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%

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!”