The Returned Hunter Has Awakened to a Hidden Class - Chapter 39
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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39
Chapter 39
Dark Soul (1)
This place was on a completely different level from other floors.
Flashy skills and overwhelming stats meant nothing here.
Only pure skill and physical prowess could survive in this cruel floor.
[Stat Downward Equalization in Effect]
His body grew heavy along with the system message.
As if lead weights were attached to his entire body, his arms and legs felt burdensome and sluggish.
Here, everyone had to start under the same conditions.
Even a single mob was threatening, and one mistake meant immediate death.
A boss’s single strike would instantly wipe out half your health.
“Are you ready, Master?”
“Yeah.”
Creeeeak-
As the massive iron gate opened, an eerie wind scratched across his face.
Air mixed with rotting corpses, rusted iron, and despair seeped deep into his lungs.
Whoooosh-
“Still unpleasant.”
“I like it, Master.”
What was most important in this place?
Parrying.
Flashy combo attacks and overwhelming magic were useless.
Only that single parry, deflecting an opponent’s attack at the precise timing, determined life and death.
Fortunately, he could still use「Detection」.
Thanks to its low mana consumption.
“At least I can use this much.”
“Master, you can clear this even without that.”
“That’s true.”
In his first playthrough, he had died countless times here and been revived countless times.
But now it was different.
A body that had already climbed to the 100th Floor.
Though he hadn’t reached Valderion’s level.
He possessed swordsmanship incomparable to back then.
Clank. Clank. Clank.
Footsteps mixed with metallic sounds approached from beyond the desolate wasteland.
Ten soldiers clad in medieval armor.
Eight in the front row were Shield and Longsword Infantry.
And between them, two Bugle-Wielding Messengers.
‘Those guys are the problem.’
Just one blow of the bugle would make all nearby enemies charge at once.
Facing even one unit was troublesome, but if a group swarmed together, there was no answer.
The 18th Floor’s objective was simple.
Whether breaking through the soldiers or bypassing them stealthily.
Either way, reach the Lion King’s Citadel and defeat the boss.
Kim Jun’s gaze wavered. Frontal assault or infiltration?
Then, blackened letters burned into the ground caught his eye.
[Ahead, bugle present.]
[Ahead, ambush effective.]
“…?”
Special messages that could only be found on this floor, Signs.
Traces left behind by Hunters themselves.
And most importantly.
“I carved these myself.”
Kim Jun frowned.
The warnings he had left while falling countless times during his first playthrough were now greeting his current self.
“Huu…”
There was no way to know why his signs from before the regression remained.
“Why only here?”
Many things had changed after the regression.
However, the Tower itself, the system itself had never changed.
The floor structure, rules, and themes were all identical.
But these signs clearly indicated that something had gone seriously wrong.
“Master.”
“Yeah.”
“Is it that serious?”
“It is serious.”
Perhaps the so-called Tower administrator had intervened.
Or it could simply be a system error.
‘Either way, the result is the same.’
Kim Jun shifted his gaze following the direction of the signs.
In the distance, soldiers patrolled mechanically across the desolate wasteland.
Dried tall grass that had grown to head height was scattered sparsely around.
‘Right, this was it.’
Memories from his first playthrough resurfaced.
Frontal assault was suicide, detours were filled with even more dangerous traps.
In the end, there was only one method he could choose.
Hide in the tall grass and quietly eliminate the patrol soldiers by luring them out one by one.
Kim Jun’s eyes grew coldly calm.
In this place, only patience and precision were the path to survival.
If a Messenger Soldier were to blow their bugle.
All nearby enemies would swarm and surround him in an instant.
“Andras.”
“Speak, Master.”
“Keep quiet. Absolutely do not make any noise.”
“…No fun. Can’t we just kill them all?”
Even Andras, who had been shaking his head disappointedly, soon corrected his expression seriously.
Kim Jun crouched low and approached the first patch of tall grass.
Rustle-
The dried grass brushed against his feet, but was masked by the sound of wind.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
A soldier approached with heavy footsteps.
Empty eye sockets were visible beneath the helmet.
Dragging a rusted sword, it passed in front of the tall grass.
Swoosh-!
Kim Jun’s sword shot out like lightning, covering the mouth and slashing the throat.
“Gurk-”
With a short groan, the soldier collapsed and blood seeped into the parched earth.
‘One.’
He dragged the corpse and hid it in the tall grass, then Kim Jun searched for his next target.
A heavy infantry soldier with a shield.
‘This will be more troublesome.’
A frontal assault would be difficult. Kim Jun immediately moved to different tall grass.
Rustle-
The moment the soldier’s head turned, the sword tip pierced through a gap in his armor.
A precise strike that pierced straight through the heart.
‘Two.’
His gaze turned toward the Messenger Soldier. Two of them holding horn flutes.
If those bastards sounded the alarm, it would be over.
The first messenger was keeping watch from high ground.
He climbed the rocks and slipped in like a shadow.
His sword slashed across the wrist gripping the flute.
‘Three.’
The second one was tricky. He was buried among the other soldiers.
A thrown pebble distracted his attention for a moment, then Kim Jun slipped to his side and stabbed his heart.
