Chapter 155 – Great Plains of Barrastan (6)

The Operator gave a verse in response to Sungjin’s prompt.

[The last resort remaining to mankind]
[was not able to shine thanks to]
[the leadership’s greed for recognition.]
[During the demon’s surprise attack,]
[Into the chest of a virtuous man, the holy object went]

“Hrm… There was a weapon, but it wasn’t properly utilized and is left in a righteous human’s chest.”

It was a verse that was both easy and difficult. Sungjin turned and looked around. There were only demons in the Great Plains of Barrastan, and no humans. That is, ‘living humans’. Instead, human corpses were piled in unbelievable amounts. Besgoro muttered,

‘…Is it in one of the many corpses we’ve seen until now?’

Sungjin pursed his lips as he said,

“That’s probably the case.”

It seemed that to find the hidden piece all you had to do was search the corpses. Sungjin asked for the hint about the Hidden Boss.

“What’s the hint for the Hidden Boss?”

[A reclusive researcher of magic]
[Seeking a way to replenish mana for research]
[Flew to watch the war unfold]
[Sleepily, he observes from the sky]
[For Blue light to shine among the tiny lifeforms fighting below]

“Hr….m”

Besgoro simply said,

‘I don’t get this at all.’

Sungjin felt the same. This time he looked up at the sky. In the vast skies above the plains that stretched all the way to the horizon, bald eagles that followed the scent of corpses could be seen occasionally flying around.

“There’s probably no way… that a bald eagle is the boss.”

‘Since it’s a reclusive researcher of magic, shouldn’t it be a person? A magician that uses magic to fly around?’

There was no time to dither about. Sungjin briefly thought about the two verses, then quickly made a decision.

“Then, for now, I’ll look through the corpses. While I’m doing this, you two phantoms should keep a lookout from the sky. There might be something else flying around other than the eagle.

‘Ok.’

‘Understood, Master’

Sungjin looked down at his waist, and then soon came to a realization.

‘Ah…’

Now that he thought about it, he had already used Shadowrun in order to escape earlier.

‘Though he’s the best in the plains…’

Sungjin instead removed the magic carpet from the cube. He could also call out Rajenta, but did not since he could be used in combat. He felt that it would be good to call him out together with both Cain and Soldamyr for the Hidden Boss.

Sungjin climbed on top of the magic carpet and then began to circle around the Barrastan Plains while flying low in the air. While flying around, he saw a place where human corpses were gathered; the demons had carelessly piled the corpses into a mountain.

Sungjin stopped there and got off from the carpet. The bald eagles were still hovering about near the corpses. The eagles paused from voraciously devouring the corpses and turned their heads to look at Sungjin when he approached. Their eyes seemed to be asking,

‘What do you want?’

However, Sungjin suddenly glared at them.

‘Flap flap’

The eagles got scared out of its wits and they flew away once they felt Sungjin’s killing intent. Sungjin then approached the heap of corpses. Though you could get used to any odour, it was difficult to really get used to the smell of rotting corpses.

Sungjin wrinkled his nose as he searched through the heap one by one. However, there was something strange about the bodies. Whether it was their pockets or their vests, any place where you could ‘hide something’ had all been searched through.

He did not know if the demons also liked gold or not, but in any case, it did not seem like he would find any kind of ‘holy object’ from these corpses.

Sungjin once again climbed on the carpet and circled the surroundings. There was another similar heap of corpses located not far away. It was about 1.5 meters tall. It seemed that the demons liked to make the piles in a manner that was comfortable to their own height.

Sungjin went closer and once more searched through the pile of corpses. It seemed that the demons had gone through the heap here as well. There was nothing like a ‘holy object’. Besgoro muttered,

‘If it’s like this… When will we find it?’

Sungjin was also thinking the exact same thing. He then requested the cube to repeat the verse once more.

“Operator, tell me the hint for the Hidden Piece again.”

Soon, the verse could be heard from the cube.

[…The holy item is in a righteous human’s chest]

‘A righteous human’s chest…’

Sungjin climbed on the magic carpet and flew just a bit higher into the sky. There were countless piles of corpses like the ones he had seen till now throughout the Barrastan Plains.

“A righteous human…”

He did not know what that meant, but it should refer to a human who was special in some way. It did not seem like the Hidden Piece would be in one of those piles. Sungjin decided to look around some more instead of thoughtlessly looking through the countless corpses.

