Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: The Ancient Hunter
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‘Hunter.’
A word that had been emphasized ever since breaking through the trials.
The Hunter—an advanced class for Archers.
Main weapons: bow and dagger.
Role: dealer.
Position: mid-line and rear guard.
Unlike regular Archers who only handled bows, Hunters wielded daggers as well, which made up for their weakness in close combat to some extent.
Yet in this dungeon, the term "Hunter" was being applied as a single keyword.
Hunter's mural.
Hunter's trial.
Even a massive iron gate of the Hunter.
From one to ten, everything included the job name "Hunter."
And that wasn't all.
The leather gear stolen alongside the map from the village chief's safe.
That too was the Ancient Hunter set.
[Tomb of the Forgotten One]
‘Does that mean the Forgotten One mentioned in this dungeon's name was also a Hunter?’
A Hunter from ancient times, most likely.
Traces of a great legend.
But in reality, just remnants of the past.
Proof of that was right in the dungeon's name: Tomb of the Forgotten One.
Naturally, it would be treated as a forgotten existence on the continent as well.
Or perhaps no one even knew of the Ancient Hunter's existence.
‘The truth lies beyond this door.’
A hidden scenario.
One tied to the Ancient Hunter, called a great legend.
Thump thump!
That was probably why.
It was making even Luke, a second-year gamer, feel his heart race uncontrollably.
Soon.
The final room beyond the iron gate.
He could head there any moment now.
Crack!
It snapped.
Crack!
Snapped again.
Crack crack crack crack!
The lockpicks kept breaking one after another, but it was fine.
Why?
Because this was a special lockpick with infinite regeneration.
No matter how many times it broke from failures, it didn't matter.
It would restore to perfect condition after just a short wait.
Ahh.
This was it.
This was what he'd been waiting for.
A skill level-up.
He had just broken through the limit of a technique that could only handle level 1 locks until now.
The description itself hadn't changed much.
But that didn't matter.
No, he was beyond satisfied.
His goal from the start had been the level 2 lock.
All those grinding failures hadn't been in vain.
‘Yeah, this is why I broke 116 lockpicks.’
Otherwise, he wouldn't have even attempted lockpicking in the first place.
‘Alright, then...’
Skill level matches lock level.
And the infinite lockpick had regenerated perfectly in his hand.
All that was left was to unlock it with a thief's deft touch.
Grind.
Once.
Grind grind.
Twice.
And dozens more times after.
How long had he been twisting the lockpick with the iron dagger wedged in?
Click!
Late, but something finally unlatched inside the keyhole.
‘Found it.’
The point where the lock released.
He'd finally located it while turning the lockpick.
The door seam slowly parted.
At that moment, alarms blared in his head.
Crimson warning messages flooded his vision.
‘What's going on with this?’
Pure chaos.
‘Did clearing the room by unlocking cause an error or something?’
Was that why?
Luke watched the situation with growing unease.
The crimson warnings kept multiplying endlessly.
But only for a moment.
Such messages suddenly appeared, and the warnings vanished in an instant.
What in the world was happening?
He had no idea.
Couldn't figure it out.
All he knew was that the current situation wasn't an error.
[Level has risen! x5]
That was all—the room's rewards were being distributed as per normal procedure.
‘Crazy, five levels at once?!’
The warning messages had already vanished from his mind.
Five levels in one go—who had time to care about warnings now?
But the surprises didn't end there.
“Poko!”
A key sitting plump on the spot where the stone pillar had been.
And beside it, a scroll.
Luke's eyes went wide at the white scroll Poko was pointing to.
“Holy shit.”
Luke muttered blankly as he stared down at it.
“A Scroll of Enlightenment.”
A base market price in the tens of millions.
Items that sold out in real-time the moment they hit the market.
So popular that "sold out everywhere" became a cliché—the Scroll of Enlightenment was a top consumer item.
What made it worth so much?
Simple reason.
It forcibly raised the level of a single skill by 1.
That was why it commanded such value.
‘The downside is it only works on skills level 3 and below...’
But hey, that was still something.
‘I could just sell it if I don't need it!’
Tens of millions in cash.
Luke clutched the Scroll of Enlightenment and thought of his savings.
Money he'd squirreled away doing business until his life sentence.
The Empire had seized the warehouse goods this time, leaving him in a bind, but this scroll had dropped at the perfect moment.
‘With this, no money worries for a while!’
In other words, no need to break into his savings.
“Sniff sniff!”
“P-Poko?”
“Grrrrr, the rich scent of money. This is it—this is the game!”
