Chapter 141 – Greenskin Fortress (2)

[The Acolyte of Yanhurat, Varmil, and his cultists have appeared]

Sungjin listened to the Operator’s warning and thought,

‘... Yanhurat’s cultists?’

Yanhurat was none other than the guy who whispered,

‘Kill! Kill!’

Into his ear.

“Kwaaaaah!”

Several red eyed Orcs charged at Sungjin. Judging by the redness of their eyes, the Orcs were far gone.

‘Now that I think about it... The hidden boss in Chapter 1 looked similar as well...’

Every single one of the charging Orcs was faster than King Grankel. Sungjin fought with them as he ran backwards. Because there were so many of them, if he got surrounded, it would not be easy even for him to deal with them. Sungjin sheathed Moon Specter, and then shouted as he pulled it out,

“Deathly Wail”

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”

The spirit of Moon Specter shrieked as she circled the sword, causing even the Orcs who had lost their sanity to be scared out of their wits and flee. During this time, Sungjin pulled out the figurine of Cain and threw it into the air. Soon Cain appeared in mid air.

“Grrrrr!”

Sungjin then rang ‘Manyata – Master’s Bell’. Cain, who was now invincible, began to rip apart the Orcs with an incredibly fast speed. Sungjin swung his swords in tandem with him. The crazed Orcs gave no heed to being cut and kept rushing in.

‘If they’re like this then... They’re not really suitable to test against.’

Even though he wanted to practice Time Reversal, they weren’t quite suitable for it.

‘It’ll be better to use it against the trolls.’

Sungjin dropped his thoughts and focused on cutting down the Orcs instead. Within a minute,

[Hidden Boss, ‘The Priest of Yanhurat, Varmil, and his Cultists’ Cleared.]

Sungjin pulled out his sword that had been stabbed into the last Orc’s heart.

“Whew...”

He lightly caught his breath. Although this Hidden boss was one of the strongest enemies he had faced thus far, Sungjin had grown to a point that with the exception of having summoned Cain, he cleared the raid without using any of his item’s active skills.

“Hmm, if it’s this much...’

Sungjin recalled his distant memories.

‘I’m about three... no four times stronger than I was in the past.’

However, he couldn’t be satisfied with this. Since the “Demon King’s Castle raid” in which he died wasn’t that far off. Until then, he had to become even stronger. Sungjin prepared to transfer dimensions. However, now that he thought about it, he didn’t hear the sound,

‘Raid 100% complete.’

‘I found the hidden piece and even killed the hidden boss...’

This could only mean that there were still Orcs that were alive. Sungjin called out to Cain.

“Cain”

“Arf”

“Do you think there are any Orcs remaining here?”

Cain raised his nose,

‘Sniff sniff’

And after smelling the air, he raised his snout and cried out.

“Woof Woof”

Sungjin was now able to somewhat understand what Can was saying. Raising his snout was a sign of affirmation.

“Lead the way. Since I have to kill them quickly and go troll hunting.”

“Woof”

At Sungjin’s words, Cain dashed out like a bullet. He unexpectedly headed up the stairs. It seems that he had missed some Orcs when he was heading down after clearing the regular boss. Since it was a solo raid, he had no need of worrying about others.

‘I won’t leave a single one alive.’ thought Sungjin as he followed Cain.

He was slowly becoming a perfectionist. Sungjin followed Cain’s guidance to the 2nd floor of the fortress and killed a team of Orcs.

[Raid 100% complete.]

He finally heard that phrase.

[Beginning reward distribution.]

[Monsters slain. Goblin: 100, Steel Troll: 20, Orc Warrior...]

Sungjin received all 15000 stat points and 15000 Black Coins by himself. It was natural as he had started the raid alone and killed all the enemies by himself. Since the stat bonus from ‘Lathion – Star of Solitude’ and the coin bonus from ‘Heart of Gold’ were both 10%, he received the same amount of stat points and Black Coins.

