I Just Subscribed and It’s the Best Hunter of All Time - Chapter 22
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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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#Episode 22.
Faction wars were fundamentally quite troublesome affairs.
Missions often proved complex, and the competitive nature was exceptionally fierce.
This mission, too, appeared formidable at first glance.
‘Occupation.’
Reaching that pillar of light alone wouldn’t be the end—not with occupation as the objective.
I pressed forward, surveying my surroundings carefully.
“Raaaaaaagh―!”
“Push! Keep pushing!”
I found myself in the thick of battle.
Each faction was distinctly color-coded, making the battle’s flow apparent at a glance. The Golden Eagle appeared to be losing ground.
Observing this, I considered my options.
‘They say rewards are greater when you choose the weaker faction.’
Fortune favored me, then.
I accelerated my pace.
“Someone’s coming!”
“Stop them!”
Members of the opposing faction moved to intercept me as I cut across the battlefield at speed.
This wasn’t unique to my experience.
Both factions’ soldiers understood the occupation point’s significance clearly, and they remained vigilant against any approach.
In other words, reaching the occupation zone itself was the true ordeal.
But as always, this posed no real problem for me.
I maintained my velocity, my blade sweeping in a continuous arc.
Boom―!
“Gack!”
“Aaaaagh!”
With each swing, thunderous impacts sent the soldiers blocking my path flying backward.
Mere soldiers could never hope to obstruct my advance.
“We need to move!”
“We have to stop them!”
Realizing the situation, the opposing faction’s hunters who had been cautiously approaching the occupation point rushed forward in panic.
They feared that if I secured the point first, it would become nearly impossible to dislodge me.
Watching soldiers scatter with each of my blade strikes, they likely thought, ‘Wait—they’re weaker than expected?’
“You bastards! How dare you!”
“Ugh!”
“Why—why are they so strong!”
But they quickly discovered their assumption was wrong.
The soldiers blocking my path were far more formidable than anticipated.
They couldn’t help but wonder if the soldiers crumbling before me in less than a second were truly the same caliber as those opposing them.
“There it is.”
Meanwhile, having effortlessly dispatched the enemies blocking his path, I arrived at the location marked by the pillar of light.
“Quite empty.”
On the surface, the place appeared ordinary, but I suspected it held strategic value.
“We’ve broken through!”
“Establish a fortification immediately!”
The allied soldiers who had been following me began constructing a defensive position at once.
Simultaneously, a message materialized before my eyes.
[Repel the enemies pouring in for 10 minutes to fully secure the occupied territory.]
Exactly as I’d anticipated.
Endure for a set duration, and the territory becomes fully occupied—mission complete.
“The enemies are coming!”
“Hold the line!”
The moment the occupation began, enemies surged forward like a tide.
If I failed to hold this position and lost the territory to them, the timer would reset, and I’d have to start the occupation process all over again.
Of course, I had no intention of letting that happen.
I moved directly toward the incoming enemy forces.
Around that time, other hunters who had chosen the Golden Eagle faction were arriving at the occupied territory one by one.
“Wait, why is that person fighting alone like that?”
“Shouldn’t we stop them?”
“From what I saw earlier, they seem to fight well… Should we go help?”
While they hesitated.
I began swinging my sword at the surging soldiers.
Crash! Clang! Clang!
The enemies rushing forward were literally swept away.
Not just the soldiers, but even the Enemy Faction hunters advancing among them.
Not a single opponent could withstand even one exchange against me.
“Insane…”
“…Is that even human?”
The other hunters who had been moving to join me froze at the sight.
If the difference in skill was moderate, they would have simply thought, ‘They’re quite skilled.’ But what I displayed exceeded that entirely. It was enough to make them question whether I was even the same person.
Those from the opposing faction also lost their will to fight after clashing with me a few times.
They realized this mission was already lost.
“Retreat!”
“Fall back!”
“Huh?”
Perhaps because of that.
Before even 10 minutes had passed, the enemies began withdrawing.
‘What happens now?’
I glanced at the message hovering in the air. There was still approximately 5 minutes remaining on the timer.
