Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Trash Cleanup
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Kang Hyun-soo, having taken down all the human hunters, turned them into summoned beasts.
‘The platoon is full now.’
Including a total of 25 human hunters, he had filled his platoon to its maximum of 40 members.
The problem was.
‘There are still stats left over.’
Having leftover stats wasn’t a bad thing.
Players needed stats to grow stronger, after all.
‘But this way, the efficiency keeps dropping.’
Using Skill Reinforcement would reset any stats gained through level-ups anyway.
‘If they’re just going to vanish, it’s better to spend them somehow.’
The best method was to dismiss existing summoned beasts and keep creating new ones.
But.
‘Constantly making new summoned beasts isn’t efficient.’
The only benefits were raising the rank of Platoon Summon and increasing the proficiency of Lone Platoon.
‘What a shame.’
The thought crossed his mind for a moment.
“Pfft!”
As he pondered the regret, a laugh burst from Kang Hyun-soo’s lips.
‘Actually, this isn’t something to regret.’
To be objective, it was just spoiled whining made possible by the Replica skill.
Before his regression.
Hwang So-wook, the owner of Skill Reinforcement, had never been able to use it freely due to the drawback of losing levels.
The player known as the One-Man Army had given up his dream of becoming a true warrior due to a lack of stats.
Even after such sacrifices, he couldn’t max out his summoned beasts’ numbers.
Yet here was Kang Hyun-soo, having perfectly eliminated the drawbacks of Skill Reinforcement, complaining that it was inefficient.
And that wasn’t all.
He was grumbling that he still had stats left even after filling his summoned beasts to the limit.
If those two knew about Kang Hyun-soo’s situation?
They’d unleash a torrent of curses.
‘Still, to get stronger, I need to raise my stats in the end.’
Stats gained through achievements had their limits.
Even if Kang Hyun-soo mobilized all his knowledge from his past life, the limit of achievement-based stats was around the level of a level 400 player.
‘I can’t settle for that.’
In the end, Kang Hyun-soo had to accumulate stats the regular way too.
‘I really need to get that guy’s unique skill as soon as possible.’
Yukimura, the named player who held the title Wall of Lamentation.
Yukimura’s unique skill was Stat Fixation.
If you used Stat Fixation after maxing out buffs to boost your stats?
The boosted stats would remain permanently, even after the buff durations ended.
And that wasn’t all.
Stats wouldn’t drop even under all sorts of debuffs.
‘He earned the title Wall of Lamentation thanks to the Stat Fixation skill.’
Before his regression, Yukimura had died before Kang Hyun-soo could even meet him, so he couldn’t Replica the Stat Fixation skill.
‘But this time is different.’
Yukimura was still alive.
The problem was...
That he was Japanese.
After the tutorial, Japanese players arrived not in Terra Kingdom territory, but in Mulan Kingdom territory.
‘Terra Kingdom and Mulan Kingdom are on such bad terms they’re constantly skirmishing in small local battles.’
If the Atlantis dimension hadn’t been free from invasions by other dimensions?
‘They would’ve gone to full-scale war by now.’
For Kang Hyun-soo, a free citizen of Terra Kingdom, to cross into Mulan Kingdom?
‘The moment he’s caught by Terra Kingdom’s border guards, it’s an instant death sentence.’
Even if he risked his life to sneak across the border and reach Mulan Kingdom, his life would still be in danger.
If he was mistaken for a spy, it’d be execution on the spot.
‘I need a different status.’
If he wasn’t a free citizen of Terra Kingdom?
He could enter Mulan Kingdom without much risk.
‘The best option is free citizen status from the Rokto Empire.’
The Rokto Empire was one of the top three superpowers in the Atlantis dimension and the suzerain over both Terra and Mulan Kingdoms.
With Rokto Empire free citizen status?
He could freely travel not just Terra and Mulan Kingdoms, but most kingdoms in the region.
‘The problem is how damn hard it is to get.’
The Rokto Empire didn’t easily grant free citizen status even to players who cleared the tutorial.
No matter how skilled, you had to serve at least a year in the Rokto Empire army.
If you lacked skill?
It was three years of service to earn free citizen status.
‘Legal methods are out.’
The seals engraved on the back of the hand via magic were nearly impossible to forge.
That’s why every nation in the Atlantis dimension used them as identification.
But “nearly impossible” meant.
‘That it’s still possible somehow.’
The issue was that Kang Hyun-soo had no info on forgers.
In his past life, he’d never mingled with such criminals.
‘It might work out if things go well.’
He wasn’t confident yet.
‘For now, let’s focus on raising Lone Platoon’s rank, even if it means burning through stats.’
For the moment, his level 300-range stats were more than enough.
‘I still have two years left.’
Yukimura died two years from now.
All he had to do was head to Mulan Kingdom before then and snag Yukimura’s Stat Fixation skill.
“Hyun-soo.”
While Kang Hyun-soo was lost in thought, the loot sorting finished.
“Let’s go.”
Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na freed the players captured by the human hunters and left the area.
* * *
Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na hunted human hunters in low-level hunting grounds.
They occasionally ran into high-level human hunters and got into tight spots.
But with the help of their summoned beasts, they emerged victorious each time.
And those slain high-level human hunters became Kang Hyun-soo’s new summoned beasts.
As a result, Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na raised their Guardian of the Beginner Hunting Grounds title to S-Rank.
* * *
In the Geo Guild’s conference room.
A cold silence hung in the air.
“How many have we lost so far?”
Oh Deok-gu, the Geo Guild master, asked one of his guildmates.
“Not sure exactly, but it’s over a few hundred, I think.”
