I Just Subscribed and It’s the Best Hunter of All Time - Chapter 194
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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 194.
Kaltar unleashed the mana he had desperately accumulated, conjuring an extraordinarily thick barrier of pure defensive force.
It appeared sturdy enough to withstand even a meteorite’s impact.
Yet Jung Han-sung simply curved his lips upward and extended his arm.
CRAAAAAAAAAAAASH―!
Divine retribution’s lightning struck down upon the barrier.
Kaltar had maintained composure throughout the entire confrontation.
He still possessed hidden reserves of power and considerable strength remaining in reserve.
CRASH-CRASH-CRASH-BOOM!
Yet the moment divine retribution’s lightning began piercing through the barrier, all composure drained from Kaltar’s face.
Instead, desperation consumed him as he frantically erected new defensive layers.
CRASH-CRASH-BOOM!
But no matter how many barriers he conjured, divine retribution’s lightning merely slowed—it never stopped.
In truth, merely delaying the lightning at all was an extraordinary feat.
The power I was currently wielding was not my own true strength, but rather the borrowed might of a divine entity.
In essence, Kaltar was standing against a god itself.
“No, this can’t be…”
Yet even such resistance had its limits.
The barrier’s regeneration slowed progressively while the lightning accelerated once more.
Kaltar’s face drained of all color as he gripped his staff, and in that instant, blood spilled from his lips.
“Cough!”
CRACK-CRACKLE-SNAP!
Simultaneously, hundreds of barriers shattered in unison as the lightning streaked forward with devastating velocity.
CRASH-RUMBLE-THUNDER!
The lightning descended directly upon Kaltar’s crown.
In that moment, his body went rigid as he glared toward where I stood.
His lips moved as though attempting to speak, yet they never parted again.
Thud―.
Kaltar’s body collapsed completely.
I confirmed that Kaltar had lost consciousness entirely, then my expression grew peculiar.
‘He actually endured that.’
Kaltar had certainly fallen. Yet he had not died.
It was remarkable.
Because I had unleashed it with my own body, I knew with absolute certainty.
That attack was something I myself could never have defended against.
It was an assault that made the magnitude of divine beings’ power abundantly clear.
Yet Kaltar, while unable to achieve perfect defense, had survived—merely losing consciousness instead of his life.
Perhaps the Ancient Ruins’ power contributed to this, but even accounting for that, it was extraordinary.
‘He didn’t survive a thousand years for nothing.’
With that thought, I descended slowly toward the ground.
I had just over two minutes left. Not much time at all.
If I didn’t want to see Kaltar awaken again, I had to finish this decisively within that window.
Without hesitation, I reached toward the fallen Kaltar.
Crack!
Lightning poured down once more onto the defenseless Kaltar.
The concentrated force destroyed his body at an even faster rate than before, and it wasn’t long before Kaltar became nothing but ash.
Yet even in that state, something remained.
It was Kaltar’s soul.
I couldn’t fathom how much he had tempered his spirit, but the soul that emerged from his ashen body was remarkably large and vivid.
However, in a situation like this, that was of little help.
Which made it all the easier for me to capture it.
Snap!
I seized Kaltar’s soul with lightning wrapped around my hand.
The lightning itself was power from the Channel I subscribed to, but the technique was something I had originally known.
Few were as versed in souls as the Necromancer Commander.
“Submit.”
I spoke while holding Kaltar’s soul in my grasp.
Then Kaltar’s soul writhed and twisted. He was refusing my command.
Crackle!
In response, I intensified the lightning’s power. The soul flickered as if it might shatter at any moment.
But I wasn’t fooled.
The lightning was now perfectly controlled, and I could apply just enough force to avoid permanent damage to the soul.
Crackle, crackle, crackle―.
I maintained the lightning until he submitted completely.
Time continued to pass.
If he didn’t submit before the subscription ended, I could simply erase his soul entirely, so I wasn’t particularly worried.
Then, when only about twenty seconds of subscription time remained.
Whoosh―!
A brilliant light burst from the soul and began to be drawn into my hand.
I soon confirmed that a mark appeared on the back of my hand, then vanished.
‘So that’s how it works.’
Since this time I was subduing a powerful soul, I had used a new method, and what just occurred was the result of Kaltar’s complete submission to me.
Crackle―.
The moment I confirmed Kaltar’s submission, the lightning flowing from my entire body suddenly vanished without a trace.
Simultaneously, I felt a powerful wave of exhaustion wash over me.
Just as euphoria and pleasure had surged through me the moment I subscribed, now a wave of lethargy and helplessness crashed over me like the tide.
“Huff.”
I exhaled and barely tried to control my swaying body.
But I soon realized that was impossible, so I simply collapsed to the ground.
The moment I hit the floor, a message indicating the subscription had ended reached my ears along with a voice.
―It was enjoyable, mortal.
It was a voice I had heard once before.
The voice of Indra, who had gifted me with lightning.
I felt Indra’s presence vanish completely from my body, and in that instant, a tremendous wave of agony began coursing through me.
