FVN Chapter 215: North Korea (1)
Chapter 215: North Korea (1)
The next day at dawn.
As soon as the sky cleared, Kang-hoo immediately left the villa.
Jung Yuri, who had fallen asleep early in the evening, didn’t come out of her room even once.
She must have been thoroughly exhausted from the forced march through the dungeon. I even heard a faint sound, like she was softly snoring, before stepping outside.
Heading north, Kang-hoo summoned his Fallen Spirit, continuously scouting the surroundings.
And whenever necessary, he used the “Third Eye” constellation to position a watcher behind him to monitor the rear.
Since Ground Zero was full of monsters that moved silently, this was a precautionary measure.
Sssss! Sssss!
The Fallen Spirit diligently searched around, moving frantically to locate monsters emitting dark energy.
Its frantic movement only meant one thing: no relevant monsters were nearby.
Relieving some tension from his body, Kang-hoo continued moving north.
As he went further, he felt the surroundings grow quieter.
Even the noise one would expect from nature seemed swallowed up by something and faded away.
It felt as if I had been dropped into a world where I was the only one left.
“.......”
White bones gradually came into view.
It wasn’t unusual to see human remains in Ground Zero.
There were corpses of hunters killed by monsters, and ordinary people who had died trying to flee north because they had nowhere else to go.
Sometimes, people were murdered and their bodies were discarded here, an occurrence so frequent it was almost routine.
Because of its geographical features, Ground Zero was a place where outsiders rarely ventured.
The situation was so bad that even the Public Safety Bureau said if they only focused on recovering the bodies of hunters from Ground Zero, they could uncover thousands of unsolved murders.
About two hours after leaving the villa.
Arriving at the first point, there was no sign of the Mad Solarkium.
To be precise, someone had torn it apart, eaten part of it, and left remnants. Clearly, it was the work of wild animals.
Usually, a guardian known as the “Punisher” watches over the location of the Mad Solarkium.
However, this guardian only reacts to humans, so it wouldn’t have stopped the “gourmet” feast of wild animals.
And when the Mad Solarkium disappears, the Punisher leaves as well, leaving behind nothing but an empty space.
At that moment—
Ksshhrrrk!
The Fallen Spirit reacted.
‘Oh.’
Kang-hoo turned his gaze to where it had dashed off, and sure enough, there was a monster.
The Black Guide.
It was a creature he had encountered before.
A monster that could wrap its enormous body around you like a cloak, robbing you of sight and driving you to madness before killing you.
Before the Great Catastrophe – before forming a contract with darkness – I wouldn’t have known if there was dark energy present or not, so I would’ve had to attack first just in case.
But now, I could decide whether to hunt the black shadow or ignore it.
That’s because a number was displayed above the Black Guide’s name.
【3】
【Black Guide】
Could I really pass up a creature that gives me 3 units of dark energy? No way. I had to chase it down and capture it.
Right now, Ground Zero is in a “border period.” Monsters are stronger, but the rewards are greater.
‘This should be interesting.’
Just then, Kang-hoo detected another monster, halting in his tracks.
He had almost missed it while focusing on the Black Guide, but about 10 meters ahead, there was a mutant sunflower.
The last time he encountered it, he lured it into spraying its acidic fluid to capture it. It had been a somewhat risky method.
But this time, it seemed he could take it down in a different way. And it was a good opportunity for practice, too.
【Thorn Hell】
Kang-hoo chose Thorn Hell.
The full name was Ashen Thorn Hell, but it was often abbreviated unless specific configurations were required.
Upon using the Thorn Hell skill, dark energy slithered off Kang-hoo’s left hand and sank into the ground.
Then, a line became visible to Kang-hoo’s eyes—though it would be hard for others to see it—like someone had drawn a straight line with a pencil from where Kang-hoo stood to the mutant sunflower.
And the moment that line reached the desired position, Kang-hoo clenched his left hand.
This was the activation gesture for Thorn Hell, a move learned alongside the skill itself.
Considering that even getting 0.5 units of dark energy would be a blessing, he made sure to capture any creature offering a reward.
【(Emergency Alert) Warning. You are currently 50 meters from a no-communication zone!】
His smartphone kept ringing.
Since 300 meters away from the no-communication zone, it had been sending warnings every 5 meters.
Once you enter a no-communication zone, all forms of contact become impossible.
In truth, even if something went wrong here, no one could come to help anyway...
But still, it served as a notice that I would soon be completely cut off from the outside world.
In other words, this was the final boundary of the state’s influence.
Finally.
Kang-hoo entered the no-communication zone. The emergency alert messages stopped bothering him.
‘Now, the next point is...’
As he checked the map to set his new direction—
Rustle. Rustle.
Footsteps could be heard.
Kang-hoo quickly used Stealth and scanned the source of the noise, spotting a hunter walking.
It looked just like ‘Lee Gwon-su’ from the Kanashimi Dungeon, resurrected by the Brood Queen, undoubtedly a hybrid.
The name of the monster, which resembled a hybrid, was Ham Woong-ho.
He had the appearance of a middle-aged man, with about half of his head balding.
A strange feature was the uniform, similar to what high-ranking officials might wear.
As a result, unlike Lee Gwon-su from the Kanashimi Dungeon, Ham Woong-ho had a fuller body.
‘So the Brood Queen must be somewhere close by. Wait. But what’s that?’
Something in Ham Woong-ho’s hand caught Kang-hoo’s attention.
It looked like a bouquet, upon closer inspection.
However—
‘Mad Solarkium?’
That bouquet wasn’t just any ordinary flower—it was made of ten Mad Solarkium flowers bundled together.
Though crudely gathered and held tightly, the bouquet had everything it needed.
The flowers were intact, and the Mad Solarkium, too, was in its original state.
‘I didn’t expect this.’
He had thought about searching for another point, but now it seemed like a blessing had rolled right into his lap.
If he could kill this guy, he’d be able to collect the Mad Solarkium as well. Two birds, one stone.
In stealth, Kang-hoo began sprinting toward Ham Woong-ho at full speed. Strike first, win first, right?
Just then—
Fwoosh!
Suddenly, black and red energy surged from Ham Woong-ho’s body.
Swoosh!
He turned his head, detecting Kang-hoo’s presence.
【Curtain of Technique】
Kang-hoo quickly set up the curtain.
Once he entered full stealth, Ham Woong-ho seemed to lose track of him, looking around in confusion.
From the way he wasn’t directly following with his eyes, it seemed his vision had deteriorated—or maybe he had lost it.
‘Is he a black mage?’
Judging by the lack of any weapons or clear attack movements, he seemed to be in the magic category.
In this case, the best strategy was to strike fast and retreat quickly.
All he needed was the Mad Solarkium, so as long as he could steal it from him, he’d be good to go.
Just as Kang-hoo prepared to leap forward again—
Khaaaa!
Suddenly, Ham Woong-ho raised both arms high and let out a powerful roar.
‘Damn.’
Kang-hoo now understood why Ham Woong-ho was walking around Ground Zero so confidently, without any protection.
Buzzzzz!
From the previously silent trees around him, countless ‘black dots’ began to fly into the air.
【Bloodsucking Flies】
There must have been thousands of them—swarms of insect monsters that fed on human blood.