The Regressed EX-Class Martial God Decided to Become a Thousand-Star Hunter - Chapter 12

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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 12
12.
“That bastard right there—he’s definitely not D-Rank or below.”
On the rooftop of a building.
Kim Han-yul, watching the ground below, felt her eye twitch and cursed without meaning to.
“It has to be some Hidden Piece, or he’s cheating somehow. Otherwise, this makes no sense.”
Undead.
A creature that does not die.
The Corpse Giant—infinitely regenerating—had just exploded to pieces from a single strike.
The thing that wouldn’t budge even against flame magic, the Undead’s weakness, had been shattered by one swing of that hammer.
True, the hammer was fairly large.
And it had fallen with considerable speed.
But that’s beside the point—it was immortal.
A creature that doesn’t die when struck.
Under normal circumstances, it should have regenerated when the Zombies swarming nearby gathered around it again, but instead it lay pulped and motionless.
Could it not simply rise again, like before, though?
Since it was Undead?
There was no way.
The System, already churning through her confused mind, made it clear.
『User Kim Han-yul. You have demonstrated exceptional play in the Dungeon, Zombie Burst.』
『Boss Monster, Corpse Giant, defeated.』
『Contribution Rate measured. Eight percent.』
『Clear Reward Mana Stone granted as bonus.』
……
……
The Corpse Giant was dead.
Though her own contribution was only eight percent, the System had ranked her play as exceptional.
Because not a single Hunter had ever killed a Corpse Giant before.
And so why would there be any reason to doubt the creature’s pulped death now?
But because of that very fact, she couldn’t help but question the Ability Stats Grade of Ju Do-gyeom himself.
‘If that man is truly a pure D-Rank or below Hunter, then he’s a monster.’
An impossible monster.
It wouldn’t be surprising if the entire Hunter ranking system across the globe collapsed within years.
While Kim Han-yul stood trembling, her eyes wide, unable to form words,
Ju Do-gyeom continued moving.
Still wielding the Great Hammer, he swept through the remaining Zombie mobs and was charging toward the building.
Kim Han-yul wanted to ask.
‘Why?’
They could return to Earth now.
What was driving this terrifying man to keep moving without pause?
She was on the verge of losing all strength in her legs just watching him.
Without realizing it, Kim Han-yul sank to her knees.
Just as Ju Do-gyeom passed the building on which she stood,
his gaze shifted.
Their eyes met.
Ju Do-gyeom’s lips moved slightly.
-I’ll be in touch.
Then, through the empty air, his voice reached her.
Kim Han-yul started in surprise.
‘What is this? Message magic? No… since he seems to be a warrior type… Sound Transmission? Is it Sound Transmission?’
Her trembling legs had begun to shake on their own.
Screeeee—!
Grrraaaaaaa—!
The sound of a new swarm of Zombies ascending through the gaps of the building she had pushed upward reached her ears.
Kim Han-yul was sick of them—Zombies, bodies, all of it.
‘I want to rest.’
So she immediately requested her return to Earth.
Immediately after.
Kim Han-yul’s physical form vanished from within the Zombie Burst Dungeon in an instant.
* * *
Ju Do-gyeom felled the Corpse Giant and pressed forward.
The searing pain that came with activating the Divine Water Concealment Force.
He had to finish everything before that agony could drag him into unconsciousness.
Messages cascaded through his mind.
『User Ju Do-gyeom. You have demonstrated exceptional play in the Dungeon, Zombie Burst.』
『Boss Monster, Corpse Giant, successfully hunted.』
『Contribution Rate measured. 92%.』
『Overwhelming.』
『Clear Reward Mana Stones are being issued in significant bonus.』
『Three of your current Ability Stats will increase substantially at random.』
『Vitality Grade increased: E+ ⇒ D-』
『Vitality Grade increased: D- ⇒ D』
『Agility Grade increased: E ⇒ E+』
『One of your learned skills receives a system-corrected bonus promotion in proficiency.』
『Skill, Unyielding Breath Energy (4-Star) promoted.』
『Special Skill, Fear, acquired.』
『Fingerprint Item, Inventory Major Expansion, issued.』
『Your System Inventory capacity expands threefold.』
Even through the pain, a slight smile crossed his face.