The exhaustion and helplessness I had felt moments ago were merely restrained because Indra had not yet fully departed from my body.
But now that the subscription had ended and Indra had completely withdrawn, the price of exerting such overwhelming force began to crash down upon me in earnest.
“Ugh…”
I trembled under the immense pain.
This was not merely physical suffering. It transcended the corporeal realm.
It was the agony of my soul being twisted and torn asunder.
“Brother!”
“Jung Han-sung. Are you alright?”
Cho Cheon-woong and Maria, noticing my distressed state, quickly approached me.
I gestured for them to wait a moment, then clenched my teeth and crossed my legs in a seated position.
As I began to employ my divine techniques and breathing methods, the pain gradually subsided.
Of course, it was impossible to suppress it completely.
I had borrowed the power of a divine being and channeled it through my own body.
‘At least it ended here. I’m fortunate.’
As I breathed and assessed the damage, I found that the wounds remaining in my body and soul were recoverable.
Had I used the power for even a moment longer, or more violently, permanent damage would have been inflicted.
‘Perhaps that’s why the usage time was limited to five minutes.’
That seemed plausible.
In any case, I remained in that state for some time before slowly rising to my feet.
“Brother, please rest a bit longer.”
Cho Cheon-woong spoke to me with concern, but I shook my head.
“This place. It will collapse.”
“Pardon?”
Cho Cheon-woong responded in confusion.
I spoke haltingly in reply.
“The master… is dead. It won’t… hold much longer.”
Though the soul was now bound to me, the fact remained that Kaltar was dead.
I steadied my breathing and spoke more quickly.
“I’m holding it back for now, but we need to gather what we can and leave quickly.”
“Understood.”
Rising from my seat, I walked toward the chair where Kaltar had been sitting and said, “Follow me.”
Then I reached the chair and, running my hand along its back, found a groove and infused mana into it.
“Ugh.”
Intense pain surged through me during the process, but I gritted my teeth and endured it.
I had to channel the mana in precisely the correct manner.
Because I had to infuse magic power in a precisely determined way.
Fortunately, the process didn’t take long.
Clatter, clatter, clatter—
Soon the chair shifted to the side, revealing a staircase descending beneath it.
Jung Han-sung entered naturally, as if he’d known about it all along.
It was only natural—Kaltar had been the one to reveal the existence of this passage.
Not by answering questions in real time, but by extracting all the essential information beforehand when subduing him.
‘He’s not answering at all now.’
I’d subdued him, but making him obey commands perfectly was another matter entirely.
He’d noticed that my condition wasn’t normal and that I no longer possessed divine power like before, so he’d immediately switched into resistance mode.
But it didn’t matter.
I’d already learned everything I truly needed to know about the Ancient Ruins.
I could deal with completely breaking him after escaping the ruins.
“This way.”
After descending the staircase, I followed the corridor that appeared, discovering hidden chambers along the way and collecting the items within them.
The items looked incredibly ancient, yet they were surprisingly well-maintained.
“Wait, why are there so many artifacts here?”
Cho Cheon-woong murmured in astonishment upon seeing the items in the Storage.
A thousand years of collecting had resulted in a collection where every single item was of exceptional quality.
Fundamentally, almost everything was an artifact, and there wasn’t a single ordinary-grade artifact among them.
“We’re short on time. Just grab everything.”
At my urging, everyone silently gathered the items, and once we’d collected everything worth taking, we moved along the corridor again.
As I moved, I reflected.
‘I was careless this time.’
Kaltar had been a truly formidable enemy—far beyond my expectations.
I’d naturally assumed the Ancient Ruins wouldn’t be easy, but I never anticipated an opponent of this caliber lurking within.
‘If a monster like that had been rampaging through the ruins attacking people…’
Most would have perished.
Even Nok-rim, the second-strongest faction, couldn’t defeat me, yet Kaltar had nearly crushed me.
Aegis was far more powerful than Nok-rim, but even they might have struggled against Kaltar.
―Honestly, this was just bad luck. How could anyone have anticipated such a monster?
Onyx offered consolation to me, who was lost in thought.
Well, he wasn’t wrong.
Honestly, this wasn’t the kind of enemy you could prepare for.
Among all the Ancient Ruins discovered so far, there had never been a being this powerful.
But I shook my head and answered silently.
‘Still, my preparation was insufficient. If I’d subscribed to multiple powerful channels from the start, I might not have needed to use emergency measures.’
―Honestly, I probably could have destroyed most enemies without them.
Onyx fell silent after that, realizing I wouldn’t listen to anything else he said.
He was right.
‘I need to accelerate my progress through The Tower.’
In the end, the only answer was to grow stronger. And to grow stronger, I had to climb The Tower.
Onyx seemed to have anticipated that I would think this way, so he said nothing more.
Rumble—!
But then, the ground around us began to shake violently.
The Ancient Ruins were collapsing.
“We move faster.”
I gritted my teeth against the pain coursing through my body and quickened my pace.
I had to escape the Ancient Ruins as swiftly as possible.
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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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