Chapter 460. Cruising?

The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood

Since then, the background had been filled with the unceasing noise of real combat.

During that one second when the archmage was analyzing Kang Changho's traits, an unusual vibration spread through the air.

'Lightning!'

It was a phenomenon unnaturally caused by the sorcerer using mana. When the artificial S-rank hunter fired their skill again from the far side of the dungeon, the space before their eyes flashed.

'That's a bit too much force for a mere confirmation shot, isn't it?'

With a deafening roar that tore through the air, the expected collapse occurred. As a side effect of wielding power beyond their physical limits, the illegal clinic personnel immediately lost the skin on their fingers upon using a strong skill.

For reference, this was on a completely different level than the slight chapping of skin from the dry winter air. It was as if the protein had come into contact with a strong alkaline liquid—the fingerprints of the artificial Awakener were blatantly splitting apart.

'Agh!'

The attacker screamed instead. Fortunately, the skill's power was impressive enough to match the price paid...

The outcome is clear. The Korean S-rank hunter, at the pinnacle of physical enhancement, was seriously injured by the artificial lightning. Hit by the bolt, half of Kang Changho's body was instantly charred. Of course, it wasn't completely burned through, but for an ordinary human, it would have meant losing consciousness in agony, foaming at the mouth.

However, with a skill like this, pain was no longer a primary concern.

'In just an instant...'

Starting with the face. The neck. The arms. And even the part of the waist that had been perforated by the dungeon's laser—everything was perfectly restored.

'Huh?'

'That's right now—'

'Someone clear away the lightning smoke! There's someone with a wind-type skill, right?!'

The illegal procedure crew finally noticed a certain abnormal phenomenon. In particular, the artificial awakened being precariously close to the ceiling in the S-rank section clearly observed the scene with superior reflexive vision.

'Recovery?'

Amid the pitch-black smoke, formed by charring and intense heat, a lingering image appeared. Strong muscles of Kang Changho had scattered fragments of blood into the air the moment he was struck directly by the lightning.

However, his muscles seemed to tear for a moment, only for all the blood droplets to seep back up to the surface, rapidly regenerating. In other words, it wasn't that his body was creating new resources, but rather that the vessel itself appeared to be preventing any actual destruction.

'I didn't even get time to drink a potion.'

The artificial awakener, in sheer disbelief, ended up speaking aloud.

'What...'

Of course, in a video game-like environment, you could just press a button to refill your 'health.'

But in reality, you had to force yourself to drink the entire 300 mL potion from the crystal vial to actually get proper healing. You had to digest it slowly and endure it carefully to avoid side effects. Yet the opponent regenerated smoothly without any problem, and soon the entire enemy force was left in shock.

'Hey! That orb artifact—try charging it just one more time, right now.'

'Uh, yeah. I... I'm doing that too. I just took out the magic stone.'

And just as the management of the illegal clinic spoke in urgent tones.

'Whoa!'

The enhanced physical ability user, fully recovered, charged forward as expected.

He came toward this side.

'Buy me just a little more time!'

Seeing this, the curly-haired old man began scolding the staff relentlessly, spouting everything from Classical Chinese to Slavic languages.

'No, this... this won't do. Just run away.'

However, even though they continuously applied patches that restored their bodies, the employees' line of defense kept being pushed back relentlessly.

'Our speed can't keep up...!'

The damage they inflicted on each other was roughly the same. Although there was a difference between natural and artificial abilities, everyone present here was top-tier personnel through and through. Of course, there were times they could strike Kang Changho and break his shin.

And if they succeeded in counterattacking, they could leave deep, torn wounds on his skin—such was the strength of the clinic's capabilities.

'Could it be... that's [Super Regeneration]?'

But all that effort faded away in less than a second.

'A provisional skill that isn't even officially recorded in the international data... and yet a living hunter actually possesses it...!?'

An armed artificial Awakened took several minutes to regenerate when their skin was torn. Missused mana, like a divine punishment, only made recovery slower. Yet Kang Changho continuously repaired his body to the point where no trace of the wounds remained.

Crack!

Because the wounds barely lasted, he hardly felt any pain on his own. So when the super-strong opponent approached right in front of him, the old man finally realized that his entire plan had been completely ruined.

'Let's retreat.'

But the old man couldn't even carry out this final thought properly. The employees who had acted as a barrier fell far too quickly, leaving no sense of reward for having dared to disregard human dignity.

'Oh my...'

The previously revealed upper limit of Kang Changho's physical enhancement was also incorrect. Upon realizing this, the third S-rank hunter from an East Asian country immediately launched an attack on the old man.

He crushed the man's sternum so he couldn't breathe recklessly, using brutal physical force to finally knock the opponent unconscious—a Korean doing whatever was necessary to subdue him.

'Hmm.'

The alien quietly observed the situation around it.

'If I had known Kang Changho would go and kill them all like that, I wouldn't have bothered holding back earlier.'

The blonde mage's grumbling briefly flickered through his mind, but it didn't matter. The illegal clinic was wiped out in the blink of an eye.

'That guy's awakened attribute and detailed skills really synergize well.'

By the way, after he'd already taken down all the enemies, I wondered what he was rummaging around with. From Kim Giryeo's perspective—who had been practically just a bystander—this scene came into view.

Kang Changho deliberately picked up the two differently colored crystal orbs the old man had ground them under his shoes. He dismissed dungeon items that could summon a dungeon as unnecessary in the world. After completely destroying the artifacts, Kang Changho turned to the fellow countrymen and finally addressed them properly.

