Synopsis and Starting Chapter Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132
Chapter 133
Chapter 134
Chapter 135
Chapter 136
Chapter 137
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
Chapter 141
Chapter 142
Chapter 143
Chapter 144
Chapter 145
Chapter 146
Chapter 147
Chapter 148
Chapter 149
Chapter 150
Chapter 151
Chapter 152
Chapter 153
Chapter 154
Chapter 155
Chapter 156
Chapter 157
Chapter 158
Chapter 159
Chapter 160
Chapter 161
Chapter 162
Chapter 163
Chapter 164
Chapter 165
Chapter 166
Chapter 167
Chapter 168
Chapter 169
Chapter 170
Chapter 171
Chapter 172
Chapter 173
Chapter 174
Chapter 175
Chapter 176
Chapter 177
Chapter 178
Chapter 179
Chapter 180
Chapter 181
Chapter 182
Chapter 183
Chapter 184
Chapter 185
Chapter 186
Chapter 187
Chapter 188
Chapter 189
Chapter 190
Chapter 191
Chapter 192
Chapter 193
Chapter 194
Chapter 195
Chapter 196
Chapter 197
Chapter 198
Chapter 199
Chapter 200
Chapter 201
Chapter 202
Chapter 203
Chapter 204
Chapter 205
Chapter 206
Chapter 207
Chapter 208
Chapter 209
Chapter 210 (End) - Afterword.
Categories Genre: Action, Adventure, All, Completed, Fantasy, Martial Arts, Mature, Mecha, Sci-fi, Seinen, Tragedy Status: Completed ______
Total Chapters in book: 211
Estimated words: 594154 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 2971(@200wpm)___ 2377(@250wpm)___ 1981(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 594154 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 2971(@200wpm)___ 2377(@250wpm)___ 1981(@300wpm)
______
LIST OF LAST 10 CHAPTERS:
Page No. 211 Page No. 210 Page No. 209 Page No. 208 Page No. 207 Page No. 206 Page No. 205 Page No. 204 Page No. 203 Page No. 202 Page No. 201 Chapter 43
Episode 3: Age of Ghosts / Chapter 43: Consumables (6)
TL: emptycube
Swoosh.
The Predator’s Blade sucked in Keushisuit’s blood at a rate of 1 liter per second. When he was alive, his karma stopped the blood from flowing out so it wasn’t able to absorb a lot, but, now that the karma had dispersed from his corpse, his blade didn’t have to hold back any longer.
“Hooo…”
Choi Hyuk felt refreshed. The blood drained by the Predator’s Blade’s {Blood Drain} skill returned to him as a recuperative force. His heavy karma that felt as if it had been stretched became taut and his wounds healed. It was the refreshing feeling you felt when you gulped water through your dry, cracked lips.
The Predator’s blade, that was greedily drinking blood, turned red and became silent. There was still blood left in the corpse, however, it seemed to be full.
——————–
{Greedy Predator’s Blade}
Rank: C (Unique, Growth-type)
Sharp and sturdy. The more blood it absorbs of strong foes, the stronger it will get.
Blood Drain: Absorbs the blood of enemies to replenish its owner’s karma and heal their wounds. Able to absorb 1L of blood per second.
Durability: 9,173/10,000
Evolution: 3/100
——————–
Before it needed to eat the whole corpse to grow, but now it only needed to kill. It seemed as though its effectiveness had increased when it went from D rank to C rank. Its current evolution stat was 3. He had killed 3 individuals up until now, the Wyvern of Destruction, Keholeun, and Keushisuit.
He placed Keushisuit’s corpse and his equipment into his Handy Bag.
Choi Hyuk who was momentarily catching his breath felt a haze-like wave approach him.
“First, Dawn Lightning and now, Deer Antlers. Aren’t you incredible?”
An alien. However, she was fluent in Korean. Her figure was covered by a veil of wavering lights and heat waves so he was unable to see her properly. Yet, somehow, he knew naturally. That her name was ‘Flame-Rain’ and that she was a woman. As if he had always known this fact.
‘… Weird.’
He didn’t even sense her approach. She was emitting a white light (goodwill), but Choi Hyuk did his best and kept his guard up. He pointed the Predator’s Blade in her direction.
“Your motive?”
“Just~ A greeting.”
When Choi Hyuk spoke informally, blue flames flared up and she replied informally without reserve.
Flame-Rain’s attitude felt strange to him. All the lowest ranked warriors he met here were hostile and crazy, but she was friendly and there wasn’t a sense of tension.
When he silently stared at her, she uncovered the flames, that were covering her body, to reveal a surprisingly human-like face.
“Don’t be like that. We might even meet again on the next mission.”
“… We’re going to meet again?”
