The Second Coming of Gluttony - Chapter 176

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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 176. Return (3)

[Personal Status Window]
[3. Body Points]
Strength: Medium-Medium
Endurance: Medium-Low
Agility: Medium-Medium
Stamina: Medium-Medium
Mana: High-High
Luck: Medium-Medium
Remaining Body Points: 1

[4. Abilities]
① Innate Ability (2)
Future Sense (Unranked)
Nine Eyes (Unranked)

Future Sense.
An unranked ability that projects onto his current self the realm he had ultimately achieved in a world born from Seol Jihoo’s dreams—or more precisely, from the future—transmitting experience and martial knowledge through pure mind communion. Not transmission, really; borrowing is the more accurate term.
Not transmission, really; borrowing is the more accurate term.
While the ability activates, experience and technical knowledge imprint themselves upon him, but the moment it ends, they vanish cleanly from memory.
Especially since it doesn’t directly enhance his physical capabilities, the scope of what the realm can manifest is always bound by Seol Jihoo’s ‘current’ condition.
Therefore, the range of his ability’s manifestation now differs enormously from what it was before.
During the Tutorial era—not even worth mentioning. When he took the Raman Village request, Seol Jihoo was merely Level 2.
But Seol Jihoo now is different.
Since entering Paradise, he had not skipped a single day of training except when circumstances made it unavoidable. In the Neutral Zone, he had milked the early-stage rapid growth bonus to its fullest, and through the grueling trials on Big Stone Rock Mountain, he’d pushed his limits higher still.
On top of that, Seo Yuhee had stuffed him with all manner of rare spiritual elixirs, and just now, after spending Body Points to push his Mana to High-High.
Seol Jihoo’s physical level now surpassed the Upper Tier Rank of Level 5, reaching a state comparable to an average Level 6.
Most tellingly, when Future Sense had activated against the intermediate nest, the martial prowess Seol Jihoo displayed was at least Level 7 or higher.
But just as Upper Tier Ranks split between true and false, not every Level 7 or higher shares the same High Tier Rank.
Some rose quickly under organizational backing, funneled experience and official records without much struggle, while others clawed their way up from nothing through years of relentless effort.
Seol Jihoo, who had entered Paradise bearing the red mark, belonged to the latter—a High Tier Rank forged in adversity.
So what level of martial prowess he could now display, no one could say.
The first to sense the abnormality were those surrounding him.
Though gravely wounded and barely clinging to consciousness, they felt an aura too grave to ignore, even through the haze of fading awareness.
Like a dike bursting and a river flooding through, a formidable presence surged up in all directions. The fortress wall trembled as if struck by an earthquake, and shattered stone fragments stirred, rising slowly into the air.
It was an eerie sight, as though gravity itself had reversed.
As the process unfolded, Seol Jihoo’s body flickered between brilliant gold and deep crimson, while from his skin rose the fierce heat of an overheated steam engine.
Suddenly, the trembling ceased.
The debris suspended in air plummeted to the ground all at once. Silence and stillness descended in an instant.
Like the brief void between a foreshock and the main tremor itself, as something vast beneath the earth readied to erupt, Cho Hong shuddered beneath an indescribable pressure. She had lost consciousness, but the intensity of the sensation roused her—her eyes opened, her expression bewildered. And then she fixed her struggling gaze upon the youth at the center of it all.
She had lost consciousness, but the intensity of the sensation roused her—her eyes opened, her expression bewildered. And then she fixed her struggling gaze upon the youth at the center of it all.
“Ssshhh…….”
Seol Jihoo drew in a deep breath, then slowly tilted his head back. His hair, whipped up by the force, fluttered and danced on the wind.
Soon, unable to contain the mounting power, he clenched his fists and slowly raised them.
He was a man not chosen by the seven gods.
He was the man who had fought nine times against the Seven Great Armies and survived all nine.
He was the sole Earthian who had worked with the Federation to annihilate the vile Caritas.
There were many words to describe him, but whether human or Federation or Parasite, all perceived him through a single lens.
Two eyes gazing toward the heavens blazed with eye light where gold and crimson merged.
At the same moment, Seol Jihoo’s mouth—which had been clenched so hard his teeth might shatter—suddenly gaped open.
Level 7 Highlander Awakening Technique
Berserk
Roooaaaaaaagh!
A chilling howl like a wounded beast’s fury split the air, echoing across the entire gorge.
The malevolent spirit of the battlefield—which had rampaged across countless wars all the way to the Final War—returns to the Gorge.

