Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: Clash with the Zhonghua Guild
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“Block them!”
“We outnumber them!”
The Zhonghua Guild players, who had been smirking just moments ago, now shouted with desperate expressions.
One.
Slash! Rip!
Making their cries meaningless, the Zhonghua Guild players collapsed all too easily.
Even ten puppies banding together couldn’t take down a great tiger.
The Zhonghua Guild players had to pay dearly for acting like fearless pups who didn’t know the terror of a tiger.
“R-Run!”
“Call for the main force!”
In the end, the Zhonghua Guild players gave up resisting Kang Hyun-soo.
They had assumed that since they were hunting in the same area, they must be around the same level.
And at similar levels, their group—with more numbers, plus tanks, dealers, and healers—would have the advantage.
But that was a huge mistake.
What good were healers when the tanks couldn’t even withstand a single blow before their heads flew off?
However, even their escape didn’t go smoothly.
Crackle!
Because of the curtain of pitch-black lightning unleashed by Song Hana.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
And the Fist Emperor’s punches, wrapped in golden aura, flying at them like lightning.
These blocked their retreat.
“W-We were wrong. Please spare us.”
Once resistance and escape proved impossible, the Zhonghua Guild players finally raised the white flag.
As the Zhonghua Guild players stopped resisting, Song Hana and the Fist Emperor paused their attacks blocking the retreat and turned their gaze to Kang Hyun-soo.
“We’ll give you everything we have.”
“Just spare our lives.”
“It’s all that guy’s fault.”
“Yeah, we never meant to oppose you.”
Seeing Song Hana and the Fist Emperor’s actions, the Zhonghua Guild players dropped their items and money pouches at Kang Hyun-soo’s feet, begging for their lives.
“No can do. If I let you live, we’d have to fight the entire Zhonghua Guild.”
“We’ll keep our mouths shut.”
“We won’t tell a soul about today, so don’t worry.”
“We’ll report it as a monster attack. We swear.”
“I hated that guy too. Good riddance.”
In response to Kang Hyun-soo’s words, the Zhonghua Guild players vied with each other to promise secrecy.
But Kang Hyun-soo wasn’t one to believe such lip service.
They might say that now to save their skins.
‘Once the crisis passes, they’ll grit their teeth and vow revenge.’
Especially the Zhonghua Guild—they never forgave anyone who attacked their members.
Repay favors twofold, grudges tenfold.
That was the Zhonghua Guild’s creed.
‘They were infamous for it even before my regression.’
Most Chinese valued face above all.
The Zhonghua Guild, made up of Chinese players, was no different.
Thus, they never let anyone who touched their guild members get away with it.
They believed sitting idle after an attack would tarnish their reputation.
‘Those fools who started a war over face.’
Before his regression, the Zhonghua Guild had gone to war with the American Phoenix Guild over a petty dispute.
And that was...
‘In the middle of an all-out war with the Demon King’s army—against their own allies, no less.’
There was no way those guys would let this slide.
Decisively.
‘No need to spare the ones who came at me first, intent on killing.’
Boom!
Blood-red aura rose from Kang Hyun-soo’s sword.
Seeing this, the Zhonghua Guild players’ faces drained of color.
“P-Please spare us!”
“We won’t breathe a word of today!”
The Zhonghua Guild players begged for their lives once more.
“Hey, how about letting them live?”
At that moment, the Fist Emperor cautiously spoke up.
“Let them live?”
The Fist Emperor nodded at Kang Hyun-soo’s question.
“Thank you! Thank you!”
“We’ll never forget this kindness!”
They hadn’t even been spared yet, but the Zhonghua Guild players bowed repeatedly to the Fist Emperor in gratitude.
They realized their only hope lay in winning his favor.
“The dead leader was the one at fault, not these guys.”
The Fist Emperor timidly argued.
“These guys are just as bad. Didn’t you see them smirking earlier? Plus, if they blab, we’ll turn the massive Zhonghua Guild into our enemy.”
“I know that. But killing them feels excessive. What if we pull out their tongues and chop off their arms? Then they can’t share info about us, right? Oh, they could write with their feet, so maybe chop those off too?”
At the Fist Emperor’s words...
The Zhonghua Guild players, who had just been looking at him like a savior, stared in horror.
Pull out tongues and sever limbs?
They’d live, sure.
But they’d depend on others for life.
In some ways, crueler than a quick death.
“No can do. A guild like Zhonghua would have top healers who can regenerate severed tongues and limbs.”
“Oh, right?”
The Fist Emperor scratched his head sheepishly at Kang Hyun-soo’s words.
“Why are you suggesting we spare them?”
Kang Hyun-soo asked, puzzled.
The Fist Emperor was soft-hearted and a bit of a pushover at times.
But he was colder than anyone to enemies.
The day Kang Hyun-soo drank with the Fist Emperor and they were ambushed by thugs...
The Fist Emperor mercilessly ended the criminals.
So why suggest sparing them now?
“I don’t know exactly. I just have this nagging feeling that we shouldn’t kill them.”
“A feeling?”
Kang Hyun-soo’s eyes flashed at the Fist Emperor’s words.
“Yeah, that kind of feeling.”
Kang Hyun-soo’s expression hardened.
The Fist Emperor’s instincts couldn’t be dismissed lightly.
