Chapter 197
Chapter 197
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 197
Chapter Title: Chapter 37: One Day on the Battlefield (1)
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“Cough, cough.”
Ahel pinched his nose shut and coughed amid the acrid stench of black blood and burning corpses.
It had taken roughly six and a half hours to purify the 4-star and 5-star pollution zones that Lily had secured for them as promised.
‘Compared to the old days when a 4-star took a full day, that’s way faster.’
His attribute mana had grown, slashing the time needed to clear unevolved monsters exponentially.
Satisfied, he wrapped up the purification.
His next move was to open the community and check the message boards.
He wanted to scout the movement paths of nearby parties.
‘There are plenty of 3-stars we can clear on the way to the next 5-star target.’
But if another party had already started purifying one, they couldn’t claim rights to it.
That was why he’d planned to steer clear of other players as much as possible.
The moment he opened the community, though, he realized there was no need.
「Title: Central-Southern Simor Bay River Area - Author: Glucose
Content: K’s party is here right now and it’s kinda stressful…… Our party can barely handle 3-stars, but those guys are herding mobs in 4-stars and strolling into 5-star pollution zones like it’s a walk in the park? I don’t wanna compare, but they’re so close it keeps happening and it hurts my pride. We scrubs will get out of your way, so go ahead and hog it all, you jerk (crying)」
- K1488: As expected of K.
- Seagull: K’s party is 3 people, right? How’re 3 people clearing 5-stars? At least make your lies convincing.
⌎ Snowman: Probably 4? Saw them with a Bihar-looking guy……
⌎ Glucose: Don’t believe me? Go check yourself. You’ll feel the self-loathing too.
⌎ SméagolFan: Yeah, 4-man. They’ve got a spatial mage with them.
⌎ Captain Laura: Spatial? So they’re using teleport spells? Must be nice……
- Zhuge Gongming2: Thanks for the info. Was planning to head up the Simor Bay River, but guess I’ll reroute.
- Pine Tree: I’m up north. Took the route down from Somol lolㅋㅋㅋ No chance of running into K, pure honey.
⌎ Deleted comment.
⌎ Johansson: Careful, this guy’s got PK suspicions.
⌎ TomAndJerry: Deleted and dipped lolㅋㅋ Loser. Codename ‘Red Horse.’ Heads up, everyone.
⌎ Johansson: Lately more guys forming joint parties just to PK. Isn’t it the Association’s job to crack down on this?
⌎ TomAndJerry: Why ask us? Suggest it to the Association.
- William Terra: Is K’s whole party gold badges?
⌎ Jackson: Yup, all gold.
⌎ Mugwort: How do you know? Ask ’em?
⌎ Jackson: I’m buddies with K’s party. Hunted together.
⌎ Toma: You friended with K-nim? Proof please.
⌎ Sociopath: K hunting with another party? Level gap’s too huge, must suck.
⌎ NationalismSquad: Smells fishy, smells like a clout-chaser.
⌎ Jackson: We’re legit friends.
⌎ Sociopath: Weren’t you “buddies” a sec ago?ㅋㅋㅋ Look at him backpedal, total clout-chaser.
⌎ Toma: Can’t prove it? Then don’t name-drop K-nim.
⌎ Jackson: Why do I owe you proof of my friendship with K?
⌎ Toma: Think you’re the only one? Warning you: stop riding K-nim’s coattails.
⌎ Toma: I’ll remember your codename.
- Ash: K’s super famous, right? Can I see him if I go to the Simor Bay River?
⌎ Mugwort: Debating K’s fame lolㅋㅋㅋ You on your 3rd round? Stick to 1-2 stars. Don’t get cocky and die.
⌎ Crocodile: Aww, newbies line up first.
Word of his party’s sightings had spread, prompting other players to vacate the hunting grounds on their own.
‘Well, it means we get to monopolize the fields, so no complaints here.’
Being able to pour every second into hunting was ideal.
After skimming a few more recent posts, he closed the community and said,
“Let’s move out right away.”
“Lend me a spear or something…… My legs are shaking so bad I need a cane.”
He turned to Kim Yul, whose face was pale and trembling.
It was true he’d wrung the guy to his limits this hunt, so he figured he’d tolerate a little grumbling.
He even considered pulling out the cross-shaped spear from his inventory.
But for whatever reason—maybe how he took the protagonist’s stare—Kim Yul shrugged and said,
“You’re not seriously gonna give me one, right? It was just a joke, take it as…… Urk!”
No sooner had he started than Yang Tae-ho scooped him up like a sack.
“W-What’re you doing?!”
“You’re tired, so I’ll carry ya piggyback. That work?”
“I’m not a kid! Put me down right now!”
“You keep callin’ me ‘ajusshi’ like I’m over the hill, but hate bein’ treated like an old fart? Then call me ‘hyung-nim’ or somethin’.”
Yang Tae-ho guffawed as Kim Yul flailed helplessly from his shoulder, pounding away with tiny fists.
He had no idea what exchange had led to this, but they were clearly more comfortable with each other now.
“I can walk on my own!”
“You’re beat. Stay still when I offer a ride.”
“You nosy ajusshi! Who asked for a piggyback?!”
Every time Kim Yul shrieked, Yang Tae-ho just laughed heartily.
Teasing the kid seemed entertaining enough in itself.
Maybe he was just glad the guy who used to bare his fangs had mellowed.
He debated intervening but ultimately let them be.
Kim Yul didn’t seem to truly hate Yang Tae-ho’s pranks or concern.
The way he talked big instead of shoving him off made it obvious.
