Chapter 102 – Red Dragon’s Lair (8)

Sungjin and the other hunters began to comb the treasure mountain for the ‘Hidden Piece’.

Between the endless amount of gold, there were necklaces filled with diamond, scabbards and swords decorated richly with precious metals and gems, and other eye-catching items, but the hunters steadily lost interest in them.

No matter how decadent the decoration, it was worthless if it wasn’t obtainable. And along the way, one of the hunters shouted

“H…Here!”

The hunters quickly gathered to where the man had shouted from. There was a gargantuan Treasure Chest, nearly as tall as a grown man.

And embedded on it was a crystal of Amethyst much taller than a man. The chest was placed at the center of the mountain of treasure, like a centerpiece. With a glance, it seemed obvious that it would contain something precious. The hunters surrounded it.

Sungjin watched the scene from the back. One of the hunters stepped forward to try and open the top. But then he turned to ask

“Hey… Help me with this.”

Sungjin along with everyone gathered up at his request to assist with moving the lid.

“Yiieah!”

With the effort of half a dozen Hunters, and several helping from the side, the lid of the Chest

“Boom”

Opened with a loud noise. Everyone looked expectant. But within lay nothing but black stones.

“What is this?”

“What’s going on?”

They couldn’t contain their disappointment.

Someone even said

“This must not be the Hidden Piece…”

But then the Operator gave an announcement.

[Congratulations. Hidden Piece]
[Dragon Heart Found]

The announcement immediately turned the mood around.

“Dragon Heart?”

“This stone?”

Everyone bent to pick up the stone. Each and everyone checked the Operator’s status screen. Sungjin also checked the Screen.

---

Dragon Heart (Small) – Source of Magic Power
Legendary Crafting Material

Dragon’s heart is the Source of all Magic power.
Black stone is the source of mana, the origin of Magic Power.

---

‘Crafting Material… that means it is possible to make something…’

Sungjin was staring at it when another Hunter’s Cube announced

[Congratulations. Legendary Crafting Material]
[Dragon’s Heart is obtained.]

No one understood what it was for, but it must be something amazing they all thought. Luckily, there was enough to go around.

‘I was worried there wasn’t going to be enough. Would I be able to say I am going to take one anyway? I don’t want to give up a hidden piece… but if I insist on one, what will the others say?’

He was worried needlessly. There was enough Black Hearts in the chest for each of the hunters. Sungjin thought to himself

‘It’s possible that the Hidden Pieces are designed so only one can be obtained per Hunter. Since I have never witnessed a fight occur over a Hidden Piece…’

Sungjin thought, but his worry soon came to fruition. He had initially worried about there being too little, but the problem was the opposite. There were too many. After each hunter had picked up one, six more remained on the ground.

It was a Legendary Crafting Material. It could be sold at the auction house for more than 10,000 coins a piece. The hunters very briefly checked each other, but they soon ran in to try and secure a Dragon Heart for themselves. A fierce fighting broke out.

“Move!”

“Get out of my way! You are already holding two!”

“Damn it, get out of the way if you already got another!”

Sungjin watched from the side as the things unfolded. He was unsure how to proceed.

‘What should I do? Should I join the fray? But I don’t want to. However, those are really valuable…’

While he was in a dilemma, the struggle became intensified. Those forced out from the pile of rocks looked like they may even draw weapons.

“You fuckers!”

Sungjin quickly tried to come up with a solution.

‘If someone commits to trolling… what about the hidden boss?’

If even one of them were to die, taking down the Hidden Boss would prove to be difficult. Of course, if a troll were to show up, he would be rewarded, but… Sungjin raised his sword and shouted

“STOP!”

Everyone froze in place at his command. Sungjin said to them

“Stop for a second.”

He didn’t have anything thought of. He was most definitely the strongest of them all, but it was not like he could do as he pleased.

No one could complain if he demanded that he take one or two more. But the limit would be at that. Trying to take more would only buy hatred.

It was possible that the hunters would turn to trolling as a group against him. So he first said to them

“Stop for now and let’s think of how to distribute the leftovers fairly.”

But the problem was solved easier than Sungjin thought. The ‘Friar’ who was sitting inside of the chest used Sungjin’s interruption to try and sneak another one into his cube.

But the Operator gave a warning.

[Only one Hidden piece may be obtained per Hunter.]

All the hunters who had previously wrestled froze in place.

“What?”

The bottom of the ‘Friar’s’ Cube opened up, and the Dragon’s Heart landed on the ground letting out a

‘Kussss’

An awkward silence passed over the hunters. The mood between party members had been quite good thus far.

Master Hunter Kei: The Hunters accepted his actions despite him taking the lion’s share of contribution points.

