The Returned Hunter Has Awakened to a Hidden Class - Chapter 22
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
22
Chapter 22
Just 5 Minutes to the Top!
Crack-!
“Ugh.”
Kim Jun got up from bed and stretched painfully.
Although Lee Seo-yeon was treating his damaged mana circuits daily, the aftereffects of his rampage were more serious than expected.
It would be too much to tackle the next floor right away.
“Still, I can’t just sit around doing nothing.”
Kim Jun opened his status window.
Though unintended, thanks to sweeping through all floors of the Heavenly Realm in just one day, his level had risen to a point no one else could reach.
Of course, it had been the same before.
—-
[Name]: Kim Jun
[Race]: Half-Human Half-Demon Half-Dragon
[Grade]: S-rank
[Level]: 49
[Title]: Dragon Slayer, Master of the Labyrinth, Demon Contractor, Heavenly Realm Butcher
—-
“Level 49…”
Kim Jun’s eyes flashed.
The Tower of Trials had a growth system very similar to games.
Five basic classes and special classes, plus second awakening possible upon reaching certain levels.
The second awakening level for warrior-type classes was exactly 50.
“Just 1 level left.”
Staying still bothered him with that awkward number 49, but forcing himself to tackle the Tower would earn him Lee Seo-yeon’s sharp gaze from behind.
Creak-
“Hyung-nim? How are you feeling today?”
Park Min-soo entered at just the right time.
“Hmm…”
Kim Jun began slowly examining Park Min-soo’s body.
Nearly 2 meters tall. More striking than his height was his overwhelming muscle mass as a former bodybuilder.
His shoulders were as wide as a door frame, and his forearms were as thick as Kim Jun’s legs.
“Are you really natural?”
“Puhahahaha! Hard to believe, right? Right?”
Park Min-soo proudly flexed his biceps.
“Heh! Hei! Jjua!”
Muscles like small soccer balls bulged up.
“What’s your HP right now?”
“Me? Um…”
—-
[Name]: Park Min-soo
[Race]: Human
[Class]: Tank
[Grade]: S-rank
[Level]: 18
[Stats]:
.
.
– HP: 312,000
—-
“312 thousand!”
“…What?”
Kim Jun checked his own HP again.
192,000.
Despite a level difference of over 30, Park Min-soo’s HP was overwhelmingly higher.
Monster-like HP, with top, bottom, and gloves all enhanced to +10 or higher.
But significantly low attack power.
Perfect conditions.
Kim Jun lightly wiped the corner of his mouth and said.
“…Min-soo.”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t you want to level up?”
“Of course?”
Park Min-soo answered with sparkling eyes.
“Then let’s do something together.”
“Huh? What’s that?”
Park Min-soo tilted his head, and Kim Jun smiled meaningfully.
‘Perfect meat… no, reliable tank.’
*
“Where is this place?”
Park Min-soo looked around anxiously.
Red sky, rivers flowing with lava, and monster cries heard from everywhere.
“Where else, it’s Hell.”
Kim Jun answered calmly.
“H-Hell?!”
Park Min-soo jumped back in surprise.
“Why Hell all of a sudden?”
“You need to kill monsters to level up.”
Kim Jun said as if it were obvious.
Actually, Kim Jun had another reason.
His current condition was the worst.
Due to the aftereffects of his rampage, the core combining Dragon and demon powers wasn’t functioning properly.
Normally he could handle dozens of monsters instantly by himself, but now both his HP and mana were less than half.
Fighting alone in this state would inevitably accumulate damage bit by bit.
That’s why he needed a tank.
‘While I’m at it, I’ll strengthen「Black Flame」too.’
Kim Jun had another purpose.
His original fire attribute had become even stronger when he awakened as Dragon Slayer.
Plus the dark attribute gained from his contract with Asmodeus.
Black Flame.
Kim Jun’s unique attribute was born.
But it wasn’t complete yet.
—-
[Skill Information]
-「Black Flame」
– Grade: EX
– Attribute: Fire + Darkness
– Effect: Creates black flames that never extinguish
– Special: Increases all attribute damage
– Stage: 1/1000
—-
The method to strengthen Black Flame is simple.
Hunt the monsters of Hell.
Special experience points that could only be obtained in Hell were needed.
“Shall we go then?”
“Somehow I feel uneasy…”
Ding-!
—-
[Quest Generated]
[Basement 2nd Floor Conquest]
[Objective: Eliminate 2,000 Demon Soldiers.]
[Current Progress: 0/2000]
[Reward: ???]
—-
“2, 2 thousand of them?”