While going around looking for the ‘righteous human’, he also ran into a few teams of demons. They were the survivors who had scattered in all directions after Commander Zeratar died. In other words, they were deserters.

Sungjin climbed down from the carpet and cut their necks each time he saw them. Not only did it increase his contribution, but it also filled up the health points he had lost while fighting Zeratar.

Another reason was that he was also about to face the Hidden Boss soon. Every time Sungjin drew the demons’ blood, the life stealing ring on his finger would let out an eerie crimson light. It was not a scene you could see often.

This was because, from the beginning, there were not many cases where Sungjin would take damage. Either way, Sungjin went around killing demon stragglers he occasionally found while also making sure to look out for special corpses from time to time. But nothing of the sort could be seen.

“Besgoro, Moon Specter. Do you see anything strange?”

‘There’s nothing other than eagles.’

‘No, I also haven’t seen anything other than eagles as well.’

“Hrm…”

Sungjin frowned. However, there was no particular method that could be used to search beyond this one. He once again circled the Great Plains of Barrastan while on the magic carpet. There was a stream that cut through the center of the plains.

Sungjin searched the area around the stream since the area looked somewhat more special than the other places. He kept flying while following the stream.

While searching near the stream, something peculiar caught his eye. There were bloodstains that were steadily headed towards the stream. Sungjin quickly landed near that area. Now that he looked, there was also the corpse of a horse nearby.

‘Strange.’

Sungjin followed the bloodstains and walked next to the stream. When he did so, he quickly discovered a corpse that had died with his upper torso stuck in the stream.

He did not know if it was ‘righteous’, but in any case, it was obviously a ‘special’ corpse. Sungjin approached the corpse. Besgoro said,

‘This friend here hurt his ankle after he fell off the horse. The fatal wound was… Likely the arrow that’s stuck in his back.’

Sungjin looked down. As Besgoro had said, the corpse’s ankle was twisted.

‘It looks like he had crawled here after he was mortally wounded… But it’s unlikely that it’s because he wanted a drink.’

Sungjin held the corpse and pulled it out of the water.

“Kuuh…”

The smell of regular corpses was repulsive, but it was even worse in this case as the corpse had been in the water. Sungjin looked through his vest. The man, who was wearing a plate armor, looked like he had held a rather high position.

‘Even if he’s not the commander, he looks like the sub-commander?’

Sungjin cut off the plate armor with his sword. Inside, he was wearing clothes made of leather. Sungjin searched through it, but there was nothing to be found.

“Shit…”

He had done this much, but for it to be in vain.

‘Master.’

However, Moon Specter suddenly spoke up,

‘There, inside his chest.’

“Hm?”

At Moon Specter’s words, Sungjin examined the chest of the corpse. Inside the waterlogged chest, there was something giving off a blue light.

“I’m sorry.”

Sungjin gave a short apology, and then cut open the corpse’s chest with Blood Vengeance. He then extended his hand and grabbed the round object that gave off a blue light. It was hard. Sungjin thought,

‘What’s this?’

At that moment, the Operator made an announcement.

[Congratulations! You have obtained the Hidden Piece]
[‘Elendil’s Final Preparation’]

‘Good.’

It seemed that this man had purposefully swallowed this and drowned himself in the river in order to hide it. Sungjin did not know what this was, but in any case, since it was called the last resort, it was undeniably something important. And since the man had even attempted to protect this while he was dying, he was definitely ‘righteous’.

Sungjin took it out and washed off the blood in the flowing water by the streamside. It was a gem. A strange, blue gemstone in which there seemed to be some kind of cloud floating about. A thought came to his mind as he looked at it,

‘This… is some kind of final bastion? But I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere…’

Sungjin, as he had always done, was about to hold it above his head. However, at that moment, the sound of something flying through the sky could be heard.

‘Whiiiiiiiiz!’

Sungjin urgently placed the gem in his pocket and took out his sword. At that instant, a man appeared right in front of him.

‘Thud!’

A beautiful man, approximately 180cm in height, with a long nose, blue eyes, and blonde hair.

Sungjin looked at him.

‘Who’s this?’

Then, the man said,

“Hand that gem to me, human.”

For a ‘human’, to refer to another ‘human’ as ‘human’. This could only mean that the man was something that had taken the shape of a human. Sungjin asked him,

“And if I refuse?”

The man simply replied,

“Then you will die.”

There was absolute confidence in his voice. Sungjin clenched his jaws. This man who had suddenly appeared from the skies was the hidden boss. And if it was as Sungjin had predicted,

“You… Are you a Dragon as well?”

