The season had begun.
The hunting season.
Dong Bongsu began to, in turn, hunt and kill those who were searching for him.
As always, he proceeded with extreme caution, but the process was not entirely smooth.
Dong Bongsu was well aware that he himself was still very weak.
A direct confrontation was dangerous, so he ended everything with surprise attacks whenever possible.
Applying the Inventory Technique he had used frequently during the Suicide Plague, he would sometimes shake off pursuing enforcers, then secretly strike from behind to kill them.
At other times, he would lure them into a secluded place and set it on fire.
Whatever the method, Dong Bongsu played several moves ahead of the enforcers.
If the body is weak, one must compete with brains and patience.
In this way, members of the White Tiger Group, one of the three major Unorthodox Factions of Soaring Sun, began to die off one by one.
By the time the White Tiger Group Leader, White Tiger, belatedly became alarmed, more than half of the White Tiger Group's members were already dead.
In the process, Dong Bongsu was able to raise his Level from 2 to 4. Furthermore, he obtained an unintended side effect.
He had acquired a rather useful new mask: the Nameless Righteous Swordsman.
Thanks to this, he could deal with the Unorthodox Factions more easily.
The officials and the city's people had transformed his killing spree into heroic deeds.
So, when acting as the Nameless Righteous Swordsman, he no longer needed to worry about the eyes of others.
Even so, he continued his killings with the utmost caution.
He knew better than anyone that a single moment's mistake could lead to failure.
In any moment, in any situation, letting one's guard down was strictly forbidden.
A wolf pack never attacks large prey head-on.
They circle around, and when an opening appears, they take a bite, one by one, to wear down their prey.
Sometimes a bite on the leg, sometimes a bite on the rump, and other times a bite on the testicles.
Eventually, the exhausted animal collapses.
In that manner, relying on luring, guiding, ambushing, arson, and disguises, Dong Bongsu continued to attack the White Tiger Group.
More cautiously.
For he was not a pack, but alone.
Thus, the White Tiger Group slowly began to fall apart.
Nevertheless, the most important one, the White Tiger Group Leader, White Tiger, was still standing strong.
As Dong Bongsu continued to fight them, he realized that White Tiger was the White Tiger Group itself.
Unless he was eliminated, the White Tiger Group could be considered intact.
From the moment he realized this fact, Dong Bongsu began to torture the enforcers of the White Tiger Group instead of killing them outright.
It was to gather as much information as possible about White Tiger before killing them.
As a result, he was able to obtain a great deal of information about White Tiger.
However.
All that information only led to one conclusion: White Tiger was a man with no openings.
Furthermore, based on the enforcers' testimonies, the indirectly measured martial strength of White Tiger was too much for Dong Bongsu, who was only Level 4, to handle, even with a surprise attack.
To make matters worse, with the repeated deaths of his subordinates, White Tiger became extremely reluctant to go out.
It had now become even more difficult to catch White Tiger, and the White Tiger Group's den, which he had barely located, was becoming a sort of fortress.
In a situation where winning was uncertain, even with an ambush, there was no way to kill White Tiger while he was holed up like that.
Nor could he enter the den.
Even in such a situation.
Dong Bongsu found one very small opening in White Tiger.
It was rare, but there were times when White Tiger came out of his den.
He carefully observed the timing of White Tiger's outings.
White Tiger went out for only two reasons.
Collecting money and visiting his concubine.
Those two things.
Even then, White Tiger did not come out alone; he brought dozens of enforcers with him.
In terms of martial arts level alone, the difference in power was so vast that even if Dong Bongsu died and came back to life, he could do nothing more to White Tiger and the White Tiger Group.
But Dong Bongsu had been smiling inwardly with satisfaction ever since White Tiger's first outing.
He had finally found a way to catch White Tiger.
No matter how meticulous a person is, they are bound to let their guard down in certain situations.
Dong Bongsu aimed for that primal moment of carelessness, the best of them all.
He secretly infiltrated the concubine's house on the day White Tiger was to visit her.
For Dong Bongsu, who could remove pillars using his Inventory, it was a piece of cake.
He infiltrated the outhouse in that manner.
There, without any hesitation, holding only a breathing tube made of bamboo leaves in his mouth, he hid himself within the human excrement.
The first few times, he failed because White Tiger didn't come to the outhouse.
Then, the next few times, White Tiger's concubine came and just sprayed a liquid mixed with semen, vaginal fluid, and urine.
But Dong Bongsu was a patient man.
He didn't miss a single day, infiltrating the concubine's house in time with White Tiger's outings.
Finally.
After finishing a passionate session with his concubine, feeling content, White Tiger came to unload his excrement, and Dong Bongsu succeeded in ramming his sword into the man's anus.
Thanks to the sword that pierced up from below and through his throat, the bastard couldn't even let out a proper scream before he departed for the yellow springs.
He probably had no regrets.
And so, Dong Bongsu became Level 5 and acquired two new skills.
Lightness and the Three Forces Sword Art First Form: Thousand Army Sweep.
> [ Lightness Skill Lv.1 Proficiency: 0% ]
>
> A martial art that lightens the body.