'Awakener Kim Giryeo.'

Perhaps he doesn't know that he's back in the hunting business.

'There were quite a few casualties here. As you've probably seen by now, all of this was the result of necessary measures.'

'Well, I suppose you'd want to keep that incredible regeneration skill a secret.'

'Since it's already done, can you just turn a blind eye to this one?'

'That much is no problem. But you're not planning to kill me later either, just to keep my mouth shut, right?!'

'Hahahaha.'

What followed was a brief exchange. When Kim Giryeo probed him with the questions he'd been curious about, the man whose clothes had been reduced to rags gave his answers.

'Your joke wasn't funny at all, but since you're an interesting person, I'll just let it slide.'

With that, Kang Changho spoke and stepped closer toward the fellow Korean.

'Anyway, seeing that you didn't resort to violence even with all this chaos going on... Ay, so revenge really wasn't your goal after all, was it?'

'Ah.'

The alien spoke as if the thought had just occurred to them.

'Come to think of it... that. Actually, I wanted to just ask now as well.'

'Yeah.'

'Why on earth has the word 'revenge' been coming up over and over since earlier?'

'That's...'

'And how did Hunter Kang Changho end up here?'

Smrk.

At this, the reptile-like eyes briefly rolled their gaze through the air.

'Since we've even signed a non-aggression pact, speaking like this feels a bit awkward.'

'Ah.'

'Still, to ignore a superhuman like this... the power and intelligence that reached even this dungeon are intimidating. It's better to answer willingly.'

'Is that the expression of someone who's afraid?'

'Consider yourself lucky. Lately, I've been in a good mood, so I'm even listening to someone whose number I've blocked.'

He smirked for a moment, but in the end, the calm of the physical-enhancement awakened remained consistent.

'Let's start with the revenge part first. Anyway, that's just a trivial misunderstanding.'

Surprisingly, Kang Changho was rather amicable toward the compatriot. As Korea's fourth S-rank hunter, he apparently had a gentle nature toward good people. This had already been cross-verified through numerous incidents. From this side's perspective, there was really no reason to bother a virtuous person.

'I just assumed you, Kim Giryeo, were an artificially awakened being... and came to personally take down the organization that ruined his life.'

'What?'

'Isn't that a pretty classic story? But hey, it's not like I brought it up all that seriously. It's just that, from what I know, the only information I had about you was that you were a tumor patient.'

Tuk.

Kang Changho, turning back toward Kim Giryeo, picked something up. He retrieved his sunglasses that had fallen to the floor and lightly dusted them off.

'And as for why I was here, honestly, there's not really any reason worth explaining.'

The first answer wasn't exactly reasonable either, but the sentence he finally offered was quite unexpected. Kang Changho simply said he was here just 'because he was bored.'

'You came because you were bored?'

According to what he heard from the national hero, not long ago he had also caused a ruckus over the [Elixir] incident.

How unbearably bored must his life be? He eventually explained it himself. Kang Changho had happened to take an interest in artificial awakenings and had come all the way overseas, embarking on espionage work that was never really in his fate. Originally, he just wanted to quietly observe the experiments here, but upon learning that they had targeted Jeong Haeseong, he abruptly changed his plans.

'Originally, weren't you just planning to side with them and go after the Korean?'

The blond alien side responded to the conversation, for the time being, with silence.

'Therefore, this isn't a situation where agents from different government agencies have met, so you can relax.'

'Agent?'

'First of all, I'm not related to any government work. Honestly, judging by the circumstances, it seems like someone of your level might be involved in state affairs.'

'I'm not involved in anything like that either.'

'Is that so?'

Kang Changho returned the broken sunglasses to the accessory case and continued speaking.

'Anyway, I was just bored and poking around at things that caught my interest.'

The alien quietly nodded. Then, it finally asked the question it had been most curious about.

'Why did you tell me not to use my skill earlier?'

But he hadn't expected such a lively response.

'That's... [Iron Maiden]?'

'Yes?'

'Come to think of it, didn't you just come out from the [Iron Maiden] gate?'

Kang Changho suddenly widened his eyes as if he had just mentioned something perfectly.

'It's surprising enough that a gate that should never have been cleared got broken, but to think someone I know would come out of there... Well, I suppose. The final room, [Iron Maiden], is said to have such exceptional defense that even if it causes casualties, an S-rank should theoretically be able to withstand its attacks.'

Moreover, the reason the man with bluish-purple hair acted this way was due to a rule even the Archmage was well aware of.

'Anyway, no matter how good a potion you used, if your chestplate got pierced by the spikes of [Iron Maiden], you shouldn't use your abilities for a while.'

Kim Giryeo showed a momentary look of uncertainty.

'The lungs, if just regenerated, leave unavoidable side effects every time you use a skill.'

'...!'

'More precisely, the probability is high. Most people, living under the delusion that potions solve everything, wouldn't know this.'

But even after hearing this, it was impossible not to realize the truth.

'What?'

It was truly a shocking reason. To think that the concern for others, which even the Archmage had once considered, had been felt in exactly the same way by that mammal?

But there was one problem. He had never been pierced in the chest. In the first place, he had never properly used an [Iron Maiden] device.

Author's Thoughts: Hi, from now on, I will update this novel 3 chapters/week. Thank you for all your support so far:)