Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: What Hunts Back
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The water spears that blanketed dozens of meters around the land seals claimed the lives of every beast in the midst of attacking them.
The spears didn't just erupt from the river.
They burst forth from pools of beast blood and sprouted like needles from the blood smeared on their bodies.
In the end, all twenty or so beasts within range perished. Those lucky enough to survive outside the attack zone finally regained their senses and began fleeing with chunks of beast corpses in their jaws.
Even the beasts far from the range, no longer interested in fighting, slunk away, snatching dead carcasses in their maws as they rapidly withdrew from the battlefield.
The land seals warily eyed the fleeing beasts until every one had vanished from the surroundings. Only then did they huddle together, licking each other's wounds and tending to their gravely injured kin.
Hwan-in spotted a few dragging away or clutching the corpses of barely slain land seals in their forepaws as they fled.
Mostly standout powerhouses like the vampire beasts and dragon-horned rhinos.
He'd had his suspicions, but were they really gathering to target land seal meat?
"......"
Hwan-in stared at the land seals licking one another's wounds.
The group, reduced from over thirty to about twenty, tensed under his gaze.
They had witnessed Hwan-in single-handedly slaughtering beasts from afar. As a result, they deemed him more dangerous than all the other beasts combined.
Hwan-in had similarly raised his threat assessment of the land seals, so he had no intention of clashing with them directly.
As if sensing each other's thoughts, they averted their eyes simultaneously and went about their respective tasks.
Hwan-in stripped off his blood- and flesh-caked coat, washed it in the water, and cleaned the blood-matted hair and face while deep in thought.
'The vampire beast's soul orb glowed brighter than a low-grade one. The physical enhancement was stronger too, so... mid-low grade, I'd say.'
After washing off the blood from his body, Hwan-in began sorting the souls floating aimlessly in the air.
First, send all the lowest-grade souls to the afterlife. As for the low-grade ones...
Squawk! Squawk!
"......"
Hwan-in watched as Emergency Ration, who had been hiding from the three flying beasts overhead, swiftly flew in. After a moment's hesitation, he performed Spirit Possession on it with the soul of a tri-eyed dog, which enhanced eyesight.
Squawk? Squa-squawk?
A faint glow emanated from Emergency Ration's black eyes, which seemed slightly bewildered.
He himself couldn't assimilate the tri-eyed dog's eyesight enhancement as a technique, but perhaps Emergency Ration, with its already keen vision, could.
'If it works, great. If not, no big loss.'
Watching Emergency Ration wildly twisting its head to look around everywhere, Hwan-in picked up his staff.
For now, he liberated the soul orbs of one dragon-horned rhino (increased skull hardness) and one camel bird (massive leg strength boost), and one of the two tri-eyed dog soul orbs.
He filled the three vacant slots with soul orbs from one vampire beast and two land seals.
"Hm."
Gazing at the staff's antlers, Hwan-in converted another vampire beast soul into a soul orb. He'd just realized that the battle had increased his soul orb capacity from nine to ten.
Now he had four vampire beast soul orbs, three spike-tail pig soul orbs, one tri-eyed dog soul orb, and two land seal ones.
Just then, the vampire beast's Spirit Possession effect ended, so Hwan-in drew in the soul of a land seal that lingered around its kin as if reluctant to leave and enacted Spirit Possession.
"Urgh..."
Hwan-in let out a small groan at the unfamiliar sensation of the possession.
All previous possessions had made his heart pound larger and faster, strengthening his body.
But the land seal's possession brought a chilling thrill like ice water flooding his mind, accelerating his mental processes.
'My brain didn't get smarter... I see.'
Right after the possession, he noticed part of his dropped body temperature recovering. That's when Hwan-in realized the land seal possession's effect.
If possessions could strengthen the body, it was only natural some bolstered the mind.
Hwan-in swung his staff, unleashing a Soul Burst with the remaining souls.
Thump! Boom boom!
'The burden of Soul Burst lessened a bit. Power increased too. And...'
Concentrating his mind, the soul orbs compressed like the land seal's water arrows, shooting faster than any arrow.
