studiobondurri Chapter 72: Trial of the 10th floor (3)
Chapter 72: Trial of the 10th floor (3)
Chapter 72: Trial of the 10th floor (3)
Chapter 72: Trial of the 10th floor (3)
Once upon a time, there was a man called the Lightning King.
An unidentified hunter who belonged to the group of one of only seven S-rank hunters in Korea.
Since he always wore a mask, no one knew his face, and his voice was never appropriately revealed. Therefore he reigned as a transcendent existence.
He never showed himself, but whenever a gate suddenly appeared like a disaster, the Lightning king always destroyed the gate, revealing his god-like power.
And after clearing the gates easier and faster than anyone else, he always reproached the hunters, who were busy running away.
‘I didn’t know how scums who couldn’t even settle these things could call themselves hunters.’
It may sound arrogant at first, but even though the forcibly conscripted hunters ran away for various reasons, he alone fulfilled his responsibilities.
He was entitled to say that because he was that kind of person and not anyone else.
Moreover, no hunter could refute the Lightning king.
But that was no surprise.
This was because it was difficult to find a strong hunter at the level of the Lightning king in the current hunter industry.
The Hunter Association even said this if you asked how much it was—
‘In the future, a hunter of the Lightning King’s level won’t appear easily in the hunter industry.’
He released and poured out lightning on rampaging monsters out of control...
After that, the sight of him scolding hunters who only coveted their rights while abandoning the duties they should’ve always done made the Lightning King into an S-rank hunter.
However...
Ever since the Tower of Trials appeared, the activity of the Lightning King, who had always handled all kinds of gates, had ceased.
It was because he was also helplessly dragged into the Tower of Trials just like everyone else.
What was worse was the difficulty he was dragged into wasn’t easy or normal, but Hard, which was known for being the worst.
Nevertheless, the Lightning King grew stronger and faster.
The more he broke through all the trials, the more he began to regain the ability he had before, and in the end, he was ranked Number 1 in the Evaluation Rankings.
The Tower’s trial may have troubled him, but it didn’t kill him.
It was also the same for combined trials.
For the Lightning King, and Kim Seunghoon, who was currently playing an active role as a top challenger in the Tower of Trial, most of the other challengers were like a backdrop.
Only Oh Choonseok, a talented challenger who was said to be an ordinary person, was recognized as a challenger-like challenger for him, though...
Other than him, he felt that they were no different from the Hunters who had given up their responsibilities from the outside.
Until he saw Han Sungyeun in the trial on the 10th floor of the Tower of Trials.
“K-Kuhuuuugh...”
Seeing Kim Seungjun, who had just been playing politics, spilling blood like water, Kim Seunghoon was filled with pure admiration.
“This is different from what I expected...”
Originally, Kim Seunghoon thought that Han Sungyeun would get quite a few injuries, too, when the fight between Kim Seungjun and Han Sungyeun was about to break out.
Or, it would be a fight that had to waste a lot of time or put out quite a bit of the skill they both had.
However...
‘He overwhelmed Kim Seungjun in just a few minutes, huh.’
Kim Seunghoon’s expectations based on the Evaluation rankings were immediately shattered.
It was because Han Sungyeun suppressed Kim Seungjun immediately without showing all his skills, even though he expected him to spend quite a bit of time to achieve victory.
It wasn’t even a kill. He suppressed him.
He completely suppressed him by returning some of the damage accumulated by Kim Seungjun’s attack.
Han Sungyeun was quite relaxed even though he showed more strength than Kim Seunghoon had expected.
In other words, Han Sungyeun didn’t go all out.
Oh Choonseok, who was standing next to where Kim Seunghoon was sitting and watching the fight, also asked a question as though he was dumbfounded.
“Seunghoon Hyung-nim. Do you know Hunter— no, who that challenger named Han Sungyeun is?”
“...I don’t know. I had never seen such a person among the high-ranking hunters before.”
Kim Seunghoon, who had a reputation for being the Lightning king, had never seen such a strong person before.