The inventory expansion he’d wanted had finally arrived.
And not even a mere doubling—a full threefold major expansion.
But that wasn’t all.
‘Unyielding Breath Energy promoted through system rewards.’
That was genuinely rare.
Skills and martial arts rose through system compensation without physical mastery perhaps once in a blue moon.
Even pulling off exceptional play ten times over might not guarantee it once.
Yet he’d obtained it on only his second Dungeon run.
He couldn’t help but feel his fortune was turning.
But that wasn’t even the end of it.
He’d gained a skill.
A Special Skill, no less.
Another name for it: an Ungraded Skill.
As the system message indicated, its defining trait was the absence of rank.
But that didn’t mean its power remained constant—far from it.
Items carried the lowest grade as ungraded, but skills operated differently.
Most Special Skills were affected by the user’s Ability Stats.
For the Fear that Ju Do-gyeom had just acquired:
‘Strength and Mana, then.’
His current Strength had already shattered the Dungeon’s ceiling through the Divine Water Concealment Force, and his Mana was far from lacking by present standards.
What would the effect of Fear be, unleashed from such a state?
To find out, he released Fear toward the Zombies slowly crawling out from the mountain of corpses.
Then—
Shrieeeek—!
Noooooo—!
The mindless Zombies shrieked in terror and scattered in all directions.
Even the advanced mutant Zombies showed no difference.
They fled from his vicinity like demoralized soldiers stripped of all will to fight.
He’d come determined to carve through the mountain of corpses and claim Death Respite—his final goal—but the path opened before him as if by a miracle, parting like the Red Sea itself.
To put it bluntly:
‘The effect is far more powerful than I expected.’
Combined with Contempt for the Weak, any enemy weaker than him might become meaningless regardless of their numbers.
A grin was spreading across his face when—
Through a gap in the now-hollowed mountain of corpses, a violet-hued deformity bristling with spines like a sea urchin came into view.
Ju Do-gyeom’s eyes gleamed.
‘Found it. The Hidden Piece—Omen of Misfortune.’
The Great Hammer was raised high once more.
In that moment when the Corpses that should have shielded it had scattered to all sides—
The Omen of Misfortune took the full brunt of the Great Hammer’s blow.
Crack-crack-crack—!
A sound like fractures spreading through glass.
Moments later.
The Omen of Misfortune, shattered like grains of sand, scattered and vanished.
At the same time, sunlight poured down over the urban zone of the darkened Zombie Burst dungeon, and the mountain of corpses began to melt like snow.
A Temporary Purification Phenomenon.
A rare occurrence in dungeons, but eventually, everything returns to its original state as time passes.
Just as the dead Cannibal and the Corpse Giant would Respawn again.
Such was the nature of the world called a dungeon.
What mattered to Ju Do-gyeom now, ultimately, was this:
『You have destroyed the Omen of Misfortune.』
『Hidden Piece activated.』
『You have acquired the unique skill, Death Respite (Lv. MAX).』
Only the fact that he had obtained what he desired.
After confirming all the details, Ju Do-gyeom spoke.
“I will return to Earth.”
『Confirmed.』
『User Ju Do-gyeom, returning to Earth.』
Zombie Burst dungeon.
The end of no short journey.
* * *
Upon returning to Earth, Ju Do-gyeom lost consciousness once again.
It was the aftereffect of the Forbidden Technique, the same as it had been at the Cannibal Mansion.
However, since he had not activated the Forbidden Technique a third time this round, he was able to confirm the elapsed date clearly before losing consciousness.
Upon opening his eyes and checking the date that had passed:
‘One day.’
It was likely far longer during the Cannibal Mansion incident.
The difference in Unyielding Breath Energy mastery was significant, and he had pushed his body far harder back then.
In fact, this time the Internal Injuries were not severe.
He would recover completely within a few days at most.
He had no complaints.
For merely a day’s risk, he had hunted a Corpse Giant and obtained Death Respite as well.
