18
Chapter 18: Hunt, and Hunt Again
The season had begun.
Hunting season.
Dong Bong-su began to reversely slaughter those who were searching for him.
As always, he proceeded with everything very carefully, but the process was not entirely smooth.
Dong Bong-su was well aware that he was still quite weak. Frontal confrontations were dangerous, so he ended everything with ambushes whenever possible.
He applied the Inventory technique he'd used extensively during the suicide epidemic to shake off pursuing Black Agents before secretly attacking from behind to kill them, and sometimes lured them to secluded places before setting fires. Whatever method he used, Dong Bong-su played several moves ahead of the Black Agents.
If the body is weak, compete with brains and patience.
In that manner, members of the White Tiger Group, one of Bongyang's three major Black Groups, died one by one.
By the time White Tiger, the leader of the White Tiger Group, belatedly became alarmed, more than half of the White Tiger Group's members had already been killed.
Through this process, Dong Bong-su was able to raise his level from 2 to 4. Moreover, he obtained an unintended side effect. He gained a quite useful new mask called the Nameless Vigilante.
Thanks to that, he could deal with the Black Groups even more easily. The government and citizens had transformed his murder spree into heroic conduct. So when operating as the Nameless Vigilante, he no longer needed to worry about others' eyes.
Even so, he continued the killings as carefully as possible. He knew better than anyone that a single moment's mistake could lead to failure. In any moment, any situation, carelessness was absolutely forbidden.
Wolf packs never attack the front when hunting large animals. They circle around and around, and when they spot an opening, they take bites to exhaust their prey.
Sometimes a bite of the leg, sometimes a bite of the rump, and sometimes a bite of the testicles.
Eventually, the exhausted animal falls.
Dong Bong-su continued attacking the White Tiger Group in such a manner, relying on luring, guiding, ambushes, arson, and disguises. More carefully. Because he was alone, not a pack.
Thus, the White Tiger Group slowly disintegrated.
Nevertheless, the most important figure, White Tiger, the leader of the White Tiger Group, still remained intact. As Dong Bong-su continued fighting them, he realized that White Tiger was the White Tiger Group itself. Unless he was eliminated, the White Tiger Group could be considered fine.
From the point he recognized that fact, Dong Bong-su began torturing the White Tiger Group's Black Agents rather than killing them immediately. It was to collect as much information as possible about White Tiger before killing them. As a result, he was able to obtain much information about White Tiger.
However,
All that information only led to the conclusion that White Tiger was a man without openings. Moreover, the martial prowess of White Tiger, measured indirectly based on the Black Agents' testimonies, was too much for Dong Bong-su, who was only Level 4 now, to handle even with an ambush.
To make matters worse, White Tiger had become extremely reluctant to go out due to his subordinates' repeated deaths. Now it became even harder to catch White Tiger, and the White Tiger Group's lair, which he'd barely discovered, was becoming a kind of fortress.
In a situation where victory was uncertain even with an ambush, with him holed up like that, there was absolutely no way to kill White Tiger. Nor could he enter the lair.
Even in such a situation.
Dong Bong-su discovered one very small opening in White Tiger. Though rare, there were times when White Tiger came out of his lair.
He carefully observed White Tiger's outings.
White Tiger only went out to do exactly two things.
Collection and philandering. Those two things.
Even then, White Tiger didn't just go out—he traveled with dozens of Black Agents.
Looking only at martial arts prowess, the power difference was so vast that Dong Bong-su could do nothing more against White Tiger and the White Tiger Group even if he died and came back to life.
However, Dong Bong-su had been wearing a triumphant smile inside since White Tiger's very first outing. He had finally found a way to catch White Tiger.
No matter how thoroughly meticulous a person is, they tend to let their guard down under certain circumstances. Dong Bong-su aimed for that primordial moment of carelessness, the very best moment among them.
He secretly snuck into the house where the concubine lived, timing it to the day White Tiger came to meet his concubine. For Dong Bong-su, who could remove pillars using the Inventory, this was a piece of cake.
He infiltrated the latrine. There, without any hesitation, he hid inside the human feces with only a bamboo leaf breathing tube in his mouth.
The first few times failed because White Tiger didn't come to the latrine. Then, the next few times, White Tiger's concubine came and only discharged liquid mixed with semen, vaginal fluids, and urine. But Dong Bong-su was a patient person. Without missing a single day, he infiltrated the concubine's house, timing it to White Tiger's outings.
Eventually.
After finishing hot intercourse with his concubine, he succeeded in stabbing a sword into White Tiger's anus as he came with a relaxed mind to pour out the ultimate purification and feces. The bastard departed for the Yellow Springs without properly screaming even once due to the sword that pierced through from below to his throat.
He would have no regrets. He would have properly felt his final orgasm before departing.
Dong Bong-su thus became Level 5 and acquired two new skills.
Lightness Arts and Three Talents Sword Technique First Form Sweeping Away a Thousand Soldiers.
