LRAB Chapter 374: Reaper (2)
Chapter 374: Reaper (2)
“Fuck, what is this bastard?“
“Kill him!”
“Which group are you from?”
Because he had closed the distance in an instant while in stealth and pounced, their number became four the moment the fight started.
One archer, two mental-type, and one leader who looked like a swordsman.
If the leader’s ability was decent, it was a troublesome combination of classes for Kang-hoo.
【‘Steady Aim’ has been activated.】
The second perk, ‘Intuition,’ of his main constellation, Strategist of the Wasteland, activated.
It was an ability that allowed prior awareness whenever a ranged dealer entered states like snipe, steady aim, or target designation.That meant the archer was preparing a powerful shot aimed at him.He was confident he could endure the attacks of the two hunters who looked like mental-types, and he was a bit out of range from the leader.
He decided to go for the archer first.
“Die, you son of a bitch!”
Already, a red aura was blazing over the archer’s entire body. It was quite a threatening sight.
But Kang-hoo’s expression stayed calm, because from the start he had been confident of victory in a one-on-one against the archer.
Aside from the leader, not a single hunter here had a contract with a constellation.
In other words, they possessed such a petty level of strength that even a constellation saw no value in contracting them. Their limit was obvious.
Tatatat!
Kang-hoo closed in on the archer with only Acceleration applied.
Even though he was watching the flaming arrow forming right before his eyes, he did not use a defensive skill. That was an expression of his confidence.
Of course, from the archer’s point of view, it was a humiliation that denied his very existence wholesale.
“Haaat!”
Kwaaang!
With a shout, the secret-weapon arrow the archer loosed went straight at Kang-hoo. No, it looked like it would.
But then—
【Immaculate Wall】
Kang-hoo raised his left arm and created an Immaculate Wall. It was not the usual concept of lifting the wall and blocking.
Still holding the Immaculate Wall, he leaped straight forward and slammed into the archer.
Tiinng!
The arrow containing the archer’s all-out strike bounced off helplessly the moment it touched the Immaculate Wall.
For someone it had been a do-or-die shot, but for someone else it had been a trivial shot from the beginning.
At that moment—
“Arghhh! Gyaaaah!”
A scream came from the side.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that one hunter who had been trying to interfere with his mind had been hit in reverse by Infernus and was clawing at his own head.
The other mental-type hunter—
【A mental-type attack from a hunter within a range of up to 2x the contractor’s level has been detected. Immunity has been applied with a 90% chance.】
By the first perk possessed by Strategist of the Wasteland, the mental attack was rendered null.
And even if, not the 90% chance, but the 10% chance had hit him instead, Kang-hoo had something to rely on.
【Even if you fail to respond with the 10% chance, ‘Keen Insight’ will activate and forcibly grant immunity. However, it cannot be reactivated for 1 day.】
Because he had Keen Insight.
Protection for the mental aspect, response to ranged attacks, disruption that severed the mental link between summoned being and main body—
Strategist of the Wasteland was heavily specialized in such areas, making it a truly tailor-made constellation for a situation like this.
Ku-woong!
“Guhk!”
The archer’s face, pressed head-on by the Immaculate Wall, was squashed like a face pressed against a windowpane.
There was no humiliation quite like this.
If he had at least been stabbed in the back of the neck by an assassin, or died to a stealth attack, it might have been a somewhat plausible death.
“Ghuuuaaaagh!”
Even in a contest of pure strength, the archer was overwhelmed and kept getting pushed back with his face smeared against the Immaculate Wall.
“This is boring too.”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Kang-hoo, whose interest had quickly faded, swung his right arm around beside the Immaculate Wall and thrust straight into the archer’s neck.
It looked like one stab alone would have killed him, but just in case, he finished it as a bundled package including a confirm-kill.
“Ugh.”
With a final death rattle, the archer collapsed and never opened his eyes again.
Because there had been no contracted constellation, Kang-hoo’s status window also ended in a rather dull state.
【Heart Demon is activating.】
“......I don’t want to die! I don’t want to!”
One of the mental-type hunters started fleeing in a blind panic.
It was the first activation of the Heart Demon constellation he had seen in a very long time.
Since he had far more chances to face the strong, there had been few opportunities for Heart Demon, a weakling-despising constellation, to activate.
【Against enemies or monsters who fear the contractor, it grants fear doubled in strength.
Mental-type attacks from enemies who fear the contractor are rendered completely powerless against the contractor.】
It was a constellation he had killed Jin Hyo-yeong for and stolen, low level, and much more effective on terrified hunters.
What had been a four-versus-one picture instantly turned into a five-versus-one.
The hunter who abandoned the field did not even look back and disappeared somewhere to the northwest.
If he took a path he knew, he might somehow cling to life, but if not, he would become food for the wraiths.
‘Mumyeong. Stall for some time.’
Kang-hoo summoned the Corrupted ‘Mumyeong’ and simultaneously deployed Illusion Arts, Shadow Step, and Clone Technique.
Since the leader was the final boss, he planned to leave the main dish for last.
If illusions, shadows, clones, and even Mumyeong all moved together, the leader would not even think of targeting the real him.
“Wh-what are these things? Huh?”
Sure enough, at the appearance of enemies filling his entire field of vision, the leader panicked and even stuttered his words.
Meanwhile—
Swiish.
The tip of Kang-hoo’s dagger aimed at the mental-type hunter. It was time to cut off the last side branch.Around that time—
Celestial Assassin and Ju Haemi were watching Kang-hoo fighting a one-versus-five battle alone.
At first, Ju Haemi had even suggested that they should help Kang-hoo.
Now, she was realizing just how pointless that concern had been.
