Chapter 46
Chapter 46
Hyunseok clenched his fist.
The weakness must be the same as last time.
He leapt high toward the Giant Turtle’s shell, over three meters, but moved as lightly as if stepping over a threshold.
“Mr. Kim Yeonsu! Jongwon! Protect Minseo and Pyeonghwa!”
He took a brief breath. The fury boiling in him almost made him swing full-force, but he barely managed to restrain it.
Yeonsu and Jongwon instantly moved upon hearing his voice.
Both were top-tier Slayers, with impeccable situational judgment.
The Giant Turtle had a habit of going berserk once its shell cracked. Right now, it was only using acidic poison attacks, but once the shell shattered, it would move faster and attack with its tail and all four legs.
A shell-less Giant Turtle was an agile monster, the last time, more than forty Slayers had died to it.
Hong Seyoung stepped forward. She knew exactly what Hyunseok intended: he was about to strike the weak point to shatter the shield.
Then my job is...!
At the very instant the shell broke, when the Turtle would go berserk, she had to distract it. In other words, she needed to pull its aggro so that the defensive and healing Slayers behind wouldn’t get attacked.
Just two seconds... no, even one second is enough!
She decided, if she could draw its gaze for even a second, Hyunseok, the Platinum-ranked Slayer who had once defeated her with perfection, would take care of the rest.
The brief moment when the shell cracked would disrupt its stance, and Hyunseok would exploit that opening.
Just one second. I’ll do my part!
As Hyunseok attacked, he quickly reassessed the situation. Jongwon and Yeonsu were standing by to protect Minseo and Pyeonghwa. Myunghoon was also in position. And he could see Seyoung preparing her move.
Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm.
He suppressed the rage burning inside him. Rational thinking was vital, if the others weren’t ready when the shield broke, the Turtle’s rampage could cause unpredictable chaos.
Of course, as long as Hyunseok was there, the risk wasn’t great, but lives were on the line.
Good. Seyoung’s ready to distract it.
Against bug-tier monsters like the Cyclops, creatures whose strength exceeded normal limits, the presence of other Slayers usually only got in Hyunseok’s way.
But this time was different, teamwork actually helped.
After all, soloing had limits. In the worst case, failing to gain Forced Conversion Stats could prevent Hyunseok from entering the next mode, leaving him stuck at his current ceiling.
Thus, the next-best path was to strengthen the Inha Guild’s overall power.
In such situations, avoiding solo hunts made sense. The achievements weren’t being stolen, if they could grow together, all the better.
And right now, the guild members were perfectly fulfilling their respective roles.
Hyunseok thrust out his fist.
“I’m breaking the shield! Everyone, get ready!”
At that moment, the shield shattered, and the enraged Turtle’s gaze snapped toward them. Seyoung instantly caught its attention.
Perhaps she overexerted herself or made a small misstep, a splash of green liquid grazed her side, but Pyeonghwa’s healing light immediately restored her HP.
[You have hunted the Giant Turtle.]
[Calculating total participants in Dungeon Clear. Total count: 6.]
[Recognized as a difficult achievement.]
[Achievement points slightly increased due to successful Dungeon Boss Monster Raid.]
[You have gained 12 bonus stat points.]
The world was changing, Slayers were evolving, monsters were mutating, and even the dungeons themselves were transforming.
Amid all these changes, the concept of “Dungeon Boss Monster Raid” had appeared for the first time.
So this time too, it judged the total number of participants before assigning achievement points.
If sixty people had entered instead of six, the Turtle would’ve been far easier to defeat, though, of course, the casualty count would’ve been higher.
When they emerged from the cleared dungeon, the world was already in an uproar.
❋ ❋ ❋
<Inha Guild’s 16-Day Battle — Miraculous Survival!>
<Kim Yeonsu, Who Gave Rewards to the Platinum Slayer, Appears in Public!>
<The Slayer Who Defeated Top-Tier Slayer Ha Jongwon — Is His True Identity Kim Yeonsu?>
The Inha Guild had cleared a new type of dungeon.
What they thought was merely a training dungeon turned out to be far more, a real trial, culminating in a boss monster battle.
Unlike before, this dungeon was clearly a new variant.
Curiously, rumors began to spread, people speculated that the Slayer who defeated Ha Jongwon in a perfect PvP match was none other than Kim Yeonsu.
