Chapter 51
Chapter 51 – Count Dimitri’s Castle Ruins (7)
Once ‘Wandering Merchant’ Ruff Han ran away, the Hunters left the smelly sewer and returned to the 2nd floor room.
Giovani, who was first to leave the sewer, found a spot without webs to sit and took off his helm.
“Whew… I guess this chapter is pretty much done.”
Peng Long caressed the Archery shooting gloves as he replied
“It was hectic for a while, but there were no casualties. Everything turned out okay in the end.”
Dominic Spencer thanked the remaining two hunters as well.
“I am sorry… my rash action inconvenienced you two as well.”
The men shook their head and denied being troubled.
“No, it wasn’t bad at all.”
“All’s well that ends well.”
Sungjin was last to climb out of the sewers and briefly stared at the men conversing with one another. It was a rather heartwarming moment. But it wasn’t over yet; there was still the hidden boss remaining.
Sungjin first placed the ‘Mystery Pouch’ in the cube before addressing the other hunters.
“Excuse me, sorry to bother you all while you are resting. But there is one more hidden element remaining in this raid.”
Everyone turned to stare at him.
“It’s called ‘hidden boss’… as the name would suggest, it is a secondary boss hidden somewhere on the map. I am planning on going back to search for it. Does anyone want to come with me?
Giovani asked in response.
“Hidden boss?”
“Yes. Hidden bosses are stronger than regular Raid bosses. It should be hidden in the castle somewhere.”
“But… is there a point to seeking it out?”
Sungjin answered simply
“Killing the Hidden boss grants bonus points and coins for everyone. Also, it increases contribution level.”
The other Hunters looked among themselves. They were greatly benefited by ‘Wandering Merchant Ruff Han’, but their contribution levels were still extremely low. Peng Long asked Sungjin,
“So… is our help necessary?”
Sungjin shook his head.
“No, it isn’t necessary; I should be able to beat it alone. That being said, I am not going to refuse if anyone decides to help…”
Sungjin dragged out the last word before he continued.
“Hidden bosses are typically extremely dangerous, and so I can’t guarantee your safety. I don’t know how it looks like or how it attacks; I don’t know anything about it.”
Sungjin’s words made all the hunters pause to reconsider. It wasn’t an exaggeration to call ‘Hidden bosses’ a gamble on your life. Sungjin spread his arms wide as he said
“Feel free to act as you please. You are under no obligation to help out. Even though it’ll be tricky, I can manage alone. If you decide not to help out, you can stay far away in case I die.”
Mahadas moved closer and said
“I have decided to tackle any challenge that comes my way. I don’t understand what is the point of these raids… but through fighting, it could lead to some sort of revelation.”
Sungjin nodded. A fighter at his skill level would not become a hindrance. Peng Long raised his hands.
“Aye. I shall come as well. Supporting from a distance can’t hurt.”
He was right, it wouldn’t be bad at all. If he kept a good distance and attacked from afar, Peng Long had very little to be afraid of. The ones who would have trouble were the tank and the melee dps, Giovani and Dominic.
Giovani wasn’t happy about the prospect of facing a second boss. His facial expressions screamed ‘Why not just go to the Black Market as is?’
Dominic seemed without enthusiasm, probably due to his near death experience. Sungjin addressed the two men.
“The two of you are welcome to stay behind and rest here. The other two, follow me please.”
But Dominic picked up his spear and replied.
“No, I owe my life to both of you. If I could be of even a little bit of assistance, I will gladly do it.”
Since Dominic declared his intentions to go along, Giovani must have felt nervous about staying behind.
“Well, I’ll go along as well. I don’t know about combat, but if it’s just helping to find something…”
And so, for the first time since the restart, all five hunters left together to hunt the hidden boss. Sungjin addressed a question to the cube.
“Operator, I want to use the Treasure Hunter active. Tell me the clue to find the Hidden Boss.”
The Operator recited the second hint.
[Loyal Knight of the count]
[renowned on the battlefield]
[betrayed and beheaded]
[not even death broke his will.]
[unwilling to let go of the reins]
[he circles the castle, searching]
[to find his head and return to battle]
Sungjin looked around at the other hunters after hearing the hint. Everyone looked confused. Sungjin gave a request to the Operator.
“Operator, one more time.”
The Operator repeated the hint, and once again the hunters all contemplated the meaning.
“Beheaded…”
Giovani was first to speak.
“So it’s something of a headless ghost?”
Peng Long replied.
“I feel that ‘unwilling to let go of the reins’ is the key.”
Mahadas gave his thoughts.
“Circling the castle… isn’t that the most important part?”
After listening to all the hunters’ thoughts on the matter, Sungjin responded as well.
“In that case, should we take a look around the castle?”
“Yes, lets.”
Once the men came to a conclusion, they took the elevators back down to the ground level. All the Vampires who were dancing in the hall had already turned to ash.
The hunters walked past the ashes and came back outside. Once they passed the two zombie dogs laying outside, everyone suddenly remembered something.
“Headless coachman!”
Giovani was first to yell it out.
“Ah, you’re right!”
Dominic shouted out in agreement. The five hunters cautiously exited the castle gates. The carriages were still standing in the same spot where they had left them.
There was a horse-drawn carriage which had brought them to the castle at the beginning. The hunters slowly approached the carriage.
