Chapter 29
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: The Troll King Kataku (1)
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After the hunters entered the gate for their hunt.
Though they had been caught off guard at first, scattered in disarray and brutally overwhelmed by trolls far beyond normal standards, they had steadily reduced their numbers ever since fortifying their makeshift stronghold.
They couldn't take them down in large batches due to the limitations of divide-and-conquer tactics, but through persistent, grinding hunts, they had whittled them down enough to believe they had a real shot at victory.
And now, staring at the horde of trolls marching toward the fortress, Bae Deok-ho felt that optimism shatter like brittle bone.
"...Damn it all."
His usual lighthearted, jovial demeanor wiped clean, he muttered the curse with a blank expression.
Through his third skill, Penetrating Vista, he could see exactly fifty trolls bearing down on them.
But those fifty weren't all the same.
Forty-five were the same type they'd encountered upon first entering the gate.
Four more were bulkier, their bodies covered in bizarre tattoos.
And finally, one massive, radiating sheer menace.
Naturally, that last one screamed "boss" on instinct.
"This is bad. Can we even hold them off?"
Even the weakest-looking among them could solo five hunters here without breaking a sweat.
And with only sixty-eight hunters left in the fortress right now...
Subtracting the seventeen confirmed dead that their leader had verified—somehow—and estimating fifteen more losses, it was a grim tally.
Bae Deok-ho clenched his teeth as he pieced it together.
"Is this for real...?"
As Bae Deok-ho murmured to himself incomprehensibly, a Giant Hound leaped up behind him.
He turned and managed a weary smile at the arrival.
"Leader."
"Mr. Bae."
After a curt exchange, the two fell silent, staring at the troll army advancing on the fortress.
Bae Deok-ho forced his mouth open.
"This is gonna be rough, huh...?"
No matter how you sliced it, hope looked distant.
He hadn't said it outright, but the power gap was undeniable.
Yet the response to his rhetorical question defied his expectations entirely.
"No. We don't know that yet."
"...What?"
Bae Deok-ho startled, turning to Kang Sa-hu.
He'd assumed Kang Sa-hu was gazing at the approaching trolls, but no—the man fixed him with glowing blue-green eyes.
Bae Deok-ho found himself entranced by that gaze: terrifying, as if it could suck in souls, yet resolute and unyielding.
"Mr. Bae. This time, I'll give it everything I have."
"...Like always?"
Bae Deok-ho tried to laugh it off, but Kang Sa-hu shook his head, expression unchanged.
"No. Everything, literally. If I don't use it now, there won't be another chance."
Bae Deok-ho's eyes widened in shock, only to bulge further at the next words.
"So please, Mr. Bae—don't hold back either. Give it everything."
"...W-What are you talking about? You know I always go all out~"
"No."
Another flat denial.
Bae Deok-ho's eyes wavered.
Kang Sa-hu met those buoy-tossed eyes with the stillness of ocean depths and spoke again.
"Give it everything."
"......"
Bae Deok-ho's face hardened back to its earlier blank mask.
"...You knew?"
"A little. At first, I figured you had your reasons and respected your privacy. But."
He shifted his gaze to the now-closer trolls, finishing his thought.
"Not anymore. I can't afford to."
"...Ha, haha."
Bae Deok-ho burst into relieved laughter, as if shedding tight shackles.
Grinning his usual grin once more, he replied.
"Got it, Leader!"
Kang Sa-hu nodded with a faint smile.
He grabbed a fistful of soul cores from the cloth pouch he'd fashioned into a sack and tossed them out, summoning every minion at his command.
Thirty Giant Hounds.
One King Forest Lizard.
One Vampiric Ape and seventy Corpse-Eating Apes.
None bore the zombie-like rot or twisted flesh typical of undead.
Apart from their fiercer, more savage appearances, they looked just as they had in life.
These were devourers—top-tier among the necromancer's arsenal of zombies and ghouls—now far stronger than in life.
And above all, since they sustained themselves by devouring others' blood, flesh, and bone, their potential for growth was the real game-changer.
Even at a glance, their ferocious auras made Bae Deok-ho swallow hard.
"...So this is your full power."
"No."
Despite denying him repeatedly already, Kang Sa-hu shot down the guess once more—insistent on accuracy.
"My full power is under construction in the fortress."
"Ughhh...."
"Ow, oppa! Hold it straight! That's sloppy right there!"
