Murim Login - Chapter 403

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 403
Twenty-odd military transport aircraft, accompanied by fighter jets serving as escorts, encountered difficulties from the moment of landing.
“This… this is terrible.”
“We cannot locate a landing zone!”
The small city had been reduced entirely to ruins.
Buildings packed densely together lay toppled like dominoes, and flames erupted from countless locations.
Yet what truly terrified the pilots was the horrific spectacle visible even from that dizzying altitude.
School athletic fields, convenience stores, government buildings—where peaceful daily life once existed, mountains of corpses and rivers of crimson blood now filled the void.
A hellscape painted by the monster legions.
It was precisely when those witnessing the lifeless ground below trembled with indescribable terror that it happened.
“Land the aircraft.”
“C-Commander-in-Chief, sir. However…”
“Not however—absolutely, without fail. That is an order.”
The pilot, confronted with the stern face of the middle-aged man who had uttered those weighty words, realized he had no choice.
He was a soldier, and his counterpart was the de facto commander-in-chief directing this entire war.
Wei Penghu, General of the Central Military Commission Defense Ministry, enjoyed Chairman Xiao’s absolute trust and served as his most loyal subordinate—defying his command would be madness.
And with Wei Penghu’s next words, the pilot thought to himself:
That insubordination might actually be the less insane choice.
“Take us to the General Hospital that the Western Front has established as their temporary headquarters.”
“Sir? But that location…”
“According to the last communication we received, it’s where the fiercest fighting has taken place. Perhaps it still is. I am well aware of this.”
“…”
“It may already be too late. Yet we must go. If even a single person still lives, we must fight alongside them.”
Wei Penghu continued, his eyes sunk deep with gravity.
“Take the controls. And attempt landing first among all aircraft.”
It was already extraordinary that the commander-in-chief himself had come this far, but now he was ordering the first landing attempt. Considering the monsters that might still remain, this was an undertaking fraught with tremendous danger.
‘Damn it.’
The pilot, eyes squeezed shut, activated the communication system. Soon, his trembling voice began to spread across all aircraft through the network.
“VIP-777 issuing orders to all aircraft. Issuing orders to all aircraft…”
As Wei Penghu heard his own orders being relayed, he drew a slow, deep breath.
The parachute equipment strapped to his body felt as heavy as a large boulder in preparation for any contingency.
‘Is it because this is my first real combat in thirty years? I’m trembling.’
Yet this emotion was not Wei Penghu’s alone.
All four thousand Hunters aboard the twenty-odd military transport aircraft carried fears both great and small.
Some would surely wish to flee at any moment, while others would suppress their terror and struggle to kindle their fighting spirit.
No one could know who would die in the battle about to commence. Wei Penghu was no exception, and the reason this commander-in-chief had braved the danger to come to the fiercest battlefield was for the morale of his soldiers.
‘A commander who sends only his subordinates to their deaths has no right to lead.’
This was Wei Penghu’s lifelong principle, and his nephew Lei Fei, whom he loved as dearly as a son, revered his uncle for it.
Suddenly, a familiar face flashed across his mind, and the old general’s heart ached in one corner of his chest.
“…I miss you.”
Wei Penghu murmured softly to himself.
It had been a fortnight since Lei Fei vanished. Yet he refused to release his grip on hope. Lei Fei’s wife and Daughter, safely relocated to a secure location, shared his unwavering resolve.
‘Today, I witnessed someone who resembled you.’
A young man barely in his twenties. Having accumulated extraordinary accomplishments in a distant foreign land, he departed without hesitation upon hearing that the Western Front faced peril.
He had even laughed while attempting a teleportation with merely a 10% survival rate.
‘That’s acceptable. A 10% chance.’
‘Perhaps it’s a thousand times higher than the probability of crossing dimensions.’
When Magic Johnson conveyed this news to him, Wei Penghu immediately mobilized the full military strength of the Supreme Command to assemble a formation.
Shocked by the audacity displayed by Jin Tae-kyung, a mere foreigner, he found himself remembering his missing nephew in that young man’s bearing.
‘You would have done the same, wouldn’t you?’
It was precisely at that moment, as Wei Penghu posed this unheard question, that a faint smile graced his lips.
「This… this cannot be…!」
「C-Commander!」
At the pilots’ urgent cries, Wei Penghu lifted his gaze toward the window.
The ground drew gradually closer, revealing a Shi Shan Blood Sea more horrific than any battlefield he had ever witnessed.
Corpses and blood, blood and corpses…
The General Hospital serving as the Western Front’s temporary command post lay in ruins, its skeletal steel framework exposed. A colossal sinkhole yawned like the entrance to hell, and dozens of craters scarring the ground brimmed with sickly green blood.
