Chapter 122: The Sword Saint’s Resurgence

The Sword Saint, Han Yu-ra.  

She is the symbol of the Hunter Association.  

Because of that, she must always be number one.  

To control the hunters of Korea, and to prevent them from ignoring the Hunter Association, she must never lose her top rank.  

The moment she steps down from number one, hunters who ignore the association and refuse its control will start to appear one after another.  

But in the end, she couldn’t hold that position.  

Stubbornly holding the top spot, she finally passed on the crown and dropped to second place.  

[2nd Place: Han Yu-ra]  

Fortunately, hunters have not yet begun to ignore the Hunter Association.  

But it’s only a matter of time.  

The lower her rank falls, the more the Hunter Association’s prestige will wane.  

When that happens, it’s certain that Korea’s hunter community will gradually collapse.  

To prevent this from happening—  

“Ugh!”  

“Kraaang!”  

“Shing!”  

Since her rank dropped, even without orders from the association, she has been attacking gates without rest.  

When she wasn’t assigned to a gate, she trained in the practice grounds, and when a gate opened, she immediately deployed.  

Even after entrusting her equipment to Vulcanus, she didn’t stop.  

Though her past gear was no match for Dawn or Twilight, she never gave up training.  

Using her old weapons after such a long time, her mind grew even more complicated.  

‘Was I ultimately just relying on what people call “item power”?’  

Back when she sparred with Park Kang-chul,  she confidently believed she had won by skill alone.  

But she hadn’t.  

The moment Park Kang-chul’s equipment changed,  she lost the match.  

No matter how much skill counts, she never imagined she could lose so easily just because of equipment.  

Should she have obeyed the association chairman when he stopped the sparring?  

No, even without the spar, wasn’t the ranking change an inevitable result once the equipment switched?  

To shake off such distracting thoughts, she focused on hunting and training.  

***

Then—  

—  Han Yu-ra Hunter.  

— Vulcanus’s crafted gear has arrived.  

—  We will send it to you immediately.  

“Thank you.”  

A message from the Hunter Association came.  

Her Vulcanus-crafted gear had arrived.  

It was joyful news, but somehow she hesitated.  

With this, can maintaining the top spot with upgraded equipment really be called a proper number one?  

But—  

‘No.’  

She soon shook her head.  

Equipment is skill too.  

That’s true.  

They say a master doesn’t blame his tools?  

No.  

Masters tend to use the best equipment.  

Having great skill but using tools that don’t fit is just foolish.  

She accepted that Park Kang-chul was number one.  

What she needed now was not to deny equipment, but to accept the upgraded gear.  

“Click.”

She changed into her new armor.  

Then—  

[You have equipped the full ‘Basilisk’s Scale’ set (6/6).]  

[Set effect of ‘Basilisk’s Scale’ activated.]  

[Set effect: Serpentine Motion]  

Movement speed and evasion rate increase, and collisions with enemies are partially ignored.  

Movement speed reduction from terrain is ignored, and at a certain speed, movement on sloped surfaces like walls is possible.  

An additional effect appeared on the item.  

Serpentine Motion.  

Just as humans walk upright, this describes how a legless snake moves.  

The set effect, which raises movement speed and evasion, suited Han Yu-ra perfectly.  

Above all—  

[Small King’s Dawn]  

[Small King’s Twilight]  

“L-rank items…”  

Next, her weapons arrived.  

Dawn and Twilight.  

The connection between the sheathed pair showed the open eye of the Basilisk.  

A chilling sight fit for a movie, but the power felt from those eyes was impossible to resist.  

“Click.”  

She grasped the sword’s hilt.  

The thrilling power was palpable.  

Just by this, she could tell—  

Dawn and Twilight had grown stronger than before.  

Then, as if to shake off the distracting thoughts filling her mind, she unleashed her drawing technique. 

“Shwaak!” 

It wasn’t an ordinary sword draw.  

Her secret art, Sword Horizon.  

The Horizon of the Sword.  

For a moment, the world seemed to freeze.  

Across the bodies of all monsters in the gate, including the approaching boss monster, a horizontal line was drawn.  

No, time hadn’t stopped.  

Instead, the monsters’ bodies were freezing, solidifying around that horizon.  

The moment she sheathed her sword after swinging—  

“Kwaaang!!”  

All the monsters in the gate collapsed like shattered statues.  

***

Though I had contacted Park Kang-chul to tell him that Han Yu-ra would receive new gear and might relinquish her number one spot but he replied-  

—  It doesn’t matter.  

—  If she gains the top spot, I’ll just go find her and spar again.  

—  In the end, I’ll win.  

Park Kang-chul nodded coolly.  

He didn’t care what gear was made for him.  

His mind was preoccupied, already having arrived in Vietnam and about to enter the rank 9 gate.  

‘No chance.’  

To try to take the top spot by sparring.  

It was impossible.  

Not that I planned it, but the armor I made for Han Yu-ra was specialized in status ailment defense.  

Since bleeding is recognized as a status ailment, it would be difficult for Park Kang-chul to face Han Yu-ra.  

Call it a matter of advantage and disadvantage.  

As expected, before long—  

[1st Place: Han Yu-ra]  

Han Yu-ra had reclaimed the number one spot.  

