I Just Subscribed and It’s the Best Hunter of All Time - Chapter 197
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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 197.
When they first spotted the whirlwind, everyone simply blinked in bewilderment—utterly unprepared for such a sight.
A monster attack? That was plausible.
The Territory under siege? They’d certainly considered that possibility.
But the moment they arrived at the Territory, the sight of an absolutely colossal whirlwind tearing through the landscape was something no one had anticipated.
“W-wait, whirlwinds form in Unclaimed Territory too? Ah, yes, they would. Of course. With the rain and all.”
Cho Cheon-woong was so flustered that he posed a question to himself and answered it himself.
Well, now that he mentioned it, his logic wasn’t entirely flawed.
With rain falling and wind howling, a whirlwind forming was certainly within the realm of possibility.
But then Maria offered a different perspective.
“It’s possible this phenomenon was caused by an enemy or monster.”
Jung Han-sung nodded at her words.
“That’s a fair point.”
After all, Jung Han-sung himself could summon lightning from a clear sky, so it was entirely feasible that someone could conjure a whirlwind.
“Let’s go.”
Once I’d managed to suppress my initial shock, everything accelerated.
Everyone picked up their pace, rushing toward the direction of the Village—or more precisely, urging their summoned creatures forward.
As our speed increased, Thunder Wolf surged ahead of the group.
While the other summoned creatures were hardly weak, Thunder Wolf itself was particularly specialized for velocity.
I also possessed superior mobility compared to Awakeners of equivalent rank.
Rumble―!
Thunder Wolf continued its charge with thunderous roars, and before long, the outline of the Village came into view in the distance.
The Village’s palisade could hardly be called a palisade anymore.
It looked more like a wooden fortress wall, if I’m being honest.
‘It seems to have grown taller since I last saw it.’
I swept my gaze across the surrounding area with that thought in mind.
If enemies or monsters were attacking, their presence would surely be visible.
‘I don’t see anything particularly suspicious.’
Yet nothing caught my eye.
I scanned an exceptionally wide area, suspecting they might be scheming from a distance, but found nothing there either.
It seemed I’d need to enter directly to understand what was happening.
I approached the Village, and once I drew sufficiently close, they recognized me and immediately opened the gates.
“Welcome!”
A guard stationed inside the gate greeted me with a resonant voice, and the people around him bowed respectfully in welcome.
Baek-seol emerged from among them.
“Master!”
I greeted Baek-seol with a smile as she bounded toward me, tail wagging.
“I’m back.”
“Welcome home! Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No, I’m fine.”
In truth, Jung Han-sung’s condition was far from ideal, but he deliberately concealed any sign of it as he spoke.
If he mentioned it, they would surely worry themselves sick, perhaps even rushing to summon a healer or alchemist.
Besides, there was something far more pressing at the moment.
“But what in the world is that whirlwind?”
“I was just about to tell you about that!”
Baek-seol opened her mouth to answer as if she had been waiting for the question.
“It seems the Spirits in the surrounding area have become angry!”
“Spirits?”
Jung Han-sung’s expression grew puzzled. He had expected the answer to be an enemy, a monster, or perhaps even a natural phenomenon.
While Spirits did occasionally appear as enemies within The Tower, they were typically corrupted or twisted in some manner.
It was rare for ordinary Spirits to openly turn hostile. That was why Jung Han-sung found this so strange.
“Why would the Spirits be angry?”
That whirlwind seemed genuinely furious, yet he couldn’t fathom the reason.
Baek-seol answered his question.
“It appears that one of the New Settlement candidates I mentioned before was a place the Spirits frequently visited.”
“Ah, that one you mentioned recently.”
Recently, Jung Han-sung had decided to construct another settlement within his Territory.
While the current Village continued to expand and an Auxiliary Base already existed elsewhere, the growth was so extraordinary that these alone proved insufficient.
He wasn’t building in some random location, though.
It was planned near where the Dungeons clustered and where the Golem Workshop stood.
This way, those working there could travel conveniently.
“That place was somewhere the Spirits frequently visited?”
“Yes! At the time, none of the workers had any affinity with Spirits, so we failed to identify it early. I apologize for not confirming it myself.”
“No, there’s no need to apologize.”
How could anyone have known that the exact location he intended to build on was a place the Spirits favored?
If the Spirits had been continuously dwelling there, they would have issued some warning before anything was done.
But these Spirits had only discovered later that their beloved haunt had been completely transformed, and now they had come to lodge their protest.
‘Troublemakers, truly troublemakers.’
Of course, from the Spirits’ perspective, they had legitimate grievance—their original territory had been altered like this.
Jung Han-sung turned his head to look beyond the Village.
The whirlwind still churned there menacingly.
“Hmm. Has anyone been injured?”
“No. They’re simply circling this area as if lodging a complaint.”
If that whirlwind had charged directly at them or had already caused significant casualties, Jung Han-sung would have acted immediately.
But hearing that they hadn’t actually caused direct harm made him hesitant to intervene.
“Brother!”
While they spoke, Cho Cheon-woong and Maria arrived a moment late.
