Chapter 183 – The Chosen Ones (8)
The enemies in the Demon King’s Castle were cut down quickly by Sungjin’s sword play. Sungjin thought to himself while swinging his sword,

‘Back then… it was so difficult…’

These enemies were incredibly challenging with all ten of the final members of the previous round of raids, but he had now reached a point where he can face all of them on his own. Sungjin was surprised by his own growth. And of course,

“Ooh, wow…”
“Am…amazing.”

The looks on the Hunters’ faces showed they were even more surprised than he was.
“That’s Master Hunter for you.”
“Kei…”
All the surviving hunters knew about Sungjin by now. The hunters who were witnessing Sungjin’s abilities for the first time were easily captivated. These hunters –

“I’ll take care of the front, please take care of enemies on the sides.”
“Understood.”
“Yes, Master Hunter.”

-obeyed him as if they were his minions. Sungjin was able to reach an area close to where the Demon King was. It was then that he asked the operator

“Operator, how long has it been since the Raids have begun?”

[It has been 1 hour 20 minutes.]
‘Hour and twenty… ok good, I should check on tomorrow from here.’
Sungjin waved his hands to the other hunters and said to them
“Let us take a break here before resuming.”

He wasn’t tired at all, but Sungjin intentionally picked his words so he could have a chance to peek at the future. The others seemed to see Sungjin as their general and obeyed without a fuss. Sungjin pulled away from the wordless group of hunters and picked a quiet spot. Once he checked to make sure he was alone, he took out his star-shaped accessory. Finally, it was time to sate his curiosity. Sungjin didn’t hesitate.
“Starlight.”

The starlight brightened up, then swallowed him up into the darkness. Soon, the events which unfold in 24 hours were shown to him. And although Sungjin couldn’t speak in the middle of the vision, inside he was yelling
‘What..?’
Few minutes since he had his mouth wide open, Sungjin who had been peeking at the future returned to the present and ended up yelling

“Ah!”

“What’s that?!”
The hunters who had been resting a bit away came springing at him. Sungjin quickly put the starshaped accessory under his shirt and quickly caught his breath. The hunters who swarmed towards him all had their weapons out and surveying the area.
“Did something happen, Master Hunter?”
“Was there an enemy?”

Sungjin waved his hands as he said
“N…no, it was nothing. Please go and get some rest. Let us get going in 3 minutes.”
The hunters stared at Sungjin with a quizzical look but soon obeyed him. Sungjin held his forehead after being left alone.

‘So… that was it? Edward…’
Now that all the puzzle pieces were found, Sungjin quickly thought to himself.
‘So what do I do now? What is there for me to do?’
But he had less than a day now. There was almost nothing that he could accomplish until then. Then, Sungjin remembered about the last remaining ‘Holy Water of Baptism’.

‘…I guess this is about it…’
Sungjin stood up. It was time to go defeat the Demon King. Although the real danger wasn’t the Demon King, but the enemies of tomorrow.

*

“I cant…believe…”
[Chapter 20 boss Demon King Kharnejad Cleared!]
Sungjin pulled out his blades from the body of the Demon King to the sound of the Operator’s voice. Behind him, he could hear the voices of the other hunters reverberating.
“Yeah!”
“We got him!”

Despite the shouts of others, Sungjin didn’t feel much elation. It was because defeating the Demon King was well ‘predictable’.
‘But… tomorrow’s more important…’
As Sungjin was thinking so, the Operator’s voice continued as it said,
[Raid 100% cleared]
[And now we will distribute the items]
‘Hmm?’

According to the Operator the raid reached 100% completion despite the fact that Hidden boss fight did not yet occur.
‘This round… does it lack a hidden boss and such?’
Now that he thought of it, it would be strange to find a creature more powerful than the Demon King in his own castle.
Sungjin crossed his arms and received the distributed rewards along with the others. A point of interest was the magnitude of the rewards.

[Congratulations! You have received the Legendary item…]
[Congratulations! You have received the Legendary item…]
[Congratulations! You have received the Legendary item…]

The Operator’s congratulations came from all over the place.