He thought there was no deal more profitable than this.
Of course, all of this had been possible only because he possessed the Unyielding Breath Energy technique.
To say it again:
The Unyielding Breath Energy was an internal cultivation method that allowed no peer in recovery and durability.
The Heaven-Earth Limitless Divine Art, the superior version?
‘If I had mastered that, this Forbidden Technique might have produced no aftereffects at all.’
In truth, both the Divine Water Concealment Force and the Half-Collapse Flight Art were relatively mild among Forbidden Techniques.
It was natural enough, given that they drew upon only one type of ability—strength or agility—from the outset.
In any case.
Satisfied with the result, Ju Do-gyeom first checked his bank application on his smartphone.
The date had already passed March twenty-first while he was in the dungeon.
The stocks he had set to sell automatically at a designated price.
Thus, the balance remaining in his stock account was:
‘1.2 billion won.’
A sum that was considerable if one looked at it one way, modest if another.
Much like the martial arts he had accumulated in his body at this point.
‘Now I finally have seed money.’
Ju Do-gyeom withdrew roughly eighty percent of that sum and this time invested it in Jindo Coin, one of the cryptocurrencies.
The advantage and disadvantage of cryptocurrency were the same: there were no limits.
And now, with April just around the corner:
Jindo Coin, which had been quiet for a long time, was beginning to show signs of recovery.
In truth, Jindo Coin was not a highly reputable cryptocurrency.
Though it had surged dramatically in the past, it subsequently crashed even harder and had never recovered once since then.
But this time, it will truly rise.
And quite substantially.
‘Once word spreads that the U.S. government has been secretly purchasing Jindo Coin, the momentum will ignite even further.’
With memories clear and vivid, he had nothing to fear.
Ju Do-gyeom completed his investment portfolio and checked the remaining funds.
‘240 million won.’
This was not all there was.
His inventory surely held a vast cache of Mana Stones from clearing the Zombie Burst Dungeon.
Opening his inventory to verify the exact contents,
he found the expanded sixty-slot System inventory full to capacity.
Excluding equipment he carried—the Great Hammer, Purification Water Bucket, and the like—he’d acquired roughly fifty Mana Stones in total.
They ranged between the lowest and low grades.
The lowest-grade ones he could sell without hesitation.
Absorbing more of them would yield no further benefit anyway.
But the low-grade ones?
‘I’ll need to use those.’
As he’d noted before, Earth offered no faster means of expanding one’s Mana reserves.
And then, one final addition—a single Mana Stone with a soft, subtle violet gleam.
It caught Ju Do-gyeom’s eye immediately.
『Corpse Giant’s Mana Stone (Special)』
Looking at it,
‘That looks delicious.’
Ju Do-gyeom swallowed involuntarily.
It seemed that, unlike before his return, he’d developed quite the refined palate.
* * *
Two days later, in a large café near Blue Zone Yong Dungeon.
A woman stepped inside wearing fitted black jeans, a white tee, and a thin beige leather jacket.
Several people who’d been idly glancing around suddenly did a double-take at the sight of her.
First, her beauty demanded attention.
Second, she was the rising star currently heating up Hunter community circles.
“Isn’t that—isn’t that Kim Han-yul?”
“I’ve only heard stories, but she’s really beautiful.”
“Didn’t her whole team get shredded when she failed to take down that Corpse Giant recently? What’s her next move?”
“Maybe she’ll join a clan? That’d be the safer path to steady growth, I’d think.”
When had she become this famous?
Kim Han-yul, who hadn’t experienced this kind of attention during outings just months before, felt a flutter of confusion and was reaching into her bag to retrieve the sunglasses she’d brought along on a hunch when
someone tapped her shoulder lightly.
She jumped, startled, and spun around.
Right behind her.
Ju Do-gyeom, who’d been the one to touch her, spoke with an exasperated expression.
“Interesting reflexes you’ve got there. I tapped you because you weren’t responding when I called, so don’t get the wrong idea.”
Kim Han-yul’s face flushed crimson. She glanced away and nodded.

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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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