The Regressed EX-Class Martial God Decided to Become a Thousand-Star Hunter - Chapter 9

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

Episode 9
9.
For convenience, I’d even given the ability a name.
‘Killing Eye.’
Eyes that dealt certain death.
Following the Killing Eye’s alert, I drew a kitchen knife from my inventory and hurled it at the zombie rushing toward me from ahead—and it found its mark.
“……!!”
The zombie, which should have shrugged off such an attack and charged forward without hesitation, collapsed right there and went motionless.
An ironic word to use of a zombie, but it was dead.
‘Confirmation complete.’
After that, I swung the Great Hammer.
In a Zombie Burst Dungeon thick with numbers, the Great Hammer’s superior reach and area coverage made it far more efficient than other weapons.
Did it matter that it was heavy and difficult to wield?
Of course not.
『Skill acquired: Heavenly Force Shattering Method (1-star).』
Before my regression, I had been a martial arts master, after all.
* * *
Ju Do-gyeom deliberately shattered the iron door to the apartment rooftop with the Great Hammer.
The loud crash drew aggro, summoning the horde of zombies that had been scattered across the stairwell landings.
Not that he cared either way.
No—Ju Do-gyeom, who had wanted precisely this, brandished the Great Hammer alone and danced across the rooftop, sweeping away the endless waves of zombies that kept surging forward.
To Ju Do-gyeom, the Great Hammer was no clumsy weapon that used only its heavy head.
The grip in his hand.
The shaft connecting grip to head.
Even the wind that erupted as the Great Hammer was swung—
all of it became his weapon.
Corpses had accumulated all around him.
Beyond those knocked airborne and killed by falls to the first floor, he had disposed of just as many bodies.
At the tail end of such combat,
Ju Do-gyeom flicked his index finger infused with Internal Force at the last zombie that, luckily slipping through the gaps created as he swung the Great Hammer, had managed to draw near.
Shhhwick!
After the sound of air tearing, the zombie with its chest caved inward at the center collapsed in place and met its end.
『Skill acquired: Shadowless Flicking Finger (1-star).』
Without even checking the notification, Ju Do-gyeom lowered the Great Hammer to the ground.
Thud!
『Strength grade increased: E- ⇒ E』
『Skill promoted: Heavenly Force Shattering Method (2-star).』
The heavy sound echoed through the quiet night landscape around him.
But no more sounds of creatures rushing down from nearby, nor even of footsteps thundering up the stairs, could be heard.
Whether there were zombies inside each floor unit or homes elsewhere remained to be seen.
At least all the ones on the stairwell landings and rooftop were dead.
Ju Do-gyeom pulled up the dungeon information and checked how many zombies he’d killed so far and how much time remained.
『276/1,000』
『69 hours 53 minutes 28 seconds…… 27 seconds…….』
Was it because combat had flowed without pause?
He’d killed more than expected in such a short span.
‘Which means my Internal Force must be depleted.’
Yet after taking a few breaths, his Internal Force recovered in an instant.
Though his dantian still contained limited reserves, the Heavenly Purity Internal Cultivation Method was an Internal Force technique of such high efficiency that it made the greater difference.
In the meantime, Ju Do-gyeom gulped down water from the Purified Water Container he’d brought.
Water spilled from the corners of his lips.
He wiped it away with the back of his hand, then picked up the Great Hammer with one hand and stowed it in his inventory.
Could it be thanks to his strength rising a grade?
It felt far lighter than before.
‘Once I head downstairs, I probably won’t need it for a while.’
But if I venture outside again, it’ll come in handy.
With that thought, Ju Do-gyeom retrieved the kitchen knife as well—the one he’d thrown and swung at intervals during combat—grasped it in his hand, and moved toward the broken rooftop door below.
He descended into the dark stairwell.
All around him lay nothing but zombie corpses that could no longer move.
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap!
It wasn’t even half a floor down the stairs from the rooftop when the sound struck Ju Do-gyeom’s ear.
A cool smile slipped across Ju Do-gyeom’s lips.
‘I thought I’d killed them all.’
There must have been one trapped somewhere.
As the surroundings fell silent, he paused his movements for a moment.
Sensing Ju Do-gyeom’s motion, it raised hell again.
Finding its location wasn’t difficult.
The 20th Floor.
Precisely in the stairwell of the apartment building bearing that number, beyond a closed iron door.
From there, a still-living (?) zombie was making a racket.
Ju Do-gyeom approached that area, raised his foot, and without any particular technique—channeling only Internal Force and raw strength—kicked the iron door hard.
Bang!
The door caved in, crushing three zombies that had been pounding on it from behind.
And yet, zombies that they were.
Unable to feel pain, they shrieked and tried to escape that place.
Gaaaahhh!
Gahhh!
Ju Do-gyeom quietly approached them and lightly stabbed the red spots with his Kitchen Knife, quick and clean.
Without infusing Internal Force or strength.
Lightly.
That was enough.
The zombies, which had been thrashing even while crushed under the door, went completely still.
