Chapter 172
Chapter 172 – Bakash Island (1)
After finishing breakfast, the hunters bid each other farewell and departed.
“See you at dinner time, everyone.”
“Yeah, do your best, everyone.”
“You too!”
Though the others were animatedly exchanging farewells, Sungjin merely held up his hand and waved to them. This was because Sungjin had been thinking about Edward since even before the hunters gathered together.
‘… Edward … restarted once… Then that guy… did he do all of that… knowing that I would go back in time?’
‘But even if that’s the case… Was there a reason for him to troll?’
However, at that moment,
“Oppa.”
Upon hearing someone calling to him, Sungjin raised his head.
There was only one person that called him ‘Oppa’. Sungjin looked at Serin with eyes wide open in surprise as he asked,
“Hrm? You haven’t left yet?”
“Yes. Since today, you didn’t say much again… I was worried that you were still… angry at me.”
Sungjin waved his hand as he said,
“Ahh… No. It’s just… I was thinking about something else.”
“Is that so? What a relief. Hehe.”
Serin smiled cutely. Seeing her smile, Sungjin also grinned as he said,
“Go on. It’s time for me to prepare myself as well.”
“Ok. Then… See you later, Oppa.”
Serin waved her hand as she disappeared. Now alone, Sungjin patted the seat as he stood up. There were too many questionable points in the information that he had, but there was nothing he could do about it for the moment.
‘… Let’s look at it once more tonight. I should be able to learn more about it as I sleep.’
The next raid was Bakash Island, the primordial island where dinosaurs roamed. It was a place that was swarming with enemies whose sizes defied common sense. However, it was not a difficult raid so long as you were careful of their sizes. As the raid was approaching, Sungjin took out ‘Lathion – Star of Solitude’ and was about to use its Active Skill, “Solitary Training”.
“Solitary…”
But when he thought about it, it occurred to him that it might be better not to use it anymore. Few stats or coins were no longer what Sungjin needed; what he really needed were allies who could go to the end with him.
‘Instead of earning stats by myself… It would be better to finish the raids with other hunters and choose one or two more members.’
Having made up his mind, Sungjin placed the star back inside the cube.
[The raid is beginning in 10 seconds. 10, 9, 8…]
‘Pew’
Sungjin was teleported to Bakash Island. Dinosaurs could be seen wandering about in the distance making this place looked as if the set from the movie Jura**** Pa** had been moved here as is.
‘Pew’
When one of the hunters that had been summoned to Bakash Island saw his surroundings, his jaw dropped.
“Woah…”
Sungjin glanced at him. The first time he saw this, he had also displayed a similar reaction. However, this was already his second time experiencing this. Rather than watching the dinosaurs, Sungjin slowly examined the other hunters who were staring at them. Now, everyone had fancy equipment, befitting of veterans who had experienced dozens of life-and-death crises. Of course, Sungjin was the only one who had equipped four swords.
‘That friend over there has a Legendary armor. Was it Sargon’s Armor… Hrm… But his weapon… I think I saw it hanging in some shop… Did he buy it with Black Coins…’
‘He’s wielding a magic staff engraved with runes and a shield… Is he some kind of combat mage?’
Sungjin looked at them as if he were shopping in a mall. However, as he was watching them, a Caucasian spearman wielding a long spear locked gazes with Sungjin, then let out a cry.
“Oh!”
He pointed at Sungjin with his finger and asked,
“Master Hunter… Master Hunter Kei?”
Sungjin stared at the spearman as he searched his memories.
‘… Where did I meet him?’
However, he could not recall when they had met. No matter how he thought about it, it was definitely the first time that they had seen each other. He had difficulty telling apart people of different races that he had come across during the raids – in truth, Whites, Blacks, Arabs, Hispanics, etc, all looked the same to him. While Sungjin had a pinched expression, the hunter approached and asked,
“Right? Master Hunter. Master Hunter Kei.”
“Ah, yes… That’s me, but…”
Sungjin’s words trailed off, but the hunter suddenly came closer and held out his hand as he said,
“Ohh, I heard a lot about you, Master Hunter Kei.”
Sungjin absentmindedly shook the hunter’s hand. The latter continued,
“It’s an honor to meet you.”
‘Just what makes it an honor…’
While Sungjin was bewildered, another hunter who was behind him came up to him.
“Master Hunter Kei? You’re that… Legend?”
He did not know why, but it seemed that he had become quite famous. Sungjin asked the hunters,
“Do you… know me?”
The spearman that had extended his hand earlier spoke up,
“I heard about you from the other hunters. That there’s a person who jumps across dimensions to hunt trolls.”
The hunter next to Sungjin also added,
“I’ve also heard of that. That you even fought two or three trolls alone.”
It seemed that the other two hunters were intrigued by seeing the three of them gathered together like that.
“What? Master Hunter? Is he someone famous?”
“Hrm… I think I’ve heard about him, too…”
It seemed that Sungjin had become well-known to the other hunters since he had killed dozens of trolls as well as saved many more lives when he jumped from one dimension to another. Now that he thought about it, he did recall hearing something like that from one of the ‘Chosen Ones’ while eating.
