Record of a Thousand Lives

Chapter 3

The crescent moon was blue in this world, unlike back on Earth, and the sounds of insects buzzing could be heard as dawn approached.

Hwang Yong-Ho put together an elite team as the light within the smithy started to slowly dissipate. Although they were planning an ambush, it was impossible for all twenty of them to fit inside the small, shabby smithy. Thus, the ones with combat weapons and the ones confident in their physical ability were assigned to the team.

The plan was to let the elite team enter the smithy first and capture the man, and then the rest of the people would join in on the hunt. The team was composed of Hwang Yong-Ho and eight other men.

Hwang Yong-Ho, equipped with the ‘Spear of Intensity’, stood beside the wooden door of the smithy. He raised his finger to his lips, signaling to the others to be quiet. He instructed them, “Although the enemy is alone, it’s also our first hunt. We should stay calm and quickly finish this.”

The other men nervously nodded in agreement. Their nervousness came from the fact that this would be their first murder, and the success or failure of the hunt was irrelevant. After all, there were eight of them, and the enemy was just one lone man.

Hwang Yong-Ho carefully opened the door of the smithy and quickly dashed inside with speed that was the exact opposite of his previous caution. The other men quickly followed after him.

The interior of the smithy was partly illuminated by moonlight that slipped through gaps in the window shutter; it mixed with the ashes in the cold furnace and gave off an eerie atmosphere. The tools of a blacksmith, along with shards of various minerals, lay scattered—a sign that the smithy had been abandoned for a long time.

Hwang Yong-Ho pressed the green icon on his wrist device, and the flashlight function turned on to shine a dim light on the surroundings. He and his group started to shine the light on various spots in the smithy, and they started to search around inside, even opening the cupboards to check inside them. However, the man could not be found anywhere inside the smithy.

“Do you think he ran away?” one of the men asked quietly.

Hwang Yong-Ho just shook his head and replied, “Let’s search for a bit more. The light was on inside the smithy just until a while ago; he couldn't have managed to escape that fast.”

“Aargh!“

A scream suddenly emerged from one part of the smithy, and the men immediately shone their flashlights in that direction. One man, who had been alive and well just moments before, was lying dead on the floor with his neck cut.

“W-What happened…?” one of the men exclaimed as he backpedaled in surprise. At that moment, he felt something cold slide across his neck. In that split second, he realized that a large hole had opened in his neck.

Psshhk!

“G… Gasp…!” Blood started to spurt out of the second man’s neck, and he fell dead to the ground.

The remaining men were flustered and gripped their weapons tightly.

“What the hell happened?! Damn it!”

“Th… They were killed in an instant!”

The men wildly swung their flashlights around, but all that could be seen was the reflection of the light on the pool of blood, and not even a shadow of the killer could be seen.

At that moment…

Thump-bang!

The door of the smithy, that had been wide open, suddenly shut tight as if to tell them that no one would be leaving this place alive. The men were startled to the point of panic. One wildly swung his weapon around, while another tried to hide in the corner.

“Everyone, calm down! Nothing will happen if we panic now!” Hwang Yong-Ho shouted loudly, but even he couldn’t hide the fact that he was panicking.

The killer had killed two men in this darkness without making a single sound. That meant they had not even a bit of hesitation to commit murder.

“Aaaargh!”

Another scream rang out. When they shone their flashlights toward the source of the scream, all they could see was a corpse with its heart pierced. The remaining men’s faces turned ghastly pale, and one of the fear-stricken men started to scream, “I-I’m gonna run away! We have to run away!”

The sounds of the man running toward the door faded after some time, and the remaining men were now scared of even shining their flashlights in his direction. However, Hwang Yong-Ho gathered his resolve and shone his flashlight on the spot; it revealed a corpse with its neck punctured, lying on the floor face-down.

“Aaaah!”

“Gaaah!”

“Aaargh!”

The sound of three men screaming at once filled the room, as the killer began to murder them more quickly. At last, there were seven dead, and only Hwang Yong-Ho was left. The thought of being the only one alive, and the thought of dying, only enhanced his terror.

Hwang Yong-Ho slammed his spear down on the table and shouted, “Who are you?! Show yourself!”

He suddenly felt something sinister behind him; although it was a weak feeling, he decided to trust his instincts. He spun around and thrust his spear forward, and he felt it collide with something hard.

Clang!

Light shone from the enemy’s sword as their blades clashed. Hwang Yong-Ho squinted at the bright light, but he couldn’t properly see his enemy. The figure had short hair, white skin that could more aptly be described as pallid, and an expressionless face that resembled a mask; he barely looked to be in his early twenties. It was the man that had been staying alone in the smithy. Those were the only things Hwang Yong-Ho could grasp in that short moment, and he could no longer see or think after that.

“Heup!” Hwang Yong-Ho received a long cut on his cheek that exposed his white teeth. He dropped his spear and staggered backward due to the intense pain.

The middle-aged man grasped his blood-soaked cheek with trembling hands, and his whole body trembled as well. It was as if he were going up against a ghost. Nothing about the killer felt human; his slashes were void of hesitation, and his movement was smooth with no wasted motions.

“Who…?!” The very moment Hwang Yong-Ho opened his mouth while trembling, he heard a hoarse voice coming from within the darkness.

“Who are you? Who the hell are you?”

