Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Human Hunter
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The next morning.
After a simple meal, Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na stopped by the shop to sell the skill books and magic stones.
The revenue from that came to a whopping 21 gold.
Their entire fortune had more than tripled in a single day.
“Now we don’t have to worry about lodging or food costs, right?”
“That’s right.”
Song Ha-na replied with a bright smile, as if she could finally relax at Kang Hyun-soo’s words.
‘Well, our situations are different.’
Kang Hyun-soo was a regressor.
He was simply retracing a path he had already walked once, so everything felt familiar, and he had certainty about the future.
But that wasn’t the case for Song Ha-na.
Everything was a brand-new experience for her.
Naturally, everything felt frightening and worrisome.
“Still, let’s share the lodging for the time being. Even a mid-level inn isn’t completely safe.”
“Got it.”
Kang Hyun-soo readily nodded at Song Ha-na’s words.
‘She’s still feeling uneasy.’
A mid-level inn had better security than a low-level one.
However, unless it was a high-level inn with security and defense skills applied, a criminal could infiltrate the room if they were determined enough.
‘Not a bad thing.’
Song Ha-na was inherently cautious and didn’t trust people easily.
She had been that way in the tutorial and at the training camp.
But with Kang Hyun-soo, she was different.
‘She trusts and relies on me.’
Song Ha-na had plenty of other options.
If she had ignored Kang Hyun-soo’s words and shown her skills at the training camp?
She could have been scouted by a major guild or the kingdom’s army on favorable terms.
Yet Song Ha-na had abandoned that stable path and chosen to follow Kang Hyun-soo as a free agent.
There was only one reason.
She trusted Kang Hyun-soo’s words more deeply than those of the instructors from major guilds or the kingdom’s army.
‘I’ll build our bond like this.’
But he had to be careful.
‘Don’t trust too much.’
Seeing Song Ha-na place her full trust in him was starting to soften his heart.
Kang Hyun-soo recalled memories from before his regression.
Memories of being betrayed by someone he had trusted even more than Song Ha-na.
‘There’s only one way to avoid betrayal.’
Don’t give trust.
Then there would be no betrayal.
‘Just be cautious until my Lone Squad rank rises and I acquire that skill.’
Once that happened.
Kang Hyun-soo would be able to trust and rely on Song Ha-na without a shred of doubt.
“Let’s go hunting already.”
Song Ha-na grabbed Kang Hyun-soo’s hand and pulled him along.
“Alright.”
Kang Hyun-soo smiled and headed to the hunting grounds with Song Ha-na.
* * *
‘Still a lot of people today.’
The beginner hunting grounds were packed with people again today.
“Let’s head in.”
Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na naturally passed the forest entrance and ventured deeper.
“There are more people than yesterday.”
Song Ha-na glanced around as she spoke.
In the 20-30 level hunting area a bit further into the beginner grounds.
An area that had been empty yesterday now had quite a few people.
“Seems like they’ve gained some confidence in a day.”
“Yeah.”
“But it doesn’t concern us anyway. Let’s go deeper.”
“Okay.”
Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na pressed further into the forest.
The deeper they went, the scarcer the human presence became, and the number of appearing monsters increased.
Grrraaaah!
Beast-type monsters charged from all directions.
Slash!
Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na calmly hunted the monsters.
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
……(omitted)……
Kang Hyun-soo’s level, which had been a mere 0, rose at a rapid pace.
Song Ha-na’s level was steadily climbing as well.
Not as fast as Kang Hyun-soo’s, but Song Ha-na had earned quite a few achievements in the tutorial too.
As a result, she had completed the tutorial at the top of her class and acquired an SSS-Rank achievement.
On top of that, she was continuously growing stronger through level-ups.
Even at just level 40-something, her stats were on par with level 200 players.
‘Should we go a bit deeper today?’
The monsters in the forest area where Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na were hunting were the same 30-40 level as yesterday.
With their skills?
They could easily hunt much higher-level monsters.
Honestly, he wanted to hunt level 200 monsters.
The problem was.
‘No healer is a bit of an issue.’
Kang Hyun-soo could tank, and he and Song Ha-na could split the DPS.
The issue was the healer.
Healers were rare.
At the training camp, Kang Hyun-soo had repeatedly cast Replica against instructors and trainees whenever his stacks filled.
Yet he still hadn’t acquired a heal skill.
‘We haven’t bought potions yet, so let’s not push it.’
Safety came first, above all.
‘Still, we should raise the difficulty a bit.’
It seemed best to go a little deeper and hunt level 100-150 monsters.
‘Hm?’
That was when it happened.
He sensed something stealthily approaching from afar.
‘What is it?’
Kang Hyun-soo looked puzzled.
Common sense dictated it was most likely a monster.
But this was just a 30-40 level hunting ground.
Monsters of that level wouldn’t hide their presence this well.
‘Players, huh.’
Kang Hyun-soo’s eyes sharpened.
There were ten of them.
‘Doesn’t seem like they’re here with good intentions.’
If they had come to hunt?
They would hunt monsters.
But these guys weren’t hunting monsters—they were hiding their presence.
And they were cautiously approaching Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na.
‘Are they after me and Song Ha-na?’
Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na hadn’t formed any grudges in the Terra Kingdom.
So if these people were targeting them anyway?
‘Human hunters.’
Kang Hyun-soo’s face twisted savagely.
