Chapter 13: Dawn Guild, Carrier Guild, and Edge Guild

-2.9 billion deposited. Thank you for using the auction house. This is Manager Jo Taeseong.

“Heh heh heh heh.”

Choi Kangjoong chuckled lowly.

Watching his bank balance grow was another kind of joy.

“With this money, I could recruit every Hunter in the Hunter Archive.”

He had always imagined that if he ever won the lottery, he would collect all the Hunters from the Hunter Archive, but when the money actually came, he never felt the urge to do so.

Since becoming an Outer Mind, he had played the Hunter Archive so few times it could be counted on one hand.

“Let me check DimensionNet a bit.”

DimensionNet was full of discussions all about him.

Debates ran rampant, fueled by videos posted by Dytubers speculating what kind of being he was.

• “He’s a Mage. Can’t you see the Crater?”
• “No, he’s a Summoner. Look at all those footprints. Are Harpies land monsters now?”
• “How could he summon that many without running out of mana? Does he have some infinite mana pool?”
• “But they say there’s not a single Harpy corpse.”
• “Maybe he wiped them all out with his Dimension Ship.”
• “There’s no Dimension Ship that reached that far.”
• “Spirit Master. The footprints belong to spirits, and he took the corpses with the Spirit of Wind and blew them into the Dimension Sea.”
• “What kind of ability could have wiped out fifteen thousand Harpies? Lol.”
• “He’s a Warrior. How could a Mage or Spirit Master catch the Harpie Queen? Non-S-rank Mages or Spirit Masters would struggle to take down a Harpie Queen.”
• “If he was a Warrior, he’d be exhausted before killing fifteen thousand.”
• “Whatever his class is, I’m so jealous.”
• “Is he unaffiliated?”
• “If he belonged to a guild, that guild would be shouting about it everywhere.”
• “Don’t you see the guild posts on the Recruitment Board? LOL”

The Recruitment Board was filled with posts from guilds hoping to contact the Harpy Slayer.

The offers were all excellent.

Large guilds promised treatment as A-rank Hunters, while some small to mid-sized guilds even offered sub-guild leader positions.

“Of course, it has to be one of the Big Three Guilds.”

There were posts from Dawn Guild, Carrier Guild, and Edge Guild.

The terms were similar across the board.

“Having a guild would be convenient.”

He wouldn’t have to sell Mana Stones himself, and gate information would be provided automatically.

“But joining a guild means thinking about guild profits too. I need to consider that.”

Choi Kangjoong’s priority was to close the dimensions and shut down the gates, but guilds seeking to profit from the dimensions could be at odds with that.

“I’ll think about it. First, let’s handle the Black Market.”

The Black Market.

It was the dimension boasting the largest population in the Kraken Sea.

Anything went there.

As long as it didn’t interfere with the Blacktree Pirates’ interests, killing anyone or conducting horrible tortures was not punished.

A world of freedom driven purely by profit.

A market overflowing with black money.

It was a place protected by influential figures connected in ways both known and unknown.

That was the Black Market.

So Market Lord Rojunak busied himself enjoying life, indifferent to the chaos around him.

If a raid was about to begin, he’d have been warned in advance.

And monsters roaming the Kraken Sea weren’t a match for the Blacktree Pirates.

“Hahaha! Drink up!”

Rojunak lifted his cup, his belly wobbling.

The slaves sitting on either side nodded listlessly.

Brainwashed to lose their will and obey their master’s every word, they were little more than meat puppets.

Rojunak emptied his cup and bit into some meat.

Since every ingredient was allowed in the Black Market, the meat could have been human or elf.

His subordinates fawned over him enthusiastically, while scantily-clad dancers raised the mood.

They ignored the news about the drug farms being destroyed, focused only on their own enjoyment.

Swish.

Something slipped through an open window.

It was Dark Eye, camouflaged perfectly with the surroundings thanks to active camouflage armor.

Even sober people wouldn’t notice, but the heavily drunk were completely unaware of Kai’s presence.

“Ugh! Ugh!”

Kai had given Choi Kangjoong the coordinates of this place and stolen the Blacktree Pirates’ base map from the market lord’s safe.

The atmosphere throughout the Black Market was much the same as here.

Those who wanted to enjoy unlimited freedom did so, and merchants sold their goods.

Drug dealers raised prices, using the destroyed drug farms as an excuse to inflate costs on drugs already purchased.

Slave traders raised slave prices, citing the recent instability in the Kraken Sea.

“Yesterday he was 10 gold, why is he 30 gold today?”