“And you still haven’t dealt with it?”
“I’m sorry, boss!”
The reporting guildmate bowed 90 degrees toward guild master Oh Deok-gu.
“What? Sorry?”
Thwack!
Oh Deok-gu kicked the guildmate in the waist.
Then he drew the sword at his waist, sheath and all.
“Sorry won’t cut it!”
Thwack!
He swung it mercilessly.
“You’ve gotta solve it!”
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Oh Deok-gu vented his rage by beating the guildmate.
The other guildmates watching turned pale.
“Huff! Huff!”
Oh Deok-gu spat out ragged breaths.
The beaten guildmate was covered in blood.
“Fuck!”
But Oh Deok-gu’s anger hadn’t subsided.
“The auction house bastards are throwing fits because they’re not getting their slaves!”
Oh Deok-gu scowled deeply.
Oh Deok-gu was the master of the mid-tier Geo Guild.
But that was just a front.
In truth, he was the ringleader of the human hunters.
Oh Deok-gu had been an organized crime thug back on Earth.
True to the saying that a dog’s habits die hard, he dove straight into crime upon arriving in the Atlantis dimension.
And now.
He had risen to become a major player in the illegal slave trade.
‘At this rate, I’m gonna lose the whole business.’
With the tutorial over, this was prime time for human hunters.
Yet some no-name interlopers were on the verge of ruining his entire operation.
‘Guess I’ll have to step in myself.’
Oh Deok-gu hated getting off his ass.
He usually handled things through his guildmates.
But they kept dying no matter how many he sent, so he had no choice this time.
“Send everyone out and flush those interlopers into the open! Find out who they are by any means and report back to me! Got it?”
“Yes, boss!”
* * *
Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na, as usual, spotted human hunters in the beginner hunting grounds.
They exchanged hand signals and launched their attack.
KABOOOM!
Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na fired off fire-based attack skills for the first strike.
“What the hell?”
“Ambush!”
“Kill them!”
The human hunters counterattacked.
But.
The human hunters couldn’t handle Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na.
‘What’s this? Why are they so tenacious?’
Confusion colored Kang Hyun-soo’s face.
Normally, they’d abandon their comrades and flee, but they were holding their ground desperately.
“Just hold on a bit longer! We’ll live if we do!”
Then the apparent leader of the human hunters bellowed at the top of his lungs.
‘Something’s off.’
Both the way these guys, who’d discard allies like trash when things got tough, were fighting tooth and nail.
And the leader shouting that survival was possible if they just held out a little longer.
‘A trap?’
Kang Hyun-soo knew the mid-level players mixed in among the human hunters.
He also knew how the underlings moved if you cut them down.
‘Finally dragging that heavy ass into action, huh.’
A bright smile bloomed on Kang Hyun-soo’s lips.
‘Oh Deok-gu, I’ll cut your throat before you cause more harm.’
Oh Deok-gu, master of Geo Guild.
Before his regression, he was scum among scum, infamous for it.
A Korean selling fellow Koreans into slavery—human trash.
‘Kidnapping via human hunters was just one of his many methods.’
Oh Deok-gu used his guild master status as bait, sweet-talking countless Korean players and demoting their status to slaves.
And that wasn’t all.
Later, during the all-out war, he betrayed the allied forces and defected to the Demon King’s army.
‘His betrayal caused massive allied losses.’
Thanks to Oh Deok-gu’s treason, Kang Hyun-soo had faced death multiple times.
‘He had solid connections with Terra Kingdom officials, so I couldn’t touch him in the cities, but he’s coming out himself.’
A few days ago, he might’ve avoided Oh Deok-gu.
Not anymore.
‘I’ll make him pay for the sins he committed before the regression.’
With murderous eyes, Kang Hyun-soo swung his sword at the human hunters.
Moments later.
The human hunters lay as cold corpses on the ground.
“Hyun-soo, it was a trap. I can sense presences all around us.”
Song Ha-na said to Kang Hyun-soo with a tense expression.
“Should we run or fight?”
Kang Hyun-soo asked Song Ha-na.
With their current skills?
Breaking through the encirclement was a breeze.
“I think it’d be best to punch through the encirclement first and take out the enemies chasing us.”
It was a good plan.
Breaking through meant they could retreat anytime if things went south.
“Let’s do that.”
“Yes!”
At Kang Hyun-soo’s approval, Song Ha-na flashed a bright smile and leaped to breach the encirclement.
‘Guess I’ll go too.’
Kang Hyun-soo followed Song Ha-na.
“Block them!”
“The big boss is coming soon!”
Human hunters swarmed from all sides.
Whoosh!
They hurled iron nets in unison.
Slash! Slash!
Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na sliced through the nets.
But that was just the beginning.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Arrows rained down like a storm.
Roar!
Crackle!
Attack skills flew in from every direction.
KABOOOM!
Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na dodged appropriately or used defensive skills while whittling down the enemies’ numbers one by one.
‘Just a bunch of flashy weaklings with numbers.’
Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na kept growing stronger.
Especially Song Ha-na’s growth was terrifying.
She’d been merely level 30 at the end of the tutorial; now she was a whopping level 178.
Hunting hordes of level 100-200 human hunters had turned into pure power-leveling.
‘If I hadn’t used Skill Reinforcement, my level would be higher.’
But he had no regrets.
‘I’ll start seriously stacking stats after getting Yukimura’s Stat Fixation skill.’
Once he had Yukimura’s Stat Fixation?
He could easily catch up to Song Ha-na’s growth rate.
Plus.
‘It’s not certain, but.’
If he wrapped this up well?
He might find a way to forge a seal.