"A-Alright, alright."
Unlike his usual calm self, Kim Ho-myeong gritted his teeth and slotted the bone into place as Kang Ji-ye directed.
Made entirely of bone, it was a skeletal frame at best, but the throne for a king was only just starting to take basic shape.
Kang Ji-ye eyed Kim Ho-myeong's bone-handling aversion with frustration.
"It's not like there's muscle or blood on it. No rot stench either. This is prime working conditions—why make it so hard on yourself?!"
Kim Ho-myeong flushed at her scolding.
She was right; no time for qualms, yet here he was, spooked by mere bones and slacking off.
Shamed, he glanced at Lee Yu-rim, who worked silently assembling the bone seat.
He sought her stoic resolve to steel his own.
"......"
But seeing Lee Yu-rim—half-dazed, face ashen white, mechanically fitting bones—filled him with a different shame.
'No whining from me! Lee Yu-rim's pushing through even if it means abandoning her sanity!'
Watching her operate like the half-dead, Kim Ho-myeong let his mind drift in kind.
Confirming their pallid, diligent efforts, Kang Ji-ye refocused on her task.
'Not enough time.'
Centered on the bone seat Kim Ho-myeong and Lee Yu-rim assembled, Kang Ji-ye etched a complex magic circle into the ground, biting her lower lip.
What should have taken three necromancers an all-nighter was crawling along with two total novices.
Kang Sa-hu had anticipated this and scaled back expectations accordingly.
'Doesn't have to be perfect. Time short? Cut corners. But finish it.'
"Tch, even abbreviated, this is pushing it."
Kang Ji-ye grumbled—not at him, but at their inability to do it properly.
"At this rate, oppa won't even get a fifth of his real power."
Aware of the time crunch, she'd opted for the most basic abbreviated circle.
The bare minimum to channel a necromancer's might.
Minimum in name only—like offering plain rice and a plastic spoon on an altar. Pathetic and makeshift was more accurate.
'Sorry, oppa...'
Not her fault, yet facing the reality that she could only prepare this for someone desperately giving his all to save them, tears welled up.
Sniffling them away, Kang Ji-ye gripped a stone to resume carving the circle.
Then, a earth-shaking roar erupted from afar.
Boom-boom-boom—crash!
"Krrrk."
Kataku blinked in mild surprise at the cliff rubble now blocking their path.
Trolls caught under it lost limbs but crawled out stubbornly, regenerating mangled bodies soon after.
[Not bad.]
Having only seen hunters fleeing desperately till now, this caught him off guard—amplifying the surprise.
The towering cliffs that had scraped the sky on both sides collapsed, sealing the trolls' advance.
Kataku looked up to lock eyes with Bae Deok-ho peering down from atop the cliff.
[This could be fun.]
As Kataku grinned and shifted to move—
A troll beside him stepped forward.
[My king. These pests aren't worth your time. Let us handle it.]
Its speech was refined, unlike the crude grunts of lesser trolls.
These were Kataku's elite: sharp in wits and brawn.
Bigger than the rank-and-file, adorned with ritual tattoos for strength enhancement.
Kataku considered, then shook his head.
[Their vanguard's already this tough. No need for you to risk injury.]
The elite bowed at Kataku's words.
He jabbed a finger roughly at the rear ranks, conscripting ten trolls.
[You lot—deal with him.]
The chosen ten bellowed in pride at their king's selection.
"Kuwaaaah—!"
"Kruuaaah—!"
Muscles rippling, the ten trolls scaled the cliff.
Stee p and tall, but dry and grippy enough.
With strength to shatter boulders, they closed the gap with surprising speed for their bulk.
"Kuhaak!"
The first to summit whooped, eager to rip Bae Deok-ho apart.
But no human attacker awaited.
Keruruk.
The human gone; instead, a King Forest Lizard rolled its bulging eyes.
The troll paused in confusion—
Just long enough for the lizard to lash its tongue like a missile, snag the troll, and gulp it down.
"......!"
The troll vanished into its gut without a scream.
Inside, rage boiled.
[Rip it apart—!]
It flexed to shred organs and burst free—but its hands were already gone.
[Kreeegh...!]
A hallmark of devourers: stomach acid hundreds of times stronger than hydrochloric.
It flooded instantly, melting the troll in seconds.
Sizzle—
The King Forest Lizard threw its head back and roared in triumph.