Chapter 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?”