Celestial Assassin was sitting cross-legged on a rock with a good view of the abandoned school, simply watching.
“Isn’t that guy the most amazing one, Father?”
“You mean the man in black?”
“Yes. It’s an ability of Lord Kang-hoo’s that I’ve never seen before. I have seen him handle wraiths before, but......”
“It is probably a higher concept of that wraith. There are underlings whose rank rises step by step.”
“Ah......”
“But its appearance is exactly the sort you’d see in a martial arts novel or drama. Is it the realization of imagination?”
Celestial Assassin laughed.
If it was a wraith, it should look like a wraith.
In the past, the underling had looked like black strands of seaweed, but now it had the respectable appearance of a martial artist, so it was hard not to find it funny.
Still, the picture it presented was cool.
Perhaps because its level was still low, it was crude, but the swordsmanship it was creating was decent enough to watch.
Meanwhile—
“Guhhk.”
The mental-type hunter, stabbed under the chin without any chance to defend, collapsed before Kang-hoo.
It had looked like there was no way he could match Kang-hoo from the beginning, and he died without landing even a single proper attack.
Judging by the process, it was enough to raise a reasonable suspicion that Kang-hoo had just toyed with him until he died.
Now it had become a one-on-one.
“Where does Lord Kang-hoo even pull out only the skills and abilities he needs like that? Honestly, I’m jealous.”
“Living this long, it’s the first time I’ve ever been jealous of someone else’s abilities. I’m happy he’s my disciple, but if he were someone else, my insides would have burned.”
Celestial Assassin and Ju Haemi, their gazes meeting, scratched the backs of their heads with embarrassed smiles.
They felt embarrassed that they were just watching the battle from afar, saying they envied and were jealous of Kang-hoo’s powers.
Of course, that was how much they cherished Kang-hoo, and that was why they could share such deep, candid talk.
“Mm. If Kashimar Guild has come down as far as Hoeyang County, it means there are probably more of them up above than we thought.”
“Yes, Father. I thought the Gangwon-do side was still outside their sphere of influence, but...... they’ve come way too far down.”
“It’s not a good sign. Those guys are built on violence and plunder. They’re called a guild, but in truth they’re worse than a criminal organization.”
“At this rate, it’ll be hard for Korean hunters to move north later. Not if Kashimar Guild stakes out territory like this in advance.”
“Yeah. This is no small matter.”
Celestial Assassin stroked the tip of his chin.
He did not say it to Ju Haemi, but he knew an important secret related to Kashimar Guild.
There was no solid evidence, so it remained in the realm of suspicion, but given the circumstances, it was a certainty.
It was that Nikolai Strakh, the master of Kashimar Guild, had a point of connection with ‘the Eye.’
Earlier, Elizabeth had been suspected of receiving the patronage of Red Eye, that is, the crimson eye.
Similarly, it was highly likely that there was another eye behind Nikolai Strakh as well.
Since he had not confirmed it directly, he could only phrase it as “highly likely” or “suspicious,” but in truth he was almost certain.
In any case, it was a fact only he needed to know, and he judged there was no need to tell Kang-hoo or Ju Haemi.
Then, just as his gaze was about to turn back to watch the final act of the battle, Kang-hoo’s duel with the leader—
“Well then, time to see the fight with the last guy...... It’s already over.”
The one who had looked like their leader was taken down by Kang-hoo in anticlimactic fashion.
The first bold attack he had drawn went to waste when Kang-hoo dodged, then his side was stabbed twice and he fell.
At a glance, it looked like a couple of light pokes, but at that level his muscles would be torn and he would not be able to lift a sword.
He was still breathing, but unable to attack. It seemed there was some reason to keep him alive rather than kill him.
“Hm.”
Celestial Assassin crossed his arms and stood up from his seat. What business did he have with a guy he was meeting for the first time?There was only one reason Kang-hoo had spared the leader.
It was because there was unexpected information regarding the constellation the leader possessed.
When he had first gone into the fight, he had only registered that the leader had a constellation contract.
Because swift offense was essential in a situation where he was outnumbered, he had only checked whether the man had a constellation or not.
“Talk. How did you end up contracting with your constellation?”
“Guhk...... How the hell do you ‘end up’ contracting, you f*cking retard. I did it ‘cause it was worth it...... Gyaaaagh!”
Even then, the leader tried to lift his sword somehow to counterattack Kang-hoo, only to cough blood and scream.
The muscles along both his sides had been torn, so even raising his arms the slightest bit was agony.
“Wind of the God.”
“What the hell are you babbling about, you f*ck......”
“You know it.”
“What is that...... Guhk.”
He casually brought up Wind of the God, but the guy seemed not to know anything at all.
Thinking it over, it was indeed too grand a connection for a low-level hunter operating in a place like this.
But it was also puzzling why the constellation he had contracted with had chosen to contract with such a guy.
Had it rung the wrong doorbell?
Or had it judged that, for achieving its goal, this nobody was better than some well-known hunter?
The man looked completely ignorant.
Kang-hoo had asked in hopes of gaining even a small clue, but things did not go as he had hoped.
【Flame of Annihilation】
Whooosh!
“......!”
Deciding there was no further value in talking, Kang-hoo used Flame of Annihilation to burn the man’s head alive.
Perhaps because he had been on the verge of death already, the moment the flames wrapped his whole face, his breath stopped.
And then—
【You have killed the target and stolen the contract with ‘Grim Reaper – Hai.’】
He had carried out plunder of the constellation the leader had been contracted with.
Grim Reaper – Hai.
A new constellation had appeared, one connected to Wind of the God.
“.......”
As he read the tooltip for the constellation that had been activated along with the plunder, Kang-hoo’s expression quickly hardened.