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[Translator - Helga ]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
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Chapter 81: A Dangerous Exchange (1)
Inside the training hall of the Hyukcheon clan.
There, Kwon Hanul was facing off against a single opponent.
“H-Hanul… I-I’m going to… attack now, okay?” Kwon Hudon spoke in a timid voice. The moment he did, black armor began forming over his body.
The armor didn’t just wrap around Hudon entirely — it grew larger by the second.
His small frame, barely 160cm tall, swelled into a hulking figure over two meters tall.
“……”
A red gleam flashed from within his helmet. Hudon launched forward.
Despite his massive size, his movements were light and agile — one of the defining traits of the Blackscale Armor. Its performance was top-tier, and yet it was surprisingly light.
When only a few steps remained between the two, Hudon suddenly accelerated — as if someone had shifted a car into two gears higher.
Unbeatable Armor – Unbreakable Curve
This was the first skill Hudon had acquired from the Tyrant’s Armor, found in the Hyukcheon Vault.
Its original name had been much longer, but for convenience, it was shortened to just Unbeatable Armor.
Without slowing down, Hudon charged straight at Hanul. But Hanul dodged with ease, simply stepping to the side.
Then—
Hudon’s body twisted sharply, slamming toward Hanul with his shoulder.
Hanul, without flinching, took the blow head-on with his bare body.
Black Dragon Ascension Art – Basic Form
Defensive Stance – Steelwood Guard
Though the impact sent Hanul sliding back, the magical energy coursing through his body shielded him from any real damage.
Hudon moved without delay into his next attack.
He clenched both fists and unleashed Dragon Aura.
The gauntlets on his forearms began to spiral violently.
Unbeatable Armor – Myriad-Breaking Fist
He brought both fists crashing down.
Hanul twisted and surged forward, slipping right between the two fists and landing a clean blow to Hudon’s chest.
Black Dragon Ascension Art – Basic Form
Smashing Style – Spiral Shock
The Dragon Aura from Hanul’s punch rippled through Hudon’s armor, causing cracks to spread. His limbs gave out as the suit began to crumble.
“Ugh—!”
Hudon’s pained voice echoed from inside.
At that moment—
Mei Hong appeared behind Hanul without a sound or any sign of presence, slashing at his neck with her sword.
Hanul didn’t even look. He simply ducked, evading the strike.
“Tch.”
Clicking her tongue, Mei Hong launched into a rapid series of strikes. Each slash aimed precisely at Hanul’s vitals, laced with killing intent.
Hanul dodged her attacks and summoned his Dragon Aura.
Black Dragon Ascension Art – Basic Form
Slashing Style – Twin Fang Severance
The Dragon Aura sharpened in both his hands like blades. Hanul swung his arms, exchanging blows with Mei Hong.
At first, the two seemed evenly matched. But over time, Mei Hong began to lose ground.
It wasn’t just the difference between two hands and one sword.
Hanul anticipated Mei Hong’s every move as if reading her mind. He blocked each of her attacks with ghostly precision, while his own strikes found every opening in her defense.
The fierce battle ended in a flash.
Mei Hong couldn’t deflect Hanul’s downward palm strike in time, and had to meet it head-on with the edge of her blade.
“Kh…”
The force behind it was greater than she expected. She dropped to one knee.
Their eyes met. Hanul’s gaze asked if she would admit defeat. Mei Hong responded silently.
“Now!”
Hanul reflexively turned around — only to see Hudon, now unarmored, thrusting his bare palm forward.
“U-Uraaaah!”
With a shout, Hudon clenched his fist.
The shattered fragments of the Blackscale Armor scattered on the ground glowed, then launched at Hanul like bullets.
Impressed by their coordinated assault, Hanul lifted his leg and stomped down.
Black Dragon Ascension Art – Basic Form
Crushing Style – Origin Wave
Dragon Aura burst out in a wave, sweeping away the incoming armor fragments completely.
“…We lost again.”
Hudon slumped to the ground, sighing at their failed surprise attack.
“Geez, you never let us win even once.”
Mei Hong sheathed her sword and grumbled.
Hanul addressed them both, “If I start throwing matches on purpose, then the training becomes meaningless.”
“You could let us win once for morale’s sake, you know.”
Mei Hong’s pouting dragged on longer than usual — she was genuinely sulking.
“Losing is one thing, but come on, not even landing a single scratch? That’s ridiculous!”
