hotmtlnovel Chapter 397: Fight Club (4)
Chapter 397: Fight Club (4)
“What kind?”
“Oscar—if you pay enough money, you can spar with him one-on-one. It’s like training, with a certain level of safety guaranteed.”
“A sparring partner, basically?”
“Yeah, pretty much. He’s an assassin who scrapes and claws to hoard money. Even if some lunatic applies, he’ll take it as long as they pay. Though in that case, he’ll fight like you’re betting your life.”
“Interesting.”
“Officially, the last publicly announced level—one year ago—was 590. It’s probably way higher now.”
An assassin who would become your practice opponent anytime—as long as you paid.
It was an intriguing idea.
And honestly, tempting.
Most skilled hunters avoided private duels because they didn’t want their strength exposed.If Oscar didn’t care, then either money truly mattered above all else... or he had the confidence to not fear being “figured out.”
The match ended with Red Skull’s victory.
All ten hunters of Siegfried died, and every item they carried was taken.
Then, on top of that, the victory fund was paid out in full—there was no business in the world more profitable than this.
For the dead, it was tragic—they were stripped down to nothing.
But winner-takes-all was undeniably attractive.
As he left the Leipzig Arena with Ayane, Kang-hoo was reminded again of just how many constellations existed.
Among the enormous crowd, there were plenty of hunters as well.
Even from the brief scans he caught in passing, the number of constellations he confirmed easily exceeded two thousand.
It made the Pitch-Black Plotter in the top 25, Catastrophe—Darkness in the top 50, and Wasteland Strategist in the top 200 feel even more special.
The world was wide, and hunters were many.
And if there were countless constellations contracted with those hunters... then what did it mean that multiple top-ranked constellations were with him?
“I’m seriously blessed.”
He meant it.
Another unique point: those top-ranked constellations were with him without constant conflict or infighting—they meshed well.
Not quite self-praise, but Kang-hoo was convinced it meant he had enough value to be worth watching.
He would need to work even harder going forward.
Constellations hated boredom.
Even if they didn’t sever ties with a disappointing contractor outright, they also didn’t lend extra power to someone with nothing left to offer.
“Still... the Dimensional Plunderer—”
His gaze stopped at the name displayed in the constellation window.
From the very beginning until now, Dimensional Plunderer had never once revealed her rank.
To know a constellation’s rank, the constellation had to grant system permission for the contractor to “view” its information.
Most constellations opened rank access as a sign of trust, letting their contractor check any time.
But Dimensional Plunderer had never granted that access.
Even when asked directly, she never answered.
And it wasn’t something he could casually ask other constellations either.
It was one of the biggest taboos.
“Is she hiding it on purpose?”
With the constellation refusing to say anything, there was no way to know.
But one thing was certain: Dimensional Plunderer was no minor constellation.
Just considering the privileges and abilities she had granted him...
Kang-hoo was convinced she was at least within the top 50.
Maybe even higher.Afterward,
Kang-hoo and Ayane moved to the training facility provided by the Starke Guild.
It was close to the dungeon they would enter for the contract, and with the facility near the hotel, they could handle everything in one place.
“Well? Pretty, right?”
After finishing her prep, Ayane suddenly pulled out a dagger.
She’d said she commissioned a training dagger—sure enough, the moment she revealed it, you could tell she’d fussed over the details.
On the handle was a chibi-style drawing of Ayane, holding a mana handgun with tiny arms.
But despite the cute exterior, the sharpness of the blade looked far beyond what Kang-hoo expected.
And one detail stood out immediately.
“You inlaid it with a Claw of Hatred.”
“Yep, that’s right. I knew you’d notice—seeing it instantly is impressive.”
“My dagger has the same inlay. Who did you ask? It couldn’t have been easy.”
“Secret.”
Ayane raised a finger to her lips.
So the craftsman needed protection.
Where had she even obtained a rare material like Claw of Hatred? That wasn’t something you stumbled on by chance.
Kang-hoo found himself thinking Ayane had as many secrets as he did.
They were honest about “feelings,” sure.
But not about “background.”
They felt close... yet if you examined it closely, he realized he knew almost nothing about Ayane except that she was a mercenary.
And it was the same the other way around.
Ayane didn’t even know Kang-hoo was being trained by Celestial Assassin.
“Look. I taught myself, okay?”
Ayane stepped into position and started swinging her dagger enthusiastically.
The movements looked smooth—like she’d seen something somewhere—but it was all surface.
Noticing Kang-hoo’s chilly stare, she scratched the back of her head.
“No hope, right?”
“You’ve got a long road ahead.”
“That’s why! I’m asking you. Of all the assassins I’ve ever seen, you’re the best, hands down.”
“You think you can pay tuition with flattery?”
“Hey! Have you ever seen me lie? I don’t do soulless praise. Both skill and potential—honestly, I think you’re way better than Oscar Wolfram.”
Ayane answered with serious conviction.
Kang-hoo didn’t joke back—he simply nodded, silently acknowledging her words.
It also felt good that her comparison target was Oscar, the assassin he’d just judged as impressive.
