Chapter 80
80 . Ghost is Moving
“Why are you all so surprised? Let’s go hunting . ”
“… . ”
“… . ”
From Ghost’s declaration, everyone began to murmur amongst themselves .
Out of nowhere, to suddenly go hunting…
Everyone was busy looking at one another for answers .
None could open their mouths to reply, however .
It’s to be expected, since the one that spoke up was Ghost, the leader of this place .
Everyone here also knew nothing of Ghost .
If they spoke hastily without thinking, they could end up forfeiting their life .
Underneath each of the radical faction leader were 8 squadrons .
Each squadron were made up of classes that maximized combat potential .
No squadron was stronger or weaker than the rest .
50 members made up each team, with a leader and a vice leader for the group .
So out of each group, the two were the best of the bunch .
Not included in these groups were 30 others .
Guardians .
These worked directly under the leaders of the radical faction .
When Joker left to fight Min-Cheol, they tried to come with, but Joker declined .
Unless their leader was meeting with the overboss Zekill, it was rare for them to leave the side of their leader .
But this wasn’t the case for Ghost .
Totaling up all this, roughly 500 members were underneath each of the radical faction leaders .
You could say that the numbers weren’t that great .
However, only 500 or so Awaken each year .
Out of those, 40% do not live past the first 5 years and end up disappearing .
Sometimes due to getting a class that doesn’t earn money, dying to monsters, or even being killed by someone else .
Considering that, the numbers definitely weren’t small .
Of course, not everyone was of Korean descent .
Since they had chosen the headquarters of the radical faction as Korea, the number of outsourced members wasn’t small .
It was then .
“We only move at your command, leader . ”
The one who broke the silence was the vice leader Lee Ho Geun .
He worked underneath Ghost, the leader known for not carrying out his duty . He could even be called the true leader of the group, since he took over all the duties that Ghost didn’t do .
He didn’t possess a lot of offensive capabilities due to being a tank class, but he had great leadership .
That was probably why he was able to hold together this group that had no leader .
“Ah… Right . Ho Geun . Let’s go hunting with me, you and I . Bring along everyone here too . ”
“Do you mean everyone?”
“Yes . How many do we have in total? One . Two . Three . ”
“Exactly 481, leader . ”
“There were that many of you? Whew . That’s good . ”
“Then I’ll have them prepare at once . ”
“Yep!”
Finishing up what he wanted to say, Ghost had the happiest look in the world on his face, whistling excitedly as he headed back into his office room .
He had been quiet all this time, but this was definitely an order from the leader to mobilize .
Receiving the order, Ho Geun worked steadily to form ranks .
“You’ve heard him . Leader has given the order to mobilize . Each squadron leader, to the front . ”
Responding to his words, 8 squadron leaders came forward .
There was no hesitation found, unlike with the scene with Ghost .
Looking towards He Geun, they waited for his next command .
He continued .
“This is the first time this happened . It’s late, but this probably means that he has plans to lead us . Does everyone understand what this means?”
“Yes!”
“Yes . ”
“Since this an unprecedented event, there are probably some that do not know how to handle themselves . Each squadron leader, check everyone without missing a single one . Meet your leader’s expectations!”
“Understood . ”
“Yes!”
Each squadron leader quickly returned to their squadron .
Then they began to explain on what to do during an emergency deployment such as this .
Removing all evidence of themselves in the the faction’s building . Destroy Awakened IDs in front of the squadron leader . Face and any other distinguishable features are to be hidden . No matter what happens, save enough mana to cast at least one spell .It was all the sake of making sure that information does not leak out .
In case they do perish during the mission, it was to make sure that their IDs as well as anything that could identify them wouldn’t be left .
Number 4 was probably for the same reason .
It was to leave enough mana to suicide in case the worst case scenario occurred .
And just like that, 30 minutes after the call to mobilize had been made, all forces had finished preparing and had gathered .
However, Ghost didn’t appear despite much time passing .
Just like that, an hour had passed .
Ghost appeared, with both his hands in his pockets .
Talking to himself, he scratched his head after looking at his group, geared to the teeth .
“Are you all going somewhere? Why is everyone dressed in such a scary fashion?”
“… . . ”
Surprised by Ghost’s sudden change of attitude, Lee Ho Geun spoke .
“Leader . You made the call to deploy just recently . ”
“I did?”
Ghost murmured to himself for awhile .
It was almost as if he was asking someone else .
“Ah… That’s right!”
“All 481 members are ready . ”
“Hmm… But… . Why are you readied now when we’ll be going tomorrow?”
“Th . . That’s…”
“Hm?”
“It’s nothing . Then we’ll be prepared tomorrow, at this time . ”
Everyone was thinking of how ridiculous this whole nonsensical ordeal was .
Of course, no one was foolish enough to risk their life by expressing it on the outside .
Just like that, Ghost’s form disappeared, and sighs from nearly 500 members came out at once .
The worries and anxiety for tomorrow’s battle came out too .
****
With spring in my steps, I stepped into Warp .