“Wow, why are we getting so many of them?
“You’re right… my contribution was only 5%, why am I getting these many Legendary items?”
The hunters were overjoyed. Except for just one person. Sungjin watched them and thought to himself
‘I guess they’re getting so many since this is the last Distribution.’
If things were as he foresaw, then this would be the last.
[You will be teleported in 10 seconds.]
[10]

Sungjin said to the Operator.
“Ah, I want to stay here a bit longer.”
[Cancelling auto teleportation.]
Hunters’ countdown with the exception of Sungjin’s continued.
[9, 8, 7]
Someone asked Sungjin.
‘Master Hunter, will you not return?”
[6, 5, 4]
“Ah yes. I still have something I have to do.”

Hunters tilted their heads and gave puzzled looks, but they were eventually summoned back to the Hunter’s Hall. Now only Sungjin remained in the Demon King’s Castle. The reason why he stuck around was because he might be called upon by the ‘Chosen Ones’. Sungjin looked around at the surroundings. At the far back was the Demon King’s empty throne. Sungjin sat there and leaned on his hand.

“Hey Kei, Could you come real quick to help out? One of our member perished.” called out Hildebrandt.
“Master Hunter, we’re right before the Demon King but not sure we can win on our own. Could you please come and help us out?” asked Mustafa.

Sungjin accepted their call for help and send them along to the Hunter’s Hall. Then finally, he too, was summoned to the Hunter’s Hall.

*

In the brilliantly white Hunter’s Hall, the Operator’s voice rang out.
[Congratulations. All the hunters here have successfully cleared 20 chapters.]
[Of the 7,310,067,613 participating hunters]
[the number of the surviving hunters is currently 256]
Sungjin quickly looked around as the Operator continued to speak
“Ah, Sensei”

Hiroaki was waving his hands upon seeing him.

“Yo, Master Hunter.”
Beltran was there too. But Sungjin ignored them and continued to search among the crowd.

‘Where is he…?’

Sungjin was searching for Edward. Specifically, the Edward who had died once and lost his memories. This hall at first was filled as far as the eyes could see, but now it was possible to go between the pillars and search for someone. But no matter how much he walked between the hunters and the columns, he couldn’t find Edward.

‘No way… did he die?’
While Sungjin was thinking that, the Operator resumed to speak.
[The 256 hunters here are Humanity’s last.]
[Power and courage, knowledge and wisdom, everyone here have pushed them to the limit]
[You are free to be proud.]
Most hunters were listening with dull look in their eyes. Being congratulated after everything that had occured didn’t feel all that great.
For the most part, they looked as if they were thinking:
‘I’m tired so let me go back to the Black Market.’
But when Operator said,
[The next chapter, Chapter 21 is the final raid.]

“What?!”
“Really?!”
Their eyes flew open. Suddenly the Hunter’s Hall is filled with chaos. Only Sungjin who had seen the future was calmly searching for Edward.
[The chapter 21 is unique, as final chapters ought to be.]
The hunters were all now listening to each and every word from the Operator. Even Sungjin stopped his search to listen and looked up at the column of the Operator. Operator’s voice soon rang out.
[The Final Raid is a 300 man raid.]

“What?!”
“What did you say?”
The Operator paused from speaking as a consideration for the hunters. The hunters continued to panic.
“300?!”
“But… there’s only 256 of us”
‘So it was true.’
Sungjin grit his teeth and resumed his search for Edward. But meanwhile,
“Oppa”

Serin appeared and grasped his shoulder.
“Did you know of this? That the last raid will be a 300 man raid?”
Sungjin couldn’t nod or shake his head. He only found out just now.
Instead of answering, he asked her
“Hey, by the way, Edward. Did you happen to see Edward?”
Serin pointed at the column behind them and said,

“Ahh, earlier… I thought he was standing next to that pillar.”
“Really? Ok.”

