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[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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Chapter 6: Hunter Reawakening, Explosive Spirit Power (1)
Kobolds were familiar creatures, whether it was back on Earth or on the Rune Continent.
Their key trait was that they lived in packs.
So, seeing one alone meant it was a dropout, an outcast separated from the group because something went wrong.
Yeonwoo scanned the kobold’s body with a sharp graze.
The issue was immediately clear.
Anyone could tell at a glance, one of its legs was unnaturally weak.
Yeonwoo let out a long sigh and threw a sardonic smirk at the kobold.
-Kyaaaagh!!!
So it thought it was a monster, huh?
The kobold charged at Yeonwoo, swinging its pickaxe, and out of habit, Yeonwoo nearly summoned a spirit.
"Ah... right. I can’t summon spirits right now."
It felt strangely inconvenient to not have the spirits he was so used to calling upon.
Still, Yeonwoo, who had once reached the level of Transcendent, wasn’t about to lose to a single kobold.
Whoosh!
The kobold furiously swung its pickaxe, probably convinced that its rusty weapon would rip Yeonwoo apart.
It even had a twisted grin on its face.
Thud!
But what followed overturned the kobold’s expectations.
Yeonwoo, who had been standing still without any stance, suddenly moved with sharp precision.
With a knife-hand strike, he slammed into the kobold’s neck.
Simultaneously, his other hand grabbed the kobold’s head and smashed it straight into the jagged wall.
Even if his body was still that of a young hatchling, he was a half-dragon.
Weaker than a full-blooded dragon, but it didn’t mean his physical abilities were gone.
Add to that the combat instincts he’d developed fighting alongside spirits, and there was no need to say more.
He could feel the faint twitching of the kobold's head, stubbornly clinging to life despite the blow.
Before it could react, Yeonwoo ground its head down the rough wall like a meat grater.
The power of that seamless combo was intense.
It was only natural that the kobold died instantly.
It was a clean and fluid kill.
Yeonwoo looked at the fallen kobold and glanced at the back of his right hand.
"Good. Even without a Hunter’s Mark, I can still attack."
The fact that he could land a solid hit on a kobold despite not having Hunter certification was a relief.
On the Rune Continent, this wouldn’t be an issue, but here on Earth, without a Hunter’s Mark, you normally needed far greater power to have even minimal effect.
"So, the barrier's gone?"
He clicked his tongue and silently observed the kobold's corpse.
After the First Hellgate, monsters had always disappeared when killed.
Sometimes in seconds, sometimes minutes or hours, but they always vanished.
As if on cue...
Fssss!
The kobold's body rapidly turned to ash, affirming Yeonwoo's thoughts.
And as usual, a small orb remained.
"Right. The core."
Back when Yeonwoo was a Recon Hunter, he’d often discarded these orbs, not knowing what they were good for.
He slowly picked it up.
The strange energy radiating from it made him chuckle.
"Hunters who collected these just because they looked pretty probably hit the jackpot."
It was true.
These monster-dropped orbs, called cores, were extremely dense in energy.
Even without magical tools, they could be easily harnessed on Earth.
Cores held a lot of untapped potential.
If he could find a way to refine them, they’d be a tremendous source of power.
Swipe.
As he stared at the core stained with kobold fluids, Yeonwoo soon lost interest and tossed it away.
Cores couldn’t be taken out of an uncleared field, so holding onto it was pointless.
Now that it was clear he was inside a field-type Mist, his priority was finding a way out.
Thankfully, not having a Hunter's Mark wasn’t hindering his ability to take down monsters.
‘And judging from the kobold, this field probably doesn’t have anything too strong.’
He was caught off guard by the inability to summon spirits, but if this was the level of threat, he didn’t need them.
There was only one way to leave a Rift: return to the spot where you entered the Mist.
When you enter, you pass a red boundary, like the edge of a severed world.
You cross it going in, and you cross it going out.
There’s no issue entering or exiting unless one specific condition is met: someone is engaged in battle inside.
Yeonwoo didn’t know who else was in here, but he could only hope no one was.
"Found it."
After walking for a while, Yeonwoo spotted the red line slicing through the air like it divided the world.
Luckily, he hadn’t landed too far from the exit.
He got lucky.
Field-type Mists could vary in size.
If this had been a city-level Rift instead of a neighborhood-sized one, finding the exit would've been a major ordeal.
Tsszzzt...
As if moved by nostalgia, Yeonwoo quietly placed his hand on the wall of the Rift.
Gathering his thoughts, he pushed his hand forward.
This time, it wouldn’t be a simulation, it’d be real Earth waiting on the other side.
He had no doubt about that.
But then,
The one condition that blocked Rift exit: an ongoing battle.
It latched onto him like a shackle.
"Damn it."
Thunk!
As expected, his hand was bounced back.
He turned his head in irritation.
Judging by the size of this place, it was a big field, but who the hell was fighting?
Thinking over how to solve the situation, Yeonwoo soon nodded and muttered softly.
‘Wait... there was that kobold earlier.’
Kobolds were pack monsters.
Outcasts would typically linger nearby, trying to gather others who’d also broken off from the group.
Which meant...
‘The battle’s happening nearby. Question is... do I have to get involved?’
Either way, it would resolve itself.
Whether the human or the monster won, the condition was simply the end of the battle.
Still, something inside him kept pushing, nudging him to go see.
‘It wouldn’t hurt to check it out.’
As soon as the thought ended, Yeonwoo moved.
Once he had a rough sense of direction, the best choice was to act fast.
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[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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