It was due to his unique skill, Beastly Sense.
Kang Hyun-soo thought Beastly Sense only helped in combat.
But no.
It was like an animal instinct?
Something like that had awakened in him.
The Beastly Sense skill Kang Hyun-soo copied with Replica was only C-Rank.
The Fist Emperor’s, however, was a whopping A-Rank.
Even Kang Hyun-soo sometimes had off hunches with C-Rank Beastly Sense.
And those were exactly when the Fist Emperor’s were off too.
And unexpected accidents always followed.
The Fist Emperor’s hunches triggered far more often than his.
Especially at A-Rank.
They were almost prophetic in accuracy.
Places the Fist Emperor felt uneasy about?
A surprise powerful monster appeared, nearly killing them.
Tasks he sensed were off?
Curses or traps struck, unforeseen problems arose.
‘Killing them would cause some issue. A curse? Or an auto-tracking skill?’
High likelihood.
Whoosh!
Kang Hyun-soo swung his sword.
“Eek!”
The targeted Zhonghua Guild player screamed in terror.
But Kang Hyun-soo’s sword wasn’t aimed at his life.
Slash!
The Zhonghua Guild player’s clothes shredded apart.
‘As expected.’
Kang Hyun-soo spotted a tattoo on his left thigh.
A familiar pattern.
‘Mark of Vengeance.’
When one player kills another?
The victor absorbs the loser’s residual mana.
The Mark of Vengeance exploits this.
When the killer absorbs residual mana, the mark gets absorbed too, leaving a mana-based tracker.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Kang Hyun-soo swung to check the other Zhonghua Guild players.
Positions varied slightly.
But every single one had a Mark of Vengeance somewhere on their body.
‘That’s why the Fist Emperor felt uneasy.’
The marks on the Zhonghua Guild players were low-level, E or D-Rank at best.
Low rank?
The mana tracker lasts very briefly.
Maybe 2-3 hours?
‘But Marks of Vengeance stack continuously.’
Even low-level ones build up power when stacked.
‘I killed three. Song Hana and the Fist Emperor each killed one. If I’d killed the remaining five?’
The mark would’ve lasted at least half a day, up to a full day.
‘Still dangerous now.’
Three kills.
Meaning the mark lasts 6 to 9 hours minimum.
“Thanks to you, we’re safe.”
Kang Hyun-soo clapped the Fist Emperor’s shoulder.
He truly owed his life to him.
Without that uneasy feeling...
He wouldn’t have known about the Marks of Vengeance.
And he’d have returned to Lujavenu oblivious.
‘The moment I entered Lujavenu, I’d be Zhonghua’s assassination target.’
That would’ve been disastrous.
“You’re saying I saved us? What do you mean?”
“Yeah, what’s with those tattoos?”
The Fist Emperor and Song Hana asked, faces full of curiosity.
“That’s...”
Kang Hyun-soo briefly explained the Mark of Vengeance.
“Didn’t know something like that existed.”
“Yeah.”
The Fist Emperor and Song Hana were quite shocked by the explanation.
And they looked a bit guilty.
Both had clashed with other players before.
“No need to worry. Tattooists who can apply them are rare.”
Non-combat players like tattooists aren’t common.
Especially those specializing in tracking tattoos like the Mark of Vengeance over combat ones—far rarer.
‘That’s how they always tracked killers before my regression.’
Using such a brute-force method.
‘That must cost a fortune.’
Applying tattoos consumes mana stones.
Not even combat-boosting ones, but postmortem tracking Marks of Vengeance on every guild member!
Extravagant didn’t begin to cover it.
But with their creed of repaying favors twofold and grudges tenfold, it fit the Zhonghua Guild.
‘The rank-and-file probably didn’t know.’
Likely just shared among executives.
No point risking leaks by informing grunts.
‘Knowing about the Mark of Vengeance makes solutions easy.’
Whoosh!
Kang Hyun-soo swung his sword.
Thud! Thud!
He struck the backs of the Zhonghua Guild players’ heads with the flat of his blade.
Packed full of mana, naturally.
Thump! Thump!
The Zhonghua Guild players crumpled limply to the ground.
“What are you doing?”
“You said not to kill them?”
The Fist Emperor and Song Hana asked, stunned.
“Using the solution you gave me.”
Kang Hyun-soo looked at the Fist Emperor.
“Me? What?”
“You.”
The Fist Emperor looked flustered.
“Yeah, you said to rip out tongues and chop off limbs.”
The method the Fist Emperor suggested.
That was exactly how to evade the Mark of Vengeance.
Of course, Kang Hyun-soo didn’t actually do that.
He just used his mana-charged sword like a club to deliver a concussion-inducing blow to the brain—temporary brain trauma.
“Let’s step away for a bit.”
Song Hana and the Fist Emperor looked baffled at Kang Hyun-soo’s words.
“Where to?”
“Leaving them here okay?”
“Monsters will handle them if we leave ’em. We just need to check no other players approach while they’re here.”
“Ah!”
“Right. As long as we don’t kill them ourselves.”
Only then did the Fist Emperor and Song Hana grasp Kang Hyun-soo’s solution.
Death by proxy.
Using monsters to eliminate Zhonghua Guild players?
No need to fear Mark of Vengeance retaliation.