Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Hellhound Subjugation
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I had no intention of resting until the subjugation event next week. To balance out my levels a bit, I kept clearing F-Rank Gates nonstop and raised my level to 8.
With my Awakener level and stats having gone up, battles against goblins no longer posed any threat to me, so disappointingly, neither my skill levels nor bonus stats increased.
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Name: Lee Jiseok
Job: Unemployed
Level: 8
Strength 28, Stamina 27, Agility 23, Intelligence 13, Vitality 270, Mana 100
Skills: Regeneration E, Solid Body F, Resilient Mind E, Poison Resistance E
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I felt proud of having raised my level this much in just a month and a half, but the road ahead was still long.
When I arrived at the resort prepared for Hunters to stay during the subjugation period, people who had already arrived were out in the square in front of the temporary lodging, the resort itself. Besides Hunters, there were folks from the Management Bureau and support staff, making it seem like there were hundreds of people.
This resort had been a famous tourist spot, but after the Gate incident, tourist numbers plummeted, leading to its closure, which the Management Bureau then bought up. Following the Gate Breaks, humanity's range of activity had shrunk dramatically.
"Oh? Hello!"
Yang Sanghun spotted me and waved in greeting.
"You're joining the subjugation too, Sanghun?"
"Yeah, I need the money, and I want to rank up."
Yang Sanghun scratched his head as he replied.
"Me too."
"But you can drop the formal speech now."
"Should I?"
As I chatted with Sanghun, someone stepped up onto the platform.
"I extend my sincere thanks to all the Hunters participating in today's subjugation mission. I'm Baek Youngshin, section chief of the Awakening Bureau's Subjugation Division, in charge of this operation. This Hellhound hunt will run for seven days starting today."
A map highlighting the habitual appearance zones popped up on the massive screen behind Section Chief Baek Youngshin.
"The mountains at night are dangerous, so unless you have special skills, please rest today and start hunting in the morning. We've uploaded info on the habitual zones and Hellhound traits to the Hunter app—check it there."
The screen switched to a scoreboard. It had columns for names and scores, all reading zero.
"The top hunter by kills will receive a prize. With that, please stay safe and rack up as many as you can."
After the brief greeting and briefing, the Hunters moved to get their room assignments.
"Hyung, want to hunt together?"
Yang Sanghun approached me.
"Nah, I hunt solo. Let's grab a meal together once it's all done."
This was a subjugation for ranking up, but that wasn't my only goal. I wanted to raise the skill levels and stats I couldn't in the Goblin Gates. Plus, my method for leveling skills was so brute-force it wasn't something to show others.
"Sure, see you later then."
Without asking twice, Yang Sanghun turned away cleanly and started mingling to form a party. What a sociable guy.
While others rested for tomorrow, I got my room at the resort, dropped my stuff, and headed straight into the mountains.
With my Stamina and Agility stats well over 20, I climbed the mountain at a brisk pace.
I get several times the level-up stats of a normal Hunter, plus bonuses outside of that. Purely in terms of stats, I'm already E-Rank Hunter level.
After twenty minutes of full sprint up the mountain, I started feeling a bit winded.
Entering the dense forest of the night, where human feet rarely tread, the fresh air felt like it was washing over my body.
The sun had fully set, making it pitch dark. At least faint moonlight filtered through the clouds, letting me vaguely make out shapes.
Using my phone's GPS map, I entered the projected appearance zone. Focusing my senses, I searched for Hellhound traces. It was frustrating how my senses weren't as sharp as in my past life.
A rustling of leaves from behind made me whip my head around, and suddenly a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth gaped right in my face.
Startled, I reflexively thrust out my arm, which the Hellhound clamped down on.
Gritting my teeth, I smashed my fist into the head of the Hellhound hanging off my arm.
It made a solid thwack, and the thing yelped before flying off. It looked a bit like a hyena, and the sound it made when hit was similar too.
My stance was awkward, so I couldn't kill it in one blow. As I approached the fallen one to finish it off, a few more appeared.
Blood was trickling down my arm. It wasn't deep, but for it to pierce my Solid Body meant its bite force was incomparable to a regular large dog.
Hellhounds have lower intelligence than Goblins but make up for it with high bite power and mobility, making them tough opponents in mountainous terrain. Their night vision is good too, so most avoid hunting them at night.
But I'd come at night on purpose to acquire skills. There's one you can only get by focusing in dark conditions.
I took a deep breath and roared forward to draw attention. Soon, they swarmed in from all sides.
Tracking the Hellhounds darting through the darkness, I clenched my fist.
