novelraw Chapter 177 : Predator Hunt - (2)
Chapter 177 : Predator Hunt - (2)
Chapter 177: Predator Hunt - (2)
Swaaah.
The pouring rain had gone beyond a downpour, now gushing from the sky like tap water.
Kay’s lifeless body rapidly cooled in the cold stream, turning a pale blue.
“……”
Jay and Roel alternated glances between the dead Kay and Sanghyun.
Even though they were seeing it with their own eyes, they couldn’t believe the situation.
In close combat, no one was more confident than Kay.
He had killed at least thirty Players with his own hands.
And those thirty weren’t pushovers — they were all renowned fighters in their own right.
Kay, who had always boasted an undefeated record against such opponents, was toyed with and killed by Sanghyun.
“Now it’s two against one. How does that feel?”
Sanghyun aimed the tip of his Nameless Sword back and forth between Jay and Roel as he spoke.
He stood calmly.
But inside, he was surprised.
It was because the nature of the battle had completely changed due to equipping the Almighty-grade Artifact.
The impossible had become possible.
He could now bait enemies with confidence that he would naturally evade their attacks.
Sanghyun had certainly been strong before obtaining the Nameless Sword, but never to this degree.
The Nameless Sword allowed dreams to manifest as reality.
‘I want more. If I could fully equip myself with Almighty-grade Artifacts…’
His ambitions grew larger.
He now had a clear motivation.
He wouldn't be satisfied or overjoyed just because he had obtained a single Almighty-grade sword.
He wanted more Artifacts of the same grade.
It was known that fewer than fifty Almighty-grade Artifacts existed worldwide.
Even twenty years into the future, that number remained under fifty.
In his past life, twenty years later, Jerron Decay had owned ten of them.
‘I do know a few sources.’
If he turned his eyes overseas, there were places where one could aim for an Almighty-grade Artifact.
Of course, with Sanghyun’s current capabilities, he wasn’t eligible to challenge those places.
Many of them required level 500 or 600.
While his skill was significantly higher, his actual level — the absolute numerical stat — was clearly still low. There was a long way to go.
Sanghyun pulled his thoughts back from the distant future to the battlefield.
There were still two enemies remaining.
Though they seemed to lose their will to fight after Kay’s death, they remained cruel and violent beings.
“I’ll avenge Kay.”
As expected, it was Jay who reacted first. The numerical advantage remained unchanged.
“Kay’s Constellations are still active. If we kill you and claim Kay’s Constellations, we’ll become even stronger.”
Roel’s response was more calculated.
Though he lamented Kay’s death, he now seemed intent on claiming his Constellations for himself.
“Yeah, that’s how it should be. I was worried you two might just run away without looking back.”
“You cocky bastard!”
Fwoosh!
Jay fell cleanly into Sanghyun’s provocation and charged in like lightning, twin daggers gripped tightly in her hands.
It was only for a brief moment.
But Sanghyun could sense an agility and killing intent from Jay that was comparable to Shin Taeri.
Of course, that was putting it nicely.
To be honest, it was almost an insult to even compare her to Taeri.
Since he could keep up with Shin Taeri’s movements, Jay’s moves were more than predictable to him.
‘If that’s the case.’
An Assassin’s strength lies in their ability to create unpredictable variables.
There’s nothing scarier than vanishing from the opponent’s sight or making oneself untraceable.
But on the flip side, an Assassin who doesn’t disappear and can be tracked easily is laughable. Not a threat at all.
That’s why Sanghyun let Jay go for him, and instead targeted Roel first.
No matter how skilled a magician Player may be, they’re extremely vulnerable in close combat.
Once you close the distance, it’s over.
『Acceleration』
Entering an accelerated state, Sanghyun sliced through the air and charged straight at Roel.
He was so fast, the falling rain actually surged upward before falling again.
“Jay!”
Roel shouted in panic.
Jay had clearly gone after Sanghyun first, and the battle should have broken out on that end.
But based on Roel’s logic, Sanghyun’s charge made no sense.
Was it a suicide move, trying to kill Roel and die with him? That didn’t seem right either.
“You cocky bastard!”
An Assassin is an Assassin after all.
Jay swiftly caught up behind Sanghyun and launched a strike toward his side.
But at that moment, Jay saw it.
A clear smile on Sanghyun’s lips as he glanced sideways at her.
‘No way?’
Was he luring her?
Before her mind could be flooded with predictions and assumptions, Sanghyun’s Nameless Sword suddenly twisted direction.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sanghyun’s greatsword pressed forward with brute force. Jay could barely block the attacks.
She had tried to follow him, aiming for his back, but ended up being countered.
She had never encountered this kind of battle dynamic before.
Pretending to target someone but actually going after the ally who comes to assist?
It was a sound strategy, but one wrong move could get you pincered from both sides.
It was a highly risky tactic. But it seemed Sanghyun didn’t move based on probability.
And then.
Slaaash!
“Keugh!”
