Chapter 110
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 110
Chapter Title: The Marksman (3)
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I spoke in a joking tone, but I wasn't joking at all.
Right now, Yoo Chae-young's spirit was in the temple of the god Veritas, along with Eun-young noona.
The possibility of Eun-young noona lying was extremely low.
Park Si-woo contacted me through the private channel.
— I have a question. That… dammit. If that really is her, what are the chances she's real?
I could see he was trying his best to remain calm.
No one blamed Park Si-woo for acting that way.
Cho-ah, her lips sealed, looked at me.
He'd asked in the party channel, but the question was really for me.
Not that I would know, either.
— She could be the real Yoo Chae-young.
— Is that possible?
— It's possible for the dead to come back to life.
Cho-ah frowned, unable to comprehend.
It must have sounded absurd, claiming that an item that grants wishes doesn't exist while also saying the dead could be resurrected.
But resurrecting the dead and wielding omnipotence were two completely different matters.
— But there are a lot of problems with it.
Resurrection is not an easy feat to begin with, and even if it were possible, achieving a perfect revival was next to impossible.
For one, there was no guarantee that the resurrected body would be a normal one.
Living creatures begin to decompose rapidly after their hearts stop, after all.
— So it's more accurate to say that's not a resurrected Yoo Chae-young, but a human being named Yoo Chae-young created using the power of the Dragon Orb.
With the Dragon Orb's condensed magic, creating a life form like a human wouldn't be difficult.
Park Si-woo was the one who would have the hardest time accepting this situation.
I figured he could use some information.
I asked Kang-woo hyung to set up a one-on-one chat with Park Si-woo.
[A 1-on-1 communication channel between Park Si-woo and Kang Han-gyeol has been opened.]
— What is it?
— What was the situation like back then?
— Back then?
— When you killed Yoo Chae-young. I need to know why you killed her.
It was a sensitive topic, but it couldn't be helped.
The Great Seoul Disaster was a dungeon break caused by Yoo Chae-young's death and the failure of an S-rank dungeon.
— Half of the casualties among the Hunters present at the time were caused by one person.
— Yoo Chae-young?
— Yes. It's hard to believe, but it's true. This is just my speculation, but even if she was betrayed, she wasn't in her right mind. Thinking back, it seems like it was a form of corruption.
— Let me ask one more thing. Do you know her Taboo?
— I do.
— Did Yoo Chae-young break her Taboo?
— No.
Putting together the information I got from Eun-young noona, the Yoo Chae-young in the rift of the temple was likely the same Yoo Chae-young that Park Si-woo remembered.
— There's something called the Mark of the Underworld. It's a device created by the Underworld to prevent the resurrection of the dead. If someone who has died once is resurrected, it causes their own body to reject them. You could say it's a kind of Taboo in itself.
Even if Yoo Chae-young is resurrected, the chances of her being sane are extremely low.
— If someone with the Mark of the Underworld is resurrected without entering the Underworld, their body will only faithfully follow the instincts they had in life.
— That means…
— The same thing that happened back then could happen again.
I couldn't say for sure, since I didn't know how strong a woman Yoo Chae-young had been.
— If she's resurrected with the mark, can she use Transcendent skills?
— I don't think so.
— That's all I need to know. If things go wrong, I'll handle it somehow.
— Handle it how? What are you talking about?
I don't know if Park Si-woo was sincere about Yoo Chae-young or not. Even so, there was no way Park Si-woo's heart could be at ease after killing his own fiancée.
Forcing him to kill someone with the same face twice would be too cruel.
— That's not your job.
Luckily, we had the "revenge for Eun-young noona" card to play.
How dare they touch my— no! Our noona?
— Thanks for the sentiment, at least.
— Don't get any funny ideas. You are not to lay a hand on Yoo Chae-young.
Despite my warning, Park Si-woo didn't answer.
I didn't really expect a definite answer, but it'll be fine, right?
The 1-on-1 chat between Park Si-woo and me was closed.
I didn't have to see who did it to know.
