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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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Chapter 46: Spider Hunt (3)
“You son of a bitch! Come out here this instant!!!”
A booming voice shook the forest.
Sweat-drenched and with disheveled hair, a fierce glint shone in his eyes.
With each step Choi Hyungtae took, his footprints dug deep into the ground.
BOOM—!
His resentful shout was met with an explosion.
The burst remains of a corpse, detonating right in front of him, engulfed Choi Hyungtae’s entire body.
[Iron Body]
Blood, flesh, and bone collided with him, yet they failed to leave even a scratch on Choi Hyungtae’s body.
His physique had reached the pinnacle of 5 Star.
Even though the corpse explosion was powerful magic, the difference in their “Star” ranking was too vast for it to inflict any real damage.
“Damn it!”
A dark expression filled Choi Hyungtae’s face.
While he was fine after being directly hit by the corpse explosion, his subordinates were not.
“B, Boss! Save m… Keok.”
“Krrrkk.”
The fog was turning crimson.
Blood droplets that had splattered onto the trees fell—drip—drip—to the ground.
None of the hunters Choi Hyungtae had led were unscathed.
Five were dead.
Three were critically injured.
“Gah, a healing spell, please.”
“The cleric’s dead. Use this.”
He threw a potion to a hunter who was clutching his spilling intestines.
The hunter, barely managing to catch the potion, fumbled to open it with trembling hands.
More of the contents spilled onto the ground than reached his wound.
‘I have no idea how many are dead.’
The corpse explosions had been simultaneous.
Those below the 3 Star were either instantly killed or suffered injuries that rendered them incapable of fighting.
Even the 4 Star hunters were not safe.
The fog obscured his vision, making it impossible to know the exact number of casualties.
“Kuaaaak!”
“Hk, hweeehk.”
Cries of pain echoed from all directions.
It was clear that the Red Spider hunters were on the verge of annihilation, unable to even put up a proper fight.
Choi Hyungtae’s lips trembled.
“Ha. This is a real mess.”
This was beyond the point of recovery.
If Kim Jaewoo were to learn the full extent of this disaster, he might kill him as an example.
The only option left was to run.
Choi Hyungtae took a deep breath.
“Even if I run, I’m going to see the face of the bastard who screwed me over.”
He had learned one thing from the earlier explosions.
Magic circuits were laid across the ground.
He didn't know what kind of circuits they were, but they were being controlled from a distance to cause the explosions.
He’d figured out the opponent's trick, but only after suffering critical damage.
“Even so, I know where you are!”
The direction the magic circuits were pointing.
At their end was that damned human hunter.
By now, it wasn’t even important if the guy really was part of Gaesung’s gang.
He had to tear the instigator of this mess to pieces to vent his anger and then leave Ground Zero.
[Lightning Speed]
Choi Hyungtae kicked off the ground with all his might, pursuing the magic circuits.
“I’ll tear off your arms and legs you fuck.”
【That would be difficult. He’s my master.】
A jet-black shadow suddenly appeared.
[Kenex Combat Arts]
[Chapter 1]
[Falling Leaf Strike]
As a hand blade enveloped in dark aura descended diagonally, Choi Hyungtae couldn't ignore its force and blocked it with his aura-covered forearm.
Dark energy and blue light clashed violently.
“Hwaaaap!”
As Choi Hyungtae tightened his grip on his forearm, Fafnir, instead of resisting, yielded to the flow and stepped back slightly.
‘My arm feels numb.’
The look of rage that had distorted his eyes returned to normal.
Choi Hyungtae's skin, which hadn't received a single scratch from the corpse explosions, now bore a red line the length of his wrist on his forearm after exchanging blows with Fafnir.
“So, it was you who messed up my men. Undead.”
【Well, mostly, right?】
“A naturally occurring undead couldn't be this strong. Who are you?”
【I am Cheon Yoojin’s great warrior. Fafnir.】
Cheon Yoojin?
It was a name he’d never heard before.
“Doesn’t matter. You’re going to die anyway.”
【I never said I was going to let you leave.】
“Don’t worry. I’ll kill you twice first, and then send your so-called master to join you!”
Puh-ung—!
Choi Hyungtae and Fafnir's hands locked in the air.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Has it begun?”
Yoojin rose from his seat.
〔Are you not going to use any more of those detonation circuits?〕
‘I've used them as much as I needed to.’
Approximately 70% of the buried corpses.
The rest were unusable because the Red Spider survivors had dug further inward.
