Far away, past the horizon, the sun was setting. The plains were dyed red by the light from the sunset. However, there was oily black smoke rising here and there. At the same time, from somewhere a steady drum beat could be heard reverberating.
‘Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!’
Sungjin had been teleported to a battlefield where smoke could be seen rising in every direction. The Operator’s explanation could be heard.
[Welcome to the Great Plains of Barrastan]
[Once a peaceful, fertile region]
[This place became a battlefield because of the invasion of the demon race.]
[Warning. Having won the battle, the soldiers of the demon race]
[Are looking around for the remnants of the human soldiers.]
Sungjin turned to look at the vast Barrastan Plains. The corpses of humans and demons were scattered throughout the plains near him. There was a demon encampment just ahead.
In truth, this chapter was a bit absurd in that you had to fight against an entire army with just ten people. However, Sungjin was just one tenth of that and had to fight against an army by himself.
Sungjin did indeed have the stats and items that he had gathered until now, but it still wasn’t an easy fight to win. The wind blew softly, bringing a familiar smell that invaded his nose. The smell of burning grain and flesh. Sungjin wrinkled his brow. On the other hand, Besgoro exclaimed excitedly,
‘Mmm~ This is the smell of battlefields.’
Sungjin said to him,
“Mister Besgoro, be more serious. This chapter won’t be easy even for me.”
‘It won’t be easy? Then why did you come by yourself, instead of coming with other hunters?’
“If I did that, then there would be more things to worry about. I wanted to settle things alone.”
‘Didn’t you do it like that because it was possible to do so?’
“It’s possible, but… It’s really not easy to do so.”
‘Ahhh, I get it. Just trust me. I’m someone who forwent marrying and lived in these kinds of battlefields for 40 years.’
‘Instead of not marrying, you couldn’t marry…’
While Sungjin thought this to himself, Moon Specter’s faint voice could be heard.
‘Don’t worry too much, Master. I’ll also help as much as I can.’
Sungjin petted Moon Specter as he said,
“Aaah, yeah. I’ll be relying on you.”
Besgoro interjected,
‘Yeah, yeah. The phantom miss sure is kind hearted.’
At his words, Moon Specter was slightly embarrassed as she replied,
‘No… What are you saying…’
Sungjin pushed out his lower lip as he listened to the conversation of the two. Though he didn’t see the figures of the two phantoms every time, but Besgoro was a grandpa in his late 50’s while Moon Specter was a young lady in her early 20’s.
If it was just that, then it was possible to call it a warm conversation between a grandpa and a young lady, but if you considered Besgoro’s past history, where he had liked Count Dimitri’s daughter, it didn’t paint such a pretty picture. Sungjin ended the conversation between the two, and said,
“The fight is about to begin. Please stop chattering, you two.”
While Moon Specter replied straightforwardly,
‘Yes, Master.’
Besgoro continued quietly,
‘Eh, why, the lady is cute so I was…’
Sungjin briefly recalled the offer Franz had made yesterday.
‘Should I have… just accepted that…’
While Sungjin was thinking that, a hologram appeared from the Operator’s cube.
Great Plains of Barrastan Raid
Objective – Kill Commander ‘Zeratar’.
Time limit: 3 hours 30 minutes.
Sungjin glanced at and confirmed the time limit. Three and a half hours. You could say that it was a long time, but in reality, it wasn’t actually that long since the map was large and there were many enemies.
In any case, it was not long until the beginning of the raid. Sungjin prepared himself mentally. Until now, he had faced various bizarre creatures and had unusual experiences throughout the numerous chapters, but it was here, in the Great Plains of Barrastan, where Sungjin’s most painful memory was born.
‘Sungjin, save me!’
‘Ahhhhhrg!!!’
It was truly a miracle that he had cleared this last time. The other nine hunters had died, and the chapter had ended when he had killed the boss monster while bleeding.
‘It really was… A hellish experience…’
However, the result was that he had monopolized the reward for the 10 man raid by himself. It goes without saying that if you monopolize the reward, then there was an unbelievable number of items, Black Coins, and Stat Points.
He hadn’t desired it, but it did seem that being able to monopolize the reward in this chapter was likely one of the main reasons why he was one of the last 10 people remaining.
‘Hrm… Is that why everyone…’
Now that he thought about it, there had been a person who thought,
‘If I receive all of the 10 man raid’s reward, how much would that be?”
And had wanted to troll in the 10 man raid, Red Dragon’s Lair.
‘I should finish quickly, and go troll hunting. I should be able to catch some big shots in this raid. And… If possible, help some other hunters as well.’
Sungjin had this in mind as he swung his swords through the air a few times. In truth, although he had complained, but clearing this chapter shouldn’t be that hard.
