The World after the Fall Chapter 11

Kang Hoon, the leader of the clan Red Fox, was in a good mood today. It had been a really long time since a good prey had been caught.

"Everyone hold your position, just as practiced!”

"Yup!"

The people listened to Kang Hoon and surrounded the behemoth in an orderly fas.h.i.+on. They had surrounded a medium-sized unicorn.

‘Just one for now.’

It was a powerful monster often found all throughout《Chaos》.

One of the many so-called「Horned Beasts」that sported horns.

The One-Horned Beast was a name given to beasts with one horn, and in the Great Lands, was a difficult monster to deal with unless one was an「Adapter」.

Typically speaking, a Stage 1 Adapter was able to deal with one One-Horned Beast. Of the current team, only Kang Hoon was a Stage 1 Adapter.

‘They should still be able to deal with it without me.’

Basically, a party of five normal people should be able to handle a single One-Horned Beast. However, this party was a bit special.

The five of them, Kang Hoon included, were members of the hunting clan 'Red Fox'.

Although everyone aside from Kang Hoon were「Non-Adapters」, they were a team of good seeds that could hunt the One Horned Beast. It wouldn't be long before all of them were reborn as Stage 1 Adapters.

[Leader, are you really going to continue?]

[That's right.]

[But that girl seems to have some sort of background...... would it really be ok?]

[Don't worry. I'll take responsibility for anything that happens.]

Kang Hoon looked at the trembling lady sitting next to him and smacked his lips. She was the only foreigner to the group.

Her body was wrapped in a black, silken robe, but her beauty could not be concealed. Small glimpses of white skin and her scarlet hair could be seen in between the gaps of her robe. In particular, the small ornaments she unknowingly displayed attracted the gazes of those around her.

n.o.body would think that they were of low-quality goods.

‘How splendid.’

Hunting specialist clan Red Fox.

In fact, they weren't out hunting monsters, but in fact, they were out to hunt 'Adapters'. It was a fact that most everyone in the area was aware of. However, a naive prey had suddenly fallen into their grasps.

If there was one point to take into consideration, it was that he didn't know the girl's background, but it wasn't something that he was too concerned about. It was because he had turned on a Spirit Power Meter before he had joined the party.

‘It says she's a「Non-Adapter」.’

It was highly likely that if she had a background, it wouldn't be anything special.

Needless to say, it was likely that her accessories were obtained by using her beauty to seduce other men.

Kang Hoon greedily took in the sight of the woman whose skin showed through.

‘Hehe, who knows how many times it had worked before, but it won't work this time.’

At that moment, the lady who seemed to have made a mistake, shouted.

“Oh my, I'm sorry!"

"Haha, it'll be ok."

Kang Hoon said while laughing and pulling out a knife from his leather chest armor.

‘This girl.'

It may have been the first time the girl went out on a hunt like this, but everything she was doing was full of mistakes. Not only did she not realize what position she was in, but she kept on grasping the wrong timing for her attacks, driving away her allies like she was doing now. It was this woman who had lured the One-Horned Beast that they were fighting.

‘I'll turn a blind eye just this once since she's cute.’

But after a moment, the woman lured another One-Horned Beast to their position.

"Oh my, I'm sorry!"

"It's alright. Rather, this is good, We'll just kill em all at once!"

They could deal with up to two monsters.

Since Kang Hoon was a peak 1st Stage Adapter, he alone was strong enough to deal with two One-Horned Beasts at the same time. He was getting bored, so he liked this situation better.

One-Horned Beast get, woman get.

Everything was fine up to that point. In other words, everything was fine until the number of One-Horned Beasts numbered three. The woman who had lured a third One-Horned Beast spoke once again.

"Omo, my bad!”

"…… Be careful next time."

Kang Hoon spoke in a grave voice.

Three One-Horned Beasts was too much even for him.

‘What the h.e.l.l is she doing?’

In just a short amount of time, there were suddenly three One Horned Beasts. It was baffling, just where were these One-Horned Beasts sprouting out from? Thankfully, they were just One-Horn beasts, if by chance a Two-Horned Beast were to appear……

"Omo, sorrrrryyyyyy一!”

In the distance was a woman waving her arms, an angry looking monster running after her. A monster appeared while smas.h.i.+ng through the trees. Its incredible height would easily reach at least ten feet. On its head were 'two' horns.

"……What is that b.i.t.c.h doing?!’

There was someone watching the scene from a far off distance.

It was Jae Hwan.

'They'll all die at this rate.'

They seemed to have been holding on while fighting against the One-Horned Beast, but as soon as the Two-Horned Beast appeared, they began to fall apart. Jae Hwan was a bit disappointed. Because he was in the Great Lands, he had thought that everyone would be insanely strong, but watching them fight made him wonder just how in the world had they been able to clear the《Nightmare Tower》.

‘There's also a strange woman over there.’

He couldn't quite tell if she was trying to help with the hunt, or ruin the hunt.

‘But it looks like that woman is the strongest of the group. Are they not on the same side?’

Jae Hwan was stuck in a rut.

He wanted to help out, but he couldn't come to an easy decision because he wasn't exactly sure of what the situation was like.

‘I'll just wait a bit longer for now.’

Koong!

After a long time, the three One-Horned Beasts collapsed.

Though he had struggled, he managed to take care of them on his own.

‘Now, there's only that one guy left.’

If Kang Hoon wasn't at the peak of Stage 1 Adaptation, and if the Two-Horned Beast in front of him had matured more, he would have already died multiple times. Even the intermediate rank skill that the clan master had helped him get from the top clan,「Fire Monarch’s Sect」, was a huge help.