〔You have labored in vain.〕
‘You don’t understand. 70% is a huge hit rate.’
He had predicted that the Red Spider hunters would advance in a dispersed formation rather than a concentrated one.
He had infused the corpses with spirit energy and buried them extensively.
Not only that, even though he shared vision with the wraiths, he couldn’t just detonate the corpses as soon as the detonation circuit was activated. He had to somewhat predict the enemy’s path.
A thoroughly calculated plan.
If it were an ordinary necromancer, not Yoojin, they wouldn't have been able to use even 50% of the buried corpses.
‘Well, I doubt anyone but me would prepare something like this.’
〔To have prepared all of this in advance.〕
‘To win a battle, you have to read the enemy's moves.’
His successful regression was also thanks to winning a fierce battle of wits.
He had created a situation where Dimitri was forced to use his full power to meet the activation conditions of the [Kronos’s Pocket Watch].
‘How should I deal with the remaining 5 Star?’
〔He remains unscathed even after enduring your vaunted corpse explosion spell, does he not?〕
‘Inflicting visible wounds isn't the only way to deal damage.’
He was observing a Red Spider executive with [Ghost Eye].
The executive, with his entire body covered in a red robe, was walking while leaning on a staff.
‘Simply draining his mana is enough.’
A blue barrier enveloped the executive’s entire body.
Just before detonating a nearby corpse, he sensed the detonation circuit’s reaction and deployed defensive magic.
It would have been better if he hadn’t been able to react to the corpse explosion.
But Yoojin didn't rely on luck to determine the course of the battle.
‘I’ll show you how a necromancer fights.’
〔You seem quite confident. Facing an enemy whose “Star” rank is three levels higher than yours.〕
Why a necromancer is a terrifying existence on the battlefield.
The Red Spider executive would learn it firsthand.
Too bad he won't have a chance to use that learned knowledge.
“Send out the soldiers.”
Clatter—Clatter—
The harsh sound of colliding bones began to echo from all around the fog.
‘How long can they hold out in a war of attrition?’
Kheuheuheu.
Yoojin smirked.
＊ ＊ ＊
A woman with disheveled hair glared around, her eyes wide.
“Hey. Is everyone dead?”
Only groans and moans responded.
A long sigh escaped the woman’s lips.
“Damn it. I wouldn’t have come if I wasn’t in debt.”
Lee Seungyeon.
The only woman among the Red Spider executives, and a magic-type hunter who had reached the peak of the 5 Star.
[Mana Barrier]
A defensive magic that releases the user's mana in its raw form.
It consumes more than five times the mana of a defensive magic of the same “Star” rank, [Magic Shield], but it’s the perfect spell for dire situations.
‘I almost died a meaningless death in a strange land.’
The faint mana wave that spread when the detonation circuits were triggered.
As soon as Lee Seungyeon, a highly skilled mage, sensed the ominous sign, she immediately used a readily available defensive magic.
‘And then the explosions happened.’
Lee Seungyeon, having protected herself with the defensive magic, was not harmed in the slightest.
However.
The hunters who were moving with her were heavily injured and removed from the fighting force.
Despite being a magic-type hunter, she was forced to take the front lines.
‘It's impossible to find the others now.’
The thick fog.
It drastically reduced visibility and even had a communication jamming effect.
The hunters had been divided into several groups with appropriate spacing, but the continuous explosions had broken their formation.
‘What do I do now?’
She didn't want to move forward without any front-line fighters.
She also had no desire to gather the subordinates scattered throughout the fog.
Just as she was anxiously biting her nails…
-Keugel. Keugel-keugel.
Skeletons armed with jet-black armor appeared before Lee Seungyeon, parting the fog.
“Ha. I've been underestimated.”
Lee Seungyeon's brows furrowed.
The person who had been biting her nails just a moment ago was nowhere to be seen.
Her disheveled hair swayed from the mana waves that were rearranging themselves.
“Flame Wave.”
With a single swing of her staff, a wave of fire surged forth and engulfed the armored skeletons.
“I don't know who you are, but did you think I was a pushover? Huh?!”
Lee Seungyeon was also a hunter who had toughened up in lawless zones.
She was simply acting hysterically due to excessive stress and the chaotic situation; her combat abilities were by no means low.
She had experienced countless real battles.
And she was a skilled fighter who overwhelmed magic-type hunters of the same “Star” rank.
[Fire Whip]
“Kyaahaha! Die! Just die!”