[And now we will distribute the items.] action

[Corsian – The King’s Axe]

[Bueltarah – The Pursuer’s Boots]

[Enhancement Stone]

This time the items he received were an axe, and a pair of boots.

[Last but not the least, you will be awarded titles you’ve earned on this raid.]

The title Sungjin received this time was ‘Highlander’.

‘Haven’t I seen this somewhere before?’

When he thought about it, it had been the title that Franz had used before he became a ‘Chosen One’. The contents of the title were

[When receiving a fatal blow, revive with 100% of your maximum health. When the title is not worn, instead of half, revive with 10% of your maximum health. After reviving, this title will disappear.]

It was a good title. It was a bit defensive, but in this raid where you did not know when you might die, the title was had its practical use.

‘There probably won’t be a time where I’ll have it equipped... But it’s worth having.’

It was the same as having received an extra life. Sungjin had a satisfied smile on his face when

[Returning to the Black Market in 10 minutes.]

The Operator let out an alarm. Sungjin said to her,

“Ah, I’m not returning. That’s ok right?”

[Early return canceled. Returning to the Hunter’s Hall as scheduled in 1 hour and 42 minutes]

Sungjin returned to the top floor where the King of Orcs had resided.

“Rename. To Adjudicator.”

He used the Star of the Nameless to change his title and then used the Trollseeker Marble.

“Pursuit of Justice”

However, an unexpected answer was heard.

[No applicable dimension available].

‘Hrm?’

Sungjin looked back and forth between the Trollseeker Marble and the Operator Cube.

‘Did I clear too early?’

But he had been chasing full completion, so he was not particularly fast in completing this chapter. Compared to the time when he had only killed the boss and the hidden boss in Dark Elven City, or the first time he was able to nonchalantly beat a 5 man raid back in Kariharan Frostplains, he was slower on this raid.

‘Then just what is the problem?’

Sungjin crossed his arms and thought for a moment when Besgoro interjected,

‘Isn’t it possible that all of the potential trolls have been weeded out?’

“Just what are you saying...”

Sungjin wanted to reflexively disregard that statement, but then on another thought it seemed possible. After the last raid, there were about 100,000 hunters left. If you divide it into 5 man parties, then there were about 20,000 groups currently. Therefore, the likelihood of a troll appearing had significantly decreased. Sungjin said to Besgoro,

“... That’s a possibility.”

‘Right?’

Since Besgoro had always lost all self-control when it came to women and their body, Sungjin had come to disregard his ability recently. Sungjin propped his chin on his hand and thought,

‘Now the number of hunters is quite low... And the number of trolls I’ve caught until now should be quite large...’

Furthermore, as they proceeded into the latter half of the raid people became more doubtful, so it wasn’t as easy to troll.

‘But still, if there are 100,000 people then it should still work...’

Sungjin decided to kill some time. First,

“Operator, allocate 4000 to Strength, 4000 to Dexterity, 3000 to Endurance, 4000 to Mind Power.”

He allocated the stat points that he earned. The Chosen Ones were likely still in the middle of their raids. By allocating his stats first, it would make their raid progression easier. Afterwards, of the items that Sungjin received this time, he put aside the axe that he would never have a reason to use, and examined the boots.

Bueltarah – The Pursuer’s Boots

Legendary Shoes – Defense 30%

Passive Skill

Stride of Salvation (I) – When running towards an ally with less than 30% health, move 200% faster.

Steps of Punishment (I) – When running towards an enemy with less than 30% health, move 200% faster.

Heroes are bound to rise in turbulent times.

Sungjin looked at those boots.

“Hooh...”

They were good. It also might have been used by one of the final 10 people before.

‘Was it Araujo? Or was it Umkhuba?’

Either way, it would be good whether it was used for punishment or salvation. Sungjin looked down at the shoes he was wearing now. The Swift Paw that he had obtained all the way back in Chapter 2. Heroic boots.

