I Just Subscribed and It’s the Best Hunter of All Time - Chapter 212

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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 212.
I caught the staff without thinking.
Normally, I would have asked what it was, but since I was still sharing the vision of the Wind Spirit I had temporarily contracted with, I could recognize what it was.
“A staff imbued with your power.”
―That’s right!
The Wind Spirits nodded and spoke.
―With that staff, you can borrow our strength!
―If you completely drain it, it’ll take a long time to recharge, but if you only use a little, the friend you contracted with will recharge it for you!
“Hm?”
I tilted my head at those words and spoke.
“Wasn’t the contract supposed to last until the Sanctuary was completed?”
The Sanctuary had been completed much faster than expected, but a contract was a contract.
It was better to clarify these details. Better than letting the contract drag on ambiguously.
The spirits answered my question simply.
―We just decided to keep the contract going!
―We like this place more than we thought, and Maria seems like a good person!
Well, it was obvious that the spirits had taken a liking to Maria.
But she and I were separate matters.
I looked at the spirit still perched on my shoulder.
Then the spirit turned its head sharply and spoke.
―Sepi.
“Hm?”
―My name is Sepi.
My head tilted further at those words.
“I thought it was a different name last time?”
In fact, I had heard the spirit’s name before. But back then, it was definitely a different name.
Then Sepi answered simply.
―That was an alias!
“Ah, an alias.”
So spirits had those too.
I chuckled softly.
Though she hadn’t said it directly, I wasn’t so oblivious as to miss why she was revealing her true name at this moment.
I stroked Sepi’s small head and spoke.
“Right. I look forward to working with you, Sepi. You know my name, don’t you?”
―I do! Jung Han-sung!
“That’s right.”
And so, not only Maria but I too had formally contracted with the spirit.
In truth, I didn’t desperately need the spirit’s power, but there was no harm in contracting with them.
After all, spirits could exercise their power quite efficiently within their respective attributes.
And the spirits themselves grew stronger as well.
Jung Han-sung finished his conversation with Sepi and turned back to Maria with another question.
“So you’re planning to live here permanently?”
“Yes. I thought it would be a good place to practice both spirit magic and archery.”
“That makes sense. With all this open space, it’s not a bad location.”
The archery technique Jung Han-sung had taught me wasn’t something that could be mastered by simply hitting targets at close range.
Since it was fundamentally a technique that borrowed the power of spirits, an open space like this was far better for training.
Besides, since spirits frequented this place, it would also be ideal for practicing with them.
“Then I’ll visit occasionally.”
―Yes! Come play!
“Okay.”
With that, Jung Han-sung finished the conversation and left the Sanctuary with light steps.
―Where to now?
As soon as Jung Han-sung left the Sanctuary, Sepi asked him a question.
He answered simply.
“I’m going to enter the cleared Dungeon and examine the dragon I saw there.”
―Ugh!
Sepi immediately showed signs of displeasure and spoke.
―I’ll stay behind! Call me later!
“Sure. I’ll call you after a bit.”
―Okay!
Knowing that spirits instinctively felt repulsion toward the undead, Jung Han-sung sent Sepi back without hesitation.
Besides, he didn’t need her help right now anyway.
After Sepi left, the spirits’ shared vision that had been naturally maintained naturally faded away.
‘That feels strange.’
I had felt it before, but the sensation of the spirits’ vision felt more peculiar at the end than at the beginning.
It was a strange sense of emptiness and void, one might say.
It was likely an emotion felt as this new sensation appeared and then disappeared.
Jung Han-sung suppressed those feelings and focused on moving to the Dungeon while riding Thunder Wolf.
Whoosh―!
Thunder Wolf moved swiftly, carrying Jung Han-sung to the Dungeon entrance in an instant.
Rather than dismounting and walking, Jung Han-sung moved directly with Thunder Wolf all the way to the deepest part of the Dungeon.
Snap!
The undead creatures encountered along the way saluted Jung Han-sung.
This place was arranged almost entirely with undead. They had to maintain thorough vigilance twenty-four hours a day.
“Welcome, sir!”
Of course, there were naturally living people as well. Someone was needed to manage the undead.
Jung Han-sung nodded to the person in charge of this place and asked a question.
“Has there been any trouble so far?”
“No, sir! As I reported, there are periodic vibrations and the mana concentration grows denser, but we haven’t observed any signs of it awakening or anything similar.”
“I see.”
After hearing the story.
Jung Han-sung entered the location where the Bone Dragon was situated.
“Hmm.”
The Bone Dragon remained motionless, positioned at the center of a massive magical formation.
Jung Han-sung circled around the Bone Dragon, murmuring to himself as he inspected it.
“At this rate… it should awaken within a week at most.”
While I couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment of awakening, I could estimate the approximate timeframe.
Given the current accumulation of mana, it would be roughly a week.
‘It seems slightly accelerated compared to the original estimate.’
Well, it wasn’t a significant deviation from my initial prediction anyway.
Confirming that it wouldn’t awaken immediately, Jung Han-sung slowly circled the magical formation, checking for any signs of damage or problems.
Even though it would awaken soon, I couldn’t afford to be careless.
If the magical formation were damaged, unforeseen consequences could occur.
The Bone Dragon could go berserk, or the mana accumulated over countless years could vanish in an instant.
Or the mana could surge uncontrollably, obliterating the dungeon and the surrounding area.