“S-Scratch? Don’t even joke about that—!”
Hudon flinched in panic. Mei Hong teased him with a playful smirk.
“Oppa, you say that, but you went all out on Hanul just now. You don’t really have much ground to stand on.”
“T-That’s… I mean, Hanul wouldn’t get hurt anyway… B-Besides, stop calling me ‘oppa’ already…”
Hudon’s face turned bright red. Mei Hong giggled, clearly enjoying the reaction.
While the two messed around, Hanul went to a water bottle left in the corner and opened it.
Just then—
“So, Hanul, what did we do wrong?”
“Yeah, what were we lacking?”
They asked in unison. Hanul shot them both a tired look.
“Let me drink first.”
“No way! You can drink after feedback!”
“Y-Yeah, tell us what to fix first!”
Cornered by their persistence, Hanul sighed and set the bottle back down.
“Let’s start with Hudon…”
Originally, this sparring match was meant to improve team coordination — but somewhere along the way, that purpose had shifted.
“Your understanding of the skill is lacking. I don’t think Unbreakable Curve is meant for charging. It has minimal wind-up and is excellent for sudden directional changes. It's clearly designed for catching opponents off guard at close range.”
The problem, of course, stemmed from Hanul himself.
Ever since his encounter with Abdul Rasad, Hanul had started experimenting to see if his Genius Bloodline could be used for resonance.
His test subjects were none other than Hudon and Mei Hong.
“As for you, Mei Hong — your ambush just now was really good. But you gave yourself away during the attack. There’s too much weight in your steps every time you swing your sword.”
The resonance wasn’t hard. Just like in combat, Hanul would read their movements and point out their flaws.
“The last thing — your team play was way too dangerous. You both used each other as bait! You can’t just do that.”
The issue was that Hanul’s Genius Bloodline was actually the True grade— with the Shura Bloodline mixed in.
After listening to Hanul’s critique, the two spent the entire day in shock.
“Anything else? Come on, there must be more.”
“When you thrust your sword earlier, wasn’t your strike zone just a little off?”
Now Hanul was being bombarded relentlessly.
“There’s nothing else! That’s it!”
Hanul waved his arms, visibly annoyed. Only then did the two finally back off.
And then, they began replaying the sparring session in their heads, reflecting on each point Hanul had made.
They were so serious about it that even Hanul hesitated to approach them again.
Finally, Hanul felt safe to pick up his water bottle again.
“…Oh, right.”
Hudon spoke up once more.
“You’re trying to ask me something again, aren’t you?”
“N-No, that’s not it… I was just wondering if maybe you weren’t feeling well or something…”
“Me? Not feeling well?”
That was news to Kwon Hanul.
“Oh, I was going to ask too. You’ve been unusually sluggish today.”
Only then did Hanul realize why they were acting this way.
“No need to worry. I’m not sick.”
As he spoke, Hanul glanced subtly at his hand.
On his wrist was a strange-looking ring, almost as if it were made of connected letters.
<Ring of Sloth>
Grade: Legendary (SSS+)
Description: A ring symbolizing Sloth, one of the Seven Deadly Sins. The ring itself is so lazy, it only grants a single ability.
Ability:
→ Restriction: Imposes a self-inflicted limitation. The greater the restriction, the greater the reward.
It was something he’d found inside an iron ingot from the Iron Fang Guild’s vault.
At first, he didn’t fully grasp how the ability worked. But after a few trials, he started to get a feel for it.
The concept was simple—think of it like a supercharged version of wearing weighted training gear.
By intentionally overloading the body, it helped boost physical performance.
Of course, it was far more effective, covered a wider range of abilities… and was significantly more dangerous.
<Restriction: Adds 3 tons of weight to the entire body for one month.>
<If the user endures it, they gain triple the Strength stat.>
Every movement felt like dying. In the beginning, even breathing while lying down was difficult.
Thankfully, the suffering was proving worthwhile.
<The Superhuman Bloodline welcomes your absurd training method!>
<Synchronization Rate: 8% → 9%>
<The Tyrant Trait’s performance improves! Your physical abilities will be further amplified!>
<The Healthy Bloodline senses stress on the body!>
<Permanent Strength +0.01>
<Permanent Stamina +0.001>
The stat growth that had been stagnant due to the Healthy Bloodline had started up again.
To Kwon Hanul, this was nothing but good news.