And when fighting a seemingly insurmountable boss, they had worked together and formed a sense of camaraderie.

But thanks to the fight over the hidden pieces, all of it was ruined. Everyone had turned their backs on their comrades and fought for their self-interest.

The Immortal who had not joined the struggle said

“Now now, let’s not fight. Take only one. Only one each.”

He tried to ease the tension, but it was already too late. More than one or two were on the verge of committing troll activity. Sungjin grasped his forehead.

‘I won’t be able to suggest the Hidden boss after all.’

Only moments ago, they looked upon the treasure together

‘Wow look at this Emerald crystal’

‘What about this ruby crown? Was it worn by a king?’

They had shared these comments with each other, but now it was completely silent. However, it was at that moment

‘Tsszt’

The space itself above the treasure mountain bent and a person walked out. Everyone’s eyes fell upon the newcomer. The person was a woman.

Red hair and Yellow eyes. Sharp nose and smooth skin, a young lady with breathtaking beauty. After arriving on top of the mountain of treasure, she took a look at her surroundings with a crimson hood over her head. Sungjin thought to himself

‘What? Is she a hunter from another realm?’

But there was no title above her head. In other words,

‘She could be a monster.’

Sungjin thought. So he

‘Sshing!’

Pulled both of his swords out of his scabbards. The other hunters became tense and followed suit in pulling out their weapons.

Meanwhile, the woman in red hood noticed the hunters and slowly walked towards them, stepping over golden coins. Sungjin was watching her in silence, but the Immortal was the first to ask

“W…What are you? Who are you?”

She threw a glance his way. Of all the different ways she fulfilled the word ‘perfect beauty’, her shocking yellow eyes were the most eye-catching.

Sungjin stared at her eyes as well. But the iris of her eyes was in a slit like that of a cat. Sungjin felt a Deja Vu when he looked into those eyes.

‘What is it? I feel like I’ve seen it before… Was it the Basilisk’s eye?’

He had thought. But the answer was closer than he thought. Just before

‘Smell of meat! Human Meat!’

Eyes which looked down upon them. Sungjin realized

‘She has the same eyes as Khal Gal!’

While Sungjin was figuring things out, she reduced the distance between her and the Hunters slowly.

“I said, who are you?”

The Immortal asked once more, but she did not respond as she continued to make her way forward. The hunters began to move away in intimidation. Someone even slipped on the coins and fell.

Meanwhile, she approached the Chest and picked up one of the hearts, whispering

“So the rumors were true…”

The hunters watched her. She placed the Dragon Heart back into the Chest and bent over to return the other Dragon Hearts into the chest.

Until this point, the hunters watched without much thought. But after returning all six remaining hearts into the chest, she closed the lid shut with just one slender arm.

The lid which took tremendous effort from half a dozen Hunters. No one at this point believed her to be an ordinary human. Only a monster in human form.

But then she spoke for the first time to them.

“Yo, humans. Are you the ones who killed Khal Gal?”

No one replied. By calling them humans, she had indirectly confirmed that she was not one. She asked again.

“I’ll repeat. Are you the ones who killed Khal Gal?”

She glared at the hunters as she asked. Her gaze looked strong enough to kill a weak hearted man. One of the hunters replied meekly

“Yes…”

The one who replied was the Barbarian. He was also surprised that he replied, and closed his mouth with his hands in shock. It seemed like the strength of her intimidating gaze was enough to compel a truthful answer. The hunters became tense.

They were afraid of her reaction. But she then responded with

“Oh really?”

She then placed one hand on the chest and said

“Move”

And the chest disappeared in an instant. The other hunters thought

‘Is it an active skill?’

But Sungjin looked at her and asked

“Excuse me… are you… A dragon like Khal Gal?”

She turned to look at him. Her eyes were exactly the same as the Dragon’s.

“Yes, Khal Gal is the Son I bore.”

All the hunters tensed up even further. Just now

‘Are you the ones that murdered my son’

‘Yes, we have murdered him.’

They had essentially exchanged this conversation just now. And with none other than the mother of the Red Dragon Khal Gal. But the conversation continued to flow in a completely unexpected direction.

“Well, he was a problem child. He killed his brethren, just to take possession of their hearts.”

The woman’s brows slightly twitched into a frown as she spoke. Sungjin recalled the hint from earlier, about the hidden boss.

‘Be warned that above the proof of wickedness lies, also, her wrath.’

The proof of wickedness most likely referred to the hidden piece, the items each of the hunters had collected, the Dragon Hearts. But she didn’t seem to mind it much at all.

She only said one more thing to the hunters.

“Good job. I had come to kill him, but you saved me the trouble.”

Sungjin thought as he looked upon her.

‘Khal Gal’s mother is the Hidden boss? We have to face a much older Dragon?’

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