Poko kept sniffing the scroll frantically, ignoring Luke's alarm.
Rumble!
Suddenly, the gap in the iron gate widened dramatically.
‘...The door opened on its own?’
It swung wide open.
No wind blowing in from anywhere, and it wasn't some flimsy door that could be pushed by a breeze anyway.
Ominous.
Like it was directing him: "Come in quick."
Only then did Luke snap out of it and stow the Scroll of Enlightenment.
He picked up the key from the floor and turned his back.
‘Don't need the key, but better take it just in case.’
Can't be too careful.
With tense eyes, Luke scanned the final room.
A pillar of light beaming from the center.
A mysterious ring floating inside it.
Nothing else in sight.
‘That ring must be the final reward.’
The dungeon's end.
Time to choose.
‘Take the ring and claim the hidden scenario for myself? Or sell this place off to someone else as is?’
One or the other.
‘I did snag the trial rewards, but that doesn't erase the hidden scenario's value.’
The hidden scenario was more important than the dungeon itself, really.
The moment he took the ring, a hidden quest would probably trigger.
That would naturally open one path to the main storyline.
The gains along the way.
Influence within Agas, and more.
Plenty of benefits to consider.
The issue was whether he could handle it.
Of course.
‘No-brainer.’
Not even a question for Luke.
He stepped into the room.
Finally, the hidden clear condition was unveiled.
Prove your worth.
He still didn't know exactly what that meant.
But it was certain he'd have to do something in this room.
And it would likely start the moment he grabbed that ring.
‘The final gate.’
Clear this, and monopolize the entire hidden scenario.
So judging, Luke walked to the light pillar with a resolute expression.
The instant he reached for the ring inside—
‘...!’
Luke saw it.
A familiar black mask faintly appearing between the ring.
The Night King's emblem.
A crumbling castle.
A king collapsed amid the ruins.
Ten humans surrounded and looked down upon him.
“Monster of a guy.”
“Hey, don't kill him. Per our deal, we drag him to the Empire alive.”
“Alive? This thing?”
“Ah, of course...”
Whoosh!
Beams of light from the sky pierced his limbs.
“...we have to do this much.”
The king was pinned like a stake.
But he showed no change in expression, as if feeling no pain, just gazing up at the humans.
Chilled by that gaze?
Some of the surrounding humans began to back away.
Only six remained.
The king sensed deep greed in their eyes.
“You lot... the ones who dragged the continent into this.”
“......”
“Kuhahaha.”
“What's so funny?”
“How could it not be? You're bringing about your own doom.”
“Doom? Look at you. You're done. All your fancy minions are dead. We're the survivors looking down on you. You have nothing left.”
One human shouted confidently.
The bound king sneered back.
“Is that what you really think?”
“This bastard still...”
The beast-furred human lunged in rage.
“Calm down. He has no strength left anyway. Don't fall for the provocation—let's just grab the rest of the treasures.”
The man in golden armor beside him intervened.
“Ahh, right.”
The beast-man calmed.
“Hm?”
“What I'll take first is...”
A blade shot from his fingertip, severing the king's finger.
Snap!
He snatched the flying finger, baring his teeth wide.
“This ring.”
“Hey, the king's relics are to be divided fairly...”
“Don't need the other relics. Treasures are one thing, but for gear, this one's enough.”
“Doing whatever you want.”
The golden-armored man shook his head and turned away; the others followed.
Left were the beast-man and the bound king.
The king addressed the beast-man fondling the ring contentedly.
“You.”
“Huh?”
“Think you can handle it?”
“What nonsense is this bastard...”
“You'll regret it.”
He could see it.
Bottomless, dark eyes staring straight at him.
The abyss.
No—even murkier, more alien.
An unknown terror he'd never felt even in war.
“Uwaaaaaah!”
Facing such fear for the first time, the beast-man screamed and began hacking at the king's limbs.
But the king kept sneering and asked.
“Kuhahaha, afraid?”
“Shut up! Shut it!”
“Yes, never forget that fear. You'll feel it again someday.”
“Dieeee!”
Gushing blood fountain.
Thickening metallic stench.
Maddened eyes.
Rushing humans trying to intervene.
Amid it, the king laughed and called.
“Ten Emperors German.”
The name of the first Hunter.
“......”
Consciousness returned.
Luke came to and turned his head.
There, he saw it.
—Great Hunter's heir, I, German of the Ten Emperors, shall personally verify if you are worthy to be my successor.
A skull draped in beast fur crawling up from the ground.