The war ended in defeat.
With her ankle crushed and her body sprawled on the ground, Rahin Maeri could reach no other conclusion. The fortress interior bore no signs of combat, no trace of resistance whatsoever.
Nosferatu ransacked the place like it owned it, and the corpse army that had crawled up the mother’s body shambled through the corridors, turning every corner into a hunting ground.
All that remained was plunder accompanied by slaughter and cannibalism. So Rahin Maeri wept.
It was all she could do.
The Nosferatu surrounding her cackled as they listened to her sobs.
That was when a sudden glimmer cut through the tears that blurred Rahin Maeri’s vision.
The light intensified in an instant, pouring down in a dazzling golden radiance that made her eyes widen and lift toward the sky.
Nearly simultaneously, dozens of sharp blades of qi tore through the air at tremendous speed, leaving golden trails as they descended without warning.
Level 7 Highlander Secret Art Supreme Technique
Sword Qi Injures Man
A barrage of blade-like qi cascaded down like a torrential downpour, engulfing the horde.
Startled, they threw their bodies into a defensive posture against the ambush, but the qi tore through forearms, pierced through legs, and severed flesh.
As the wounds began to blacken and char, two of them became charred husks in an instant, collapsing lifelessly to the ground.
Those quick enough to sense danger slipped out of range the moment their defenses failed, but all bore considerable injuries.
Only then could they see the figure descending from the fortress wall.
Thud!
The moment he landed, the earth groaned beneath his feet, the ground indenting under the impact.
“Kyaaaa!”
A Nosferatu at the front rushed forward like an arrow, baring its needle-sharp fangs.
Seol Jihoo tilted his upper body slightly and charged forward to meet it without hesitation.
Snap!
The rushing Nosferatu stumbled. Before it could react, the enemy’s face was already upon it.
Setting aside the fact that it had failed to catch the instantaneous movement, a sudden, shattering pain crashed through its skull as if it might split open. From the point of impact, blood streamed down, crossing both their faces.
As the Nosferatu blinked, it saw before it a crimson-eyed warrior smiling with a bloody grin. And then the next thing it could perceive was a hand rising like a hook from below.
Fingers saturated with mana drove cleanly through its solar plexus and buried themselves deep within.
As the Nosferatu gasped sharply and opened its mouth, Seol Jihoo tightened his grip and clenched his fist.
Crack! Crunch-crunch!
A sickening sound of tearing and rending followed, and the stifled scream twisted into a strangled gurgle.
“Ghk… ghk…”
The Nosferatu’s face twisted grotesquely and its body wavered. Then Seol Jihoo wrenched his hand free, and a handful of flesh tore away.
Seol Jihoo’s eyes had gone wild. He severed the creature’s neck and kicked its abdomen with brutal force, as though punting a ball.
The Nosferatu’s neck and body parted cleanly as they flew in a parabolic arc. It tumbled across the ground and stopped precisely at the feet of one of its kin, and then the corpse was hurled down beside it.
The Nosferatu horde’s gaze fixed on the grotesquely twisted face and the bisected torso, viscera spilling from the shattered abdomen.
When their eyes rose again, Seol Jihoo met a dozen hostile stares, shrugged his shoulders, and tilted his head.
As if to say, why aren’t you coming? The eyes of those watching narrowed.
The horde exchanged glances, then surged forward in unison. Seol Jihoo dropped the strip of flesh from his grip.
A moment later, half of them leaped skyward, and the other half charged headlong. Seol Jihoo spun his spear once, crouched low into a stance, and kicked off the ground, sliding forward in a burst of speed.
With a single bound, he closed the distance in an instant. The Nosferatu’s claws came down in a vicious strike toward his head.
Seol Jihoo tilted his head back to evade and thrust his spear at the creature descending from above. At that very moment, claws burst out from the side.
Clang-clang-clang!
Sparks flew from the junction where claws locked with spear-blade. The creature that had saved its ally watched helplessly as its claws ignited, withdrew its hand in alarm, and the gap was immediately filled by a barrage of attacks from all sides.
Batting away and parrying their frenzied scratches and slashes, Seol Jihoo retreated and rolled backward to escape.
The pursuing Nosferatu, unwilling to let him go, snarled and moved to stomp him—but in that instant, Seol Jihoo’s body exploded upward like lightning itself.
Thunk.
The keenness of the blade qi combined with the elasticity of his explosive ascent drove the spear-point with effortless ease into the enemy’s solar plexus.
No—it bored through, piercing clean out the back. The Nosferatu, its waist bent nearly in half, was hoisted skyward on the spear.