“Now that I think about it, there were people talking about Mister Kei during a raid.”
“Yeah, I heard about that too. That there’s an incredibly strong hunter jumping across dimensions to hunt trolls… Kei should be the only one that fits that description, right?”
Back then, he had simply thought, ‘Is that so?’ and threw it to the back of his mind, but now it seemed that he had truly become rather famous.
[The raid will begin in 1 minute.]
Upon hearing the Operator, the two hunters nodded their heads as they spoke up.
“It’s an honor to be in the same party as you.”
“I guess we’ll get to see Mister Kei’s skills. I leave myself in your hands.”
For now, Sungjin simply nodded as he wondered if there was anyone among these hunters who was decently skilled, and if it would be alright to accept him as a teammate.
*
‘Kyeee!’
A lengthy cry reverberated throughout the jungle. The gladiator standing at the front raised his shield as he said,
“Incoming.”
The hunters beside him each took ahold of their weapons upon hearing his words. Kei, of course, held up Blood Vengeance and Moon Specter as he prepared to fight against the enemy. Eventually, raptors with long necks revealed their figures one by one from inside the jungle.
‘Kyeeeee!’
The hunters’ arms tensed as they held onto their weapons. If he wanted to, Sungjin could cut down the raptors in an instant, but he merely gripped Moon Specter and Blood Vengeance instead of intervening because he wanted to see how the hunters fought.
“Come Forth! The Circle of Justice!”
When the shield-bearing man finished shouting, the gazes of the raptors snapped towards him.
‘Hrm… Is that a skill that attracts aggro…’
However, the gladiator had used it far too early. His skill had affected only the first few raptors leaving the others that appeared afterwards to their own devices.
‘Kyaaaa!’
Because of this, the raptors charged towards the spearman, the magician, the archer, and of course, Sungjin, who were standing behind the gladiator. The tank became flustered when he saw the raptors circle past him, and looked back at them even as he was facing off against some raptors that were attacking him.
“Uhhhhhh…”
Sungjin hit away a few of the raptors that charged at him as he thought,
‘That guy’s equipment is decent, but his talent in tanking is just so-so.’
Sungjin observed the other hunters during the chaos that occurred. The magician cast,
“Illusion”
and created a few illusions as he retreated backwards. He then used his magic staff to crush the raptors’ skulls while the raptors were busy chasing around the duplicates. Sungjin watched all of this from the corner of his eyes.
‘In addition to his skills in magic… His physical abilities are decent as well.’
When Sungjin wasn’t looking, the archer had put away his bow and taken out two daggers. He held a dagger in each hand as he spun around like a windmill and ripped through the raptors’ hides. The raptors that had been charging like wild dogs could no longer approach the archer because of that tornado-like storm of knives. Sungjin thought,
‘This guy is also decent. He isn’t limited to just arrows and he’s great in adapting to the situation.’
The problem was the spearman. Because the spearman was wielding a spear that was as tall as him, he was constantly besieged by the raptors’ slashes from inside that range.
“Go… Go away! These bastards…”
When the spearman came under attack, Sungjin glanced towards the tanker. The tank who was supposed to be protecting the spearman. Unfortunately, the tanker was too busy blocking the attacks of the raptors that he had provoked. Upon seeing this, Sungjin thought,
‘The tanker lacks the ability, and the spearman can’t adapt to the situation. For them to become Chosen Ones, these two are…’
However, at that moment Moon Specter shouted at him.
‘Master!’
Sungjin abruptly came to attention and found that there were a huge set of teeth right in front of his nose.
‘Shit!’
Sungjin urgently threw back his head. Soon, the raptor’s teeth snapped shut where his head used to be.
‘Snap!’
It was a spectacle that would’ve chilled a normal person. However, having overcome dozens of life-and-death situations and even having actually died once, this was merely an opportunity to Sungjin. He slightly twisted the hand that was holding Blood Vengeance, and the head of the raptor that had just attempted to tear off Sungjin’s head soon began to spurt blood as it fell to the ground. But, this was not the end.
‘Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!’
Upon seeing the blood of their fellow raptor, two more charged towards Sungjin.
‘Annoying…’
Sungjin appropriately limited his strength as he fought against the raptors. This was because if he were to fight with everything he had, then it was entirely possible that the other hunters would not have a chance to fight. Sungjin lacklusterly swung his sword around to block the raptors’ attacks while simultaneously watching how the other hunters reacted. After a few dozen seconds of chaos had passed, the situation was nearly settled. The hunter who had been given the role of tanking let out a sigh as he asked,
“Whew… Is everyone okay?”
At this, the spearman stooped over and leaned on his spear as he said,
“Me… Wait a bit.”
Now that they looked, there was a long wound on the spearman’s waist. It seemed that he had been injured by a raptors’ claws. The spearman removed a potion from his belt and said,
“Can we proceed after resting here for…”
However, it was at that moment that the sound of an immense footstep could be heard from the depths of the forest as the ground began to shake.
‘Boom!’