The Cursed Blacksmith Who Regressed - Chapter 91

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

Episode 91

He finished preparing to leave.

There was no one to take with him.

When he said he might be away for quite a while, An U-ju asked where he was going, but he didn’t tell her.

If he had told her, it was obvious she would insist on coming along.

Instead, he told her to practice her footwork technique.

She grumbled that she shouldn’t have asked and disappeared.

He drove to his destination.

The place he arrived at was Yangyang.

He came here because it was the closest straight-line distance from Yongsan to the East Sea.

The time was midnight.

The night sea without a single streetlight was pitch black.

Perfect.

After confirming there were no people around, he immediately summoned Neptune Junior.

[ Summoning Neptune Junior. ]

Neptune Junior responded as soon as he was called.

At the same time, a massive amount of mana drained out.

He staggered slightly, but it was fine.

This much was bearable.

Soon, a huge magic circle formed from Choi Hyun’s mana, and a giant whale appeared at Yangyang beach.

It was incomparably larger than what he had seen during their first meeting.

The creature’s voice echoed in his head.

“You found me faster than I expected.”

“I made the contract out of necessity, so I had to call you quickly.”

“Good, get on.”

With those words, a water droplet formed and enveloped Choi Hyun.

Then he was pulled toward Neptune Junior, and the droplet was absorbed into Neptune Junior’s body, settling him somewhere inside.

This place, which didn’t feel like the inside of a living creature, was surprisingly a passenger cabin somewhere in Neptune Junior’s head.

‘We used to call this place the deck.’

Old memories suddenly came to mind.

He first met Neptune at the Black Gate during the second great catastrophe, and after saving numerous Neptunes in crisis, he obtained their summoning formula from the Neptune King.

Afterward, Neptune’s summoning formula was shared with everyone, and from then on, Neptune became the underwater partner of Players, helping them overcome countless difficulties together.

The deck was a convenient place.

Although it was clearly inside Neptune Junior’s body, he could see the front and the sky as if all sides were made of transparent glass.

When Choi Hyun positioned himself facing forward, Neptune Junior laughed.

“Your standing posture is very natural. Have you met other Neptunes besides me?”

“No way. You’re the first.”

“Then why are you so natural? You’re not even surprised.”

“I’m naturally good at adapting.”

“Funny guy. Well then, I’ll start moving now.”

Whoosh!

Neptune Junior began diving in earnest.

But despite diving, from the deck he could see the sky and surrounding scenery as clearly as daylight, as if he were on a ship.

This was the vision enhancement function of Neptune’s deck.

“Guide the way.”

“Got it.”

Neptune Junior began cutting through the East Sea.

* * *

The weather was bad.

It was raining.

The waves were rough too.

But it didn’t matter.

We were traveling underwater.

Indeed, nothing beats a whale for crossing the sea.

If he had taken a ship, it would have taken much longer, but the destination came into view in just a few hours.

As he gave directions along the way, Neptune Junior asked.

“It’s closer than I thought.”

“When you think about it, it’s a neighboring country.”

“Seeing you use me just to go to a neighboring country, you must be going secretly?”

“That’s right.”

“Ridiculous. Using me just for illegal border crossing.”

“I told you. Among the options I had, you were the best. For this plan, it has to be you or no one.”

“You sure know how to talk.”

Eventually, they arrived at the Tumen River Basin.

He would have liked to go up along the Tumen River, but that was impossible due to Neptune Junior’s size.

So he got off at the closest point in a straight line.

When getting out, he disembarked the same way, riding a water droplet.

As he came onto land, Neptune Junior said.

“I hope we can meet again.”

“We definitely will.”

The summoning was released.

Then the giant shadow disappeared in the darkness.

He had arrived in Russia.

Along with the unsettled weather, it was considerably cold.

It was fine.

He had learned the White Shadow Body technique because of this cold.

He took out a compass to check his position.

‘Over there.’

There were no other means of transportation.

He planned to run all the way to Hasan.

Before running, he changed clothes.

With White Shadow Body, the cold didn’t matter, but comfortable clothing for activity was still important.

He changed into activity-friendly clothes including Gore-Tex boots like military boots and a tactical jacket.

He didn’t need a bag.

He had his Warehouse.

Right after finishing preparations, he checked the direction once more and started running.

[ Footwork Technique is activated. ]

[ Diving Step is activated. ]

[ Super Focus is activated. ]

Three skills activated in succession.

He gained acceleration.

He planned to maintain this speed.

As he ran, old memories came to mind.

Before his regression, he was always running around.

As the world drew closer to destruction, all the roads became a complete mess, making most modern transportation unusable.

So those who could fly would fly around, and those with mounts like summoned creatures would ride them.

But the majority of people ran around.

Choi Hyun was one of them.

“Phew, it’s tough running after so long.”