Seo Ji-hoon, Yoo Se-yeon, and Ahn Seo-joon, who served the god Actaeon, stood around the still-unconscious Yoo Chae-young.
“Is the story time over now?”
“Thanks for your consideration.”
“Consideration? We needed time as well.”
Seo Ji-hoon replied with a low laugh.
Choi Jae-hyung popped out from the bushes.
Caught in the middle, Choi Jae-hyung glanced back and forth between our group—me, Park Si-woo, and Cho-ah—and where Yoo Chae-young was.
“The Guild Master told me to come, but this isn't exactly a pleasant sight.”
A heavy tension hung in the air, so thick that a fight could break out at any moment.
Park Si-woo aimed the tip of his lightsaber at Seo Ji-hoon.
It was then.
The atmosphere trembled unstably, as if a bomb had been launched into the sky.
At the same time, a large line appeared in the middle of the sky.
The line, curled up like the corner of a mouth, grew larger and larger.
It looked as if someone had drawn a picture in the sky.
The thick line split in two, then opened up and down.
A black space appeared through the gap.
Monsters peeked out from beyond the space.
Some of them had recognizable forms, but most had distorted faces or strangely evolved body parts, making their original shapes hard to discern.
The two lines opened all the way, forming a giant circle in the sky.
Then, the entire sky over Mount Yukbaek turned black.
A Unique Barrier was a type of space similar to an ARF.
If an ARF was a space between a dungeon and reality, a Unique Barrier was a space connecting a temple and reality.
It was reality, but at the same time, it was also the temple of the god Veritas.
“What the hell is that?”
Choi Jae-hyung scurried over to me and Park Si-woo.
But why does this guy keep hiding behind me?
A tanker! And he's bigger than me!
“I-I wasn't told this was going to be a large-scale battle!!”
I could kind of see why Guild Master Kang brought Choi Jae-hyung here.
“You can run if you want. This is our business anyway. Technically, you're an outsider.”
“You promised you'd spar with me after the raid.”
“So what?”
“I'll help. It'd be a problem if you died here.”
It seemed like he was completely missing the point.
When I made a displeased face, Choi Jae-hyung cleared his throat again.
“Ahem, besides, those guys... they seem to have a grudge against the Raon Guild, too. We were bound to clash with them anyway, right?”
It's nice of you to offer help, but please don't hide behind me. It ruins the image!
“Seeing as you're not surprised, you must have expected this.”
“We might not have known if someone hadn't done something unnecessary.”
Park Si-woo's gaze fell on Yoo Se-yeon.
After all, it was Yoo Se-yeon who had given the hint about the connection to the bossless dungeons that had been appearing for the past few years.
Seo Ji-hoon scolded Yoo Se-yeon.
“You did something unnecessary.”
“Shut up. I just thought it was okay to say that much. It wasn't some huge piece of information, was it?”
— Ah, ahh!
Unfortunately, I couldn't hear the end of Seo Ji-hoon and Yoo Se-yeon's argument.
The voice of Choi Soo-hyun, who had suddenly cut in, was the cause.
The Hunters who heard Choi Soo-hyun's voice on the party channel all tilted their heads in confusion.
Unable to stand it, I asked on everyone's behalf.
— Hyung, what's wrong?
— That Actaeon bastard. It's him.
— Him?
— Th-that guy, you know. The key broker from the Sky Garden. That's him. His name is different, but I'm sure of it!
I thought the incident at the Sky Garden dungeon was something Yoo Se-yeon did out of curiosity.
Hearing there was someone else behind it gave me an uneasy feeling.
More importantly, he must be far away, yet he's watching us so clearly.
— Hyung, how do you know what the key broker looks like?
— I investigated, of course. Well, he's not very well-known, and Si-woo said he'd handle it, so I let it go… But Si-woo has probably seen a picture at least.
At Choi Soo-hyun's words, Park Si-woo's eyes narrowed.
Judging by his reaction, it seemed he hadn't considered this person either.
— I think he's right.
If even Park Si-woo said so, there was no room for doubt.
Monsters fell all over Mount Yukbaek and its surroundings.
