S-Classes That I Raised to Devour - Chapter 8

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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 8. Salvager Kim Yeoul (3)
Three people sat huddled together on a small hill overlooking the Goblin Settlement.
Kim Yeoul and Kim Jiwoo simply blinked at the sight of over a hundred goblins, while Chae Mujin launched into the briefing.
“The strategy’s the same as before. Mage opens with a strike, dealer provides cover. Yeoul. This time you’re casting magic four times. So distribute your Mana twenty-five percent per skill, yeah?”
Even though Kim Yeoul didn’t nod, Chae Mujin continued.
“Fire the Fireball at fixed targets like before. And Jiwoo. You block the goblins at this choke point. With brush on both sides, you’ll have an easy time dealing with flanking attacks.”
For a strategy to wipe out a hundred goblins, it was far too simple.
Predictably, Kim Jiwoo raised an objection.
“A hundred goblins with Fireball? If you’re spreading it across four shots, the power’s going to be insanely weak, isn’t it?”
“I’ll amplify it for you, so it’s possible. Same goes for you. I’ll stack an Attack Power Buff on top of a Defense Power Buff.”
“Sir, don’t tell me the Defense Power Buff is absurdly strong too?”
“Goblin attacks will feel like a tickle.”
Why was he taking such care of Kim Jiwoo, his sworn enemy? The bastard had to suffer through hell so that he and Yeoul could stay safe.
“Um, Manager. What if the goblins ignore Jiwoo and come at me instead?”
“I’ll protect you from the side, so don’t worry.”
A support class promising to protect him—not a tank or dealer.
Others would have scoffed, but after watching Chae Mujin beat down goblins bare-handed, there was trust.
“Yeoul, start.”
“N-now?”
“What, you want to eat first?”
A sigh, a heavy breath.
He held out the staff, but the word Fireball wouldn’t leave his mouth.
Chae Mujin patted him reassuringly from beside him, noticing his nervousness.
“Who’s threatening to stab you if you don’t cast Fireball? Doesn’t sound like it. Guess I’ll have to threaten you to cast instead.”
With the goblin dagger he’d picked up earlier, he pricked Kim Yeoul’s backside, and Kim Yeoul shrieked.
“Aaaah! F-Fireball!”
The words came out broken, but the spell fired nonetheless.
The first cast is always the hardest; once one was away, momentum carried three more Fireballs out in succession.
Boom-boom-bang! Crash!
All four shots were infused with the Attack Power Buff, so the destructive force was tremendous.
Without warning, the fireballs arrived, turning the settlement into a sea of flames, and the goblins scattered in panic.
“Karto!”
The surviving goblins rushed toward Kim Yeoul to attack. He’d exhausted his Mana and couldn’t fire more Fireballs, but the goblins didn’t know that—they were in a frenzy.
“Haha! I’m invincible!”
Meeting them was Kim Jiwoo, cloaked in physical Attack Power and Defense Power Buffs.
The buffs applied were neither excessive nor insufficient: 300.
A physical defense of 300 stops a .22 caliber round. And no matter how hard the goblins tried, they couldn’t breach an attack power of 200.
“Kiyah!”
No defense, no evasion—just swinging his blade, Kim Jiwoo rendered the goblins helpless.
It was like trying to smash an armored vehicle with a wooden bat.
Meanwhile, Kim Yeoul stood numbly watching the chaos he’d created.
“Did… did I do this?”
Seeing dozens of goblins burning to death, Kim Yeoul’s eyes went wide.
Technically it was only possible because of Chae Mujin’s buff, but victory’s dopamine flooded through him so wildly that rational thought became impossible.
Whisper, rustle.
A cunning goblin circled far around to target him—something he didn’t notice.
‘Just as planned.’
Chae Mujin, watching from behind, quietly slipped into cover. He’d known the goblin was coming long ago but deliberately turned a blind eye.
That way, Kim Yeoul would be caught off-guard.
‘If I rescue him from crisis, how much will his Grace Degree climb?’
There was no real danger.
He’d apply the Defense Power Buff just before the attack landed—not a scratch would form.
“Shrieeek!”
The goblin leapt close enough, and only then did Kim Yeoul turn around at the sound.
With no time to cry out, Kim Yeoul swung his staff.
“Snap! Shrieeek!”
The goblin grabbed the staff and thrashed with its whole body.
Kim Yeoul’s thin frame was hurled about.
