Master Hunter K - Chapter 126

Chapter 126 – Kariharan Frostplains (5)
Illich, Franz, and the other hunters were examining the frozen group of people.
“What is this?”
“Is this the hidden boss?”
One of the hunters swung his sword to strike the figures.
‘Clang’
But it only left a scratch mark on the surface of the ice; it did not provoke a reaction. Franz who stood at the back recited the information he was told in the morning.
“A Boss… We have to find the boss among these men and unfreeze him.”
“Boss, you say?”
While the others tilted their head in confusion,
“Here he is.”
Illich found a man looking to be the leader of these men. Even with a glance, the red mantle and the elegant armor he wore easily distinguished him from the rest. One by one, the hunters gathered before him. Illich asked them.
“…Ready?”
Once the hunters glanced at each other, they gave a nod.
“Then we should begin.”
Illich reached out with the hand he held the shield and recited an incantation.
“Flames of Purification, Fire Blast”
The flames leapt from his hands and began to melt the ice of the commander. Franz glanced at Illich from the corner of his eyes. Illich did not use magic often, but he would use spells at important moments like these.
Once the ice had melted away, the previously frozen commander woke up and began to look around.
“Ha… haa…. Where… is this?”
The soldiers also began to move about. Illich commanded
“To positions.”
Each of the hunters readied their weapons. The Battle began shortly.
*
Sungjin looked up into the sky. The blizzard was over. It meant that the Ice Witch was already dead.
“Where could they be…”
Sungjin entered the Palace. On the way to the roof, two hunters were fighting. Now that he saw them, they both were surrounded by a red aura. Whether they committed to trolling at the same time or if they cooperated at first and then fought over the remaining contribution was unclear, but they were fighting.
‘It’s good that they are fighting, but… I’ll can’t lose my portion…’
Sungjin hastily ascended the stairs.
“W…What the”
The two of them were surprised to see Sungjin who suddenly appeared. But seeing Sungjin charge at them with his weapon drawn, they instinctively knew
‘It is an enemy’
The hunters who were fighting each other until this moment were confused as to what to do, especially the troll who was lower on the stairs due to becoming surrounded by enemies both ahead and behind him. After looking back and forth up and down the stairs,
“Damn it!”
He swore as he swung his hammer while rotating his entire body. The hammer drew a wide arc threatening to hit both of his targets. But Sungjin easily sidestepped out of the way, and the hunter on top of the stairs dodged it by stepping backwards. In the end, his hammer only collided with the ice bridge.
‘Crack’
But that was not all. Unable to control his rotation he spun again due to the momentum and slipped on the ice, falling off the stairs from very high up.
‘Boom’
He fell with an incredibly loud noise. Sungjin peeked down at the man
“Ahh! My leg… my leg…!”
He was holding his legs and crying out in pain.
‘At least he won’t be able to run away.’
Sungjin thought as he turned his attention to the other troll. The hunter held his twin blade as he stared Sungjin down. After half a second of staring, he
“Uwah!”
Came charging towards Sungjin brandishing his two swords. Sungjin couldn’t help but grin. The hunter was slow. It was an attack the hunter had bet his life on, but it was far too slow. Sungjin used only the Moon Specter
‘Clang clang’
To break both of the swords at the same time, and used the Blood Vengeance to cut his throat.
“Uh?”
The hunter was at first stunned to see both of his swords get cut, and when he saw blood spewing from his throat, he let go of his swords to bring his hands to his neck.
“What…”
But Sungjin had already turned to run back down the stairs. He watched Sungjin leave then collapsed on the spot.
‘It’s much easier if I just run in without them understanding how strong I am.’
Sungjin thought as he descended the stairs. But the troll was not at the bottom of the stairs. There was an empty bottle of potion left behind.
‘What?’
Sungjin looked up. The troll who had fallen was already running away far in the distance. He might have seen the other hunter being slain in a single strike.
“Hey, that’s no good.”
Sungjin quickly chased after him. The troll had abandoned his hammer in the Palace and was running as fast as his feet would carry him. Sungjin carried four swords with him, but he was still much faster than the troll. Although Sungjin was closing the distance between them, something unexpected happened.
“Krah!”
A Sabre Tooth Tiger came out of nowhere. The troll was unarmed and was brought down by the Tiger. He was moments away from being impaled by the Tiger’s maw.
“Pa!”
Sungjin fired the Moon Specter towards the Tiger. The Sabre Tooth Tiger nimbly dodged the sword but
“Haa”
Sungjin timed the retrieval in such a way that the Moon Spectre hit the backside of the Tiger.
‘Stab’
“Kaagh!”
While the Sabre Tooth Tiger was screaming out loud in pain, Sungjin quickly ensured that the Tiger would be unable to move away.
“Binding Frost! Frostbite!”
He froze the area where it stood and
“Kerrgh”
easily beheaded the Sabre Tooth Tiger which growled at him. The Troll who saw this went wide eyed. He already fought a Sabre Tooth Tiger earlier, and seeing the fierce predator be slain so effortlessly made him realize that Sungjin’s victory over the other troll was no fluke.
