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nEpisode 3: Age of Ghosts

/ Chapter 43: Consumables (6)

nTL: emptycube

nSwoosh.

nThe Predator’s Blade sucked in Keushisuit’s blood at a rate of 1 liter per second. When he was alive, his karma stopped the blood from flowing out so it wasn’t able to absorb a lot, but, now that the karma had dispersed from his corpse, his blade didn’t have to hold back any longer.

n“Hooo…”

nChoi Hyuk felt refreshed. The blood drained by the Predator’s Blade’s {Blood Drain} skill returned to him as a recuperative force. His heavy karma that felt as if it had been stretched became taut and his wounds healed. It was the refreshing feeling you felt when you gulped water through your dry, cracked lips.

nThe Predator’s blade, that was greedily drinking blood, turned red and became silent. There was still blood left in the corpse, however, it seemed to be full.

n——————–

n{Greedy Predator’s Blade}

nRank: C (Unique, Growth-type)

nSharp and sturdy. The more blood it absorbs of strong foes, the stronger it will get.

nBlood Drain: Absorbs the blood of enemies to replenish its owner’s karma and heal their wounds. Able to absorb 1L of blood per second.

nDurability: 9,173

/10,000

nEvolution: 3

/100

n——————–

nBefore it needed to eat the whole corpse to grow, but now it only needed to kill. It seemed as though its effectiveness had increased when it went from D rank to C rank. Its current evolution stat was 3. He had killed 3 individuals up until now, the Wyvern of Destruction, Keholeun, and Keushisuit.

nHe placed Keushisuit’s corpse and his equipment into his Handy Bag.

nChoi Hyuk who was momentarily catching his breath felt a haze-like wave approach him.

n“First, Dawn Lightning and now, Deer Antlers. Aren’t you incredible?”

nAn alien. However, she was fluent in Korean. Her figure was covered by a veil of wavering lights and heat waves so he was unable to see her properly. Yet, somehow, he knew naturally. That her name was ‘Flame-Rain’ and that she was a woman. As if he had always known this fact.

n‘… Weird.’

nHe didn’t even sense her approach. She was emitting a white light (goodwill), but Choi Hyuk did his best and kept his guard up. He pointed the Predator’s Blade in her direction.

n“Your motive?”

n“Just~ A greeting.”

nWhen Choi Hyuk spoke informally, blue flames flared up and she replied informally without reserve.

nFlame-Rain’s attitude felt strange to him. All the lowest ranked warriors he met here were hostile and crazy, but she was friendly and there wasn’t a sense of tension.

nWhen he silently stared at her, she uncovered the flames, that were covering her body, to reveal a surprisingly human-like face.

n“Don’t be like that. We might even meet again on the next mission.”

n“… We’re going to meet again?”

n“Not every time. We usually get transferred to a nearby planet and they have a tendency to send those who are of similar strength together. There are a few friends I see often as well.”

n“I don’t think they are worth being friends with?”

nHe looked around at the lowest ranked warriors, who were slaughtering others. There were some who had left and others who were spectating, but there were still around 30 warriors crazily running amok.

n“They give you a mission score if you take out the target. They are like that so others don’t covet them.”

nShe said in a somewhat bitter voice. Her voice contained such human emotion that it was hard to believe she was an alien.

n“They give you a higher score if you take out the target? Then why are they attacking me? And what about those who are just observing?”

n“They are reading the situation. The ones who go crazy are typically stronger. And you’re a tasty prey. At least, you look like one. First, it seems like you hit 3-star Retribution but the rest of your stats seem low. You obtain more karma if you kill someone with a lot of Retribution… meaning you look tasty.”

nSpecific calculations for the karma system was crazy difficult to calculate but its principle was simple. The higher your opponent’s total stats were or the higher your opponent’s Retribution was, the more karma you would receive after killing them. This applied to both monsters and aliens.

nMeaning Keushisuit had planned on killing Choi Hyuk for karma points.

n“Then there’s no need to be friendly with each other.”

nJust because they were in the same situation didn’t mean they were allies. Instead, it was better to think of them as enemies in this case. You would be devoured the moment you seemed like a pushover.