Han-seong caught a glimpse of the message floating in mid-air. There was still about five minutes left.
‘Should I just wait five more minutes like this?’
That’s what I was thinking when it happened.
[Occupation complete.]
A message announcing the completion of occupation appeared. Since the enemies had retreated, the occupation was immediately processed as complete.
[Floor 21’s objective has been accomplished.]
[You receive a medium-sized box as a reward.]
[You’ve accomplished Floor 21’s objective in record-breaking time!]
[You’ve forced enemy forces to retreat single-handedly.]
[You’ve achieved a clear rank of ‘SSS’!]
[Additional rewards are granted for this outstanding achievement!]
[You receive an Artifact Gold Box as a reward.]
I nodded as I watched the cascade of messages appear.
‘I didn’t miss the record for fastest clear time.’
I thought that the enemy’s mid-battle retreat had helped considerably.
If I’d used the full ten minutes, it would have been much harder to cut the record so drastically.
Of course, even if I’d used all ten minutes, I still would have been in first place.
Most hunters don’t typically charge through to the occupation point while smashing everything blocking their path like I do.
Next, I decided to move directly to Floor 22.
I’d already made up my mind to run without stopping from the moment I entered today all the way to Floor 25.
[Objective: Destroy enemy facilities]
[Time limit: Two hours]
Floor 22’s mission was a continuation of the faction war that had started on Floor 21.
The objective would be accomplished by successfully protecting my faction’s facilities while simultaneously destroying the enemy’s facilities.
Typically, missions like this end up consuming the entire time limit.
Protecting your own facilities while destroying the enemy’s isn’t as simple as it sounds.
“Hmm.”
I stroked my chin thoughtfully.
No matter what, with only one body, I couldn’t simultaneously protect my facilities and destroy enemy facilities.
So I decided to think about it differently.
‘What if I just destroy the enemy facilities so quickly they don’t even get a chance to destroy ours?’
All I need to do is move faster than they do, right?
Whoosh!
As I was thinking this, pillars of light shot up from various locations once again.
It seemed that during faction wars, this was how the system marked the positions of hunters participating in the mission.
Simultaneously, a blue pillar of light marked the objective point.
The moment I confirmed the pillars of light, I kicked off the ground and began sprinting.
This time, I didn’t bother assessing the surroundings or anything else—I simply moved at maximum speed using the artifact and the power of lightning.
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
Of course, there were those who tried to block my path, but they couldn’t even properly approach me.
By the time they spotted me, I’d already moved far beyond their reach.
Thus, I reached the destination indicated by the pillar of light without any obstruction.
“An enemy approaches!”
“Stop them!”
Before me stood a hastily constructed fortification made of woven wood.
Soldiers were already positioned there, and it was clear that my objective was to overcome their resistance and destroy the facility.
I took my stance directly in front of it.
Crackle, crackle, crackle!
As I drew upon my mana, my blade responded, unleashing brilliant azure lightning.
The soldiers within the fortification sensed something and their faces turned pale, but there was nothing they could do.
Boom!
A lightning-like sword strike descended upon the fortification.
One section of the fortification collapsed entirely from that single strike. And that was merely the beginning.
I swung my blade repeatedly, single-handedly dismantling the enemy fortification entirely.
The time it took for the fortification to crumble completely was merely around one minute.
[The objective of Floor 22…]
Once the fortification was completely destroyed, the familiar message appeared announcing the completion of the objective.
The message also naturally included notification of setting a new record time.
“What? What was that?”
“It’s already over?”
The other hunters, who received the mission completion notification without even having a chance to act, expressed their bewilderment.
For them, the mission had ended while they were still en route to the destination after confirming the objective.
Still, those belonging to the Golden Eagle, the same faction as me, had nothing to complain about.
It was essentially like getting a free ride. As for those in the opposing faction… well, they were simply unlucky.
How could one possibly stop a natural disaster?
Meanwhile, this pattern repeated without exception on Floor 23 and Floor 24.
Missions that would normally take at least twenty to thirty minutes, I completed in one minute.