The intermingled corpses of monsters and humans were beyond counting. Thousands? No—well over ten thousand.
「…Good heavens.」
「W-Who on earth…?」
A desolate land raked by catastrophe, a realm of death.
The pilots, rendered speechless as they gazed upon the devastated ground below, snapped to attention at Wei Penghu’s cry.
「Lower our altitude, quickly!」
「Yes, sir!」
Though the threat from monsters had vanished, complacency was unforgivable.
The pilot maneuvered the aircraft with unprecedented caution, his body drenched in cold sweat as he attempted the descent.
Screeeech, thud!
The aircraft shuddered violently several times. The first to descend from the transport that had finally achieved a successful landing was none other than Wei Penghu himself.
Tap-tap-tap!
Following in his wake, some two hundred Hunters aboard the transport swiftly touched ground.
Their reactions split into two categories.
「What insanity…」
Shock at a sight beyond imagination.
「Ugh, bleeegh!」
Nausea from the stench of blood and severed corpses saturating the air.
Simultaneously, a question consumed their minds.
‘Who could have done this?’
It was at that very moment, when everyone—Wei Penghu included—had become rigid as statues, forgetting even the need to search for survivors.
Clop, clop.
Footsteps echoed across the silent battlefield.
Two hundred pairs of eyes converged upon a single figure crossing the battlefield, treading through pooled blood.
Wei Penghu, watching the man drenched from head to toe in verdant gore, let out a whisper that was almost a groan.
「Jin…?」
It was unmistakably him.
Though he appeared as a blood-soaked phantom, Wei Penghu could recognize him.
A teleportation spell with a mere ten percent survival rate—and against all odds, Jin Tae-kyung had emerged alive, reversing the grim tide of battle.
His relentless advance finally ceased before Wei Penghu.
Thud.
Jin Tae-kyung brushed back hair matted with the viscous blood of monsters, and after a prolonged silence, spoke his first words.
“The battle is over. There are no surviving monsters.”
「…!」
「…!」
His unbelievable declaration sent a tremor through the assembled crowd.
According to the final transmission from the Western Front, the monster legion numbered ten thousand strong.
Nor was that all—the Death Knight Lord, believed to be the Arch Lich’s direct subordinate, had personally taken the field, making this the most overwhelming offensive of the five fronts.
Yet the Hunters who stood against them numbered merely a thousand. The People’s Liberation Army forces were little more than paper scraps in comparison.
‘Not only to have won such a battle, but to have annihilated an entire legion of ten thousand monsters.’
A victory that would have been impossible without one man. A triumph made possible only because of him.
S-rank Hunters are called strategic weapons capable of reversing the tide of war in an instant, yet since the Cataclysm, who among them had ever achieved such a feat?
Two hundred Hunters gazed upon the young man before them with reverent awe.
Yet Wei Penghu alone was different.
The aged general’s eyes held sorrow and dread as he stared at Jin Tae-kyung—or rather, at the single sword held in his hand.
A blade far too familiar, and for that very reason, it pierced his heart.
He understood what this moment signified.
「Did you… meet that child?」
Jin Tae-kyung, who had been silent, finally answered.
“She asked me to tell you that she loves you.”
「…!」
“She also said she was sorry.”
Wei Penghu clenched his teeth, fighting back the sobs that threatened to escape. Through a vision blurred white with tears, the final words reached his ears.
“She was the finest Hunter I ever knew.”
That was all. Tears streamed down Wei Penghu’s weathered face.
A breeze from somewhere embraced him gently.
* * *
Rank or achievement, Hunter or not—none of it truly matters.
The simple fact that she sacrificed herself for others is more than enough to earn her the title of hero.
And so Lei Fei will remain etched in my memory for all time.
One who was revived as undead, yet died as human.
She fulfilled her duty to the very end—a true Hunter, and a true hero.
The same could be said of the countless others who fell on this day.
And then… there were also the two who hadn’t yet regained consciousness.
‘The healer who visited earlier said they wouldn’t wake until all their fatigue recovered.’
Recalling the healer’s words, I gazed at Choi Team Leader and Shao Shen, who were lost in deep slumber.
Thanks to the supreme-grade potion, their wounds had healed without a trace, but the exhaustion accumulated in body and spirit was an entirely separate matter.
‘Even I occasionally lose consciousness when leveling up.’
Both of them fought with courage until the very end.
Even as their limbs were severed, they refused to release the weapons in their hands.
“A hero, a true hero…”
I muttered softly, my gaze turning to the sword resting beside me—the very blade left behind by that hero, a memento.