“How’s that? Perfect for leveling up, right?”
“Hyung-nim, you’re not even in good condition right now, how are you planning to kill all of these? My attack power isn’t that great either?”
Park Min-soo asked worriedly.
That’s when the corners of Kim Jun’s mouth turned up.
“…Hyung-nim? Why are you smiling like that?”
He had an ominous feeling.
“I’m counting on you, Min-soo.”
“Huh? What are you counting on me for…”
That was the moment.
“Huh?”
Before Park Min-soo could even sense something was wrong, Kim Jun’s hand pushed his back.
No, rather than pushed…
Whoosh-!
“Ahhh!”
He completely threw him.
“Waaaahhh!”
Park Min-soo began flying in a parabolic arc.
Crash-!
And he landed exactly where the most Demon Soldiers were gathered.
Dust rose as Park Min-soo was embedded in the ground.
“Human!”
“A feast!”
In an instant, dozens of Demon Soldiers surrounded Park Min-soo.
“Hyung-nim! What is this?!”
“We’re not going to kill all 2,000. Just hold out a little!”
“Geez! Really? We’re just killing a few and leaving!”
“That’s right, you bastard!”
Though flustered, Park Min-soo was a seasoned S-rank tanker from before the Tower.
Click!
He tightened his belt and adjusted his helmet to secure his vision.
He checked the shield straps and verified the connecting parts of his armor once more.
He slightly bent his knees and lowered his center of gravity. The basic tanker stance ingrained in his body over the years.
He took a deep breath in and exhaled.
“Good.”
Park Min-soo’s eyes changed. His flustered appearance was nowhere to be found, and now he looked like a seasoned warrior.
He stepped his left foot half a step forward and raised his shield to chest height.
In his right hand, he gripped his mace in reverse and hid it behind his shield.
Though dozens of Demon Soldiers surrounded him, he wasn’t intimidated at all.
“Come on!! Uriyaaaaa-chacha!”
Park Min-soo roared.
Thud-!
The massive shield struck the ground.
A heavy resonance spread throughout the Basement 2nd Floor.
The confidence to face dozens of monsters alone. That wasn’t bravado but came from real skill.
“「Area Taunt」!”
With Park Min-soo’s shout, an intense aura spread in all directions.
Whoooosh-
An invisible wave swept over all the surrounding Demon Soldiers.
Their eyes all turned red in unison and began focusing solely on Park Min-soo.
—-
[Area Taunt Activated]
Affected Targets: Demon Soldiers x52
Effects:
– Forced aggro lock (30 seconds)
– Damage received by targets +30%
– Cannot attack other targets
– Duration: 30 seconds
—-
“52 of them… quite a lot gathered.”
Kim Jun watched with satisfaction.
The Demon Soldiers were densely surrounding Park Min-soo.
Especially since Park Min-soo had been pushed toward the wall, the Demon Soldiers were clustered in a semicircle.
It was a perfect formation for Kim Jun to unleash an area attack.
Kim Jun drew the 「Judgment Sword Victorius」 he had obtained from defeating Rabia, the 11th Floor boss.
—-
[「Judgment Sword Victorius」 Effect Confirmation]
[Grade]: B
[Attack Power]: +25
[Critical Damage]: +15%
[Special Effect]: Holy attribute granted (Additional damage +150% to demons and undead)
[Unique Skills]:
「Divine Judgment」: Summons a powerful holy spear to attack.
「Light of Purification」: 10% chance to remove debuffs when attacking
—-
“Min-soo, I’ll eat well!”
Slash slash slash!
[Demon Soldiers eliminated x52]
[Black Flame experience increased: 2/1000]
[Quest Progress: 52/2000]
“Good, next!”
Just as he was about to look for the next group.
Thud-! Thud-! Thud-!
A massive shadow appeared.
A 4-meter-tall demon warrior, its entire body covered in dark red muscles, holding massive axes in both hands.
Behind it, winged demons and grotesque demons that looked like masses of tentacles swarmed and appeared.
“These guys won’t be easy!”
Park Min-soo gripped his shield tightly.
“Die, human!”
Bang-!
The giant demon’s axe struck Park Min-soo’s shield hard.
“Hup!”
Park Min-soo was pushed backward.
At the same time, poison needles poured from the sky and sticky liquid from the ground.
“Ugh! Disgusting!”
Park Min-soo’s feet began sticking to the floor.
“Hyung-nim! This time it really seems dangerous!”
Park Min-soo shouted urgently. His stamina was visibly dropping.
But Kim Jun was still watching with his arms crossed.
‘Still 250,000 left.’
