The Returned Hunter Has Awakened to a Hidden Class - Chapter 41

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

41

 

Chapter 41

 

Pasia, Presendia, Putra.

 

The passage was narrower than expected. Just wide enough for one adult man to barely pass through.

 

“Master.”

 

Andras spoke with a worried voice.

 

“What?”

 

“I don’t think I can go.”

 

“Ah.”

 

Kim Jun looked up at Andras.

 

With his massive frame easily exceeding 4 meters in height, it seemed impossible for him to pass through that passage.

 

“Wait here.”

 

“Understood. Be careful, Master.”

 

Kim Jun entered the passage alone.

 

Creeeeak-

 

His footsteps echoed in the narrow space.

 

The passage was more complex than expected.

 

Walls built with ancient stone stretched out like a maze. Unknown patterns were carved throughout the wall surfaces.

 

Reliefs that seemed to depict lions watched Kim Jun from the darkness, their red eyes glinting.

 

Tap. Tap.

 

Only footsteps broke the silence.

 

‘To the left.’

 

At the first fork, Kim Jun stepped to the left.

 

Torches on the walls ignited by themselves, illuminating the path. As if welcoming a visitor.

 

But the designer of this place apparently had no intention of welcoming intruders.

 

Click-

 

With each step, he could hear the sound of pressure plates on the floor activating.

 

There must be traps installed somewhere.

 

‘The traps are still there.’

 

Kim Jun moved his steps even more cautiously.

 

Whirrrr-

 

Suddenly, a massive axe blade descended from the ceiling.

 

Kim Jun quickly ducked his body.

 

Bang!

 

The axe blade struck down where Kim Jun had been standing just moments before.

 

‘What was next again.’

 

He carefully moved forward again.

 

This time, instead of the floor, he carefully examined the cracks in the walls.

 

Swoooosh-

 

Poison arrows flew from the wall, but Kim Jun, who had already anticipated them, dodged leisurely.

 

‘Forward.’

 

The second fork. This time he went straight.

 

‘To the right.’

 

At the third fork, he turned right.

 

‘Forward again.’

 

Kim Jun traced his memories from the first playthrough to find the exact route.

 

Before his regression, he remembered wandering in this mysterious maze for over 30 minutes.

 

He had to turn back several times after encountering countless dead ends and traps.

 

But now it was different.

 

Because he already knew the answer.

 

Click, click, click.

 

Traps activated one after another, but Kim Jun anticipated everything.

 

Falling stone traps, poison gas sprays, floor collapses, flame jets.

 

He perfectly avoided everything and went deep into the maze.

 

Of course, things had changed ‘slightly,’ but they were patterns he could sufficiently overcome by relying on his pre-regression knowledge.

 

And finally.

 

“I’ve arrived.”

 

What he encountered at the end of the passage was a massive stone door.

 

The entire door was decorated with golden lion carvings.

 

Two lions facing each other in roaring poses.

 

Ancient characters were carved in a circle around the door’s perimeter, but they were indecipherable.

 

Creeeeak-

 

When Kim Jun pushed the stone door, it opened with a heavy sound.

 

What appeared beyond it was.

 

A temple.

 

No, more precisely, it was a shrine’s altar.

 

Constellations were painted on the domed ceiling, and the entire wall surface was carved with reliefs depicting the chronicles of lions.

 

And in the center of the altar.

 

Hum-

 

A small necklace emitting a golden aura was floating.

 

[Item Discovered: 「Lion’s Talisman」]

 

Kim Jun’s eyes sparkled.

 

Step, step-

 

He carefully approached the altar and picked up the talisman.

 

Warm energy was transmitted through his palm.

 

—-

 

[Item Acquired]: 「Lion’s Talisman」

 

[Item Information]

 

– Grade: C

 

– Effect: When mana is insufficient, skills can be used by consuming health

 

– Special Effect: Skills used with health have 1.5x increased power

 

– Description: A sacred relic passed down through generations of ancient Lion Kings. Contains the forbidden power to convert life force into magical power.

 

—-

 

Kim Jun put the talisman around his neck.