He ran while taking breaks in between.

If it had been his stats from his prime, he could have run day and night for a week without issue, but Choi Hyun’s current stats, no matter how high, were woefully inadequate compared to his prime.

Still, he was indeed a superhuman who could easily outclass Olympic medalists.

After finishing his rest, Choi Hyun runs again.

To meet Shasha, one of the all-stars who had been with him until the very end of destruction in the past.

* * *

Several dungeons exist in Hasan.

But since no one conquered them, they all grew to their limits, and now monsters were overflowing from every dungeon.

As a result, overlapping territories was a natural phenomenon, and battles occurred daily in these overlapping areas.

Hasan had become a hellscape.

Monsters continuously poured out from the runaway dungeons, and with an infinite supply of soldiers, all of Hasan had become an arena.

The Ice Bears were the predators who had claimed the most victories in that endless war.

“Krheng!”

An arrow lodged into the body of an Ice Bear.

Ice Bears don’t usually form groups, but this one had wandered particularly far from the dungeon alone today.

The ambushed Ice Bear immediately searched for the direction of attack to find the target that dared assault it.

It found it quickly.

Surprisingly, the opponent wasn’t running or hiding but was openly revealing itself right in front of it.

It was Shasha.

Shasha aimed her reloaded crossbow at the Ice Bear.

The enraged Ice Bear charged toward Shasha.

At that moment, a new arrow from the crossbow was fired.

The fired arrow struck precisely between the Ice Bear’s eyebrows.

But despite being hit between the eyebrows, the Ice Bear still charged toward Shasha.

This was expected.

An Ice Bear wouldn’t die just from having its forehead pierced by a cheap crossbow arrow.

She immediately drew her sword.

Then she charged head-on toward the Ice Bear that was rushing at her.

The moment they came close, the Ice Bear swung its front paw.

But Shasha was already gone by then.

A pattern she had seen countless times.

Shasha had already gotten behind the Ice Bear and climbed onto its nape.

Then she mercilessly swung the sword in her hand and began slashing the creature.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

The well-sharpened blade went in and out of the creature relentlessly like a sewing machine.

The Ice Bear writhed its body as if having a seizure.

Due to its body structure, its hands couldn’t reach behind.

It didn’t think to roll.

No, it didn’t even consider rolling.

This was a matter of pride.

It thought that if it shook its body before rolling around disgracefully, the attacker would fall off on its own.

But Shasha didn’t.

Even though her thighs felt like they would burst, she clung on desperately.

She couldn’t fall off even if she wanted to.

The moment she fell now, with no safety equipment, only death awaited her.

Instead, she slashed even more frantically, driven by the desire to live.

After battling like this for over ten minutes, something amazing happened.

“Krrk!”

The thick-skinned Ice Bear began foaming at the mouth.

Its body also began to stiffen.

Its muscles were beginning to paralyze.

Thud!

The creature that seemed like it would never fall finally collapsed.

“Krrrrk, krrrrk.”

The Ice Bear made dying sounds from its mouth.

The cause was poison.

Poisoning from the poison applied to the arrowhead and blade.

But it wasn’t dead yet.

Though poison had spread throughout its body, its characteristic tenacious vitality was struggling to survive somehow.

Shasha took out a long hammer from her inventory and struck the creature’s head without mercy.

[ You have defeated an Ice Bear. ]

The creature already had an arrow lodged in its head.

When she struck down with the hammer in earnest, it had no way to endure and died instantly.

“Phew.”

First, she retrieved the arrows.

Then she took out prepared rope, tied up the creature, and began moving toward Hasan Station.

This was prey she had hunted after two days.

She absolutely couldn’t let it go to waste.

Shasha dragged the Ice Bear to the lakeside near Hasan Station and skillfully began skinning it and harvesting its meat.

She couldn’t miss the timing.

After the great catastrophe, in Hasan where it was cold every day, now was the only time she could get warm meat instead of frozen meat.

After harvesting enough meat, Shasha abandoned the remaining Ice Bear carcass near the lakeside and returned to her residence some distance away.

The leftover carcass would be taken care of naturally.

It would either freeze, or nearby wandering monsters would devour it.

The residence was a small house near Hasan Station that was too modest to even call a building.

Originally, it was used as a break room by Hasan Station workers, but now it was Shasha’s home.

After throwing the harvested meat into a basin at home, Shasha picked up a stone she always used from the exterior wall of her residence and drew a line.

The lines drawn in groups of five were a calendar that Shasha was personally keeping.

She didn’t know the exact date or day of the week.

From the moment she was left alone in this place, after deciding she had to survive, she simply drew one line each day.

Shasha stared blankly at the drawn lines.

1,132.

This was the number of lines she had drawn since being left alone here, from when she decided to start drawing lines.

It was the 1,037th day – three years and 37 days.

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