Chapter 15 …
“This stings.”
Jang Sunam winced in pain.
He couldn’t completely block the forks launched at him with telekinesis, so blood was seeping from his limbs.
“Is there anything useful here?”
He rummaged through the corpse of Lee Inja to check the dropped items.
“This guy had a lot of money.”
[Acquired 2,205 coins.]
That was more than he usually got from hunting bosses.
“So he must have scammed a lot of people.”
With this, Jang Sunam’s total wealth exceeded 60,000 coins. Enough to buy a building, though there was no reason to do so. Any building he bought now would just get destroyed in battles between monsters and hunters.
In this world, buildings had to be versatile—repairable, upgradable, movable, and modifiable—like blocks in a construction game.
“That’ll take some time, though.”
Once he reached higher zones and became an E-rank hunter, the “Construction System” would unlock.
“Still, this guy had a lot of stuff.”
Lee Inja’s drops were numerous, and checking them all took a while. Most were junk by Jang Sunam’s standards.
“Hmm?”
Fortunately, there were eight <Healing Potions> (F) among the drops. The unsealing cost was 10 coins each. Not a burden for Jang Sunam, so he bought them all.
Gulp!
“Ugh… tastes awful.”
He opened the small glass bottle and took a sip; it was slightly bitter.
“But it works well, I see.”
After drinking, his bleeding stopped, and the torn wounds healed.
At that moment…
“Found you here, huh.”
A cat appeared and spoke. It was a mimic slime in disguise.
“Had a fun hunting time, meow.”
It seemed to have taken out a few of the White Robe Power guards.
“I found something good for you, meow.”
It handed over a higher-grade scanner, <Goblin’s Scanner> (F+).
“Oh, lucky. This is more useful than I thought.”
Jang Sunam hadn’t expected it to farm items for him. Only hunters could earn coins by killing monsters, but anyone could pick up dropped coins from NPCs or hunters. That’s why the mimic slime had bought the sealed drops. Monsters and NPCs benefited equally from the system.
“Not a problem now, but later, that could be dangerous.”
Intelligent monsters like the mimic slime were particularly dangerous.
“Good job.”
He equipped the <Goblin’s Scanner> (F+)+1, and all previously ???-marked F+ items became visible.
“How is it? Pretty useful, huh?”
“Not sure yet.”
The mimic slime, still in cat form, played around in front of him. It seemed to be trying to impress him, but inside, it was scheming.
“Hehe… just wait, human. One day, I’ll regain my freedom, meow.”
Maybe there was a way to overcome its weakness to salt or escape the summoner’s control. For now, it acted like a competent summon, holding onto that hope.
“Probably thinking something along those lines. Summoned or not, its personality won’t change.”
Of course, Jang Sunam already knew this.
“Follow me, Jelly. We’re going to solve the next problem.”
“Jelly?”
“That’s your name.”
Even though it had suddenly been given a name, the mimic slime accepted it quietly.
“Understood, meow. My name is Jelly now, meow.”
Jang Sunam headed toward the base camp’s incinerator.
“Since Lee Inja, the manager here, is dead, I should be able to purchase it.”
With his infinite inventory, he planned to buy the chaos energy collector and investigate it later. Unfortunately…
“It’s broken.”
The chaos energy collector had already been completely destroyed.
“The storage section isn’t visible. Did someone take it?”
It seemed the “retriever” Lee Inja mentioned had realized the base camp’s state and quickly collected the device, destroying it to eliminate evidence. Even Jang Sunam, who had reached the world’s ending six times, hadn’t known about this faction. He didn’t expect to track them down so easily.
“But it’s not impossible.”
The clue lay in the ore. Though just a regular member, interrogating it could provide the next lead. Step by step, he might eventually reach the main entity.
“No need to rush.”
Jang Sunam turned his steps toward the current problem. The zombie outbreak had to be dealt with first.
About an hour later.
“Seems I’m late.”
Jang Sunam arrived at the Government Headquarters and sighed as he assessed the situation. He had hoped to thwart Lee Inja’s plan, but multiple guilds, including the White Robe Power guards, were already engaged in the boss fight. And it was almost over.