 

Instantly, warm energy spread throughout his body.

 

‘Now I can use skills even when mana is insufficient.’

 

Of course, health would be consumed, but Kim Jun’s main skills had enough power to send any decent boss flying in one hit.

 

Moreover, there was even a bonus that skills activated with health had 1.5x increased power.

 

‘With this, the Dark Souls section will be much easier.’

 

Kim Jun wore a satisfied expression.

 

Now that he had obtained the talisman, it was time to return.

 

But then.

 

“Huuuuk. Huk. Huk.”

 

A child’s crying seeped in from the darkness.

 

*

 

Kim Jun’s footsteps stopped.

 

In the first playthrough, this place had been silence itself. A temple so eerily quiet that not even a breath could be heard.

 

However, now, a child’s crying flowed along the walls.

 

It was unfamiliar and ominous.

 

‘Something is definitely changing. The laws I knew are being twisted.’

 

The boss patterns had changed, and the traps had gradually changed as well.

 

This crying sound, too, was something that hadn’t existed before his regression.

 

“Is anyone there… I’m scared…”

 

The crying became clearer and clearer.

 

Kim Jun headed toward the back of the altar.

 

A corner shrouded in darkness. An old door was hidden there.

 

A place that had definitely been an ’empty space’ before his regression.

 

“I won’t hurt you. Is someone there?”

 

He spoke carefully, but the inside remained quiet.

 

Bang-!

 

When he pushed the door down, rotten wood scattered and the inner space was revealed.

 

Inside.

 

Three girls were huddled together, embracing each other.

 

Their eyes were red and swollen from crying, their clothes were tattered, and dried tears stained their cheeks.

 

“It’s a monster!”

 

“Don’t come near!”

 

The girls screamed and fled further into the corner.

 

However, there was nowhere to hide in this room.

 

Kim Jun sheathed his greatsword and knelt down.

 

Meeting their gaze, he spoke slowly.

 

“I’m not a monster. I didn’t come here to hurt you.”

 

After a long silence, the most mature-looking girl among them moved her lips slightly.

 

“Really… you’re not a monster?”

 

“But your eyes look scary…”

 

Trembling pupils.

 

Kim Jun nodded lightly.

 

Only then did the children’s shoulders relax a little.

 

But fear still remained, and their tears didn’t stop.

 

As time passed, fragmented words began to flow out.

 

Their mother was the manager of the ‘Flowing Time Tower’.

 

Those who ruled specific areas in the Dark Souls world weren’t simple leaders or boss monsters.

 

They were the last noble bloodline remaining in this desolate dimension, inheritors of the ancient Royal Family’s blood.

 

So the girls before his eyes weren’t simple children either.

 

The manager’s blood, descendants of the Royal Family.

 

They were the most precious seeds in this land, and simultaneously the most valuable sacrifices.

 

The girls’ words came in fragments, broken and continuing.

 

“A monster came and… Mother…”

 

“Mother… and everyone else… they all died…”

 

“Huuuuk…”

 

The name of that monster was Chronos.

 

The one who overturns time.

 

He had torn apart all those in the Clock Tower while they were still alive, and even stained the manager with blood.

 

However, only the children didn’t die.

 

They weren’t spared, but left behind.

 

To be offered at Lion King Raugar’s banquet.

 

“When we become adults… he said he would eat us.”

 

Kim Jun felt the air turn ice cold.

 

This wasn’t simply the act of eating meat.

 

The laws of Dark Souls were always ritualistic.

 

The moment a child’s pure blood becomes tainted.

 

Blood spilled at the boundary of becoming an adult.

 

That was considered the most valuable and most fragrant as a ‘sacrifice’.

 

So they were left behind without dying.

 

Waiting for the day they would shine most brilliantly on the monster’s dining table.

 

‘Disgusting.’

 

The reason Kim Jun hated the Dark Souls Staircase wasn’t simply because of its bizarre difficulty.

 

Because there were always these hidden, dirty and ugly stories beneath the surface.

 

He looked at the girls for a moment, then quietly opened his mouth.

