Chapter 42: Burning Up

Chapter 42

As Hwang Yuntaek entered the valley, numerous participants nearby turned to look at him simultaneously. Instinctively feeling a threat to his life from their gazes, Hwang Yuntaek immediately drew his sword.

“Damn… Is there someone here who knows my identity?”

He was worried about having fled alone during his fight with Kim Jinsung earlier. What if there was a defensive soldier who recognized him? Hwang Yuntaek scanned his surroundings nervously.

“It doesn’t seem like anyone’s planning to attack…”

In reality, most of the participants who had turned to look at him quickly refocused on running upstream along the valley. Hwang Yuntaek soon joined the line of participants running along the water at a safe distance.

“Everyone’s prioritizing survival.”

Indeed, fighting here to reduce competitors wouldn’t benefit anyone. Unless someone had food or other supplies worth taking, most of the participants, who were former defensive soldiers, didn’t even have backpacks.

“This means I won’t face any conflict until we reach the mountain ridge.”

Feeling somewhat relieved, Hwang Yuntaek concentrated on running along the valley, keeping a consistent distance from those ahead and behind to avoid any sudden situations.

—

Hwang Yuntaek and the other participants ran diligently without stopping until evening. Thanks to their efforts, they reached the vicinity of the mountain ridge just before the wildfire completely engulfed the forest.

“Phew! Finally, I feel like I can survive.”

Hwang Yuntaek sighed in relief as he stopped his legs after reaching the safe area untouched by the wildfire. Although he had expended a lot of mana and his legs were numb from running all day, he was out of danger. Luckily, he hadn’t had to fight anyone on the way.

“But now…”

Hwang Yuntaek looked ahead. He was at the edge of a cliff, so deep that he couldn’t see the bottom. The participants who had run along the valley with him faced the same predicament.

“How do we cross this?”

Looking at the distant opposite cliff, Hwang Yuntaek felt utterly perplexed. Even top-ranked hunters with superhuman physical abilities couldn’t jump that distance.

“We need to cross quickly to escape the wildfire completely…”

Hwang Yuntaek turned around. The wildfire that had engulfed the forest was rapidly spreading towards the trees near the cliff. At this rate, it would reach the area within an hour. They had to cross the cliff within that time.

“…Huh?”

As he looked to the right, something caught Hwang Yuntaek’s eye. One of the participants was emitting a blue thread-like substance from his palms, which shot towards the opposite cliff at high speed.

“I’ve seen that somewhere before… Ah!”

Hwang Yuntaek suddenly remembered and shouted loudly.

“Mana thread!”

It was the mana thread that had helped many participants safely cross the magic circle while defending the wall in Zone 2. Looking closely, the participant’s face matched that of the one who had been on the wall.

“Mana thread?”

“Is that the guy from the Zone 2 wall?”

Recognizing his identity, a few former defensive soldiers shouted in surprise.

“Damn it!”

Unintentionally drawing attention, the participant quickly climbed onto the mana thread that had just connected. As he sprinted across, the participants near the cliff went into a frenzy.

“We can cross using that!”

“I’m going first!”

“Move aside!”

As the participants rushed towards the mana thread, the first man had already crossed more than half of the cliff. Then it happened.

**Screech!**

A screech similar to that of a pterosaur echoed from above. Everyone looked up. A gigantic black bird with a body as large as a human torso swooped down. Hwang Yuntaek recognized it immediately.

“Black Hashid?!”

The Hashid, commonly known as the “man-eating bird,” dived towards the man who had reached the middle of the mana thread.

“No, don’t!”

The man screamed, but on the thin mana thread, he couldn’t dodge or fight back.

**Snap!**

With a sound of its beak snapping shut, the Hashid grabbed the man and flew high into the sky. The sound of bones crunching and the man’s desperate screams echoed from above.

“Ah!”

“There’s a man-eating bird?!”

Participants looked up in horror, realizing there were more than ten Hashids flying in the sky. This meant all the participants who had tried to cross the mana thread could have been eaten.

“Wow, that was close.”

“Is there a Hashid nest nearby?”

“But now what do we do?”

The participants, feeling hopeless, looked at the opposite cliff. Realizing they couldn’t cross using threads, they had to find another way.

“But there’s no other way, is there? There’s no path below the cliff… Oh?”

Hwang Yuntaek’s eyes widened as he saw a participant’s sudden action. The participant had suddenly jumped off the cliff!

“What?!”

“Is he crazy? Is that a suicide attempt?”

The other participants were equally shocked and exclaimed in disbelief. Suddenly, a roaring sound came from below the cliff, and a massive fireball shot up. Hwang Yuntaek and the other participants were startled.

“What the… Is that a firebomb?”

Thinking the production team might be blowing up the cliff, Hwang Yuntaek was terrified. But on closer look, it wasn’t.

“It’s a bird…?”

It was, in fact, a phoenix completely engulfed in flames, flying leisurely towards the opposite cliff. The unexpected and almost absurd scene left Hwang Yuntaek blinking in surprise. Then a thought crossed his mind.

“Could that participant who fell off the cliff have transformed…?”

**Screech!**

Several Hashids patrolling the sky noticed the phoenix and began to descend rapidly. When three of them reached the phoenix, it flapped its wings forcefully towards the Hashids. The flames enveloping the phoenix transformed into numerous fireballs that shot towards the Hashids.

