I Just Subscribed and It’s the Best Hunter of All Time - Chapter 98

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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 98.
The moment Jung Han-sung saw the message, he headed toward his Territory without hesitation.
As my wavering vision stabilized and the dizziness faded, the landscape of the Territory came into focus.
“Everyone to your positions!”
“To your positions!”
The Territory was considerably more bustling than usual.
Baek-seol, standing in the center of the Village, was issuing commands in a loud voice. The people drew their weapons and moved to their designated spots in response.
“Brother!”
It was Cheon-ung who greeted Jung Han-sung, rather than the busy Baek-seol.
Jung Han-sung looked at him and asked.
“I came as soon as I saw the message. What’s happening?”
“Ten minutes ago, the undead scouts we sent out discovered an enemy force.”
Cheon-ung immediately began briefing him on the situation.
“The third squad went on reconnaissance and was checking the area around the Hill in the six o’clock direction relative to the Village.”
Currently, over a hundred undead were stationed in the Village.
Normally, when sending scouts outside, they were organized into squads of twenty.
“But while they were moving, they discovered approximately thirty armed individuals approaching in this direction.”
“Thirty? That’s not… wait, actually, that’s not insignificant either.”
My Territory had over a hundred combatants thanks to the undead, but without them, I would have had at most around twenty.
‘If I had deliberately increased the number of combatants from the start, we might have reached thirty or forty.’
In any case, thirty was hardly a negligible force.
“So thirty armed individuals, and some Awakeners among them.”
“Yes. Isn’t it likely that the owner of another Territory has brought their forces here?”
“That’s probably the most likely scenario.”
All the Territories in this vicinity were newly established ones that had been around for less than two months.
Typically, when first entering the Unclaimed Territory, people were dropped into areas of similar level.
Cheon-ung then checked the time and spoke to Jung Han-sung.
“They should arrive in about five minutes.”
“Understood. I’ll wait here for now.”
“Yes! Then I’ll help with the rest of the battle preparations!”
Jung Han-sung nodded.
Cheon-ung immediately rushed to Baek-seol and assisted with the Village’s combat readiness.
Deliberately, I held back and stood at a distance.
This had been decided in advance.
Though I visited the Territory frequently, I couldn’t remain there twenty-four hours a day.
In other words, there would be times when battles occurred in my absence.
‘As time passes, such situations will become more frequent.’
Therefore, we had decided that Baek-seol would take full command in such circumstances.
I had resolved to only assist in combat if the timing worked out and I arrived in time.
“Preparations complete!”
Before long, the Village had completely shifted into a defensive posture.
All non-combatants had taken shelter inside the buildings, leaving only combat personnel and support staff to prepare for the enemy’s arrival.
They conducted training whenever time permitted, and it showed—their formation was quite impressive.
Jung Han-sung finally moved to stand beside Baek-seol.
“Master!”
Baek-seol bowed her head respectfully upon seeing Jung Han-sung approach her side.
“We currently have a total of 141 personnel participating in the defense. Of those, 108 are undead, and 33 are Village residents.”
“The proportion of Village residents is surprisingly substantial, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Among the Village residents, 10 are directly engaged in combat, while the remaining 23 provide combat support.”
Combat support involved supplying combat materials like arrows to those on the front lines.
Jung Han-sung nodded in acknowledgment.
“In any case, our forces are overwhelmingly superior.”
“Yes. Typically in defensive battles, the defending side holds the advantage, and our troop count exceeds theirs by more than fourfold.”
“Still, we can’t afford to be careless. We don’t know how strong they are.”
In The Tower, combat couldn’t be judged by numbers alone.
This was a world where superhuman beings existed.
Jung Han-sung himself had faced over a hundred opponents more than once.
“But naturally, you’ve already gathered intelligence on the enemy’s troop strength beforehand, haven’t you?”
“Hehe, of course!”
Baek-seol wagged her tail and spoke with unwavering confidence.
“Their troops are equipped at a fairly decent level, but the individual soldiers don’t seem particularly exceptional! They just seem adequately trained, nothing more.”
“What about their commander?”
“They appear to be an Awakener. It seems the Territory’s master personally led all the troops here, but the only unknown variable is the Awakener’s actual strength.”
“True. It’s difficult to accurately gauge someone’s level just by appearance.”
Climbers in particular were hard to assess based on outward appearance alone.
Someone could have minimal combat experience yet possess extraordinarily powerful abilities.
To truly understand their strength, there was no choice but to engage them directly. And that moment arrived sooner than expected.
A voice cried out loudly.
“The enemy has reached the barrier!”
Indeed, Han-sung’s Territory possessed a barrier. It had been erected using a Boundary Stone obtained previously, and its range was now set to encompass only the immediate vicinity of the Village.
The intention was to draw the enemy as close to the Village as possible.
Baek-seol immediately issued her orders.
“Attack the enemy while using the barrier as cover!”
The barrier itself was no different from a fortress wall.
Though a fence surrounded the Village, Baek-seol had never intended to allow the enemy to reach that point.
She planned to conclude the entire battle near the barrier.
A deep rumble echoed—
The barrier shook violently as the enemies who had reached it began their assault.
In response, our forces advanced toward the enemy’s position.
Jung Han-sung slowly followed behind alongside Baek-seol and the other commander.