[Boss: Ice Goblin Lord has been defeated.]
[Best Slayer: None (Boss self-destructed)]
[Best Support]
- <Iduna>
- <Park Seyoung>
- <Kim Chaewoo>
The boss had self-destructed in a last-ditch effort, taking some hunters with it.
“Here it comes.”
As he spoke, a boss-clear event triggered.
[The zone frozen by the Ice Goblin Lord is now unsealed.]
A 5 km stretch from here to Seongsimdan’s base began melting rapidly. Unlike normal ice, this glacier instantly vaporized into steam.
And…
Among the melting ice was the “Red Ice”, scattered throughout the area.
“What’s that red fog?”
The red fog, almost alive, drifted toward the scattered goblin corpses. To Jang Sunam’s surprise, the corpses began moving.
“That fog turns anyone it touches into a zombie.”
It was a forced event that always triggered after defeating the Ice Goblin Lord. The zombie apocalypse had begun.
Meanwhile, while other guild hunters panicked, the White Robe Power guards quickly escaped through the exit. They slammed the door shut and chained it, trapping the other raid participants inside.
“They’re executing the Gudon plan.”
The plan: infect trapped hunters, creating a disease to increase the value of their vaccine. People desperate to cure loved ones would pay, funneling massive coins to the White Robe Power, who would then attempt world domination, just like in their first run.
Through the telescope, Jang Sunam could see other hunters pleading for the door to open, while the guards laughed. Sealed facilities couldn’t be destroyed, so blocking the door made it nearly impossible to reopen.
Meanwhile, the boss touched by the red fog began reviving as Ice Goblin Zombie Lord, threatening to wipe out the hunters.
“Stay careful not to touch the fog.”
“Then… can I hunt the guards outside, meow?”
“If it’s just them, sure. Push them away from the door.”
At Jang Sunam’s command, Jelly grinned wickedly and transformed into Lee Inja’s form. It ran toward the guards and suddenly shouted.
“You idiots! Who told you to handle things like this? Gather immediately!”
“…!?”
The guards, used to Lee Inja’s temperament, obeyed without suspicion.
While Jelly in Inja form bullied the guards…
“Works well for dealing with people, huh.”
Jang Sunam passed through the blind spots and headed for the door.
“Aaah!”
“S-Save me!”
The scene inside was hell. The zombified Ice Goblin Lord sprayed red fog through a bizarre gem, turning many hunters into zombies. They ran at their former allies, teeth bared.
Hunters with multiple lives could revive after death, but those who had nearly exhausted their lives during the boss fight could not. The number of unstoppable zombies increased over time.
“Who’s that?”
One guard, scolded by Jelly as Inja, spotted Jang Sunam and shouted.
“Caught… too late, though.”
Ignoring it, Jang Sunam swung his axe with all his strength.
Clang!
The F+ weapon shattered the chains without noticeable damage.
“Ah! He’s breaking the chains!”
The guards rushed in, but Jang Sunam had already freed them all.
Bang!
He flung the doors wide and shouted inside.
“The doors are open! Take out the White Robe Power bastards!”
That was enough.
The hunters inside, filled with both joy at being freed and anger at the betrayal, charged out with terrifying force.
“Thanks, Crow!”
“You must be the rumored hunter! I won’t forget this…!”
They bore murderous expressions and attacked the guards.
“C-Commander! What… what do we do now?”
The guard team leader tried to ask Inja, but the figure had vanished. Instead, a new hunter he didn’t recognize swung a weapon at him with a grim smile—it was Jelly’s latest transformation.
Crack!
“Ahhh!”
The guard leader’s scream merged into the chaos as hunters and guards clashed.
Jang Sunam, unfazed, lightly warmed up and walked into the building.
“Kraaah…”
“Uwaaaah…”
Inside, goblins and hunters were all zombies, while the Zombie Lord wielding the red fog radiated terrifying power.
“Well, might as well clean up while getting a new weapon.”
This time, he didn’t summon his creature. Any contact with the red fog would turn it into a zombie anyway.
“Let’s get this done quickly.”
Jang Sunam grinned and charged at the zombies.