Each time, those participating in the mission with me received the mission completion message without understanding what had happened.
However, the situation on Floor 25 was somewhat different.
“Huh?”
“Oh, hello.”
“Greetings!”
This time, all participants from the same faction were summoned to the same location.
There were five of them in total.
All of them had ascended through the previous faction warfare missions.
Of course, that didn’t mean they had all participated in the same mission as me.
Typically, hunters would rest for at least several days after clearing a floor.
In other words, they had no knowledge of what had transpired on the previous floors.
As we exchanged greetings awkwardly, a message appeared announcing the objective.
[Objective: Destroy the enemy’s carriage.]
[Time Limit: Until the carriage reaches its destination]
Carriage destroyed.
Those who witnessed it spoke up one by one.
“It seems the other side’s objective is to protect the carriage.”
“Looking at the time limit, it appears we just need to destroy it before reaching the designated location to complete the objective?”
“It won’t be easy. There will definitely be plenty of soldiers stationed around it.”
“Can’t we bring our soldiers with us?”
“I don’t think we can. It looks like we’ve been classified separately as a special unit.”
They began discussing seriously how to tackle this mission.
Watching them, I felt a sense of freshness.
I’d heard this was the typical approach, but it was my first time witnessing it directly.
On the 12th Floor… it was more like a battle of wills than constructive discussion.
‘Perhaps teamwork isn’t so bad once in a while.’
I entertained that thought before opening my mouth at an appropriate moment.
“I’ll move separately.”
“Pardon?”
“Why?”
“It seems like it’ll finish faster that way.”
With that, I pushed off the ground and left. Those remaining stared after me with dumbfounded expressions. Some even hurled harsh words.
But it couldn’t be helped.
I had something truly important to do on Floor 25.
I opened my inventory and retrieved the item I’d carefully stored inside.
‘To search for treasure comfortably, I should finish the mission quickly first.’
The item in my hand was a treasure map.
After completing the mission, I could remain on this floor as long as I wished.
So I decided to finish the mission swiftly first, then leisurely search for the treasure.
“Found it.”
Fortunately, finding the carriage wasn’t difficult.
Like the previous floor, it displayed the location in real time.
Around the carriage, there was considerably heavy military presence, just as the others had speculated.
It appeared they were transporting something or someone of great importance.
“I should finish this in one go.”
I stopped at an appropriate distance and gazed at the carriage. Then I drew my concentration to its peak.
I read the flow.
I found the flow connecting from where I stood to the carriage.
Finally, I stepped into that flow and swung my blade.
Crash!
When I regained awareness, my blade had already crossed through the carriage.
Those surrounding the carriage turned toward me with startled expressions.
But before they could do anything, I completed my swing.
Boom!
The carriage was completely destroyed, collapsing to the ground in ruins.
[Floor 25 objective completed.]
A message appeared, confirming the destruction of the carriage.
“What… what is this?”
“No, who… who are you?”
The Enemy Faction hunters guarding the carriage blinked blankly before bombarding Arthur with questions.
Of course, Arthur had no reason to deal with them, so the moment he confirmed the mission completion message, he immediately left the area.
After traveling far enough to avoid any troublesome encounters, Arthur finally stopped and pulled out the treasure map.
“Let me see.”
By then, thoughts of the completed mission had already been pushed to the back of my mind.
I examined the map carefully, then resumed my journey.
Since the treasure map wasn’t particularly detailed and didn’t provide helpful location descriptions, I had to go through several rounds of trial and error.
“Found it!”
But by persisting and continuing my search without giving up, I finally managed to locate the position marked on the treasure map.
The first thing that caught my eye was a dull-colored door.
Carved into it was a pattern whose exact meaning I couldn’t decipher, but as I drew closer, a message appeared.
[You have discovered the Temple of the Fallen.]
[There is a very high probability of rare treasures inside, but there may be corresponding dangers as well.]
[Will you enter?]
It was a message that truly ignited my desire to challenge myself.
I smiled and answered.
“Yes. I’ll enter.”
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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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