Whoosh! Crunch.
Hwan-in's eyes gleamed at the power of the soul arrow that slightly pierced the rock before vanishing.
Even using a low-grade soul orb, it gouged rock.
'No, it's amplified by the land seal possession effect.'
Concentrating again, the orb spread thin and wide like a shield, moving at his command.
Both mimicked the land seal's water manipulation techniques.
'Soul Burst, Soul Arrow, Soul Shield.'
Hwan-in instinctively knew he could use these even after the possession faded and smirked.
Handling offense, defense, and buffs solo—if this were a game, he'd be called a cheater without complaint.
"Hm."
Then, a chill stabbed down his spine like plunging into ice water. He shivered faintly.
He'd overconsumed Warm Ki testing his new powers.
'Time to head back and rest.'
He'd achieved beyond his goals. No need to push further.
Hwan-in severed a hind leg from a nearby dead spike-tail pig, slung it over his shoulder, and glanced at the wounded land seals dotted across their bodies.
The land seals uttered their distinctive pheasant-like cries, as if mourning their three fallen kin.
He watched them briefly, then turned toward the valley, leaving their cries echoing faintly behind.
"Emergency Ration. 'Vigilance.'"
Squawk!
At the cliff entrance to the valley, Hwan-in stripped off all his clothes and began washing.
The stench from them was becoming unbearable.
Realizing it wasn't just the clothes, he dove into the river in his underwear. His teeth chattered from the brutally cold water as he scrubbed his body.
Using shreds of his running shirt as a makeshift washcloth, the freezing cold made him desperately want to possess any soul for warmth.
"Hrrrr..."
But he couldn't waste soul orbs on this.
Gritting his chattering teeth, he finished washing, hurriedly gathered his clothes and gear, and returned to the smoking pit. He quickly extinguished the embers, lit dry firewood he'd prepared, and built a bonfire.
"Hooowooo..."
Basking in the warm flames, a mix of sighs and shivers escaped him.
The bonfire couldn't touch the deep chill from Warm Ki depletion, but it was enough to raise his body temperature after the cold plunge.
That aside...
He turned his gaze to the deer-antler staff glowing like a Christmas tree.
Of the ten soul orbs on the antlers, six emitted a slightly purer light than the rest.
Four from vampire beasts and two from land seals.
'The vampire beast possession was impressive.'
It felt like standing at the top of the food chain pyramid as an apex predator.
If a mid-low grade like the vampire beast was this potent, what about unclassifiable ones like the blue-flame tiger or six-legged deer-horse?
A sudden pang of regret hit him.
He'd learned multiple techniques from the land seal possession, but they weren't highly practical in his current situation.
First, their power wasn't exceptional.
The Soul Arrow barely pierced rock, thanks to the land seal enhancement. He could match that easily by possessing a low-grade soul and swinging his spear.
Second, soul orbs were limited to ten, hard to acquire—each required killing a beast—and had possession durations.
Unless souls were plentiful like earlier, burning two or three orbs to claim one beast didn't add up.
'Still, I've got a ranged attack option now.'
Combat was unpredictable; more tools were always better.
Feeling his body dry, Hwan-in stood.
His spine still ached like it was dunked in ice water from Warm Ki shortage, but it didn't hinder movement.
He hung his wet clothes near the bonfire, fetched pre-cooked meat and vegetables, and ate with Emergency Ration.
"Eyesight improved?"
Squawk? Squawk squawk.
As Hwan-in stroked its head, Emergency Ration, unsure but happy for the pets and food, rubbed its head against his palm with delighted squawks.
After eating, clad only in drawers, Hwan-in checked the smoking pit—now 18 hours in—and added more leaves and branches.
Moments later, seeing smoke billowing out, he covered the pit and tried to soak the spike-tail pig hind leg in the river, but...
"......"
First spotting the state of the previously soaked meat, Hwan-in's face hardened.
Splash—
He lifted the tattered chunk, shredded like piranha bait, and tossed it aside with a plop. Then he hefted a nearby rock weighing dozens of kilos.