“Mer… Merc…”
He was so overcome with terror that he was unable to speak coherently. But Sungjin was not someone who would show mercy just because it was asked of him. Sungjin held Blood Vengeance with both hands and was about to drive it through the man’s heart when he had a thought.
‘Frozen Heart…’
He recalled the title he just earned. Sungjin decided to try it out.
“Operator, how do I activate Frozen Heart skill?”
[Say ‘Title Stat’]
“Hmm then this guy”
The title of the man was Juggernaut.
“Juggernaut stat?”
Then an unfamiliar status screen popped up for Sungjin.
Title: Juggernaut
HP: 83700 MP: 80
Strength: 8148 7407(+741)
Dexterity: 8302 8302(+0)
Endurance: 8370 6700(+670)
Magic Power: 9 9(+0)
Mind Power: 8 8(+0)
Unallocated Points: 0
“So that’s what it does….”
Sungjin reviewed the information more carefully than his own stats. The first thing he noticed was the value of Mind and Magic power that remained in single digits. The troll had completely given up on magic; Stat of a Magic Abandoner. The man’s stats were reminiscent of how Sungjin had allocated his stats in the past. The next thing that came to view was the +10% bonus attached to his Strength and Endurance.
‘Where is this from? A title?’
But there was no other explanation apart from the title of the Juggernaut. Sungjin asked the man who still lay on the ground.
“Hey, answer me. Where did you get these bonus stats from? Is it the power of the Juggernaut title?”
The man had his mouth open and couldn’t respond. Sungjin cut off the man’s right hand with his sword.
“Kaaahhh!”
The man screamed out loud. Sungjin held his sword against the man’s left hand.
“Answer. Or I’ll cut off your other hand.”
He couldn’t bear his pain and answered.
“Yes! Yes!”
“Hmm… Juggernaut. Not a bad title. How did you get it…?”
It was far worse than Master Hunter which granted 30% in every stat, but the 10% increase in Strength and Endurance was still fairly attractive. While Sungjin was thinking so, the man stared at his hands and groaned in pain.
“Ugh…My hand… My hand…”
Sungjin said to him while looking down at him.
“You who place such importance on your own life, why do you value the lives of others so lowly as to take them? Can’t you think for a moment ‘what if the roles were reversed’?”
“That… that was… because the guy that was there ordered me…”
Sungjin immediately cut off his head at this point.
“You murdered because someone told you to… You think this is a legitimate excuse? Hmm?”
Sungjin went around picking up items the troll had dropped and placed them into his cube. Now that he thought of it, he didn’t have a chance to collect the items the other troll had dropped because he was chasing this one.
Sungjin slowly made his way back to the Ice Palace. After he collected the items left on the stairs he thought,
‘Hmm… this is a good place to make the jump, right?’
He sat on the steps of the stairs. The Trollseeker’s cooldown timer of 10 minutes was not over yet.
‘Hmm… I need to finish each one quickly… in case a Chosen One might come calling for help.’
He had instructed Serin, Nada, and Franz to call him if they couldn’t find the Hidden Piece close to the time limit, or if they were unable to kill the Hidden Boss.
Moving forward, having each of them grow stronger was in his best interest. Of course, it would be ideal if he could finish the five rounds of troll hunting before they start requesting his help.
‘Well… it would actually be best if they could do well on their own.’
Sungjin thought as he rested his chin on his hands and stared in the direction of the Ice Palace’s interior.
He was too busy fighting earlier (and in fact, he had completely demolished the one in his own realm) that he didn’t have a chance to look around in detail, but this palace was very beautiful. Sungjin gazed at the surroundings.
Of course, this dimension’s O’Elliah was dead and bleeding on the ground.
‘Although she had psychopathic tendencies… she made one hell of a palace.’
Sungjin was thinking of the other Chosen Ones while waiting for cooldown period to end.
‘Well, all of them are skilled… so they should be fine. Serin is an archer though… even if she has the power of the Arabian Nights, it would be dangerous for her to be left alone… If she has bad luck with teammates… Nada will probably do well, but the fact that she doesn’t use a mask is a problem. I should tell her when I get back today. Her figure is… way too dangerous. And Franz… well, Franz shouldn’t have any problems. He’s a man and a swordsman.’
*
Meanwhile, Franz was in the middle of a fierce battle. Battling the group of zombies was quite easy. But once the zombies combined to form an abomination, it became extremely difficult. If the Commanding monster shouted-
“Shield Wall!”
– Ten shields were raised all around it. And when the Commanding monster shouted –
“Company Charge!”
– the Abomination became surrounded by dozens of spears and twice as many feet. Illich and Franz had enough skill to deal with anything the Abomination had to throw at them, but the problem were the three other hunters. They couldn’t cope with changes in the Abomination’s behavior and –
“Ugh…”
– took damage from time to time. Each time that happened, Illich ordered
“Pay attention and group up.”
He would reorganize the team with his commands. And Franz was obediently carrying out his orders. Once the Hunters were in formation, Illich issued a command.
“Kamel, Mohamed, Prat, charge down the center! And Franz attack from the right flank”
Franz ran to the right flank at Illich’s commands. No one suspected a thing.