The Terra Kingdom wasn’t a democratic state like South Korea—it was a monarchy.
Naturally, it had a class system.
And at the bottom of that class system was...
‘Slaves.’
The problem was that demand far exceeded supply.
In the Terra Kingdom, there were only two ways for someone’s status to drop to slave.
War prisoners and traitors.
‘Both methods have supply issues.’
Ever since the invasions from other dimensions began.
Wars between allied Atlantis dimensional nations had virtually ceased.
Naturally, slave supply from war prisoners had become problematic.
Treason was hard to come by as well.
The war with other dimensions had strengthened royal authority.
Traitors occasionally arose from political issues, but their numbers were too few.
‘Humans aren’t rational beings.’
Demand stayed the same, but supply dwindled.
Naturally, crimes exploiting that gap began to proliferate.
‘Human trafficking.’
Traffickers started supplying slaves through illegal means rather than legal ones.
They kidnapped free citizens and forged documents to change their status to slaves.
‘The prime kidnapping targets for human traffickers are players fresh out of training camp.’
Especially those who hadn’t joined the kingdom’s army or a guild—losers no one would miss if they suddenly vanished.
With no ties to the Atlantis dimension, there were no family or acquaintances to prove they weren’t slaves.
‘The Terra Kingdom seems to turn a blind eye to it on purpose.’
Turning free citizens into slaves was strictly illegal.
Yet the kingdom’s officials did almost nothing to crack down on it.
‘They sell men to mines or arenas and women to brothels to line their pockets—scum.’
Kang Hyun-soo despised those who hunted fellow humans to sell as slaves.
‘Wait.’
He was nearly 100% certain they were human hunters.
‘But I can’t rule out the slim chance they’re not.’
If they weren’t human hunters?
They would pass quietly.
If they were?
‘Then we fight.’
There were a few issues, though.
Ten human hunters.
They had the numbers advantage.
Plus, their levels were likely 200 or higher.
Even if Kang Hyun-soo’s stats were at level 300 player level.
‘My skill ranks are still too low.’
And though unlikely.
There was no guarantee none of the human hunters were level 300 players.
Kang Hyun-soo slowed his hunting pace.
Using hand signals learned at the training camp, he informed Song Ha-na that enemies were targeting them.
Song Ha-na’s expression hardened as she signaled back that she understood.
Kang Hyun-soo dumped all his unallocated stats from level-ups into agility.
In the meantime, the enemies began spreading out to form an encirclement.
‘Confirmed.’
Whether human hunters or not, their hostility toward Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na was clear.
‘This is our chance.’
Right now, as the clustered enemies scattered to form their net.
Time to defeat them in detail.
Kang Hyun-soo signaled Song Ha-na to attack.
Fwoosh!
Flame arrows conjured by Song Ha-na rained down in all directions.
Boom!
“Argh! What the hell?!”
The enemies, who had been trying to ambush, were thrown into considerable panic by the counter-ambush.
Thud!
In that moment, Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na charged at the enemies.
Slash!
Kang Hyun-soo mercilessly swung his sword, severing the neck of a panicked foe.
Stab!
Song Ha-na, seizing the moment, thrust her sword into an enemy’s heart.
“You bastards!”
“Grab them!”
The enemies, who had scattered to form the encirclement, rushed toward Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na.
Meanwhile, after taking out two foes, Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na slipped through the gap.
‘We can handle them.’
The enemies’ levels were lower than expected.
‘Not 200s—level 100s.’
With that stat gap?
Even with low skill ranks, it was a winnable fight.
Whoosh!
As he dodged, Kang Hyun-soo spun and swung his sword.
“Cocky bastard!”
The foe, underestimating him, swung a greataxe.
As if planning to shatter Kang Hyun-soo’s sword with it.
A wise judgment.
A greataxe was far heavier and more destructive than a sword.
However.
‘It’s just as slow.’
Slash!
Kang Hyun-soo easily evaded the swung greataxe and decapitated the enemy.
His base stats were already superior.
Plus, he had just dumped all unallocated stats into agility.
In that situation, swinging a heavier, slower greataxe even later than a sword?
From Kang Hyun-soo’s perspective, it was practically begging to be killed.
While Kang Hyun-soo eliminated the greataxe wielder.
“Argh!”
Song Ha-na took down another enemy.
Compared to Kang Hyun-soo’s freakish strength, she might seem weaker.
But Song Ha-na was a monstrous talent who had topped her tutorial cohort, with stats to match.
“What the hell are these monster kids?!”
“They’re not fresh training camp grads!”
The enemies panicked.
They were dropouts.
They had barely earned achievements, so their stats lagged behind same-level players.
Lacking talent, they hadn’t acquired good skills.
They should have at least grinded levels and skill ranks through effort.
But they lacked the guts to risk their lives hunting.
Too lazy for even the minimum effort to raise skill ranks.
Inevitably, they were shunned everywhere.
So they targeted weaker low-level players.
Especially those freshly out of training camp as the easiest prey.
Yet that easy prey.
“Uwaaaah!”
“Scatter and run!”
Had turned the tables and started hunting them.
Slash!
Red blood soaked the ground.
Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na moved without hesitation.
But they only had two bodies.
They couldn’t chase down all the fleeing, scattered enemies.
“Squad summon.”
Kang Hyun-soo used the Squad Summon skill in real combat for the first time.
Shimmer.
Mana-formed summons blocked the paths of the fleeing enemies.