Chapter 101
Chapter 101
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: Raiding the Mantis Guild Hideout
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‘That’s definitely where the Mantis Guild’s branch is.’
Kang Hyun-soo sat leisurely on the back of his summon, the wyvern, tailing the Demon of Mass Slaughter Jo Sa-pyeong and his routed remnants.
It was only natural, of course.
Jo Sa-pyeong, the Demon of Mass Slaughter, and the few Mantis Guild players with him hadn’t escaped the encirclement by some stroke of luck.
Kang Hyun-soo had simply allowed them to flee.
It could have felt awkward if not handled right.
But the Mantis Guild players’ combat prowess made the whole act convincing.
‘They’re thorough.’
Their desperate efforts to shake off pursuers were pathetic.
‘If I’d chased them late, I might’ve lost them.’
Even if not, they could’ve noticed the pursuer and fled in a different direction from their base.
But.
‘No one can guard against the skies.’
Kang Hyun-soo, mounted on the wyvern’s back, hovered high in the dizzying heavens.
This let him easily evade detection skill ranges.
He’d even activated Gaze Distortion for any surprises.
The skill’s low rank made it crude.
‘But at this distance, it doesn’t matter.’
Kang Hyun-soo tailed Jo Sa-pyeong and his remnants at his leisure.
And so.
‘There it is.’
He spotted the Mantis Guild’s Mightear Kingdom branch, smack in the middle of a monster habitat.
‘Hiding underground like rats.’
The branch was subterranean.
Its entrance was a tunnel.
‘Hard to tell from a monster burrow.’
The Mantis Guild had set up in Giant Ant territory, home to insect-type monsters.
‘Smart move.’
Giant Ants were infamous for skimpy rewards—experience, items, magic stones.
‘Hunting them is a nightmare, though.’
As insect-types, they had insane vitality.
They lived in hives, too, so killing one brought dozens or hundreds swarming.
That made Giant Ants the deadliest for hunters mid-slay.
‘Early on, a few high-level players herded them despite the exp penalty.’
Not anymore.
Better high-level monsters had appeared, boosting hunt efficiency.
So now, low, mid, and high-level players alike avoided them.
Kang Hyun-soo got why the Mantis Guild picked this spot for their Mightear Kingdom branch.
Perfect camouflage, no player traffic.
‘Ideal for criminals.’
But their hermit days were over.
-You done cleaning up?
Kang Hyun-soo messaged Song Ha-na.
-Yeah. Murderer players and slave traders are all dead. Freed the innocent slaves, too.
While Kang Hyun-soo trailed Jo Sa-pyeong, Song Ha-na and the Fist Emperor had wiped out the Mantis Guild players and slave market.
-I’ll summon you soon. Get ready.
-Got it.
Kang Hyun-soo rode his wyvern down to the surface.
‘No reaction.’
Didn’t matter.
‘Brigade summon.’
He invoked the skill.
Shoooosh!
Song Ha-na, the Fist Emperor, and the other summons appeared instantly before the tunnel.
“Attack.”
At Kang Hyun-soo’s order.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The summon legion charged into the tunnel.
* * *
“Intruders!”
“Damn it!”
The Mad Slaughter Sword Jo Sa-pyeong’s face twisted in fury.
“Did you lead them here?”
“How could you screw up like that?”
His underlings glared accusingly.
“That’s not the point! Battle stations, now!”
“They’re insanely strong, right?”
“Shouldn’t we run?”
“They took heavy losses killing three hundred guildmates. And this is our home turf.”
Jo Sa-pyeong’s words made them nod.
“True.”
“No way we lose here.”
“Can’t wait to taste blood again.”
“Summons don’t have blood, do they?”
The underlings grinned maniacally as they chatted.
“Trigger the cave-in trap first.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Mantis Guild players brimmed with confidence.
Hiding from prying eyes had perks.
But rat-life in tunnels was suffocating.
Still, they chose this base.
To fend off massive raids like this.
* * *
Ruuuumble!
The tunnel shook with a massive roar.
Then.
Craaash!
It collapsed, burying the summons.
‘Knew it.’
Kang Hyun-soo unsummoned his forces the moment the cave-in started.
Resummon and redeploy?
Zero damage.
That’s why he sent summons first, not himself.
‘They always have countermeasures.’
Pre-regression, Kang Hyun-soo had joined a Mantis Guild raid with Balhae Guild.
Their Mulan Kingdom branch was in a rock cave, not a tunnel.
‘The collapse wrecked us.’
If deployed sooner?
‘Might’ve died.’
Players were superhuman.
But buried under thousands of tons of rock?
