Chapter 39: The Black Dragon
How much time had passed? The monster gasped for air and spoke:
"K-kill me.... I'll talk. I'll talk, so please, just stop...."
"That's not how it works. Talk, then I'll stop."
Sun Yuhan's stance was firm.
The monster grimaced.
"I can't tell you the details.... There's a restriction on me...."
"Cut to the chase. Just the key points. Then I'll give you a peaceful end."
The monster hesitated for a moment, then opened its mouth as if it had given up.
"The......"
Sun Yuhan's pupils dilated.
His divine sense observed the shape of the monster's mouth and the sound.
"Black......"
At that moment, blue veins popped on the monster's face.
Excruciating pain.
The monster trembled but continued to speak.
"Dragon......"
Right after that, the monster's face swelled as if it were about to explode.
It's too late.
Sun Yuhan's shoulder moved in a flash.
At the same time, a gust of wind turned into a blade.
Shink—
The monster's head flew into the air.
He could have heard a few more words, but that would have prolonged the monster's suffering.
"I've kept my promise."
He spoke softly and approached the monster.
At that moment.
Fwoooom—
"...!"
A strong spiritual energy raged from the monster's body.
Sun Yuhan quickly circulated his spiritual energy.
Rumble, the monster's pit was sucked inwards.
The monster vanished without a trace. Then—
—Kaboooooooooooom!!!
A deafening explosion echoed from underground.
Sun Yuhan smiled coldly.
"How thorough."
Checking with his divine sense, he could feel that the monster's body had been torn to shreds.
The tooth is intact.
Sun Yuhan waved his hand, and a giant tooth shot out—pop!
He examined the tooth closely.
"Hmm......"
He could feel a dense spiritual energy.
It was a perfect material for making a spiritual tool.
However, there was one problem.
"Tsk, to think the 'owner's seal' is still here."
Even though the monster was dead, the tooth still belonged to 'someone'.
Sun Yuhan carefully scanned the tooth, then extended his finger.
"Spiritual fire."
Fwoosh—
A bright flame ignited on the tooth.
The tooth began to tremble—vrrr—and the effect of the owner's seal weakened.
I can't carelessly touch a suspicious tooth like this.
A moment later, the tooth's trembling subsided significantly.
Sun Yuhan remained vigilant, staring at the tooth.
"This should be enough."
Sun Yuhan paid the karma and flipped his palm.
An elegant wooden box appeared.
When he opened the lid of the box, the tooth was sucked inside.
[KRRRRAAAAAAAAAA!!!]
"...Keuk!"
At that moment, a majestic roar pierced his mind.
He staggered for a moment, then gritted his teeth and took out several talismans.
Thanks to killing the monster, he had enough karma.
Fsh-fsh-fsh-fsh—!
As the talismans stuck to the wooden box, the roaring sound suddenly stopped.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and muttered:
"Even after using spiritual fire and a sealing-type wooden box, it's still this strong......?"
If he had grabbed it with his bare hands, it would have been a disaster.
Sun Yuhan raised his guard even more and turned around.
There was still much to investigate.
"Let's take a look at the altar."
He walked through a long passage and arrived at the altar.
There were teeth left by other villains along the way, but they were weaker than the tall monster's tooth and easy to collect.
"Black Dragon......"
Sun Yuhan muttered as he looked at the crest drawn on the altar.
A long, elegant body, sharp fangs, flame-shaped scales, and horns like a deer's.
It was a crest of a sitting dragon that looked as if it would come to life at any moment.
The only strange thing was that the moment he saw the crest, he thought the dragon was 'black'.
"...Curious. I don't feel any particular spiritual energy from it."
He felt as if the dragon's existence was being imprinted on his mind.
It was something that couldn't be explained by just spiritual energy and spiritual arts.
The roar from before, and the mysterious power of this crest.
"This isn't something a Qi Refining stage being can do......"
Who on earth gave the monster that tooth? And what is the identity of this dragon?
Feeling uneasy, Sun Yuhan looked around.
A moment later, he could only find a single crystal ball.
