Chapter 35

[We're finalizing the quality, more will be uploaded to catch up to our target upload rate. The chapters for this series are 1.5-2x longer than the average KR chapter so the number of chapters might be a bit less.]

Kevin McKid

"How long are you going to follow me?"

It was less than three minutes after I followed him when A-class Hunter, Dell Parker, noticed my tail.

He was bound to notice that I had been following him openly without hiding at all.

With this, I silently invoked the artifact and covered the surrounding area with a barrier. Then, he tilted his head, looking at my face.

"That's strange. I haven't made someone hold a grudge against me recently."

Even though he knew he was being followed, he deliberately led me to this dreary alleyway. It was an expression of confidence, one because he knew that he wouldn't lose in a one-to-one fight.

"I don't hold a grudge against you."

It is true. I had never even been involved with Hunter named Dell Parker in my previous life.

"It's only that you were the most appropriate. I ask for your understanding beforehand."

Sling!

Without a word, he rushed at me with a double sword pulled from his back.

Cling! Ch-chang!

He handled two swords brilliantly. He cut, stabbed, crossed, sliced from bottom to top, swung it across each other, and ripped over a short time. The remnants of the blue Mana along the path drew a net-like dense spider web.

However, no attack was able to hurt me. I pulled out a long sword and blocked all attempts.

His face was now getting nervous.

Swish!

I took a step back and avoided the sword that he swung forcefully. I struck him as I stepped forward with a strong rebound on the ground. The sword ripped through the air and made a sharp sound. It was not an attack meant for him to die, but for him to block. He crossed two blades and blocked it, as I expected.

Clang!

I concentrated a lot of Mana on this attack so that his hands would tingle.

As expected, Dell Parker seemed baffled by the heaviness that suddenly struck him. The blocked blade trembled.

"Why would this kind of hunter do such dirty thing as assassination?"

After seeing me attempting to corner him, he mistook me as an "A" or "S" Class hunter. It was too high-quality of manpower to handle a contracted murder. To get rid of one hunter, it was more economical to use such means as poison and radiation.

"It's not an assassination." I replied, over the blazing blade of Mana, "I won't kill you."

While his arms were grounded, he didn't notice a small change on my wrist.

"You just need to sleep a few days and wake up. Then it'll be over."

At the moment, his eyes were stained with suspicion-

Hisss!

Kyaaah!

Five snakes hidden with the 'Disguise' skill by the Iponia crystal had been activated and suddenly appeared in the air!

"What the...!"

He tried to respond belatedly, but the snakes that stretched out on my wrist rushed at him from all directions. There was indeed no way to escape.

Crack!

The teeth, concentrated with Mana, pierced Parker's barrier and flesh. That in itself was enough.

"Th... This...!"

The effect was much faster than against Park Chang-hee.

Thump!

Dell Parker fell to the ground and convulsed.

Park Chang-hee was also an A-class hunter, but the difference had not been because he was much better.

I spoke to the five snakes that didn't go back to the bracelets but rather stare at me as if asking, 'Did we do a good job?'

"You guys... Your poison is getting stronger day by day, huh?"

"Hiss! Hiss!"

They hissed like they were in a good mood. Five pairs of sparkling eyes stared at me. However, that only lasted for a while.

"Hiss! Hiss?"

They looked around, and they were very baffled to know that there were no other humans or monsters around besides Dell Parker, who fell on the floor. They were searching everywhere in the barrier as if this could not be true.

"Hiss!"

After finding nothing, they put their five heads together and stared at Parker's body. Then they looked at Dell Parker and me in turn.

"Hiss! Hiss!"

The five began to hiss at once, and the response seemed to protest, 'We have five mouths, but whose stomach is this supposed to fill?'

"Hey, hey! That's not food!"

"Hiss."

"Hold it at this time. I'll give you next time. And snake two, take that out... No, snake 4, Not you!

Again, this time, snake 4, who misunderstood his name, threw up half of the item box that he had swallowed before, but when I scolded him, he hurriedly ate it again. Then, as if nothing had happened, he crawled around the alley in innocence, not even making eye contact with me.

Meanwhile, snake 2 vomited a huge object according to my order. It took time because it was big and so long.

'[The Pezzotto's Coffin].'

It was an artifact that really looked like a coffin to bury a body.

The difference was that the outer material was white metal, and the lid was pitted with holes in the top part that could not possibly be opened.

Now then, it was time for the most laborious task.

I looked down at Dell Parker, lying on the floor. I needed to take a little body sample from his body. I took off the beanie hat he was wearing to get his hair.

"What, why is his hair so short?"

It was the uniquely shaved head that some Americans insisted on. I then activated the skill without hesitation.

"Hair Growth!"

Greedy blond hair grew on his scalp, which was like that of a monk. Out of nowhere, curly hair covered the floor of the alley. It was almost similar to that of Rapunzel.

