Chapter 75 – Dark Elven City (8)

‘Destroyer’ swung his hammer.

“What...”

Striking the ‘Slaughterer’ who was flung far away by the impact. The ‘Destroyer’ ran in to finish him off, lifting his hammer high in the air, yelling

“Shatter Earth”

But before he could land a shot on the ‘Slaughterer’

“Blink”

The ‘Slaughter’ used magic to get out of the way.

“Boom!”

The entire Temple shook violently. At the same time, the ‘Destroyer’s’ body became enveloped in a red aura, and the Operator gave an announcement.

[Attacked an allied Hunter. Entering ‘Troll’ state]

There were more announcements about raid reward, but the enraged ‘Destroyer’ ignored the rest of it, searching for the ‘Slaughterer’ with bloodshot eyes.

‘Pew~’

The ‘Elite Sniper’s’ arrow revealed the Slaughterer’s position. He was at the stairs of the Temple. 2 to 1 situation. The ‘Slaughterer’ escaped the temple with the other two in pursuit.

A minute after the three hunters left the area, a white pillar appeared within the temple and a man walked out.

*

Sungjin took a look around. Inside was the Priestess and her four guardians’ corpses. As well as corpses of two unfamiliar hunters.

‘Where is he? The troll?’

Sungjin walked out of the Temple and took a look around. The temple was located on the highest point in the city. He could see everything from up here.

In the distance, the Hunters were halfway between the starting point and the temple. He didn’t know why they were fighting there, but Sungjin immediately used

“Swift Paw”

And ran towards them using the hidden claws. 10 seconds later, he saw ‘Slaughterer’ fight against the ‘Destroyer’ and ‘Elite Sniper’ both of which had the red aura. Besgoro commented

‘It’s two.’

Four items. Sungjin was happy just thinking about it. He nodded.

“It’s two.”

But it was then that the ‘Slaughterer’ suddenly turned the tables.

“Root them to the ground! Entangle!”

He used magic to hold the ‘Destroyer’ in place

“Blink”

And used teleport to charge towards the Sniper. Before Sungjin could do anything, his axe split the head of the archer.

‘Now just one.’

Despite fighting in a 2v1, he had been able to take one down. He was just that strong.

“You!”

Once the Destroyer got out of the magical roots, they engaged in melee combat. Without intervention, Sungjin could lose both of them.

‘I won’t let that happen.’

Sungjin moved quickly. The other troll was preoccupied with the ‘Slaughterer’ to notice Sungjin approach him.

When the Destroyer lifted up his hammer, Sungjin cut off his hands from behind.

“Ahhh!”

The ‘Destroyer’ was disarmed by Sungjin from behind in an ambush though he wouldn’t have been able to put up a fight up from up front.

Sungjin followed up by beheading him right away.

“Ack!”

With a short cry of pain, the Destroyer kneeled over. The Slaughterer stared at Sungjin in surprise. It must be difficult to imagine a ‘Hunter from the outside’. Sungjin stared at him.

‘He probably wouldn’t kiss the ring even if I ask... right?’

He didn’t feel that the man would agree. He was strong. He would have easily won this 1 v 1. There was no real reason to accept Sungjin’s request of 10% permanent penalty to the raid rewards.

After staring at Sungjin for a moment with wide opened eyes, he finally asked

“Who are you? An enemy?”

Sungjin answered with pursed lips.

“Try me, if you think so.”

The Slaughterer didn’t know what to do. Sungjin just walked over to pick up the items from the ground and put them into the Cube. Sungjin said to him

“Feel free to spend the remaining time however you like. Don’t try to fight recklessly alone.”

Sungjin left it at that and walked back up the hill to the Temple. Picking the temple as the teleport location was a good idea.

All the hunters would have to pass by it at some point, and it was a great vantage point for the whole city.

Once he was back in the temple, Sungjin took out the second marble. Besgoro said

‘We should act even faster next time since the Trolls could have the tables turned and killed before we get to them’

“You’re right.”

Sungjin nodded. If he had acted right away, he could have taken the second Troll down and obtain two more items this round. Once he was mentally prepared, Sungjin shouted

“Pursuit of Justice”

[Trollseeker Marble can only be used once every 10 minutes.]

[Please try again in 4 minutes 27 seconds.]

“Oh really?”

Sungjin took a look at the marble for a second. There was no mention of a cooldown period. It might be due to the fact that it was a consumable type item. Since the Operator made an announcement, he couldn’t do anything to change it.

‘Well even if it’s 10 minutes, I still have enough time so... it should be okay.’

Sungjin took a look around. In the distance, he could see the black tent leading to the exit of the cavern.

The place where the ‘Hidden Boss’ was waiting. But even if he killed additional mobs in this realm, he wouldn’t get anything. As the merchant of ‘Darker than Black’ said, there is only one raid reward distribution.

He had time to burn and had nothing to do. So Sungjin took a seat at the stairs and asked the Operator

“Please give me the items I got from the last raid distribution.”

At his request, the Operator gave him three items. An elegantly curved sword, a chalice, and the shriveled up finger. Sungjin picked up the sword first.

