The Regressed EX-Class Martial God Decided to Become a Thousand-Star Hunter - Chapter 54

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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 54
54.
A short while before the two teams would meet.
Yoris’s party, having left the rest point and reached the Desolate Forest, was moving at a remarkably leisurely pace.
It was Yoris’s call.
“Since there’s no way the two of us can hunt a dragon, from here on we focus on recovery as much as possible while we move.”
Amy spoke with a laugh.
“Ha ha, your real plan is transparent. You’ll hide somewhere waiting, and once we arrive and start hunting, you’ll stab us in the back—isn’t that it?”
“As if we’d let ourselves be caught like that.”
Yoris scoffed.
All the team members nodded in agreement.
All except for one—Emil, their mage.
Yoris asked.
“What’s wrong, Emil? Don’t tell me you still haven’t recovered?”
Emil shook his head from side to side.
“No, I’m fine.”
It was just… a strange unease, nothing more.
Emil swallowed back the words that had nearly escaped and forced a smile.
“I was just lost in thought for a moment. My condition is optimal, so I won’t be a burden anymore.”
“I believe you, Emil.”
Yoris, speaking somewhat coldly, fixed his gaze ahead.
From Emil’s perspective, it was a rather stinging remark.
Yes, he’d been injured unexpectedly in this dungeon and become a burden, but hadn’t he helped resolve situations with ease many times before this?
‘Is this team finished already…?’
Emil’s gaze turned forward, concealing the bittersweet smile that wanted to surface.
Within the gradually shifting landscape of the Desolate Forest,
a subtle unease continued to bloom.
In truth, a mage’s premonition was not something to dismiss lightly.
What was commonly called the Occult Sense.
Mages were those who possessed instincts every bit as keen as those of highly skilled individuals.
He hesitated.
‘Should I hint at something even now?’
His eyes rolled slowly.
He could see Yoris’s face, grown several degrees colder than usual.
‘…No.’
There was no need to stir up unnecessary trouble.
He decided to keep his mouth shut.
* * *
And then, some time later.
“This can’t be…”
“This is impossible…”
“The dragon… is dead?”
Emil witnessed his own premonition become reality before his eyes.
The team members, struck by shock, couldn’t move properly for a long moment.
In that moment,
it was Amy who first came to her senses.
She, a Hunter by profession, couldn’t resist her curiosity and rushed over to examine the dragon’s corpse.
Beyond her curious crimson eyes, admiration welled up not long after.
An exclamation burst from her lips.
“Wow—! Look at this, Yoris. Its neck was severed with a single strike!”
“…What?”
At those words, Yoris, his mind vacant until then, snapped back to awareness.
He approached and examined the dragon’s body, and his eyes began to shake as if struck by an earthquake.
“The wound…”
“Just one. And so clean too. Really, how was this done? You’d think you could manage this by taking a dead lizard and chopping at its neck, right? Bwahahaha!”
Amy burst into continuous laughter.
In contrast, Yoris’s emotions sank lower and lower.
Frankly, he didn’t want to believe it.
‘Ju Do-gyeom.’
He’d seemed fairly skilled, but wasn’t he a mage?
How could a man like that behead a dragon in a single stroke?
The woman beside him—Kim Han-ryul?
‘Could she have been hiding something too?’
In the chaos.
His mouth opened.
“Anton. Come and take a look at this, would you?”
Anton, who had begun to gather his wits, rushed over and examined the wound on the creature.
If anyone could find what he and Amy had missed, it would be someone with a Hunter’s eye.
“Hmm…….”
A long breath escaped Anton.
He lifted his head and looked at Yoris before speaking.
“……It seems both of your suspicions are correct.”
“Damn.”
The curse slipped from Yoris’s lips without thought.
‘Had I been wrong all along?’
He’d assumed they’d simply avoided something beyond their capacity.
But the evidence now spoke a different language entirely.
Emil’s Tracking Magic had been dispelled.
No—worse than that. It had backfired on him.
After that, the six of them had barely managed to traverse the Mana Corruption Zone, yet these two had crossed it faster and alone.
And finally, they’d discovered the corpse of a dragon severed in a single blow.
‘From the beginning…… were they monsters we were never meant to threaten?’
His throat worked. A hard swallow.
Anton spoke.
“I think it would be wise to withdraw now. If the dragon has fallen like this…… then whatever treasure they were seeking, they’ve already taken it all with them.”
His gaze turned toward the entrance of the Underground Passage, beyond the wyvern’s corpse.
Yoris didn’t actually know what lay in there.
Only that this Mana Corruption Zone was somewhere no one else dared venture near.
A Young Wyvern coiled within it.
Inside the Underground Passage it guarded, he’d guessed, would be treasure of at least Magical Tool grade.
But now it would be gone.
‘……They’ve already taken it away.’
