WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Ryuu

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DAMNED 13TH REGRESSION

Chapter 4: Time to Start Killing Some People

‘Motherless and fatherless bastard.’

That was his thought towards Joo Gong-hyeok, who had taken all the rewards from the Minotaur.

On a road 4km away from Saerom Children's Home, where Gong-hyeok resided, five hunters wearing masks and heavily armed were heading towards the children's home.

"Hyung, that guy just slaughtered a Minotaur all by himself. Are we really okay doing this?"

"If we catch him off guard, it doesn't matter how strong he is. A surprise hit with a pickaxe to the back of the neck is all it takes. Plus..."

The leader glanced at one of his subordinates following behind.

"We have a secret weapon that'll finish him in one hit."

"Just leave it to me, hyung. Even a Hunter's dad couldn't stand against this."

The subordinate patted his waist confidently.

"By the way, that Yeon-si girl looked tasty."

"Hehe, we should take her and have some fun."

"Man, I've heard she's better than wild ginseng. Kekeke, no high school anymore though."

"Should we bet how many toes we have to cut before she bites her tongue? Phewhew."

While the others were engaged in lewd talk, a confidant quietly asked the leader.

"If we devour her avatar, too, your avatar will go up a grade, right? Can I devour that Joo what's-his-name's avatar?"

"Hehe, don't be silly. Not just any avatar can be devoured. Only those with beast-like or devouring-type avatars like me and Tae-hun can."

They were the infamous Hunter killers of Seoul. Their goal was ‘Avatar Devouring.’

The rumored 'Avatar Devouring' meant absorbing another hunter's avatar. There were a few conditions, though.

First, avatars capable of devouring usually took the form of beasts or monsters.

Second, the victim had to agree to hand over their avatar before dying.

There were rumors that in the U.S., hunters had successfully created a hunter with three avatars by this method, but that was irrelevant to them.

Right now, what mattered was becoming stronger by devouring the avatars of powerful hunters.

Hunters were taken to Babel, the Final Dungeon, based on their total stat sum and strength.

It had been five months since the 6th mass summoning, and soon, it would be time for the 7th.

They must become as strong as possible by any means necessary before going to Babel.

For better or worse, they ambushed and kidnapped hunters with high-ranking avatars, forcibly taking them.

This involved brutal torture and their devilish hobbies. It was better to die than endure such cruelty.

Of course, that was the point - to make them give up on life and hand over their avatars.

The gang leader was slightly excited.

'Those two brats must have S-class avatars at least. From healing the shattered leg to killing a boss monster with titles. If I devour those two, my avatar will surely rise to B-class.'

His avatar's color became darker and its appearance more grotesque with each avatar devoured, but he didn't care. As long as it was powerful, appearances didn't matter.

Being powerful was essential to survive in Babel.

Thinking about devouring two S-class avatars, the leader smirked until he heard a chilling sound from behind.

Whoosh

"What? Whaaat?"

It was a kitchen knife. A kitchen knife had been stabbed into him.

The subordinate hunter, struck in the stomach by the kitchen knife, panicked, not knowing what to do.

It was Gong-hyeok's ambush, waiting in the roadside bushes.

A kitchen knife sliced through armor into his flesh.

The feeling of tearing through human soft tissue with a metal intruder was sensed.

‘Monsters are wrapped in muscles, giving a satisfying feel. Humans, not so much.’

Gong-hyeok twisted and stirred the knife inside, making a sharp sound.

"Aaarghhhhhhh!"

The hunter screamed. Gong-hyeok, having pulled out a knife and tool from the hunter's waist, deflected an incoming axe attack.

"You motherfucker, where did you pop out from?"

As the knife met the axe, the hunter pushed, trying to overpower Gong-hyeok.

‘Such brute strength.’

Gong-hyeok's strength was a mere 16[F], while the axe-wielding hunter must be at least 20[F].

With his leg still recovering from the afternoon injury and lacking in a strength contest...

"Do you see me as a monster?"

Standing head-on in a strength contest is what a tutorial Orc would do.

Gong-hyeok slid the knife along the axe’s handle, aiming for the fingers gripping it.

"Ugh! Aaaagh!"

The axe hunter's index and middle fingers dropped. Gong-hyeok contemplated finishing him off but was attacked by two others from each side.

A metal club like a baseball bat and a sharp katana strike.

However, Gong-hyeok naturally ducked, and the club and katana missed their mark.

Rising with a swift spin, Gong-hyeok attacked, causing three hunters, including the axe-wielder, to clutch their knees and stomachs, and retreat.

"Shit, this guy's too strong! Dangerous!"

