Chapter 109
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 109
Chapter Title: The Marksman (2)
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Choi Jae-hyung, who had leaped down, plunged his sword into the rock face and grabbed my arm.
“Hey! You show-off! You okay?”
“Ugh, cough! Who are you calling a show-off!”
So that’s what he’d always thought of me. Just you wait.
Seo Ji-hoon, whom I had knocked down the cliff, made his way back up.
Cho-ah descended as if running down a hill, stopping midway.
“Han-gyeol! Are you alright?”
Blood dripped steadily from the gaping wound.
If I lost any more, I felt like I would go into shock. Ah, I think I’m already losing consciousness.
I managed to hang on by embedding my Sky Sword into the wall, just as Seo Ji-hoon had done.
Cho-ah extended her hand.
“Will you be okay?”
Cho-ah’s ability was to transfer another’s wounds to her own body.
In the process, she could read the memories of the injury.
Asking if *I’d* be okay.
With a wound far worse than a broken arm like last time, I wasn’t sure who should be asking whom that question.
Ah, but I’m starting to feel dizzy…
“If you’re okay with it, Cho-ah.”
No sooner had the words left my mouth than Cho-ah grasped my hand.
The man was a Hunter from an external guild, part of the support team.
He was the suspicious young man who had helped block the Yeongno’s roar.
He pulled down the hood he was wearing and looked down at me.
“Heuk…”
My mind snapped to attention.
The wounds on my body had vanished, but I had already lost a lot of blood.
“Whoa, damn. What is this?”
Choi Jae-hyung, seeing Cho-ah’s Origin Recovery for the first time, was stunned.
Cho-ah’s body, having taken on the injuries, was frighteningly unharmed.
Still, it would be a lie to say I didn’t feel guilty.
“A second time will be difficult.”
I nodded and climbed up.
[The boss raid is concluding.]
[Tallying results.]
[Dragon Orb - Ahn Seo-joon (Aktaion)]
[Park Si-woo (Mitchell) - Contribution Points: 2,000k]
[Jin Sang-hyuk (Lux) - Contribution Points: 1,000k]
…
[Kang Han-gyeol (Soter) - Contribution Points: 700k]
As the contribution notifications rang out chaotically, I received a whispered message from Choi Soo-hyun.
It seemed Kang-woo had something to say and had him connect us.
— Hey, who is that guy?
— That’s what I’d like to ask.
Wasn’t Choi Soo-hyun a manager-level figure in the Association?
He wouldn’t have been sitting idle all this time; he must have seen and heard things there.
Choi Soo-hyun scoffed.
— What am I, an encyclopedia? Why the hell did he attack you?
Even though I had let my guard down, the guy’s attack had been undeniably fatal.
And that face.
‘It’s strangely familiar.’
It was a name I was certain I had never seen or heard before.
It was a strange, unidentifiable sense of dissonance, too odd to be called familiarity.
One thing I could say for sure.
— I’m innocent.
— Bullshit.
— Don’t you know anything, hyung? Who’s his god, Aktaion? Do you know who that is?
— A Seven Star God from Babylon.
I knew Babylon was a term for gods ranked in the top 1000.
Park Si-woo’s god, [Mitchell], and [Lux] were also affiliated with Babylon.
He didn’t seem to be of a high class, but considering how many nameless gods were buried in obscurity even now, it was still an impressive feat.
— The Seven Star Gods, isn’t that the top 7 gods?
— Similar, but a little different. And you can’t just join Babylon like slicing a radish just because you’re in the top 1000.
The top 1000 was literally the minimum requirement to be part of Babylon.
This was because most gods applied to join Babylon the moment they hit the top 1000.
In reality, the number of gods in Babylon had apparently never reached 1000.
— Then what about the Seven Star Gods?
— The most influential gods in Babylon. A social club for the elite gods, I guess? I don’t know the details either. Why? Because the Cervia I used to serve wasn’t one of them.