Having finished one additional bout of combat, Ju Do-gyeom entered the apartment on the 20th Floor whose front door stood open.
Gaaarrgh!
A zombie that burst from the darkness was disposed of with a stab of the Kitchen Knife.
Then the interior fell completely silent.
A house with the lights off.
He released his Internal Force outward, letting it spread like a sonic wave.
『You have acquired the skill Wave Perception Internal Cultivation Method (1-Star).』
Not a trace of anything.
Neither dead nor living—a quiet house.
Its interior was clean.
Ju Do-gyeom quietly entered the living room and opened the refrigerator door.
There was Bottled Water, several containers of it.
Expired Retort Food was visible as well.
When he opened the pantry, it was the same story.
“Hmm…”
Ju Do-gyeom exhaled a brief sound and smiled again.
* * *
The apartment had four units on each floor.
Ju Do-gyeom went through them, kicking down doors and prying handles to enter, then clearing out zombies and gathering the food and supplies he needed before returning to the 20th Floor.
The first open-doored apartment he’d discovered had been the cleanest and in the best condition.
This process repeated several times over.
Soon the apartment was stocked with enough food and beverages to sustain a single person for a considerable time.
Afterward, Ju Do-gyeom used heavy and thick furniture to completely block off the stairwell entrance and the elevator doors.
The windows inside the apartment received the same treatment.
As a result, not even a sliver of moonlight could penetrate, leaving the space so dark it was pitch-black.
But regardless—Ju Do-gyeom had succeeded in constructing his own fortress within the Zombie Burst Dungeon.
Why?
The reason was what he’d mentioned from the start: the restoration and training of his Martial Arts.
To anyone watching, it would seem an extremely dangerous act to undertake in a dungeon with a time limit.
But put another way, no dungeon in the early stages could offer a place as comfortable as this for Martial Arts training.
Martial Arts training.
Especially Internal Cultivation Method practice, which was sensitive to external disturbances.
“This will do.”
Ju Do-gyeom spoke softly with a satisfied expression.
Then he sat down in a corner of the dark room and began his breathing exercises.
Following the formula of the Heavenly Purity Internal Cultivation Method, the dungeon’s Mana entered through his breath, circulated through his body, and accumulated within.

It was a rapid pace.
* * *
『Wave Perception Internal Cultivation Method (2-star) has been promoted.』
『Five Senses Circulation Internal Cultivation Method (1-star) has been acquired.』
『Golden Blood Correction Internal Cultivation Method (1-star) has been acquired.』
『Body Protection Warmth Internal Cultivation Method (1-star) has been acquired.』
…….
…….
…….
『Bright Eye Technique (3-star) has been promoted.』
『Heavenly Purity Internal Cultivation Method (3-star) has been promoted.』
『Earthly Purity Internal Cultivation Method (3-star) has been promoted.』
『Five Senses Circulation Internal Cultivation Method (2-star) has been promoted.』
『Mana Grade increased: E- ⇒ E』
『Vitality Grade increased: E ⇒ E+』
『Strength Grade increased: E ⇒ E+』
『Agility Grade increased: E- ⇒ E』
* * *
Crinkle.
Ju Do-gyeom rose to his feet after carelessly crumpling the plastic wrapper of the last Triangle Kimbap and tossing it aside.
At the same moment, a sudden flare of eye-light burst forth—twice as intense as the radiance he’d commanded upon entering the dungeon.
His vision had grown so sharp that even this ordinary darkness was now completely transparent to him.
It was the result of the Bright Eye Technique reaching the third tier.
But there was far more than that.
Every martial art save those whose progress demanded broader spaces or live combat practice had advanced remarkably.
This alone was, quite literally, explosive growth.
How much time remained?
『16 hours, 11 minutes, 20 seconds…… 19 seconds……』
Though not much, in terms of results it was satisfying.
Before the regression, Ju Do-gyeom at this stage couldn’t have dreamed of such circumstances.
Yet that satisfaction was fleeting.
Ju Do-gyeom’s eyes turned cold in an instant.
It was the thought that he had further to go.
And reasonably so.
‘I’ve only just taken the first step.’
Before the regression.
Compared to when he’d fought the Demon King of Annihilation, he’d merely recovered that level of power—nothing more.
If he thought of the future ahead, he couldn’t afford to be satisfied with merely this.
‘So I must move forward.’
Zombie Burst.
The foremost reason he’d come to this dungeon.
To obtain ‘that.’
* * *
As mentioned before, the Zombie Burst Dungeon is an open-world format.
It meant another Hunter could exist within the same dungeon without being unusual.
There’s no problem up to that point.
The problem lies in the special rule that applies only within the Zombie Burst Dungeon itself.
『Users who die within Zombie Burst will drop all collectibles from their Inventory.』
Normally, when a Hunter dies, the collectibles in their Inventory don’t drop.
That’s why when robbing a Hunter, one must force them to surrender their items willingly.
But a Hunter who dies within Zombie Burst disgorges their Inventory items automatically.