That’s why I had deployed substantial forces to this dungeon. If someone intentionally damaged the magical formation, it would be a catastrophic accident.
With the additional barrier stones installed and forces stationed nearby, nothing serious should occur.
“Good. Everything looks pristine.”
After confirming there were no issues, Jung Han-sung exited with a satisfied smile.
He also instructed the Manager to watch carefully, as there was a high probability the Bone Dragon would awaken within a week.
“Yes! The moment I see any signs of awakening, I’ll report it immediately.”
“Good. Thank you for your efforts.”
As Jung Han-sung left the dungeon, he decided to increase the troop deployment. He also summoned several undead that he kept with him.
“Guard this place for a week.”
At his command, the elite undead saluted sharply and immediately took positions at the dungeon entrance, beginning their watch.
Having completed all his tasks, Jung Han-sung returned to his Territory riding Thunder Wolf.
After that, nothing noteworthy occurred.
* * *
After resting sufficiently and finishing his affairs in the Territory, Jung Han-sung stopped by Earth once more before ascending The Tower.
Though I had previously neglected Earth’s matters while focusing on The Tower’s conquest, recently I’ve been visiting whenever time permits.
The situation on Earth had become increasingly ominous.
―This time, monsters have appeared in the Russian region, it’s being reported.
When I turned on the television, the news was broadcasting reports of monster outbreaks.
It seemed they had judged that their previous thorough censorship of monster information had become futile.
Unlike the past, the internet made information control ineffective now.
Especially when that information was sensational.
“Russia, huh… they should have some capacity to handle it.”
Jung Han-sung stroked his chin thoughtfully.
While Russia wasn’t a particularly notable nation, I had never heard any mention of their Awakener forces specifically.
Africa, on the other hand, frequently had posts labeling it as having the weakest Awakener forces, so I’d heard its name mentioned occasionally.
That meant they were generally performing at average levels.
After conducting additional research, Jung Han-sung discovered that Ukraine had been steadily enacting strict legislation against Awakeners over the past several years.
As a result, the exodus of Awakeners had accelerated dramatically, and progress on The Tower’s conquest had slowed considerably.
‘Particularly, the top-tier Awakeners had migrated en masse to other countries…or so it seems.’
But that was only until recently.
Ukraine suddenly reversed its stance and made efforts to attract Awakeners back by any means necessary.
‘And then the monster incident broke out in the midst of all that.’
It was likely that they began taking a more favorable stance toward Awakeners after learning information related to the monsters.
“Everything feels rather unsettled.”
As of now, not many nations had suffered significant damage from the monsters.
Most had succeeded in suppressing them during the initial stages.
However, based on what I’d heard from Onyx recently, that was merely a matter of time.
‘Once the monsters successfully break through the encirclement, establish themselves, and begin breeding on their own…the situation will escalate dramatically.’
For now, the monsters summoned from The Tower remained confined to its vicinity, but that restriction would eventually disappear.
The number and strength of appearing monsters would continue to increase.
Currently, being in the early stages, suppression remained manageable.
Fundamentally, without consistently conquering The Tower, there was no way to avoid facing the monster threat.
“Hmm.”
After watching the news for a while longer and the coverage shifted to unrelated topics, Jung Han-sung turned off the television and checked his phone.
Most of the messages were from the Association—more precisely, from Baek Jin-woo.
Various pieces of information.
Previously, his phone had been flooded with all sorts of advertisement messages and messages from people whose names he’d long forgotten.
But after changing his number, all those messages had completely stopped.
It was probably because he hadn’t engaged in any particular activities on Earth since changing it.
“Mm.”
While scrolling through the accumulated messages, Jung Han-sung paused at one in particular.
―There is someone who earnestly wishes to be introduced, and I contacted you to see what you might think.
This was the first time Baek Jin-woo had sent a message offering to introduce someone.
Fundamentally, he was extremely reluctant to assign Jung Han-sung anything bothersome.
But reading through the message, I understood why he’d sent it.
‘The former number one ranked in Korea.’
The request made to the Association came from none other than the former number one ranked team in Korea—those affiliated with First.
And the matter in question was directly related to The Tower’s conquest.
After reading that far, Jung Han-sung reflexively recalled someone.
‘That woman.’
The woman he’d happened to encounter in the Neutral Zone.
Jung Han-sung had also been present at the scene where she’d attempted to persuade someone who was quitting, ultimately failing.
And while there had been a very brief connection afterward…it wasn’t particularly important. It had been little more than passing by.
After deliberating briefly, Jung Han-sung sent a reply.
―You can contact Cho Cheon-woong regarding that matter.
I also left a message for Cho Cheon-woong. The Association would be reaching out about this and that. If he wanted, he could meet with them directly and make his decision. That was the gist of it.
‘I have no intention of forming a team with anyone else unnecessarily.’
But the situation was different with Cho Cheon-woong and Maria.
If the two of them were to conquer The Tower, wouldn’t three be better than two?
They hadn’t caught up to First’s record yet, but I believed that with them, I could catch up sufficiently.
‘That woman’s team suddenly disbanded, so she’s probably in a state where she can barely make any progress on conquests.’
Well, if they refused, that was fine too.
I wasn’t in urgent need of people right now.
I organized my thoughts up to that point and rose from my seat.
I had finished all my business. It was time to ascend The Tower again.
‘Could it be that place again?’
I scratched my chin, recalling the previous two missions.
For some reason, I had a strong feeling that this wouldn’t be the end of it.

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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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