I roughly grabbed the middle of the hair and cut it with a knife. Even if I cut it off, he still had long hair, so Dell Parker looked like a rock band vocalist that was popular back when I was young.

Then I cut off some nails and skin, pulled out a tooth, took out a syringe to pull out some blood, and detoxified it.

Everything taken from Dell Parker's body was put into a hole above the coffin's head and poured in a special solution.

Burble burble!

After making sure everything melted, I took off my clothes, went into the coffin, and then closed the lid. After a few minutes of fighting with a mad itch and a tingling, I opened the lid of the coffin again.

Blargh!

I spat out a protein mucus that had instantaneously filled my mouth. The body was also covered with something like a sticky mucous membrane, so I removed it by hand and stepped out of the coffin. I washed my body clean with magic and looked in the mirror.

My body had perfectly transformed into Dell Parker.

As I removed the real Dell Parker's terminal on his wrist, an electronic sound rang.

"User recognition complete!"

His terminal, which recognized all scannable information, including the distribution of veins in my body, the retina, and the appearance of my bones within a second, immediately unlocked his terminal as it recognized me as the real 'Dell Parker.'

"Let me see the e-mail..."

I quickly found the mail Dell Parker received from a Hunter agency.

Most Korean Hunters joined a guild, but many in the U.S. focused on being a freelancer or small teams that were freer to join and leave as they had a higher class.

Even if there was no supply from the guilds like Korea, there was always a dungeon waiting for hunters in the U.S., where the land was large, and the dungeon was never short. When a new dungeon was found, it was usually handed over to the Hunter agency from the state first, and the agency gathered appropriate hunters and organized an exploration team. Hunters could choose the dungeon they wanted from the invitations sent by various agencies.

I replied to an e-mail from the agency to explore the Chicago dungeon a few days later, informing that I would add a bracelet among the items to be brought into the dungeon.

The reply came within ten minutes. Of course, the content was 'OK.' They were good with their works.

I shoved Dell Parker into the coffin to take him to the hotel room. He just needed to sleep a few days like this.

*

"Yes, I'm at the gate near the DuSable Bridge. The expedition will enter the gate in about 30 minutes. Usually, Chicago citizens enjoy leisure time, and the cruise ship carrying tourists has to sail along the river. Still, there's a lot of tension in the area, where the entry is controlled except for the expedition team and government personnel. As the viewers already know, the dungeon has been confirmed as an A-Class..."

Reporters were seen filming loudly beyond the police line.

"Yes, Mr. Dell Parker. We'll proceed with the identification and inspection of belongings."

Of course, I had passed without a hitch.

The number of people who would enter the dungeon was 15. However, three people were absent, even though the departure time was fast approaching.

I could see the agency people making a hasty call urgently.

Hunters who arrived first had no choice but to wait for the three late people even if they were ready.

"Here they are!"

I heard a commotion—the tumult of many people moving at once.

The reporters burst and flashed instantly.

"It's McKid! Kevin McKid!"

A large number of people were approaching, crossing the police line. There were three hunters, and the rest were all just ordinary people.

They were all employed by one Hunter at the center - a tall black man, wearing a white shirt and leather pants, looking well over two meters tall.

Kevin McKid.

An SS-rank hunter that was non-existent officially in Korea at this time.

"Wow, there's a superstar."

A hunter, who was waiting with me, mocked him.

"Is he out of his mind? How dare he wear those clothes when he well knows we're waiting for them?"

If one was a member of the expedition, they should wear combat uniforms. McKid seemed to be planning to change his clothes here, even though he was late.

I laughed and spoke up, "But now that we're all here, we'll be on our way."

However, that didn't happen.

There seemed to be a serious discussion between McKid's party and the agency. I could also hear McKid screaming, which was full of irritation.

I listened attentively.

"No, you mean, out of 15 people, only me and two people who I brought are the ones above S-rank? The other 12 are all A-rank? Why did it change suddenly?"

"McKid, honey. Please help me. It's because of a sudden vacancy today. And I paid a lot of attention to the A-level dungeon clear at this level."

"No, that'll slow down our clear! Didn't my secretary tell you that I'm going on vacation to Nice's villa next week? If it's delayed, you'll mess up the schedule! I'm in a situation where I'm going to babysit twelve A-ranks. Do you think I'll be able to finish on time?"

As he said that, McKid gave us an irritated glare, which had been waiting in advance. As hunters who could hear all the sounds of words come and go, their expressions turned fierce.

"It's sickening to hear that."

There were murmurs everywhere.

However, no one directly spoke against McKid.

If an A-rank Hunter had said such things openly to B-rank or C-rank Hunter, their life could be in danger in the dungeon. Either way, they were still colleagues who would protect each other in a life-and-death situation of a battle; doing so was an act of making an enemy.

