Murim Login - Chapter 277

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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 277
A torrential downpour of countless blades and arrowheads descended from all directions.
I didn’t need to deliberate on how to move—the path unfolded naturally in my mind’s eye. Thought and action became one as my hands responded instantaneously.
With a sharp whistle, the azure flames wreathing my spear traced a perfect semicircle.
Crash!
The arrows and weapons caught in its trajectory split apart like tofu.
Eternal steel—hard and sharp enough to shatter protective barriers on its own. Add my spear technique to that, and the result was inevitable.
Though not for them, of course.
“Gasp!”
A Black Hunter gasped, watching his blade melt away in the blazing heat of my Flame Divine Technique. The closest one—he would be my first target.
Crack!
With a grip that could crush boulders and steel rebar, I seized his forearm and applied pressure. His flesh compressed and bone splintered through the skin.
“Aaaahhhhh!”
I had memorized every face of those who attacked Lim Hyuk-jun. I stared intently at the Black Hunter’s contorted visage as he shrieked in agony.
“You’re not the one.”
“Die!”
A venomous cry accompanied a dagger that thrust upward toward my chin. Even in his torment, his hand moved without hesitation.
This wasn’t the coordination of a Raid Team—this was the calculated precision of a seasoned assassin.
‘And here I was, applying common sense to creatures like these.’
I reflected once more. I’d been remarkably foolish.
A bitter laugh escaped me as I sidestepped the dagger. In the same motion, I seized his other arm and pulled with all my strength.
No—I tore it clean off.
Rip!
“Guh… ugh…!”
His mouth hung agape, too consumed by agony to even scream.
I kicked his trembling form. Blood gushed from the severed wound as his breath came in ragged, desperate gasps that seemed on the verge of stopping altogether.
I hurled both severed arms onto the grass, casting them away from their former owner.
“That’s one down.”
“…!”
“…!”
A heavy silence descended upon the surroundings.
The Black Hunters froze, witnessing a peer fall in an instant, while Lim Young-jun, observing from behind, twitched his brow.
“So you had a trump card.”
“Yeah, I had one, so I came. But you lot? You don’t seem to have anything.”
“Jin Tae-kyung, you bastard…!”
“That’s why I asked nicely. Because of you and those other two, this bastard here can’t even scratch his own ass anymore.”
My voice remained flat as my gaze swept across the field. With each glance, waves of anger and panic rippled through them.
Reading the atmosphere, Lim Young-jun’s eyes widened as he barked an order.
“What are you doing, you idiots! I’ll keep him alive with potions even if you have to shower him with them—don’t be afraid, strike!”
I blinked. For a moment, I wasn’t sure I’d heard correctly.
Ah, right. A potion, you said.
“If limbs are flying off, you’d need at least a high-grade potion for that. You people must have deep pockets.”
“Think of it as the cost of removing one major obstacle. We should have eliminated you from the start. I’ve had my doubts ever since I received the initial order.”
“Are you really going to blab about having backers like that? Aren’t you afraid of getting silenced?”
“Silenced?”
A sneer twisted at the corner of Lim Young-jun’s mouth.
“Silencing people—that’s our job. And besides, you’re going to die here anyway.”
“Well, okay, I’ll grant you that. But there’s something I’ve been curious about since earlier.”
I asked with genuine interest.
“Does that potion you use have the ability to resurrect the dead? Or do you carry around three or four spare lives?”
“What?”
Crunch!
My spear answered instead. The neck of the Black Hunter groaning beneath my feet severed cleanly.
I flicked the severed head away from the torso and sent it rolling toward them.
“Try reviving him.”
“…!”
“That’s right—when the heart explodes or the head gets separated, even a potion can’t bring them back.”
Whoosh!
Without hesitation, I scattered my hands outward.
Two daggers shot forth at devastating speed, becoming streaks of light.
With a wet sound, two Black Hunters staggered and then collapsed.
Their heads, unable to withstand the force infused in the daggers, had half their skulls blown away.
“Ah, I was trying to plant them neatly between the eyebrows, but I lost control of my strength.”
“…!”
The air around us trembled with tension.
The sneer had vanished from Lim Young-jun’s face as if washed away. Now, in the eyes of the Black Hunters—now reduced to twenty-five—turbulent waves of fear crashed.
“How… how is this possible?”
“This fucking…”
Suppressed groans leaked out from all around. This was something they’d never experienced before.