**Boom! Boom!**

The Hashids hit by the fireballs screamed in pain and fled, while one, completely engulfed in flames, began to plummet to the ground. Free from the threat, the phoenix continued to glide leisurely towards the opposite cliff.

“Wow…!”

“Amazing…!”

“I’m so jealous…!”

As everyone, including Hwang Yuntaek, exclaimed in admiration, the phoenix safely reached the opposite cliff and transformed back into human form.

“I’ll go first!”

Smiling and waving at the participants watching from the opposite side, the person quickly disappeared into the bushes.

—

– Wow…!

– So cool…!

– Shooting dozens of fireballs was awesome, right?

– I want that ability too… Flying has always been my dream…

The viewers who witnessed the scene were equally impressed. The caster, watching the scene on the monitor, raised his voice in excitement.

[Oh, Player Yoon Aram! Using his unique ability ‘Transformation,’ he easily crosses the distant cliffs!]

[He first introduced himself to viewers early this morning. Player Yoon Aram might become more well-known in this program than I initially thought.]

Even the staff in the monitoring room were now focused on Yoon Aram.

“Keep the camera focused on Yoon Aram! Quickly highlight the scene just now and replay his performance from early this morning!”

Following the main PD’s instructions, the staff moved busily. Baek Jun, sitting behind them, watched Yoon Aram on the monitor with satisfaction.

“He’s one of the two new stars we discovered this morning.”

With Kang Minhyuk gone, they needed a new star to fill his place, and Yoon Aram appeared at just the right time. The ability to transform freely into any animal was a skill that could captivate viewers’ attention more quickly than anyone else. Just look at the scene where he transformed into a phoenix. Who wouldn’t be mesmerized by the sight of a large, beautiful bird enveloped in flames?

“He’s more than capable of replacing Kang Minhyuk.”

If Yoon Aram could showcase a few more powerful performances like he did this morning, he could make viewers forget about Kang Minhyuk entirely.

“Stars are created by our production team.”

They consistently capture them on camera, broadcast them on TV for extended periods, have the commentators frequently mention and praise them, and finally, edit highlight videos for YouTube. No participant who went through this process failed to become a star, provided they survived to the end.

[Wait, is that Player Kim Jinsung?]

The commentator’s voice snapped Baek Jun out of his thoughts, and he refocused on the monitor. A man in a fireproof suit was running at high speed towards the cliff through the fiery forest.

“Is that Kim Jinsung?”

[Oh, it really is! Player Kim Jinsung is suddenly sprinting towards the cliff!]

As the caster shouted in surprise, Kim Jinsung quickly reached the cliff. Instead of slowing down, his speed increased.

“Is he planning to jump that distance?”

Baek Jun watched Kim Jinsung on the monitor with a sense of disbelief.

—

“…What?”

Sensing movement behind him, Hwang Yuntaek turned his head. A man in a fireproof suit was sprinting towards the cliff at full speed.

“Who the hell is this guy?!”

Startled, Hwang Yuntaek moved aside. The man in the fireproof suit, running as if he intended to leap across the cliff, suddenly stopped at the edge and hurled a large rock, slightly bigger than his head, towards the cliff. At the same time, the man disappeared from the participants’ view.

“Huh? Wait a minute.”

The scene was eerily familiar to Hwang Yuntaek, as if the man had vanished into the ground… Could it be?

“Isn’t that the guy who was hiding in the shadows yesterday?!”

Just as Hwang Yuntaek realized Kim Jinsung’s identity, the rock, following a parabolic trajectory, hit a spot about 30 meters away from the cliff.

“…What?”

“What’s going on?!”

The participants’ eyes widened in disbelief. Kim Jinsung, who had vanished, suddenly reappeared, clinging to the cliff where the rock had struck. Seeing Kim Jinsung hanging there, Hwang Yuntaek thought to himself.

“He crossed using the shadow!”

Knowing his ability, Hwang Yuntaek understood the situation perfectly. The rock Kim Jinsung had thrown was large enough to cast a shadow big enough for a person to hide in. He must have hidden in the shadow immediately after throwing the rock and moved with it to the cliff.

Hwang Yuntaek’s guess was accurate.

“Great, the plan worked!”

Clinging to the cliff, Kim Jinsung cheered. Using the ‘Shadow Hiding’ skill to move to the cliff, he then used the ‘Wall Climbing’ skill to stick to the cliff.

“Now I just need to climb up the cliff…”

**Screech!**

“…Huh?”

Hearing a screech from above, Kim Jinsung looked up. Two man-eating birds, Hashids, were diving straight towards him.

—

TLN: hellooo everyone luky here to promote my newest translation – The Sword Emperor Reincarnated in the Sword Family – as the name suggest our mc is murim swordsman reincarnated in a family known to produce the strongest sowrdsmen for generations seeking to fix his shortcomings using the enlightenment before his death / wanting to uncover the secrets to this familys strength he set on the path of the sword to become stronger than he ever was in this new world .

i kind of have a thing for murim but them novels translation is kind of hard to do so this was kind of perfect for me :3 this novel has 300 chapters ill be posting 20 this week and than 10ch/week maybe till ch100 and than well see

if you are intrested check it out and give it rating on Novelupdates that would help alot if this gets in the top 50 this month on Novelupdates ill be posting 5 bonus chaps on EBEG/ASV/MDH as a thank you :3 I hope you enjoy the read if you like it and if you dont I hope you would enjoy my future translations of other novels or the existing ones thank you for your support and see you soon ^^