SMH 152

Chapter 48 – Raid Hell (4)

TL: Boko

Editor: Frost

It wasn’t a complete ‘Dimension Slash’, as his synchronization rate wasn’t high enough. Despite that, it was enough to overpower Rash’s ‘Cut’.

‘T-This is dangerous…!’

His instincts warned him too late. Rash urgently turned his body, but he couldn’t avoid Sung Joon’s strike completely. Sung Joon’s ‘Dimension Slash’ cut through both Rash’s aura clad handaxe and his left arm as well. For an instant, the dimension was distorted and the area his arm was severed spurted blood like a fountain.

“Ugh!” Rash cried out. He quickly used his high-speed movement to retreat. As soon as he widened the distance, he saw Sung Joon’s posture.

‘That’s Roukel’s battle posture…’

Although Rash had only seen that posture once in the Ridonia Great Plains, he remembered it quite clearly.

How could he forget the one who annihilated the Red Axe Tribe back then?

‘To think that the rumors were true. Roukel had a disciple…’

When he had first heard those rumors, Rash shook his head in disbelief, but right now, he had no choice but believe those claims.

The otherworlder’s, a.k.a Sung Joon’s posture was nigh perfect, so much so that he would believe it if someone told him he were Roukel himself. If he looked closely, then he would see that Sung Joon was lacking in some areas, but even so, he didn’t see any way he could win.

“He may have lost his left arm, but he’s assumed a perfect defensive posture,” Rishubalt said, assessing Rash’s defensive position.

“If there are no openings, then we just have to make one,” Sung Joon replied in a very small voice, and gathered mana into his eyes.

“Petrify.”

As soon as he uttered the activation words, a red ray shot out towards Rash. Rash turned his body to the side and evaded the beam, but left an opening that Sung Joon could exploit in the process. Sung Joon’s eyes lit up.

“Blink.”

Blink consumed much more mana than high-speed movement, but was much faster. Rash saw Sung Joon already swinging his sword right in front of him.

“Ugh!”

Despite Rash’s left arm being severed, he was able to block Sung Joon’s sword due to his abundant combat experience. However, that was all.

“Illusionary Sword.”

Rash couldn’t stop the ensuing Illusionary Sword. The aura clad illusionary blades gruesomely ripped Rash’s body apart. He spurted red blood and weakly fell to the ground.

“Absorb.”

“Your synchronization rate rose by 2% and is now at 59%. A portion of Gale Sword’s restriction has been lifted, and can now be applied in a different way.”

His synchronization rate had risen by 2%. It was obvious that he’d be smiling.

“I don’t think you even need to explain it to me,” Sung Joon said. Fortunately, he recollected the way in which he could apply the Gale Sword.

‘Shall I try it right away?’

He’d taken care of the raid boss, Rash, but there were monsters along the path leading to the warp gate.

Because Joon Yeol fought while protecting Ha Yeon, he couldn’t cast a proper offensive spell.

“Gale Sword!”

Sung Joon spoke the activation words and forcefully swung his sword. The whirlwind that had encircled his blade was released, and swept away the monsters in front of him.

The path that the whirlwind had traveled was soaked in red blood. With just one attack, the path to the warp gate was clear.

He didn’t even need to use ‘Blink’. ‘High-speed movement’ was enough. Sung Joon instantly closed the distance with the warp gate where one Orc Blademaster and two Orc Warlords were protecting the ‘crystal’.

“S-Stop him!”

As soon as the Orc Blademaster activated its aura and yelled, the Orc Warlords brandished their glaives and approached. Sung Joon just swung his sword.

Their auras clashed, splattering shards of mana. Because the aura around the glaives was weak, the moment his sword and their glaives touched, the glaives’ aura futilely broke apart. As soon as that happened, Sung Joon cut the glaives into two and cut off the Orc Warlord’s head.

“Ugh!”

