring the Ancient Ruins, it became clear the Insect Summoner had interfered with far more than just one or two people.
There were multiple corpses bearing traces of insect attacks.
“It seems he was trying to eliminate his competition.”
Considering the corpses near the entrance and the insects he’d left scattered about, the Insect Summoner appeared to have launched indiscriminate attacks to remove his rivals.
Normally such actions would invite public condemnation, but he’d shown some cunning in that regard as well.
“Most of his victims seem to be unaffiliated individuals.”
“He was being selective about his targets.”
He deliberately avoided large groups and powerful individuals, attacking only those who seemed easy prey.
That was likely why he’d attacked our group as well.
We weren’t particularly numerous, bore no Guild insignia, and lacked any notable reputation.
Though Jung Han-sung had grown somewhat famous recently, few people actually knew what he looked like.
“Regardless, the major Guild members are probably advancing steadily right now.”
“That’s likely the case.”
They hadn’t interfered with the Insect Summoner, so they would have progressed unimpeded.
To catch up with them, our group didn’t slow our pace.
But after passing through a certain section, something else began to obstruct us.
Boom—!
While traversing the corridor, a sudden blast and intense heat suddenly engulfed us from one side.
A trap had been triggered.
It appeared the area where the Insect Summoner had stationed himself was remarkably free of traps.
Or perhaps he’d disarmed them beforehand while establishing his position.
He couldn’t risk his insects getting injured.
In any case, after leaving that zone, we had to stop repeatedly due to frequently triggered traps.
The traps’ power was too formidable to simply ignore and pass through as before.
Still, though we paused occasionally, we were never completely blocked from advancing.
“There’s something ahead.”
At the end of the long corridor, we discovered a distinctly different space.
It was a vast chamber.
The ceiling soared high above, and ancient carvings lined the walls, their surfaces faintly glowing with incomprehensible patterns.
And in the center of the chamber.
There stood an enormous stone statue.
The statue bore human form, but where its face should have been, there was only a hollow void.
It was clearly an ominous place.
But what mattered most right now was something else entirely.
“….”
There were other visitors in that chamber.
Nine figures stood arrayed around the stone statue, each bearing weapons and armor that spoke of serious intent.
“They appear to be from Koltein.”
Maria whispered the words to Jung Han-sung.
“Koltein?”
“Yes. Russia’s premier Guild.”
At the mention of a Russian Guild, Jung Han-sung nodded in acknowledgment.
The United States, Japan, and China were the most renowned nations among Awakeners. If they constituted the first tier, then Russia occupied roughly the 1.5 tier.
Korea ranked somewhere in the second tier.
And Koltein was among Russia’s top one or two Guilds.
They displayed wariness as Jung Han-sung entered the chamber, yet they neither addressed him nor made any hostile moves.
They simply conversed among themselves.
They ignored him, but they weren’t antagonistic—so it didn’t matter.
“It appears we’ll need to pass through this chamber.”
“That seems to be the case.”
There was nothing else of note in this vicinity.
It was effectively a dead end.
If the Ancient Ruins didn’t terminate here, then passage through this chamber was inevitable.
‘Have the other Guilds already passed through?’
That would explain why only Koltein remained here.
They were considered inferior to Guilds from the United States or Japan.
“Hmm.”
Jung Han-sung’s thoughts reached that point before he looked up at the stone statue.
Either way, I had to pass through as well.
‘What method did they use?’
Rather than subscribing to another Channel for answers, Jung Han-sung examined the statue intently.
Something felt on the verge of surfacing in my mind.
‘Somehow, this place also seems connected to magic, doesn’t it?’
The sensation came. It was too strong to simply ignore.
So Jung Han-sung continued observing the statue—the statue and the mana flowing around it.
At first glance, the mana surrounding the statue seemed unremarkable. A stark contrast to the previous passage, where something had become visible the moment a Channel was subscribed to.
But Jung Han-sung didn’t surrender and persisted in his observation.
Then, at some point.
‘What’s that?’
Something entered Jung Han-sung’s field of vision.
It was an extremely faint thread. A thread imbued with peculiar magical power.
Unlike the lines of mana I’d seen before, this one would require considerable time to relocate if lost even once. Its presence was that tenuous.
So Jung Han-sung focused his gaze and traced the thread with his eyes.
Before long, I discovered what lay at the end of the thread.
It was a small stone.
Jung Han-sung moved toward it, and only after bending down to pick it up did I realize something crucial.
It wasn’t an ordinary stone at all—it was an eye.
A stone statue’s eye, to be precise.
‘How peculiar.’
I held the eye fragment firmly as the thought crossed my mind.
Now that I held it directly, I could sense it—mana densely packed within.
Yet when I’d observed it with my eyes alone, nothing had seemed amiss.
‘Not an ordinary stone, then?’