It was just that the Hidden Boss would be a problem, as it might be on the same level as Ariane. If this was the case and the hidden boss was an existence whose strength was in a different dimension, then he might have to ponder on whether to attempt it.
‘Let’s find it first, and think about it then.’
Sungjin kept this in mind as he prepared his swords. After a short time, the countdown began.
[The raid is starting in 10 seconds.]
[10, 9, 8… 3, 2, 1, 0.]
[The raid has begun.]
The formless barrier that had been draped over the plains disappeared in tandem with the Operator’s voice. Sungjin began to walk through the plains while holding his two swords. Besgoro said,
‘Aren’t you going to catch them in a group like last time? Like that time when you froze the lizardmen all at once.’
Sungjin said in a quiet voice,
“That was possible since it was a 5 man raid. This is a 10 man raid. Even if it’s just regular monsters, I can’t just fight them like that.”
‘Is that so? Then I guess you can only fight a guerrilla war.’
“That’s right. A lone guerrilla. But… Do you still call a person that exterminates the entire enemy army, a guerrilla?”
‘Good question. I don’t know.’
However, at that moment, Moon Specter interrupted,
‘Master, it’s the enemy.’
As soon as Moon Specter finished speaking, a team of demons arrived at the wheat field that Sungjin was in. Sungjin stealthily looked at the demons through the crops. In general, the demons had a large physique.
About 2 meters in height, with bulky bodies, crimson skin, and yellow eyes. In addition, each of them had one, two, or even three white horns on their heads. It was similar to the normal image of a ‘demon’ that most humans had. If there was something strange, it was that Sungjin could somehow understand what these guys were saying.
“Sniff, sniff. Hrm? Hey, can’t you smell the scent of humans coming from over here?”
“Yeah, it’s definitely the smell of humans.”
There was five in total. Sungjin held his two swords as he waited for the demons to come closer.
“Hey, isn’t this the smell of a live one? Is it possible…”
Right when they had come very close to him, he ran at the closest demon and swung Moon Specter.
‘Thunk’
The demon could not even scream and immediately died on the spot.
“Human!”
The second demon saw Sungjin and shouted, but by then Sungjin’s other blade, Blood Vengeance, was already flying towards him.
The demon urgently brought up his weapon and tried to block Sungjin’s sword, but Sungjin’s Blood Vengeance, as befitting of a Unique Legendary, cut through both the demon’s sword and his throat. However, since the demon was able to delay the attack with his sword, he was able to let out his death throes.
“Kuh kuh kuhk!”
Of the five, two had died in an instant. It goes without saying that the remaining three charged Sungjin as well.
Three sharp edges flew in from the left side, the right side, and in front. Sungjin blocked the axe and spear that came in from the sides with his two swords, while he avoided the remaining blade by bending his body backwards.
Afterwards, he tumbled backwards with ease and broke their encirclement. Perhaps because they were ambushed, the demons could not remain calm and recklessly attacked Sungjin. They lined up to attack him as they followed after him. This was no different from suicide.
‘Surrounding didn’t work, but you still come in a line?’
Besgoro’s comment was on the mark. As Sungjin cut the neck and weapon of the first demon approaching him, he rolled slightly and cut the ankle of the second demon. The third demon swung his axe at Sungjin, but he avoided even that by twisting his body.
‘Thud’
The demon’s axe only cut a wide swath of land. Sungjin cut the now stuck demon’s throat as if he were beheading him. The three demons became powerless in an instant.
“Kuaaaaak!”
The second demon whose ankle was cut, was in pain since he was still alive, but it wouldn’t stay like that for long. Sungjin pierced the demon’s heart with Blood Vengeance.
“Hooo…”
After he finished the first battle, Sungjin breathed in deeply and then let it out. While doing so, he looked at the corpses of the demons lying on the ground. Originally these demons were hard to fight against even if 10 hunters ran at them. They were that powerful.
They were strong opponents that could cause annihilation if you underestimated them because they were regular monsters. However, now Sungjin was at the level where he could win against them without receiving damage once. Moon Specter, who was usually silent, quietly opened her mouth and said,
‘Master. It feels like your skill has grown compared to before.’
“Really?”
Sungjin looked down at his hands, which were holding his swords. It seemed that not only did his stats grow and his equipment improve, but after experiencing life and death situations several times, his sword techniques had become even stronger.
‘Yeah, even I can tell. You’re doing quite well, boy.’
Having listened to the two phantoms, Sungjin regained his confidence. It seemed that he had been daunted by the memory of his team being annihilated the previous time he had been here. He felt that besides the Boss Monster who was the leader of the army and the Hidden Boss whose existence he had no idea of, the normal monsters would not be able to threaten him very much.