The Warlord’s neck spewed blood like a fountain. After Sung Joon had taken care of the other Orc Warlord, he threw himself at the Orc Blademaster.

The Orc Blademaster shot an aura slash at Sung Joon. While an aura slash possessed incredible killing power, it was comparatively very slow, and Sung Joon just brushed past the Orc Blademaster.

“A human… Ugh!”

There was a dagger burrowed within the Orc Blademaster’s chest. Sung Joon had stabbed the Orc Blademaster while passing by him.

Sung Joon had hit the Orc Blademaster’s heart directly. The Orc Blademaster weakly fell and Sung Joon destroyed the crystal that was maintaining the warp gate.

As soon as warp gate was destroyed, the monsters that Joon Yeol had been fighting against were unsummoned.

After he had confirmed that there weren’t any more mana reactions around, Joon Yeol sighed in relief. The monsters had disappeared, so they had time to relax now.

Once Sung Joon came over, Joon Yeol woke Ha Yeon up.

“Ugh…”

He had healed her wounds, but Ha Yeon let out a cry of pain, perhaps because that was her last memory before she blacked out, and woke up. Joon Yeol looked at her and explained the situation to her.

“Ah… I see.”

Ha Yeon also felt guilty that all of her troops were killed and lowered her head. However, she soon shook her head and got a hold of herself.

“Thank you. If it wasn’t for you, Mr. Kang Sung Joon…”

The rest of Ha Yeon’s words were unclear. It was scary to even think what would’ve happened to her if Sung Joon hadn’t come when he did.

“I was just lucky.”

The reason he’d gotten here when he did was honestly because he was lucky. Sung Joon turned his gaze to the north. Seoul was burning.

“This is bad. Thirteen warp gates have opened in South Korea. The raid has occurred in thirteen administrative districts,” Joon Yeol explained.

“What about the other countries?”

“I’m not sure about the other countries. Since my number one priority is South Korea.”

It was a response befitting the patriotic Joon Yeol. Sung Joon nodded his head and spoke.

“First, let’s move the defense line.”

“I understand.”

“That sounds like our best option.”

Joon Yeol and Ha Yeon agreed with him. The three ran back to the defense line with Ha Yeon’s Haste buff active. Because they ran at max speed, they were able to arrive quite quickly.

The forces that Sung Joon had led were in the rear now, and their reinforcements had taken their place in the front.

“Hunter Kang Sung Joon!”

The Investigator was waiting for Sung Joon. As soon as he discovered Sung Joon, he rushed over to him.

“We’ve confirmed that the Songpa District’s warp gate has been destroyed.”

“What about the Gangdong District?” Sung Joon asked, and the Investigator turned his attention to his tablet PC’s screen in order to ascertain the state of the Gangdong District.

“It’s the same over there as well. The standing forces and the reinforcing troops joined forces to destroy the warp gate. Now, this area is secure,” the Investigator replied. Fortunately, they had destroyed the warp gates before the battlefield could spread any further.

“Was the warp gate in Gangdong District taken care of by an S-rank Hunter?”

Multiple warp gates had opened in a wide area. Though the Songpa District’s warp gate was the largest, the other warp gates were protected by at least an S-rank raid boss.

If an S-rank Hunter wasn’t there to assist, then it would’ve been difficult to destroy the warp gate.

“The S-rank Combat Hunter, Yoo Kang Chul defeated the raid boss and destroyed the warp gate.”

Sung Joon nodded his head. He didn’t remember his rank, but he’d heard of Yoo Kang Chul’s name before. If he remembered correctly, Yoo Kang Chul used a hammer, according to what he read on Hunter.com.

“I’m obviously the MVP, right?”

“T-That’s…”

Sung Joon asked as though the answer was obvious, but the Investigator couldn’t respond easily. The Investigator hesitated, looked anxiously at Sung Joon, and said.

“We believe the Rank 1 S-rank Hunter, Choi Han Seok will be the MVP of this raid.”

