Chapter 109
Chapter 109
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: The Hunter's Secret Art
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"You've only bought us about a single day?"
"That's right. Yongchan, you have to somehow get stronger than Clan Head Emma within that time!"
"...!"
When I opened my eyes, feeling refreshed as if I'd just taken a nice breather,
the freshly recovered Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon hit me with an enormous task right from the start.
"Become as strong as one of the top ten clans' heads... Can I really pull that off in just one day?"
"You can. If you master the 'Secret Art', Yongchan."
"The Secret Art? Me...?"
The Secret Art.
That was the pinnacle of the hunter world—the ultimate technique that only veterans who'd lived for centuries could barely grasp.
And now they were telling a guy in his early twenties, fresh out of the gate as a hunter, to wield it?
It was so absurd I couldn't wrap my head around it, even hearing it firsthand.
From there, it wasn't just about hard work anymore. You needed exceptional bloodline talent just to have a shot.
And even if it were possible, reaching the Secret Art in a single day?
"Of course, the normal way would take at least fifty years just to reach the Secret Art."
Fifty years was cutting it generous.
Hunter texts said even folks like Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon, who'd lived over two hundred years, were rare unicorns if they made it that far.
I'd heard that out of a hundred S-rank hunters, fewer than a quarter—even half of half—could use it.
But she spoke like it was a given for me.
"In one day!"
"One day?"
"Yes! There's a way to reach the Secret Art in just one day."
"...For real?"
"Yes. Though the success rate is under one percent."
Like that time my mana circuits burned out and vanished, with revival odds under one percent.
Another damn gacha with sub-one-percent odds?
But at least there was a method, so as I grinned at the thought,
"As expected... You're going to give it a shot, right?"
"Of course, Branch Chief."
"Yongchan, this time you might actually die. If you really want, I can fight Clan Head Emma in your place."
Was it more dangerous than I'd imagined? Even though she'd proposed it, Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon gave me an out.
But naturally, my answer was a firm no.
"No. I'll be the one to take down Clan Head Emma, Branch Chief."
"!!"
"That old monster possessing Seolgi's body is probably clan head level—or higher. If I let Clan Head Emma block my path, I can't protect her."
"Alright, if that's what you say... I guess there's nothing more to add."
With those words,
"Deokja!"
"Yes, all prepped and ready, sis!"
Paat!
She tossed some kind of crystal to the floor in front of me, shattering it and summoning a massive black portal.
"Th-this is... a deep layer black portal?"
"Precisely, one linked to the crystal cave beneath the Andong Kwon Clan manor."
"No way...! Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon, how the hell did you even make something like this?"
"I didn't make it. About ten years ago, while scouting that deep layer, I stored the coordinates there in this record crystal."
Record crystal!
Among supporter items for hunters, it was hands-down the most efficient one-shot wonder.
"The legendary record crystal... the one that captures everything the equipped user sees—magic, objects, a person's memories, even regional coordinates?"
"Exactly."
"An item straight out of myths, half-believed to even exist!"
"Fair enough... There are only three in the whole world, after all."
"Make that two now! And you're using one on me?"
No matter how you sliced it, this was too much.
I just felt sorry, nothing else.
But even that luxury had to wait.
"Yongchan, from here on, you have to clear the Crystal Cave—where you fight another version of yourself—in just one day."
"Raid the deep layer... in one day?"
"Yes. This record crystal's effect wears off in one minute, and the portal vanishes with it. Do that, and you'll be trapped inside by the deep layer's rules until you clear it."
"...!!"
Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon pointed at the black portal to the Andong Kwon Clan underground, soon to vanish, and spelled it out crystal clear.
"My hunter team is already on standby at the Andong Kwon Clan. The moment you clear the deep layer, you can warp right back here to Yeouido."
"Plus, this island's currently floating as an aerial island. Luckily, it's drifting lower by the minute."
"Yeouido will appear directly over Busan in exactly twenty hours from now."
