Chapter 9
Starting with the Stone Boar, Hyeon-jun hunted every monster he encountered in the Mountain Field.
His large bag quickly grew heavy.
He continued fighting without rest.
The only pauses came when he processed monster corpses and collected the materials.
Even that was enough.
It didn’t take long for his already-large bag to become completely full.
Several hours faster than usual.
“Whew.”
Hyeon-jun sat somewhere comfortable and let out a short breath.
He took out a chocolate bar and ate it.
It was his first proper break.
“At this level, I could probably handle the Field Boss easily.”
Hyeon-jun pulled out his smartphone and opened the hunting-ground map he had downloaded beforehand.
Hunting-ground terrain usually remained stable, so Hunters made maps like these.
They weren’t perfect.
But for hunting purposes, they were good enough.
“Where am I right now?”
There was no GPS inside Other Spaces.
To determine their position, Hunters had to search for recognizable landmarks.
Gates and uniquely shaped natural terrain were commonly used as reference points.
“Nothing nearby.”
No matter where he looked, he saw ordinary trees.
There were no unique landforms marked on the map.
“I should’ve bought a compass.”
There were special compasses used to locate bosses in Other Spaces.
More precisely, they pointed toward strong magical lifeforms.
They were especially useful inside dungeons.
They were fairly expensive, so Hyeon-jun had decided not to buy one.
“Can’t be helped.”
Hyeon-jun returned to the area around the Gate.
He had marked trees while traveling, so finding his way back was easy.
“Looks like I just need to move diagonally from here.”
Using the map, Hyeon-jun started toward the Field Boss’s territory.
He didn’t stop hunting along the way.
By the time his bag looked ready to burst, the entrance of a cave appeared between the trees.
It looked like the Tyrant’s lair.
“Is that it?”
Hyeon-jun checked the map again.
The terrain matched the description.
It was the Tyrant’s Cave.
“What a mess.”
The trees around the cave were all damaged.
More accurately, almost none of them were properly alive.
Most had been snapped or broken.
Even the few that remained standing were covered in scars.
“How much fighting happened here?”
He could probably forget about using the terrain to his advantage.
He hadn’t been planning to anyway, but losing an option still felt slightly disappointing.
“Well, I guess that makes it better for testing my level.”
Better to think positively.
“I’ll leave my bag here.”
Hyeon-jun placed his bag somewhere safe.
Then he picked up a fist-sized rock from the ground.
“Whew. Why am I nervous?”
The Green-Mane Tyrant.
The strongest F-rank monster, said to have no equal among monsters of its rank.
The thought of fighting it made his heart pound.
Nervousness and excitement mixed together.
Part of him wondered whether he could win.
Another part wondered how strong the monster actually was.
...I hope it isn’t too easy.
Hyeon-jun thought that as he threw the rock into the cave.
Now that he possessed some strength, he was slowly beginning to understand the thrill of battle.
-ROOOOAAAR!
The rock immediately provoked a response.
Hyeon-jun drew his kitchen knife.
THUD!
The Green-Mane Tyrant emerged from the cave.
If it stood on two legs, it would easily exceed two meters.
Its fur was a mysterious mixture of black and green.
Sharp fangs protruded beyond its mouth.
Its massive paws looked powerful enough to crush stone.
“Incredible...”
Hyeon-jun swallowed dryly.
Seeing it in a photograph had been completely different.
Its size was impressive.
But the most intimidating thing was the murderous pressure radiating from a predator’s eyes.
“ROOOOOAR!”
The Tyrant roared as though furious at whoever had disturbed its sleep.
Despite the cold sweat on his skin, one corner of Hyeon-jun’s mouth curled upward.
“This should be fun.”
His grip tightened around the kitchen knife.
It was a powerful enemy.
Yet Hyeon-jun felt certain he wouldn’t lose.
“ROAR!”
The Tyrant dropped onto all fours and charged.
Its massive body rushed forward like a truck with broken brakes.
But to Hyeon-jun...
It didn’t look particularly fast.
A simple charge.
Aside from being faster, it wasn’t much different from the Stone Boar’s attack.
Whoosh!
Hyeon-jun easily dodged the charge and extended his arm.
He intended to slash open the Tyrant’s flank.
Scrape!
But the kitchen knife failed to pierce its hard hide.
This isn’t enough?
He had managed against the other monsters.
But apparently his knife wasn’t strong enough for the Tyrant.
Hyeon-jun clicked his tongue and sheathed it.