As Seol Jihoo soared upward like a swallow, his eyes—beyond the impaled Nosferatu on his spear—caught another creature glancing up in that moment.
Seol Jihoo grasped the spear-haft and adjusted his aim. Before the second Nosferatu could retreat, the spear-blade tore through the air and cleaved it vertically.
The moment his feet touched ground, the enemy split into two halves.
From that point forward, Seol Jihoo’s spear shifted seamlessly into the offensive, moving like a beam of light without pause. A creature that had snatched a shield and charged desperately raised its arm to shield its chest, but the spear smashed through the shield, shattered the arm, and drove on.
Boom!
With a force as though several Mjolnirs had struck at once, the Nosferatu’s chest caved inward and it was sent tumbling across the ground.
As the creatures began falling one by one, space opened around Seol Jihoo, and his radius of movement expanded accordingly.
The Nosferatu, though not ignorant of this, found themselves forced to retreat as each one that pressed inward was felled.
The overwhelming power to kill comrades with a single spear thrust was difficult to even properly perceive, and the speed surpassed their own. They hated to admit it, but in direct combat, victory seemed impossible.
The horde’s movements changed abruptly as they reassessed the situation.
Maintaining a fixed distance, they began circling at blinding speed, their forms leaving only afterimages. They were attempting a wheel formation.
Seol Jihoo snorted derisively and lowered his stance once more. He then opened his eyes wide, and the golden qi that had streamed relentlessly throughout the battle suddenly surged and extended, crackling with power. Two spears, three, four—multiplied manifold.
Before the Nosferatu could even react, Seol Jihoo’s body spiraled like a whirlwind as he swung his arms. The golden qi trailed in a dazzling tail, drawing a luminous circle.
Screeeech-crash-crash!
A sharp, electric tingle swept across his body.
Seconds later, four creatures positioned at cardinal points collapsed in sequence—their chests split cleanly down the middle, upper halves caving inward.
The lower halves still stood rooted to the ground, but their cross-sections burned rapidly, the freeze effect melting away the instant it formed, white smoke coiling upward.
The moment their pack-mate fell uselessly, the one stalking through Fog Transformation faltered.
But only for a moment.
“Screech! Screeeeech!”
Unable to wait, one dropped its Fog Transformation at close range and clamped itself around his neck; simultaneously, another dissolved its transformation mid-air and plummeted directly onto the Ice Spear, impaling itself through and through.
Seol Jihoo calmly released the spear from his grip. In one fluid motion, he swung his arm back over his shoulder, seized the creature’s head as it gaped wide with teeth bared, and hurled it forward with the force of a thunderbolt.
The carelessly discarded creature’s heel struck down with brutal precision on the crown of another that had grabbed the spear and was staggering backward precariously.
The injured shriek sent the Ice Spear bouncing skyward. The moment he caught the spinning shaft, the blade flashed. Two creatures collapsed, blood fountaining from their chests.
From start to finish—Rahin Maeri, sprawled helplessly on the ground, watched with widening eyes.
“Behind—!”
But before she could finish, she saw Seol Jihoo pivot the spear backward with blinding speed and swallowed her warning.
Without turning his head, his feet moved lightly across the ground and dozens of Sword Qi manifestations erupted around the spear, firing outward in a storm. Three or four creatures that had been stalking silently through Fog Transformation were caught in the blade-wave and incinerated in an instant.
One remained. It was the creature that had charged with a shield before and been sent flying by the impact.
Seol Jihoo walked forward with long, measured strides. The Nosferatu held its hand to its chest as it fed desperately on Erica Lawrence’s neck, her eyes rolled back in unconsciousness, her fangs buried deep as it drained her blood.
Seol Jihoo’s eyes narrowed at the sight of her body covered in countless bite marks.
He drove his heel into the creature’s throat. It gagged, spewing back the blood it had been swallowing, and crashed to the ground. It opened its mouth in fury before glimpsing the corpses of its kin scattered around, then went silent.
How long had it been since it charged in? How had it come to this?
As it looked up at its opponent with disbelief, another foot struck its abdomen. The Nosferatu’s gaze dropped submissively, and it braced itself on both hands, feet scraping backward in a shambling retreat.
Seol Jihoo seized the whimpering creature by the collar and lifted it. As warm, iron-scented blood wafted over him, the Nosferatu’s jaws reflexively opened—only for a fist to come flying, shattering its fangs to splinters.
Seol Jihoo pulled the thrashing monster closer and opened his mouth softly.