No matter how you looked at it, the boots that he just received were much better. Recently Sungjin had often been riding either Shadowrun, Cain, or Rajenta, so there were not many opportunities for him to use the active skill either. There wasn’t any reason to deliberate on this. Sungjin held up those boots and said,

“Equip.”

The Swift Paw that he had been wearing was taken off, and the new shoes were worn. Sungjin picked up Swift Paw and placed it inside the cube. And as if those shoes were a person, he said,

“You’ve worked hard until now.”

Having changed his shoes, Sungjin walked in place a few times. The equipped shoes changed to match his shoe size.

‘It sure fits well.’

He had allocated his stat points. He had exchanged his equipped item. Now some time had passed. Wearing his new shoes, Sungjin raised the marble again.

“Pursuit of Justice”

Then

[Request for Dimensional transfer has been granted.]

This time the dimensional transfer had succeeded. His earlier attempt might have failed due to the combination of having been initiated too early with there being a smaller pool of people.

[You will be teleported in 10 seconds. 10, 9...]

Sungjin waited the 10 seconds while standing. As he stood, he thought,

‘10 man raid... Chapter 14... And once chapter 17 is over then troll hunting should become almost impossible.’

It seemed that his ‘troll hunting’, which had continued for a few chapters, was slowly coming to an end. Although Sungjin felt slight frustration, he thought to himself

‘Until then, I’ll have to earn a lot.’

And he was teleported to another dimension.

*

‘Wooosh’

Luckily, there was a troll standing next to Sungjin who had appeared with the light.

“Hi”

It seemed that the guy had barely successfully trolled. He was covered in blood and drinking a potion.

“What the hell are you?”

He was already no longer apprehensive about facing trolls, but seeing one drinking a bottle of potion deflated what little tension he had left. Sungjin activated the Basilisk’s Eye that he was wearing,

“Stay still. Snake Eye”

And petrified him since it would be annoying if he runs away. However, the troll used the “Iron Will” title to relieve the petrification. It seemed that the Raids had now reached a point where everyone had some ability to break free of this level of paralysis.

‘How annoying.’

Sungjin was preparing himself to chase after the troll, but the troll did not choose to flee. Instead,

“I don’t know what you are, but come at me, you bastard.”

The troll held up his sword and shield in preparation to fight and faced Sungjin.

“Thank you.”

After Sungjin sincerely expressed his thanks to him, he charged at the troll. The hunter on seeing Sungjin approach, raised his shield and prepared to receive him. Sungjin grinned and

Swish Swish

In a second he sent the troll’s shield and sword flying away.

“Wh... What?!”

The troll’s eyes opened wide as if some sort of sorcery had happened.

“Like I said, I’m thankful. That you didn’t run away.”

In the next second, Sungjin

Stab

Stabbed his sword into the troll between his armor.

“Uu... Uwaaaah!”

Having just realized the difference in ability, the troll finally began to run away. Sungjin let go and counted to three before he began to chase him. And thanks to his new shoes,

‘Whoa...’

His pace had definitely become faster. Sungjin caught the runaway again after a few seconds.

“Sorry, the reason why I didn’t kill you before... I wanted to try out my newly acquired item.”

The troll’s eye grew wide in fear. It looked like he was about to start begging for his life. But before he could, Sungjin quickly cut the troll’s throat.

‘Thud’

He didn’t want to feel any unnecessary feelings of guilt from the trolls as well.

After picking up the items, Sungjin headed to the King of Orc’s throne and threw himself on the chair. Since he hunted the trolls right after he transferred dimensions, there was still some time left. He had already allocated his stat points. He had already exchanged his equipped item. There was nothing to do.

‘What to do now?’

Thinking this made Sungjin think,

‘I should check on the others to see how they are doing.’

“Operator”

Sungjin called the Operator and took out the Staff of the Warlord. He then drew a circle with it and said,

“Inspection.”