In other words,
I could blitz the Crystal Cave ahead of time and pop back here right on cue.
But one thing still nagged at me.
"So, what's the connection between clearing the deep layer and my Secret Art?"
"That's..."
"Books say a hunter's Secret Art only reveals itself once you've reached the end of yourself."
Hell, even after nearly conquering Yormungandr's sea—which was damn near a full clear—nothing had changed for me.
So why bother with the Crystal Cave specifically?
On that point, as she eyed the fading black portal, Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon didn't explain.
"You'll realize it naturally once you've perfectly cleared that layer."
"...Huh?"
"No time. The portal's closing!"
The record crystal's effect had mere seconds left.
I couldn't press further.
But I trusted Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon and Director Kim Deokja more than that.
"I'll come back for sure."
"...!"
"With S-rank power... no, something beyond!"
And so.
Swoosh.
"Take care out there, Yongchan."
"You got this! Go get 'em, Yongchan!"
I hurled myself into the black portal on the verge of closing, flashing a thumbs-up to the two behind me—a promise I'd return.
The black portal spat me out into the deep layer from back when I'd first plummeted to Busan.
The vast crystal world—where I'd first met Mina and watched her mother get snatched away—blanketed in crystals as far as the eye could see.
"Never thought I'd end up back here..."
Looking back, survival alone had been a miracle then.
Thanks to the ever-open black portal, we'd planned to bail after a day, but our dead-ringer clones had us barely hanging on for hours.
To think I'd walk into that hell on my own two feet now.
Wonder if that impossible IF-route Kim Yongchan from beyond the glass shards would show up again.
As I walked, lost in those thoughts—
"Dark Punch!"
"?!"
Shing.
Speak of the devil—even a tiger shows up when you mention it.
A chill up my spine had me ducking fast, and sure enough, a fist wreathed in black mana whistled viciously over my head.
"A fake, huh... So you finally showed."
"Fake...? Won't the loser of this fight decide that?"
With those words, the fake Kim Yongchan now in front of me and I clashed Dark Punches simultaneously.
"Dark..."
"Punch!"
Kwajijik!
Black sparks exploded outward in an instant, smashing the crystal cave walls and pillars one by one.
The fake kept blindly blasting black mana my way, heedless.
Dodging every shot was getting annoying, so since it was already on—
"Fakes are still fakes, after all."
"?!"
Thwack.
I took his incoming Dark Punch straight to my right cheek, lips be damned.
And... that was it.
"Wha—huh?"
"What, thought I'd squirt like one of those submissive girls just from eating your black mana?"
"!!"
"Dumbass. Like before, you've got the same physique as me, but way less info and smarts."
Come to think of it, last time Levi's presence had ended it quick.
But now, I could crush this power-without-brains idiot even faster.
"Black mana? Against a 'guy'? It's just a plain old punch with zero effect, moron."
With that, I wiped the blood trickling from my lip with the back of my hand.
And summoned a barrel right to his solar plexus, unleashing a scorching shot.
"Fire Shot, ready."
"W-wait a sec!"
"Engage."
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The fake in front of me disintegrated in a spray of holes, gone in a flash.
But I wasn't thrilled.
Whatever the deep layer's clear condition was, beating my fake wasn't it.
So how the hell do I get out of this layer?
No time to ponder.
"Hah... It's only getting worse."
A glance around showed more fake Kim Yongchans materializing amid the shattered crystal debris—morphing into my exact likeness.
They'd surrounded me like some cloning jutsu before I knew it. A sigh escaped me.
But what could I do?
Seemed like beating every last one was the ticket to getting stronger.
'Deep layer clear method? Probably clicks once I smash all these bastards.'
"Thanks, Levi."
And so.
"Kill him!"
"I'm the real one!"
"Let's kill him!"
As the identical Kim Yongchans charged at the true one, he gripped a gatling gun capable of hundreds of rounds per second.
"Let's give it a go."
Remaining time.
19:51:23.