Chapter 43: Chapter 43

Just as the Tyrant’s hunters emerged from the barrier,

Kang Jin-hyuk, who had remained behind in the building, dashed towards a door situated in the corner on the ground floor.

At first glance, the interior appeared to be a standard storage room, but clearing away the stacked boxes revealed a hidden door in the floor.

The door was firmly locked with a secure mechanism.

Without the password or the fingerprint of any authorized personnel, it would typically be inaccessible, but to Kang Jin-hyuk, it posed no challenge at all.

“Hup!”

Taking a deep breath, he swung the baseball bat with all his might, effortlessly splitting the iron door in two.

The vertically split iron door showcased a clean cross-section, as if it had been cut with a knife.

Seeing the same result as when he slashed through the bars, Kang Jin-hyuk wore a satisfied smile.

“Using the aura has definitely become easier since its color changed.”

When using divine power with the aura, all it did was enhance his strikes.

Now, he could even mimic the way a sword could be wielded.

“Clearly, I’m more suited to this than being a Cleric.”

He had gained a hidden class that emerged to replace a Cleric.

Though he was still unsure of its full capabilities, the abilities he had uncovered so far met his expectations.

Among them, the most exciting was the ability to visibly see the Karma values.

Opening the door, Kang Jin-hyuk descended and was immediately greeted by the sight of twelve Karma values exceeding an average of 300.

‘There should be people working on the altar below if you descend through the hidden door.’

Recalling Jeong Dae-yun’s words, he faced the gazes of the twelve individuals staring at him.

Jeong Dae-yun had said these were all civilians, not hunters, but Kang Jin-hyuk felt no need to show them any mercy.

A good person wouldn’t display such high Karma values.

“Who all of you?”

Kang Jin-hyuk posed a question to the middle-aged man looking at him with anxious eyes.

“I’m a police officer. I heard that innocent people are trapped here and came to investigate.”

“P-p-police?”

The man flinched, his eyes wide with panic, displaying the unmistakable signs of trepidation.

He looked as terrified as a criminal caught at the scene of a crime upon hearing Kang Jin-hyuk’s declaration.

“Oh dear~ where have you been all this time?”

Noticing the tense atmosphere, one of the men, presumably a leader, stepped in quickly.

“We were trapped without knowing what was happening. Thank you for coming!”

With tears in his eyes, he put on an act, but it was worthless to Kang Jin-hyuk.

He could see in real-time the rising Karma value of his opponent.

And it was absurd that those who claimed to have just worked while trapped were spotless, without a speck of dust on them.

Faced with a blatant lie, Kang Jin-hyuk decided to play along for now, forcing a smile.

“Don’t worry anymore. I’ll get you out soon.”

While the men inside felt relieved, believing Kang Jin-hyuk was fooled by their act, he casually queried further.

“By the way, what were you doing here? It looked like you were working on something…”

“T-that’s hard to say. We’re just following orders.”

“Is that so? May I take a look inside?”

The men, led by their leader, exchanged nervous glances, visibly agitated.

Rejecting the request would appear dubious to anyone, but allowing him in could expose their dealings with Alraune.

After weighing both risks, the men concluded that it was better to let him look.

“It could be dangerous, so it’s better if you investigate later.”

“Dangerous? Were you making weapons?”

“No, it’s not that… We just don’t know the full details, so we need to be cautious. Hahaha.”

The leader, who had been wary, now tried to drag Kang Jin-hyuk away.

“If you linger, the hunters might find us. We should leave quickly!”

“Should we?”

As Kang Jin-hyuk was drawn closer to the door, the leader sent a covert signal to his comrades.

In response, the men inside approached Kang Jin-hyuk quite slowly, their expressions tense.

They were armed with tools like hammers and awls that could inflict serious damage if handled correctly.

While the men thought Kang Jin-hyuk was inspecting the door, they appeared to be preparing an ambush on his unprotected back.

In the crucial moment when the man in front aimed a hammer at his head—

A sound like a watermelon bursting echoed as the face of the man wielding the hammer was shattered.

“Ugh!”

The man, now rendered useless, cried out and fell backward, having suffered a fatal blow.

The other men glanced between their crumpled comrade and the baseball bat in Kang Jin-hyuk’s hand to assess the situation.

“Shit! Get him!”

The leader, who had been attempting to restrain him, clung closer to Kang Jin-hyuk.

Although he thought to bind Kang Jin-hyuk, the strength of an ordinary person was just too weak.

Gaining just a moment’s strength to twist his body, Kang Jin-hyuk effortlessly threw the leader into thin air.

“Ugh!”

As the other men were distracted by watching their flying companion, Kang Jin-hyuk knocked down three more heads with his bat.

The remaining men could only recognize what was happening after two more of their comrade’s heads were cracked open without a chance to scream.

“P-please spare me…”

One man, now late to realize his impending doom, dropped his weapon and pleaded for mercy.

Kang Jin-hyuk showed no pity as he struck the man in the face with the bat.

“Gugh!”

The leader, who had been thrown against the wall, slowly rose from the wreckage.

While he could feel an unbearable pain in his back, he had no time to worry about it now.

None of his companions remained beside him.

“Could it be that I am the only one left…?”

He hoped desperately that this wasn’t true, but when he turned his gaze, the only person still standing was Kang Jin-hyuk.