“If you don’t like the price, you should’ve bought yesterday.”

“Damn it.”

The same applied to human and elf meat.

Kai moved throughout the Black Market, setting priority targets.

First priority was the rooms in the market where all sorts of debauchery occurred, and second was the harbor where Dimension Ships came and went.

“Kiek! Ugh!”

Kai sent a signal.

A shadow fell over the Black Market.

A Titan Class Apocalid loaded with countless Apocalids.

Ku-eong turned his body to aim, while Kai climbed the Tower and looked down on City Hall.

Kwah! Kwah! Kwah! Kwah! Kwah! Kwah! Kwah!

The barrage of cannonballs smashed buildings to pieces.

Kai confirmed the death of every living being inside.

Ku-eong swept around the harbor.

Kwah! Kwah! Kwah! Kwah! Kwah! Kwah! Kwah!

The harbor was wrecked, and docked Dimension Ships destroyed.

There was no safe way to escape the Black Market now.

“What’s happening?”

“It’s an attack! The Black Market is under attack!”

“What kind of lunatics would assault this place?”

“Probably those bastards who raided the drug farms.”

Even though City Hall and the harbor were crumbling, people remained indifferent.

They thought it would be over quickly.

Three hundred thousand people lived in the Black Market alone.

There were no reports of forces strong enough to suppress all of them entering the Kraken Sea.

“This isn’t good.”

“Probably some gambler who lost all his money and is causing trouble.”

But the bombardment didn’t stop.

Screams multiplied, and fires spread everywhere.

Pirates grabbed their weapons and charged out.

“What are those pirates doing?”

“They always swagger around with knives, but they’re struggling now because they can’t handle this one.”

“They’ve really lost it today.”

Drug dealers stopped their business, and slave traders locked their slaves in secure warehouses.

Everyone took refuge somewhere safe, waiting for the situation to end, but the sounds of war did not cease.

“A monster’s invaded! Everyone who can fight, grab your weapons and come out!”

“If we don’t stop it, we’re all dead! Fight if you want to live!”

Despite the pirates’ shouts, merchants just sneered.

“Do you know how much tribute we pay?”

“The pirates won’t leave until their debts are paid.”

“Even if you lose, just pay the winners.”

They had no idea who was attacking the Black Market, so they made their choice.

Had they banded together from the start, they might have repelled the Apocalids and cleaned up the mess.

But the precious time had passed.

Those who hid only realized their mistake after facing the Apocalids.

“Going smoothly.”

There were fewer than a thousand Apocalids, but they overwhelmed the pirates.

The pirates were not regular troops, just slightly better than ordinary civilians.

There was no comparison in organization.

Moreover, the firepower was overwhelming.

When firestorms fell, pirates dropped like flies.

“Grrk!”

The strong ones, Lutal, darted in, making it seem like the pirates were attacking.

Kai ran around, lighting fires.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Mages floated in the air, bombing relentlessly.

Dozens of clustered Warriors were slaughtered.

“Fools!”

“They can’t fly. Attack from above!”

The pirates flew up or climbed to higher floors.

They thought they had found a countermeasure and laughed, but it was brief.

Whooosh!

Fighter Giants, Fighter Warriors, and Air Scouts took to the skies.

Air Scouts found those hiding in buildings and reported to Ku-eong and the Cannon Giant.

Then the Mana Cannons fired, and buildings collapsed.

“What are those things?!”

A mage laughing with the thrill of slaughter was horrified.

Massive Fighter Giants and Fighter Warriors were rapidly approaching.

They deployed shields and retreated, but they were already within the range of Kitin Cannons.

Thunk! Thunk!!

Fifty-centimeter-long Kitin spikes flew forward.

The shields were shredded like paper, piercing through the mage’s body.

A mage with a large hole in his chest fell, and the Walkers took him to the digestion pits.

“I’ve got mages too! Get down!”

The mages hurriedly fled downward.

Those hiding in buildings had long ago fled to avoid the reckless attacks smashing the buildings.

“Run! Run away!”

“Ahhh!”

Though the pirates outnumbered the Apocalids by several times, they were broken apart.

The limit of a leaderless criminal organization.

“It’s over.”

There was nothing left to see.

All that remained was melting the survivors in the digestion pits.

There would be resistance, but with Lutal cutting and Ku-eong shooting, it would be resolved easily.

“The rest is up to you.”

“Grrn.”

“Kiek!”

“Ku-eong.”

Choi Kangjoong donned his Kitin Armor and went out to the park.