“Let go!”
He cried out and strove for strength, but the goblin sensed his weakness and shook him even more violently.
Seeing this, Chae Mujin pressed his palm to his forehead.
No matter the experiment’s purpose, watching a frightened person writhe on a hook of conscience didn’t sit well.
‘Still, I have to do this. If the staff gets taken, I’ll rescue him then.’
He glanced over to check on Kim Jiwoo—making sure he was fighting well, checking for problems.
Less than three seconds had passed. But in that time, something unexpected happened.
Crack!
A strange sound came from Kim Yeoul’s direction.
At first, he thought the staff had snapped.
But turning back, it wasn’t the staff that was broken—it was the goblin’s neck.
The staff lay scattered on the ground. Kim Yeoul gasped raggedly. Chae Mujin rushed over to examine the scene.
“Yeoul, are you alright?”
“Manager…? Ugh, my head…”
He checked his head, thinking he might be hurt, but saw no visible wound.
“Did you… did you do this to the goblin?”
“Ah, n-no. I’m not sure either. I remember the goblin trying to grab my staff, but after that…”
Chae Mujin looked into Kim Yeoul’s eyes.
Those were not the eyes of someone lying.
‘Strange. Even though goblins are smaller than humans, their bones are harder than ours—they shouldn’t break so easily.’
As he supported Kim Yeoul, he felt his arm—soft as tofu. With an arm like this, even snapping a branch would be difficult.
“Let’s finish up and rest first.”
He shelved the mystery for now and focused on cleaning up the situation.
Thanks to Kim Jiwoo’s dedication to hogging the experience, only a few goblins remained.
A few escaped, but he didn’t bother pursuing them.
‘Settlements are at least an hour apart, so even if reinforcements come, it takes two hours. We have plenty of time.’
In the end, Chae Mujin’s party successfully cleared the Goblin Settlement without a scratch.
* * *
Just as Chae Mujin had predicted, twenty Passing Tokens lay displayed like war trophies in the Goblin Settlement.
“These aren’t fake, right? Wow!”
“I hit level twenty already. Haha!”
“Yeoul and Jiwoo are resting. You know Mana recharges faster when you rest, right? I’m going to farm a bit more.”
“Sir, you didn’t use up all your Mana?”
Used up? I still have more than half left.
And if it runs short, I have that Basic Mana Storage Bracelet I lifted from you.
「Equipment—Basic Mana Storage Bracelet」
Rarity: Normal
Quality: F
• Can store up to 10 Mana.
(Stored Mana: 10/10)
“A support class has to suffer so the dealer and tank can live.”
“Then, if you don’t mind, I’ll rest a bit. Haha.”
“Manager, I’ll help you too.”
“Yeoul. If I say I’m fine, then I’m fine. So rest.”
“…Yes.”
Both were thoroughly exhausted anyway, so they promptly sat down and caught their breath.
While farming, Chae Mujin simultaneously checked the Collection windows of both.
Collection Target: Kim Jiwoo
Grace Degree: 2,999,096
Collection Target: Kim Yeoul
Grace Degree: 192
In one battle, Kim Jiwoo gained 90, Kim Yeoul gained 112.
‘It was building slowly before, but this time it’s accumulated quite a bit?’
The number of monsters caught and the Passing Tokens had clearly made a difference.
‘At this rate, hitting a thousand a day is easy.’
Even A-rank, which required 100,000 to collect, theoretically needed only a hundred days of grinding—an incredible gain.
‘If I find the remaining nine tokens, I’ll still have time left. If I hunt a bit more and hit level ten before leaving, that’ll be perfect.’
The last battle had brought him to level eight. Just two more levels to reach ten.
Of course, leveling up doesn’t make you dramatically stronger.
All stats increase by one per level, with the Primary Stat gaining an extra one.
A support’s Primary Stat is Mana. So my max Mana is now 26.
The dramatic power spikes occur every fifty levels.
“Oh, Mana Stones drop consecutively. Nice.”
Mana Stones the size of a piece of candy. The lowest grade, yet they sell for a million won each.
In my previous life, I wouldn’t have wanted them even if offered, but now each one is precious.
“To actually run a hunter management company, you’d need an insane amount of money, huh?”
I won’t ask my family for help. If anything, I should be the one helping them.
‘Family, huh…’
When I lived as a Licensed Hunter, days were so busy I couldn’t even call.