"What the hell is this monster? Dodges all our attacks and hits us every time!"

Having injured four hunters in an instant, the leader, excluding himself, glared at Gong-hyeok.

Despite his limp, Gong-hyeok, armed with a stolen knife, was smiling.

The sight of Gong-hyeok enjoying cutting people caused the murderous leader to be certain something was very wrong.

"What are you? Why are you here?"

"Same question to you. Why are you here? Like shit-seeking flies."

"Damn it! Seong-jae! What are you doing with that thing, kill him!"

The leader shouted at the first hunter Gong-hyeok had stabbed with the kitchen knife.

However, that hunter had already turned pale long ago.

"Oh, it's gone. It's gone!"

"What!? What are you saying, you idiot! Find it properly and quickly!"

The leader angrily yelled, frantically searching his body without tending to his bleeding abdomen.

But it was gone. The secret weapon he had confidently brought was nowhere to be found.

"Guys, what are you looking for? Something like this?"

Joo Gong-hyeok pulled out a small black object.

The masked hunters froze.

The object Gong-hyeok took while stabbing the first hunter with the kitchen knife.

A black handgun.

"Huh? Is this something special? It's useless in the dungeon, right?"

Modern weapons don't work against monsters.

But against hunters, it's a different story.

With average abilities in the 20s and 30s, they were on par with elite athletes or special forces.

The danger of a gun to such hunters was incomparable to a monster's primitive weaponry.

"Why so serious, guys?"

"Damn it, everyone scatter!"

The leader shouted frantically, and the killers, seeing the gun, either lied down or turned their backs to flee.

Gong-hyeok skillfully aimed the handgun.

[The skill ‘Martial Arts Expert’ (S++) activates.]

Skill correction and combat experience shine in instances like this, allowing for precise shooting instantly.

The muzzle flashed.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Hahahahahahaha!"

Fifteen gunshots filled the night road.

"Cough, cough."

"Help... me...."

After a bout of frenzied shooting, pitiful victims lay bleeding and fallen.

Gong-hyeok shouted with excitement.

"Good, good. You all have guts. Any more bastards want to try? If hunters who hunt ghosts make such a dying noise, they should be stripped of their hunter badges."

The hunter who lost his fingers to the axe struggled to stand.

"Avatar Ungoliant! Kill that crazy bastard...."

A giant spider from mythological tales, with sharp, pillar-like eight legs, lunged forward.

'That's right. This is how I can develop my skills.'

As the dangerous legs swoop in, Gong-hyeok’s Observer hovers behind him.

[2nd Ability <Predict> activated.]

Observer's calculations came into play.

Numerical information like the speed and power of the attack flowed into Gong-hyeok. He then fed his trajectory predictions back to Observer based on his skills and experience.

The fusion of Observer's calculations and Gong-hyeok’s experience created a new skill.

[A new Unique S-class skill, ‘Predictive Path’, has been discovered.]

All facts that can be predicted were appropriately displayed in my field of vision.

Circular rings appeared on the incoming legs, indicating an attack capture. It also displayed the time it took to reach the body.

[Left leg 1, hit to right arm in 2 seconds. Expected damage, amputation of right arm.

Left leg 2, will pass left side of head in 4 seconds.

Left leg 3, hit to left thigh in 1 second. Expected damage, excessive bleeding and inability to walk.

…]

With the predicted trajectory drawn, Gong-hyeok lightly dived forward, evading the legs’ path.

Crack, crack, crack

The eight sharp spider legs only scraped the innocent asphalt road.

The hunter with the axe, foaming at the mouth, appeared. The spider avatar's attack ended, and he prepared for a final blow.

Gong-hyeok punched straight into his astonished face.

COUNTER ATTACK!

A punch launched while diving triggerred a counter notification from Observer.

The axe hunter collapsed with his face caved in.

Gong-hyeok then approached the leader, who was trembling and lying on the ground.

“If you wanted to kill me, you should have done it on the spot. Though there were many eyes watching. Maybe they would have helped you for the sake of the coins?”

"I'm sorry, so sorry! I overstepped my bounds, please forgive me this once!"

The leader, shot several times in the back, begged pathetically.

But not a single bullet had penetrated him properly.

The leader of the Bronze Giant Assault Party, Park Jun-tae.

That afternoon, when Sang-min was furious about the skill coin, he had intervened with kind words and distributed the coins fairly.

And he was the leader of these nighttime murderers.

"So you're Park Jun-tae, the Bronze Giant Colossus. Using the ‘Bronzification ability’, bullets don't affect you, right?"

The problem is, while turning hard like bronze, he can't move, making him an easy target for the Minotaur.