And at the same time, it made him even more curious: what kind of guy was Oscar, really?
“First.”
“Yeah.”
“Your dagger work is messy. Waving a dagger messily is like making a fuss with a broom while cleaning—lots of movement, no real cleaning.”
“So... it’s a total disaster?”
“Hold on.”
Kang-hoo cut the conversation off.
He wanted to give her the core tip—only the core.
But the right phrasing didn’t come immediately.
If he explained everything step by step, it would get long, and the point would blur.
He needed to extract the important part and deliver it cleanly—yet that calculation wasn’t easy.
“My master really is impressive.”
Celestial Assassin always explained things in a way that was easy to understand.
When difficult concepts came out of his mouth, they didn’t feel difficult.
Kang-hoo hadn’t realized it as a student.
Trying to teach someone himself, he finally understood how extraordinary that was.
He closed his eyes briefly.
And thought.
Attack posture mattered, yes—but it wasn’t the top priority.
Even if the form wasn’t perfect, if the basic movement was sound, small flaws could be overlooked.
So Kang-hoo decided to start with the essence: why you used a dagger at all—its purpose.
That was priority number one.
“The core of close-range dagger combat is incapacitation. It’s about how quickly you can disable the opponent’s weapon.”
“Yeah, I think so too.”
“But unless you hit a vital point, a dagger strike doesn’t end things in one blow. And unless they’re an idiot, your opponent won’t let you land it easily.”
“Because they’ll be thinking as much as I am.”
“Right. That’s why targeting joints and muscles becomes your first priority—shoulder, elbow, ribs... places like that.”
Swish—
Tap! Tap-tap! Tap!
In an instant, Kang-hoo struck Ayane’s shoulder, elbow, and ribs with fast, precise knife-hand taps.
“Ow!”
Smack!
“Ugh!”
Caught off guard, Ayane panicked and slapped Kang-hoo’s forearm.
“At least turn on your blinkers before you come in! I’ve been gaining weight lately, so there’s more padding there now!”
Kang-hoo thought there was no way she could be any thinner.
Apparently women saw it differently.
If she lost more weight, there’d be nothing left but bone... and she’d consider that beautiful?After an hour of Ayane’s dagger-focused training, it was Kang-hoo’s turn to be coached—this time by her—on how to use the mana handgun.
Ayane inspected the assembled handgun carefully, then looked satisfied.
“Good pick for a beginner. It’s rough, but that’s exactly why you won’t get dragged into pointless durability issues.”
“So I bought well?”
“At the beginner stage, buying a great gun doesn’t matter. When someone’s cutting fruit for the first time, the quality of the fruit knife isn’t the main issue.”
“Agreed.”
Kang-hoo nodded.
With daggers too, what mattered at first was fundamentals—not how sharp the blade was.
“You said you want to learn sniping, right? Not mid-range spraying, but long-range sniping.”
“Yeah. I’ve had a few chances to use a gun, and it wasn’t easy. Honestly, I think I just got lucky.”
He remembered the fight in Daejeon.
He had sniped the leader from behind a blaze created by Flames of Annihilation.
Half of it had been instinct.
He’d pulled the trigger while already planning for failure—and luck had favored him with a headshot.
He hadn’t truly “aimed” with certainty.
It had been closer to a fifty-fifty gamble that happened to land.
Kang-hoo hated relying on luck rather than skill.
So he wanted to firmly build his fundamentals with the mana handgun while he had the chance.
He had already reached level 400 and chosen “Ability Mounting” as a basic skill, so using a gun wasn’t a problem.
He just needed mastery.
“First, breathing matters.”
“Yeah.”
“More important than breathing in normal times is breathing in combat. Now, hold the mana handgun. Comfortable.”
Following Ayane’s instruction, Kang-hoo lifted the mana handgun and took a sniping stance.
He hadn’t been formally taught, so he simply took what felt comfortable—just as she said.
“Your posture is good. Where did you learn it? Your basics are already set. Did someone teach you?”
“No. Not at all. I think it’s more like I copied the posture you usually took in dungeons.”
“That’s way too stable.”
“I thought it felt a bit awkward. So this is actually the standard posture?”
“You need perfect balance. You can’t just copy that from watching—seriously...”
Ayane let out a dry laugh.
To replicate her stance so close to perfection just from glimpsing it...
Unlike her, a pure effort-type, Kang-hoo seemed to have natural talent stacked on top.
It wasn’t dismissing his skill—he had skill, and on top of that, his learning speed was absurd.
As Kang-hoo maintained the mana handgun with no wobble and held the position steadily,
Ayane nodded in satisfaction—then stepped behind him and wrapped herself around him as if hugging him from behind.
She brought her face close to his ear as Kang-hoo stared forward through the scope, and continued.
“From here on, the breathing pattern is key. Holding your breath isn’t the answer. Exhaling steadily is. Inhale... and exhale—fuuuuuu...”
“......”
Was this training... or was it teasing?
Ayane’s hot breath suddenly poured into his ear, and Kang-hoo couldn’t help but flinch.
A strange atmosphere settled in for an instant.