He drew his other weapon.
The hammer.
Actually, this works out better.
The Tyrant’s hide sold for a high price because of its mysterious appearance.
A knife would inevitably damage it.
A hammer wouldn’t have that problem.
I originally planned to go all out.
He hadn’t known the exact difference between his own strength and the monster’s.
That was why he had chosen the knife.
But now that we’ve exchanged attacks, a blunt weapon should be more than enough.
Hyeon-jun gripped the hammer tightly and charged.
He moved faster than the Tyrant could turn around.
Then smashed the back of its head.
CRACK!
A clean hit.
The Tyrant’s body trembled and paused.
Hyeon-jun tried to attack again.
But it quickly recovered and swung one of its forepaws.
WHOOSH!
The air screamed.
The power behind the strike was tremendous.
But...
Too slow.
The Tyrant’s attack seemed to move in slow motion.
Hyeon-jun lowered his body and avoided it.
At the same time, he stepped in and twisted his waist.
THUD!
The hammer slammed into the Tyrant’s side.
“ROOOOAR!”
The Tyrant roared in pain.
Only two attacks had landed.
Yet apparently they had dealt considerable damage.
Its movements slowed for a moment.
Hyeon-jun didn’t miss the opportunity.
The head!
He jumped toward the dazed monster.
Then brought the hammer down on its skull.
CRUNCH!
This impact felt different from the first.
He felt something break beneath the hammer.
The center of the Tyrant’s head visibly caved inward.
“...”
Hyeon-jun landed and watched the monster from close range.
It remained standing on two legs.
But its eyes had lost focus.
Even though Hyeon-jun was right beside it, the creature no longer reacted.
THUD.
The Tyrant collapsed.
The strongest F-rank monster had died after only three hammer strikes.
The hunt had been so easy that Hyeon-jun was left dumbfounded.
“So this is E-rank power?”
Hyeon-jun grinned and drew his kitchen knife.
He immediately began processing the Tyrant’s corpse.
Its hide was extremely tough.
Separating it with a kitchen knife took forever.
“Whew. Finally got the whole thing off.”
He roughly inspected it.
The condition was excellent.
“This should be top quality.”
Next came the Mana Stone near its heart.
It was slightly larger than his fist.
The largest and heaviest Mana Stone he had obtained all day.
Next is the gallbladder.
Hyeon-jun cut open the lower abdomen, near the liver.
With calm hands, he carefully removed a dark brown pouch attached to the liver.
It was about half the size of a fist.
Bear gall.
“Whew. Pretty clean for my first attempt.”
He had only watched videos before.
Yet he succeeded on his first practical attempt.
Hyeon-jun carefully wrapped the gallbladder in emergency cloth.
“If I’d known I was going to kill this thing, I would’ve brought an airtight container.”
Next were the fangs.
He forced open the jaw and pushed his kitchen knife into the gumline.
After working at it several times, a massive fang came free.
“Finally, the paws.”
The paws were another valuable part.
While bear gall was used as medicine, the paws were used as food ingredients.
Rich in thick fat, they were considered a luxury ingredient among gourmets.
Hyeon-jun skillfully cut off all four paws and placed them in zipper bags.
“If I had my way, I’d take the meat too.”
The meat could be sold.
But considering its weight, the price wasn’t particularly good.
“Too bad, but I can’t help it.”
Hyeon-jun stood and retrieved his bag.
He packed the smaller materials into the already bursting bag.
Then draped the hide over the top.
“Damn. This is heavy.”
He had killed just about every monster worth hunting.
He had thoroughly tested his strength.
Hyeon-jun started to leave.
“Ah. Right.”
He suddenly remembered what the employee had told him earlier.
If he found any bodies, he should at least bring back their identification.
“There’s only one Tyrant lair in this field. If people died to the Tyrant, their bodies should be there, right?”
He didn’t have to care.
There was no reward for doing it.
Yet he couldn’t bring himself to leave.
The thought of a person’s final remains being abandoned here forever felt deeply bitter.
“And it could’ve been the old me.”
Hyeon-jun put down his bag and entered the cave.
The inside was dark.
He turned on his smartphone flashlight.
It’s pretty deep.
The farther he entered, the stronger a strange smell became.
Soon, Hyeon-jun noticed bones near his feet.
Human bones.
“...”
He shifted his gaze deeper inside.
Bones and pieces of clothing were scattered everywhere.
Equipment once used by Hunters also lay abandoned.