nChoi Hyuk took a step away from Flame-Rain. He had basically heard all the information he needed. He felt that her friendliness was dangerous.

n“Don’t be like that. It’s because everyone has it tough.”

nHer expression looked sad as she said those words. However, the white light and the soft flames covered her face like a wedding veil.

n“Anyways, let’s meet again. It’s about time monster start flooding in.”

nAs if her words were a signal, the ground started to shake. The sounds of flapping wings itched their ears. They were in the middle of the enemy headquarters. Monsters were coming from all directions to take out the intruders. When you looked around, the original targets, the cocoons, had all been destroyed. It was time to return.

nFlame-Rain shook her hand to activate the return code and disappeared. Crunch. Crunch. She disappeared in a gruesome fashion as if she was devoured into the void.

nChoi Hyuk looked around for his followers. They were still fighting Keken. They looked like they had the advantage, but they seemed to lack the firepower to finish him off and were progressing at a snail’s pace. Keken kept enduring as he believed he could end this once his eyes healed.

nHowever, the sounds of monsters coming from everywhere were loud. Eventually, the first to give up was Keken.

n{You, insect bastards! I’ll kill you all next time!}

nHe lashed out in rage, however, Lee Jinhee lashed out in return.

n“You, don’t appear in front of me again!”

nKeken retreated and activated his return code. It seemed Lee Jinhee was out of stamina as she didn’t give chase.

nThe gazes of Lee Jinhee, Baek Seoin, and Chu Youngjin, who were all catching their breaths, turned towards Choi Hyuk who was walking towards them. As soon as their eyes met, Choi Hyuk nodded his head.

n‘Everyone’s alive.’

nHe felt a strange sense of relief.

nLike an endless nightmare, missions would continue and their level of danger would increase. If they couldn’t keep up, they would die.

nIt was a world where the ones who shouldn’t die died

nAnd where ones who no one thought would die died.

nA world where yesterday’s enemies could be today’s friends and today’s friends could be dead tomorrow.

nChoi Hyuk recalled one of the criteria he had for someone to become his comrade.

n‘People who won’t die easily.’

nHe saw his followers who shook their hands to activate their return codes. He felt happy.

nIt was now time for him to return as well. He had stolen Keushisuit’s return code and his timer had ended before the fight.

n“Return!”

nHe shouted in a low voice and his stomach felt like it was flipping over. Crunch. Crunch. His body crumbled into the void.

n——————–

n{Calculating Mission Score}

nBase Score: 100

nKilled over 50 monsters: 100

nTotal 200 points.

n——————–

nIt was something he learned later, but Baek Seoin, Lee Jinhee, and Chu Youngjin earned another 100 points for as a reward for ‘Killed Target’. A total of 300 points. Only Choi Hyuk, who was busy fighting monsters and didn’t kill a target, earned 200 points.

nWhen he learned this fact.

n“Deer Antlers… Damn bastard…”

nHe ground his teeth.

n**

nCaptain Lee Kangjin escaped when Choi Hyuk and Keushisuit started to fight. It was because he thought that even a stray blade could kill him. His crushed arm was starting to heal with the power of the Recovery potion. He pressed his arm against his chest and desperately wandering around the battlefield. To find an undestroyed cocoon.

n“I will live…”

nHe wanted to live with sincerity. He wanted to live and become stronger.

nChoi Hyuk was a shock to him. No matter how he looked at him, he was a human like himself. However, Choi Hyuk was pretty even with Keushisuit, who was a nightmare to him.

n‘Though it was the same in the previous mission…’

nThe strong were really strong. Even if they had all received karma, at some point, there was a difference of heaven and earth between them. Some were so strong it was unbelievable that they were humans. He had even believed they were simply from another world previously.

nHowever, it was different now.

n“You **ing bastard…”

nHe hated himself. He hated himself so much that he wanted to gnaw on his heart and stab it repeatedly.

nHe hated his powerlessness and incompetence. He wanted to kill himself who could only bark at First Sergeant Jang Sudong.

n“I will live… and get stronger…”

nHis eyes caught sight of a cocoon that seemed to be ready to hatch. It was in a deep crater in the basin so it hadn’t been destroyed yet.

nThat moment.