The man nodded in response to Sungjin’s question.

“That’s right. I’m a Dragon. Between you and me, there’s a gap in strength as large as the gap between the earth and the skies. I saw you killing those demons before. You’re obviously a strong human. However, even so, resisting against me is pointless. You understand what I’m saying, right?”

Sungjin quickly began to think.

‘So the Hidden Piece and the Hidden Boss were linked together. If I don’t hand it over, I’ll die…’

Sungjin prepared himself mentally in order to fight the man. However, if he truly was a Dragon, then it was obvious that he would be on the same level as Ariane, if not stronger.

‘A head-on fight is impossible. Then…’

While Sungjin was thinking, the man asked,

“You… Human, that blue ring. Just where did you get that ring?”

Amongst the many rings that Sungjin was wearing, the one the man was pointing to was none other than the ‘Ring of the Great Sage’. The ‘Ring of the Great Sage’ that Ariane had gifted to him. However, now that he looked at it, it had the same gemstone as the circular gem that he held in his hand.

A blue shape with clouds flowing inside of it. It seemed that the Dragon was looking for this gem. While Sungjin was thinking this the dragon again said,,

“Answer me. Just where did you find that ring?”

But, those words struck something inside of Sungjin. Although his mouth had been closed, Sungjin unconsciously opened it and said,

“I received it. From another Dragon.”

“A Dragon?”

“Yes.”

“Hrm… From whom?”

Sungjin kept his mouth shut this time as well. However, the man again repeated himself with a bit of strength,

“Answer me. From whom did you receive the ring?”

Sungjin attempted to keep his mouth closed, but it opened and answered the question.

“Ariane.”

 


Important please read-

No1Oppa here. I’m sure readers realize that the release rate has been slow since July end near for mhk and mchhs. I wanted to address the issue since many readers have been asking about the reason and I think it is your right to know.

Back in July we did more work than we have in any month (I did more all-nighters than I have ever had on any work/project in my 21 years of existence) but it was on the ebook of mchhs.

Summer isn’t kind especially with the kind of heat we face due to all the climate problems, especially for a person suffering from Eczema. Gamjalvl1, who used to translate Master Hunter K before shifting over to Chemistry mid-August and giving it to Rin to complete, has been suffering from this skin condition since he was 3 months old. It’s a disease that causes skin inflammation and his is at a very bad stage where it bleeds from all over his body. It’s a disease which makes living itself painful.

Summer came and Gamja’s health dropped as his skin started coming off from everywhere due to the heat. He lost energy easily, fainted, dehydrated fast. Every summer is a struggle for him to go through not that the other seasons are kind to him, just that summer is even harsher. He couldn’t work and chapters started getting delayed. Rin took over in August but since being new he isn’t fast and so is unable to keep up with schedule+left over releases.

Here’s a Pic he sent me just now on discord of his hand right now at the present. (Don’t worry we won’t show summer bloody photos)

The three translators in our team Gamja(chemistry), NaturalRice(Mchhs) and Rin(Mhk) are all aged 26+. They aren’t college kids with tons of time but individuals with jobs to sustain their livelihood and families to take care of. Gamja is married so apart from working 40h weekly job, taking care of himself, time with wife, he translates and edits with whatever time he has left. He also gets tired, he is human after all.

Some people say we are lazy, we don’t want to work on chapters. All I can say is for ANY content creator in any field, his audience is what that determines his worth. Without you readers, our translations would be meaningless. Releasing at a low release rate only harms us. We gain nothing. In fact, readers drop novels with low release rate. Releasing slow is the last thing we want to do. We want to release more chapters, attract a larger audience not the other way around. But life doesn’t really work out as planned, right?

I never wanted to talk about Gamja’s illness in our 11 months of translating but when I read comments saying ‘lazy’ I honestly get mad. I get angry. And the worst mistake I ever did was not sharing much about ourselves to you readers which made some of you think like this. If we had then it wouldn’t have been so. So I blame myself. I should have been more communicative with you guys and that’s what I will try do from now. Thank you. Peace.

I didn’t want to address this in end chapter note but many have told me that they don’t really read chapter announcement post so I posted it here.

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25 thoughts on “Chapter 155 – Great Plains of Barrastan (6)”

  1. Thanks for the chapter.
    Did we ever know how many more 10-man raid chapter were there left? 2 10-man raid and both of the Hidden Bosses are Dragons, this just make me feel like before the final chapter, Sungjin need to Kill an Ancient Dragon to prove his strength 1st.