Hunters who hunted monsters. And Black Hunters, created to hunt those hunters.
They’d handled all manner of dirty work—murder, kidnapping, extortion—serving as fixers for massive Guilds, but they’d never imagined themselves becoming the hunted.
And certainly not like this, so utterly one-sided.
I spat onto the headless corpse.
“Pathetic Black Path swordsmen.”
No, actually, Black Path swordsmen had better resolve than this.
At least they carried the awareness that they might die to a blade in some dark alley one day.
“You… what exactly are you?”
His voice came out parched, as if speaking for his own bewilderment. I grinned at Lim Young-jun, who stared at me with piercing intensity.
“You already know, so why ask?”
His eyes went cold.
“You deceived people flawlessly. That’s not the handiwork of someone who’s killed once or twice.”
“Hunting beasts doesn’t count as murder. We usually call it culling.”
Thud, thud.
With each slow step I took, the Black Hunters encircling me in a semicircle retreated.
Even the dullest among them would have felt it—that I was no mere A-rank Hunter.
The qualitatively different killing intent and the thick stench of blood that clung to me.
“Jin Tae-kyung.”
Lim Young-jun opened his mouth, his face hardened into stone.
“Eliminating the D-rank Hunter was a warning. It was an order from above.”
“I didn’t like that warning method. Not one bit.”
“I understand your meaning. Stop here.”
“What if I refuse?”
“The next move could be worse.”
“Worse?”
“Aren’t you concerned about your Mother and Younger Sister?”
“…!”
In that instant, my words caught in my throat.
My footsteps, which had been advancing slowly but relentlessly, came to an abrupt halt, and Lim Young-jun’s voice gained force.
“We can reach a compromise with the higher-ups. I’ll serve as the bridge.”
“…A bridge.”
“You only need to give up one thing. Stop living as A-rank Hunter Jin Tae-kyung and live as civilian Jin Tae-kyung instead. Of course, we’ll compensate you generously for it.”
I stared intently into Lim Young-jun’s eyes.
There was tension regarding my existence, and on the other hand, the eyes of a wolf watching for an opening.
After a brief silence, a hoarse voice flowed from between my lips.
“A bridge. That’s nice.”
Just as the corners of Lim Young-jun’s mouth began to rise, I continued smoothly.
“Since it’s a bridge, I can simply step lightly across it and move on. I’ll find out who’s on the other side of the stream then.”
“…!”
There was no compromise. They had crossed the line, and they were already my enemies.
Modern methods and Murim methods. I’d weighed both on the scale until the very end, but… today I would choose the latter.
“And you, bastard. When you make such a proposal, at least say it with eyes that inspire trust.”
“Jin Tae-kyung-!”
I pushed off the ground at his shout, drawing my spear downward toward the Black Hunters rushing at me with gritted teeth.
Screech!
* * *
Boom!
A single punch infused with the power of Three Perfections.
The reinforcement magic shattered, and the Tower Shield crumbled to pieces. The tanker hiding behind the shield stared at me in shock.
Splurt!
The blade of Baek Yeom’s spear pierced through the mage’s chest and burst out the other side. The mage who had been sheltered behind the sturdy shield hastily retreated.
Thud!
The moment I released my hand, a short blade embedded itself in the back of his skull. But it wasn’t over yet.
“Die!”
Whoosh!
Neck, chest, shoulder.
Three blades rushed forward with a sharp cutting sound. The faint sword aura clinging to them confirmed they were A-rank Hunters.
Scrape!
I yanked the spear from the lifeless tank’s chest and swung it in a wide arc.
At lightning speed, three swords shattered, and one of them collapsed, clutching his throat.
Drenched in blood spraying like a fountain, I released the spear and unleashed a dual palm strike toward the two remaining figures attempting to slash me with their broken blades.
Crack, boom!
Compressed air erupted outward.
The two struck directly in the chest by the Flame Divine Palm coughed blood from their mouths and collapsed to their knees.
The melted magical armor clung to their upper bodies and burned their flesh, but they were already dead before pain could register.
“Rest well.”
That’s when I wiped the blood from my face with my sleeve.
Whoosh, screech!
I twisted my head slightly. A thick, heavy iron arrow—large enough to be called a small spear—grazed past and embedded itself in the stone wall behind me.
Crash!
Dirt erupted upward, and the projectile buried itself deep into the solid rock. The force was truly tremendous.
‘This has been irritating from the start.’