“Good. Then let’s quickly win, and assist the other hunters. And also go hunting trolls.”
Sungjin walked with light footsteps towards the origin of the rising smoke, the demon’s encampment.
*
Ten minutes before Sungjin started a one-man guerilla war. Serin Han, who had transformed into Mustafa, wearing a turban on her head and a shaggy beard, bowed her head as she spoke.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Mustafa. I mainly use the bow. I also know how to use a little magic.”
While Serin Han was introducing herself, the attention of the nine hunters focused on her. As she felt their attention, she touched her earring. Soon, their surface thoughts came flooding towards her.
‘Hrm… Though you can’t trust those guys from the Middle East.’
‘A Chosen One? What a strange title.’
‘Bow? It seems alright.’
‘He shouldn’t be a troll, right?’
Now it was Chapter 14. Having become veterans who had experienced all kinds of battles over mountains and seas, whenever one of the other hunters introduced themselves, each hunter would look and try to figure out if he would be a help to him or the party, or if he was someone who would stab them in the back. Of course, Serin Han was no different.
“I’m Xiao Hai.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Westwood Wolsy.”
However, amongst them, there was one man that stood out.
“A pleasure. I’m Edward.”
A tidy blond hair with white skin, a sharp nose, and blue eyes. A beautiful youth who wouldn’t look amiss on a poster. Although Serin wasn’t the type to fixate on the appearance of men, his good looks drew her attention. Serin who was staring at his pretty face then raised her gaze to read the title hovering above him. His title was ‘Spellmaster.’
‘Huh…?’
And at that moment, it finally dawned on her.
‘This man… Wasn’t he on Sungjin Oppa’s list?’
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Thanks!
Serin better not die :O
It’s pretty clear that there’s something going on with Edward and he’s not the devil he’s understood to be. Serin will be fine.
Yeah. Maybe he bought the info from Darker than Black in the previous life and wanted to return to the past so that he could have a better guarantee in clearing the game. Or something better.
Looks like we might find out what was up with Edward sooner than expected.
If I’m being honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if Edward had paid to ask the merchant in Darker than Black a question like ‘what happens if every human dies’. The merchant would’ve then told him that ‘the last one remaining is sent back to the beginning’ or something, and boom. Edward decides it should be Sungjin, kills the rest of the party via trolling.
Or maybe he really just trolled for no reason. We may find out soon, at least.
Wao I never thought deeply on it this sure gets the thoughts flowing.
I think it’s a far better possibility that that was Edward’s own newgame+(maybe +++++++), and he saw that he was still unable to carry the team to victory, so decided to pass the baton to MC that time around.
More likely he wanted to be the one sent back, but sungjin’s 1 second invulnerability from blood vengance threw him off
I imagined Ed’s reaction would be like “huh so you are the one that would get sent back to the past,it’s disappointing that you have all the information from the future but still have similar stats as me”
He is either a troll or someone that knew in advance that dying gives humanity a second chance. Then that also begs question, why pick our MC to go back and save everyone ?
For whatever reason he thought MC would get the job done. Hell, maybe he’d passed the baton to the others in earlier loops (a fact he could’ve learned from the hidden black market vendor) and it always failed.
I think he might have wanted to go back in time himself, and didn’t expect sungjin to be invincible for a few seconds when he only had like 1% of his life left due to blood vengeance.
Urgh. Of course, author stuck Edward with Serin…
I’m scared to read the rest of this arc… Serin~~
The only way Serin would be in danger is if she jumps the gun and attacks Edward. I’m still firmly in the “he’s no troll” camp.
She better immediately contact him, rather than go with the cliche “Oh let me see what happens first”
She F**ked with the MC last time by using her ear ring so IDK if I trust her with priority 1 on kill list.
Thank you for the chapter!
Edward!
“”It goes without saying that if you monopolize the reward, then there was an unbelievable number of items” – in his most recent few solo raids, he didn’t get any more items than he had when he was raiding with a party, did he? If “5 in party -> solo” makes little to no difference, I don’t see how “10 in party -> solo” would be any better. 2×0 = 0.
It’s referring to the fact that, in a group, the reward is split. However, challenging the chapters alone means the reward isn’t split between 4 or 9 other people. This means he gets, on average, 5x more than someone challenging the raid in a party.
I believe that it’s mainly in the quality of items received where the difference lies. Ex. He might get 1 legendary 1 heroic with a team but all legendaries and more coins alone.
Thank you for the chapter!
Finally, sth interesting happen… probably edward will torture everyone to get purple coins…
Wtf!!!!!!!
Thanks for the chapter Berrrybunz, TN, and DeAndreR! I hope she calls him before attempting anything.
* Thanks for the chapter OppaTL!