TL: Boko

Editor: Frost

Sung Joon drew his mana and increased his synchronization rate.

“Your synchronization rate is at 45%!” Rishubalt reported. As his synchronization grew, a part of his stamina and mana were replenished.

“You can now use a restrained Tempest Sword. And with a portion of the Gale Sword’s restraints lifted, the sword winds that accompany the lunge have increased to fifty.”

“So what happens if I use the Tempest Sword right now? How many sword winds will there be?” Sung Joon asked. The Gale Sword was a lunge that unleashed sword winds in front, but the Tempest Sword was a technique that unleashed those sword winds in all directions.

Compared to the Illusionary Sword Dance which rained down illusionary swords, swords which were more powerful than sword winds, the Tempest Sword could be considered a technique one level lower than it.

“You can unleash around two hundred sword winds.”

“Then, Gale Sword would be better for a focused attack.”

“I agree.”

Tempest Sword created more sword winds than Gale Sword, but because it also unleashed those sword winds everywhere, using Gale Sword was more effective if he wanted to aim for a single spot.

‘I’d like to try out the Tempest Sword, but I can’t waste my mana right now.’

There were plenty of opportunities to try out the Tempest Sword. Although a synchronization rate of 45% felt far off, if he diligently went through the dungeons, he thought he’d quickly reach that synchronization rate.

“Other worlder! What are you scheming!?”

As soon as the Winter Sovereign roared, a winter wind blew, filled with ice blades. Seeing that, Sung Joon smirked.

“Gale Sword.”

The lunge and the accompanying sword winds blew away the winter wind. Sung Joon didn’t stop there; he used his high-speed movement and simultaneously leaped, advancing right in front of the Winter Sovereign.

The Winter Sovereign couldn’t track his movements at all, now that his synchronization had reached 45%.

“H-How..!?”

The Winter Sovereign was shocked at Sung Joon’s sudden increase in speed. Its shield was already in tatters due to Sung Joon’s Illusionary Sword, so it instead raised its mana.

‘Aura armor?’

Although aura armor was weaker than an aura shield in terms of defense, it was capable of defending the entire body. And since it’s aura, the sword winds couldn’t inflict damage to it easily.

However, he had a solution to an issue like this.

‘I’ll use Illusionary Sword first, and then use Gale Sword..!’

The mana consumption would be huge, but he had mana to spare since his synchronization rate increase had replenished a portion of his mana and stamina.

“Illusionary..”

“I won’t fall for that again!” the Winter Sovereign yelled. Several hundreds of ice spears were manifested in his path.

‘Is this high-rank magic?’

It wasn’t aura, but the spears were covered with sharp mana.

“This is the end!”

The Winter Sovereign was sure that this attack would fatally injure Sung Joon. The several hundred ice spears rained down upon him at a short distance and it was close to impossible to dodge them.

However, the relaxed smile upon Sung Joon’s face didn’t falter.

“Shield.”

He spoke the activation words, activating ‘Dragon’s Protection’, and a powerful barrier was manifested, protecting Sung Joon.

The shield formed from an S-rank item was powerful. The several hundreds of ice spears couldn’t pierce through the barrier. The Winter Sovereign fell into despair when he saw the several hundred ice spears crash into the barrier and weakly fall onto the ground.

As soon as all the ice spears crashed onto the ground, Sung Joon channeled his mana once more, and opened his mouth.

“Illusionary Sword.”

“N-No!”

Thirty one illusionary swords attacked the Winter Sovereign. Because the illusionary swords were coated in aura, they tore through the aura armor.

As soon as he exhausted all of his illusionary swords, the facial section of the aura armor was shattered. The Winter Sovereign was relieved that they didn’t inflict any damage, but Sung Joon’s attack wasn’t finished yet.

“Gale Sword.”

He aimed his sharp lunge, accompanied by dozens of sword winds at its facial region.

“AH!”

The dozens of sword winds brutally cut the Winter Sovereign’s face, and it yelled in agony. Blood spewed through the chilled air.

A puddle of blood had gathered onto the floor.

‘H-How can this be..!?’ the Winter Sovereign thought. Its reddened vision saw Sung Joon’s sword lunging towards it. It felt like it would die.

Sung Joon precisely burrowed his sword into the middle of the Winter Sovereign’s forehead.

Thud!

The now dead Winter Sovereign weakly fell and the ground shook as if there had been an earthquake. Sung Joon landed softly and raised his left hand.

“Absorb,” he said, absorbing the mana and stamina.

“Your normal synchronization rate has increased to 42%,” Rishubalt reported. Eventually, Sung Joon released the tension in his body as he recognized that the battle was over; as soon as his transcendence was released, he was afflicted with pain.

“Ugh!”

Sung Joon stumbled and groaned in agony. He saw a group of monsters that had discovered him and were advancing on his position. However, he wasn’t worried.

Since the Winter Sovereign, who acted as the warp gate, was now dead, the other monsters would soon lose their mana supply and would be unsummoned.

Sure enough, a sound resonated, and the monsters advancing upon Sung Joon were unsummoned. Seeing that, Sung Joon was relieved, but the pain wouldn’t stop.

Because he had unreasonably raised his synchronization rate to 45%, he was afflicted with a sharp and cruel pain that he hadn’t felt thus far.

“H-Heal..!”

He hastily used his Heal. The pain lessened slightly, but he knew that his Heal wouldn’t reduce the duration of the pain.

“U-Ugh!”

His sight began to turn dark. It felt like he’d faint right then and there, but he did his best keep hold of his fading consciousness.

The monsters were unsummoned, but he couldn’t afford to be careless.

