hotmtlnovel Chapter 375: Reaper (3)
Chapter 375: Reaper (3)
【Grim Reaper – Hai】
【Before killing a hunter, you must perform a human-sacrifice ritual, then stab the heart to complete the killing.
Afterward, if you sprinkle pig’s blood on the extracted heart to finish the ritual, you gain the stats allocated per head from the Grim Reaper.
With a certain random chance, you may obtain a greatly increased amount of stats.】
【Once all the “requests” for human sacrifice have been filled, the contractor gains the qualifications to become a Divine Soldier.
If the contractor becomes a Divine Soldier and leaves, that constellation’s contract can be passed on to another.】
‘Attaching the character hae, the pig, to the epithet “god of death” means it was matched to the twelve zodiac branches.......’
Ja-chuk-in-myo. Jin-sa-o-mi. Sin-yu-sul-hae.
Here, the twelfth name was written. In other words, it meant there were guys like “Grim Reaper – Ja” as well.Just imagining that there were twelve constellations of a similar type, all clearly abnormal just from their related tooltips, made him feel a little dizzy.【It seems determined not to say anything. If it can guide someone into becoming a Divine Soldier, it should indeed have a connection to Wind of the God.】
Cataclysm – Darkness relayed exactly what Kang-hoo had been thinking.
The concept of “Divine Soldier” was something he had come to know because of Wind of the God.
It was certain there was some great perk to becoming a soldier of that god.
That was why the Touishi Guild members he had fought in Japan had blown themselves up without hesitation.
At the time, Kang-hoo had killed hunters from Touishi Guild and had gone as far as the brink of plundering Wind of the God.
But then—
【Your contract with ‘Wind of the God’ has been terminated. It is a contract that cannot be maintained with an unbound contractor.】
With that message displayed, his point of contact with it had been forcibly severed. At the same time, he had perceived its existence.
【Wind of the God】
【Grants those contractors who end their lives by self-detonation the glorious opportunity to become members of the Divine Soldiers.】
He had never once forgotten the contents about Wind of the God that he remembered so vividly.
And now, the concept of Divine Soldier that had been mentioned back then was being confirmed in exactly the same way with Grim Reaper – Hai.
‘Divine Soldiers are definitely related to the Demon King. Even if they’re not of that lofty rank, they’re at least his guard unit.’
They might be a kind of undead army that used the souls of the dead, or a form where those souls were possessing bodies.
No matter how he thought about it, Divine Soldiers could only ever be enemies. And their chain of connection did not stop at Wind of the God alone.
‘Hey, pig. I’m not going to perform human sacrifice the way you want and beg for the right to become a Divine Soldier.’
Kang-hoo spoke to Grim Reaper – Hai with his thought. Communing with a contracted constellation was something that could be done at any time.
【‘Grim Reaper – Hai’ is refusing all conversation. It rejects dialogue even in response to persuasion from other constellations.】
system-start
【For now, I will isolate this thing. I can block any deviation within the Grand Celestial Hall on my end.】
【I will add my strength as well.】
【The right answer is to lock up a sly bastard with that many secrets. It rubbed me the wrong way from the start.】
【Any constellation that ignores my contractor isn’t even worth calling a constellation!】
system_end
Cataclysm – Darkness, Seeker of Pure Darkness, Dimension Plunderer, and Strategist of the Wasteland each spoke up.
Several voices overlapped, but their point was the same. They would lock Grim Reaper – Hai away for now.
Just as Kang-hoo felt, they too clearly found the appearance of this being, connected to Wind of the God, highly ominous.
Even Cataclysm – Darkness, ranked within the top twenty-five, tilted its head at anything related to Wind of the God.
Since this was a story about a constellation unknown even to other constellations, Kang-hoo also judged that a defensive stance was right.
‘It’s a relief the Grand Celestial Hall is independent and closed, yet conditionally open.’
The structure of the Grand Celestial Hall mentioned in the original story was as follows. Kang-hoo recalled the content he had painstakingly written.
【Constellations who have not yet found a contractor wander the outskirts of the Grand Celestial Hall.
In city terms, it is like roaming the undeveloped wastelands on the city’s outskirts.
The longer they stay there, the more divine power they continuously lose, so they must find a contractor.】
This was why there were sometimes constellations who ended up contracting with hunters far below their rank.
A constellation worn out by a long life of wandering made a contract before its own rank and standing fell any further.
Therefore, a hunter who had not even managed to contract with a constellation could only be considered to be at a very low level.
【However, once they found a contractor and entered a contract, they could come into the inner area of the Grand Celestial Hall.
In the inner area, they no longer lost divine power; rather, their divine power naturally increased depending on their position.
In human terms, it was like moving into an apartment.
Of course, the space given to them was a vast expanse on a completely different scale from a tiny, human apartment.
The area of the Grand Celestial Hall was so immense that no one had ever directly measured it, nor even dared to attempt it.】
A constellation’s growth started from the moment of contract.
How much the contractor grew from there determined how wide the “apartment (space)” they occupied became and how high their rank rose.
In the end, they came to occupy something like a penthouse, an endlessly sprawling country estate, or an enormous mansion.
From that point on, their divine power piled up explosively, and the stratification of ranks became more and more fixed.
There were several traits shared by high-ranked constellations, and there was one that applied directly to the current situation.
【Constellations who had found a contractor and completed a contract could not recklessly approach constellations who had relationships with a different contractor. The same applied to constellations who had not found a contractor.
If they tried to forcibly make contact, the order of the Grand Celestial Hall activated and erased them without mercy.
However, high-ranked constellations could exert a certain amount of influence outside the bounds permitted by that order.