Sorry to Park Kang-chul, but it would be hard for him to surpass Han Yu-ra again.  

Because I know best the performance of the gear I made.  

– The Hunter Association’s Sword Saint, Han Yu-ra, has reclaimed the number one position.  

– Indeed, Hunter Han Yu-ra.  

–  The title Sword Saint was not given lightly.  

–  The reason Han Yu-ra was able to regain the top spot was said to be thanks to the Vulcanus Hunter’s gear. 

– Yes, that’s true.  

–  Recently, if you look at Sword Saint’s appearance, you’ll notice her armor has completely changed.  

–  Her weapons remain the same, but even those seem to have been upgraded by Vulcanus’s hand.  

– Amazing! Each time the Vulcanus Hunter intervenes, the hunter rankings shift dramatically!  

– At this point, he’s a number one maker. No, a kingmaker, isn’t he?  

– Haha, kingmaker. That’s an interesting expression.  

– But it’s no joke.  

– If ranked hunters like Cheongryong or Sky Palace also equipped exclusive Vulcanus Hunter gear… who knows what would happen.  

– That would be exciting to see!  

The Hunter News was abuzz with talk about Han Yu-ra.  

Or rather, about me.  

Anyway, with mentions of Sky Palace and Cheongryong, I couldn’t help but feel concerned.  

“Hmmm… what should I do?  

I made gear with full sincerity for Park Kang-chul since he joined my guild.  

I gave Han Yu-ra proper gear since she belongs to the Hunter Association and seemed trustworthy.  

But what about Sky Palace and Cheongryong?  

When the towers appeared and destruction loomed, would they act righteously?  

Honestly, I’m not sure.  

After hearing about those who, rather than stopping destruction, stirred up stronger conflict through conversations with the Statues, I can only feel uneasy.  

While hesitating like that—  

— “Vulcanus, will you attend the interview?”  

“Ah, today, right?”  

— “I didn’t want to drag it out, so I set the date immediately. If it’s tough, you don’t have to come.”  

“No, I’ll go. After all, they’re going to be guild members, so I should see them myself.”  

The guild’s recruitment interview day had arrived.  

There were three interviewers:  

Me, Nam Bora, and Team Leader Park Sang-hyun.  

“Master, long time no see.”  

“Vulcanus, you’re here?”  

When I possessed Guild Master 1 and entered the interview room, the other two were already seated.  

I naturally took the empty seat between them.  

After a while, the first candidate arrived.  

“Hello!”  

“What’s your name?”  

“Currently ranked 6th in the Hunter rankings, Kim Nara.”  

“Kim Nara?”  

That name sounded familiar.  

Sure enough, the familiar item was in her hand:  

A spirit wand made of spirit stones.  

Even the faintly stamped Vulcanus mark near the bottom was unmistakable.  

Definitely my creation.  

“That item, I made it, right?”  

“I’m honored you remember! Thanks to the wand Vulcanus made, I’ve been able to confidently operate even in rank 8 gates.”  

I remembered.  

Kim Nara, ranked 6th, the spirit summoner.  

At one point, I made items for hunters in the ranking, and that wand was one of them.  

“Let me properly introduce myself—my class is Spirit Summoner. Thanks to my S-rank skill ‘Spirit Affinity,’ I’ve contracted with all four great spirits…”  

Her self-introduction continued.  

Not only did she explain, but she also summoned spirits and demonstrated skills and abilities.  

After she left, we took a short time to evaluate.  

“Vulcanus, what do you think?”  

“She seems good. Ranked 6th, and her skill utilization looks solid.”  

“The important thing is how much potential she can unlock after receiving Vulcanus’s gear.”  

“Using spirit stones, she can enhance spirit affinity, so she looks promising.”  

“Then let’s register her as a candidate.”  

After discussing with Nam Bora and Park Sang-hyun, we gave a rough evaluation.  

Many others came in afterward.  

Rankers who left giant guilds to apply.  

Rankers within the top 10 like Kim Nara.  

Among them even—  

“My ability is Barbatos’s Marksman. My class is Gunner.”  

“What rank is your ability?”  

“SS-rank.”  

“…SS-rank?”  

An SS-rank hunter, rare as that, appeared.  

Apparently recently awakened, she rejected scouting offers from the Hunter Association and giant guilds, choosing to apply to Vulcanus Guild.  

Her reason was simple.  

“If you make me a dedicated magic gun and bullets, I’ll show you a performance worthy of your expectations. You won’t regret it.”  

Her weapon—a magic gun.  

The magic gun is known as a rare weapon in the hunter industry.  

Even with an SS-rank ability, it would have been hard to use effectively.  

Knowing this well herself, she applied to Vulcanus Guild.  

Though her level was still low, with SS-rank ability she could achieve explosive growth.  

“We definitely have to hire her, right?”  

“Yes.”  

“It would be good to put her on the same team as Kim Nara.”  

Positive evaluations followed.  

Even after Nam Bora filtered some applicants out, the number of candidates was large, so it took longer than expected.  

And finally, the last candidate.  

Before she arrived, I checked the application and was startled.  

“…Is this for real?”  

“Of course.”    

“The Shadow King has arrived!”  

Hunter ranked 5th, the Shadow King.  

She appeared in the Vulcanus Hunter’s interview room.