“Not every time. We usually get transferred to a nearby planet and they have a tendency to send those who are of similar strength together. There are a few friends I see often as well.”
“I don’t think they are worth being friends with?”
He looked around at the lowest ranked warriors, who were slaughtering others. There were some who had left and others who were spectating, but there were still around 30 warriors crazily running amok.
“They give you a mission score if you take out the target. They are like that so others don’t covet them.”
She said in a somewhat bitter voice. Her voice contained such human emotion that it was hard to believe she was an alien.
“They give you a higher score if you take out the target? Then why are they attacking me? And what about those who are just observing?”
“They are reading the situation. The ones who go crazy are typically stronger. And you’re a tasty prey. At least, you look like one. First, it seems like you hit 3-star Retribution but the rest of your stats seem low. You obtain more karma if you kill someone with a lot of Retribution… meaning you look tasty.”
Specific calculations for the karma system was crazy difficult to calculate but its principle was simple. The higher your opponent’s total stats were or the higher your opponent’s Retribution was, the more karma you would receive after killing them. This applied to both monsters and aliens.
Meaning Keushisuit had planned on killing Choi Hyuk for karma points.
“Then there’s no need to be friendly with each other.”
Just because they were in the same situation didn’t mean they were allies. Instead, it was better to think of them as enemies in this case. You would be devoured the moment you seemed like a pushover.
Choi Hyuk took a step away from Flame-Rain. He had basically heard all the information he needed. He felt that her friendliness was dangerous.
“Don’t be like that. It’s because everyone has it tough.”
Her expression looked sad as she said those words. However, the white light and the soft flames covered her face like a wedding veil.
“Anyways, let’s meet again. It’s about time monster start flooding in.”
As if her words were a signal, the ground started to shake. The sounds of flapping wings itched their ears. They were in the middle of the enemy headquarters. Monsters were coming from all directions to take out the intruders. When you looked around, the original targets, the cocoons, had all been destroyed. It was time to return.
Flame-Rain shook her hand to activate the return code and disappeared. Crunch. Crunch. She disappeared in a gruesome fashion as if she was devoured into the void.
Choi Hyuk looked around for his followers. They were still fighting Keken. They looked like they had the advantage, but they seemed to lack the firepower to finish him off and were progressing at a snail’s pace. Keken kept enduring as he believed he could end this once his eyes healed.
However, the sounds of monsters coming from everywhere were loud. Eventually, the first to give up was Keken.
{You, insect bastards! I’ll kill you all next time!}
He lashed out in rage, however, Lee Jinhee lashed out in return.
“You, don’t appear in front of me again!”
Keken retreated and activated his return code. It seemed Lee Jinhee was out of stamina as she didn’t give chase.
The gazes of Lee Jinhee, Baek Seoin, and Chu Youngjin, who were all catching their breaths, turned towards Choi Hyuk who was walking towards them. As soon as their eyes met, Choi Hyuk nodded his head.
‘Everyone’s alive.’
He felt a strange sense of relief.
Like an endless nightmare, missions would continue and their level of danger would increase. If they couldn’t keep up, they would die.
It was a world where the ones who shouldn’t die died
And where ones who no one thought would die died.
A world where yesterday’s enemies could be today’s friends and today’s friends could be dead tomorrow.
Choi Hyuk recalled one of the criteria he had for someone to become his comrade.
‘People who won’t die easily.’
He saw his followers who shook their hands to activate their return codes. He felt happy.
It was now time for him to return as well. He had stolen Keushisuit’s return code and his timer had ended before the fight.
“Return!”
He shouted in a low voice and his stomach felt like it was flipping over. Crunch. Crunch. His body crumbled into the void.
——————–
{Calculating Mission Score}
Base Score: 100
Killed over 50 monsters: 100
Total 200 points.
——————–
It was something he learned later, but Baek Seoin, Lee Jinhee, and Chu Youngjin earned another 100 points for as a reward for ‘Killed Target’. A total of 300 points. Only Choi Hyuk, who was busy fighting monsters and didn’t kill a target, earned 200 points.
When he learned this fact.
“Deer Antlers… Damn bastard…”
He ground his teeth.
**
Captain Lee Kangjin escaped when Choi Hyuk and Keushisuit started to fight. It was because he thought that even a stray blade could kill him. His crushed arm was starting to heal with the power of the Recovery potion. He pressed his arm against his chest and desperately wandering around the battlefield. To find an undestroyed cocoon.
“I will live…”
He wanted to live with sincerity. He wanted to live and become stronger.
Choi Hyuk was a shock to him. No matter how he looked at him, he was a human like himself. However, Choi Hyuk was pretty even with Keushisuit, who was a nightmare to him.
