The Regressed SSS-Rank Supporter Who Turned Dark - Chapter 21

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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 21
“What was that?”
Choi Yu-ra asked me.
“I have no idea.”
“You did it, so why don’t you know?”
“I’m telling you, I don’t know.”
This time, Lim Captain posed the question.
“Cha Eun-sung, what exactly was that just now…?”
“I’m not entirely sure either. If I had to describe it… the Goddess of Fortune? Something like that, I suppose.”
“I… see…?”
“It boosts our luck? Around 120% for five minutes.”
“Ha ha….”
Lim Captain’s expression grew troubled.
He couldn’t quite grasp what it meant to increase luck by around 120%.
I felt the same way.
How does one even verify that an abstract concept like luck has had its probability increased?
Even I, the one who activated it, couldn’t wrap my head around it.
“Ah.”
Just then, I spotted a vase.
After a moment’s consideration, I found an excellent way to test the effects of the [Fortune] card.
“Everyone, please step back.”
After warning my companions, I kicked and shattered a trap vase that would drop something from above when touched.
Crunch!
The moment the trap activated, a rectangular stone block fell from the ceiling toward my head.
Flinch!
The stone block stopped impossibly about thirty centimeters above my head.
Normally, that stone would have turned me into minced meat, but seeing it halt in mid-air confirmed that fortune had definitely activated.
“What did you just do?”
“You saw it yourself. I was testing it.”
“Testing…?”
“Whether my luck actually improved or got worse.”
“Wow.”
Choi Yu-ra looked at me as though seeing me in a new light, her expression one of shock.
“You really are insane, aren’t you?”
“Why the sudden insult?”
“Do you have nine lives or something?”
“Two seems about right, though I’m not sure about nine.”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
“It’s a real thing.”
“You’re completely mad.”
Choi Yu-ra shook her head with evident exasperation.
“Um, Cha Eun-sung? No matter the circumstances, I’d really appreciate it if you’d refrain from risking your life to test your abilities. It’s far too dangerous.”
“I apologize for alarming you. I’ll be more careful.”
“Thank you.”
“Let’s continue looting. There’s still plenty to collect.”
The Recka members’ spirit weapons were also fair game for looting.
The corpses of the fallen Recka drew closer.
Swords, axes, daggers—and more.
The masterless spirit weapons were absorbed into my cards.
“T-Team leader.”
“Quiet. I see it too.”
Lim Captain calmed his startled subordinate.
Yes, he must be shocked.
Absorbing another awakened one’s spirit weapon was something no one would have imagined possible.
‘What am I supposed to do with all of this?’
The spirit weapons inside my infinite deck had already accumulated nearly twenty blades.
Combined with those I’d acquired upon my initial awakening and what I’d just collected, it amounted to roughly that number.
I wasn’t sure whether I was meant to use all of them or if this was simply a matter of collection.
Spirit weapons are commonly said to be the manifestation of an awakened one’s ether, but… I couldn’t be certain.
I still didn’t know what the Guide was or what the Collector of Madness job class entailed precisely.
‘I’ll understand once my rank increases.’
The higher an awakened one’s rank climbed, the stronger they became, and their abilities grew more potent.
‘How much longer?’
I focused my consciousness to examine my current status.
[Cha Eun-sung]
Guide
Collector of Madness
★
(89.5%)
Thanks to Choi Yu-ra and Lim Captain’s unit channeling their ether to me, I wasn’t far from a rank increase.
The Cursed Fortress being a high-tier dungeon likely contributed to the quality and concentration of the ether I’d absorbed.
“Let’s head out. We’ll break open any urns we find along the way.”
We finished looting and made our way toward Floor 1.
* * *
Creak—I carefully opened the door leading to Floor 1.
“Ugh, ugh-ugh!”
“Slurp, slurp, slurp!”
Nearly a hundred monsters were ravenously tearing into what appeared to be the corpse of one of the Recka members’ allies.
I quietly closed the door.
“Why are you closing the door?”
“They seem to be having a company dinner. I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“….”
Choi Yu-ra understood my meaning and fell silent.
“Let’s take another route.”
The first floor of the Cursed Fortress resembled a massive lobby, and one wrong move could get us surrounded and wiped out by monsters.
It wasn’t for nothing that Recka members had fled to Basement Level 1 and ended up dead by our hands.
“This way.”
I waved my Search card and guided the group through the detour.
In truth, I’d cleared this dungeon so many times in my past life that the Cursed Fortress was crystal clear in my mind, even without the Search card.
“Are we going the right way?”
“Yes.”
“We’ve been walking for an hour already.”
“The path is complicated. We’re making good progress, so don’t worry.”
Basement Level 1 was laid out like a maze, so even taking the correct route could feel like wandering aimlessly.
In terms of straight-line distance, it wasn’t far, but the structural layout forced us to wind around endlessly.
“Here it is.”
Creak!
When we reached an iron door, I opened it without hesitation.
Beyond it lay a narrow spiral staircase.
“This staircase goes straight to Floor 7, so we can proceed with confidence.”
“There was a secret passage like this here?”
“I didn’t know either. The card showed me.”
It was a blatant lie, but they seemed to believe it.
“I’ll take the lead.”
Lim Captain’s unit climbed the stairs first.
“Choi Hunter and Eun-sung will stay in the middle, while we handle the front and rear.”
“Understood.”
