The Returned Hunter Has Awakened to a Hidden Class - Chapter 44

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

44

 

Chapter 0

 

Flowing Time Tower (1)

 

[Dungeon: Flowing Time Tower]

 

[Description: A den of time where clock hands flow backwards.

 

The monster ‘Chronos’ that devours the time of the dead rules this place.]

 

[Would you like to enter?]

 

[Yes / No]

 

Before his regression, Kim Jun had never set foot in this place.

 

In the vast world of Dark Souls, he had wandered through countless regions searching for necessary items.

 

This world was so vast that it would take at least a year to traverse all those places.

 

In the end, selective focus was necessary, and the ‘Flowing Time Tower’ was a location outside Kim Jun’s route.

 

Yet now, he knew there was an NPC in this place.

 

The reason was none other than Ryu Ji-a.

 

Before his regression, after barely escaping the Dark Souls floors.

 

When he reunited with his companions, a casual remark that came up in conversation.

 

“Oh, that? There’s a tower in The Swamplands, you know. It was at the end of the 2nd floor corridor… there was an NPC there who does crafting. Whether it’s mana stones or whatever, they’d convert everything into talismans.”

 

Actually, Kim Jun hadn’t been particularly interested at the time.

 

After all, it was a place he’d never been to.

 

But Ryu Ji-a was different.

 

Despite appearances, she was a thorough mage.

 

She had the personality to collect every magic-related item, big or small.

 

She would stubbornly enter even seemingly unnecessary paths, searching thoroughly to the end to obtain a single staff or scroll.

 

‘To think I’d benefit from Ji-a’s work.’

 

He wondered if he should pat her head when they met again.

 

[Flowing Time Tower – 1st Floor]

 

Tick-

 

He entered the 1st floor.

 

Upon entry, a chilling aura rushed toward him.

 

In the long corridor, figures in white robes stood in a line.

 

They held long staffs in their hands, their eyes dim as if emptied.

 

They all swung their staffs in unison.

 

Blue magic bullets poured forth.

 

“Get out of the way.”

 

Kim Jun’s greatsword swept sideways, cutting through their trajectory.

 

Andras’s 「Crimson Blood Sea」 immediately followed, dyeing the corridor red.

 

Staffs broke, robes tore, and magic bullets scattered.

 

The monsters in this place weren’t particularly strong.

 

No, to be precise, Kim Jun and Andras’s strength was at a level far beyond this floor.

 

Even with their power suppressed by Dark Souls’ laws, this much was child’s play for the two who had already reached high levels.

 

As the fallen robes turned to dust and disappeared, stairs leading to the next floor revealed themselves.

 

[Flowing Time Tower – 2nd Floor]

 

The 2nd floor was even darker.

 

On both sides of the narrow corridor, old clock gears protruded from the walls as if eating into them.

 

There was no sound of turning, but only metallic friction sounds lingered in their ears.

 

Screeeech-

 

“End of the corridor.”

 

“Got it.”

 

Andras lowered his body, and Kim Jun advanced straight ahead with his greatsword leading.

 

Mages appeared again from various places, but it was the same story this time too.

 

As blue crystals flew toward them, the greatsword lightly cut through their trajectory, and the blood sword pierced through the gaps.

 

With only brief screams, the monsters disappeared like wind.

 

When they reached the end of the corridor like that.

 

In the darkness, they saw a single old door.

 

Its texture was closer to stone than metal, with faintly glowing patterns on top.

 

Kim Jun slowly reached out and grasped the handle.

 

‘This is it.’

 

The place Ryu Ji-a had mentioned, where the Craftsman was.

 

The old door opened with a creaking sound.

 

The inside was narrow and dark.

 

There was no firelight, but a faint blue aura was flowing down from the ceiling.

 

In one corner, a hunched shadow was sitting.

 

A bizarrely curved back, robes dragging to the floor.

 

A face with wrinkles layered like hardened bark was dimly visible.

 

‘…’

 

The Craftsman said nothing.