To sum it up, the Seven Star Gods seemed to be a gathering of the so-called first-string gods within Babylon.
Korea generally had a diverse coexistence of gods, but abroad, the influence of a Hunter affiliated with a Seven Star God was said to be on another level entirely.
— I never thought they’d drag a Seven Star God into this.
Far away, Choi Soo-hyun scratched his head.
Our original goal was to use the Dragon Orb to get Eun-young out.
The Dragon Orb was akin to the Imugi’s heart.
The Yeongno had failed to become a dragon, but that didn’t mean the pure magic it had gathered for its ascension would just disappear.
I didn’t know if the Dragon Orb had the power to grant wishes, but using the magic concentrated within it to retrieve Eun-young from the temple of the god Veritas seemed worth a try.
Choi Soo-hyun and I had been in constant contact through the community feature.
It was a plan we had devised after I heard about the Dragon Orb on my way to Mount Yukbaek with Cho-ah.
‘It was hastily thrown together, but I thought it was worth a shot.’
An unexpected interloper had appeared.
I pushed off a nearby rock face and approached Choi Soo-hyun.
Seo Ji-hoon and Yoo Se-yeon moved to Ahn Seo-joon’s side.
Seo Ji-hoon held out his hand to Ahn Seo-joon.
“To think you can’t even handle one person.”
“Cut the useless chatter and hand over the Dragon Orb.”
Ahn Seo-joon tossed the faintly glowing Dragon Orb to Seo Ji-hoon.
*Slice.*
The rock face between Ahn Seo-joon and Seo Ji-hoon was cleanly split in two.
The two, having narrowly dodged the attack, turned their heads.
It was Park Si-woo.
Seo Ji-hoon extended the hand holding the Dragon Orb toward Park Si-woo.
“Park Si-woo, why didn’t you stop Se-yeon from entering the dungeon that day? You of all people should have known the Raon Guild was plotting something.”
Park Si-woo’s lips were sealed tight as he gripped his lightsaber.
“I had no right to stop it.”
By the time Yoo Chae-young entered that dungeon, Park Si-woo had already ended his relationship with her.
Se-yeon, who had been listening from behind, stepped forward.
“Same as ever. For a murderer who killed my sister.”
“Is there anyone here who isn’t a murderer?”
“Are you saying the people you killed are the same as my sister?”
Park Si-woo bit the corner of his lip. The answer came unexpectedly from Jeong Cho-ah, who had approached Si-woo’s side.
“You people know nothing about Si-woo.”
Her voice was laced with a potent killing intent.
I had never seen Cho-ah so angry.
An uncomfortable, delicate standoff continued for some time.
— What in the world is this situation?
The one who cursed through channel 2 was none other than Jin Sang-hyuk.
He had heard news of a schism within the Aria Guild, but it seemed he hadn’t imagined it was this severe.
Seo Ji-hoon extended a hand to Park Si-woo.
“Park Si-woo, I will forgive you.”
“What did you say?”
“I will kill every last member of the Raon Guild who killed Chae-young. And the same goes for the Association members who covered it up. If that hadn’t happened in the first place, you would have had no need to kill Chae-young. Therefore, I will forgive you.”
“You want me to join your revenge?”
“That’s about the size of it.”
The light from the lightsaber in Park Si-woo’s hand vanished.
Less than thirty seconds remained before we returned to the original world.
“What do you plan to do after that?”
“That’s something to think about when the time comes. It’s not important.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t join you.”
“Are you saying what happens after is more important than revenge?”
“It seems there’s a misunderstanding. Allow me to rephrase. I asked what remains after revenge.”
“The moment you worry about such things, it’s no longer revenge! Do you know why I said I would forgive you? The Dragon Orb grants wishes. With this wish, I will bring her back to life!”
Park Si-woo swung his lightsaber with all his might toward Seo Ji-hoon’s arm.
A massive flash of light grazed past Seo Ji-hoon’s arm, which held the Dragon Orb.
