Chapter 29 – Giant’s Canyon (7)

Sungjin held onto the ‘Moon Specter’ and dragged his blade through the Cyclop’s flesh; from the giant’s lone eye, through the nose, past the jaws, and until it sliced through and emerged from the underside of the chin.

Once Sungjin separated the giant’s face in half, he impaled the blade into the Cyclop’s chest and continued to carve up its body as he made his way down.

“Graaagh...”

The Giant let out cries of agony through its now separated mouth. Once Sungjin reached its abdomen, the Cube announced their victory.

[Hidden Boss ‘King of Giants’]

[Cyclops Cleared!]

However, Sungjin did not retract his blade just yet; He was still too high up to jump down safely. Controlling the ‘Moon Specter’s’ depth in the giant’s flesh to adjust his falling speed, Sungjin slowly made his way down the giant like a skier.

Once he was at a reasonable height, Sungjin pulled the sword out of the Giant and leapt off. After a few rotations in the air, Sungjin landed on the Canyon floor safely. The giant slowly collapsed over the side of the Canyon wall.

‘Rumble rumble rumble rumble’

Along with a deafening sound of shattered canyon wall, large volumes of sand and dirt rained down from above. The cloud of dust which followed obscured the vision and blocked the airways.

“Cough! Cough!”

Sungjin couldn’t help but begin to cough. Covering his nose and mouth with his hands, he slowly walked out of the area. Meanwhile, the Operator announced

[Raid 100% complete!]

[However, there is an active ‘Troll’ in the party.]

[Raid reward will be postponed until the troll, or the other members are eliminated]

[or if the timer runs out.]

Sungjin, who had relaxed his guard once the Hidden Boss was eliminated, quickly realized his oversight.

‘The Assassin!’

Even up until the boss showed himself, he was on alert for the assassin, but once the fight began, he had completely forgotten about him. Sungjin pulled the ‘Moon Specter’ out again and walked through the dust cloud.

As time passed, the sandstorm settled down. Little by little the air cleared up, and he could see again. In the distance, he heard Serin’s voice.

“Kei!”

It was hard to hear through the dust, but she sounded nervous. Sungjin made his way towards the source of her voice.

“Se...Serin! Cough! Serin!”

In the distance, he could see someone standing. Sungjin made his way towards the figure, but Santiago’s voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Hey, Mage. stop right there, or I will kill this girl.”

Sungjin had no choice but to stop.

Once the dust settled a bit more, he was able to see what was going on.

Santiago held a dagger to Serin’s neck and was glaring at him.

“I guess I should call you Swordsman instead. I saw everything. Drop your sword.”

Sungjin paused to take a look at Santiago, and then at Serin who was held hostage. He took a moment to think.

‘What should I do?’

Seeing that Sungjin still held onto his Katana, Santiago threatened him further.

“No tricks. She’s one slice away from death. I’ve made sure of that.”

There was one dagger impaled into Serin’s side. She was bleeding out from the wound. Sungjin yelled to calm Santiago down.

“I got it I got it. I’ll put down the sword. Please let her go.”

Slowly and cautiously, Sungjin placed the ‘Moon Specter’ back into the scabbard. And he untied the scabbard from his side. Pretending to drop it, he rapidly drew the blade out and shouted

“Deathly wail!”

The ‘Moon Specter’ glowed bright blue.

“KYAAAAAAAAA!”

A hell-like screech filled the air, reverberating around the canyon. Sungjin immediately charged forward.

“Uhh...uh,...”

Santiago lost his grip on Serin and took an involuntary step back. Sungjin rushed towards him. Santiago waved his dagger towards Sungjin wildly but

“Clang clang!”

In just two swings, Santiago’s daggers were knocked away from his hands. Sungjin kicked his undefended chest.

‘Pow’

He fell on his backside. Sungjin stared at him. Santiago’s eyes were filled with terror, for one reason or another.

“Ahh...Ahh...”

Without getting up, Santiago tried to crawl away as fast as he could. Sungjin walked up to him and cut off both of his feet.

“Ahhh!”

Santiago let out a long cry of agony. Sungjin emotionlessly told him

“This is for Cain.”

Sungjin pointed his sword towards Santiago as he walked over. Now certain that he was going to die, Santiago began to beg for his life.

“Mercy... Mercy! Please!”

Santiago begged while holding his hands together in a prayer. This helped Sungjin see the fancy tattoo covering Santiago’s arm.

Sungjin held up the ‘Moon Specter’ towards his face and said

“I know scum like you. On Earth, before we were sent here, you probably did these kinds of things without hesitation. Of course, looking at things from ‘this’ angle.”

Sungjin did not attack him with his sword and kept on talking.

“You probably looked down at your victims, who were helpless and begged for mercy. I could have killed you many times until now. The reason why I am waiting...”

“Anything but my life”

Santiago continued to beg.

“This is it. I wanted you to experience this. The terror you inflicted on your victims until now.”

Sungjin counted 5 seconds in his mind. Santiago tried to escape, but his feet were cut off. He was able to crawl away slowly with his hands, but it didn’t get him far.

“I think that’s enough for introspection.”

Sungjin took a single step forward and swung his sword.

“Die.”

‘Shing’

Santiago’s head flew off and landed some distance away. As was his habit, Sungjin swung his Katana once to fling the blood off of the blade.

