Chapter 170
Chapter 170 – Sungjin’s Dream (2)
“That’s why it won’t be particularly difficult so long as you’re wary of sneak attacks by the pterodactyls from the air.”
Everyone began to write something down on a note paper once Sungjin finished speaking.
“The name of the Boss… is a bit unique, but in any case, it was some kind of Tyrannosaurus. This guy has raptors… You know, right? What raptors are? They’re small and fast…”
Baltren spoke up.
“I know, they appeared in movies as well.”
Franz also raised his hand.
“Yes, I also know.”
It seemed that everyone had some idea of what raptors were.
“Okay, in any case, the boss has raptors following him around, but these raptors are rather fast.”
Sungjin then glanced at Serin for a moment before he continued saying,
“Because of this, the attackers in the backline have to be careful, since they can turn around in the blink of an eye and charge towards you with incredible speed.”
“Okay.”
Baltren also drew a circle on his note paper as he said,
“Okay, then I have to be careful as well, and pay attention to the attackers in the rear.”
“If you pay attention to that, then it shouldn’t be that difficult.”
Nada asked,
“And the Hidden Boss?”
“Ah. The Hidden Boss… If you look at the map, there’ll be a volcano-like place. If you walk on the road leading upwards, there’ll be a big egg.”
“An egg?”
“Yeah. It’s an egg, but… hrm… Its height is about five meters? It shouldn’t be particularly hard to find it.”
“Okaay.”
“When you find it, you just have to simply hit it a few times as if you were knocking on a door. If you do that, then the mother will appear from far away.”
“The mother?”
“Yeah. It’s a pterodactyl, but it’s almost larger than a dragon… Ah, right, you know the crimson dragon you saw in Chapter 10?”
“Yes.”
“It should be a little bigger than that. Probably.”
“Huh… If it’s that big, then it should be rather difficult.”
“Yeah. Furthermore, it shoots immense sound waves from its mouth… So it’ll be a bit hectic.”
Everyone made notes as Sungjin spoke.
“Hrm… Be careful of sound attacks…”
Sungjin looked at the hunters as he continued.
“Still, overall, it should be considerably easier when compared to the last chapter. This applies to the normal monsters as well as the boss monster. If you run into problems, call me.”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
“I said it before, but… In this chapter, let’s concentrate on gathering teammates. Everyone was too busy last chapter since the difficulty was rather high, but there should be some leeway in this chapter. Please report to me if you find someone who can become our teammate.”
“Okay, understood.”
“Then, our briefing will end here. I’ll see you all tomorrow at breakfast.”
With that, the ‘Chosen Ones’ got up from their spots and left one by one. Sungjin immediately went up towards his bedroom after they had left. If there was something that he had to do by tomorrow, it was immediately going to sleep. Furthermore, there was no need to get up late at night anymore since the shop owner of Darker than Black had left. Sungjin grabbed the eye mask that was placed next to his head and then sat down on his bed.
‘This… Does it show me more if I sleep longer?’
He did not know if this was the case, but he did not think that it would show him less because he slept for a longer period of time. Sungjin put his eye mask on right away and laid down on the bed. According to the Operator’s explanation, the eye mask showed you ‘what you wanted to see’. Sungjin closed his eyes and thought,
‘What I want to see. However, what I saw that time… It didn’t really tell me anything. Then… Just what should I say I want to see…’
Sungjin made up his mind to watch what had happened before that incident; That is, to see the events of the past before Edward had betrayed them.
‘Yeah… If it’s that then there might be some more clues…’
Sungin tapped the eye mask he was wearing a few times as he said,
“Hey, show me the past of the old Edward. From before that time when he betrayed us… No… From when Edward began the raids until the end. Pick only the important parts, okay?”
Of course, the eye mask did not say anything. Even so, Sungjin felt that if he did this much, then the eye mask would show him what he had asked. And just like that, Sungjin went to sleep.
*
[A hunt will soon begin. Prepare for combat.]
Sungjin’s body shivered when he heard that voice. It was the Operator’s voice that notified them of the beginning of the raid. He had only heard it twice, but he believed that he would not be able to forget it. Edward looked around the area in a daze.
“What? Where is this?”
Sungjin crossed his arms as he watched Edward.
‘So the start is similar.’
Chapter 0 – Living Mannequin
Time Limit: 30 Seconds
A large hologram appeared as the raid began.
[For the first Chapter, just this once, you will be provided with a weapon. Select your weapon.]
Edward pondered for a moment, before choosing the club.
“Club… Give me the club.”
In a certain way, it was an unremarkable choice. After all, who has actually used a sword or a spear in the 21st century? After lifting the club, Edward dithered for a while before hitting the mannequin on the head thereby killing it. It was the start of the raids. On seeing this, Sungjin became slightly nervous.
‘This… Is it going to show me everything from the beginning…’
However, thankfully it immediately skipped to the next cutscene showing the corpse of the troll that was still burning and Edward who held his club while gasping for breath. It seemed that the eye mask that the Dragon gave him picked out only the important parts to show him, as he had requested.
‘What a relief.’
While Sungjin was having this thought, Edward said,
“Operator, my stats? Can you show them to me?”
HP: 90 MP: 370
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 12
Endurance: 9
Magic Power: 33
Mind Power: 37
Unallocated Stat points: 10
This was Edward’s basic stats. While his endurance was average, his stats related to magic were abnormally high. Edward himself did not know the reason for it.
“Magic… Just what is Mind Power and why is it so high?”