Choi Yu-ra looked slightly offended, but she didn’t argue.
Lim Captain’s proposal was rational and wise.
In a narrow spiral staircase, a hunter wielding a long weapon like Choi Yu-ra couldn’t fully utilize their combat power.
A spear-type weapon could be gripped short and used for thrusting, but a weapon like a whip that required swinging to generate kinetic energy would struggle to be effective in confined spaces.
By the same principle, fighting underwater was equally difficult due to resistance dampening full power.
This is why tactics matter.
A true hunter must clearly understand their own strengths and weaknesses—when and where they excel or falter—and adapt accordingly.
“Here.”
“What is it?”
“Just in case.”
“Tch.”
Choi Yu-ra pouted and accepted the Bren 2 carbine I offered her.
We formed a tactical formation and climbed the spiral staircase in single file, arriving at Floor 7.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
“Kyaaaah!”
The moment I emerged from the secret passage, monsters lunged at me, but the narrow corridor inside the building made it easy to suppress them.
Whoooosh!
As the battle ended, ether enveloped me.
Your grade has increased!
The notification window appeared alongside my grade increase.
[Cha Eun-sung]
Guide
Collector of Madness
★★
(1.23%)
Thus, I had ascended from a 1-star Awakened to a 2-star Awakened.
“Eun-sung, congratulations.”
“Congratulations.”
“Congrats. Our little rookie is 2-star now?”
Choi Yu-ra and Lim Captain’s unit offered their congratulations.
[Alchemy] card has been generated!
[Hero’s Knapsack] card has been generated!
Alchemy?
‘What is this?’
I examined the cards more closely.
[Alchemy] depicted a stout elderly man wielding a hammer in a forge, while [Hero’s Knapsack] was a leather backpack.
[Alchemy]
★★
A card capable of card synthesis, etherium refining, processing, and combination.
As the card’s grade increases, the quality of crafted items improves accordingly.
[Hero’s Knapsack]
★★
A backpack capable of holding an extraordinary amount of cargo.
Its fixed weight is 7kg.
As the card’s grade increases, it can easily accommodate even 70 tons of weight.
I could roughly grasp what these meant.
Of course, I wouldn’t know for certain until I tested them myself.
“Let’s continue.”
Floor 7.
777, 777.
Upon arriving at the coordinates, a wardrobe sat there alone.
“This is the entrance to the hidden dungeon?”
“That’s right.”
As if to prove my point, I flung open the wardrobe, and a portal leading to another space revealed itself.
“This… this is real.”
“I can’t believe a place like this exists in a dungeon.”
Choi Yu-ra and Lim Captain were astonished.
“There’s nothing to worry too much about, so let’s hurry and sweep through to the boss chamber.”
Without hesitation, I stepped through the portal and headed toward the rift.
* * *
Beyond the portal, a dense forest sprawled before us.
With a light drizzle falling, it felt tangibly different from the Cursed Fortress we’d been in—an entirely separate space.
【Goblin Bandit Settlement】
★★
“Goblin Bandit Settlement?”
“With ‘bandit settlement’ in the name, isn’t this like a bandits’ den?”
“I suppose so.”
Choi Yu-ra nodded at my words.
“There it is.”
After walking through the forest a bit, I spotted a bandit hideout surrounded by wooden palisades in the distance, with goblins prowling around it.
“They’re just goblins—let’s wipe them all out.”
“I’ll take the lead.”
Lim Captain’s unit moved to the front and unleashed a barrage of gunfire at the goblins.
“Shriek!”
“Kyaaaah!”
The goblins fell one after another as we encountered them.
Since they were monsters that died easily to bullets, eliminating the goblins wasn’t particularly difficult.
“Kyaaaah, shriek shriek, gehehehe!”
A large goblin that appeared to be the bandit leader seemed like it might put up a fight, but in the blink of an eye, Choi Yu-ra’s swinging chain reduced it to minced meat.
Tsk, getting shot would’ve been a better way to go.
“What? That’s it? We came all this way just to hunt goblins?”
“Still, we should check if there’s anything here.”
I played dumb and began searching through the settlement.
“Over here! Over here!”
One of Lim Captain’s subordinates shouted.
‘Found it.’
It was a wooden hut-like structure, and inside, Etherium and all manner of items were piled up like mountains.
“What… what is all this?”
“It looks like treasure the goblin bandits have been hoarding all this time?”
“This is incredible.”
Choi Yu-ra clicked her tongue in amazement.
The amount of Etherium stacked in the treasure vault appeared to be nearly five hundred pieces.
Of course, most were one-star Etherium with little value, but there were higher-grade ones scattered throughout, making the total worth roughly ten billion won.
Yes, this is the taste of a fissure.
Depending on the dungeon, one could strike it rich, so in my past life, it was common for high-ranking awakened ones to chase fissures and endlessly grind through lower-tier dungeons.
Though this is what will happen after I reveal information about the fissure to HunterLink.
“Let’s distribute it right here. If we go outside and divide it up, things will get messy one way or another.”
“Understood.”
“I agree too.”
We decided to split the Etherium and various items we found in the Goblin Bandit Settlement’s treasure vault in a 5-to-3-to-2 ratio.
Naturally, I was taking the five.
After all, I was the one who provided the information about the fissure.
Now, let’s see how much wealth these goblin bandits had accumulated.
Anything worthwhile here?
I scanned the goblins’ treasure with the eyes of a hawk.

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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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