Survival Story of a Sword King in a Fantasy World
Chapter 53

Newbie’s Appearance (3)

At the Guild Hall of the Dungeon City of Highten, a young, black-haired man appeared in the reception area.

Several Beginner Hunters had gathered in there for different reasons.

The young man’s eyes gleamed as he looked around.

“Is this the right place?”

The boy standing behind the reception desk greeted him with a smile.

“Welcome to Highten’s Hunter Guild. My name is Newk, the guild receptionist.”

“My name is Ras’al Grield, from Lopalt, a small fishing village in the southern part of the continent.”

The young man, Zhang Luxin, calmly recited the profile he had prepared in advance.

“I came because I wanted to be a Hunter.”

After saying that, the situation started to feel strange.

Newk’s expression visibly stiffened. His eyes had become wary of the young man.

“Is this your first time joining a Hunter Guild?”

“Yes.”

“And you are from… A small fishing village in the southern part of the kingdom?”

The other Hunters gathered in the reception area had begun to show signs of nervousness as well.

Zhang Luxin was confused.

He followed the Guidelines faithfully.

The Hunters weren’t supposed to be doubting him.

‘What’s wrong with these guys?’

Newk was starting to be convinced.

‘Could he be?’

He had been trained to find out the aliens, but he didn’t really expect one to appear during his shift.

Not wanting to jump to conclusions, Newk continued with the procedure, his voice trembling.

“M-may I measure your skills as part of the Guild’s requirements, Mr. Ras’al?”

Zhang Luxin put his hand on the measuring stone.

[Occupation: Swordsman. Lv. 21]

By the time he got out of Jéren Ratna, he was already Level 20, but he gained one more level due to the monsters he killed on the way to the city.

“His level…”

“21!”

The moment Zhang Luxin’s level was revealed, several Hunters frantically stood up.

They seemed prepared to launch an attack.

Nervous, Zhang Luxin held onto the hilt of his sheathed sword tightly.

‘Something’s wrong!’

But he didn’t know what the problem was.

What’s wrong with level 21? His level was similar to those of the people present at that moment.

Newk beckoned at the Hunters to stop.

‘Not yet.’

Although he had already displayed multiple suspicious behaviors, he was yet to meet the final condition.

“Ras’al Grield, Swordsman Lv. 21. Personal information confirmed. Please wait a moment as I prepare your official ID. The guild registration fee is 300x.”

Zhang Luxin was relieved.

‘Is it because I don’t look like I have any money?’

If so, there was no problem.

He rummaged through his wallet and, arrogantly, took out a gold coin, tossing it onto the desk.

“Here you go. I will accept change in silver coins.”

It was a gold coin.

A shiny gold coin.

It was a super expensive gold coin that no one in their right mind would ever take out at such a place!

Newk quickly hid under the reception desk and screamed.

“He’s an Alien!”

As if they had been waiting for that, all the Hunters in the room immediately went on the offensive.

“Attack!”

“Catch him!”

Zhan Lixin began to panic.

“Why? How come?”

Fortunately, there were only Beginner Hunters at the Guild Hall at that time.

The Advanced Hunters already came to the Guild Hall early in the morning.

Without anyone more extremely powerful than him, Zhang Luxin could barely escape the guild house, but he couldn’t get out of Highten.

A network of search parties had been deployed across the city to find him.

The Mages Guild immediately sealed the gates and closely monitored everyone who was coming and going.

The Hunter Guild organized squads and scoured the entirety of Highten.

He was forced to disguise himself as a beggar as he kept running away, choosing a few places to hide, but he was discovered several times, forcing him to engage in battle.

“Fuck…”

Squatting down like a rat in a dirty back alley, Zhang Luxin ate a stolen bread.

The filthy smell of the place surrounded him, causing him to feel even more miserable.

Feeling as if he had been treated unjustly, he gritted his teeth.

“Why did this happen? I’m sure I did everything it told me to do.”

* * *

“A Level 21 Swordsman… He must be an Earthling who has just fallen to Latna.”

Ryu Han-bin’s eyes shone as he organized the information he heard from the hunters on the road.

It was an excellent opportunity to obtain information on Suitors with standard Guidelines.

At level 21, he would be weaker than Effir, not to mention Han-bin. He was going to be easy to capture.

Artis also nodded in agreement.

“We have to move fast before the other hunters find him.”

Anyone who could capture and hand over an Alien to the Six Churches would receive vast sums of money as a reward.

Many hunters were already searching all over the city.

Han-bin and his party went straight to Highten’s Hunter Guild.

They heard that the Alien fought inside the Guild Hall upon appearing.

There was a high possibility that their blood or any other body part would remain.

“I’d be able to use the Tracking function afterward.”

As they walked, Artis asked Han-bin a question quietly.

“After getting information, what are you going to do with the Alien? Are you going to befriend them?”

“I’ll decide after we meet the person.”

According to Han-bin’s hypothesis, other Earthlings were likely to have been brainwashed by the Devil.

Even if they weren’t, it was dangerous to befriend them blindly.

However, it didn’t mean that he would extract all the information he could and just hand him over to the church.

“I can at least give him a way out of Highten, depending on what kind of person he is.”

