Chapter 226
Chapter 226
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 226
Chapter Title: Hungary (1)
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Flutter!
The pages of the book turned.
A magic tome kindly written in our language.
"Hmm."
I scratched my head, sitting in a chair on the rooftop of Arin's training ground building.
"Sigh, this thing. I don't understand a single word."
They said it was written in an easy-to-understand way.
But all I saw were dense black letters that I had to read over and over.
"As expected."
Reading wasn't my thing.
The old man's massage only worked on the physical body, didn't it?
"I'll just watch Arin use magic later and copy her."
"Professor!"
Clang!
At that moment, someone burst through the door.
It was young Arin!
"Arin?"
"Yes, Professor! I brought more translations. This time it's 100 books! Right here, yeah?"
"...100 books? Already?"
"Hehe! I'm not doing it alone, you know."
"True enough."
If I stepped out of this room right now.
Around 1,110 skeletons would be sitting there, books open, working on translations.
'They're insane.'
Skeletons using their brains? Ridiculous.
But hilariously, the mage legion Arin summoned had incredibly quick comprehension.
Maybe because they were used to complex runes.
They mastered Earth's English and Korean in just a week.
Their rune proficiency was top-notch too.
Not quite at Arin's level, but they could handle mid-level vocabulary?
Thanks to that, translation speeds had skyrocketed.
"Then I'll leave them here!"
Thud thud thud!
Arin swung her staff, and the translated books poured onto the floor.
After translation, each original became two new copies.
One went to the new library in one corner of Arin's training ground.
The other was collected and sent weekly to the Magic Tower's library.
"...Yeah, you've worked hard."
Do you know how much those 100 scattered books were worth?
The Magic Tower Lord offered 2 million dollars per book (about 2.5 billion won)...
'Huh.'
The pile Arin just dumped was roughly 250 billion won.
This showed how serious the Magic Tower Lord was about magic intel.
It was another massive revenue stream besides the Demir Workshop.
The Magic Tower would send books in exchange for the weekly shipments.
Their two-floor library was truly vast.
'Of course.'
The Magic Tower would exclude duplicates, damaged copies.
Or poorly translated ones.
'Even accounting for that.'
It was still an insane amount of money.
"No problem, Professor."
Arin smiled brightly.
"You know me. Reading time is my favorite."
"Really?"
"And lately, I've picked up speed-reading tricks, so I can read even faster!"
Arin beamed with pride.
I watched her fondly, then.
"Oh, right."
I clapped and spoke up.
"And you know, right? If you find forbidden books..."
"Yes, got it! For any evil spells that cost lives, we'll translate just one copy and keep it for us."
"Good, perfect!"
I grinned and gave her a thumbs-up.
Wink.
She winked back at my thumb and bounced out energetically.
The girl who'd been holed up in her secret room.
That gloomy hikikomori.
Had become brighter than anyone.
"Hmm."
Confirming Arin was gone, I nodded.
"Forbidden books are off-limits, absolutely."
No need to hand over everything just because the Magic Tower Lord paid.
With my goal of world rank 1.
I had to keep some checks in place.
That was restricting forbidden book intel.
The good or dangerous stuff? I keep it.
Hmm.
I should tell Eldrin to secure our library tight.
In a few years.
Boneo's training ground would surpass the Magic Tower's library in value.
"Heh."
Imagining it, I chuckled happily.
* * *
Whoosh!
A flame bloomed in my palm.
More beautiful than winter camellias.
Than summer hydrangeas.
With Arin's seal released.
I'd spent the whole day repeating sorcery training.
About 3 hours daily learning the old man's myriad spells.
The rest: reading and sorcery in tandem.
"As expected, Professor! You're amazing! Attribute magic is just unreal. How do you improve so fast?!"
Evenings, I stole Arin's time too.
She was essential to visualize the readings as energy flows.
"No genius from the magic world could match you, Professor."
She praised me every time I cast sorcery.
All thanks to the essence.
[Wood Essence effect acquired.]
[Life energy strengthens.]
[Fire Essence effect acquired.]
[Life energy strengthens.]
...
Each attribute skill triggered the God-Slaying weapon's effect.
'Essence...'
Fwoosh!
I flicked the flame again and closed my eyes.
'Essence is still a mystery.'
Essences from Della family trial contributions.
They hadn't appeared lately.
Why?
Were they mad at me?
Or.
Did these eternal beings sleep for eons once they dozed off?
No answers.
They ignored me even when asked lately.