The Operator gave an answer to Edward’s muttering.
[These stats are important when using magic. Magic Power affects the strength of spells, while Mind Power affects your total amount of mana.]
“Really? Then… Does that mean I have the talent for magic?”
The Operator did not respond. Instead, it was Sungjin who was watching the dream that responded.
‘That’s right… And a lot at that.’
Of course, Edward could not hear him. Edward asked the Operator,
“Then, where can I learn spells?”
[This will be explained after you have been teleported to the Black Market.]
“Black Market?”
The scene changed immediately after Edward finished asking the question.
“You dare to challenge us brothers?!”
“Fight! Human!”
“I’ll kill you, human!”
Familiar voices could be heard. Soon, the figure of an ogre with two heads on one body, Pach and Cho’Roch could be seen.
‘Is this… chapter 4 Giant’s Canyon?’
Sungjin looked towards the hunters. However, there were only two of them present. There was Edward, who was dodging Pach’s club and a spearman who was stabbing his spear in-between Cho’Roch’s staff.
“Groooooooar”
Pach swung his club. Edward barely avoided it as he chanted a spell.
“Flash!”
Edward’s hand shone brightly for an instant.
“Aargh!”
Pach let out a scream as he walked backwards. On the other side, Cho’Roch who had been fighting the spearman tried to take a look backwards.
“What? What’s wrong?”
However, in that moment, a spear came flying in and stabbed him in the neck.
“Hrk!”
While the two had become powerless, Edward once more chanted a spell.
“Fire that burns blood! Ignite!”
Soon, a fire ignited on his hand. Edward agilely ran forward and crammed the flame into Cho’Roch’s wound.
“Gaaaaaaaah!”
“Graaaaaaah!”
Pach and Cho’Roch cried out in pain like a stereo speaker before falling over. The unknown spearmen and Edward delivered the final blow.
[Boss Monster ‘Pach and Cho’Roch’ defeated!]
Edward let out a heavy sigh after the Operator’s announcement.
“Whew… We finally killed him. Since there was only two of us remaining, I thought it would be more difficult…”
However, at that moment,
‘Swish!’
The spearman swung his spear while aiming at Edward’s throat. Edward’s eyes opened wide as he desperately twisted his neck.
‘Snick’
A wound appeared around Edward’s neck along with a sound.
“Why?”
Edward’s question was filled with his doubts, but the spearman did not respond, and only continued to wield his spear. Soon, his body began to glow crimson. As Sungjin saw this, he thought,
‘Since there’s only two remaining… It seems that he wants to monopolize all the contribution…’
However, the spearman had chosen the wrong opponent. This was because Edward was one of the strongest, even amongst the ten final people. Edward dodged the spearman’s attacks for a few seconds, but during this time he had already prepared himself for battle.
“Project Image.”
Edward’s body divided into several clones. The spearman swung his spear quickly, but he only managed to hit afterimages. Edward used the gap when the spearman missed and struck the spearman’s leg with his staff.
“Hrk!”
The spearman let out a grunt as he fell over. Edward used his staff to hit the hand of the spearman that was holding the spear.
“Ah!”
The hunter let go of his spear which was equivalent to his life and Edward kicked the spear far away. Afterwards, he placed his staff on the spearman’s neck and asked,
“Why did you do that?”
As Sungjin saw this, he thought,
‘So there was a time when he was innocent, too…’
However, in that moment, the spearman took out the dagger he had hidden behind his back and sliced towards Edward’s ankle.
“Ah!”
Having received an unexpected sneak attack, Edward fell backwards. The spearman held his dagger as he attempted to swoop down on his opponent.
“Blink.”
However, Edward’s body glowed, and then appeared behind the spearman. The spearman held his dagger as he looked around, but from this point, the fight was already over. Edward chanted a spell in a slightly saddened voice.
“Inner Burn.”
A fire erupted from the spearman’s entire body.
“Graaaaaaaaaaaah!”
The sound of the spearman’s cries spread throughout the Giant’s Canyon. Edward stared at the burning spearman who was turning into cinders. His expression was strange that seemed to be both angry and sad. As Sungjin watched Edward, he thought to himself,
‘Well… I don’t really need to see something like this… Can’t we skip a bit further? Like to when we first met…’
At that moment, the scene changed. Edward was standing in a frost plain. It was the Frostplains in Chapter 11, where the witch lived.
‘Pew’
Soon, the figures of the other hunters appeared one by one near Edward. One of them was Sungjin. A Sungjin who was using the title ‘Elite Samurai’ instead of ‘Master Hunter’. Sungjin stared at his past self, however, something was strange. There was a strong feeling of disconnect. Sungjin soon realized the reason.
‘It wasn’t here?’
The very first time that Sungjin had met Edward was much later, in Chapter 16. He had never met Edward in Chapter 11. Surprised, Sungjin went closer to himself. His past self was shaking hands with Edward.
“I’m Edward. Nice to meet you.”
“I’m Sungjin. Let’s do our best.”
When Sungjin saw this, he wondered,
‘Did I meet him then… and then forget?’
The dreaming Sungjin considered it carefully. However, it was then that a detail caught his eye. And that detail was the sword that his past self was wearing. What was on his belt was not the crimson sheath of Blood Vengeance, but a sheath that had a white tiger carved on it. The dreaming Sungjin’s eyes opened wide as he stared at the sheath.
‘What?’
It was here that Sungjin knew for certain that something was wrong. He had never used a sword like that. Not once.