These hunters had the same balanced positions as ordinary Hunters. With tanks and mages, close-range dealers, and ranged dealers, the formation was complete.
Three archers stationed on the second-floor windows of the mansion, continuously drawing their bowstrings without pause, were exactly that.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Just as I was about to deflect them with the spear shaft, the air rippled, and a black shadow suddenly burst forth, attempting to cleave my crown with a single, decisive strike.
Screech!
Fast and precise. Definitely a close-range dealer with exceptional stealth skills.
How many had I killed using this same method? I wasn’t sure, but one thing was certain.
‘They picked the wrong person today.’
Clang, clang, clang!
I twisted the spear blade with precision. The iron arrow, which should have been deflected away like autumn leaves, changed trajectory and pierced through the body of the Black Hunter who had been attempting to drive his dagger into my crown.
Splurt, splurt, splurt!
“Cough!”
The Black Hunter, suddenly struck by an arrow in mid-air, fell with a heavy thud.
I extracted the iron arrow embedded in his upper body. As his corpse trembled and his breath ceased, I swiftly flicked my hand toward the direction from which the arrow had come.
Screech! Splurt!
The iron arrow infused with my power fulfilled its purpose perfectly.
It returned to its original owner twice as fast and forceful as when first released.
The three archers, in the process of nocking their next arrows, met their deaths almost simultaneously.
“What the hell…!”
Those rushing forward stopped in their tracks at the sight. I could see their hands trembling as they gripped their weapons.
How could they not? They’d just watched a dozen comrades fall in the blink of an eye.
But I had no intention of stopping here.
Shwiiing! Slash!
I charged forward, slashing and thrusting, my movements a blur of violence. Blood mist hung in the air as limbs and heads flew in all directions.
“Krraaaagh!”
“Ugh!”
Screams erupted from all sides. Among the terrified enemies, a knuckle weapon wreathed in aura shot out and struck the spear shaft.
Boom!
“Retreat into the mansion!”
I let out a quiet laugh at Lim Young-jun’s shout—he’d bought himself a precious moment.
“Did you set up trap formations in there?”
“Shut up!”
Whoosh!
Still, for a captain, this one was the best of the lot.
Actually, at this level, he’d be called a peak master even in the Murim.
‘He knows how to manipulate aura.’
One reason Hunters fell so far short of Murim masters was their inability to efficiently control their aura.
But the Black Hunters, Lim Young-jun included, displayed movements far more efficient than ordinary Hunters.
‘Still, there’s a limit to what they can do.’
No matter how hard one strived, there existed walls that could not be crossed.
I extended my fist toward the knuckle weapon. Lim Young-jun gritted his teeth and met my strike head-on.
Crack!
First strike. The knuckle shattered.
Crack!
Second strike. Lim Young-jun’s fist crumbled.
Boom!
Third strike. The Extinction Heaven Divine Fist landed on his shoulder with devastating force. Flesh melted and bone crumbled. Lim Young-jun, who’d already lost one shoulder to the Fire Dragon, coughed blood as he was sent flying backward.
“Team Leader!”
But he still had subordinates remaining.
The Black Hunters who’d been waiting until the end quickly hoisted Lim Young-jun’s body and hurled themselves into the mansion.
Thud. The moment the door shut, transparent barriers layered upon one another, enveloping the mansion.
‘A defensive spell?’
And a very powerful one at that. It felt far more solid than the one Kim Butler had displayed before.
But I didn’t stop moving.
In a single stride, I stood before the door and unleashed a punch toward the dozens of defensive barriers.
‘Fourth strike.’
The Extinction Heaven Divine Fist, unleashed at full power, struck the barriers.
Like some nameless cliff face in Songshan, the Extinction Heaven Divine Fist shattered and destroyed everything standing before it.
Craaaaaaash!
The defensive barrier was torn to shreds with a deafening roar that seemed to split the heavens themselves. The roof was ripped away, and the walls crumbled into ash.
Beyond the melted entrance, I could see the frozen enemies.
Lim Young-jun stood at the center of them.
His jaw trembled violently. Between lips stained with blood, a sound like a whimper escaped.
“What… what exactly are you…?”
I answered readily.
“A monster. Just like you.”
Choi Team Leader had said it once. This world was infested with monsters.
So I had made a decision. Every so often, I would become a monster myself.
Just like today.
“Have you ever heard of Bone Displacement Technique?”
It didn’t take long for Lim Young-jun’s mouth to open.

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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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