And so, Yang Tae-ho was put in charge of transporting Kim Yul.
‘That leaves……’
He glanced at Ahel, standing behind Yang Tae-ho.
The moment their eyes met, Ahel pulled a bitter face, as if he’d foreseen his fate, and said,
“I’ve said it over and over: I’m not some baggage to haul around.”
“I know.”
“Then treat me like a sentient being. I’ll walk on my own two feet.”
“No can do.”
Too much time would be wasted.
Teleporting living creatures took far more prep than expected.
For short distances, sprinting was faster.
The issue was Ahel couldn’t keep up with their speed.
With the whole party at gold badge level, an ordinary human body like Ahel’s had no hope.
So they took turns carrying him while dashing.
“Tell me the destination and I can follow slowly with spatial magic…….”
He stared down Ahel’s ongoing protests without a flicker of expression.
With a deep sigh, Ahel trudged over on his own feet.
Velta had beaten him to it, clambering up the protagonist’s body to claim the right shoulder.
He then hoisted Ahel onto his left shoulder and broke into a run.
Yang Tae-ho’s presence followed right after, Kim Yul now quiet on his back.
‘They’ve definitely changed.’
In the past, Kim Yul would’ve pushed himself to collapse before accepting Yang Tae-ho’s help.
The shift in attitude was likely because he no longer saw the man as a rival.
‘Plus he’s genuinely exhausted.’
As Yang Tae-ho had said, Kim Yul had been chugging potions non-stop lately—mana drain had been that brutal.
Their first hunting ground bordered a major river.
‘Near water, his spells outshine my fire-based ones in efficiency.’
They’d benefited hugely from his rank-4 spell, ‘Blade Dance,’ when striking monsters lurking in swamps or underwater, or flushing them out.
Dozens, hundreds of blades slashing every direction—it pierced water barriers perfectly for multi-target clears.
He’d supported with wind attribute too……
‘Without Blade Dance, we wouldn’t have kept this pace.’
Especially since his water attribute had gone haywire again.
He couldn’t afford to slack on hunt speed.
This main scenario demanded maximum efficiency per time spent.
They were competing against other parties right now.
With contribution metrics focused on pollution purifications and Meteo destructions, it was inevitable.
Lily Evans’s aid had let him snag high-grade zones first.
They were stacking more points than low-grade clears, but……
No room for complacency.
‘Sweeping 1st through 3rd.’
Map intel showed a new Meteo just five minutes out.
‘Scale…… 3-star.’
The monsters dotted around it weren’t too numerous. A few hundred at most.
‘Refill Kim Yul’s mana while we clear it.’
As he double-checked the destination to adjust course—
“Hm?”
A black mass appeared at the map’s edge.
He halted on the spot.
Party members asked what was up, but he waved them off.
He rechecked the new map blip.
Dots clustered into masses, forming irregular shapes without fixed form.
This one matched perfectly.
Past experience said the monsters making it up weren’t that many.
‘At most 300-400.’
Similar scale to the 3-star pollution zone he’d just scouted.
But their movement differed from typical pollution zone mobs.
‘Usually they just wriggle around the Meteo.’
These were slicing straight across the map in a line.
Tracking the surprisingly swift black mass, intuition hit.
‘Detachment led by a general.’
He’d figured generals would be scarce in 6th chapter scenario after the main force retreated.
‘Some stuck around.’
To confirm, he cast mana detection—a spell he rarely used with map active.
Sure enough, as the butterflies emerged, a massive mana clump registered vividly.
‘At least 500-600k.’
Roughly double any general he’d seen.
“8-star.”
He’d downed plenty of 7-stars, but neither he nor the party had fought an 8-star general.
Not just combat—even encountering one up close was a first.
His eyes gleamed as he tracked the black dot-mass.
‘Talk about lucky timing.’
He desperately needed to level Purification to 4 ASAP.
And here was a perfect 8-star general using Kerak at just the right moment.
‘Have to take it down, no matter what.’
Routine mob grinding versus a general-led detachment were worlds apart.
Hundreds of field trash in the former.
Hundreds of evolved elites synced to the general in the latter.
To hunt without heavy losses, tactics had to shift.
‘Sever limbs first, then the head.’
As he rapidly fleshed out a plan, he told the party,
“General-led detachment. We hunt now—get ready.”
Kim Yul groaned but lodged no formal complaints.
‘Perfect timing.’
Normal evolved mobs weren’t enough to test his new spells’ limits, but this general would do nicely.
* * *
Fundamentally, a general’s purpose was gathering scattered Meteos across pollution zones, protecting them to expand scale.
It was instinct straight from their power-granting, life-giving origin.
A few weeks back, amid the usual routine, an unexpected order came down.
- Preserve forces.
Unlike dim underlings, the 8-black-starred general registered the telepathic command clearly.
Directive from the legion lord who’d subjugated him as a superior evolved breed.
Preserve forces amid the human swarm invading their turf?
Retreat order, essentially.
The general had gone dormant, curbing direct activity.
Weeks later?
- Recover sacrifices.
Torn between orders, the general ultimately headed for the nearest river.
Pushing inland made recruiting breathable-underwater minions like himself tough.
He’d bulk up forces with nearby evolved river-dwellers sharing the trait.
“Kuluk, supplement, recover, supplement, recoveeer, kuruk…….”
The general muttered in a strange human tongue learned from devouring one with a weird head-mark recently, dashing onward.
But soon he kicked off the ground, leaping skyward.
Mana had suddenly surged at his feet.
Damn System