Chapter 5 – Ghost Town (2)
A massive fireball is created, then split into dozens of smaller ones and launched in all directions to scatter the Specters.
Success.
He roams the city. Using the sides of buildings and alleys between them, he approaches the Specters stealthily.
Success.
He unleashes his mana to provoke the Specters.
Success.
When a Specter rushes in at high speed, he narrowly dodges the attack.
…Success.
Just before the Specter brushes past him, he swings a flame-wrapped sword.
–Kyaaaaah!
“Tch!”
With a loud scream, the black ghost—Dark Specter—soars into the air. Kim Suho kicks the ground hard and dives to the side to avoid it.
Shushushuk!
Kim Suho narrowly dodges the thorns that shoot out from the shadows. He then gives an order to Sarang.
A flame arrow focused on speed rather than power. But the target is a Specter already fatally wounded by a sharp blade.
Puk! Puh-uhng!
The flame arrow embedded in the Specter’s body explodes on impact.
Kim Suho focuses his gaze to confirm the Specter's death. A black jewel appears where the creature vanished and begins falling to the ground.
“Sarang.”
Sarang jumps powerfully from above Kim Suho's head and catches the falling mana stone in her mouth.
The Specter is dealt with. The mana stone is secured. In a typical situation, it would be time to rest. But the inside of the Gate has changed. Instead of a blue moon, a red moon hangs in the sky, and the Specters have turned black, becoming stronger.
Kim Suho catches Sarang in both hands as she leaps back into his arms and quickly moves. He heads toward a distant abandoned building, using the collapsed walls to hide himself. After catching his breath, he pokes his head out to check the battlefield.
“Sss… This is bad.”
He sees five Dark Specters. If he had delayed even slightly, he would’ve encountered these five that came after hearing the cry of their kin.
“Sarang.”
–Nyaang.
“What do we do?”
–Nyaang.
Specters are semi-transparent spirit monsters. This means you can see the black core—the monster’s nucleus—inside their bodies with the naked eye. Kim Suho used this trait to defeat them with flame arrows and sword strikes.
While resting behind the wall, Kim Suho peeks out again to observe the Dark Specters.
They aren’t the usual semi-transparent gray Specters. These Dark Specters are opaque. He can't see their cores, which makes it impossible to defeat them in one blow.
Specters that don’t fall in one strike sense danger, flee to the sky, and cry out to summon their kin.
‘Alright.’
After much deliberation, Kim Suho backs away from the spot.
“You came out early?”
A C-rank Hunter guarding the Gate entrance greets Kim Suho as he exits.
They had only met two days ago. But when the C-rank Hunter visited the Gate outpost to clock out, he saw Kim Suho selling mana stones. One Hunter selling dozens of stones at once naturally caught attention.
“It’s a mess in there.”
Kim Suho points to the Gate with his finger, and the C-rank Hunter chuckles.
He had already checked the updated Gate information. Though he couldn’t enter himself, he had requested recordings from Hunters who had visited and thus noticed the changes.
“So you’re going to switch Gates?”
“Ugh…”
Why was the first skill he acquired specialized for hunting spirit-type monsters? Kim Suho groans instead of nodding, and the C-rank Hunter gives an awkward smile.
“Not sure why, but monster abilities have increased by about 30%.”
“Thirty percent.”
“Yes. Plus, they’ve developed a new skill called ‘Rescue Call.’”
“Sss. Thirty percent. Rescue Call.”
No solution. Clicking his tongue, Kim Suho shakes his head after a long pause.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Alright.”
The C-rank Hunter, who had seen Kim Suho selling dozens of mana stones just the day before, nods with a smile. Kim Suho greets him and walks over to a nearby bench.
Sitting with Sarang on the bench, Kim Suho crosses his legs and looks at her.
“What’s the current problem?”
–Nyaaang. Nyaang.
He can't determine the Specter's weakness, so he can’t finish it in one strike. Because of that, he can’t stop the Rescue Call.
“Right. Can’t finish it in one strike, can’t stop the Rescue Call.”
Kim Suho folds his arms, and Sarang grooms herself while looking at him.
–Nyaaang.
I can knock it down in one blow.
“But it uses too much mana.”
Two hours ago, Kim Suho trusted Sarang’s words and attempted a one-strike takedown. It succeeded. The problem was, the massive mana consumption forced him to escape the Gate immediately after.
One hour to subdue a single monster.
That was far too inefficient. Kim Suho searched for alternatives, but every attempt failed.
“If we can just block the Rescue Call…”
Even though the mana consumption is much higher than yesterday, with Sarang’s support, they can defeat a Specter in under ten seconds.
The battle process with a Dark Specter goes like this:
Kim Suho lures the Specter.
He dodges its attack and counters.
As the counter lands, the Specter briefly becomes semi-transparent, revealing the core.
The Specter, now injured, soars into the sky to cry out for help. At that moment, Sarang fires a flame arrow.
The Specter dies. But upon hearing the cry, other Dark Specters swarm from all directions, forcing Kim Suho and Sarang to flee.
–Nyaang.
Rescue Call is the problem.
“Yeah. Rescue Call is the problem.”
Having come full circle, both Kim Suho and Sarang fall silent.
–Nyaaang.
After a long silence, Sarang speaks.
What about using a cursed item, a debuff skill, to stop it?
Kim Suho replies.
“No money.”
–Nyaaang.
Can’t we borrow one?
“…Hm?”
–Nyaaang.
Sarang continues grooming and says,
No need to buy it. Just rent it.
“…What?”