Wei Penghu, who had been shedding endless tears, pressed the sword into my hands despite my repeated refusals, saying:
‘That man would have wanted you to take it, Jin.’
Is that truly so, Lei Fei?
I posed a question that would receive no answer, my fingers tracing the blade’s edge. Even to the eye, it emanated a chilling, razor-sharp aura—a masterwork of exceptional craftsmanship.
‘Appraise item.’
Ding.
Item Window
[Hero’s Soul]
Type
: Sword
Grade
: Transcendent
Restriction
: One who embodies the spirit of a hero
Description:
Extraordinarily durable and sharp. The sublime soul of a departed hero dwells within it, and those who meet its requirements can draw forth even greater power.
Hero’s Soul?
The name suited Lei Fei perfectly, though the blade itself was undeniably peculiar.
Even through fierce exchanges of blows, it hadn’t developed a single crack—the Transcendent grade was justified, but the restriction itself was unique.
‘Only those with a righteous heart can wield it?’
Well, let me test this.
Without hesitation, I grasped the hilt and swung it through the empty air.
Whoosh!
Better than expected.
The weight and balance were perfectly suited to me, and the sharpness that could cleave even the wind itself was exquisite. The system notification that followed only made it all the better.
Ding.
–
[Hero’s Soul]
has recognized you as one of righteous heart.
–
[Hero’s Strength]
has awakened. All my stats have increased slightly, and fatigue has diminished. Depending on certain circumstances, I can draw upon even greater power.
I’m not sure what those specific circumstances are, but it doesn’t seem to be now. The stat increases feel so negligible that I can barely sense them—like pouring a single bucket of water into a vast lake.
‘Still, it would be perfect for assessing character.’
Thus, I christened it: the Character-Judging Blade.
From now on, anyone approaching me will be tested by the Hero’s Soul. Those pure enough for the blade to accept, I’ll befriend. Those who fail? I’ll eliminate them without hesitation.
Crackle!
In an instant, a violent current surged through my grip, and I dropped the sword.
“What the—?”
As bewilderment washed over me, a sharp alert chimed, and a System Message materialized in the air.
Beep!
– You harbored an evil intent!
–
[Hero’s Soul]
has rejected you!
–
[Hero’s Power]
effect has dissipated!
“….”
How absurd. I was only musing idly.
Staring down at the fallen blade, I chuckled softly. A fleeting thought crossed my mind—perhaps Lei Fei’s soul had left some imprint after all.
Wait, if that’s the case…?
“Are you listening?”
After a brief silence, the Skeleton Warlord I’d stored in my inventory responded.
– …Yes.
“It’s not about anything else. I just have one question.”
– …If that question concerns the Ego Sword, then I must answer no. Only the faintest trace of a soul remains in that blade. The man you’re thinking of has already ceased to exist.
Normally a scatterbrained fool, but as a Named Monster and commander of the undead legions, my assessment carries weight.
When Lei Fei dissipated, the Skeleton Warlord absorbed some of the scattered mana and grew stronger—so his words likely held truth.
But that aside….
“Is something wrong?”
– Hm?
“Just… the atmosphere’s been gloomy since earlier.”
Even as I spoke, I questioned whether this made sense. Why ask an undead monster about atmosphere? They’re inherently gloomy by nature.
‘The problem is he’s never acted this way before.’
Then the Skeleton Warlord suddenly spoke up.
– A thought occurred to me just now.
“What thought?”
– What manner of being was I in the past?
“…!”
– I possess no memories whatsoever. Though Lei Fei has ceased to exist, I confess I envied him. At least he came to know who he was.
I hadn’t expected him to harbor such thoughts.
After a moment of consideration, I spoke to him in a warm voice.
“Would you like me to unmake you, then?”
– …!
“What, you said you envied him.”
– Ah, no, that’s not what I meant….
The Skeleton Warlord’s hurried excuse never reached its conclusion. A courteous voice from beyond the door, accompanied by a knock, interrupted him.
「Professor Jin. The State Minister is requesting your presence.」
It seemed the time had come.
“Yes. I’ll be right there.”
I took one last look at the two people lost in sleep before rising from my seat. And I muttered words I hadn’t yet had the chance to say.
“Well, I suspect he might have turned out to be quite a decent fellow, actually.”
– …Eh? Were you perhaps speaking to the Commander about that?
“No. Just thinking aloud.”
– C-cough. Right?
But the brightening in the Skeleton Warlord’s voice—which had been utterly dejected moments before—was certainly no illusion. I let out a quiet chuckle as I left the room.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————