It certainly appeared so. With mana condensed to this degree, it should have been visible from a distance, yet it wasn’t.
“Hmm.”
I examined it from various angles before looking up at the statue.
‘It doesn’t seem to have been damaged long ago.’
I hadn’t noticed when observing the statue alone, but seeing this detached fragment made it unmistakable.
This damage was recent, and someone had deliberately caused it.
That naturally led to the question: ‘Why?’
Who had destroyed the statue, and for what reason?
Yet considering the nature of this place, the answer came easily.
‘They deliberately destroyed the statue to prevent others from solving its secret.’
Those who had passed through here before.
They had destroyed the statue to prevent those who came after from following in their footsteps.
Perhaps multiple guilds had arrived here around the same time back then.
If they had amicably passed through this place together while destroying the statue, it would fit perfectly.
It made sense that Koltein over there was struggling to uncover this space’s secret.
They had destroyed an object that appeared connected to this space’s mystery. Naturally, they would suffer far more than those who had passed through before.
“Have you discovered something?”
At that moment, Maria approached and whispered softly.
I immediately understood why Maria had asked such a question.
Koltein over there was watching me intently.
Their gaze seemed to be probing whether we had obtained any clues from this location.
I chuckled softly and replied.
“Yes. I’ve figured out how to proceed.”
“Truly?”
Maria answered while suppressing her surprise as much as possible.
I nodded to her and spoke.
“We need to return fragments like this to the statue first.”
“I see.”
Right. This wasn’t the sort of puzzle we could solve secretly among ourselves and breeze through.
Hiding it over there would be pointless.
Jung Han-sung held up the stone fragment in his hand and addressed them directly.
“We need to find pieces like this—fragments that were once part of the statue’s head!”
The people who had been subtly watching them flinched at his words, then exchanged glances among themselves.
Soon, one of them approached—a notably large man.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Exactly what I said. We need to restore the statue’s head to unlock this place’s secrets. Try holding it.”
Jung Han-sung tossed the stone fragment to him as he spoke.
The man caught it reflexively, and his expression immediately hardened.
It seemed he too had sensed the mana contained within it.
“It’s brimming with such mana, so how could we have possibly…”
His eyes reflected bewilderment—wondering why they hadn’t noticed it themselves.
Jung Han-sung shrugged and replied.
“It must be some special material. Anyway, if you want to get through here, find something similar. You can keep that one.”
“…Since you found it, I should return it.”
The man said this and handed the stone fragment back.
Then he turned and spoke to the others.
“Search for stone fragments with a similar composition to that statue. When you touch them, you’ll feel a strong surge of mana from within.”
After that, both groups began carefully examining the scattered stones on the ground.
“I found another one here.”
Maria bent down and picked something up. Upon inspection, it was a fragment similar to the one Jung Han-sung had first discovered.
Jung Han-sung held both pieces in his hands, closed his eyes, and concentrated.
A resonant hum emanated outward.
Immediately, a response came.
Jung Han-sung collected those pieces and released another wave of mana. Repeating this process, the fragments gathered in moments.
Once the Koltein Guild grasped the pattern, they too found fragments surprisingly quickly.
After approximately thirty minutes, all the pieces needed to restore the statue had been found.
“We’ll handle the restoration from here.”
The Koltein Guild took charge of the restoration.
They had an Awakener specialized in this kind of work.
A powerful resonance erupted.
The Awakener extended both hands toward the gathered fragments and activated their ability.
The pieces rose into the air of their own accord and flowed directly into the statue’s missing sections.
A crisp, grinding sound filled the air.
Before long, the statue’s head was fully restored.
Though cracks and imperfections remained throughout, it was easy enough to discern its original form.
“So what do we do with it now?”
The Koltein Guild member then asked Jung Han-sung.
Jung Han-sung answered simply.
“Pour mana into it.”
He raised one hand and released mana toward the statue, and immediately its two eyes began to glow.
Screeeeeech!
A beam of light erupted from the statue’s luminous eyes, piercing through space to fix upon a singular point.
The wall to the left.
Jung Han-sung and the others walked toward it.
Originally, that wall had appeared utterly unremarkable.
Yet the moment the light streaming from the statue’s eyes illuminated it, transformation occurred.
“A door?”
A crimson door materialized upon the gray stone wall.
With both groups standing before it, an unmistakable tension permeated the air.
But it dissipated quickly.
“Since you opened it, you decide the order.”
The burly Male Ranker turned to Jung Han-sung with the question. The others nodded in apparent agreement.
He seemed to be their leader.
Jung Han-sung shrugged and replied.
“I won’t decline.”
Without hesitation, he grasped the door handle and pulled it open.
Though they hadn’t expected him to open it so directly, everyone tensed.
Creak—
Upon seeing the landscape beyond the open door, their eyes widened in astonishment.
An expansive Grassland stretched before them in breathtaking vastness.

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