34. Base Defense (4)

First, I quickly gathered all the corpses of the people I’d killed in one place and offered them all to the Hunting God.

I couldn’t leave the bodies behind. If corpses remained, someone with psychometry might be able to read the memories from them.

Moreover, even beyond that reason, to gain divine gifts, I needed to offer the bodies of my prey as soon as they became available.

[You have acquired Heart Extraction.]

“Oh.”

After offering all thirty-something corpses, a new divine gift was immediately added.

Heart Extraction. This was probably the ability Oh Haryeong used when she pulled out that club. It was a type of skill that extracted a subordinate’s heart and turned it into a weapon.

“Got all the guns too.”

The corpses struck by the Light Sword had their weapons completely shattered, making them unrecoverable, but the other guys’ weapons remained intact, so I stuffed them all into my inventory.

I didn’t have time to properly inspect the items. I had to quickly store everything in my inventory and leave this place.

‘Alright.’

As a final act, I fired about seven Fireballs into the building to set it ablaze before immediately leaving the scene.

I didn’t want anyone who might come here later to find traces of me.

‘I hope they’ll mistake this for Osung Group’s doing based on the last radio transmission…’

Unless they’re complete idiots, they wouldn’t conclusively blame the Osung Group just based on a dying man’s report. They definitely wouldn’t take it at face value.

Still, if I can cause even a little confusion, that’s a huge win.

If it can be framed as if I belong to some group that benefits from conflict between Osung and Pax Company, with the original goal of driving a wedge between them, that would be perfect.

In reality, I’m just a serial killer blinded by points, but if it looks like there’s some plausible motive behind it, they’ll start overturning every suspicious group first. Meanwhile, I can continue my carefree hunting spree.

Yeah, that’s more than enough.

******

Two men walked into the burned-out building.

“Completely burned to ashes.”

“The smell of smoke is no joke.”

“Yeah.”

The two were Pax Company’s S-rank Hunter Lee Rohan and quasi S-rank Hunter Oh Seong-hoon. They surveyed the scorched scene, analyzing what might have happened when Pax Company’s second squad encountered someone here.

“Hmm… Not even charred corpses remain. Everything’s cleanly vanished.”

“No signs of monsters eating them either. This is literally…”

“We’ll have to assume they evaporated right at this scene.”

This was a site with 32 casualties. Yet, not a single body could be found anywhere.

“As for using psychometry…”

“Since everything’s burned to a crisp, there’s practically no residual memory left on objects. Would’ve been nice if at least some bodies remained.”

“Hmm. It’s such a shame there are no bodies.”

There were no witnesses or CCTV footage either. In a world on the brink of collapse, tracking down a murderer was an extremely difficult task.

Especially when the perpetrator was a superhuman who transcended the category of ordinary people-it made the search even harder.

There was no way to know what abilities they possessed or easily guess how they escaped.

“The fact that the bodies disappeared without a trace bothers me. Could be someone with an inventory.”

“You mean they took the bodies away? But why would they do that…?”

“Who knows. In this small country, the only ones who’d mess around with Awakened corpses would be HP Bio. But they’re busy hunting the poor right now. No reason to mess with our people.”

“Then, based on the last report, is there no possibility it was a Hunter from Osung Group?”

“It’s more likely some unknown villain showed up. Osung has no reason to provoke us at this point. They’d want peaceful cooperation.”

“Then the radio transmission was…”

“Best to consider it enemy deception. Maybe someone who benefits if Osung and we fight? Something like that.”

“Deception. Who stands to gain from this?”

“Who knows? There are plenty who’d benefit if we and Osung fought. It’d be easier to find who wouldn’t benefit.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

Currently, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say Seoul was divided between Osung and Pax Company. Thus, if the two factions fought, most other groups would benefit from the conflict.

“Sigh… So the only clues left at this scene are…”

“The walls slashed as if by a sword.”

“The destruction marks on the walls, looking like they were hacked by a blade, suggest a physical enhancement or martial arts-type ability user?”

“There are too many of those to count. It’s such a shame everything burned down.”

Lee Rohan and Oh Seong-hoon diligently tried to narrow down the culprit, but no one came to mind.

To be precise, too many candidates came to mind, making it impossible to pinpoint any one person.

With no leads or evidence left to find the perpetrator, they had no choice but to wrap up and head back.