‘Four.’
Now there would be no reinforcements.
Five, six, seven, eight.
He slashed throats. He pierced hearts. He snapped neck bones.
Every death was quiet and perfect.
Two remained.
A heavy infantry soldier with a massive shield, and an Elite Soldier with a two-handed sword.
Kim Jun rose from the tall grass. There was no longer any reason to hide.
“Enemy!”
The Shield Soldier charged.
Metal rang as swords clashed.
Kim Jun waited for an opening, then when the shield opened up, he pushed it away with a parry and stabbed the throat.
Thunk-!
The Elite Soldier was Andras’s prey.
「Blood Sea of Death」 glowed red as it was swung in a cross pattern.
Vertical, horizontal. A perfect cross.
Thud. Thud. Thump. Thump.
The Elite Soldier’s arms and legs fell off one by one.
“Master.”
“What.”
“This method is quite entertaining as well.”
“It is.”
6 hours later.
From small outposts to gates guarded by cavalry.
He advanced while breaking through fortifications large and small.
“I’m finally getting used to this.”
Now he no longer hid in the tall grass.
He openly revealed himself and provoked the enemies.
He even waited for reinforcements to arrive.
Slash-
Slice-
Andras and Kim Jun’s swords cut down the enemies.
Even the cavalry that had been most troublesome before his regression now fell in an instant.
Neighhhh-!
And finally.
“We’ve finally arrived.”
A massive stone citadel revealed itself before their eyes.
The Lion King’s Citadel.
However, the real problem started from here.
Just entering didn’t mean they could immediately meet the boss.
The soldiers who had been scattered across the field were now stationed in layers throughout the fortress, with hundreds defending the entire stronghold.
Massive wooden stakes and iron gates.
Ballistae and catapults lined up on the city walls.
Heavy infantry units waiting in every courtyard.
Archers lurking on every spiral staircase.
Against the crimson-stained sky, the citadel stood like a massive shadow.
“We have a long way to go, Master.”
“There’s a trick to it.”
Kim Jun’s lips curved upward.
A secret he had discovered only after wasting dozens of hours during his first playthrough.
The armory deep underground beneath the Lion King’s Citadel.
The weapons and consumables sleeping there.
And among them, the one thing he was after.
“Sleep bombs.”
With just those, he could ignore the annoying mobs and go straight to the Boss Room.
“How do we get there?”
“If you follow the left wall of the citadel, there’s a drainage tunnel.”
The two avoided the main gate and circled to the side.
A blind spot where the soldiers’ gazes couldn’t reach.
Clank-
They opened the rusted sewer cover and crouched into the damp underground passage.
Darkness and the smell of mold, footsteps spreading across the water.
Had they walked for about 10 minutes?
A massive stone chamber revealed itself.
Rusted weapons hung on the walls.
Broken spears, worn-out shields.
And wooden crates stacked in one corner.
When Kim Jun opened a crate, inside were five small round bombs.
The metal surface engraved with dark red patterns glowed faintly, vibrating as if something sleeping inside was stirring.
“This should be enough.”
As Kim Jun gathered the bombs, Andras narrowed his eyes with interest.
“Hmm… to think you’d breach a fortress with such toys.”
“It’s a trick, after all.”
Kim Jun let out a bitter smile as he closed the crate.
Back to the surface.
The interior of the citadel was massive but simple.
The guard post in front of the main gate, the heavy infantry camp guarding the courtyard, and the spiral stairs leading to the tower.
Breaking through just these three areas would lead straight to the Boss Room.
“Well, let’s begin.”
“Good, Master.”
The first sleep bomb exploded in front of the inner gate.
BOOM-!
Purple smoke spread instantly, and the guards holding spears staggered and collapsed to the floor.
The rough breathing from inside their helmets soon turned to silence.
Straight to the central courtyard.
Heavy infantry armed with iron armor stood like a wall, holding their ground.
“Enemy! Block them!”
“Maintain formation!”
As their shouts rang out, shields were raised simultaneously.
But a second bomb flew from Kim Jun’s hand.
Bang-!
With an ear-splitting explosion, purple mist swallowed the courtyard.
One by one they collapsed, hitting the ground.
What remained were the spiral stairs.
From above, arrows poured down like rain.
Clang clang clang-!
Even as Kim Jun picked up his greatsword, the torrential arrows turned the stairs black.
“Tsk, can’t hold out here with a frontal assault.”
He hurled the third bomb with all his strength up the stairs.
Boom-!
The mist wrapped around the stairs and spread upward.
In an instant, the archers’ screams burst out one after another.
“Gaaaah!”
“Can’t… breathe…!”
Iron armor clanked as they rolled down the stairs one after another.
“It’s gotten quiet.”
“Let’s move.
Kim Jun leisurely began walking.
Following the stairs all the way to the top, he finally reached the massive door.
Red light seeped through the cracks of the thick, weathered door.
As if blood was boiling beyond the door, the light was heavy and viscous.
“Grrrrrrr…”
A low, threatening growl echoing from the darkness.
The boss of the 18th Floor.
It was the Lion King.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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