‘Though it was the same in the previous mission…’
The strong were really strong. Even if they had all received karma, at some point, there was a difference of heaven and earth between them. Some were so strong it was unbelievable that they were humans. He had even believed they were simply from another world previously.
However, it was different now.
“You fucking bastard…”
He hated himself. He hated himself so much that he wanted to gnaw on his heart and stab it repeatedly.
He hated his powerlessness and incompetence. He wanted to kill himself who could only bark at First Sergeant Jang Sudong.
“I will live… and get stronger…”
His eyes caught sight of a cocoon that seemed to be ready to hatch. It was in a deep crater in the basin so it hadn’t been destroyed yet.
That moment.
Whiiiing!!
The cocoon started to rip and a piercing wind swooshed out from within.
Pashashasha!
An alien closest to it was sliced into four pieces before falling to the ground.
Jjijijik!
Its long razor-sharp legs ripped the cocoon apart and its figure emerged.
‘It’s evolution is about to be complete.’
He instinctively understood the situation. He felt a mighty aura that was incomparable to the others just inside the cocoon. All the aliens who had gathered to destroy it fled in the other direction. The warrior aliens, who were still in the middle of their slaughter, revealed a tense expression as they kept their guard against the cocoon. Even they didn’t think to recklessly approach it. This just showed how powerful the monster, that was about to complete its evolution, felt.
Nonetheless, Captain Lee Kangjin didn’t back down.
“Kelokok! Shih!”
He passed by the screaming aliens.
Thump! Thump!
And ran towards the pulsating cocoon. Luckily, it seemed the piercing wind only came out at the start as he avoided getting sliced and was able to get close to it.
Instead, a razor-sharp leg, that was stretched outside the cocoon, targeted him and swung down. He ducked and slid his left foot away to avoid the attack.
Clash!
The long leg pierced into the ground in vain. He rolled on the ground.
Bang! Bang! Slash!
It was a continuous attack this time. Another leg stabbed at him twice as the first one sliced above his head. He was able to avoid them by rolling due to luck, but, either way, he had ended up really close to the cocoon. Lee Kangjin jumped forward with all his strength. He erased all his fears. Only forward. Forward.
Swish!
He was able to dodge three attacks with that jump.
As he avoided the third, the dangerously swinging legs were unable to block him right away.
On the other hand, his concentration had reached its peak.
{Innate Skill ‘Weakness Detection’ awakened!}
He saw a brightly shining point.
The monster was still partially wrapped in the cocoon. It was just about to complete its evolution.
Thump!
An explosive energy that was necessary to evolve was gathered in the center of the cocoon, constantly expanding and contracting. Lee Kangjin instinctively knew that he had to stab that center exactly where the brightly shining point was located.
He jumped into the cocoon. Its legs and antennas sliced open his shoulders in desperation.
“Kirak! Kirararah!”
The monster’s whole body squirmed and despaired. Even in this mess, even though his skin was peeling off and blood was flowing out, he didn’t stop. He finally reached his target.
Crack!
He stabbed the nucleus of evolution.
“Kiyaaaah!!!”
The monster collapsed along with a horrible scream. Lee Kangjin collapsed as well. He fell, exhausted, inside its corpse, covered in its mucus.
{Cleared target. Transforming the corpse into return energy. Remaining Time: 5 minutes}
The moment he confirmed the message, he was lying down as if he was dead, counting the seconds as they passed by. The aliens, who were madly searching for return codes, didn’t approach Lee Kangjin, perhaps thinking he was dead or because they had already fled far away.
‘4 minutes.’
‘3 minutes.’
While he was counting the time pass, the ground suddenly started to shake. The noisy screams of aliens, who hadn’t been able to return, were like bees in a hive. It seemed like monsters were incoming from every direction. As this was their headquarters.
‘Whatever.’
He continued to count.
‘1 minute.’
‘30 seconds.’
’10 seconds.’
Just when there were only 5 seconds left.
Jjijijik!
The cocoon split apart.
“Grrrr…”
A monster he had never seen before stuck its head in. It was a beast whose head was double the size of Lee Kangjin.
However, he remained calm and swung his sword.
“Get lost!”
Kakang!!
His sword didn’t slice into its face but the monster flinched and lifted its head back out. That moment,
{Activation of the return code complete.}
It was time.
“Return! You, fuck!”
Lee Kangjin was devoured into the void.
“Krahlahlak!!”
Crunch!
The monster swung its human-sized foot, crushing the cocoon, but Lee Kangjin had already disappeared.
**
That day and a few days after, people returned to earth. The military and police, who had disappeared, were among them.
It was an event that brought the world together.
Total Chapters in book: 211
Estimated words: 594154 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 2971(@200wpm)___ 2377(@250wpm)___ 1981(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 594154 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 2971(@200wpm)___ 2377(@250wpm)___ 1981(@300wpm)
______