Most were D-rank or C-rank bosses, but among them were large A-rank bosses as well.
‘Just what is that guy?’
The sense of unease I felt was different from Park Si-woo's or Choi Soo-hyun's.
It was a more complex discomfort.
I just had to find out.
The Hunters in the clearing moved almost simultaneously.
The rough blade of the Baekgeumgeom headed for Ahn Seo-joon.
*Clang.*
Ahn Seo-joon drew the sword from his waist and parried.
It was a straight sword with a brown hilt, and its blade, infused with magic, shone white.
Ahn Seo-joon's eyes glinted as white as the blade.
I spun around and retreated.
*Bang.*
A magic bullet flew from a distance, aimed at Ahn Seo-joon's face.
Ahn Seo-joon turned and swung his sword, deflecting the magic bullet.
— Hey, what's with you all of a sudden?
Choi Soo-hyun, who had been watching, asked me.
Unfortunately, this wasn't the time to answer.
I wiped the cut on my cheek with the back of my hand. During the raid, it was so sudden that I wasn't sure, but that last attack confirmed it.
“Who are you?”
Yoo Ji-han is a Transcendent, so let's say his style is similar because I taught him the basics of the sword.
Then who the hell is this guy to be using that sword style?
Ahn Seo-joon closed the distance in an instant.
I wouldn't be fooled once, let alone twice.
I was managing to parry Ahn Seo-joon's sword, but that was all.
His skill and mine were evenly matched.
“Who am I? That's what I want to ask. What are you?”
“What are you talking about?”
I spun around and used Ryuseongcham (Meteor Slash).
Ahn Seo-joon did a back handspring and whispered something as he approached.
Huh?
“What's that?”
Ahn Seo-joon scowled at my reaction.
“Are you pretending not to know?”
“Pretending? I'm saying I don't know because I don't. What is it?”
“If you don't know, then never mind.”
Ahn Seo-joon swung his sword in the air, and the nearby trees were sliced apart.
*CRASH.*
Watching the trees fall, I curled my lip into a smirk.
I could vaguely sense that something dangerous was coming.
‘Should I try it again?’
Even if it failed, the power was guaranteed, so it was worth a shot.
My eyes met Cho-ah's.
Ahn Seo-joon's sword flashed as it came before my eyes.
When I used Punga (Wind Fang), wind swirled around my sword.
As I stepped back, Cho-ah appeared below Ahn Seo-joon.
It was a blind spot created by their height difference.
‘That sword…’
The more I looked at it, the more suspicious it seemed.
Ahn Seo-joon's sword grazed Cho-ah's body.
“What the…”
No sooner had the sword made a cut than the wound on her body vanished.
Cho-ah grabbed the blade with her bare hand. Blood gushed out, but she didn't even blink.
Ahn Seo-joon hastily pulled back.
Cho-ah closed in and grabbed Ahn Seo-joon's arm.
It wasn't even an attack; she just grabbed his wrist.
“I'll return this with interest, for Han-gyeol.”
“Keuk…!”
When Cho-ah let go and stepped back, a large wound appeared on Ahn Seo-joon's body.
Staggering, Ahn Seo-joon retreated.
The ground shook, centering on Ahn Seo-joon and the still-unconscious Yoo Chae-young.
This was the Unique Barrier of the god Veritas.
Changing the terrain was nothing.
I leaped high into the air, raised my Sky Sword, and used the Baekgeumgeom.
The rough blade deflected Seo Ji-hoon's scythe.
— Han-gyeol! Get down!
My body floated in mid-air.
Yoo Se-yeon cast a spell at me, and an incoming magic bullet deflected her magic, causing an explosion.
I twisted in mid-air and landed on the ground.
“Agh, those bastards.”
I raised my head and looked up.
A large cliff face had formed some distance away.
*Thud. Thump.*
Monsters poured out of the rift and fell to the ground.
A notification chimed, announcing that some members had left the communication channel.
At the same time.
[First, we deal with the ones here!]
A voice, filled with rage, echoed throughout the Unique Barrier.