Her weakness was her fragile mentality and strong emotional swings, but she possessed abilities befitting a Red Spider executive.
[Fire Wall]
[Wind Bomb]
A wall of fire erupted in front of the woman.
As she detonated highly compressed wind directly in front of it, the flames scattered in all directions.
-Keugel!
-Kuh, Keugel.
Fire is the natural enemy of undead.
Dozens of armored skeletons swarmed her, but they couldn’t even graze her.
Whirr-whirr-whirr—!
The widely spread fire magic spread to the undergrowth.
The damp fog prevented the fire from spreading easily, but the smoke rising from various places created further confusion.
It even obscured the vision of Lee Seungyeon, who had started the fire.
And so.
“Answer my call.”
She didn't notice Yoojin's presence, who had approached nearby.
[Using Raise Undead.]
[Created Plague Zombies.]
The battlefield was littered with corpses.
The bodies of the Red Spider hunters who had fallen victim to the corpse explosions.
Even the corpses of the monsters that had gathered during the expansion of the Necropolis.
Only some of the corpses buried in the ground had been infused with spirit energy and used as detonators for the explosions.
“Is it the ground again this time?”
Lee Seungyeon’s eyes blazed.
As she moved her lips, radiance once again leaked from her lenses.
“Fireball.”
The moment the scorching fireball touched the plague zombies.
Kwaaang—!
With the explosion, the poison accumulated in the plague zombies' bodies sprayed in all directions.
“Ouch!”
Lee Seungyeon, who had just cast the spell, was exposed to the poison without even having time to deploy a defensive magic.
It was just a few drops that made contact.
It wouldn't have been a problem if the point of contact wasn't her face.
Chiiik—
“Ack! Aaaack!”
Her cheek, melting from the poison, sagged downwards.
In her haste, Lee Seungyeon touched the area where the poison had splashed with her bare hand, and even her fingers were corroded.
[Mana Barrier]
“Po, potion. Potion!”
She hastily erected a barrier and applied an expensive, high-grade potion.
But because it wasn't a normal wound, the areas that had melted from contact with the poison remained as they were, settling like wrinkles.
[Using Raise Undead.]
Once again, plague zombies rose from the ground.
“I, I won’t let you get away with this!!!!”
[Wind Slash]
This time, she chose the wind attribute, which was inferior in terms of both compatibility and destructive power.
She cut down the plague zombies before they could get close, preventing the poison from splashing.
〔She’s responding immediately. This won’t be an easy fight.〕
‘It’s obvious you’re laughing, you know?’
〔Kuhahahat. Adversity is the foundation for your growth.〕
‘It’s all according to plan.’
〔What?〕
‘I told you from the start. I’d show you the way a necromancer fights.’
It was fortunate that Lee Seungyeon was the one who came from the Red Spider executives.
He wouldn't have had a way to deal with a martial artist opponent.
But against magical combat, Yoojin had limitless options.
〔You say that even as your minions fall powerlessly without even getting close?〕
‘Even if the undead are destroyed, I can just raise them again.’
Why is a necromancer called the ruler of the battlefield?
Because the corpses generated in battle = power.
‘Whether I use corpse explosions or raise them as the undead.’
With a medium, the consumption of mana (spirit energy) is generally lower than that of ordinary magic-type hunters.
When he was a novice, he struggled to find corpses during hunts.
But once a stage is set for him to demonstrate his true abilities, a necromancer is stronger than any other class.
“Eeee, eughhh!!”
Look at her mindlessly spamming magic, having lost her composure.
Even a 5 Star hunter doesn’t have infinite mana.
‘She deployed the highly taxing Mana Barrier twice already.’
Fire magic, which is effective against undead, is practically sealed due to the plague zombies.
Unless she could defeat Yoojin, who was hidden among the thick black smoke, she would have to continuously face the endlessly rising undead.
〔Your spirit energy can’t be infinite either. Do you have a countermeasure?〕
‘I’ve prepared everything.’
[Using Life Drain.]
He had confirmed during the Seongcheon Company request that the absorbed life force could be converted into mana (holy power).
‘Mana recovery items are quite expensive, you know. I have to use these kinds of tricks.’
Yoojin, who could replenish spirit energy with potions.
On the other hand, Lee Seungyeon had no way to recover her depleted mana.
‘Now then. How long can you last?’
Yoojin, who was hidden from Lee Seungyeon’s sight, grinned.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Hestia
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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