My eyes hadn't adapted yet to the dark or their quick movements. They bit me, I counterattacked, and they'd slip away—rinse and repeat.
I couldn't even count how many, but at least ten were circling me.
Shake one off my arm, and two more latched onto my calf.
I punched them off one by one, but fighting in close quarters like that made it hard to land solid hits.
Giving up on punches, I grabbed the head of one on my side, twisted its neck, and snapped it.
Killing my first one made them hesitate to approach rashly. When I went for them, they'd scamper off.
In the mountains, I couldn't match their mobility.
I'd barely taken down one in the previous skirmish, but now even more Hellhounds swarmed—around twenty circling me.
They stopped biting directly, instead whirling around to distract me. Spotting an opening, they'd slash my legs with their claw-like front paws or dart behind to bite and flee.
This night was going to be a long one.
* * *
I'd been wrestling with the Hellhound pack all night, right up until just before dawn.
[Your level has increased.]
[Skill: Keen Senses (C) acquired.]
To get this skill, I'd deliberately come out on this dangerous night and let dogs chew on me till sunrise. Regeneration kept physical fatigue and damage near zero nonstop, but the mental toll lingered. Still, the thrill of acquiring Keen Senses blew it all away in an instant.
The new Keen Senses skill not only sharpened my five senses but also my intuition, letting me detect not just crises in combat but any hostility directed at me.
It was one of the main skills that let me survive to the end in my past life.
I was about to start serious hunting, but with morning breaking— or maybe sensing my changed movements—the Hellhounds began pulling away.
I tied up the three I'd killed with some cord and headed back to the lodge, figuring I'd eat and rest.
It'd be easier to just extract the mana stones and hand them over, but monster corpses carry toxins and attract others, so recovery was necessary.
Some Hunters brought porters or recovery crews, but I preferred solo for now.
There were checkpoints scattered around for supplies and turning in bodies, but they weren't operating at night. So I dragged the Hellhounds all the way back to the lodge and handed them to a Management Bureau official.
Seeing my blood-soaked, torn clothes, the official tried to call a Healer, but I told him the wounds weren't mine and left.
Back in my room, I showered and changed, but my clothes were tight again. Ever since awakening, my body had grown, so I'd bought new ones, but it looked like I'd bulked up more.
For a while, Regeneration would keep reshaping my body to match my Strength. In my past life too, right before dying, my shoulders were much broader than now, my whole body armored in dense, compressed muscle, not just bulky mass.
I threw on the tight clothes and headed to the resort's morning buffet. They'd spared no expense on the lodging or food quality, knowing Hunters wouldn't come otherwise.
Early on, they'd housed subjugation Hunters in tents and fed them combat rations even soldiers hated, so Hunters ignored these missions for a while. Should've done it right from the start.
I piled food mountain-high on multiple plates and dug in. Sanghun approached.
"Hyung, you eating all that by yourself?"
Sanghun looked a bit queasy at the sight.
"Yeah. Starving. Find a party?"
"Yeah, plenty of people looking, so it was easy."
Sanghun pulled up a chair and sat, telling me about the group he'd joined today. I shared what I'd felt hunting Hellhounds at night and tips to watch out for.
"You went out alone at night? Isn't that dangerous?"
"My skills make it doable. But don't you try it."
F- or E-Rank Hunters without tough skin or skills like Chaseoongmin's Reinforcement die the moment one bites their neck.
We chatted about this and that as I shoveled food nonstop, finishing ten times what Sanghun had and faster too. My digestion was beyond normal, breaking it down quick even without much chewing.
"I'm off to rest now. Good luck out there."
I finished eating, stood, and said goodbye to Sanghun.
"Already? No more hunting today?"
"I was out all night. Gonna rest up and head out again tonight."
"Would've been nice to go together during the day. Got it. See you later."
Leaving the disappointed Sanghun behind, I returned to my room, donned an eyemask, and crashed.
* * *
I woke around sunset and headed downstairs to eat.
The dining hall was nearly empty. As I filled my table to bursting and ate alone, Hunters returning from hunts started trickling in.
"That guy didn't go out?"
"Guess he's just here for food."
I heard whispers behind me and glanced back to see a few shooting me openly displeased looks.
"That's what you get when they hand out subsidies just for showing up."
The voice dripped with disgust. Thanks to Keen Senses, my hearing was sharp—even murmurs sounded like they were right beside me.
"Management Bureau guy said he hunted last night. Came back covered in blood."
"Barely got three, they said. Probably rolled around somewhere and got messy. Not a scratch on him."
I didn't see the point in responding, so I silently finished my meal. Once the seven-day subjugation ended, the looks would change anyway. Just like at the Academy.