Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Raid (7)
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Summoners weren't all that common in the world either.
Moreover, most summoning skills couldn't call forth large numbers of summons.
At best, a few dozen was the limit, and summoning consumed mana in the process.
Hunters with undead summoning skills could summon multiple skeletons too, but only a handful of higher undead.
Plus, due to mana limitations, summoning a ton of undead all at once was impossible.
"Come to think of it... there were quite a few necromancers who were businessmen, right?"
They'd deploy skeletons in factories to cut labor costs.
Those necromancers who amassed wealth that way bought up land and built palaces.
They'd essentially founded their own kingdoms.
Houses and shops were also built by skeletons and rented out, apparently.
Park Kang-hyuk let out a small chuckle upon hearing the news.
"Everyone thinks alike, huh."
He'd been planning to use skeletons in construction and factories himself.
Kang-hyuk looked around.
With the magic beast corpses cleared away, the roads were starting to look orderly.
Five days after the gate explosion, magic beasts had become scarce.
The association had asked Kang-hyuk to conquer the dungeon.
"Got it."
Kang-hyuk led a total of 500 guild members—including the newly summoned homunculi—right into the open dungeon gate in the middle of the road.
For reference, half of the 500 were guild members who'd returned from Chungbuk.
"Megaphone."
"Ready."
"Begin."
At Kang-hyuk's command, the guild members scattered in all directions, sounding sirens.
Even after so many had poured out, plenty of magic beasts still lurked inside the dungeon.
The higher the dungeon's rank, the larger its area.
And the more magic beasts it held.
A bunch of orcs gathered around.
-Chwiik! Chwiiik—!
Followers of an orc chieftain, maybe?
Dozens of orcs clutching weapons swarmed in.
A legion of thousands of goblins came charging too, shrieking wildly.
"Black Wolves and Red Wolves incoming from that side."
"Black Bears and Red Bears from the opposite direction..."
"They sure brought a crowd."
Once the magic beasts drew close enough, Kang-hyuk unleashed his mana in an explosion.
Kwaaaang—!
The magic beasts crumpled to their knees as if crushed by gravity.
"Go."
With that single word from Kang-hyuk, the guild members scattered everywhere.
Sslash—! Shwaaaack!
"Kill them all!"
After that, skeletons began collecting the magic beasts' byproducts and hauling them out through the gate.
About three hours later, Hanseong Group—third-largest conglomerate in Korea, now trading with GH Guild—rushed over cargo trucks.
Hanseong had originally dealt with Teynen Guild, but with their byproduct supply drying up, they'd signed a new deal with GH Guild.
The 100 skeletons waiting outside the gate loaded the byproducts onto the trucks.
"Ah, load that over here, please!"
The Hanseong employees, just in case, spoke politely to the skeletons while giving instructions.
"Section chief, looks like we'll need a few more trucks. Or maybe send another round..."
"Didn't they say it's been less than four hours since entering the gate? How are there this many byproducts piled up?"
"They said they're doing drive hunts inside the dungeon like usual. Plus, with skeletons handling transport, recovery and hauling have gotten a lot smoother."
The thousand skeletons inside the dungeon were recovering magic beast hides, bones, and magic stones.
D-rank beast hides would become military combat suits later.
The bones would make armor for tanks and fighters.
Of course, D-rank bones were worthless, so they only collected from C-rank and up.
For reference, C-rank and higher hides went into hunter armor or luxury bags.
"Whoa, A-rank magic stones incoming! B-rank ones behind them...!"
Finally, magic stones and byproducts from higher beasts emerged from the gate.
Higher beast byproducts couldn't be handled by skeletons alone.
So guild members assisted with recovery.
A few hours later, with no more magic beasts responding to the guild's sirens, Kang-hyuk spread his wings and soared into the sky.
Pang!
He flew around, unleashing Highest Grand Master slashes in all directions.
Kwaang—! Kwakwakwakwaang!