"Nothing much here."
He scanned every nook and cranny with his divine sense, but there was nothing special except for the crystal ball.
He stared at the altar for a moment, then extended his hand and unleashed a fireball.
Kabooom!
A part of the altar was severely damaged.
The altar didn't shatter into pieces until he had unleashed dozens more fireballs.
Fwoooom—
The empty air distorted, and a crack formed.
"As I thought."
The altar and the crack were connected.
Sun Yuhan approached the crack. He examined it meticulously.
A moment later, realizing there was no problem, he threw himself into it.
A vast savanna in the heart of Africa.
A young man of Spanish descent was devouring a beast's corpse.
Around the young man were scattered countless beast corpses.
Chomp— Chomp—
Blood dripped down his chin.
Then, suddenly, the young man scowled.
"...Hmm? Dead?"
The 'Apostle' who had been active in South Korea had lost his life.
A short time later, the connection to the altar was also severed.
He stroked his chin.
"Does that small country have that many Great Perfection of Qi Refining rank hunters?"
To defeat an apostle, you would need at least three of them.
As far as he could remember, South Korea didn't possess such military strength.
"Hmmmm......"
The young man thought for a moment, then bit his index finger and whistled.
Fweeeet—!
Right after that, a black dot shot across the sky towards him.
It was a crow.
—CAAAAAW!
The crow folded its wings and landed on the ground.
The crow was the size of a large bus.
Thud—
The crow landed on the ground and looked at him.
"Bring all the believers in Korea here. And for the time being, you'll watch over Korea."
—CAAAAAW!
The crow nodded its head.
"If it looks too dangerous, just run. I'll trust your judgment."
—Caw!
The crow preened its feathers with its beak, then soared into the sky.
The young man arranged his hair with both hands and muttered:
"This is a bad omen. There are plenty of other countries, so no need to focus only on Korea."
He flipped his palm to face the sky.
A black gourd appeared.
"Come."
Shhhhhhh—
All the beast corpses melted and gathered at a single point.
Right after that, dark red orbs shot—swsh—into the gourd.
At that moment.
Paat—
The gourd glowed with an ominous color and spat out a dark red pill.
The young man smiled grimly and bowed his head.
"Thank you, Dragon God."
He swallowed it—gulp.
At the same time, his cultivation increased slightly.
The young man licked his lips.
"Tsk, the beasts are of low quality, as expected. I need to hunt humans or hunters."
The young man turned his head and looked into the distance.
In that direction was Spain.
The young man's eyes gleamed.
"That would be a nice dessert."
Right after that, two horns grew from his forehead.
They looked like a deer's horns.
Slither, a black shadow crawled up his body.
Fwoooosh—
Transforming into a black light, the young man shot across the sky.
The center of a residential complex.
Heavily armed hunters gathered in front of a small crack.
"We're going in now! Everyone, stay alert!"
""Yes, sir!!""
When the middle-aged man at the front shouted, the hunters behind him roared in response.
As they were about to enter the crack.
Crack, cr-cr-crack—!
"...Hmm?"
The crack tore to shreds and then—pop—exploded.
At the same time, a powerful spiritual energy swept over the hunters.
"Kuaaargh!"
"W-what is this! Don't tell me it's a crack outbreak?"
"Does this actually happen?"
Crack outbreak.
A phenomenon where a neglected crack for a long time spews out monsters.
The time limit differed depending on the crack's grade, but an outbreak had never happened in just one day.
In other words.
"Someone's coming out!"
This was not an outbreak, but a crack clear.
The crack scattered into milky-white fragments as a young man walked out.
Seeing that, the hunters instinctively gripped their weapons.
They didn't know why. They just felt it was the right thing to do.
"Hmm?"
The young man, Sun Yuhan's, brow twitched.
He looked at the various weapons and spoke:
"What is the meaning of this?"
At that moment, the middle-aged man—came to his senses.
"...Are you a monster perhaps?"
It was a ridiculous question, but to the hunters here, it didn't sound ridiculous at all.