It was the same for Oh Choonseok, who was originally an ordinary person.
“I mean, what kind of... crazy skill does he have? He blocked magic with a shield made of mana instantly and even absorbed some of the blocked damage, accumulated it, and released it as is. On top of that, he’s not a mage but a melee swordsman.
“It’s even scarier that he didn’t fight with all his might.”
As though he was driven to the point of death, Kim Seungjun flailed around his arms in the air and made a sound close to begging.
It was hard to believe that he was the one who had just tried to kill me by playing politics.
But I couldn’t feel any kind of pity looking at that sight.
It was obvious.
“You probably thought everything’s gonna be alright if you beg after trying to kill someone, but...”
I wasn’t a saint, but I wasn’t an absolute villain either.
My will was clear, as much as I had a mindset close to an ordinary person.
“Don’t you think it’s a little bit too late to survive?”
Fighting fire with fire.
The right response to someone who tried to control others with power was to control them with power.
“Challenger Kim Seunghoon-nim, and Oh Choonseok-nim.”
I spoke to the two challengers with a cold smile, looking at this situation.
“I want you two to cooperate to not help challenger Kim Seungjun, even if something that’s not nice to see happens. Would that be okay?”
At those words, Kim Seunghoon quietly nodded his head as though he wouldn't interfere.
“...You don’t even have to mention it. After all, he’s a scum who tried to survive by using his silver tongue. Do as you wish.”
After that, it was a little bit later, but Oh Choonseok nodded his head in the same way and told me to do as I wished.
“Y-Yeah, please help yourself. Whatever the outcome was, I was going to kill him anyway.”
In the end, they agreed more willingly than I thought. Perhaps both of them were trying to get rid of Kim Seungjun eventually.
Normally, if it was the usual challengers I’d seen in the Tower of Trials, they would’ve been making a fuss about taking some of the items Kim Seungjun was equipping, but...
‘Since they’re top-ranking challengers, they aren’t doing such filthy things.’
Rather, it looked like they would’ve helped me if I had been cornered.
Of course, it was because Kim Seungjun was such a vicious challenger, so I was able to receive their consent easily.
Now that I have received their consent, there was nothing to hesitate for.
Craaacck...!
“K-kuhuughk! My hand! My hand is broken...!”
I immediately smashed Kim Seungjun’s hand bones, picked up his potion that fell to the ground, and read the description window.
「Rapid Regeneration Potion」
「Rank : C 」
「A regeneration potion made with special alchemy by grinding a troll’s magic stone.」
「When the potion is consumed, the [Troll’s blood] temporarily flows through the body, and the body regenerates at a rapid speed.」
「However, the concentration at which [Troll’s blood] is activated varies depending on the amount of potion the user takes. 」
“You were trying to use a quite good potion there, huh.”
After reading the phrase that the concentration of [Troll’s blood] activated varies depending on the amount of potion the user takes, I immediately pulled out the top of the potion and spilled some of it on Kim Seungjun.
Fizzle.
Kim Seungjun, who was on the verge of death as he was slowly stopping to move, twitched and started to move again as I dropped a few drops of potion on his pierced stomach.
“W-Why...”
Kim Seungjun muttered to himself as though he couldn’t understand it, but I didn’t do this because I felt bad for Kim Seungjun or wanted to take him as a team member.
“Kim Seungjun-ssi, I have an offer for you.”
The reason why I used a little bit of potion on that bastard was because...
“Even now, if you take out all the items in your inventory and hand them over, I’ll use this potion to save you.”
Just like how he offered Kim Seunghoon and Oh Choonseok to kill me and share my items afterward.
I was also paying him back in the same way.
Of course, in fact, this was just an option that only delayed Kim Seungjun’s death.
Even though he probably knew that I wouldn’t have to keep this promise......
Kim Seungjun had only one option to choose from.
“Please decide.”
Kim Seungjun, who was nothing but a loser, wasn’t given a choice from the beginning.
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