With endless incidents like this happening everywhere, there was no time to linger at a site with no remaining traces.

After all, the two were Hunters, not police officers. Specialized investigations couldn’t be expected. And in the current situation, forming a dedicated investigation team wasn’t feasible either.

Since they couldn’t identify the culprit, they simply concluded that there might be at least an A-rank or higher hostile entity in this area.

“Let’s go back.”

“Still feels unsettling.”

“What else can we do? There’s the mass asphyxiation incident up north with 140 victims, the spontaneous human combustion cases… Seoul’s a den of chaos right now.”

“Twenty of our people were sacrificed… Yet we don’t have the manpower or time to investigate…”

“Hey, snap out of it. We’re busy enough keeping the survivors safe. Dealing with monsters coming down from the north is a job too. And we have to clean out that supermarket the demons took over.”

They also had to prepare for a potential second wave that might come at any moment.

This was why most groups were urgently recruiting members now.

Soon, the second wave would plunge the world into even more extreme conditions.

That’s why they had to at least keep Seoul intact. Without proper defenses, this land would become a wasteland.

“Incidents like this will keep happening for a while, so we’ll have to pay more attention to those going on external missions. For now, let’s go back and eat. I’m starving.”

“Yes, sir.”

With that, the two left the building.

They also reported to their superiors that there might be a dangerous individual in this area.

Once they cleared their backlog of tasks, a large-scale search operation would probably begin.

Though no one knew when that would be-work kept piling up in real time.

******

“Huff… Huff…”

I’d roughly escaped the scene. Now I could finally catch my breath.

If I’d left just a little later, I would’ve had to fight Pax’s first squad.

Objectively speaking, in my current state, I’d definitely lose.

I only fought the guys I killed earlier because I had a rough estimate of their strength. Otherwise, I would’ve bailed immediately.

“Let’s see…”

I ducked into an empty building, locked the door, drew the curtains, and sat down to catch my breath.

After killing those thirty people earlier, my level increased by one. Now I’m at Level 20.

“Stats…”

I put one point into Strength. Since I mainly rely on physical combat, I figured I should prioritize raising Strength first.

[Name: Elena]

[Race: Human]

[Level: 20]

[Strength: 15]

[Stamina: 10]

[Perception: 9]

[Willpower: 6]

[Magic Power: 345]

‘I used up magic power like water…’

After using light-attribute magic, I’d nearly exhausted all the magic power I’d saved up over the past day. Still, I got a ton of points, so I’m satisfied.

‘Currently have 1,189 points.’

First, I’ll use this to buy the Fire Meditation Book and reset the general store once.

I immediately purchased the secret manual.

“Done.”

I didn’t have time to read the manual, so I stored it in my inventory right after buying it. Then I reset the general store.

One more reset, and I’ll complete the 3-reset quest.

[Available Items for Purchase]

[1. Frozen Seal Stone]

[Details: A stone sealing something within. Emits cold energy and spreads frost in enclosed spaces.]

[Warning: Must offer one living sacrifice daily, or the seal will break.]

[Price: 2,000P]

[2. Mandrian Seeds]

[Details: Seeds of a root plant often used in alchemy. Contains 10 seeds, with a cultivation manual included.]

[Price: 1,400P]

[3. Purification Emblem]

[Details: An emblem of an unknown clergyman. Purifies contaminated liquids when placed in them.]

[Warning: When it turns black, remove from water and dry in sunlight.]

[Price: 1,000P]

“Damn.”

Item 4 was still locked. But the items that appeared this time felt distinctly different from previous ones.

‘Are these items for building foundations…?’

Until now, most items were skill books that directly strengthened me. But this time, items that could solidify my foundation appeared.

‘The Frozen Seal Stone can turn a room into a freezer… The Mandrian Seeds can be planted and grown for various uses. And the emblem…’

It purifies water for use. When the emblem turns black, you take it out to dry, and it becomes reusable.

‘Most importantly, I can just leave all of these to Number 1 and Number 2…’

I don’t need to manage them myself. For the stone, I just need to periodically offer one hunted creature’s head. For the seeds, I can find a pot, plant them, and have Number 1 take care of them.

The emblem can be checked daily by Number 2, who can dry it periodically.

‘Nice… The problem is the price.’

After buying the secret manual and resetting once, I only have 789 points left.

That’s not enough to buy even the cheapest emblem.

I need more prey. I’m still short on points.