Not even on that day I fought the Moon.
Sure, my reputation let my family enjoy comfort, but that’s no excuse not to call.
‘Self-reliance is the family motto, but that doesn’t mean I can’t ask how they’re doing once in a while, right?’
Once the second test ends, I’ll call right away. It’ll be dawn, but our family are night owls—everyone’s usually up late.
“One more Mana Stone… hm?”
As he pocketed another Mana Stone, an odd sound reached his ears. Not something nature typically produced.
And it came from the direction he’d come from—where Kim Yeoul and Kim Jiwoo were resting.
* * *
“What a traitor. Trying to run off alone like that. Ptui!”
Green armor, green shield—the tank known as Hae Mosu had beaten Kim Jiwoo senseless as the latter tried to escape.
A spear wielder from the same party turned toward the abandoned Kim Yeoul and spoke.
“Mage, sir. We know your pouch has tokens. Just hand them over. Don’t get needlessly hurt like this idiot.”
Kim Yeoul’s eyes darted between the unconscious Kim Jiwoo and the party before him.
There were more than just the tank and dealer.
A ranged dealer with a bow, a healer with a medical pack, even a support—a full five-person formation.
He couldn’t understand why they were trying to rob his tokens like bandits.
“Why… why are you doing this? We’re all test-takers. I’ll report you to the supervisors.”
“Pffft, puhahahaha!”
“Report, is it? My, how terrifying—!”
“This guy’s too naive. How did you ever plan to become a hunter with such a personality?”
Hae Mosu closed in on Kim Yeoul in an instant, snatched away his staff and hurled it aside, then crushed his shoulder.
“Ah, aaaah!”
“Listen here. You think we’re playing Olympics? Fair play? The Licensed Hunter exam is competition. We’re all rivals.”
“To be honest, us just taking tokens is the gentlemanly approach. Those scummy hunters out there loot equipment and Inventory clean.”
“Do we really have to take it by force to feel satisfied? To make ourselves the bad guys?”
Rip!
The pouch at Kim Yeoul’s waist was torn away mercilessly.
It held all twenty-one tokens he’d collected so far.
Since an Awakener’s Inventory could only hold items, Passing Tokens had to be stored separately.
It was an item designed precisely for situations like this.
Seize and defend. Fail to do so, and you’re disqualified.
“Stop it. Don’t take it!”
Kim Yeoul grabbed Hae Mosu’s arm.
But the difference in forearm size was nearly threefold, making it impossible to reclaim by strength alone.
“How dare you whine, you little punk!”
Hae Mosu slammed Kim Yeoul’s cheek with a hand the size of a pot lid.
Crack!
He’d struck with all his might to knock him out, and Kim Yeoul’s head snapped violently to the side.
His glasses shattered and flew away, his lips split and bled—violence of that caliber.
Yet Kim Yeoul didn’t release his grip.
What Hae Mosu failed to see was this:
Beyond the shattered lenses, eyes bloodshot with fury, and a smile twisting up in a manner that was nothing short of sinister.
“Ugh, what a pain. Really.”
Hae Mosu thought Kim Yeoul had been knocked out cold standing. So as he moved to pry his fingers open—
“You trying to take mine too?”
“What? He’s not out—gaaahhh!”
“Worms rotting at the bottom of a trash heap, daring to lay hands on what’s mine?”
Hae Mosu suddenly collapsed with a shriek.
His arm was bent at an angle it should never have been.
“What the hell—!”
“That bastard, wasn’t he a mage? What skill did he use!”
“Wait, he’s gone. He just vanished!”
“Healer, you moron! He’s right in front of you!”
Even as the tank fell, they quickly reformed their ranks to respond, but Kim Yeoul was already driving his fist toward the healer.
His knuckles were wrapped in a crimson aura, and the healer witnessing it up close could tell.
This was not something conjured by mere skill. It was pure killing intent, given form.
Thud!
An adult male’s body launched skyward then plummeted fast. The other party members watching knew for certain the healer was dead.
Kim Yeoul stared at his own fist and scowled.
He’d intended to crush the skull—a failure that the man hadn’t died.
The hunters backed away, weapons clutched tight.
As Kim Yeoul rushed toward them like a predator closing on terrified prey—
“Yeoul, you can’t do that.”
Chae Mujin arrived just in time, stepping between Kim Yeoul and the hunters.

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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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