"You planned to frame Sang-min, right? After killing me and Yeon-si."

"Hehe, how could I do that? I was just on my way to a dungeon near Seongnam, I had no intention of harming you..."

"Stop bullshitting, kid."

Bang!

"Aaaaaaah!"

A bullet hits Park Jun-tae's eye, bounced off his bronzed skull, and lodged into the ground.

"Ugh! Aaagh! Aaagh!"

His eye burst out and the bullet impact reached inside the skull, causing excruciating pain.

Gong-hyeok calmly lit a Camel cigarette. The smell of gunpowder and tobacco smoke mixed, creating a strange aroma.

Holding the cigarette in one hand, Gong-hyeok grabbed the leader's hair with the other and repeatedly smashed his head into the asphalt.

"I already knew who you were. A bottom rung of the secret society 'Giants', the serial Hunter killer, Bronze Giant Colossus, Park Jun-tae."

"How do you know about 'Giants'...?"

"Yeah, you don't need to know. It's just my avatar's ability."

He brought the lit cigarette towards Park Jun-tae's remaining eye.

"No! No! Please, please don't! I was wrong! Sir! I'll do anything! I'll live righteously! Please!"

"Yeah, live righteously? Bullshit."

Gong-hyeok mercilessly pressed the cigarette into the already burst eye.

"Aaaaah!"

"Tell the 'Giants' who went up to Babel first," Gong-hyeok commanded Jun-tae.

"Yes, I will pass it on!" Jun-tae responded.

Gong-hyeok continued, "While I don't mind a villain who uses demons as they please, selling one's soul for a pittance is a pathetically miserable end. The so-called saviors usually detest petty and cowardly individuals."

"Really?" Jun-tae asked, bewildered.

"You're questioning me now?" Gong-hyeok fired two more shots.

Bang! Bang!

Two holes were punctured in the back of Jun-tae's knees, where his bronzing was incomplete.

"Ugh!"

"Let's repeat. What do you think of two bullets?"

"Ah, a villain who uses demons as they please──"

"Good. That's the spirit."

Gong-hyeok, who had been crouching in front of Jun-tae, standed up and aimed his gun.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Click, click.

"Ah, out of bullets."

[You have eradicated the rumored serial killer hunters.]

[You have eliminated hunters 'Park Jun-tae', 'Yang Hyung-in', 'Park Sung-jae', 'Jang Tae-hun', 'Min Jung-yeong'.]

[You have achieved the ‘Fight of Destiny (1)’ achievement 6/3, exceeding it twofold.]

[You receive 50 violet coins.]

[For exceeding the achievement, you receive one blue coin.]

[You have acquired the title 'A Duelist between Life and Death'.]

After ensuring the remaining four are dead, Gong-hyeok tossed the empty gun aside and collected items from the fallen hunters.

Items like the Brave Orc's Steel Bat, the Japanese Sword Maigarou 4, the Root-Splitting Axe, and various defensive and auxiliary items.

"These will be handy until the 7th mass summoning in a few days."

"In three days, there's the 7th mass summoning. But they'll probably find you the day before. Then, pour all the collected coins into healing. Put all these corpses in your inventory. If I come back later and they're not cleared, I'll kill you on the spot."

"Sir, how do you know the date of the 7th mass summoning?"

"Yeah, if you ask, you'll die."

"…"

"Let's meet in Babel later, Jun-tae. Keep rubbing up against the organization members until then."

Leaving the defeated Jun-tae, Gong-hyeok smoked his cigarette and trudged back to the orphanage.

Despite the gunfire, the orphanage was still peacefully asleep. Gong-hyeok entered with a bitter smile.

He threw his blood-stained clothes into the incinerator. After a cold shower, he came out in light clothes.

Ha Yeon-si, who had a blanket over her earlier, was sleep-talking, drenched in drool.

"Chocolate muffins, delicious. Tiramisu, delicious. Chocolate country, I love it."

Gong-hyeok sat next to her, gazing at her neat face.

He calmly reflected on Ha Yeon-si's death.

'I killed her twice with my own hands, left her to die five times...'

And the other six times were tragic, unavoidable deaths.

Joo Gong-hyeok remembered the many things he experienced climbing the Tower of Babel 13 times.

The Demon King Bel-Marduk with the ability to erase avatars, the 'Annihilation'.

His powerful underlings, the Four Heavenly Kings and Thousand Knights.

Brilliant heroes who risked their lives against them.

And the hideous traitors who sold their souls to demons in madness.

'I'm tired. So tired.'

How long must he continue this madness with his own hands?

Gong-hyeok, with his worn-out soul, was lost in thought.

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