They arrived at the Guild Hall a few minutes later.

The receptionist, Newk, was cleaning up the mess inside the first-floor hall.

Several wounded Hunters were also resting inside.

Artis shouted at the Hunters.

“Is there anybody with alien blood on their weapons? I will pay handsomely.”

One of the hunters asked, puzzled.

“The blood of the Alien? Why are you looking for it?”

He couldn’t tell them that they were going to use it to track him down.

Tracing was a skill that could be only be learned by Spiritists level 60 or higher.

He already had an excuse in mind.

“Aliens are good research subjects in more ways than one.”

It was customary in the Latna Continent for Mages to study all sorts of things that piqued their interest, no matter how random.

The excuse to study Alien’s blood sounded natural enough.

One of the Hunters pulled out his sword.

“I managed to cut the Alien’s arm. There must be some blood still on the blade.”

After being handed a long sword with dark red blood, Artis paid for it.

The beginner Hunter had a joyful expression.

“I’m pretty lucky too. To think I was just envying the Dennis guy.”

“Dennis? What do you mean?”

“He also sold Alien’s blood. A few hours ago.”

Apparently, a woman in her 20s with brown hair also bought a blade with blood on it.

Ryu Han-bin and Artis looked at each other with strange expressions.

‘What?’

‘Is there really a Mage trying to study Alien blood?’

* * *

At the back alleys of Highten, where the evening glow thickened in the reddened darkness, Zhang Luxin unsheathed his scimitar and activated his skill.

-Wind Rush!

Two strikes were delivered towards the opponent.

However, the opponent easily deflected his attack with a war hammer.

“It’s useless, Alien!”

At the same time, his enemy swung the hammer at him while narrowing the distance with elaborate footwork.

Baam!

The tip of the hammer brushed slightly over the armor worn by the Zhang Luxin.

That alone was a considerably powerful blow.

Shocked, he stepped back and gasped for breath.

“Huh, huh…”

He wasn’t a match for his opponent.

He had already utilized the Wind Rush skill several times, but he couldn’t touch him.

His opponent was a level 36 Fighter.

Zhan Luxin had no chance of winning at only Level 21.

Nevertheless, he still managed to hold on because his opponent wasn’t swinging with full force. He was to be captured alive, not dead.

‘The bounty is my mine.’

Martin Lacus felt delighted as he recalled the colossal prize money hanging on the Alien’s neck.

Zhang Luxin tried to escape instead of fighting back.

“You can’t run!”

Laughing, Martin lifted the battle hammer.

He then shouted out a chant.

“Hurricane Flare!”

Flutters!

A wall of flames blocked Zhang Luxin’s path.

Surprised, he looked back.

‘How can a warrior use magic?’

Only then did he worry about the weapon which his opponent held.

Jang Luxin activated the Guideline’s Search function.

[Firestorm Hammer (Artifact)

The user gains the ability to activate Hurricane Flare, a level 35 magic spell, upon wielding this hammer.

Terms of use: Lv. 35. Range, 33 meters. Usage limitation: 4/5 times a day.]

It was common knowledge to check an opponent’s weapons before the battle, but he forgot about it, resulting in his confusion.

Martin strolled toward Zhang Luxin.

“This battle hammer is amazing.”

With the powerful artifact that he got thanks to the Valtara warrior, Felard Bean, the warrior himself could simply block the enemy’s retreat.

Martin pointed the hammer at the young man with excitement.

“Surrender, Alien! You don’t want to die here, do you?”

Gripping at the scimitar, Zhang Luxin looked around him.

There was no way to escape due to the flame barrier blocking off all his exit points.

‘Damn, will this be where I die?’

He had no choice but to surrender.

He didn’t know why, but he didn’t think that the warrior would kill him right away based on the way he spoke.

‘Once I surrender, I have to look for an opportunity to escape somehow…’

Just as he was about to throw away his weapon, a white beam flew in like an arrow.

Dig!

A flash of light pierced Martin’s throat.

Martin, who had a hole in his neck, fell, trembling and unable to scream.

“Ggk, gggaarh…….”

Martin sprawled on the ground, lifeless.

Zhang Luxin turned his gaze toward where the flash came from.

‘What was that?’

A woman was walking along, cutting the blazing wall of flames in half.

She looked like a brown-haired westerner who seemed to be in her mid-twenties.

The Guidelines displayed her information.

[Race: Human. Spiritist Lv. 73]

‘Ugh!’

Zhang Luxin was frightened.

Level 73?

“… You?”

The woman smiled gently at him.

“I am an Apostle of Omphalos.”

Introducing herself to him, she continued.

“You are in a dangerous situation because the information in the Guidelines has not been updated. I’m here to admit our mistakes and make an appropriate additional reward.”

“Additional… reward?”

Zhang Luxin was convinced.

He followed the Guidelines correctly, yet that still happened.

As she smiled, the woman nodded her head.

She then pulled out a black square crystal from her arms.

“Yes, you can consider it a special case.”

Zhang Luxin’s Guidelines revealed the identity of the black crystal.

[Incomplete Omphalos’ Blessing (Unique Item)

No conditions of use. Infinite number of uses.]

His eyes widened.

‘Unique item!’