And bear in mind—
Dungeon items obtained from Zombie Burst are traded for quite steep prices on Earth.
Thus, some Hunters had said it.
In Zombie Burst, what’s terrifying isn’t the zombies—it’s the people.
In a sense, it was a dungeon environment befitting a zombie apocalypse setting.
* * *
Quietly.
In rather careful concealment.
There was a gaze watching Ju Do-gyeom, who moved alone from a distance.
The group called Hellhound.
These three, who took considerable pride in a name of their own making, were all hunters who possessed at least one D-Rank ability stat.
At first, they were ordinary.
The three of them decided to ransack the Zombie Burst Dungeon, an easy one.
If luck favored them even a little, low-tier hunters like themselves could rake in substantial money.
But the windfall never came easily.
Because the Zombie Burst Dungeon was promoted as an easy dungeon, rewards always came—often exceeding the effort expended.
Yet there had never once been results enough to satisfy their uglier, greedier desires.
Then came the turning point.
The three of them happened to clash with another group of hunters over a single item, and in the struggle, they ended up massacring the other group entirely.
It was a new world.
The moment they killed a hunter, the inventory spilled forth its contents.
Taking that and leaving.
It was easier and simpler than exploring the dungeon directly.
The money earned was incomparable.
All they had to do was kill, then pocket only the choicest items.
From that moment on, the three became plunderers.
There was nothing to hesitate over.
Their villainy within the Zombie Burst Dungeon remained a secret known only to the three.
And the outside world knew nothing of their crimes.
Such was Hellhound.
Among the three friends of the same age, Baek Jung-hu ran his tongue across his lips without thinking.
Looking at Ju Do-gyeom’s back, he felt saliva pooling in his mouth.
“Looks like he’s been here a while. But alone…….”
His skill would be considerable.
That’s why he’d entered the Zombie Burst Dungeon solo.
They guessed that at least one of his ability stats, possibly two or more, was D-Rank or higher.
But they thought him arrogant too.
“The hunter industry is this brutal, and he walks in without a care.”
“Tsk, tsk…….”
So what if his ability stats were a bit higher?
It didn’t frighten them.
After all, Ju Do-gyeom was alone. Meanwhile, the three of them were together.
Im Jung-yeol, who’d nocked an arrow to his crossbow, spoke.
“My mouth’s watering. What do you say? Sneak attack first, then all hit at once?”
“No need for that. Let’s just kill him clean—he won’t even know what hit him. I’ll go draw his attention, and you, Jung-yeol, plant an arrow between his brows.”
The one who answered was Kim Dok-su, the last of the three Hellhound members.
His profession, evident from his sharp features, was thief.
He had nimble feet and was skilled at deception.
The two of them nodded as they watched the confident Kim Dok-su.
“Get ready.”
With those words, Kim Dok-su exposed himself and walked forward.
He must have stowed all his gear in his inventory.
Ju Do-gyeom, save for the Infinite Rope and Purified Water Container hanging at his waist, showed no special equipment.
Toward him, Kim Dok-su raised both arms as if in greeting and spoke with a grin.
“Well, imagine meeting someone in a place like this…….”
Kim Dok-su’s words never finished.
A kitchen knife, arriving from nowhere, pierced straight through the center of his brow.
Blood streamed down from the crown of his head to beneath his jaw.
Kim Dok-su, bleeding freely, toppled sideways and fell.
From his inventory, the items he’d hidden came spilling out.
Baek Jung-hu, who hadn’t yet comprehended the situation, shouted.
“Damn it, shoot!”
It was the moment Im Jung-yeol, the crossbowman, raised his arm to aim at Ju Do-gyeom.
Ju Do-gyeom, who had been clearly in his field of vision, vanished.
‘So fast……!’
It was beyond expectation—indeed, given the entry restrictions of the Zombie Burst Dungeon, something he couldn’t have imagined.
An archer with keen sight losing his movement entirely.
“Where, where is he!? Jung-yeol, hurry!”
Baek Jung-hu called out, searching for his position.
Crack!
His skull shattered against the Great Hammer.
Plundered items cascaded down in a heap.
And Ju Do-gyeom, the one who’d dealt the blow?
‘Again, I can’t see again!’
Left alone, Im Jung-yeol lurched to his feet and bolted.
‘Damn it.’
He’d touched the wrong opponent.
He’d heard it before from his higher-ranked brother.
Even among the same rank, there were sometimes monsters beyond calculation.
Beings who’d pushed their Ability Utilization Efficiency to its absolute limit—those microscopic statistics that separated the extraordinary from the ordinary.
The man they’d hunted was exactly that kind of person.
He had to run.
Fast enough that his feet might bleed.
No matter how good his Ability Utilization Efficiency was, an archer running with everything he had shouldn’t be easy to catch.
‘If luck’s on my side……!’
That was the last thought Im Jung-yeol’s terror-stricken mind formed in the world of the living.
Somewhere in his field of vision, a sinister crimson gaze flashed.
Crack!
The Great Hammer found his torso in a direct hit.

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