Chapter 203
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 203
Chapter Title: Incarnations' Assault
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The Abnormal Dungeon has activated.
Accordingly, the dungeon's location will be revealed in 6 hours.
Not even an hour had passed since the message announcing the creation of the Abnormal Dungeon appeared.
Yet someone had already discovered the Abnormal Dungeon and begun clearing it.
"Who the hell...?"
Yeo Sun-woo tilted his head in confusion.
Both Hoyoung Guild and countless other guilds were already on the move.
It was all because of the penalty.
Though he had never experienced it himself, he was certain that if it were imposed, it would have a massive impact on Earth.
But no matter how much they searched, they only found normal dungeons.
The Abnormal Dungeon remained undiscovered.
"We should halt the search now and focus on clearing it after the location is revealed in 6 hours."
Yeo Min-ji offered her opinion.
She had no confidence that continuing the search would yield any meaningful results.
Instead, it made more sense to regroup properly and assault the dungeon once its position was public.
Yeo Sun-woo agreed with that assessment.
"Yeah. That sounds better."
And so, Hoyoung Guild called off the search.
Jeong Hoon had crossed through the portal, but the rest remained in place.
Sa Jae-hyeok was no exception.
'The Guide of the Fallen Star' says it will grant you a quest.
The next quest.
Just entering had netted him 25 million experience points.
What even better rewards would this one bring?
Incarnation Quest: Purge
-Restriction: Incarnation contracted with an Apostle-grade (Upper) Transcendent
-Reward: 50,000,000 experience EpicUnique grade item box (random)
-Description: Attack and kill the human hunting demons. (Rewards upgrade with more kills.)
One kill per reward?
Then how much did it increase with more kills?
'The Guide of the Fallen Star' says rewards double with each additional kill.
'Experience caps at 2,000,000,000, and box grade goes up to Legendary.
Insane!
Two billion experience points.
The dungeon video uploaded by that YouTuber, HoneyTube, had given a whopping 500 million experience.
But it was a one-time reward with no extras, which was disappointingnow this was four times that at two billion.
Sa Jae-hyeok stared at the portal.
Moments ago, a single martial artist named Hoon had exited through it.
The others showed no sign of moving, which meant they were all incarnations.
The answer was clear.
'Time for revenge.'
He'd make Shinwa Guild pay for screwing them over.
"Hwarang, let's go."
"...Once this revenge is done, we're through with each other."
Lee Hwarang had returned solely to get payback on that martial artist punk.
Once the goal was achieved, he'd say goodbye to that bastard Sa Jae-hyeok too.
"Got it."
Sa Jae-hyeok had no intention of holding him back.
It was a shame to lose such archery prowess, but he'd gained something far greater.
'Lee Hwarang, after you screw over the martial artist, I'll take you out.'
Lee Hwarang didn't know it, but Sa Jae-hyeok had received an extra quest from his Transcendent.
It was to kill a former comrade.
He'd initially targeted Park Jin-hyeok, but he was now with another group, so it didn't count.
Lee Hwarang, however, was still technically with Shinwa, even if suspended.
'Anyone who'd stab me in the back... better eliminate them quick.'
Sa Jae-hyeok glanced at the others.
"I assume you're all incarnations like us, right?"
The reality manifestation had brought one change: the language barrier was gone.
Even with different tongues, automatic translation made communication seamless.
They all nodded.
'The Guide of the Fallen Star' shakes its head. It says to find and kill those without the mark on the back of their hand.
The Transcendent intervened, warning of a deceiver among them.
"Hoh."
The corner of Sa Jae-hyeok's mouth curled up.
So there was prey here offering up experience and rewards.
He wanted to kill Jeong Hoon right away, but first, deal with the rat.
"Show me the backs of your hands."
One man stepped forward, raising his hand.
A peculiar tattoo marked the backproof of a Transcendent contract.
"Here."
"Right here."
The incarnations raised their hands to display the marks.
Four did not.
'Perfect.'
Sa Jae-hyeok drew his Black Dragon Sword and mercilessly severed the throat of one without a mark.
"Kuhuk!"
A level 267 priest.
He couldn't even mount a proper defense against Sa Jae-hyeok's strike and perished.
"Ricky!"
"You crazy bastard!"
The remaining three without marks flew into a rage.
These four had partied up to close the Abnormal Dungeon.
They never dreamed they'd die at the hands of fellow humans, not even monsters.
Rewards upgraded.
A message appeared before Sa Jae-hyeok's eyes.
"Who told you to barge in?"
Sa Jae-hyeok flashed them a grin.
"You... madman..."
"Help us!"
"Please!"
The three pleaded with the others.
But they turned away.
The reason was simple.
Rewards upgraded.
The same message appeared before every incarnation.
No need for competition.
"Seems no one's coming to your aid."
Sa Jae-hyeok shook the blood from his sword and approached.
The pleading ones' eyes gleamed as they surrounded him.
"You think we'll go down easy... Kuhuk!"
"Guh!"
Their words cut off.
Arrows and bullets rained down on them.
"Tch, aim better."
Sa Jae-hyeok clicked his tongue at the projectiles blocked by his protective aura.
"Now we just need to handle the one who went through the portal, right?"
A Colombian man pointed at the portal.
Contracted incarnations wouldn't head off to slay demons.