 

Instead, he tapped a wooden board hanging beside him with dry fingers.

 

Roughly carved letters emerged in the light.

 

[Item Crafting]

 

[Materials → Talisman Creation Available]

 

[Price: 100,000 Coins]

 

Both the robe and face somehow resembled the monsters outside the door, but that wasn’t what mattered right now.

 

Kim Jun took out a mana stone from his pocket and placed it on the table.

 

The Craftsman slowly raised his hand and grasped the mana stone.

 

A brief silence.

 

Then blue light melted down and condensed into a small talisman.

 

[Item Creation Complete!]

 

[「Talisman of the Blue Abyss」]

 

[Effect: Increased Mana Recovery Speed]

 

Kim Jun picked up the item.

 

The pulsation felt at his fingertips was definitely different.

 

It was expensive. 100,000 coins. A quite painful price.

 

But.

 

‘Now I’ve got everything.’

 

Despite tremendous growth so far, he had to fight as if one wing was bound due to mana constraints.

 

But with the 「Talisman of the Blue Abyss」, those shackles were partially released.

 

Kim Jun smiled with satisfaction just from that fact alone.

 

The blue light pulsating in his hand seemed to guarantee future battles.

 

Moreover.

 

[Contractor effect is shared.]

 

[Andras: Increased Mana Recovery Speed]

 

“…What the hell is this.”

 

Kim Jun’s eyes wavered for a moment.

 

Not only Kim Jun who wore the talisman, but also Andras, his contractor, would be affected together.

 

Kim Jun stared at the Craftsman with wide eyes, but.

 

Wave-

 

The Craftsman waved his hand dismissively, as if no longer interested.

 

It was a signal to leave if business was finished.

 

[Flowing Time Tower – 3rd Floor]

 

Tick-

 

Tick-

 

Clock hands hanging all over the ceiling were falling one by one like raindrops.

 

“What the hell is this.”

 

“I don’t know, Master.”

 

A sight that defied explanation.

 

The very idea of clock hands pouring down felt ominous.

 

Drop-

 

Each time they touched his skin, he felt a cold, alien sensation unlike metal.

 

But who cares.

 

Slash-

 

He simply cut them down and climbed upward.

 

[Reverse Clocktower – 4th Floor]

 

Tick-

 

Tick─

 

Gears turned on every wall.

 

In front of them, blue-robed mages were dragging chained beasts.

 

Monsters that looked like wolves, but with twisted limbs.

 

The beasts were released first and charged forward.

 

Gears, beasts, and mages tangled together, blocking the path.

 

But only briefly.

 

Only broken gears, torn robes, and collapsed beasts remained.

 

[Reverse Clocktower – 5th Floor]

 

Tick-

 

Tick─

 

Tick-

 

Throughout the corridor, mages in red robes stood in rows.

 

Dozens of fireballs rose simultaneously, filling the air.

 

Kim Jun raised his greatsword straight and shouted briefly.

 

“「Dragon Slash」.”

 

───!

 

The 「Black Flame」 sword strike pierced through the corridor.

 

The red robes were cut down like paper, dozens falling simultaneously.

 

Only traces of burning flames remained.

 

No longer could mana restrictions hold him back.

 

Moreover, Andras, bound to Kim Jun by contract, also shared the efficiency of the 「Blue Abyss Talisman」.

 

Each time the red blade cut through the air, bloody trajectories exploded outward.

 

“Hehehe… finally I can breathe, Master!”

 

As Andras ran wild, the corridor instantly became a slaughterhouse.

 

[Reverse Clocktower – 6th Floor]

 

The moment he climbed the stairs, the air changed.

 

Though the corridor ahead was clearly dark, ticking sounds burst forth from all directions.

 

That sound that had been coming from the lower floors.

 

At first it was once every two seconds.

 

Now it pierced his ears every second.

 

Tick-

 

Tick—

 

Kim Jun’s heart seemed to sway to that rhythm.