Unable to block Sanghyun’s vicious strike, Jay was forced to expose her abdomen.
In that moment, Jay was horrified to see how deeply her stomach had been slashed — more than she expected.
‘What…?’
Even as an Assassin, who had to keep her body light, she wore two layers of armor.
This reflected Jay’s cautious nature and distaste for taking damage.
It wasn’t weak gear either — a sturdy Epic-grade Artifact layered with thick non-Artifact armor. A solid defense.
But it had been pierced.
The Artifact had been torn!
Jay had no idea that Sanghyun had combined Weakness Amplification with Sage's Whisper, making the result all the more absurd for her.
Her expectations kept being shattered.
Kay had paid the price with his life.
And Jay instinctively realized that she might soon meet a similar fate.
It wasn’t that she had lost her nerve just because she’d been caught off guard.
It was because a single strike from Sanghyun had caused a critical issue with her Artifact.
How many Players could leave a mark on an Epic-grade Artifact with just one attack?
Only someone undeniably more skilled than herself could do that.
A being she would have to look up to.
Yet Sanghyun’s level was only in the low 200s. The gap between the data she had and what she saw with her own eyes was too great. It was cognitive dissonance.
Where had things gone wrong?
When they had first illegally entered Korea, the three of them had only seen a bright future ahead.
They were going to kill Sanghyun, who had been rapidly rising in prominence, and consume his Constellations.
They were sure he had a sponsor Constellation that was fueling his explosive growth.
They had accounted for many variables!
But not once had they considered the possibility that their plan would crumble right from the start. They had been so sure.
Grrrmb! Crack! Boom boom!
Like the thunder and lightning tearing through the sky, Jay and Roel’s fates were collapsing in the same fashion.
Some time later.
“Phew. If you came here to kill someone, you should’ve at least been prepared to lose your own lives.”
Sanghyun let the pouring rain wash the blood off the Nameless Sword.
His cold gaze fell on the three corpses, which were growing colder by the second.
Jay and Roel.
They had followed the same path to death as Kay before them.
Roel, in particular, had died face down, having tripped while trying to flee — an utterly disgraceful sight.
Sanghyun didn’t have a single scratch on him.
Roel, being a mage, had no way to even touch Sanghyun.
Most of his skills cost less than 100 mana, so they were all completely blocked by the Path of Anti-Magic.
It was utterly hopeless.
Even as his ally Jay lay dying, Roel hadn’t been able to help her once.
All he could do was watch his desperate spells veer off course without even grazing Sanghyun.
“This isn’t exactly the kind of scene I can be satisfied with just because I won.”
There was no change in Sanghyun’s expression.
The old him would’ve smiled with satisfaction from victory, but now he simply felt he had beaten someone he should have beaten.
Players in the level 300 range?
He was now confident they couldn’t stand against him.
He even calculated that he could hold his own one-on-one against a named Player like Lee Sehwa, the 'Crimson Flame of Madness'.
His gaze turned upward.
Named Players in the early 500s — like Shin Taeri or Jo Jinho.
He now wanted to face enemies of that caliber.
And after surpassing them...
Then he would begin to look toward players like Do Kyungsoo or Jerron Decay in the mid-to-high 500s, or even the 600s.
Just then.
Ssss...
There was the sound of someone swiftly approaching through the darkness.
He couldn’t see their face yet, but based on the situation, he could guess who it was. It had to be Lee Yeon, sent by Han Hyunjeong.
As expected.
Lee Yeon revealed herself slightly and bowed her head.
“I know I wasn’t supposed to show myself according to the agreement. But this is the Master’s order.”
“It’s been a while.”
Sanghyun smiled.
He felt no hostility toward Lee Yeon. There was no lingering resentment from their first encounter.
He had simply set the terms for victory in their sparring, and asked that those terms be followed.
“This outcome was unexpected. I’ve been waiting, ready to assist you at any time.”
Lee Yeon brushed aside the hair covering one side of her face.
Due to the pouring rain, her bangs had become an obstruction to her vision.
For the first time, her usually hidden right eye was revealed.
‘Odd eye.’
A being with one blue and one black eye.
Lee Yeon’s right eye gleamed a clear, beautiful sapphire blue, as if it were a gemstone.
“As you can see, this is how it turned out.”
“I respect you.”
Sanghyun shrugged.
Lee Yeon raised one hand and gave a polite bow.
Having watched the battle against the trio from the start, Lee Yeon could feel it clearly.
Sanghyun’s strength was far beyond her reach — far, far above.
What especially shocked her was his mysterious ability to completely neutralize a magician.
Spells that were clearly aimed at him would somehow twist mid-flight and veer off in another direction.
There was only one possible explanation for something like that to become reality.
‘No way… Did he get an Almighty-grade Artifact? Something even Master couldn’t obtain… from where?’
That was the question that lingered in Lee Yeon’s mind.
Why was it that, around Sanghyun...
Only the impossible kept happening?
How, and why?