Chapter 69 – Dark Elven City (2)

[Synchronizing Hunters]

Sungjin held his swords as he watched the hunters appear. ‘Iron Wall’, ‘Commissioned Officer’, ‘Green Mage’, and ‘High Level Swordsman’. This time every single title was excellent.

It was due to the fact that only the strong were able to move forward in the raids. The first person Sungjin looked at was the ‘Iron Wall’. He seemed to be a short Southeastern Asian man, but he had a sturdy build.

The ‘Commissioned Officer’ was a white man with a longsword hanging from his side. He was even taller than the tank ‘Iron Wall’. He possessed a sharp gaze.

The ‘Green Mage’ was a man from India.

He wielded a metallic Staff and was quite muscular. Sungjin wasn’t sure how he came to master Green magic, but it’s quite likely that he had used combat staff techniques until then.

Since no matter how high the initial value of Mind and Magic power one started off with, no one could nonchalantly walk the path of the mage from the start.

So most mages would have had to start off with a weapon and transition gradually to a true mage class. Just like Sungjin had. The last one was the ‘High Level Swordsman’ who was an East Asian as well.

Everybody took a look at the other. They checked to have an idea of what each person could do, and what specializations they could potentially have. Also, to see if anyone had the potential to become a Troll.

Once 3 seconds of silence had passed,

“Let’s introduce ourselves”

“Let us begin with the introductions.”

The ‘Commissioned Officer’ and the ‘High Level Swordsman’ had simultaneously made the same suggestion. They locked eyes. The ‘Commissioned Officer’ spoke first.

“My name is Allerimo Romanelli, Italian.”

Next was the Green Mage.

“Sanjiv Wali, India.”

While everyone was introducing themselves, Sungjin checked ‘Jasepit – Holy water of Baptism’ inside his vest. Clear fluid was splashing about inside the bottle.

‘I can bestow a title...’

Sungjin had no idea what effect the title would have, but it was an item outside the bounds of common sense. Sungjin returned the item back into his vest.

‘Well... I should first see if anyone is good enough to make a connection with.’

But he had to be extremely careful about who he would use it on. The ‘White Coin’ was extremely difficult to gather. People like Max Obrian were an exception and not the general case.

Because even if they are saved, selfish people will make selfish choices.

“I am Liwei, Chinese.”

Sungjin noticed something during the ‘High Level Swordsman’s’ indifferent introduction; Black handle, red scabbard, shortish length of the blade.

‘He has Blood Vengeance!’

The swordsman held the same sword as himself. To be fair, it wasn’t that unusual since anyone could buy Blood Vengeance from the ‘Black Market’ at the ‘Last Edge’.

‘But because of the Active Penalty... not everyone can really utilize that sword properly...’

‘Baptism of Blood’ drained 100 HP per second. Even Sungjin, who had a higher HP than most tanks, still didn’t dare use the active thoughtlessly. The swordsman must be extremely confident of his skills.

This gave Sungjin a thought.

‘...Yeah, it’s about time everyone managed to get at least one Legendary Item.’

Sungjin fell into thought while he stroked his chin. This was an important realization; the possibility that each of the trolls owned a legendary item. If they all had legendary items with incredible skills like ‘Kamram’, ‘Moon Specter’, ‘Besgoro’, Sungjin would probably be okay with 1 on 1, but 2 on 1 or 3 on 1 would present real danger.

Sungjin recalled the ‘Enhancement Stone’ he had received in the previous chapter.

‘The time has come... to take the next step... Spell scrolls are one thing but...’

Sungjin was interrupted from his thoughts when he realized that everyone’s gazes were focused on him. It was his turn for a dishonest introduction. Sungjin turned his attention to the other hunters and said

“Well... to be fair, these introductions have no meaning...”

Now only those who were used to the system remained. It was about time Sungjin became honest about his intentions.

“I will hunt the boss monster alone and then leave. Please work together as a group and increase your contribution level through normal mobs.”

One by one, the hunters tilted their heads at his words.

‘I will hunt the boss monster alone.’

‘And then leave.’

It was hard to understand what he meant by that. Despite their confusion, Sungjin said

“In the chance that I notice anyone with brilliant talent before I leave the chapter, I will speak to them alone... or something.”

The Green mage was first to respond.

“What is this about? What do you mean by going alone? You won’t stick with the party?”

Sungjin bit his lower lip before answering

“Yes.”

As a response, the ‘High Level Swordsman’ pulled out his Blood Vengeance and pointed the blade threateningly towards Sungjin.

“What are you? A Troll?”

It was a sensitive response. He must have had to face a difficult battle against trolls in his previous rounds. Sungjin replied back.

“Not a troll... just think of me as ‘someone different’. I don’t think you’ll be disadvantaged by my actions since I’m just going to do my own thing and leave.”

The High level Swordsman got red in the face as he yelled

“How is that not being a ‘troll’ you fucker!”

The ‘Commissioned Officer’ broke his silence and joined in as well.

“Yes, your action is basically in line with that of a troll. A raid can only be completed by the cooperation of five hunters, but here you are insisting that you will be going alone. If that isn’t words and actions of a troll, what is?”

The Italian man seemed to be unaware of a ‘system designated troll’. It was possible that people didn’t know too much detail about trolls yet. Sungjin sighed at their words.

“Well... I think you won’t understand it yet, but you’ll have a better understanding towards the end of it. That my method will be safer and more rewarding for you all.”

Finally, the Operator gave an announcement.

[Raid will begin in 1 Minute.]

Sungjin walked forward towards the starting line of the Raid, which was a major intersection that led directly into the Dark Elvan City. He wanted to save every second from the Raid timer.

“Hey! Stop!”