“Rank 1 Choi Han Seok?”

It was somewhat shocking, so Sung Joon’s voice rose a little bit. The Investigator avoided direct eye contact with Sung Joon.

“While you were stopping the waves, Choi Han Seok destroyed three warp gates by himself.”

It was a fitting accomplishment, as Choi Han Seok was considered “South Korea’s Strongest” before Sung Joon had become an SS-rank Hunter.

Sung Joon had no choice but to acknowledge it. Even so, he had no plans of surrendering the title of MVP to him.

If he became the MVP, then he would receive an additional payment of 30% following the raid. There had never been a raid of this size ever before, so if Sung Joon’s promised payment was increased by another 30%, then he would receive a hefty fortune.

‘The more money you have, the better,’ Sung Joon thought. Especially because creating a new drug for his father and Zelo’s research cost a fortune.

“Which of the remaining warp gates is the largest?”

“The Yongsan District. As the raid boss is a Hatchling, Choi Han Seok can’t do anything about it either.”

Not only was a Hatchling considered a high tier S-rank monster, but it was also buffed because of its large size. Therefore, it wasn’t possible for Choi Han Seok, who had spent all his mana destroying three warp gates already, to defeat it.

“Please call a helicopter over.”

“I’m sorry…?”

The Investigator didn’t check on right away. Because of that, Sung Joon had to waste time ‘explaining’ it to him.

“I’ll take care of the Hatchling. So please send over a helicopter.”

One of his options was to run as fast as he could, but it would consume his stamina and in a lot of ways, a helicopter was a much more convenient way of travel.

“I understand. I’ll request for a helicopter immediately.”

The other S-rank Hunters were depleted of mana, as they destroyed the other warp gates.

But since Sung Joon offered to defeat the Hatchling, which was normally quite difficult to take on, the Bureau couldn’t help but feel overjoyed.

The Investigator immediately requested for a helicopter to come over. It didn’t take long before a formation of helicopters arrived.

A single transport helicopter was guarded by six attack helicopters.

As soon as Sung Joon got onto the helicopter, Joon Yeol rushed over to him.

“Mr. Kang Sung Joon! I’ll go with you!”

“You probably don’t have enough mana. And there’s a chance that warp gates will open in other areas, so please stay here and rest,” Sung Joon said, and turned his attention to the cockpit.

“Please depart.”

And the formation of helicopters departed. Their destination, the Yongsan District’s warp gate. It didn’t take long for them to arrive.

While the attack helicopters drew the attention of the monsters by firing their missiles and shooting their machine guns, the transport helicopter descended to the ground.

As soon as it got to a safe enough altitude, Sung Joon forcefully leapt off and infused his ring, ‘Roel’, with mana.

“Transform.”

The ring transformed into a sword. Due to the attack helicopters, the Living Armors had come rushing over, and aimed their weapons at Sung Joon.

“It’s the mark of the Dragonkin. Though I’m not sure which clan it belongs to,” Rishubalt, who had noticed the crest atop the Living Armors’ breastplates, explained. Because there were so few dragons, many of the clans used Living Armors as their main force.

It wasn’t difficult to take on the Living Armors. They might be difficult to attack, but they were still nothing more than B-rank monsters. They were no match for Sung Joon.

The twenty-one Living Armors didn’t even last ten seconds. Sung Joon broke through the continuously swarming Living Armors and ultimately, arrived in front of the Hatchling.

“Welcome, Otherworlder.”

A Dragonkin Magic Knight blocked Sung Joon. He could see someone fighting the Hatchling across its shoulder. Considering their skill in using offensive spells, they must be an S-rank Hunter.

“It seems to be Choi Han Seok,” Rishubalt said. Sung Joon’s eyes lit up. If he lost the Hatchling, then he would lose his place as MVP as well. Sung Joon grit his teeth. However, his eyes lit up with a calm expression.

“Move…”

“What did you say?”

“You’re in my way.”