‘Purururu’
A horse stood in place breathing out mist in the cold night air, and a coachman was sitting on the carriage still holding the reins.
“Hold on.”
Sungjin had the hunters wait behind him. He pulled out his two swords and approached the coachman. The headless coachman did not respond.
Sungjin was about to try poking the coachman’s arm with the ‘Moon Specter’, but the Operator gave a warning.
[Warning.]
Sungjin took a step back and prepared for battle.
[Attacking a non-hostile lifeform will cause penalties from the Raid Rewards.]
It was a different warning message then what he was expecting. It was just like the time he was trying to fight ‘Wandering Merchant Aindell’.
‘Are we wrong?’
Sungjin began to doubt himself. But he then heard a droning voice.
“Sir Hunter?”
He was missing his neck, but Sungjin could hear someone speaking from the general direction of the coachman. It was a voice of a ghost. While Sungjin stiffened up, the headless coachman asked
“Did you kill Count Dimitri?”
Sungjin answered him honestly.
“Yes, I beheaded him…”
The otherworldly creature before him laughed happily.
“Beheaded… Ka hahaha! So in the end… just like me…”
‘Betrayed and beheaded’
He had the same background story as the hint; in other words, he was most definitely the hidden boss. Only, that it was unclear how to stop him from being non-threatening.
Sungjin wasn’t sure what to say to the coachman, so he stared at him. But it was the coachman who asked him the question.
“Excuse me but… did you happen to see my head in the castle? Please find my head. I cannot return to the battlefield without my head…”
“Ah, got it.”
Sungjin returned to the other hunters after receiving the hint.
“Everyone, did you notice any heads inside the castle? A severed head?”
Everyone shook their head.
“Anywhere where they might have preserved a severed head?”
Giovani slapped his knees and replied.
“Now that you’re asking, remember the 3rd floor? All of those suits of armors? What if the head was hidden in one of them?”
Everyone nodded at his suggestion. The full plates of armors were more than enough as hidden places, and indeed the hunters have not searched through them.
It wouldn’t be strange if one of the helms held a severed head. The hunters returned to the castle ruins.
With the exception of Mahadas, the other three hunters didn’t look very happy. Having to repeatedly search the castle was probably bothering them.
Regardless of how they felt, the Hunters rode the elevator back to the 3rd floor, the floor full of suits of armors.
“Let’s split up and search through the fallen helms.”
Everyone began looking for helms for a severed head.
“All empty here.”
“Here as well.”
“All empty.”
There were no results. Every helm was searched through, but not so much as a hair was found. Sungjin cradled his head and thought carefully.
“Head… Severed head…”
No matter how hard he thought, this room wasn’t it. There was no head.
‘1st floor were filled with Vampires who turned to ash after being beheaded… 5th floor only had the Count. 2nd floor had spiders, 3rd had Suits of armor, and the 4th floor only has Frankenstein’s monster…’
Sungjin paused. A thought occurred to him.
‘Frankenstein’s Monster’s head.’
Frankenstein’s Monster was basically a flesh golem created by stitching together corpses and parts of several people. Sungjin called together the hunters.
“Please follow me.”
He led the hunters to the elevator and returned to the 4th floor. He inspected the Frankenstein’s monster they had defeated earlier.
He pulled down the shirt of the monster and saw that the neck was stitched onto the body. Upon close inspection, the color of the skin where the neck was stitched to was different than the rest of the body.
It was gruesome, but it wasn’t the right time to be creeped out.
‘Woosh’
Sungjin sliced off the stitches in one swing and beheaded the monster. He held the head and returned to the Elevator where the other hunters waited. Happy for finding the key to the Hidden boss, Sungjin smiled.
The hunters stared at him with distaste. ‘I thought he was an oddball but good at heart… but he’s actually just a weirdo after all!’ they probably thought of him. Sungjin didn’t care.
Once the Hunters returned to the 1st floor, Sungjin stood in front of the castle gates. He turned around for a moment and addressed the others.
“Please prepare yourselves. Those of you who don’t want to participate should return first to the 1st floor.”
Once he was done, Sungjin took the head to meet the headless coachman.
“Excuse me, but is this…”
Before Sungjin was even done speaking, the ghost of the headless coachman shouted
“Yes! That’s it! My head! Quickly! Return it to me!”
Sungjin held the Moon Specter with his right as he returned the head to the coachman.
Once the coachman was reunited with his head, he didn’t immediately stick it back on his body, but held it his hands and laughed loudly.
“Ahahahahaha! My head! MY HEAD!”
His head emitted green light, and the laughter started to come from the head instead.
“Ahahaha! Come! To battle!”
The Headless Coachman held his head in one hand and pulled out a longsword hidden on the horse, and destroyed the carriage in a single blow.
Sungjin put his left hand inside his vest upon witnessing the coachman’s actions. He was preparing to use the ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’. The Operator gave out a warning.
[Warning! Hidden Boss]
[Dullahan Knight ‘Besgoro’ has appeared!]
Note: Gamja suffered from a skin disease and so had to take rest the past week. It’s why we were only able to release 2 chaps out of 4 last week. The 2 guaranteed chapters of last week will be carried forward and will be released within this week and the next. We apologize
We have also released a new novel “Main Character Hides His Strength”. Do check it out! The next chapter button will directly take you to its main page. We hope you like it ?
OppaTranslations wishes you a Happy New Year! May this year go better than the last xD