>
> By learning Lightness Skill, you can jump higher and run faster.
>
> Current Applied Level: Lv.0
>
> (The Player can adjust the level of this skill.)
>
> Jump Power Bonus: 0%
>
> Movement Speed Bonus: 0%
>
> True Qi Consumption per second: 0 QP
> [ Three Forces Sword Art First Form: Thousand Army Sweep Lv.1 Proficiency: 0% ]
>
> A sword art exceedingly common in the Murim.
>
> Even common people with no Internal Energy can learn it.
>
> Thousand Army Sweep is an enhanced version of a sideways slash.
>
> All Action Bonuses for this skill are related to the proficiency of related skills and whether Sword Qi/Sword Force is cast.
>
> Current Applied Level: Lv.1
>
> (The Player can adjust the level of this skill.)
>
> Horizontal Slash Range Bonus: 1%
>
> Horizontal Slash Attack Power Bonus: 1%
>
> Horizontal Slash Casting Speed Bonus: 0%
>
> True Qi Consumption per use: 30 QP
It was these two.
Lightness Skill and Thousand Army Sweep, these two skills were the first Active Skills given to Dong Bongsu.
By obtaining them, he was finally able to engage in direct confrontations with the enforcers.
Dong Bongsu planned to easily finish off the White Tiger Group, now that White Tiger was gone, and begin the hunt for his next target.
The remaining Red Wolf Gate and Black Snake Society.
Which of the two Unorthodox Factions should he strike first?
His deliberation was not long.
While the Black Snake Society laid low after the annihilation of the White Tiger Group, the Red Wolf Gate actively stepped forward to absorb the White Tiger Group's territory.
They used the fact that the Nameless Righteous Swordsman had eliminated the White Tiger Group to instead attempt to expand their own power.
The next target was decided.
Red Wolf Gate.
Those bastards had underestimated the Nameless Righteous Swordsman, no, Dong Bongsu, too much.
Either that, or their greed was too excessive.
Utilizing his new skills and the Inventory Divine Art, Dong Bongsu dealt with the enforcers of the Red Wolf Gate with relative ease.
Unlike when he faced the White Tiger Group, he not only used ambushes but also sometimes attempted bold frontal assaults.
The leader of the Red Wolf Gate, Bi Gyu-seo, was flustered.
The Nameless Righteous Swordsman was far stronger and more aggressive than he had expected.
He had thought there would be no major problem as long as he was careful about ambushes, but it was a complete miscalculation.
It was inevitable, as Dong Bongsu was evolving day by day.
Not to mention Leveling Up, his skill in using the Inventory was becoming more proficient, and his understanding and proficiency with his skills were increasing exponentially.
The Red Wolf Gate's power diminished much faster than the White Tiger Group's, and the more it did, the more frenzied the people of Soaring Sun became.
The faster and the more he killed, the higher the Nameless Righteous Swordsman's Heroic Fame rose.
"Nameless Righteous Swordsman! Nameless Righteous Swordsman! Mysterious Great Hero! I'll try calling your name too!"
Around the time when hero games and songs imitating the Nameless Righteous Swordsman finally started appearing among the children.
At last, even Bi Gyu-seo had his ticket to the yellow springs punched by Dong Bongsu's surprise attack.
Red Wolf Gate was erased from the world, and for his efforts, Dong Bongsu gained enough Experience Points to surpass Level 6 and approach Level 7.
By this time, he was aware that he himself had grown much stronger.
He was also realizing that the time to move on to the next stage was slowly approaching.
The Experience Points he could now gain from enforcers had become as very limited as the amount he gained from killing ordinary people back when he was Level 1.
It was still somewhat useful for now, but he predicted that by the time he finished dealing with the entire Black Snake Society, the Experience Points gained from killing them would become negligible.
In fact, even though he wiped out Paradise Village, the headquarters of the Black Snake Society, today, his Experience Points didn't rise much.
Before coming here, he was already not far from Level 7, and yet he barely became Level 7.
Nevertheless, Dong Bongsu was satisfied with today's result.
The 'Inventory Divine Art', which he had become very accustomed to, displayed great effectiveness this time as well.
It was used to execute enemies coming from behind, and it was also used to store the beams of abandoned houses in his Inventory after distracting hidden enemies with a deceptive tactic using corpses.
His ability to apply his newly acquired skill, Thousand Army Sweep, had also improved a lot.
He used corpse shields to lure enemies into one place and then massacred them with Thousand Army Sweep.
If it had been a simple slash, he would not have been able to achieve such an effect.
His Lightness Skill had also now reached Level 3, reaching a point where his jump power and movement speed were increased by a whopping 100%.
Because the consumption of QP (Qi Points) was high, he usually kept it turned off, adjusting and using it as needed when necessary.
How strong am I now?
Dong Bongsu suddenly asked himself that question.
It wasn't a question he could answer himself, but he could define it with one short and bold word.
"Quite."
I'm quite strong now.
Compared to when he existed in Seoul, the difference was like that between a firefly and the moonlight.
In that case...
Is it now time to kill Martial Artists?