Dead meat.
Not everyone died, though.
‘Named and ranker players survived.’
Balhae’s mid-to-high elites got massacred.
‘But summons with resummon? Untouched.’
Tunnels?
‘Collapse all you want. You’re just sealing your exits.’
Kang Hyun-soo redeployed summons through side tunnels.
Mantis Guild collapsed the main one.
Kang Hyun-soo unsummoned, resummoned, and sent them via others.
This forced them to halt the blasts.
‘More traps ahead, probably.’
He could send summons for melee.
‘But there’s a better way.’
Kang Hyun-soo telepathically ordered his forces.
Ruuuumble!
The hulking Mara Dragon Karas smashed the ground with its tail.
Summons unleashed skill barrages at tunnel mouths.
Collapse every entrance?
Mantis Guild players inside get buried alive.
‘Your move?’
They had two choices.
Crawl out.
Or die inside.
Their choice?
‘Crawling out, as expected.’
Escape.
‘Dug deep, huh.’
Kang Hyun-soo had his summons form a wide encirclement.
Yet Mantis Guild players emerged outside it, ant-like from tunnels.
Without wyvern overwatch?
‘Half might’ve slipped away.’
Whoosh!
Kang Hyun-soo leaped lightly onto Mara Dragon Karas’s head.
“Let’s go.”
Karas flapped skyward at the command.
Song Ha-na, Fist Emperor, and top summons mounted wyverns and took flight.
‘Still short.’
Even with Drakan and Dragonians, flying monsters were too few.
Same with flight items from Duke Kalmus.
‘Need more air force.’
His brigade was ground-heavy.
‘Aim for one-third air.’
Better tactics, mobility.
Kwaaaa!
Karas breathed fire on the ground.
Boooom!
The blast annihilated Mantis Guild players with little resistance.
‘If some fought and some fled, they might’ve had a shot.’
But morale was gone.
‘Can’t blame them.’
Their leader, Demon of Mass Slaughter Jo Sa-pyeong, prioritized flight over fight.
One-third of forces already wiped.
Traps failed.
A building-sized dragon dominated the skies.
Even killers like them hit rock bottom.
And.
Zzzzap!
Song Ha-na’s pitch-black lightning blanketed the sky.
Kwaaa!
Fist Emperor’s golden aura-wreathed fists whipped up storms.
Battalion commanders Fist Emperor, Martial Sovereign, Mulan’s Guardian Star, Blade King, Flame Knight, Sword Ghost, One-Kill Fist, Magic Knight, plus interim ones Western Ferocious Tiger, Northern Blade Gale—all shone with divine might.
Multiple long escape tunnels?
‘Great for fleeing, easy for piecemeal kills.’
Kang Hyun-soo rode Karas toward Jo Sa-pyeong.
The rest could handle the mop-up.
“Gah!”
Jo Sa-pyeong gnashed his teeth, spamming attack skills.
But his skills.
Slash!
Vanished like snow before Kang Hyun-soo’s Vampiric Aura-infused sword stroke.
‘Vampiric Aura’s a scam.’
Kang Hyun-soo planned Replica and Skill Enhancement to EX next, then Stat Fixation.
Vampiric Aura’s efficiency shook that.
‘C-Rank doing this?’
Probably since it scaled directly with mana stat.
His second-highest after strength-from-superhuman-power.
“What the hell are you?”
Jo Sa-pyeong glared madly at Kang Hyun-soo.
None of this fit his worldview.
He’d just skimmed slave traders on a whim.
That whim doomed the infamous Mantis Guild’s Mightear Kingdom branch.
“You don’t need to know.”
Whoosh!
Kang Hyun-soo leaped from Karas’s back.
Step step.
Approaching Jo Sa-pyeong.
‘Sever limbs first, capture alive.’
Then extract main base location.
“You think I’ll go quietly?!”
With that yell.
Thud!
He charged Kang Hyun-soo.
But.
‘Mana amplifying.’
Control turned unstable.
‘Tough bastard. Same as pre-regression.’
People don’t change.
Pre-regression, facing death, Jo Sa-pyeong overloaded his mana for a suicidal explosion skill.
The raid team, thinking him done?
‘Took massive extra losses.’
“Take me with you!”
With those words.
BOOOOM!
Jo Sa-pyeong erupted.
The blast’s power defied imagination.
Earth quaked.
Crimson flames engulfed Kang Hyun-soo, Karas, nearby summons, and Mantis players.
“Hyun-soo!”
Song Ha-na screamed from afar, rushing over.
“Kang Hyun-soo!”
Fist Emperor flinched, leaping forward.