3 Essences of Transcendence, Butcher’s Sword, and a ring for resurrection .
It was enough to make me wonder if there was any hunting sessions more perfect than this .
I teleported to the empty office of the midget .
Tossing the duffel bag filled with bloodstones, I put the Essences of Transcendence on the table .
I couldn’t help but smile after looking at the rainbow colored essences .
On the other hand, I began to worry over which skills to transcend .
“Looks like I’ll definitely have to use one for Meteor . Perhaps Mana Shield? Can it become a cheat-like skill more than it already is? Hm…”
Firstly, since I used it the most and it did a massive amount of damage to a wide area, I decided to transcend Meteor Call .
To be short, it was my main skill .
I was hoping to increase the amount of damage dealt by the area of effect . Putting the essence on my chest, it began to glow .
Making the sound of a gentle breeze whisking by, the essence disappeared .
*Meteor Call Lv . ** 1 [0%]
(Summons many powerful meteors)
The skill level had changed to two stars .
I was very curious as to the power of the transcended Meteor Call was .
I wanted to cast it right away, but if I did so, everything here would be destroyed without even a trace of dust left .
“How can I wait until tomorrow for this?”
Like finding a 10 dollar bill inside the pocket of a winter coat, I couldn’t hide my excitement .
Before heading in today, it seemed that I had to enter a dungeon nearby .
With this kind of feeling, it felt as though I wouldn’t be able to sleep well .
Look at how the description has the word ‘many’ in it .
What a beautiful word .
No medicinal water could stop my rapidly beating heart right now .
Shaking my feet, I looked towards the other two essences still left .
When I first took down the mimic, I thought to transcend Meteor, Iceberg, and Formless Sword Aura, which were all attack skills .
However, a thought came to mind . I was very curious as to what would happen if Mana Shield if it transcended .
When I had thought that level 200 was the end, it had put an incredible bonus effect on Eye of Insight .
There was no reason as to why it couldn’t do the same for Mana Shield .
However, if all it did was to decrease the amount of mana drained or damage received, it would be a massive loss .
For someone with infinite mana like me, it would be the worst case scenario .
Even more so when the essence had an incredibly low rate of dropping .
I also didn’t know how many more essences or mimics I would come across from now on .
Holding my head, it didn’t take long for me to make my decision .
“I’ve lost count on how many times Mana Shield saved my life . Let’s go with this . ”
*Mana Shield Lv . ** 1 [0%]
(Mana is expended to match the amount of damage you take)
(If it is a skill beyond ranking, the chance to block becomes 30% . After level 200, the chance to block increases by 2% per every 10 levels)
I did it .
No . My Mana Shield did it .
I would have been happy with just not having the terrible result of having the mana cost being reduced .
Instead, I had obtained a chance to defend against skills beyond ranking .
If it reached the max level of 300, the chance would increase to 50% .
Percentage wise, it would block five of the ten attack skills beyond ranking .
Max level? No . It could be that 300 wasn’t the max level .
And if I used this skill with the other shields, Mana Shield would absorb the damage first .
All the other shields were like this so far .
Since I kept this shield up all the time, the leveling should be done very quickly .
All I had to do was to go in any dungeon and lay down while having the Mana Shield on .
It wouldn’t even count as work for me .
It was almost like an early Christmas present .
Multiple Meteor and transcended Mana Shield .
With this much, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that I held enough power to match all the rankers of an entire nation .
“This would drive people crazier and crazier . I think it’s enough to say that I could beat a level 40 boss with an F ranking Frost Orb?”
The next skill to transcend was the Formless Sword Aura .
This was a S ranking physical attack skill, and it really shined in 1v1s .
Damage was important and all, but the scarier thing about this attack was that you could not predict it .
I had high expectations regarding how this skill would evolve .
*Formless Sword Aura Lv . ** 1 [0%]
(Target that has been struck by Formless Sword Aura cannot predict the next sword aura)
(Uses Wild Beast . 300 second cooldown)
“Wild Beast?”
The explanation for Formless Swordless Aura was a bit poorly done .
Unless I used this Wild Beast ability myself, there was no way what the ability would do .
And on top of that, it had cooldowns stuck to it, which was my least favorite of all .
It was 5 minutes long to boot .
However, none of the three transcended skills have disappointed me so far .
I had a feeling that this Wild Beast skill was something amazing .
I grabbed the blood stones that were left spread all over, almost as if abandoned, and the brand new Butcher’s Sword in my hands .
I was planning to immediately cash in the stones and head for the hunting grounds .
But if I went to a low level dungeon, the monsters would melt away before I would even be able to experience the power of the empowered skills .
I didn’t have time to return back to Yangpyeong or Paju .
There was a ton of time left before Warp’s cooldown finished .
Sniffling a bit and planning to eat gyoza, I headed for the level 28 dungeon .
It was a dungeon that only the top 1% could reach, but to me, it felt barely good enough to test out my skills .
****
I had arrived at the level 28 dungeon .
-beep
I used the master ID card from Ho Jin .
The same anxiety and excitement I had when I first entered a level 1 dungeon after becoming Awakened was taking over me .
“Shall I go now?”
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