The leader suddenly realized that Kang Jin-hyuk was not an ordinary police officer.

“Y-you’re…! You’re a hunter!”

“Did you only realize that now?”

As a reward for uncovering such a minor secret, Kang Jin-hyuk spared the leader’s life at this point.

He grabbed the man’s collar and lifted him off the ground, pushing him towards the inner sanctum.

“Lead me to where the altar is.”

“If you do, I’ll be dead at the hands of Tyrant!”

“Is that what you’re worrying about now? If you don’t obey, you’ll die here right now.”

“Ugh…”

Knowing Tyrant could reach him in time, the leader had no choice but to guide Kang Jin-hyuk towards the vault where the altar was kept.

They navigated through a labyrinth of corridors and opened two thick iron doors before arriving at a veritable hidden sanctuary capable of storing Alraune’s altar.

Kang Jin-hyuk found complex locking mechanisms, transparent walls, and a glowing blue barrier inside.

“Is that glass?”

“On the surface it looks like it, but I’ve heard it’s a special alloy made from monster materials.”

“Hmm, I see.”

Kang Jin-hyuk considered that using aura on a door he couldn’t identify wouldn’t be the wisest course of action.

After all, he could end up damaging the altar that was being protected inside.

Right now, it would be better to proceed with caution.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Can you open these?”

“Ah, I can’t. Those hunters set up barriers so we can’t open them ourselves.”

“What about any other doors?”

“Well…”

In order to disable the locking mechanism, an ID card was required.

Using this card would leave traces of use, recording the person’s name in their logs.

The leader feared the Tyrant’s retaliation if he opened it using his own ID.

“I can’t open that door with my authority.”

The leader attempted to evade with a lie, but it proved ineffective against Kang Jin-hyuk.

The moment the lie slipped from his lips, Kang Jin-hyuk saw the leader’s Karma score rising.

“Quit your delusions and open it.”

“What do you mean? I just said I can’t!”

As the leader persisted with his claims, Kang Jin-hyuk swung the bat into his left arm.

“Argh!”

The leader clung to his broken arm and hit the ground, rolling in agony.

Having almost lost consciousness from the pain, Kang Jin-hyuk splashed a bottle of water he had taken from his inventory over him.

The rush of cold awakened the leader from his daze, prompting a groan of discomfort.

“Alright! Just promise not to hurt me, and I’ll open it!”

“You should have said that from the start.”

Tears streaming down his face, the leader finally produced his ID card with his still functioning hand.

Then, he approached the locking mechanism and unlocked it by applying the ID card and pressing the buttons.

Before them, the barrier that had been checked from outside now stood impenetrable.

The luminous blue hue of the barrier radiated intensely, as if it wouldn’t let a single soul in.

Kang Jin-hyuk shoved the leader aside and moved forward for a better look at the barrier.

“It’s really hard to tell what kind of effects the barrier has just from looking.”

While contemplating on how to dismantle it, the leader silently pondered that this was his best chance.

‘Even if he’s a hunter, he won’t survive if he makes contact with that barrier!’

Having opened the door with his ID, the only way the leader could spare himself was by offering Kang Jin-hyuk to the Tyrant.

Determined to take action, the leader gripped his injured arm tightly and charged at Kang Jin-hyuk, aiming to push him into the barrier.

However, the plan failed spectacularly.

“Oh?”

The leader was taken aback as Kang Jin-hyuk suddenly vanished from his line of sight.

Where did he go?

As the leader puzzled over that question, he lost his balance and stumbled forward towards the barrier.

Once he touched it, his body instantly charred, reminiscent of an insect meeting an electric flytrap.

The fortunate part was that it all happened so fast, he felt no pain before being incinerated.

“Tut-tut.”

Kang Jin-hyuk watched the leader crumble to ash on the ground.

“If you try to save your own skin like this, what did you expect?”

He wasn’t the kind of person willing to spare one who had tried to take his life.

Clearing away the hindering corpse, Kang Jin-hyuk faced the barrier again.

Thanks to the leader’s sacrifice, he now understood the barrier’s operational mechanism.

Now that he was aware of how it worked, dismantling it would soon become a straightforward task.

“All I have to do is continue as normal.”

With his tried-and-true method in mind, Kang Jin-hyuk infused his aura into the baseball bat, swinging it fiercely at the barrier.

“Yaah!”

As the aura connected with the barrier, it radiated brighter, starting to resist.

Kang Jin-hyuk braced himself with gritted teeth as he applied strength to his hands.

Soon enough, the barrier proved its fragility, unable to withstand the overwhelming force as cracks began to spread.

Like ripples from a stone thrown into a pond, the crack began where the bat made contact but soon covered the entire barrier.

Crash!

The barrier shattered like glass with a deafening sound.

Crossing into the space beyond the dissolved barrier, Kang Jin-hyuk stood before a small box.

[Alraune’s Altar]

After checking the contents of the box with his appraisal skill, Kang Jin-hyuk couldn’t help but smirk.

“It’s finally done.”

Two pieces of Alraune’s altar were meant to be delivered to the leader and vice-leader of Tyrant.

One had been interrupted during its creation, and now, the pre-finished piece was in Kang Jin-hyuk’s possession.