He lightly jogged ten laps, then went to a secluded spot and pulled out his Kitin Blade.

“I can’t just rely on Combat Nerve. I have to improve my own skills too.”

Combat Nerve was like automatic hunting, convenient but problematic.

All attacks were extremely aggressive and deadly.

If he fought someone he shouldn’t kill, blindly relying on Combat Nerve could cause him to sever their throat unconsciously.

“I need to control Combat Nerve or learn the techniques it uses.”

Choi Kangjoong closed his eyes and recalled the motion he made when killing the dog.

“Was it like this?”

He raised the Kitin Blade and swung it down.

The first movement was awkward.

Whoosh!

The second was much better.

Whoosh!

The third was nearly perfect.

“Am I a swordsmanship genius or what?”

Choi Kangjoong shook his head at his ridiculous thought, observing his body as he swung the Kitin Blade.

Whoosh.

The blade stopped just before touching the ground.

“It’s about drawing it out from Combat Nerve.”

The information from Combat Nerve was embedded in Choi Kangjoong’s nervous system.

So when he made similar movements, his body automatically compensated.

“This is fun.”

After ten slashes, he had mastered the vertical cut perfectly.

He then practiced horizontal cuts.

After trying diagonal cuts, he trained thrusts.

While others had spent over ten years sweating to reach this level, Choi Kangjoong caught up in mere minutes.

“That’s how I stabbed the Harpie Queen.”

Shk! Shk! Shk! Shk! Shk!

The awkward thrusts steadily improved.

After ten repetitions, he perfected a flawless technique.

He tried linking basic moves.

Slash, slash, slash-thrust, thrust-thrust, thrust-slash, and repeated.

[Processed Combat Nerve into knowledge.]

[Nervous system evolving.]

[You can now use the Central Unit’s Psionic skills.]

“Central Unit’s Psionic skills… like Lutal’s Aura Blade and Kai’s Blink?”

Choi Kangjoong was stunned.

What was Aura Blade?

It was a powerful technique that sliced space with sheer mental force.

Every swordsman dreamed of it, but only a select few ever reached it.

The Dimension System claimed it could now unleash such power.

“Let’s try it right now.”

Choi Kangjoong focused mana into the Kitin Blade.

Streams of aura gathered tightly, radiating a brilliant light.

“It works!”

He tested it by cutting a tree.

Swish.

The thick trunk offered no resistance as the blade passed through.

“So this is Aura Blade. It’s truly amazing.”

Aura Blade was more than a technique.

It was an inspiration.

Something that others could never wield even after a lifetime of effort.

Suddenly the light faded.

He lacked the mana to maintain it.

“I eat Mana Stones every day, so the duration will increase quickly.”

Choi Kangjoong tried Kai’s Blink as well.

He disappeared and reappeared ten meters away.

“Aura Blade combined with Blink—that’s a dream combo.”

Blink behind an enemy and attack with Aura Blade—who could stop that?

Choi Kangjoong shivered with excitement.

“This is incredible. I need to gather lots of resources and get Ku-eong made into a Central Unit fast too.”

He took Mana Stones from his pocket and chewed them.

Mana flowing from the crushed stones was absorbed.

“I want to spar.”

Just like wanting to spar after learning steps and jabs at the gym, Choi Kangjoong wanted to try out Apocalid swordsmanship.

Hunters normally had no trouble finding sparring partners.

They could join a guild and get introduced, or recruit from DimensionNet.

But the problem was that it always involved contact with other people.

After some thought, Choi Kangjoong had a good idea.

“I’ll spar with Lutal.”

He figured that fighting Lutal, with its four scythe claws, would be good practice.

Choi Kangjoong summoned Lutal.

“Grrk.”

Lutal understood Choi Kangjoong’s intent even before being summoned.

It raised its four scythe claws, and Choi Kangjoong leapt forward.

Thud.

He was hit within two moves and fell.

“You really are strong. Let’s try using just three legs.”

Thud.

“Agh! Two legs!”

Thud.

“One leg!”

Thud.

“Don’t use your legs at all!”

Choi Kangjoong rolled several times on the ground after being hit by Lutal’s tail.

“Damn it! Get back!”

“Grrn…….”

Lutal sulked a little as it was unsummoned.

Choi Kangjoong then summoned Warriors as sparring partners.

One was manageable, so he fought two, then three simultaneously.

Sweating freely felt refreshing.

It was a different kind of exhaustion from running.

He swung the Kitin Blade until dusk, then returned home.