The Hunter Association offers various services for lower-level Hunters. One of them is equipment rental, just as Sarang suggested.
Artifact rental.
By paying a small deposit to cover potential damage, Hunters could use artifacts at a much cheaper price than the market value.
Kim Suho pulls out his smartphone. Opening the Hunter Association app, he checks the rental services and searches for a debuff-type artifact.
“There it is.”
–Nyaang!
You found it?
“Yeah, I did.”
Name: Goblin’s Cursed Bracelet Restriction: None Description: A bracelet crafted by a Goblin Shaman. Can only target one enemy at a time. Effect: Silence (Duration: 30 seconds) Cooldown: 60 seconds
The duration is short. But if they only need to block Rescue Call, they can easily take down a Specter.
“Wait, the price…”
Kim Suho scrolls down to check the rental fee.
Daily Rental Fee: 300,000 won
“Three hundred thousand won.”
Cheap. Likely due to the short duration and the single-target limitation.
Kim Suho taps the screen quickly and reserves the artifact.
“Sarang.”
–Nyang?
“Let’s go right now.”
A sudden Gate shift.
Once a sparsely populated spot where few Hunters worked due to the high mana stone drop rate, the Ghost Town became a true ghost town after the Gate changed.
No—more precisely, only one person remained active in the Ghost Town.
Puh-uhng!
Town center.
A massive fireball explodes midair. It splits into dozens of small fireballs that scatter in all directions.
The sudden explosion in the heart of the Town draws the attention of all wandering Dark Specters. Like moths to flame, they scatter toward the flickering lights.
Kim Suho, who set off the explosion while hiding in an old building, begins moving the moment the Dark Specters disperse.
When the Dark Specter chasing the fireball stops and hovers in place, Kim Suho also comes to a halt.
The distance between them is not far.
Srrrng.
He draws his sword loudly on purpose. The Dark Specter floating in place turns and looks at Kim Suho.
They silently stare at each other. Then, black mana oozing from its body, the Specter charges at Kim Suho.
“Silence.”
When the distance closes enough, Kim Suho activates the magic from the artifact he’s wearing.
A foreign energy invades the Specter’s body, causing it to stop in alarm—but it’s already within sword range.
Chaaak!
The Dark Specter, hit by Kim Suho’s charging strike, cannot avoid it.
Once hit, the Dark Specter briefly turns into a semi-transparent gray Specter. But the moment is fleeting. It quickly darkens again, rises into the air, and opens its mouth wide.
But that’s it.
The artifact’s effect lasts 30 seconds. Realizing it can’t scream, the Dark Specter turns to flee—but Sarang’s flame arrow pierces its right chest before it can.
The Dark Specter turns to ash.
A black jewel drops from where the Specter had floated.
Instead of asking Sarang, Kim Suho walks over and snatches the falling mana stone himself, then scans his surroundings.
He spreads his mana widely to search. Sensing no other Dark Specter presences nearby, he clenches his fist.
“Phew.”
–Nyaang.
“Nice.”
–Nyaaang.
It’s been ten days since they started working in the Ghost Town.
From the second day onward, the Gate began to change, and no one visited anymore. But Kim Suho adapted using artifact rentals.
At first, there were many mistakes. The Silence magic on the artifact consumed mana. Naturally, the mana-sensitive Dark Specters noticed they were under a spell.
If Kim Suho used Silence immediately upon encountering one, the Specter fled before he could locate its core.
Even if he used it when the Specter tried to call for help, the creature sensed danger and flew even higher to escape.
Eventually, he learned the best timing for Silence was during the Specter’s charge. Not at the start of the encounter, and not just before the Rescue Call.
“Hmm. But Sarang.”
–Nyaang.
“Don’t the Specters seem even stronger?”
Sarang, draped over his head resting, swishes her tail and smacks Kim Suho’s back.
Thwack.
A single hit to signal agreement.
“Hmmm.”
That was another close call. A week after the first shift, while fighting Dark Specters, Kim Suho realized something new.
He had used the same amount of mana to enhance his sword and body, and empowered Sarang’s arrows. Yet, the Specters endured the attacks.
At first, he thought it was a mistake in mana control—perfectly measuring the amount of mana is tricky. But after failing once, then twice, four times, then eight, he changed his mind.
It wasn’t a mistake.
It was due to the evolving Gate.
After much thought, Kim Suho and Sarang decided to increase their mana usage slightly and resumed activity. Even with higher usage, the artifact’s cooldown meant they needed a 30-second break anyway, so they accepted it.
“20%.”
Excluding the fireball used to scatter Specters, he had consumed about 20% of his mana.
“Sss. Should I give up?”
On Day 2, gray Specters turned black.
On Day 9, a week after the first shift, came the second: overall ability boosts for black Specters.
And now—Day 10—the third shift has occurred, making black Specters even stronger.
Life matters more than money. And preserving mana for unexpected events is the most important rule in real combat.
As time passes, the amount of mana to preserve will likely increase. So, escaping the Gate now and reporting this new development to the Association is the best move.
Kim Suho folds his arms, thinks hard, then decides to retreat and stands up.
[New skill has been created.]
“…Huh? Status window?”
Just as he’s about to exit the Gate and report the third evolution—
Name: Kim Suho Level: 10 Skills: Undying One (E), Demon Tribe (E)
He had hunted a hundred Specters a day—not ordinary ones, but strengthened Dark Specters.
Thanks to that, ten days later, Kim Suho is now Level 10.
But more important than the level is the new skill.
“…Demon Tribe?”
That Demon Tribe?
The one I’m thinking of?
0 Comments