Intermediate rank skill,「Fire Monarch's Breath」.

Since Adapters of the 1st Stage were unable to apply their own spirit power to their swords, the skill known as the「Fire Monarch's Breath」was an indispensable skill for Adapters of the 1st Stage since it blessed the Adapter's sword with the Burning Flame of the Fire Monarch, allowing the Adapter's combat power to double in strength.

The Burning Flame wasn't visible to the eye yet since his skill level was too low, but it was enough to help him get to where he currently was.

Although he had begun to feel dizzy, Kang Hoon was convinced that he could somehow win with just a little bit more power.

A Two-Horned Beast, if he could take care of it, it would be an extremely fortuitous harvest.

Even if he can't steal the girl's items, if he could just get the horns off this beast......

“I'll help too! Hee yab!"

“Keu huk”

Kang Hoon shuddered as he saw the woman's dagger enter his thigh as the woman tripped and fell onto the floor. The woman had an apologetic look on her face as she apologized.

"Haha, I'm sorry!”

"You f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.h!”

"A f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.h?! That's way too mean. I was trying to help!”

The Two-Horned Beast approached. Incoming Horn.
With a loud klang, Kang Hoon's sword broke. The Two-Horned Beast's shadow eclipsed Kang Hoon's entire body.

“FUUUUCK!”

Then in the next moment. A brilliant beam of light traversed through the forest in a straight line.

The Two-Horned Beast that was charging towards Kang Hoon suddenly let out a roar as its huge body collapsed.

Pwahahaha!

The Two-Horned Beast's blue bodily fluids splashed onto Kang Hoon's face.

Kang Hoon's mind wasn't able to keep up with what was going on.

As the body of the beast that had covered the sun began to fade away, the first to appear was a blade exuding a mighty black aura. A blade possessed by a terrifying spirit that made your skin crawl.

One glance was all you needed to recognize how great the sword was.

Everyone stopped breathing. Just who was the owner of this sword? The owner of the sword stepped into the sunlight, revealing his face. Looking at the owner, Kang Hoon couldn't help but sigh.

He looked like someone who had been trapped in a room for several decades. He looked like a slovenly bag of garbage, someone that Kang Hoon absolutely could not acknowledge as the sword's owner.

After inspecting the man up and down, Kang Hoon came to his senses and asked a question.

"Wh-who are you?!"

But to Jae Hwan, what he heard was something like the following:

“$Wh$o#^?!"

With that, all Jae Hwan could think about was the fact that nothing he had faced up until this point was easy, and would continue to be not easy.

After a few moments, Jae Hwan finally succeeded in some simple communication with the other party. It was all thanks to pus.h.i.+ng「Doubt」to the limit.

“Excuse me, but did you say you were called Jae Hwan?”

"Yes."

“And you say that you're just a pa.s.serby?”

"Yes."

“On top of that, you're not well-versed in the language spoken here?”

"Yes."

“So strange. Language barriers in this place are extremely rare……"

"Yes."

“……then are you really ok with this? Letting my party take the Two-Horned Monster's body?”

"Yes.”

“No take backs?”

"Yes.”

"Hahat, cool cool!”

Kang Hoon laughed with a big smile on his face, his visage exuding joy.

There was no reason for him not to be in a good mood.
He had hunted a freaking Two Horned Beast today!

On top of that, the body was in pristine condition and wholly in his possession.

"Ehahahat, ehahahahat!"

Kang Hoon was all smiles as he prepared to leave.

While carefully observing Kang Hoon, Jae Hwan opened his mouth to speak.

"Looks like that put you in a good mood."

“How could it not! It's a freaking Two-Horned Beast! Are you perhaps not knowledgeable of the Two-Horned Beast?”

"Yes."

"……hahahat! Nice joke!"

Kang Hoon's eyebrow twitched.

‘To meet such a pushover! Although the way he doesn't use a respectful way of talking to me is a little unpleasant……'

The party was able to get One-Horned Beasts and a Two-Horned Beast.

It was without a doubt an impossible feat without the blessings of a G.o.d. A Non-Adapter wouldn't even be able to scratch its hide while even a 1st Stage Adapter would have a trouble landing a hit. That was a Two-Horned Beast. Even with the combined strength of everyone in the party, it would have been impossible to hunt the monster.

Some might even say something like the following:

But wouldn't you not know how things might turn out unless you persisted all the way until the end?

Those were the words of the naive.

The current《Interface System》in this world was more than capable of accurately depicting the outcome of a battle.

The Status Skill could accurately measure and display the 'Strength' stat. Those with higher stats and better skills would win.

That was how battles were determined in this world.
Because of this simple system, it was near impossible for miracles such as 'comebacks' to happen.
But Kang Hoon became the subject of such a miracle today.

Having 'defeated' the Two-Horned Beast, Kang Hoon thought that he might be able to upgrade into a 2nd Stage Adapter once he returned.

The girl who was watching this exchange from a distance and had only made mistakes during the hunt, this girl named Mino felt like she was having a stomachache.

[TLN: In the raw, Mino's name has a Hanja 美露, which means something like Treacherous Seductress] 

‘Ahu, so close. Ah what a waste, I feel like I'm going to die……'

She was an a.s.sa.s.sin of the Black Forest Sect, one of the ten great sects.

In the underground world of a.s.sa.s.sins, she was a well known figure known as the 'Witch of Slaughter’.