“Destroy it! The defensive barrier of a territory like this must be pathetically weak!”
Not long after stepping outside, I heard someone shouting loudly from far away.
Looking in that direction, I could see a Male Ranker commanding troops beyond the barrier.
At that moment, the atmosphere grew tense as they seemed to notice my forces approaching.
I observed their reaction with keen interest.
“Prepare for battle!”
Initially, they showed some tension, but there was no sign of fear.
However, as my forces continuously poured out from within the enclosure, their complexions gradually grew pale.
It was understandable—the disparity in troop numbers was staggering.
But that was only momentary.
“Those bastards are nothing but cannon fodder! Keep pounding the barrier! That’s how we’ll conquer the territory!”
The Male Ranker who appeared to be their commander rallied his spirits and continued attacking the barrier.
Watching this, I pondered internally.
‘Why do they seem so confident?’
With such a disparity in forces, one would expect them to recognize something had gone wrong, yet their panic subsided remarkably quickly.
Did they possess some hidden strategy? Or had they miscalculated their own strength?
Even as these thoughts crossed my mind, I deliberately refrained from interfering with the command.
If I started meddling from the beginning, I’d want to do so in every subsequent engagement.
“Aim!”
Soon, my forces began attacking the enemies beyond the barrier.
“Fire!”
Over a hundred soldiers released their arrows simultaneously, sending them in a parabolic arc toward the enemy.
The arrows passed straight through the barrier and rained down upon them.
Clang, clang, clang!
The enemies immediately raised their shields to block the arrows, but there was no avoiding casualties from shafts that pierced through the gaps.
This was the advantage of a defensive barrier.
My side could attack through it while the enemy had no way to retaliate until they destroyed it.
In fact, this was precisely why I found their persistence so puzzling.
‘What exactly are they relying on to hold their ground?’
At first, I wondered if their troops possessed overwhelmingly superior quality.
But watching them block the arrows just now, that didn’t seem to be the case. They appeared to be merely adequately trained conscripts.
‘My side has the barrier, superior numbers, and comparable troop quality.’
By any measure, continuing this assault was suicide.
Had they possessed any sense, they should have retreated the moment they confirmed my troop strength.
‘Or at the very least, they should have realized something was amiss when the barrier didn’t fall quickly.’
Yet they did not.
Despite suffering casualties from the recent volley, they continued battering the barrier without hesitation.
I observed the Male Ranker still shouting hoarsely as he commanded.
‘Does that man possess some secret?’
If the enemy wasn’t simply a fool devoid of thought, then logic dictated they possessed some decisive trump card to reverse the situation.
Or perhaps they had been aiming for something different from the start.
‘Something different.’
I narrowed my eyes. Then I glanced at Baek-seol and Cheon-ung beside me to see if they were thinking the same thing I was.
That’s when Baek-seol spoke.
“I’ve positioned undead in every direction the enemies could approach from. I’m holding an artifact that can send signals from a distance, but there hasn’t been any signal yet.”
As Baek-seol said this, she tapped the artifact hanging around her neck with her front paw.
“That’s what you were about to ask, wasn’t it?”
I smiled at Baek-seol’s words.
“Right. You’re thorough.”
“Hehe, I have to respond thoroughly so I don’t cause you any worry, Master!”
Then Cheon-ung spoke up from beside me.
“But if they’re planning a feint operation, we should be getting a signal soon. This is strange.”
“Right. They don’t seem like they can hold out much longer either. And there’s no way the barrier would break before that.”
At their exchange, I stroked my chin.
I wondered if the main force was circling around elsewhere to attack while I was distracted here.
But the enemy forces had already been reduced to less than half their original numbers.
With over a hundred soldiers continuously unleashing arrows without pause, it was only natural.
‘No, it seems like they’re not even actively defending in the first place.’
I narrowed my eyes.
Something kept bothering me.
What was it?
―Maybe he’s just an idiot?
Onyx flicked his tongue as he spoke. But I didn’t agree with him.
Something didn’t add up.
You don’t make such a judgment simply because someone is foolish.
There’s no reason to push forward so recklessly as if hoping for the complete annihilation of your own troops.
No, before that—why are they even following such orders in the first place?
Orders that are essentially telling them to charge into certain death?
No matter how well-trained they are, could that really happen? Normally, they should have scattered long ago.
Something was wrong.
“Ah.”
Then something suddenly occurred to me.
The moment I thought of it, I immediately pulled out my staff from my inventory.
Then I cast a spell toward the corpses lying ahead.
“Rise.”
The incantation to raise the undead.
But….
‘There’s no response.’
Usually in this case, it’s one of two things.
Either the lingering spirit is too faint to become undead.
But just now, there’s no way the lingering spirits of those who had just died in combat could be so faint.
If that’s the case, only one possibility remains.
‘They’re already undead under someone else’s control.’
At that moment, the Enemy Commander, who had been shouting orders, fixed me with a rigid gaze.
More precisely, he was staring at the staff I held in my hand—as if he’d sensed something.
Immediately after, I saw him raise his hand while muttering something.
―Gwoooooah.
Then those sprawled across the ground suddenly lurched to their feet and rushed toward the barrier, slamming against it. Their bodies began to glow crimson.
Kwaaaaaaaaaang―!
A tremendous roar erupted across the battlefield.

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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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