‘It was a legendary item if I recall ...’

Artemio – Mage Bane

Legendary Scimitar – Strength S Dexterity A

Passive Skill

Spell Eater (II) – Reduces damage taken from spells by 20%

Active Skill

Reflect Magic (IV) – Reflects offensive type magic spells under 6th Circle back at the caster. Cooldown 10 minutes.

Sword specially designed for Mage Hunters.

‘Oooh...’

Sungjin nodded happily. It was a specialist sword. Active and passive were all anti-magic. This sword would make fights against mages easier.

And the offensive stats were great, befitting that of its legendary status. Sungjin decided to

“Equip”

Test the sword by swinging it in midair. It was slightly different from the Katana style swords he normally wielded, but it should be similar in theory.

‘This is worth using as my third weapon.’

With these stats, it was well worth carrying around. Switching it with Moon Specter or Blood Vengeance when facing mages would make things easier.

Sungjin hung the sword from his left side, behind the Moon Specter. If he had gotten this in his previous life, he would have put it up for auction ASAP, but he could now afford to have an extra sword around.

The next item was a Chalice. A chalice with a grotesque image of a snake decorating it.

Darke – Cursed Chalice

Heroic Support Weapon

Passive Skill

Empower Black Magic(III) – Increase power of black magic by 30%n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Active Skill

Spiritual Link (Maragor) – A snake possessing potent venom and enormous strength. Call upon Maragor.

If Summon is killed, or if 10 minutes pass from the time of summoning, it disappears.

The Chalice of the Priestess Kerenis.

Cursed is more accurate than Blessing.

‘Now that you mention it...’

He remembered someone who used this in the past. One of the final 10, the only woman among men, ‘Nada’. Sungjin reminisced about her for a moment.

She had a rough demeanor but had perfectly smooth and clear skin, upturned nose, large eyes and bright emerald iris.

‘She was quite a beauty...’

But unlike Serin Han, she managed to survive to the end without having to hide her face.

It was due to her monstrous speed, lethal dagger skills, and extremely powerful black magic.

Among the ‘Final 10’, none of the 9 surviving men ever dared make a move against her.

‘But this is completely useless to me...’

It was the truth. Thanks to Kamram granting Sungjin the ability to dual wield his swords, items he had to hold with an offhand were useless. The Snake he would keep as a summon was also unappealing.

‘It would be a useful support item for any black mage though...’

And Sungjin already had Cain and Soldamyr.

‘I should just sell it off for about 4000 Coins.’

Sungjin put the Chalice into the cube. The last item was a finger which had completely dried up like a mummy’s.

Mamaya – Finger of Brainwashing

Heroic Accessory

Active Skill

Mind Control(II) – Freely command the target for 10 seconds.

Suicide or self harm is impossible on the controlled target.

The user is unable to move for the duration of the ability. Cooldown 20 minutes.

Dark Elves were masters of advanced hypnotic magic. And through it, it is said that they could take away fear from allies or control the minds of the enemies.

A strange ability on a strange looking item. Sungjin turned the item around this way and that to inspect it.

‘How am I supposed to use this?’

Control the target for 10 seconds, but no self harm is permitted. Besgoro commented

‘Even if you can’t harm him yourself... couldn’t you run him off the cliff or throw him into the middle of a group of enemies?’

“But I also can’t move meanwhile.”

That’s quite a large penalty.

“It would be easier for me to just step in and kill them myself.”

‘That’s true... but it could be useful to have around.’

Sungjin decided not to sell it for now. He couldn’t really visualize how he could make use of it, but as Besgoro said, he felt that it would come in handy someday.

Once Sungjin was done checking the items, he picked up the marble again. About 4 minutes would have passed by now.

[Request for Dimensional transfer has been granted.]

Perfect timing. Dimensional Transfer was approved

[You will be teleported in 10 seconds. 10, 9, 8]

The countdown began, and Sungjin teleported for the second time.

*

Of the five hunters, two were killed during the hunt. Of the three remaining, two of them ganged up on the third to divide the contribution points among themselves. And they were successful.

“Whew... good job.”

“You too.”

The hunters exchanged a fist bump clad in a red aura. Before them was a dead spearman. One of them commented

“This guy... monopolized too much of the contribution points.”

The other hunter replied.

“How were we supposed to survive with him alive?”

The hunters tried to justify their action in their minds. But they got another idea.

‘If he dies, I get everything.’

They had betrayed their allies for more points. There was no reason not to betray the last one remaining. Without a word, both of them moved away from each other at the same time.

They looked into each other’s eyes and grinned.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“You too?”

“Alright, let’s fight to see who gets all the points.”

“Sounds good.”

The men picked up their sword and spears and faced off against each other. And finally they ran in to clash swords.

“Clang!”

Note: Some readers were asking why K had such a high contribution level when he said he didn’t hunt normal mobs to those hunters. He actually did hunt. He hunted the 4 servants of the priest, he hunted many dark elves while gaining his HP MP back after killing the secret boss. And since both bosses were killed by him plus when he transferred the entire raid was not completed yet, there were still normal mobs so the moment he transfered till then he had the lion’s share of the contribution.