“Someone is coming,” Rishubalt reported. When the pain lessened after two hours, he felt a presence approach him.

“Rishubalt. It seems like it’s the Alpha One Team, but you never know, so I’m counting on you to scout for me.”

“I understand.”

“I’m counting on you.”

Eventually, Rishubalt returned after scouting for ten minutes.

“It’s Na Joon Yeol and the Alpha One Team. It seems like they’ll arrive within five minutes,” Rishubalt reported. Just as Sung Joon expected, the ones approaching were Na Joon Yeol and the Alpha One Team. Since they weren’t his enemies, he could feel relieved.

A short while later, he saw Hunters push through the forest.

“Team Leader! There’s someone here! It seems like it’s the S-rank Hunter, Mr. Kang Sung Joon, though?”

The first three who showed up must’ve been reconnaissance as they looked back and yelled loudly. Then, the other Hunters and Joon Yeol appeared.

He heard that the Alpha One Team was originally composed of thirty team members, but he only saw twenty Hunters in total.

‘The Alpha One Team’s losses aren’t small.’

But this wasn’t the time to be thinking of such things. Joon Yeol approached him.

“Did you kill the Winter Sovereign by yourself?”

“Yes, somehow..”

“Impressive. Anyway, are you injured?”

“No. I’m just exhausted because I used too much mana.”

As time passed, the pain lessened significantly. He felt that the pain would completely subside within an hour.

“I heard that the Alpha Two Team as well as the Alpha Three Team got on the helicopters and returned to headquarters just a little while ago. You can relax.”

Joon Yeol thought he might be curious and told him about the state of the Alpha Two and Alpha Three Teams. Then, he called a helicopter, and they went back to headquarters together.

When they were about to land on the airfield, the pain from Sung Joon’s synchronization rate had completely disappeared.

“Are you alright now?”

Seeing his complexion become healthier, Na Joon Yeol asked.

“Yes, I feel a lot better after resting for a bit,” Sung Joon replied, and turned his attention to outside of the window. He could see the airfield. Eventually, the Chinook helicopter landed completely and the rear door opened.

Cha Hyun was waiting for him at the airfield, and he waved his hand once he noticed Sung Joon had disembarked from the helicopter.

“Mr. Kang Sung Joon!”

“Team Leader Im? You’re safe,” Sung Joon said happily, and faced Cha Hyun.

“That’s what I’d like to say. It’s a relief that you’ve come back safe and sound.”

“But what’s the matter?”

“I came to report on the matter of your reward, as well as on Alpha Two Team’s losses. While you were enroute, we were contacted by Alpha Team One and they stated that you weren’t injured, so I came here immediately,” Cha Hyun said, and Sung Joon nodded his head. The faster they settled things, the better.

“For starters, no one on Alpha Two Team died,” Cha Hyun reported. It seemed as though none of his team died after breaking away from them. The fact that there were no deaths meant that Jang Hoon and Shin Chul who each faced a group of monsters had survived.

“So it seems that Mr. Park Jang Hoon and Mr. Yoo Shin Chul are safe, as well.”

“Yes, but their injuries were severe so they’re currently receiving treatment in the infirmary. I just checked, and they’re in the same hospital room. Would you like to visit them?”

Sung Joon nodded his head and replied, “I’ll listen to your report while we’re travelling to the infirmary.”

They might be in the same guild someday, so showing his face sounded like a good idea.

If he didn’t go to the infirmary, he’d have to listen to Cha Hyun’s report standing anyway, and it felt as though he would be wasting time that way, so he hated that option.

“I’ll take you to the infirmary.”

Cha Hyun began leading him to the infirmary and opened his mouth to continue his explanation.

“In terms of your reward, the magic stone collection team is currently travelling to the scene.”

In dungeons, the Hunters personally collected the magic stones, but because the battle was prioritized over all other matters in a Raid, when the Raid was finished, the collection team would move on site. Of course, stashing some magic stones along the way is illegal, so the issue was regulated.

“How much do you think I’ll be paid?”

“We don’t know for sure yet. However, considering the amount of magic stones from this large-scale Raid.. adding on the additional reward, as well as taking down the Boss, you should receive at least $300 million.”

It was a satisfying result.

“This is all I have to report. We’ve arrived at the infirmary just in time. I’ll take you to the hospital room.”

“Thank you for all your hard work.”

Cha Hyun led Sung Joon all the way to the hospital room. Eventually, Sung Joon entered the hospital room.

*

Within a secret room where nothing could be seen, there was nothing but a monitor set up on the wall and turned on. Then, the man who was watching the monitor showed himself.

On the monitor, a middle-aged man was sitting on a comfortable looking leather chair.

“I’m the Head of Delta, Louis. I heard you were looking for me, Director.”

“I’m the Director of the Central Hunter Bureau, Felix.”

The Central Hunter Bureau was based in America and was responsible for every matter regarding Hunters. They were one of the organizations in America that held the most power.

“It’s been a long time since you’ve contacted me through a secret room. Is there an important enough matter that requires particular instructions?”

“This order is your top priority.”

“This the second time I’ve received an order that’s top priority. I take it as an honor as the representative of Head of Delta.”

The Central Hunter Bureau’s committee possessed an incredible amount of power. Therefore, the Bureau fundamentally moved based on the committee’s wishes, but if a Director gave an order that took top priority, then they could ignore all the committee’s orders.

There was only one limitation to issuing an order of top priority: they needed the President’s approval.

“What’s the order?”

“I’ll pass on the details soon. An agent will arrive soon to brief you.”

“If you give me a simple explanation, it’ll help with choosing an agent.”

“You’ll need an agent who can speak Korean well. Since they need to go to Korea.”