[Lightness Arts Lv.1 Proficiency: 0%]
Martial arts that lighten the body. By learning Lightness Arts, you can jump higher and run faster.
Currently Applied Level: Lv.0 (Player can adjust the level tier of this skill.)
Jump Power Bonus: 0%
Movement Power Bonus: 0%
Energy Consumption per Second: 0 JP
[Three Talents Sword Technique - First Form Sweeping Away a Thousand Soldiers Lv.1 Proficiency: 0%]
An extremely common sword technique in the Martial World. Even ordinary people without internal energy can learn it.
Sweeping Away a Thousand Soldiers is an enhanced version of a horizontal slash.
All action bonuses of this skill are related to proficiency in related skills and whether Sword Energy is activated.
Currently Applied Level: Lv.1 (Player can adjust the level tier of this skill.)
Horizontal Slash Range Bonus: 1%
Horizontal Slash Attack Power Bonus: 1%
Horizontal Slash Casting Speed Bonus: 0%
Energy Consumption per Use: 30 JP
These were the two.
***
Lightness Arts and Sweeping Away a Thousand Soldiers—these two skills were the first Active Skills given to Dong Bong-su. By obtaining them, he finally became able to engage in frontal confrontations with the Black Agents.
Dong Bong-su easily finished off the White Tiger Group after White Tiger disappeared and was scheduled to begin hunting his next target.
The remaining Red Wolf Gate and Black Snake Society. Which Black Group should he strike first?
The deliberation wasn't very long.
While the Black Snake Society held back due to the White Tiger Group's annihilation, Red Wolf Gate actively came forward to absorb the White Tiger Group's territory. They attempted to expand their influence by exploiting the fact that the Nameless Vigilante had eliminated the White Tiger Group.
The next target was determined.
Red Wolf Gate.
They had underestimated the Nameless Vigilante—no, Dong Bong-su—too much. Or perhaps their greed was too excessive.
Dong Bong-su dealt with Red Wolf Gate's Black Agents relatively easily by utilizing his newly created skills and Inventory divine arts. Unlike when facing the White Tiger Group, he not only ambushed but sometimes boldly attempted frontal breakthroughs.
Bi Gyu-seo, the gate leader of Red Wolf Gate, was flustered. The Nameless Vigilante was much stronger and more aggressive than he had expected. He had thought there would be no major problems if they just were careful of ambushes, but it was a complete miscalculation.
It couldn't be helped because Dong Bong-su was evolving day by day. Not to mention leveling up, his Inventory usage technique was becoming increasingly proficient, and his understanding and proficiency with skills were also rising exponentially.
Red Wolf Gate's influence diminished much faster than the White Tiger Group's, and the more it did, the more Bongyang's citizens went wild. The faster and more he killed, the higher the Nameless Vigilante's heroic reputation rose.
"Nameless Vigilante! Nameless Vigilante! Mysterious great hero! I'm calling out too!"
Hero play imitating the Nameless Vigilante and songs appeared among children.
Finally, even Bi Gyu-seo bought a ticket to the Yellow Springs due to Dong Bong-su's ambush.
Red Wolf Gate was erased from the world, and for that achievement, Dong Bong-su was able to obtain experience points that exceeded Level 6 and approached nearly Level 7.
Around this time, he was aware that he had become much stronger.
And he was realizing that the time to move to the next stage was approaching.
Now the experience points he could obtain from Black Agents had become very limited, as limited as the amount he'd gained when killing ordinary people at Level 1.
It was still fairly useful for now, but he predicted that by the time he finished off the Black Snake Society entirely, the experience points obtained from killing them would become insignificant.
In fact, even though he had completely swept through Nakwon Village, the Black Snake Society's stronghold, today, his experience points hadn't increased much. Before coming here, Level 7 was already not far off, yet he barely became Level 7.
Nevertheless, Dong Bong-su was satisfied with today's results.
The 'Inventory Divine Arts' he'd become quite familiar with had shown great effect this time as well. It was used when striking down enemies coming from behind, and was also utilized when putting the beams of abandoned houses into the Inventory after stealing the attention of hiding enemies with deception tactics using corpses.
His ability to apply Sweeping Away a Thousand Soldiers, the newly acquired skill, had also increased greatly. He lured enemies to one place using corpse shields, then massacred them all with Sweeping Away a Thousand Soldiers. If it had been just slashing, he wouldn't have achieved such an effect.
Lightness Arts had now reached Level 3, to the point where jump power and movement power increased by a whopping 100%. Since Energy Points (JP) consumption was large, he usually kept it off and could adjust and use it as needed when necessary.
'How strong am I now?'
Dong Bong-su suddenly posed such a question. Though it wasn't a question he could answer himself, he could define it with one short and powerful word.
"Pretty."
Pretty strong now.
Compared to when he existed in Seoul, there was a difference equivalent to that between a firefly and moonlight.
Then...
Was it now time to kill martial artists?