“Lord Kwon Hanul, are you here?”
At that moment, Joo Hayun entered the training room. Hanul approached her, puzzled.
She usually waited outside until training was over, so as not to interrupt.
“Is something wrong?”
“The Chairman has assigned you a mission.”
Hanul wasn’t particularly surprised.
It had been quite a while since they returned from Japan. He’d expected a new mission soon.
“What kind of mission?”
Judging by the fact that the Chairman didn’t summon him personally and sent Hayun instead, it probably wasn’t anything too dangerous.
…Or so he thought.
“It’s the clearing of a presumed S-rank dungeon.”
The words that came out of Hayun’s mouth were nothing short of shocking.
There are five standard grades used to classify monsters and dungeons:
Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond.
But Earth is a big place, and the variety of dungeons and monsters appearing is vast.
Among them were beings too powerful and dangerous to fit within the confines of the "Diamond" category.
Creatures whose mere existence could threaten an entire continent—or even the survival of humanity.
Hunters eventually began referring to such monsters with a special designation: S-rank.
“To be precise, it hasn’t officially been confirmed as S-rank. It’s just presumed.”
Hayun continued her explanation.
“It was a private assessment by the group that put the dungeon up for sale.”
“Still, that means it’s too dangerous to measure accurately.”
“That’s true.”
There were countless stories of world-ranked hunters challenging S-rank dungeons or monsters and losing their lives.
The danger level of S-rank targets was staggering.
“But the rewards are just as high.”
Despite the risks, people still pursued S-rank dungeons. And with good reason.
The rewards they offered were on a whole different scale compared to other dungeons.
“If you defeat the boss monster of an S-rank dungeon, you’ll gain a significant amount of stat boosts. In some cases, you can even acquire unique skills. Not to mention powerful relics.”
At the mention of stats, Hanul’s ears perked up.
To participate in the Heavenly Arena in five months, he needed to boost his stats.
Taking down this dungeon boss could bring him much closer to his goal.
“You’re allowed to refuse.”
“No, I’m not thinking of refusing.”
His initial negative reaction wasn’t out of fear.
He simply didn’t like the idea of assigning such a dangerous mission to a newly formed team.
That old man—there wasn’t a single thing Hanul liked about him.
“But I’m more worried about the other two than myself.”
He looked at Mei Hong and Kwon Hudon as he spoke. Without hesitation, both replied:
“I’m fine.”
“Same here.”
Neither showed a hint of doubt.
“Looks like we’re all in agreement. Then, please each take one of these.”
Hayun began handing out small booklets, about palm-sized.
“Oh, thank you.”
Hanul accepted it politely.
He didn’t need to open it to know what it was—probably a guide or precautionary document regarding the S-rank dungeon.
At least, that’s what he thought… until he checked the title.
<Travel Guidebook>
—Mexico—
Hanul rubbed his eyes with both hands, then checked the title again.
“…Hayun?”
“Yes?”
“What is this?”
“It’s a travel guide for Mexico.”
She responded like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“I mean, I can see that… but why are you giving this to us?”
“Because the party offering the S-rank dungeon is the Pablo Family, a Mexican cartel.”
At the word cartel, Hanul blinked rapidly.
“The Pablo Family?”
Even after dungeons appeared, some things on Earth retained their value.
And one of those things was drugs.
That devil’s product still firmly held its place in the world.
And the biggest producers and distributors were the cartels of South America.
Among them, the Pablo Family was especially large and influential.
“Quite the business partner, huh.”
In the past, South American cartels were said to operate armies on par with national militaries.
That hasn’t changed. In fact, it’s gotten worse.
Thanks to hunters’ supernatural powers and relics obtained from dungeons, South American cartels had effectively become nations of their own.
“There shouldn’t be any issues. The negotiations are already complete, and no one takes the name of Hyukcheon lightly.”
Hayun’s voice carried firm confidence.
And truthfully, no matter how powerful the cartel was, it still paled in comparison to the Hyukcheon Group.
They wouldn’t dare poke the sleeping lion.
“…There really won’t be any problems, right?”
But Hanul still felt a strange unease.
How many missions had gone smoothly for him?
Not a single one, right?
“There won’t be.”
Hayun’s tone was resolute. Ironically, that only made Hanul more uneasy.
“Please, just focus on conquering the dungeon, Lord Kwon Hanul.”
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[Translator - Helga ]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
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