  2. I dont really comment usually and never actually commented in this site before but ive been watching and reading this story since chapter 1 i think and i have to say i dont really think you guys are lazy and even with the releases being what they were i still like this story and i like you and your guys work and i sincerely wish to say thank you for being such amazing translators sorry this comment is so long

  3. Thanks for the chapter. Hope Gamja is okay. Those people that called you Lazy should just find something to do with their life while waiting. There are thousands of other novels out there that they can read. No excuses.

  4. Still got the addiction for more Master Hunter K chapters, but It’s totally understandable. Life just happens and we’re all just trying to keep up. Continue doing your thing guys. I, for one, totally appreciate the work you guys are putting in. Hope things get better Gamja. Thanks for Translating, NaturalRice and Rin, & also to the proofreading and editor. Thanks yall.

  5. Do eagles eat corpses? Aren’t those vultures?

    And I’ve never thought that you guys were laxy whatsoever. Even with the work for the Ebook, your release speed is on the high side for translation groups. Your also a pillar for Korean novels being released. I hope this nonsense won’t get to you. Last week some stupid readers made an excellent Korean translator working on The First Hunter and World After the Fall quit.

    1. Yes, eagles eat corpses. Don’t get me wrong, they mostly eat fish but if there’s dead things about, they’ll eat those first. They don’t turn down free food.

  6. Remember, If you haven’t got your health, you haven’t got anything. You all do fantastic work and I’m glad just seeing updates whenever they come out since there are so many That I’ve read that have stopped updating. keep up the great job!

  7. You people are still fast compared to the scenes before web novel translation was a big hit due to novelupdate, it was a time where a chapter could took a few months.
    Thank you for the chapter!

  8. There are always some a******S on the internet who complain no matter what. Most readers appreciate all your hard work. I’ve been reading the novels in this site right from the beginning, and I have no complaints.

  9. It’s a lot easier for someone to accuse another of laziness than it is for them to match output speeds with them. All of your readers who accused you of laziness couldn’t have matched pace as long as you have if they all formed a team and worked together. Half of them would quit in 6 months, and it would take another 6 before they were good enough at korean to do any good.

    I follow all your stuff and I’ve supported you all the way. You’re good 👍

  10. Hey guys. Thanks for the chapters and don’t worry about the haters. We appreciate the communication though. Hope you are well.

  11. 26+ yo interesting ,I would like to meet your guys and know how you are in person

    I think to enjoy a good Novel requieres good criterion so you guys are probably cool.

    The best novels come from this site , the other one I like it’s the tutorial is to hard

    But master hunter k is the most interesting novel I’ve ever read.

  12. Don’t mind people who can only bark on other’s work, but do nothing thamselves.
    Thanks for your hard work. I’m looking forward for new chapters of this novell.
    Also i belive that it was a bad idea – to hide Gamja’s situation, becoz only now we all can wish him health and luck. I’m pretty sure that all or at least most readers grateful to Gamja for his work and wish him good health.

  13. I dont usally comment but after i read tlns i want to thank you for you work team, good job. Im my country there is saying: if its drips, better than its stop. Ty

  14. Is the ring some completed version from the blue stone? , Future? Are this dragons allies?

    He killed the son of Ariane and also he has some dragon slayer title plus some ancient slayer damage plus

    He might have to battle versus him in about raids as well to save his friends…

    But he was able to kill the first dragon raid boss,I don’t think he would really be a menace for K.

    How really powerful is Ariane.. what’s the dragons Role in this events of dimension travel..

    Hope gamja gets better. Cheers

  15. Thank you for the chapter!

    “However, if he truly was a Dragon, then it was obvious that he would be on the same level as Ariane, if not stronger.” This is rather faulty reasoning, since Ariane is far from the weakest dragon. The normal boss of the dragon raid was so much weaker than her that it wasn’t even funning. This hidden boss could be a thousand times weaker than Ariane, but still a more difficult boss than Ariane if he fights seriously.

  16. Since the first time reading all the novels here in oppatrans. i didnt complain when they release the chaps delayed.their giving us a free translated novels and others likes to complain.dude seriously?just comment words of encouragement to the translators. fuck u idiot readers!
    thanks for the chaps

  17. I never post – but you’ve all done good work without expecting compensation. Hope the donation helps and best of luck in all things.

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