"Whew."
Lately, my theory was...
I wasn't qualified yet.
Beings even Ancient Magic (SSS Grade) bowed to.
So powerful, borrowing my body briefly incinerated dragon Aranbalon completely.
"..."
Like pearls around a pig's neck.
Was this God-Slaying item too much for me?
'Funny.'
I snorted.
Too much, my ass.
It was my weapon.
Earned through rightful trials and processes.
'That qualification crap.'
I'll earn it.
Hit world rank 1 once.
If not, devour other cosmic beings.
I'll qualify somehow.
Fwoosh!
That was one reason I trained harder lately.
[Ding!]
[Ding! Ding!]
"Hm?"
Then.
The chatroom, quiet for a day, lit up green.
[Water Witch: Hmm, everyone doing well?]
Ollena, from the Dragon Slayer Classmates chat.
[Water Witch: Whew, so busy. Nothing big in other countries, right?]
[Spring Apostle: I'm good. What's up?]
[Absolute Invincibility: Heading to Southeast Asia dungeon on guild dispatch.]
[Spacian: Yo, what's the deal now?]
Frequent chatters responded to Ollena.
They were weird.
As an 'I' in MBTI.
Jumping into convos felt awkward often...
[Water Witch: Just left the Magic Tower, sigh.]
[Spacian: Huh? Left? Fired?]
[Water Witch: Fired? No, heading back 'cause homeland declared national emergency.]
[Spacian: ...Ukraine?]
[Water Witch: What? Don't you know, Mr. President? Border country too...?]
[Spacian: Haha, anyone here not know I'm the pants president?]
[Water Witch: A ranker as pants president? Just slacking off.]
Ollena and Vladimir bickered like this often.
[Spring Apostle: So what's the issue? National emergency?]
Yeah, what was it?
Curious, I kept the chat open.
Fwoosh, fwhoosh!
While twirling flames.
[Water Witch: Dungeon Break in Hungary, apparently.]
Dungeon Break.
Monsters bursting out of dungeons.
I'd met orcs in a clearing because of one before.
[Spacian: Huh? National emergency for a Dungeon Break?]
[Spacian: In Hungary too?]
[Water Witch: You know Hungary borders seven countries.]
Austria, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia.
And.
[Water Witch: Ukraine too. But the thing that came out ain't normal. Hungary's on the brink of annihilation?]
[Spacian: Wait, just saw it too. These guys are slow? Info lag?]
[Water Witch: 'Cause you skip work for dungeons...]
[Spacian: True, you bastards! Already held emergency meeting without the president?!]
"..."
Did Russian citizens know their president's true face?
'Anyway.'
National annihilation?
How big a deal?
Sizzle!
I extinguished the flame in my palm and stood.
Could brush it off as nothing.
But curiosity piqued.
Time to step out of paradise briefly.
* * *
Hungary's largest city.
Capital, Budapest.
"Kuaaaak!"
"Kyaaak!"
It was total chaos.
Smoke rose from spots across the city.
Fwhoosh, fwhoosh!
Some buildings blazed fiercely.
Fleeing citizens faced hunters.
Association support, army gunfire.
Kwarang!
A battlefield in every way.
"Everyone to positions!"
An S-rank hunter bellowed.
"Tanks, front and tank damage! Hold as long as you can! Healers, buffers, full support on tanks!"
"B-but tanking's impossible!"
One hunter charged forward with a massive shield.
But.
- Die... now...
Splat!
A 3m colossal monster.
A rippling black shadow punched.
Kwang!
The shield holed through.
And the tank hunter's gut matched.
"Cr-crazy...!"
The tank stared in disbelief.
Drip.
Blood trickled from his mouth, and he collapsed.
Dead in one hit.
"..."
An eerie silence among hunters.
The problem?
Not just one monster.
Over ten reported.
"...Run."
A tank muttered quietly.
His pants were soaked, tears streaming.
"Damn it, run! Run, you idiots! That tank! S-rank, S-rank!"
"S-S-rank?!"
"Then S-rank dies in one hit? A tank? Fuck, we're doomed!"
"D-don't know! I wanna live! Don't wanna die!"
Terror-stricken hunters couldn't hunt.
"Where you going! Stick together! Scatter and we're all dead!"
The commander roared, but fear spread faster than any plague.
The tank's terror infected every brain instantly.
- Heh... heh... Weak.
The monster smirked at the hunters.
The hunt began.
Budapest turned to hell.