It stung.
In one sense, he could count himself fortunate just to have kept his life.
But he’d nursed the hope of claiming that treasure for so long.
“Hah…….”
Yoris exhaled slowly.
Emil, watching from the side, added his counsel.
“Team lead. I think we should call it here.”
Amy nodded in agreement.
“Agreed. Push any further and we’re just asking to get ourselves killed.”
“…….”
Yoris thought much the same.
Yet those words wouldn’t come out of his mouth.
Because he wanted it too badly.
‘I wanted it far too badly.’
A thought formed.
His mouth opened.
“Anton. An S-Rank Hunter would have more than enough strength left after killing a dragon like this, wouldn’t he?”
“It depends on the individual, but if they’ve only recently reached S-Rank, then no. They certainly wouldn’t.”
“Then what if the opponent were A+-Rank?”
“……The situation wouldn’t look good for them.”
A+ and S.
One Rank apart, but the gap between them was just as real.
Or rather, in some respects, a wall existed between them that differed in kind from all other Ranks.
Yoris spoke.
“Ju Do-gyeom is not an S-Rank Hunter.”
Emil asked.
“How can you be certain?”
“I’ve met Abel Clemant before.”
Abel Clemant.
France’s holy warrior, and an S-Rank Hunter.
Yoris had a clear memory of his presence from that distant glimpse.
“It was as if a colossal wall stood before me. I felt certain that he was beyond reach. And yet…….”
“……Ju Do-gyeom didn’t feel that wall at all?”
“That’s right.”
Emil wanted to shake his head.
He didn’t believe that experience could be judged by a single encounter.
Above all, what if the opponent—even if not an S-Rank Hunter—was hiding something? A Hunter capable of slaying this dragon in a single blow, no less?
But his words seemed unlikely to reach Yoris, whose eyes gleamed with undisguised hunger.
Just then.
“I agree with that. He seemed fairly strong, but…… how should I put it. To me, he felt less like a predator and more like prey.”
Amy spoke up with a savage smile.
Anton nodded in agreement.
“True enough…… I’ve glimpsed other S-Rank Hunters from a distance myself. But I felt nothing of that sort from this Korean Hunter.”
Yoris gave a vigorous nod.
“He’ll be exhausted. If we pursue him, we’ll certainly catch him.”
Emil quickly shook his head.
“Wait……! Even if we pursue, shouldn’t we have at least one way to determine his current location?”
“Anton. You should be able to track his trail, yes?”
“It’s possible. Though it will depend on how much time has passed.”
“Anything will do. Find the trail for us.”
“Understood.”
Shortly after, Yoris settled himself against a tree stump with his arms folded, taking his rest.
The others were no different.
They’d assumed Ju Do-gyeom’s party would be exhausted, but they themselves were equally worn—a mutual exhaustion.
The pursuit that lay ahead would not be easy either.
With that thought, each began to rest in their own way.
How long passed like that?
“This is…… surely not…….”
It was when Anton, surveying the surroundings, breathed out those trembling words to himself.
A presence that all of them could feel emanated from deeper within the passage.
Immediately.
Ju Do-gyeom and Kim Han-ryul emerged from the cave into their field of vision.
Yoris’s eyes widened with exhilaration as he shouted.
“Battle stations!”
And it was in that very next instant.
Shriek—!
With a sound like wind being torn asunder, the Yusseong-chu crushed the skull of Houl Pereira, Anton’s party’s healer, who had been sitting at complete rest.
But that was not the end.
Clang-clatter-!
The Yusseong-chu danced and spun with metallic song, hurtling next toward Matteo Visconti at his side.
“Damn it—!”
Matteo, cursing, hurriedly drew his Greatsword and struck at the Yusseong-chu.
He meant to deflect it cleanly.
But…….
Crack-crunch—!
The Greatsword that met the Yusseong-chu shrieked with a thunderous cry as it shattered, meeting its end.
Ju Do-gyeom’s Yusseong-chu, blazing with crimson light, was mere moments from crushing Matteo’s skull as well.
“My will stands as a shield for those who walk this path with me!”
At Yoris’s great cry, a Heater Shield came hurtling forth, blazing with light as it repelled Ju Do-gyeom’s Yusseong-chu.
Ju Do-gyeom’s eyes narrowed.
‘Holy Power?’
No—it was different.
It bore the hue of white light, yet no divine aura emanated from it.
‘Aura, then.’
Of course. An A-Rank Hunter of the Knight Class would be approaching the level where wielding even lower-tier Aura would be unsurprising.
Without hesitation, Ju Do-gyeom withdrew the Yusseong-chu and turned to speak to Kim Han-ryul.

‘A motorcycle.’
But the words never left his mouth.
Thud-!
The MK-II materialized in the center of the enemy formation with a heavy impact, catching them off guard.