nWhiiiing!!

nThe cocoon started to rip and a piercing wind swooshed out from within.

nPashashasha!

nAn alien closest to it was sliced into four pieces before falling to the ground.

nJjijijik!

nIts long razor-sharp legs ripped the cocoon apart and its figure emerged.

n‘It’s evolution is about to be complete.’

nHe instinctively understood the situation. He felt a mighty aura that was incomparable to the others just inside the cocoon. All the aliens who had gathered to destroy it fled in the other direction. The warrior aliens, who were still in the middle of their slaughter, revealed a tense expression as they kept their guard against the cocoon. Even they didn’t think to recklessly approach it. This just showed how powerful the monster, that was about to complete its evolution, felt.

nNonetheless, Captain Lee Kangjin didn’t back down.

n“Kelokok! Shih!”

nHe passed by the screaming aliens.

nThump! Thump!

nAnd ran towards the pulsating cocoon. Luckily, it seemed the piercing wind only came out at the start as he avoided getting sliced and was able to get close to it.

nInstead, a razor-sharp leg, that was stretched outside the cocoon, targeted him and swung down. He ducked and slid his left foot away to avoid the attack.

nClash!

nThe long leg pierced into the ground in vain. He rolled on the ground.

nBang! Bang! Slash!

nIt was a continuous attack this time. Another leg stabbed at him twice as the first one sliced above his head. He was able to avoid them by rolling due to luck, but, either way, he had ended up really close to the cocoon. Lee Kangjin jumped forward with all his strength. He erased all his fears. Only forward. Forward.

nSwish!

nHe was able to dodge three attacks with that jump.

nAs he avoided the third, the dangerously swinging legs were unable to block him right away.

nOn the other hand, his concentration had reached its peak.

n{Innate Skill ‘Weakness Detection’ awakened!}

nHe saw a brightly shining point.

nThe monster was still partially wrapped in the cocoon. It was just about to complete its evolution.

nThump!

nAn explosive energy that was necessary to evolve was gathered in the center of the cocoon, constantly expanding and contracting. Lee Kangjin instinctively knew that he had to stab that center exactly where the brightly shining point was located.

nHe jumped into the cocoon. Its legs and antennas sliced open his shoulders in desperation.

n“Kirak! Kirararah!”

nThe monster’s whole body squirmed and despaired. Even in this mess, even though his skin was peeling off and blood was flowing out, he didn’t stop. He finally reached his target.

nCrack!

nHe stabbed the nucleus of evolution.

n“Kiyaaaah!!!”

nThe monster collapsed along with a horrible scream. Lee Kangjin collapsed as well. He fell, exhausted, inside its corpse, covered in its mucus.

n{Cleared target. Transforming the corpse into return energy. Remaining Time: 5 minutes}

nThe moment he confirmed the message, he was lying down as if he was dead, counting the seconds as they passed by. The aliens, who were madly searching for return codes, didn’t approach Lee Kangjin, perhaps thinking he was dead or because they had already fled far away.

n‘4 minutes.’

n‘3 minutes.’

nWhile he was counting the time pass, the ground suddenly started to shake. The noisy screams of aliens, who hadn’t been able to return, were like bees in a hive. It seemed like monsters were incoming from every direction. As this was their headquarters.

n‘Whatever.’

nHe continued to count.

n‘1 minute.’

n‘30 seconds.’

n’10 seconds.’

nJust when there were only 5 seconds left.

nJjijijik!

nThe cocoon split apart.

n“Grrrr…”

nA monster he had never seen before stuck its head in. It was a beast whose head was double the size of Lee Kangjin.

nHowever, he remained calm and swung his sword.

n“Get lost!”

nKakang!!

nHis sword didn’t slice into its face but the monster flinched and lifted its head back out. That moment,

n{Activation of the return code complete.}

nIt was time.

n“Return! You, **!”

nLee Kangjin was devoured into the void.

n“Krahlahlak!!”

nCrunch!

nThe monster swung its human-sized foot, crushing the cocoon, but Lee Kangjin had already disappeared.

n**

nThat day and a few days after, people returned to earth. The military and police, who had disappeared, were among them.

nIt was an event that brought the world together.

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