Hyeon-jun searched through the clothing.
He found several wallets.
And several Hunter identification cards.
“About six people?”
Their ages varied.
From people in their twenties to people in their fifties.
Hyeon-jun silently prayed for them.
“Did that thing kill all of them?”
Monsters respawned over time.
There was no way to know whether all six had been killed by the exact Green-Mane Tyrant he had just fought.
“I’ll leave the bones and clothes here.”
He wanted to bring them too.
But the Management Bureau only handled the identification of deceased Hunters when their IDs were returned.
If he brought back other items, he would have to deal with them personally.
It would only become a headache.
“Anything useful here?”
Hyeon-jun searched the remaining equipment.
The armor was completely ruined.
The weapons weren’t particularly impressive either.
“This one isn’t bad.”
He found a dagger that looked fairly high quality.
With some maintenance, it would be a much better weapon than his kitchen knife.
“Now that your family can at least hold a funeral, whoever you were... I’ll use this well.”
Just as Hyeon-jun was about to turn away with the dagger...
Something caught his eye.
A translucent circular object.
“Huh? No way.”
Hyeon-jun approached and picked up the translucent disc from the ground.
Unknown characters were carved across its surface.
They were identical to those engraved on Runes.
The world called them Rune Characters.
“It’s a Soul Trace.”
Just as monsters left behind Mana Stones when they died...
Awakeners left behind Soul Traces.
Runes absorbed during a person’s lifetime remained recorded within the Soul Trace.
Using special processing methods, some of those Runes could be extracted.
“So they died inside here.”
If they had been eaten alive, the traces would have been digested along with them.
“Are there more?”
Hyeon-jun carefully searched every corner.
He found two additional Soul Traces.
Three in total.
“Whoa. How much is all of this worth?”
Dense Rune Characters covered the discs.
They were all F-rank Runes.
Combined, there seemed to be roughly four hundred.
“The recovery rate is thirty percent, so around 120?”
But he wouldn’t be able to keep all 120.
The reason was a crime that had once become widespread.
Rune Killing.
As the name suggested, criminals killed Hunters inside hunting grounds or dungeons in order to steal Runes from their Soul Traces.
To prevent Rune Killing, the government created numerous laws and regulations.
One required extremely strict supervision of special processing technicians.
All technicians were placed under the Awakener Management Bureau.
As a result, Runes could only be extracted through the Bureau.
And they take a ridiculous fifty-percent fee.
Apparently, the fee needed to be that high to function as a deterrent.
Very few people would risk murdering a Hunter if they were forced to surrender half the resulting Runes anyway.
“I didn’t care much before, but now that murderous fee actually affects me.”
What a waste.
One hundred twenty Runes would become sixty.
At least the laws had been very effective.
There were other regulations too, but Rune Killing had dramatically decreased.
Now it was almost never seen.
“Well, I guess it’s better this way if that’s what keeps people safe.”
Hyeon-jun carefully packed the Soul Traces.
They were an unexpected windfall.
...
...
The employee at the Gate post stared at the Hunter IDs in disbelief.
“Y-You really found them?”
“They were inside the Tyrant’s lair.”
The employee’s eyes moved behind Hyeon-jun.
An enormous bag.
And draped over it...
The hide of the Green-Mane Tyrant.
Even seeing it directly, the sight was difficult to believe.
Who is this guy?
An F-rank Hunter.
More than that, an F-rank Hunter who had entered the Mountain Field for the first time today.
And he had killed the Green-Mane Tyrant alone?
His bag is completely full too.
Not just full.
It looked ready to burst.
The amount of loot was enormous.
It wouldn’t have been strange to say he had single-handedly cleared out every monster around the Gate.
No wonder the other Hunters kept leaving without anything.
Now there was an explanation.
The employee just hadn’t expected that explanation to be this one man.
“Well then, I’ll be going...”
“What? W-Wait!”
The employee quickly came to his senses.
He opened a drawer and handed Hyeon-jun something.
A small box.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a small token the Management Bureau gives Hunters who contribute to the public good. You could call it a medal, I suppose. It doesn’t really have any major value...”
“Like a Good Citizen Award?”
“Ah, yes. Exactly.”
Hyeon-jun opened the box.
Inside was a badge designed with the Management Bureau’s emblem.
“I’ll use it well.”
“Thanks to what you did today, someone’s family will finally be able to bring them home. Thank you.”
The employee bowed.
Hyeon-jun returned the bow, then turned and left.