“The, the boss monster from the Broken Armory Factory?”
“What’s it doing here?”
In that moment of confusion.
Kim Han-ryul, her vision obscured, immediately materialized the motorcycle.
‘Perfect.’
This was what made working with teammates who shared your thoughts so effortless.
Without even exchanging a glance with Kim Han-ryul, Ju Do-gyeom mounted the motorcycle and twisted the throttle.
Vroom-!
At the roaring exhaust sound, Yoris’s party members urgently destroyed the MK-II.
Yoris’s voice rose sharply.
“Chase them! Don’t let them escape!”
* * *
A motorcycle tearing across the Desolate Forest, with Yoris’s party members in hot pursuit behind it.
Arrows and spells rained down, striking the ground in scattered spots and erupting in explosions and booms.
Kim Han-ryul spoke up.
“You’re not planning to run, are you?”
Ju Do-gyeom nodded calmly, then opened his mouth.
“Yoris and the mage—I’ll handle them.”
“The other three fall to me?”
Kim Han-ryul swallowed hard.
At a glance, the opponents were Hunters of at least B Rank.
If she said she wasn’t nervous, it would have been a lie.
She was still a C Rank Hunter—not a single one of her Ability Stats had reached B Rank yet.
Ju Do-gyeom spoke.
“You can do this. Kim Han-ryul.”
“Again, again with that line…….”
She wanted to say she was sick of hearing it.
But laughter came instead.
Kim Han-ryul said.
“Honestly, I haven’t failed anything after hearing that.”
A dark, deepening smile played at her lips.
Ju Do-gyeom wore a similar smile and nodded.
Then he immediately turned the handlebars hard to the left.
Kim Han-ryul turned the handlebars to the opposite side—the right.
Vroom-!
The exhaust sound grew louder.
It was as Yoris’s confused teammates glanced toward their leader.
Ju Do-gyeom’s motorcycle, advancing to the left, suddenly rotated sideways and came to a stop.
Then, extending his index finger long, he pointed it precisely at Yoris and Emil.
And then he curled it, beckoning them.
Emil let out a scoff.
‘Obviously a trap.’
Afterward came regret.
Because Yoris spoke, his face flushed a burning red.
“Let’s go, Emil.”
“Team leader. This is a trap…….”
“Having second thoughts?”
“…….”
Yoris stared into Emil’s eyes as he fell silent.
Golden irises burning with fiery intensity.
“Back out if you don’t have the nerve.”
Yoris advanced toward Ju Do-gyeom.
Conflict flickered in Emil’s blue eyes.
-Aren’t you craving the Dragon Heart?
A voice like a message whispered at his ear.
Ju Do-gyeom’s voice.
His eyes snapped open.
‘Sound Transmission?’
He’d heard of this mysterious form of communication known among martial artists of the East.
The certainty crystallized.
‘……Not a mage after all.’
And the man was dangling a Dragon Heart to lure him in.
“There’s no refusing, is there.”
Emil, a bitter smile playing at his lips, was about to chase after Yoris when—
“Hahahaha—! Come on, let’s go together! Yoris!”
Amy grabbed Emil by the waist and bolted forward alongside him.
Emil turned to stare at her, and Amy winked as she spoke.
“This looks like more fun.”
Emil laughed.
‘Right.’
Trap or not, what did it matter?
The White Knight Yoris and the warrior Amy.
Since he—a mage—had joined them, they hadn’t suffered a single defeat.
The Yoris team drew closer with Amy’s acceleration.
Emil called out to Yoris, who kept his gaze fixed ahead.
“I’m sorry, Captain.”
“Tsk. Make up for it with your performance.”
Yoris clicked his tongue and gave a firm nod.
* * *
Three people, not two, moved toward Ju Do-gyeom.
As Kim Han-ryul turned to confirm his position, bewilderment flickered across his eyes.
-No problem. Focus on your job, Han-ryul.
A message came through Sound Transmission.
“……I wasn’t too worried anyway.”
Well, not true—he was worried.
Wasn’t that the man who’d brought down a dragon in a single strike just moments ago?
Even if he looked fine on the surface, his condition couldn’t be as good as it seemed.
And yet.
‘He’ll pull through anyway.’
Like always.
As if nothing were wrong.
Because that was the kind of man Ju Do-gyeom was.
‘So then…….’
He would too.
Surely enough to handle the two Hunters tailing behind.
The transformed motorcycle flashed with light, and on one side, a machine gun mounted as if a half-wing had unfolded.
Kim Han-ryul, gripping the handlebars, swung the motorcycle’s front around.
He pulled the trigger toward Anton and Matteo, who were closing in.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat—!
“Take this—! Flame bullets—!”
Fiery projectiles ignited blazes throughout the Desolate Forest.

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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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