 

His fingertips began losing sensation with a tingling numbness.

 

“Master. The pace is quickening.”

 

“Yeah. Stay alert. We don’t know what’s coming.”

 

Tick-

 

Tick—

 

Tick-

 

Tick—

 

The intervals growing shorter and shorter.

 

Like a heartbeat, like a threat, an ominous presence filled the corridor.

 

And then, all the sounds overlapped in a single moment.

 

Ticktickticktick-!

 

Flash-!

 

[Reverse Clocktower – 2nd Floor]

 

Kim Jun and Andras were back on the 2nd floor.

 

*

 

Kim Jun and Andras stood again at the end of the 2nd floor corridor.

 

The very moment they had just emerged from the Craftsman’s room and obtained the 「Blue Abyss Talisman」.

 

“…We’re back?”

 

Kim Jun exhaled heavily.

 

The talisman in his hand still pulsed with blue light.

 

The fact that his loot hadn’t disappeared was some consolation, but something incomprehensible had clearly occurred.

 

Andras glanced around and muttered.

 

“Master, I can still hear the sound.”

 

Tick-

 

He was right.

 

From the stone cracks in the corridor, the shadows on the ceiling, ticking sounds seeped out from who knows where.

 

As if some invisible giant clockwork mechanism was turning this entire tower.

 

The sound that had been once every two seconds at first.

 

But when they reached the 6th floor, that interval had been cut in half.

 

And when all the sounds overlapped, they were forcibly returned to the 2nd floor.

 

“…So that was the trigger.”

 

Kim Jun’s brow furrowed deeply.

 

[Reverse Clocktower – 7th Floor]

 

He began climbing again.

 

The 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors were cleared without delay thanks to the routes he had already memorized.

 

He cut down the falling clock hands, and the red robes were swept away by 「Black Flame」.

 

Andras’s blade also carved bloody trajectories, opening the path.

 

And passing the 6th floor, finally the 7th floor.

 

Tick-

 

Tick─

 

The sound pierced his ears again.

 

A rhythm even faster than before.

 

Now it rang piercingly in his ears every second.

 

Kim Jun’s fingertips trembled with numbness.

 

It wasn’t just auditory hallucination.

 

Each sound seemed to directly touch his body and heart with pressure.

 

“The pace is quickening.”

 

Andras raised his blade and muttered lowly.

 

But it was already too late.

 

Ticktickticktick-!

 

The clock sounds enveloping his entire body overlapped, and his vision scattered.

 

[Reverse Clocktower – 2nd Floor]

 

The light disappeared and when he opened his eyes, he was there again.

 

The end of the 2nd Floor corridor.

 

The same place, the same moment.

 

“Damn it.”

 

Kim Jun gritted his teeth.

 

This time it had cut off at the 7th Floor End, not the 6th Floor Entrance.

 

‘Then it’s not a problem with a specific floor.’

 

The floor where clock hands fell, the floor where beasts were unleashed, the floor with magic circles.

 

There was no particular difference in any of them.

 

In the end, the cause wasn’t the floors themselves, but a regression phenomenon following the flow of time.

 

“Master, ultimately it’s telling us to move faster.”

 

Andras muttered in a low voice.

 

Instead of answering, Kim Jun steadied his breathing and looked at the gap in the Wall.

 

Again, the ticking was beginning.

 

Tick-

 

The sound that constricted time from start to finish.

 

Now that the mana problem was solved, the monsters in these floors were nothing more than opponents Kim Jun and Andras could cut down in one second, unless they were bosses.

 

However.

 

‘Even if we go up quickly, we’ll eventually be sent back to the 2nd Floor.’

 

It was a new obstacle.

 

Was it because he had wasted time on the 1st Floor? A moment of regret washed over him, but it was already too late.

 

“Andras.”

 

“Master.”

 

“We go faster.”

 

“Got it.”

 

Both of their feet kicked off the corridor floor simultaneously.

 

Faster than sound, to get ahead of time itself.

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