However, it was different for SS-rank hunters. There was a large wall between the A and S-ranks, and there was a larger wall between the S and SS-ranks.

Now, McKid knew he could be that arrogant, so that's what he was doing.

"Please understand me!"

The middle-aged agency-man seemed to have managed to persuade McKid. However, the problem continued.

"Oh, damn it! Why are we just on standby and not going in?"

One hunter spat out profanity. The man who kept listening answered his question.

"This time, McKid is persistent that he won't carry his own luggage."

"That crazy bastard!"

Originally, there were no porters at the dungeon expedition. The gate always held a limited number of people, normally one person, including belongings, and depended on volume and weight. All hunters must enter the gate with similarly distributed public loads attached to their bodies.

If the dungeon required a lot of packing, equal loads were carried, regardless of whether it was SSS-ranked or F-ranked.

McKid was rejecting that now.

"No, Lloyd! Come here. How did you review the contract?"

A man who appeared to be his personal lawyer came next to him and explained the situation in embarrassment.

"Because of the internal environment of the dungeon, we inevitably need a lot of luggage..."

"Oh, shit. Nothing's going my way!"

McKid, who was sure to coordinate everything else at will, cursed continuously. He eventually changed his clothes reluctantly and put on his combat backpack.

Taking over as the expedition team leader, as if it was natural, he stood in front of the waiting hunters.

"Briefings are replaced by materials distributed. Let's go."

There was no apology or expression of regret for why everyone had to wait for him. Hunters threw themselves into the gate in turn with expressions of disapproval.

*

"Isn't it creepy?"

As soon as we entered the dungeon, a hunter began to mumble.

It was a dark and cold environment, like a cloudy day. The expedition team walked through the forest, where there was no sign of life. After an hour of following the map made through a preliminary survey, it finally came out.

"Oh, is there a boss monster in there?"

In front of us was an oddly shaped giant castle that did not resemble the Earth's architectural style.

The surface of the castle wall, which could not be known what it was made up of, was covered with lumps that looked like a mix of dough with guts and soil. More than 80% of the exterior surface of the castle had been eroded by it.

"You mean that attacks when people approach it, right?"

The reason why each hunter's bag became heavy was to deal with that.

"Start to assemble!"

Following McKid's instructions, everyone took out metal parts and small missiles from their battle bags. It was a missile equipped with materials similar to the Mana core bomb in the warhead.

Fifteen launchers were assembled in time. While the hunters were moving, McKid sat still while watching us.

"It's one of the terms of the contract was that he wouldn't do any chores."

Indeed, he was a superstar with a high nose.

After a while, all the preparations were complete. Fifteen temporary launchers aimed the missile at the giant castle ahead.

"Everyone, back up."

When the hunters stepped down, McKid manipulated the terminal.

"Fire."

Pew!

Fifteen missiles flew with sparks on their tails. Flying along a smooth orbit, they struck the surface of a strange mass covering the castle!

Bang!

Swish!

Koo-Koo, koo, koo, koo!

It was a blast that could rip the ears.

White flash took place in the distance, and a blue flame covered the place where the explosion had swept away. The ground shook, and that it was necessary to re-establish our balance.

After a while, the shaking stopped, and the dust and smoke that covered the castle completely disappeared. The castle was then revealed.

"Wow."

The expeditors exclaimed in amazement. Even amid the explosion, the black castle walls showed no signs of collapsing or breaking.

On the other hand, much of the wiggling lumps that covered the outer surface disappeared.

If it was about 80% before the attack, it was now about 20% covered.

McKid muttered, "It means that we have to beat the rest with our hands to get in. That's troublesome. Come on, march!"

At his instruction, the expedition team began to move again.

I began to think while looking at the back of that McKid.

'In my past life, that man, McKid, eventually took over the sword.'

It was more than half a year that he managed to wield the sword in his hand. After getting the sword, he lived just about that much longer.

Kevin McKid's end was never a beautiful sight. He held the sword firmly in his right hand, cut himself little by little from the end of his limbs, and died after leaving a total of 386 pieces.

His body was reportedly shocking enough to cause even experienced rescue workers to retire in shock.

An autopsy also revealed that Kevin McKid must have been alive for about a day since he first put the blade into his body. It was not confirmed whether he was in a state of pain when the sword had completely possessed him.

'Once he's slain after he gets his hand on the sword, the only way to change the owner is to kill him.'

In other words, I had to intercept McKid before he could get the sword in his hands.

It would be less complicated than to fight and kill an SS-Hunter that way.

Six months later, I could wait for McKid to die on his own and retrieve it, but if he went the same way as in his previous life, I would have to shake off the federal government when he had gotten detained at home, which was formidable. It was best to take it away from here now.

I quietly followed in McKid's footsteps while organizing the plans in my head.