“Scream.”
A single word. The low, steady voice that accompanied his gleaming eyes made the Nosferatu tremble.
“Scream loud enough for them to hear. Can’t you see?”
He twisted its head by force, making it look in all directions. The message was clear—call them all here so he wouldn’t have to chase them down one by one.
“If you control every last one of them without fail, I’ll let you live.”
The Nosferatu’s mouth gaped soundlessly. But when Seol Jihoo’s expression darkened with annoyance and he pressed his thumb hard into its eye socket, a shriek tore free at last.
“Shriek!”
Crack! Seol Jihoo struck its cheek hard with a swift slap.
“Louder.”
“Ki, kieeeee!”
But he slapped it again, looking down with a chilling gaze as he spoke.
“Final chance. Much louder.”
The Nosferatu shuddered, shoulders hunched.
“Kyaaaaa… kyaaaaaaaaaa!”
At last a high-frequency shriek rang through the fortress, sharp and piercing. And with it, all the corpses flying chaotically about the walls wheeled around in unison.
Not a single Nosferatu was visible. They were equal in rank, so direct control was impossible, but a cry for aid to nearby kin should have carried through—Seol Jihoo smirked.
“Some comrades you are.”
He released his grip, letting the creature fall, and sheathed the spear across his back before stamping its skull flat. Then, watching the array of monsters charging from all directions, he leisurely raised the spear.
‘Common corpses like these—’
Seol Jihoo carved an X through the approaching enemies without waiting. He crossed his arms relentlessly, and eventually he wielded the spear at speeds so blinding it seemed invisible.
Whoosh!
A sharp wind suddenly skimmed across the crown of her head, and Rahin Maeri reflexively shrank her neck. Her startled eyes went wide.
Dozens of spear blades materialized in arcs around Seol Jihoo, and a terrible gale swept through.
Level 7 Highlander Secret Transmission—Ultimate Principle
Rapid Blade Slash
A wind laden with cutting edges swept across sky and ground alike in a single, devastating pass.
One second later, the creatures that had been rushing toward him bore golden slashes across their bodies in rapid succession, then dissolved and fell in a tumultuous rain.
As Seol Jihoo stood drenched in falling corpse-matter, Rahin Maeri’s eyes grew wet. She realized that the light she’d glimpsed before was no illusion.
This was why the legion commanders had grown frustrated to begin with. A High Tier Rank—fewer than a handful among all of humanity—was treated as a strategic weapon in war by its very existence alone.
And their leader was a being touched by divinity, an inhuman entity. Since divine power could only be met by divine power without catastrophic losses, the legion commanders had panicked and rushed to act.
Yet now someone with martial prowess comparable to that leader had appeared from their own ranks. How this had come to pass was a mystery, but at least to Rahin Maeri’s eyes, it seemed undeniably true.
As Seol Jihoo approached, dragging the limp form of Erica Lawrence, Rahin Maeri looked up at him with both terror and awe in her face. He bent low and whispered something brief, and she nodded frantically in response.
“Yes, yes. I will. But—”
Before she could finish, Seol Jihoo tucked her under his arm and drove upward with all the strength in his legs. A single push off the ground sent them soaring high enough to land on the fortress wall.
The moment Seol Jihoo set her down, the pain she’d suppressed came rushing back and Rahin Maeri gasped.
“Wait, wait just a moment. First, my sister and my ankle need—”
But Seol Jihoo was not listening. His eyes swept the battlefield like a beast’s, moving with predatory speed.
When Future Sense activates, Seol Jihoo’s disposition becomes ruthlessly cold. It is not only technique that flows through him—countless experiences cutting through a storm of trajectories flow in alongside it.
If he were the only one fighting, he would not hesitate to withdraw, salvaging only the comrades he could save. Had he possessed more breathing room, he might have attempted to retreat while considering every means to preserve both his allies and the soldiers.
But the moment his sweeping gaze fixed on a single point, fire sparked in Seol Jihoo’s eyes. Something had been nagging at him—there seemed to be fewer Nosferatu visible inside the Fortress than he’d expected.
In that instant, as he fixed his attention on one spot, his earlier plan evaporated entirely from his mind. In its place, a new strategy crystallized at once.
A glimmer of possibility emerged—one that could at least level the already-tilted battlefield to equal ground.
If only the first step succeeded, this plan could turn the tide entirely. It was nothing less than his first and final chance.

(To be continued in the next chapter)

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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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