Kim Jun nodded after checking Park Min-soo’s stamina. There was still room to spare.
“Just hold on a little longer!”
“A little longer?!”
The situation continued similarly afterward.
“「Area Provocation」!”
Provocation.
“「Divine Judgment」!”
Attack.
“「Area Provocation」!”
Provocation.
“「Divine Judgment」!”
Attack.
“When are you going to finish this, hyung-nim!”
“Just one more time.”
Kim Jun held up one finger.
“Really?”
“Really.”
But when that one time ended.
“Hyung-nim! We’re done now, right? I’m really tired!”
“Ah, there’s another one coming. Just one more time.”
“Again?!”
“If we catch that one, it’s really over.”
[Current Progress: 890/2000]
[Current Progress: 1,210/2000]
[Current Progress: 1,390/2000]
.
.
.
They repeated this 10 times.
Pop-!
Gulp gulp-
“Hyung-nim!! I’ve used up all my mana potions too! I’m running away after 10 minutes!”
“Okay. Really the last one.”
“Damn it!”
Kim Jun kept soothing Park Min-soo.
Like those neighborhood uncles who say “Only 5 minutes left to the summit!” when hiking.
And so the summit that was supposed to be 5 minutes away passed 10 minutes.
“Hyung-nim! Hyung-nim!”
“What.”
“5 minutes have passed.”
“Let’s hunt for 5 more minutes.”
20 minutes passed.
“Damn! You said it was really the last time!!”
30 minutes passed.
“Kim Jun! You’re not even my hyung!”
Around 40 minutes.
“Arghhhh! When are you going to finish!”
“…Min-soo.”
“What!!!”
“There’s really not much left?”
[Quest Progress: 1941/2000]
“…If you were going to do this, you should have said we’d catch them all from the start!!”
“Then you wouldn’t have come.”
“…Ugh!!”
Actually, Kim Jun hadn’t planned to finish conquering the 2nd floor today either.
The underground floors were completely different from the surface floors.
It was structured so that monsters would swarm in dozens or hundreds at once.
A large battlefield where multiple people had to form formations and fight strategically rather than relying on individual hunter strength.
That’s why hunters before regression formed large raid parties and conquered bit by bit over several days.
Fortunately, underground floor monsters took a whole week to respawn, so it was possible to conquer while taking breaks in between.
Kim Jun had originally planned to do the same.
Hunt with Park Min-soo for a few hours, come back tomorrow to continue… that kind of approach.
But seeing Park Min-soo hold out better than expected, he changed his mind.
‘Maybe we can catch them all today?’
Normally, it would be impossible.
But Park Min-soo’s stamina, defense, and provocation abilities exceeded expectations.
To think one person could hold out against thousands of monsters.
Moreover, the anti-demon damage (+150%) of 「Judgment Sword Victorius」 was overwhelmingly powerful.
“You’re holding out so well that this happened, man. I’m tired too, but you’re holding out so well that we’re doing more.”
“Is, is that, what, what you should say right now?”
Park Min-soo said while panting. Of course it was a joke, but Park Min-soo was in a state of ‘extreme rage’ with no room to accept jokes.
Park Min-soo’s face crumpled after hearing the joke, turning bright red with heat.
“Haha, sorry. Let’s just go up to here!”
Kim Jun launched 「Divine Judgment」 at the last group.
Kagagagang-!
[Quest Progress: 2000/2000]
[Basement 2nd Floor conquest complete!]
[Reward: Dark attribute, Dark attribute experience gained!]
“It’s over!”
Park Min-soo cheered as he lowered his shield.
“Yahoo! Finally! It’s over!”
But that’s when it happened.
Rumble rumble rumble-
A tremendous noise echoed from deep underground. It sounded like heavy stone doors opening.
Red light began seeping out from the darkness in the distance.
It was the Boss Room.
“…”
“…”
A moment of silence passed.
Park Min-soo frowned even deeper as he saw Kim Jun’s sparkling eyes.
“…Min-soo.”
“No.”
“Isn’t it a waste?”
“Not at all.”
“How about just that place over there?”
“No way!”
“Come on.”
Kim Jun was sincere.
He really had intended to catch only 500, then only 1000, then only 1500, then only 2000.
“….”
“I said no.”
But what could he do?
This was all because Park Min-soo was too excellent.
“I said I don’t want to!”
“Come on!”
“No!”
“Then I have no choice….”
“R-right, hyung. Let’s go back now….”
Kim Jun was smiling.
『Min-soo. Let’s go.』
“Uh, uhh….”
It was Dragon Speech.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