"Hup!"
He slammed it down with a boom! on a large rock protruding from the river.
The impact split the rock, vibrations rumbling through his feet. Stunned fish soon floated belly-up on the surface.
These must've been the culprits devouring his meat.
"......"
The river naturally teemed with small fish—he'd simply overlooked it.
'Can't use the river as a freezer, so I'll have to smoke meat fresh each time.'
Squawk! Squawk!
As he stood dejected, Emergency Ration gleefully snapped up finger-thick fish.
It had just gorged on meat and bugs, yet ate more—probably fine for the clever bird. Hwan-in scooped three wrist-thick fish drifting in the current.
He slit their bellies with his knife, gutted them, scraped scales roughly, skewered them on sticks, and planted them near the bonfire.
Midnight snacks for later.
He checked the naturally drying meat.
"Good."
Still fine—no off smells, color a pale green-tinged white.
After seven hours drying, it had a slight chewiness that felt promising.
After a moment's thought, Hwan-in took half the dried meat off, fetched spike-tail pig thigh, and cut it into 3cm x 3cm x 6cm sticks, refilling the net.
The pit's thick cuts weren't smoking well, so thinner and shorter this time.
He resumed work on the 70% complete hut smoker.
Three hours later.
As full night fell, Hwan-in finished the triangular pyramid smoker. He wove a net from bamboo-like plants and set it up 50cm high inside the hut.
Then he inspected the ten hours naturally dried meat.
Untreated, he worried it'd spoil quickly, but the valley's cool air kept it good.
He laid it on the net and started smoking.
"Hm."
As smoke rose properly, only faint wisps escaped the pyramid's apex.
Per plan, perfect results. Satisfaction swelled—now for quality output.
One task done, many left.
Hwan-in donned dry clothes and checked the 18-hour pit.
"......"
Lifting the lid, cloying smoke billowed, carrying a fishy stench past his nose.
A chill gripped him. Frowning deeply, he pulled a skewer; instead of smoky aroma, an unpleasant odor wafted from the meat.
Soul Vision showed the once-white meat dyed sickly yellow-orange.
Tests with green monsters and beast-head monsters linked yellows to disease. The meat had spoiled—smoking failed.
"Sigh..."
Scratching his head furiously, Hwan-in sighed deeply. He'd sensed something off at the nine-hour taste test.
It was still squishy to the touch.
What caused it? Unclean hands?
He'd washed meticulously at the river, especially handling meat.
Bacteria from mild heat?
His hand in the pit felt lukewarm.
'Temperature control failure.'
Not half-hearted fire—should've blazed hot enough to scald.
"......"
Arms crossed, sifting memories, a YouTube National Geographic survival smoking video surfaced.
The guy built a smoker like a log cabin with stones, wood, and mud for the firebox.
Simple design, still fresh in mind.
Stone axe ready, wood plentiful, river nearby—materials easy.
"Sighhh."
Exhaling sharply, Hwan-in shoveled dirt over the failed pit skewers.
No reusing a bacteria-ridden hole.
He sketched the third smoker design on the ground.
'Stone base like a firebox... stacked logs like a cabin... sealed with mud...'
Awooooo—
Hoot— hoo-hoo—
"......"
The moon now overhead, wolf-dog howls and owl cries echoed across the twin mountains.
Hwan-in memorized the rough blueprint, slumped near the drying net against the cliff.
'Finish smoker tomorrow, start smoked meat day after—results in three days.'
Minimum three; four with soul-replenishing hunts.
He eyed the tipi-tent smoker. Results tomorrow, so...
'Pray for proper output.'
Even if functional, it'd smoke little meat at once—one meal's worth.
With gathered veggies, maybe two.
Even with firebox success, factoring Emergency Ration, a week's full production needed.
'Better make more smokers.'
Three days for two-to-three weeks' preserved food to cross the steppe.
Squawk.
Emergency Ration fluttered down, landing on Hwan-in's raised knee.
Hwan-in patted its carefree back—zero worry vibes—and climbed the cliff to the cave.