Sungjin heard the High Level Swordsman call out. He ignored him and walked on. Finally

“You bitch!”

The High Level Swordsman couldn’t stand it and charged towards Sungjin with his Blood Vengeance drawn. Sungjin glanced at him; he was fast. But only in terms of ‘ordinary’ hunters.

Sungjin decided to humor him. The swordsman’s method of fighting was interesting. First, he began with a straight thrust

‘Clang!’

The swordsman used the rebound from the collision of swords to launch a counter attack. If it was any other hunter, this technique would have caught them off guard, but

‘Bang!’

Sungjin easily blocked the counter attack. And this time, followed through and launched his own strike.

‘Boom!’

Three strikes were exchanged. The Blood Vengeance the swordsman held flew out of his hands and was embedded in the ground behind him. The Swordsman trembled.

“How...”

Sungjin glared at him.

“I told you. I am a special existence.”

“What kind of stupid...”

The Swordsman backed up as he began to stutter after losing his grip in three strikes. His appearance reminded Sungjin of the Trolls who begged for forgiveness.

Seeing that, Sungjin felt like pranking him.

‘... Now that I think of it.... Should I just let him hit me a few times and have him enter troll state?’

Then there was a chance where the other Blood Vengeance would become his. But Sungjin erased such thought from his mind right away.

‘Forced Troll state’ was as damaging to the hunter community as ‘Trolling’. If he partook in forcing troll state on others, he would never be able to gather white coins which required absolute trust in one another.

And from experience, people who forced too many people into troll state were recognized as a ‘Troll’ by the system and automatically put into troll state without attacking anyone.

‘Well... Even though I took care of him for now... he did actually try to kill me...’

After hesitating for a few moments, the Swordsman finally snapped awake and ran to pull his sword out of the ground. He and the other hunters looked at Sungjin with suspicion.

‘How did he get so strong?’

Surprise

‘What kind of a man is he?’

Both suspicion and respect were reflected in their eyes. Sungjin spoke to them once more.

“I will repeat myself. I am a spe... No, well I am a weird existence... Even if it doesn’t make sense, please understand. If you just listen to my advice and hunt normal mobs, then nothing bad will happen. I am going to...”

Sungjin stopped speaking and asked them a question that had just occurred to him.

“Anyone know about Hidden bosses here?”

During his first run, this raid was the first time Sungjin actually ran across a Hidden boss. By this stage, few of the Hunters should have at least heard rumors of it.

“Do you not know?”

The ‘Iron Wall’ twitched in response. Sungjin looked at him. The hunter’s expression showed Sungjin that he knew about hidden bosses.

“Which one did you find? Hidden Merchant? Gravekeeper? Or Cyclops?”

He twitched again when Cyclops was mentioned.

“How did you...”

‘One out of four...’

Sungjin reiterated himself.

“I will only kill the boss and the hidden boss and disappear. Just know that.”

Finally

[Raid will begin in 10 seconds. 9, 8]

The countdown began, and Sungjin took Soldamyr’s lamp out of his pocket. He then rubbed the surface.

“Have you called for me, Master?”

The Blue Giant Soldamyr appeared. Sungjin commanded

“Soldamyr, as we discussed.”

Soldamyr began changing before Sungjin was even done giving the command.

“Walk the dark no matter the light, Shadow Walk!”

And Sungjin disappeared from sight.

“Walk the dark no matter the light, Shadow Walk!”

Soldamyr also hid himself. As soon as he was done,

[Raid commencing!]

The Raid began. Sungjin told Soldamyr

“Let’s go.”

“Yes, Master”

*

The Dark Elven City was a perfect place to use ‘Shadow Walk’ since if not for the raid, the entire city would have been in perfect darkness without the floating lamps.

The silvery white colored magical sources of lights were acting as lamps, but they were easy enough to dodge and stay within the shadow. That did not mean that Sungjin could afford to put down his guard.

Guards patrolled the city wearing heavy armor armed with swords and spears. Even those looking like civilians wore daggers or short swords at their waists.

Killing one or two civilians were no big deal, but if they ran to get help from the guards, it would lead to a drawn out fight.

Even for Sungjin killing the boss, killing the hidden boss, and finding the hidden piece within the 30 minute time limit was no easy feat.

Sungjin stealthily moved without noise, hiding from the lamps and keeping to the shadows. He would sometimes do a countdown

‘5, 4, 3, 2, 1’

In his mind as he ran across a lit area into another shade. Doing this repeatedly helped Sungjin get used to it making it easier. Sungjin peeked into the center of the city where the temple was located.

Inside the temple, the ‘Priestess’ Kerenis awaited. Sungjin ran across the lit area towards the shade.

‘5, 4, 3, 2...’

He reached the building. But

“Intruder!”

The guard’s voice could be heard. Sungjin was surprised.

‘What?’

The guards passed right by him and headed down into the city, where Sungjin came from. Besgoro, who Sungjin had forgotten about, spoke up.

‘They must be talking about the other hunters.’

Besgoro was most likely right. This was even better for Sungjin since he wouldn’t have to hide from the guards. Sungjin became emboldened.

“Swift Paw.”

He whispered, taking out the hidden claws. Then

‘5’

He began counting, running up the side of the structure.’

‘4, 3, 2, 1’

And before 5 seconds were over, he hid behind the structure into the shadow. He waited for a second before once again

‘5, 4, 3, 2, 1’ he ran with incredible speed. He repeated this two more times.

Sungjin ran across the Dark Elven City while running on the roof top. And in no time at all, he arrived at the temple where Priestess Kerenis was located. Only 3 minutes passed since the start of the Raid.

The old Knight Besgoro said indifferently.

‘I guess you’ll set a new record today.’