At the same time.
[Final Tally has concluded.]
[The raid has officially ended.]
Like shattering glass, space-time wavered, and I returned to my original spot on Mount Yukbaek.
Dropped in the middle of a dense forest, I let out a deep sigh.
While I was wandering, a message came in from Kang-woo.
— The Director is 500m to your right.
— Whoa, hyung, you can do that?
— What do you mean, ‘that’? It’s GPS, you punk.
Aww, what a letdown.
Electronic devices couldn’t be used inside the ARF, but reality was a different story.
I ran 500 meters ahead, just as Kim Kang-woo had said.
Directly in front of me, a large explosion had swept away the trees, so clearly the work of Park Si-woo that anyone could tell.
That forest destroyer!
‘Something’s…’
I had a bad feeling.
No sooner had I pushed through the undergrowth than the foot of a giant monster came at me from the side.
“What the…”
*Boom.*
A magic bullet, flying in a straight line, struck the monster’s foot and exploded.
— Why are there so many damn monsters!
Choi Soo-hyun’s irritated voice came through channel 1.
He and I had been standing on the same cliff before leaving the ARF.
‘He got far in that short time.’
Even without using mana detection, I could instinctively sense the location of Choi Soo-hyun, who belonged to the god Soter.
The direction the magic bullet had been fired from was completely different from where Choi Soo-hyun was.
Not only was the distance vast, but he had positioned himself in a place that should have been impossible to hit from, logically speaking.
They said sniping with magic bullets was different from using a regular gun, and seeing Choi Soo-hyun, I understood instantly.
— Soo-hyun, thanks!
The moment I expressed my gratitude, a magic bullet flew toward the monster in front of me.
Use your words, man.
Even though we’re on the same side, I’m too scared to speak, fearing he might shoot me in the back.
*Craaaash.*
Another deafening sound erupted from Park Si-woo’s direction.
I cut my way through the monsters and approached him.
“Hey, are you sa— what is that?”
As if he knew I was coming, Park Si-woo turned his head to look at me.
Cho-ah pointed a finger behind Seo Ji-hoon.
“Han-gyeol, didn’t you say there’s no such thing as an item that grants wishes?”
“I did.”
Especially when the wish was the kind that brought the dead back to life.
The place Cho-ah was pointing at held an unidentifiable, gray, cylindrical tube.
Inside it was a woman in ordinary clothes.
The woman seemed to be unconscious, her eyes closed as she was submerged in water.
Cho-ah looked at me with disbelief.
“I’ve told you multiple times, there’s no such item…”
“I know. I know, but how do you explain that?”
“Cho-ah, do you know why a Transcendent is called a Transcendent?”
“Because they transcended…”
“So what did they transcend?”
Cho-ah fell silent, flustered.
A Transcendent was something that had surpassed being human.
The reason a Transcendent could wield power beyond that of an ordinary Hunter was because they had, in the end, broken through a limit.
“A Transcendent is, by their very nature, a demigod.”
One could become a demigod by accepting a god, but that wasn’t the only way to be called one.
Transcendents were those who could not become true gods but had transcended humanity using a god’s power.
They were just like the Muels inside the Tower, who inherited a god’s factor to use mana and wield authority.
And being a demigod, even a half-baked one, meant they could do all sorts of unexpected things.
“The Dragon Orb is not an item that grants wishes. So it’s impossible to revive the dead.”
“Then what in the world is that?”
“But you could probably create a vessel. And do you know what that means?”
“What does it mean?”
“You said Yoo Chae-young was the Guardian and Transcendent of the god Veritas, right? In other words, hers is the most familiar body for Veritas to inhabit.”
For a god to use their follower’s body to exact revenge themselves… I didn’t know whose brilliant idea it was, but it was certainly inventive.
Whatever the case.
“Veritas must have truly cherished that woman, Yoo Chae-young.”
I just didn’t know if I should be happy about this or not.