The hunters' gazes focused on Sun Yuhan's mouth.
"A monster? No, I'm human."
"Then did you clear this crack?"
"Well, something like that."
A clear confirmation.
The middle-aged man's eyes widened.
The crack's grade was estimated to be C. To clear it solo, you must be at the peak of B-rank.
The middle-aged man scanned Sun Yuhan's clothes.
He couldn't see any special equipment.
...Could he be an A-rank?
The possibility was high.
Even if he wasn't an A-rank, he was undoubtedly a hunter of a similar level.
The middle-aged man clicked his tongue inwardly.
Bad luck. To have a C-rank crack snatched away like this.
Finishing his assessment, the middle-aged man spoke:
"By any chance, how did you end up entering the crack?"
Sun Yuhan answered with a mixture of lies and truth.
"A crack opened up in front of me while I was on a walk. I couldn't just stand by and watch, so I went in alone."
"I see. May I ask which guild you belong to?"
"Hansung Guild."
The middle-aged man's insides burned.
It's over. Of all the guilds, it had to be Hansung.
It was a guild on a completely different level from his own.
The middle-aged man looked back and shouted:
"Everyone! Return to the guild!"
"...Sir? This quickly?"
When a raid team member asked in disbelief, the middle-aged man answered firmly:
"The crack has been cleared, no reason to stay here. Stop dawdling and move!"
At the middle-aged man's fiery order, the raid team members scowled and turned around.
The middle-aged man looked at Sun Yuhan once more.
"We'll be leaving now."
"Yes. Well, I feel a bit bad for stealing your work."
Of course, he didn't mean a single word of it.
If anything, they should be thanking him.
With their combat power, they would never have defeated the tall monster.
Did they even know their lives had just been saved?
Sun Yuhan didn't bother to tell them.
It was obvious they wouldn't believe him anyway.
"Haha, not at all. On the contrary, you've done something commendable. By the way, may I ask your name?"
"It's Sun Yuhan."
"Sun Yuhan... Sun Yuhan.... I see. My name is Kang Jin-man. I hope we get a chance to meet again. This is my card."
Kang Jin-man handed over the business card with a smooth motion.
'Kang Jin-man of the Jinhwa Guild?'
That's what was written on the card.
Sun Yuhan accepted it and answered:
"I don't have a card yet....... I'm sorry."
"Not at all. Well then, I'll be on my way."
Kang Jin-man maintained his smile and bowed his head.
Sun Yuhan returned the bow and left the area.
Kang Jin-man stared at his retreating back for a moment before turning around.
"Let's go."
As he started walking, a guild member spoke.
It was a member particularly close to Kang Jin-man.
"Squad leader. I know he's from Hansung Guild, but... is there any reason to be so respectful?"
"The reason is more than enough. What rank do you think that young man holds?"
"Hmm... he looks like he's just entered A-rank. He didn't seem to have any special equipment either."
"I saw that young man's face for the first time today. Don't you know what that means?"
The member looked puzzled.
Kang Jin-man sighed inwardly.
He's talented enough, but he's slow on the uptake.
He opened his mouth to speak.
"An A-rank awakener whose face, let alone name, is unknown. The fact that Hansung Guild is involved means he's an awakener they've been secretly grooming."
"...Ah! Don't tell me!"
The member shouted, seeming to finally understand.
Kang Jin-man nodded.
"He must be a precious awakener to Hansung Guild. Don't recklessly mess with a poisonous mushroom like that. You might get hurt for no reason. Moreover...."
His voice trailed off.
"What is it? Is there more?"
"No, it's nothing."
Kang Jin-man muttered evasively and fell silent.
The member looked at him strangely for a moment, but soon dismissed it.
At that moment, Kang Jin-man glanced—at the spot where Sun Yuhan had disappeared.
When he came out of the crack, the aura I felt from him was extraordinary. Perhaps...
It was a truly absurd possibility, but his expert instincts kept whispering to him.
Sun Yuhan was not just an A-rank awakener, but—
S-rank.
Kang Jin-man's eyes deepened.
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