Sungjin left Serin behind and headed towards the pillar she had pointed out. The Operator’s voice reverberated in the hall.
[The last raid, as its name implies, is the final raid where 300 hunters work together.]
[Just as it was with 5 man raid and 10 man raid, the difficulty of the final raid is scaled up to match the 300 participants…]
“My god”
“Oh my”
The exclamation of the hunters were so high that the Operator’s voice could barely be heard. Meanwhile. Sungjin finally found Edward close to the pillar Serin had pointed out. Sungjin called out his name.
“Edward.”

Edward jerked alert to the voice of Sungjin calling out his name. His reaction was only natural since Sungjin had tried to kill him the moment they met. But this time he did not run away. Use of force was forbidden in the Hunter’s Hall. He only stepped back and faltered.

“W…what do you want.”
Sungjin took out the final vial of ‘Holy water of Baptism’ from his vest.
“There’s not much time left to speak. The strongest among the remaining people is you. Probably.”
Edward tilted his head.
“What?”

He was about to say, when Sungjin poured the content of the vial over Edward. At the same time, Sungjin said,
“Baptise”
And as if on cue the Operator said
[Please shop for the last time and prepare yourself for what’s to come.]
[You will be summoned back to the Hunter’s Hall in 10 seconds.]
Edward yelled at Sungjin after suddenly being soaked by water
“What is wrong with you? Are you crazy?”
[10, 9, 8, 7]

While the Operator’s countdown was going on, Sungjin said to Edward respectfully
“This. This is what you wanted.”
“What?”
Edward was at loss for words but
[6, 5, 4]
Sungjin knew that this was what Edward had wanted all along.
“Then see you again shortly.”
[3, 2, 1]

As the final countdown was going on, Edward muttered to himself while looking at Sungjin.
“…really…you’ve lost your mind.”
Sungjin was teleported after hearing those words. To the Black Market.

*

Once Sungjin returned to the Black Market, he immediately summoned all the ‘Chosen Ones’ before dinner time.
“Draft.”
One by one, the Chosen ones were called to the ‘First Drop’ where Sungjin was sitting. They, too, seemed to be shocked at the Operator’s announcement.
“My god, a 300 man raid…”

“Is this even reasonable?”
“We’re short 50 people… is it still possible…?”
Sungjin heard them speak and thought to himself
‘We could have done it with just the 10 of us’
Sungjin checked the hunters meanwhile. He didn’t see Edward among the ‘Chosen Ones’.
‘He should be here… maybe… if he is not coming because of being attacked back then…’
As Sungjin was dwelling on it, the final ‘Chosen One’ Edward appeared from thin air.
“What is this…?”

Sungjin clapped once after seeing him.
“So you came.”
The ‘Chosen Ones’ weren’t all that surprised to see him. ‘Getting a new comrade’ was a rather common occurrence. Except for Serin. Serin looked extremely surprised and was staring at Sungjin. Sungjin walked up to Edward. Edward looked up and down at Sungjin and said,
“What is this? All of you…?”
Sungjin didn’t know what to say and scratched his forehead for a moment before pointing at the seat at the back of First Drop and said,

“Sit for now. There’s a lot we have to talk about.”
Edward replied with suspicion in his eyes.
“You attacked me out of nowhere…what are you trying to pull now…?”
Sungjin stared at him for a moment.
‘What can I say to undo this misunderstanding?’
But the whole story, including previous life, he wasn’t ready to reveal them now.
‘Haa…’

When Sungjin internally sighed, he happened to see the staff Edward had been holding onto. The Staff was the same staff that the dragon Archae’ard had given him.
‘Eh…?’
Now that he thought about it, he had the same thing. The dragon Archae’ard had said as he handed him the stuff
‘You’ll need this.’
Sungjin pulled ‘Sereberf’ Andal’s staff from the Operator’s Cube.
Edward’s eyes grew wide when he saw it.

“Wait, that…”
Sungjin thought to himself
‘This is it’.
Three of the same Item could be combined to raise its rarity. Edward must have been thinking the same. Sungjin handed over the staff and said,
“Here. This is a token of my reconciliation.”