Hwang Yong-Ho was surprised. They were the exact words he had been about to say. Was it just a coincidence? He was greatly surprised and slowly started to stagger backward. The sound of his footsteps filled the room, and then the killer started to walk toward him.

“D-don’t…!” he stuttered.

“Don’t kill me! I haven’t done anything wrong. Killing me is murder; don’t you have any conscience?” the killer continued, once again preempting Hwang Yong-Ho’s words.

“H-how…?!”

“How did you know what I was about to say??Damn. What the hell are you?”

Hwang Yong-Ho felt goosebumps all over his body. The man was saying the words he had been about to say before he could say them. How was this possible? Could the man in front of him read his mind?

Even before Hwang Yong-Ho could finish his train of thought, the bone-chilling voice spoke again. “I’m sick of this. I’m sick of listening to your last words.”

The man’s?sword?struck down from above.

.

Swish!

Hwang Yong-Ho died in a fountain of blood, and Kang Yoon-Soo slowly retrieved his longsword. He picked up the cloth on a nearby table and started to wipe down the bloodstains, then started to collect any useful loot from the dead bodies.

He did not even have to turn his flashlight on; he knew where everything was even without looking. After he collected the loot, the device flashed a message each time he equipped an item.

[Spear of Intensity]

Rating: Normal

Attack Power: 9

The speartip will heat up if it comes into contact with something combustible.

[Power Gauntlet]

Rating: Normal

Attack Power: 10

Attack power will increase when equipped.

[Black Iron Dagger]

Rating: Normal

Throwing Power: 4

There is a small chance to disrupt the enemy’s vision upon a hit.

[You have killed eight humans. Your notoriety will not increase, as it was in self-defense. You may be punished if your notoriety increases and you are caught by an inspector.]

[Experience points gained have been greatly increased due to the synergy of assassination and homicide skills. You have gained additional experience points. Your level has increased by 12.]

Kang Yoon-Soo checked his status window.

Kang Yoon-Soo

Level: 13

[Strength]: 1

[Tenacity]: 1

[Vision]: 1

[Sensitivity]: 1

Remaining Points: 12

One stat point was given for every level increase, and all his stats were currently at 1. Just because his stats were at 1 didn’t mean his vision was bad or that his senses were dull, however. The stats only gave a boost to the person’s current ability. Someone who innately had high tenacity without putting points into their tenacity stat would also start from 1.

Kang Yoon-Soo increased his strength by 12. He then buried the tip of the ‘Spear of Intensity’ in the furnace. As soon as the speartip hit the ashes, the furnace started to heat up. The cold furnace suddenly turned bright red, and red smoke could be seen rising from it.

As soon as Kang Yoon-Soo exited the smithy, one of the people waiting outside looked at him in surprise.

“What? What happened to the people who just went inside?”

“Why is it that man who came out? Bleurgh… This smell… Isn’t this the smell of blood?”

“They’re dead! The men who entered the smithy are all dead!”

The survivors looked at him?with?horror-stricken expressions, but Kang Yoon-Soo just maintained his cold, expressionless gaze.

A rough-looking man holding a dagger suddenly blocked his path. “That equipment belonged to the men who entered the smithy. You killed them, didn’t you?” he asked while greedily looking at the equipment Kang Yoon-Soo had taken from the dead. He was an evil man who cared more about the equipment his comrades had left behind than their deaths. He demanded, “Hand them over. Those belonged to our comrades. You aren’t planning on stealing them like a thief, are you? I’ll kill you if you don’t hand them over right now.”

Kang Yoon-Soo looked at them with eyes void of life. These people would give up on being human for the sake of survival. These people would join the worst criminal clan, the Black Tigers; their leader Hwang Yong-Ho would have massacred numerous people as the Vanguard Captain of the Black Tigers.

He had experienced numerous near-death encounters because of them, and he spoke as he looked at them. “You will all die in twenty seconds.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” asked the man.

“Those will be your last words,” Kang Yoon-Soo said as he started walking toward them.

While they were confused, they suddenly heard a sound that resembled a thunderclap from behind.

“Crovit! Absalon!”

Crash!

The man standing farthest toward the rear suddenly became a bloody mess, and a monster holding a large warhammer looked down at the corpse while growling. It was a monster with the head of a bull and bulging muscles—a minotaur.

The monster that would create numerous victims on the first day alone had been drawn by the scent of blood. The survivors did not even have time to let out screams as the minotaur swung its warhammer like a storm, and they were all ground to a pulp like slabs of meat.

Kang Yoon-Soo had safely positioned himself away from the trajectory of the warhammer, however. He held his longsword in his right hand and the spear in his left as he aimed for the minotaur, steadying his breathing, his balance, and his rhythm. It was normally impossible for anyone to use both a longsword and a spear in both hands. However, such logic did not apply to Kang Yoon-Soo.

There was a great difference in levels between the two; the minotaur was a Level 47 monster, while Kang Yoon-Soo was only Level 13. It was crazy to even think about winning against the monster. At that moment, the minotaur snorted out a heavy breath from its nose and swung its warhammer down onto the ground.

“Krunta!?Marugot! Kiris!”?roared the minotaur. It meant, “I have satisfied my hunt for today; it is fine for the weakling to run.”

Kang Yoon-Soo stared at the minotaur and said in its language,?“Amak. Okkonol. Karu.”?It meant, “You will die by my hands.”

“Krr…uuuuuwaaaa!”?The enraged minotaur raised its hammer high.