Santiago’s blood splattered on the ground, and Sungjin returned the blade to its sheath. Turning around, he left to attend to Serin.

Serin was trembling while tightly holding herself. If anything could be described as a side effect of “Deathly Wail”, it was that it also affected allies equally. Sungjin approached her and said

“Don’t be afraid Miss Serin. It’s okay. That thing was not real... it’s fake.”

Serin looked up towards Sungjin and asked

“And...him?”

Sungjin tilted his head towards where Santiago’s corpse lay. She uneasily turned her gaze towards the direction he indicated. In the distance, she saw Santiago’s severed head.

Serin returned her gaze to Sungjin and said

“Thank you... Really Thank you, Kei.”

Sungjin nodded to acknowledge her expression of gratitude and moved away from her to give her some privacy; so that she could have time to calm herself down. The Cube broke the silence.

[All ‘Trolls’ in the party have been eliminated.]

[Distributing Raid reward]

He didn’t find the ‘Hidden Piece’ yet, and the distribution already began. It was okay since he could still go off to search once the distribution was over.

[Calculating Rewards Earned.]

[Monsters Slain. Ogres: 30. Trogg: 20. Ettin: 10. Total 3200 points.]

[Boss Monster Slain: Ogre Mage ‘Pach and Cho’Roch’: 400 points.]

[Hidden Boss King of Giants ‘Cyclops’: 400 points.]

[Final point count: 4000 Points. Distributing points.]

First up was Serin.

[Your contribution is 29.5%. 1180 Stat points, 1180 Black Coins awarded. Raid Clear Bonus 1000 Stat points and 1000 Black Coins awarded. Distributing 2180 Stat points and 2180 Black Coins.]

Her contribution points were enormous compared to the points Sungjin’s former teammates had received. But it made sense, since she almost always landed every shot she fired, and the other three perished during PvP. Next up was Sungjin.

[Your contribution is 70.5%. 2820 Stat points, 2820 Black Coins awarded. Raid Clear Bonus 1000 Stat points and 1000 Black Coins awarded. Item effect ‘Additional 10% gained’ activated. Distributing 3820 Stat points and 4202 Black Coins.]

Sungjin thought to himself.

‘4202... I almost didn’t make it.’

He needed 4022 coins to complete the book. Without the Heart of Gold passive, he would have fallen short.

[And now we will distribute the items.]

Of course, it began with Serin since she had fewer contribution points.

[Eye of the Cyclops – Strength of the Giants]

[Recovery Potion – Small x4]

Next up was Sungjin. Despite having been through this process numerous times, Sungjin still looked forward to seeing what he’s earned.

[Manta – Cho’Roch’s Staff]

[Kamram – Siamese Twin’s Ring]

[Recovery Potion – Small x3]

[Spell Book – Fireball]

And it ended here. Although it usually gave out three Heroic Items.

‘Why? Why did I only get two?’

Sungjin complained internally. But the Operator was not done.

[Congratulations! You obtained a Legendary item ‘Kamram – Siamese Twin’s Ring’!]

‘Legendary Item?!’

The Operator always announced each legendary item loot received. Sungjin instantly forgot about his complaint and eagerly picked up the ring that appeared before him.

At the center of the ring were two crimson gems; stuck together like Siamese twins.

‘What is this?’

He wanted to ask, but the distribution was not over.

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

One more time, Serin was first.

[Head Hunter – When striking the enemy on the head with an arrow, Increase damage dealt by 40%]

It was a great title. If you considered her skill, it was no different from having permanent 40% damage boost at all times. Next up was Sungjin.

[Adjudicator – When killing Party members who entered the ‘Troll’ state, obtain two of their equipped items.]

‘Huh?’

He didn’t even imagine that such a title existed.

‘...is it because I killed two trolls in one raid?’

In Sungjin’s previous life, he had exceptionally good luck with teammates. He almost never encountered a ‘Troll’, so this title would have been impossible to earn for him.

He also never saw anyone walking around with it. To be fair, this was a hard title to justify equipping.

In a raid where your life was always on the line, there was no reason to keep this title equipped in case of a troll that may or may not appear.

No, if a troll were to appear, it usually meant the party would be wiped out.

‘Well, since it’s being given to me, I’ll accept it gratefully.’

Once the rewards were distributed, Serin approached Sungjin.

“Good work, Master Hunter K. Your skill lives up to your title.”

Sungjin nodded.

“Serin, you too... well, Good work on overcoming this chapter, you know, after everything that happened.”

Sungjin kicked himself inside for mentioning ‘that’. It would have probably been better not to have mentioned it at all.

But luckily, Serin seemed to take it well.

“It’s okay. To be fair... something similar happened to me in the last chapter as well.”

Listening to her frankly say that, Sungjin was at a loss for words. There was a reason why so few women survived to later stages of the Raids.

“At that time, I took care of the situation with my bow, but this time... Anyway, thank you so much, Kei.”

Sungjin wordlessly nodded. He felt saying anything now to her was improper. The Operator informed them their remaining time.

[Returning to the Black Market in 28 Minutes and 48 Seconds.]

There was still lots of time left. But there was one more thing Sungjin had to do; Searching for the ‘Hidden Piece’. Sungjin told the Operator,

“I want to use the ‘Treasure Hunter’ active skill. Please tell me the hint about the hidden location on this map.”