"Yes. We're all going to kill him."
Sa Jae-hyeok smiled and mimed slitting a throat.
"Understood."
The incarnations entered the portal.
"Kek!"
"Keheuk!"
The upper demon died without meaningful resistance to Jeong Hoon's Myeongwang Fist Technique.
Upper Demons: 155200
In under ten minutes, 155 demons had fallen to Jeong Hoon.
A landslide victory so far.
But Jeong Hoon knew this task wouldn't be easy.
Not because of the demons, but the incarnations.
'They'll show up soon.'
The Transcendents wouldn't sit idly by while he completed the task.
As proof, incarnations began appearing one by one.
Among them were Sa Jae-hyeok and Lee Hwarang.
Those crazy bastards are trying to gang up?
'...Dirty and ugly.'
Mukho and Anima seethed.
Regardless, the incarnations approached Jeong Hoon like predators eyeing prey.
"Baal."
Jeong Hoon summoned Baal.
Hm? What's up?
Baal's red eyes reappeared.
The approaching incarnations froze stiff.
"Want to add a little wager?"
Wager?
"Yeah. These guys right nowif I wipe them out, throw in extra rewards."
Rewards?
Baal's eyes spun eagerly.
"Our original bet was just clearing the dungeon. Dealing with incarnations wasn't part of it."
Jeong Hoon grinned.
True enough.
Baal replied in an excited tone.
If Jeong Hoon had asked to drive off the incarnations, Baal might have lost interest.
But volunteering to handle that many personally? Even more intriguing.
"So we're agreed?"
Deal. I'll count Stage 1 as cleared.
With Baal's words, the lurking demons vanished en masse.
"Good."
The corner of Jeong Hoon's mouth twisted slyly.
Incarnations contracted with Transcendents.
Far from hunting demons, they'd aided Earth's doom.
Time to sweep these bastards away right here.
I won't tolerate anyone interfering with the wager.
Baal's eyes turned to the incarnations.
A warning aimed squarely at their contracted Apostle-grade Transcendents.
No reply came, but the message had landed.
Heh, looking forward to it.
With that, Baal's eyes vanished again.
"Not the time to smirk."
Lee Hwarang glared at Jeong Hoon with contempt.
Ninety incarnations, including himself.
No matter how strong Jeong Hoon was, facing this many was impossible.
Ganging up always wins, as the saying goes.
"Shut it, Hwarang. All talk when you can only win by ganging up."
"Ha, never seen a lunatic like this. Your arrogance ends here."
Lee Hwarang raised his Tempest Bow and nocked an arrow at Jeong Hoon.
"Hwarang, if you're gonna do it, do it right."
Even as Lee Hwarang drew the bowstring, Jeong Hoon remained unfazed.
"Kekeke, you dog. Fine. Try blocking this."
As Lee Hwarang finished speaking, Jeong Hoon felt his legs lock.
Looking down, chains bound his legs.
A mage among them had cast a binding spell.
'Crazy bastards, treating human lives like dirt.'
It reminded him how repulsive people could be.
"Die!"
Lee Hwarang released the string.
Pew-shuuk!
The arrow flew, crimson flames flickering from the tip.
'Hellfire Shot.'
One of Lee Hwarang's signature skills.
Hellfire Shot, boasting 800 damage.
The Unique-grade skill hurtled toward Jeong Hoon.
It struck his chest dead-on.
"Hmph, still green."
Sa Jae-hyeok's mouth curled.
With his words, countless spells erupted, engulfing Jeong Hoon.
Bound by the spell, he took every hit squarely.
Boom! Kwagwang! Kwaaang!
A massive explosion rocked Jeong Hoon's position, smoke billowing.
"It's over?"
"Definitely. No one survives that many attacks unscathed."
The incarnations were convinced Jeong Hoon was dead.
His level was 315.
Not low, but most here exceeded 300.
Even with top gear, survival odds were zero.
"This it?"
With those words, the smoke dispersed in an instant.
A red orb floated before Jeong Hoon.
"W-What?!"
"No way!"
Sa Jae-hyeok, Lee Hwarang, and all the incarnations recoiled in shock.
The reason Jeong Hoon was fine?
A newly acquired rune.
The Rune of Counterattack activates.
Absorbed attacks can be returned.
Without this new Rune of Counterattack, it would've been dangerous.
Block only defended once, unable to stop everything, but this rune absorbed all incoming attacks for 15 seconds.
Initially 5 seconds upon acquisition, it had surged to 15 with full strengthening.
'That's why I took it lying down.'
The rune let him bait their carelessnessand the plan worked perfectly.
"...How?"
"How? I've got my ways."
Jeong Hoon snapped his fingers.
The red orb expanded massively and shot forth like a bullet.
Guided, it struck every attacker.
Kwang!
"Guk!"
"Kwaaak!"
The targets screamed.
The binding chains on Jeong Hoon shattered, and he unleashed Celestial Stride, landing before Lee Hwarang.
"Hwarang, does it hurt?"
Lee Hwarang's state was dire.
His abdomen pierced by his own Hellfire Shot.
"Kuhuk...! You damn bastard..."
Lee Hwarang spat blood, glaring murderously.
"Told you. Draw that bow, and you'd die."
"Shit..."
"Pathetic to the end. Now really die."
With that, Jeong Hoon ended Lee Hwarang.