After all, the Slayer in question had been part of the Inha Guild during this raid.
Since it was hard to imagine female Slayers like Hong Seyoung defeating Jongwon, that left only Hyunseok and Yeonsu as possible candidates.
So public suspicion leaned toward the already-famous Yeonsu.
As for Hyunseok, he was just seen as the “lucky guildmaster” of Inha Guild, who happened to be friends with a top Slayer like Ha Jongwon.
Few knew his true identity, only the highest-ranking Slayers or certain government officials were aware of who he really was.
<100 Yellow Stones Acquired! Each Valued at 200 Million Won!>
A single dungeon clear had earned them 20 billion won.
Since the party system applied inside, over 80% of the profit rightfully belonged to Hyunseok, but he’d long transcended material desires.
“At least in our guild,” he said, “we’ll split it equally. For now.”
But Kim Yeonsu disagreed.
He had decided to remain with the Inha Guild after their temporary alliance.
Hyunseok, who had needed a defensive-type Slayer, had witnessed Yeonsu’s ability firsthand.
If it weren’t for Yeonsu, Pyeonghwa might have died.
His skill more than qualified him to join, but when it came to money, he was stubborn.
“No, that’s unacceptable,” Yeonsu insisted.
He argued that most of the rewards should go to Hyunseok and said he was already grateful just to share the achievement points.
Pyeonghwa also sided with Yeonsu.
“Oppa worked the hardest. I can’t agree with that split.”
She had reason to feel hurt, but she understood Hyunseok’s situation well. She knew she wasn’t more precious to him than Minseo.
Still, she hid her disappointment.
She hadn’t been chosen in a life-or-death moment, that hurt, but instead of resentment, she resolved to grow stronger and earn her place.
Hyunseok spoke calmly.
“This might sound strange, but I can make this kind of money easily. With a Monster Detector and solo hunting, this level of profit doesn’t mean much to me.”
Everyone nodded, it wasn’t arrogance, just fact.
Even when an American syndicate had offered him 300 billion won, he hadn’t budged.
“Money doesn’t influence me,” he said, “but people around me do. Mr. Yeonsu, I’m truly grateful for saving Pyeonghwa. You have my respect.”
He continued,
“Unless there’s an exception, we’ll keep equal distribution. It’ll be Inha Guild’s official policy. I believe that when you all grow stronger, I grow stronger too.”
Yeonsu, however, was extremely persistent.
The debate, over who should take more or less, went on for a while before a final decision was made.
“When calculating both the proportional and equal-split systems,” Hyunseok said, “the difference in amount will be added to a guild fund. Though it’ll be managed jointly, each member can use their share if necessary. Any objections?”
No one objected.
So, rewards were distributed based on contribution, and the remaining funds were consolidated into a joint guild treasury.
If anyone needed personal use, they could withdraw their proportional balance freely.
Even Yeonsu agreed to this.
The shared fund could only be used by guild consensus and would be co-managed by Seyoung and Pyeonghwa.
Just then, Hyunseok received a message from Park Sunghyung, the head of the Korean Union.
―Hyunseok, the thing you asked me for before… I finally found it. Wow, stock’s almost gone.
“Oh, really? Is it the one you mentioned at the auction?”
―Yeah. I pulled some strings to make sure it’s held in Korea.
“Thank you so much.”
―No need to thank me. Just you staying in Korea is already a huge contribution to me, no, to the Union. Think of this as a small token of appreciation.
Hyunseok had made that request a long time ago, something nearly impossible to obtain alone.
Advanced Martial Arts Technique Book… so the stock finally opened up.
A bright smile spread across his face.
❋ ❋ ❋
Originally, skill books had a terrible drop rate, and in Normal Mode, it was even worse than during Easy Mode.
Even Hyunseok’s old Basic Martial Arts book, a low-grade one, was worth nearly ten billion won now, proving just how rare skill books had become.
Support- and healing-type skills still dropped relatively often, but combat skill books had become near-impossible to find.
Some even claimed it was better to develop combat techniques manually through repeated practice.
Rumor had it that players who’d hoarded skill books during Easy Mode were now unimaginably wealthy.
Guilds that had noticed Easy Mode Slayers still enjoyed slightly better drop rates even began recruiting them just for skill book farming.
(End of Chapter 46)
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— Translated by Prime Works —