They could also act as a group together with the constellations who shared the same contractor. It was a privilege of high-ranked constellations.】
For these reasons, it was strategically the right decision for the constellations to lock Grim Reaper – Hai up now.
By ordinary reasoning, Grim Reaper – Hai would not even dare to try to contact other Grim Reapers.
That would go against the order of the Grand Celestial Hall and could result in its own existence being erased.
But what if it went mad and deviated anyway?
Even if it died, it might still find a way to let its “comrades” know that their secret had been exposed.
The constellations wanted to block that branch of possibility at the root.
Once its mouth was shut, at the very least there would be no way for it to inform the outside. That was one of the Grand Celestial Hall’s characteristics.
‘Looks like I’ve got more work now.’
At this rate, tracking down the remaining eleven Grim Reapers would become one of his long-term goals.
He had only ever seen Wind of the God once, and even that had vanished without a trace, yet now there were eleven similar entities? It was only natural to be appalled.
In any case, he had now, unintentionally, been able to collect further information about Wind of the God and the Divine Soldiers.
Today’s clues would be something he could use meaningfully for a long time to come.
Grim Reaper – Hai, too, might one day spill their shared secrets if it had a change of heart. It was something to keep an eye on.Afterward—
Once Celestial Assassin and Ju Haemi joined up with him, Kang-hoo searched through the abandoned school.
Above the first floor, everything remained in the same abandoned state as before, but there were signs of maintenance in the basement.
It had the feeling of a temporary detention facility.
It felt like a setup where they could lock hostages up for a while before sending them “to the North,” as the men had said.
The two Kashimar Guild hunters guarding the interior were immediately subdued by Kang-hoo, and all the hostages were rescued.
Kang-hoo asked them,
“What happened?”
“We were on the move to do porter work outsourced by Jeonghwa Guild. Then all of a sudden, the truck we were riding in was ambushed......”
They did not know the full story and used the word “ambush,” but honestly? It had probably been a staged scenario.
Jeonghwa Guild had likely set up a convincing stage so they could pass them over to Kashimar Guild without a hitch.
It was nothing new—there was already someone in Jeonghwa Guild dirty enough to do this kind of thing.
If this ever drew public attention or blew up into a serious social issue?
The odds were extremely high the guild would cut off the “tail” at a guild-wide level while dismissing it as one man’s deviation.
They would have coordinated their story for that scenario as well. Wasn’t it all the handiwork of fourth-ranked Kim Dae-man?
“I’ll take responsibility for these people. If they move from here without protection, they’ll be slaughtered. They need someone to guide them.”
Ju Haemi stepped forward first.
Since the reason Kang-hoo and her father Celestial Assassin had come to North Korea was clear, she did not want to break the flow.
She had, after all, come along partly for training, so leaving midway was not something she would regret greatly.
Of course, it did mean she would have to put off the treat of watching Kang-hoo and Celestial Assassin’s teamwork up close until next time.
And with that, clean-up was wrapped up.
First, they gathered and took the items from the dead hunters, and Mumyeong was restored to his original state.
Once they had sorted out the situation and set out north again, he planned to summon the guy then.
Next, Ju Haemi headed south with the survivors in tow, so they had to part ways with some regret.
Kang-hoo and Celestial Assassin also left the scene.
There were no more Kashimar Guild hunters around, and there was no reason to stay.
If they waited, someone from Kashimar Guild might come to take custody of the hostages.
But he had no intention of waiting around to fight them too. It could turn into a pointless waste of time.
Meanwhile, it was confirmed that the mental-type hunter who had earlier fled in panic along the road to the north had died.
It was an expected result, but he had died with only half his body remaining, soaked in the toxic sap spat out by hostile plants.
He probably melted to death without even realizing he was dying, so in a way, it might be called a “good death.”
“That fight earlier was impressively clean. Did you go into it after calculating everything in your head, or was it all improvised response?”
“I had only accounted for the defensive skill I used when I attacked the archer. The rest was improvised.”
“So that means there were attacks you had no need to even worry about and could still neutralize, yes?”
“Yes, Master.”
“The underling looked useful too. It’s a higher-rank version of the wraith you used to command, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I gave it the name Mumyeong.”
“Mumyeong, huh...... a good name.”
Celestial Assassin walked in step with Kang-hoo, replaying his earlier battle in his mind.
Normally, one did post-battle review about one’s own fight.
But Celestial Assassin was chewing over the battle, wondering if there was anything at all he could add that would help Kang-hoo grow even a little more.
‘Nothing.’
There was simply nothing to say.
It was perfect.
Partly, that was because the enemies’ level had been that low, but even taking that into account, Kang-hoo’s battle had been fantastic.
The numerical inferiority of one against five had not shown at all. From beginning to end, the ones floundering in confusion had been the enemy.
‘Truly, it’s good.’
Celestial Assassin smiled as he looked at Kang-hoo.
Not long ago, he had been putting his affairs in order, living the unmistakable life of someone with little time left.
Now he was walking the northern lands together with a disciple whose future excited him even more than the present.
It brought him joy to pass on knowledge only he possessed and watch that disciple accept it and grow.
If he exaggerated just a little, it felt almost like he had gained an adopted son. His affection for Kang-hoo kept growing deeper.
“Kang-hoo.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Once we enter Hoeyang County, we’ll be facing hybrid species different from anything you’ve fought so far.”
Celestial Assassin casually opened the topic.
He had been planning to gradually explain why he had chosen Hoeyang County as their core route from the very beginning.
Hybrid species, Gale Ironwood!
A hybrid species even stronger than the Swarm Queen now reigned as the local master of the territory they were about to enter in Hoeyang County.