Jung Han-sung relayed the entire story about the Spirits to them.
“What, the Spirits?”
“Mm.”
The two of them heard the story and observed the whirlwind spinning nearby.
They too seemed completely unaware that Spirits were posing a threat.
“Brother, we can somehow….”
In that situation, Cho Cheon-woong spoke cautiously.
It appeared he was concerned about Jung Han-sung’s physical condition.
But Jung Han-sung shook his head.
“We can’t just leave that thing alone. Let’s handle it quickly.”
After all, if something like that keeps circling around the village, it’s distracting and makes it hard to rest properly.
“Then I’ll be back shortly.”
“Oh, should I come with you?”
“No, it’s fine.”
Jung Han-sung mounted Thunder Wolf again and headed outside. Cho Cheon-woong and Maria immediately followed after him.
Whiiiiiiiii―!
As I drew closer to the whirlwind, its true power became apparent.
There’s a saying in The Tower that nothing is more terrifying than an enraged Spirit.
Spirits don’t often become angry, but when they do, their fury is truly frightening.
“The power is…. quite extraordinary.”
I couldn’t tell how many Spirits had gathered, but the whirlwind wasn’t something that would disperse from a single bolt of lightning.
Of course, it wasn’t an impossible opponent either.
But I approached to a dangerously close distance first, then spoke in a loud voice.
“I am the master of this Territory! Let us talk!”
The moment I shouted, there was an immediate response.
The whirlwind trembled once, then slowly began approaching in my direction.
What was remarkable was that despite the distance closing, the wind didn’t feel any fiercer.
The Spirits were controlling the wind with extraordinary precision.
‘Well, for a Wind Spirit, that wouldn’t be difficult.’
For a Wind Spirit, manipulating wind was as natural as breathing. There was nothing particularly unusual about it.
In any case, what mattered now was how the Spirits would react.
I deliberately didn’t draw any weapons and even sent Thunder Wolf back before facing the vortex.
I was showing that I had no intention of hostility.
―The master of this place?
Shortly after, a voice reached my ears.
The voice was extremely neutral, and its age was completely indecipherable.
It sounded like a cheerful young child, yet simultaneously felt like an ancient, gnarled tree.
I recalled my knowledge about Spirits.
‘If it’s a Spirit capable of communication at this level, it shouldn’t be of low rank.’
Very low-ranking Spirits cannot communicate in such a clear manner.
Well, I had anticipated this to some extent.
A truly low-ranking Spirit wouldn’t have been able to conjure such a massive whirlwind in the first place.
“Yes. I am the master of this Territory.”
But Jung Han-sung answered with unshakeable confidence.
Each time I spoke in a loud voice, my head throbbed with a dull ache, but there was no benefit in appearing weak.
Then, after a brief pause, a response came back.
―Your people. Destroyed our precious place.
“I’ve heard about that.”
Jung Han-sung spoke in a measured tone.
“Did you ever warn us before destroying it, or leave any notice?”
―…At that time, we were not there.
“Then did you leave any traces indicating it was a place you frequently visited, or leave a warning not to touch it?”
―Spirits do not do such things.
“But we humans make our judgments based on such things.”
I continued speaking while gazing at the still-churning whirlwind with a heavy stare.
“So you’re saying that just because we developed a place with no warnings or traces, you came here and threatened us like this?”
―But….
“We’ve been settled here for quite some time. If you truly wanted to, you could have come and left a warning before then. In that case, we would never have touched your place in the first place.”
As Jung Han-sung continued speaking with confident conviction, the whirlwind created by the spirit wavered back and forth.
It was evidence that the spirit was flustered.
―That place is precious to us.
And so it simply repeated what it had said at first.
It seemed the spirit was running out of words.
“So what are you trying to say? First, I sincerely apologize for destroying your precious place. As I mentioned before, if I had known it was important to you spirits, I would never have approached it.”
―….
“It seems an apology isn’t enough. Do you want us to completely vacate that area?”
―…A place that’s already been destroyed cannot be restored immediately.
From what Jung Han-sung could see, there was nothing particularly remarkable about it, but it seemed there was something that only the spirits could sense.
That is, if the spirit wasn’t lying.
But it appeared the spirits themselves didn’t quite know what to demand.
‘It seems like they just came charging in out of anger?’
Yet since I was approaching this far more politely than expected, they couldn’t even maintain their anger and were just stammering awkwardly.
At that, Jung Han-sung paused to consider.
Several ways to appease the spirits came to mind.
But simply appeasing them and sending them away felt unsatisfying. It seemed there might be a way to gain something from this situation.
Soon, after deliberation, Jung Han-sung spoke.
“What about something like this instead?”
―What is it?
“I’ll prepare a place that you spirits would find appealing. I’ll do my best to cooperate.”
The whirlwind visibly weakened at that.
―Is that true?
“Yes. Humans have our own techniques, after all. Isn’t it better to try something rather than do nothing?”
Did that reasoning sound plausible to them?
The Spirit spoke shortly after.
―Let me hear your tale once.
At that, Jung Han-sung let out a low chuckle.
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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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