The slashes struck the ground like natural disasters reshaping the terrain.
Dozens of canyons carved into the earth in an instant.
Kang-hyuk approached his guild members right after checking the message.
"We're out!"
The dungeon conquest wrapped up in under 12 hours.
Returning in the late wee hours, Kang-hyuk called the Hunter Association to report the clear.
"Understood. By the way, how are things in Jungnang-gu and Gangdong-gu?"
"If you need us to take on Jungnang-gu's gate, just say the word. We'll move out immediately."
"I see."
Kang-hyuk nodded.
"Got it."
Kang-hyuk finished with the association and returned to GH Guild headquarters.
The guild members went home with exhausted faces, while Kang-hyuk spent the night in the guild's on-duty room.
He woke around 8 a.m., took a quick shower, and headed to the cafeteria.
His whole family was there eating.
Kang-hyuk loaded a tray with food and joined them.
"Ah, Kang-hyuk!"
"Oppa!"
It had been three days since his family started staying at GH Guild headquarters.
"I heard you cleared a dungeon gate yesterday..."
Kang-hyuk, who'd just started eating, nodded once at his father's voice.
"Dongjak-gu is pretty much done. They're restoring the damaged roads now, from what I hear. Skeletons are on-site, so it'll go quick."
"And the buildings?"
"Not sure. There's protests against letting skeletons onto construction sites..."
"Probably the laborers. If skeletons take over sites, they lose their income."
His older sister Hye-in spoke with a bitter expression.
But the government had decided to accept GH Guild's support for disaster recovery.
Laborers protested fiercely, but the government's stance was firm.
"Fuck! Is the government insane?! At this rate, undead will take every job!"
"We have to stop it!"
"Protest in front of GH Guild headquarters too!"
But the public couldn't side with the protesters.
Building new structures or redeveloping was one thing.
This was entirely different.
People had lost homes and jobs to magic beasts.
The longer recovery dragged, the harder their lives got.
Government and association fed the story to media outlets, who reported it straight—turning public opinion against the protesters.
"Has greed rotted their brains?"
"Families lost loved ones, and they're pulling this shit over money?"
"Fuck, you'd think we're talking reconstruction sites getting skeletons."
"What's wrong with using skeletons for disaster recovery?"
The protesters held an unauthorized demonstration in front of GH Guild headquarters.
Their noise tormented the employees working inside.
Police took a soft approach and couldn't disperse them easily.
So Kang-hyuk decided on a hardline response.
He sued the protesters for business interference, then posted on SNS about relocating GH Guild headquarters to the provinces.
Provincials cheered, but Seoulites panicked.
GH Guild had proven itself one of Korea's top guilds in this raid crisis.
If it happened again, they'd need GH Guild's help.
But if the guild moved provinces, response times would lag.
"GH Guild is threatening us with relocation! We can't back down!"
The protesters shouted louder, but
"Shut the fuck up, you assholes!"
"If GH Guild leaves, you and your families are all dead!"
"If GH Guild quits Seoul and security crumbles, you take responsibility!"
"Get lost yourselves!"
Crowds of Seoul citizens stormed the protesters, turning the scene into chaos outside GH Guild HQ.
To lend credibility to his post, Kang-hyuk sent some guild members to the provinces.
As if scouting new HQ sites.
That swelled the number of Seoulites condemning the protesters.
Security... no, survival was at stake.
They had no choice but to react strongly.
Not just Seoulites.
After the Hunter Association, politicians issued statements blasting the protesters—like their feet were on fire.
Some criticized GH Guild, though.
Others pushed back.
Many experts seemed to back Park Kang-hyuk's response.
Though some said mentioning relocation was overkill.
Kang-hyuk gauged public sentiment and posted again right away.
An audio file attached, and opinion swung toward GH Guild.
The noise level was outrageous.
Photos showed protesters grabbing an employee's wrist and screaming at staff.