 

“What should I… do for you?”

 

The original plan was simple.

 

Now that he had obtained the 「Lion’s Talisman」, he would head straight to the 19th Floor and break through the next section.

 

But the three children before his eyes weren’t simple NPCs.

 

Kim Jun knew.

 

Beings forcibly bound to this place by the Tower’s ‘administrator’ and demoted to NPCs.

 

These weren’t simple data, but lives that had originally breathed and lived in their respective worlds.

 

They were the so-called ‘Imprisoned Ones’.

 

In that case.

 

“We want to… bury Mother…”

 

“Please find Mother’s keepsake…”

 

“Huuuuk…”

 

The girls’ earnest voices overlapped and echoed.

 

[Quest Generated!]

 

[Name: Mother’s Keepsake]

 

[Description: Retrieve the manager’s keepsake from the Flowing Time Tower]

 

[Reward: ???, Strength Stat +2, Agility Stat +2]

 

Kim Jun’s gaze wavered.

 

Countless areas existed in the Dark Souls world.

 

From the Lion King’s Citadel he had conquered so far, to the Flowing Time Tower, to the endlessly connected Underground Tunnel.

 

Each existed independently like a kingdom, and the managers who ruled those places were all inheritors of the Royal Family’s blood.

 

The girls’ mother was also one of them.

 

The manager of the Clock Tower, and a descendant of royal blood.

 

And the children before his eyes now were the last remaining inheritors of that blood.

 

Kim Jun closed his eyes for a moment.

 

Since his regression, he had always moved calculating only the minimum route.

 

Unnecessary exploration was a waste of time. He just needed to climb quickly.

 

But now.

 

‘There’s a lot to gain anyway.’

 

The phrase ‘killing two birds with one stone’ crossed his mind.

 

Each area of Dark Souls had its unique items and rewards.

 

Ritual tools that provided stat enhancements, rare equipment of B-grade or higher, or even new companion items.

 

While leveling up was limited, opportunities to raise stats themselves could only be obtained here.

 

Moreover.

 

———파시아 13살

 

———프레젠티아 12살

 

———파시아 12살

 

———프레젠티아 10살

 

———퍼트라 9살

 

———파시아 10살

 

Letters faintly scratched on the wall.

 

Roughly carved names, and numbers drawn like lines beside them.

 

These were traces of the children recording their heights and ages among themselves.

 

One line, then another line.

 

Traces scratched into the wall with small hands, as if confirming the time they had lived in this place.

 

Kim Jun looked at those traces, quietly steadying his breathing, then slowly closed his eyes.

 

‘Has it already been over 3 years since they were brought here?’

 

Each number looked like a growth record of these children, and at the same time, like a death sentence marking their remaining time.

 

That fact weighed even heavier on his heart.

 

‘…Perhaps in my previous regression, I arrived too late.’

 

When he had found this place in the previous cycle, the room had definitely been empty.

 

It was nothing but a coldly cooled space with nothing in it.

 

But what if.

 

What if that room hadn’t been empty from the beginning, but was empty because he had arrived late, after the girls had already been offered as sacrifices.

 

Kim Jun’s brow furrowed even deeper.

 

The small letters carved into the wall felt like the children’s last words to Kim Jun.

 

Clench-

 

[Quest Accepted!]

 

[Return the ‘Reverse Hall’s Royal Hall’ of Tempora, who ‘was’ the Manager of the ‘Flowing Time Tower’, to the girl.]

 

“I will definitely.”

 

The truth is.

 

“I will definitely…”

 

Kim Jun is quite sensitive.

 

“I…”

 

And has a soft heart.

 

Drip drip-

 

Especially toward young children.

 

‘I was the one who was late. Me.’

 

Perhaps before his regression, the moment he was late, the children had already been offered as sacrifices.

 

Kim Jun blamed himself for all of it.

 

“D-Dragon Eye mister is crying…”

 

“Why are you crying…?”

 

“He’s crying…sniff…”

 

The children before his eyes now hadn’t experienced such tragedy.

 

But out of guilt.

 

Drip drip-

 

Tears flowed.

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