140 - 145

Chapter 140

The handling of trivial matters was now over. Along with the members of the Knight Order Guild, Jin-Woo moved to the front of the Gate.

Before they were about to enter, though….

"Please wait."

Chairman Park Jong-Su and his deputy, Vice-Chair Jeong Yun-Tae, began going through their equipment as well as the conditions of the team members for the last time.

Maybe because they were now standing before the entrance, the noisy atmosphere from before was now long gone, replaced by weighty silence.

'...'

He wasn't sure from when it started, but Jin-Woo began liking this state of tension just before entering a dungeon. It felt as if the inside of his head was settling down.

Such a thing would've been totally unimaginable back in the past when he avoided answering phone calls out of the fear he felt for the Hunter Association's periodic call-ups.

"Hyung-nim, there are no problems."

"Very good."

Park Jong-Su nodded his head and walked over to Jin-Woo, standing a step away from the rest of the raid team. The latter shifted his gaze to the leader of this raid.

"Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?"

"Yes?"

Jin-Woo uncrossed his arms and stared directly into Park Jong-Su's eyes, and the older man lowered his head right away.

"We'll be in your care from now on."

Although short, those words contained many of Park Jong-Su's feelings and worries. Jin-Woo used similar words as his reply.

"I'll be in your care, as well."

Park Jong-Su and Jeong Yun-Tae entered the Gate first, and the rest of the Hunters entered one by one after them. And after confirming that the Hunters had all gone inside, the last person still standing outside, Jin-Woo, slowly walked into the Gate as well.

***

[You have entered a dungeon.]

As usual, the System message no one else could see beside him welcomed Jin-Woo before anything else could happen. But then….

'Mm?'

Jin-Woo tilted his head.

He was greeted by a dungeon with passageways large enough to accommodate giants passing by.

He hadn't entered a lot of high-ranked dungeons before, but he was lucky enough to be inside one this huge. That was why Jin-Woo wasn't puzzled by the size of the dungeon. No, it had to do with this strange feeling he got from the air of the dungeon itself.

'What's this….?'

For some reason, he felt incomparably comfortable inside here.

He felt ominous sensations being carried in the air of the dungeons countless times, but this would be his first time feeling like this.

However…

"It's the Ogre!"

Somewhat different from Jin-Woo's own premonition, the assault team was greeted by huge trouble from the entrance, instead.

"It's the Twin-Head Ogre!!"

"Everyone, be careful!!"

A monster that would typically appear as a boss in other high-ranked dungeons was standing in the entrance, its bloodshot eyes glaring at the Hunters.

"Grooooaaaar!!!"

A Twin-Head Ogre was about twice the size of a regular Ogre. But it was difficult to quantify how many times greater the creature's powers were.

If it were any other 'regular' assault team that had to face off against a Twin-Head Ogre in a dungeon, they would have been utterly frightened out of their senses and have tried to escape right away, but….

"Let's go!"

….It was a different story with the elites of the Knight Order.

Park Jong-Su the tanker raised his shield up and rushed towards the Ogre.

Discovering the human approaching it, the monster raised above its two heads a huge club that looked as if it was made from a tree yanked straight out of the ground, roots and all.

SLAM!!

The impact force actually shook the interior of the dungeon!

However, Park Jong-Su activated his skill in time to balloon up his muscle mass and managed to endure against the incredible physical strength of the Twin-Head Ogre without being brought down to his knees.

"Hyung-nim!"

"I'm fine!"

"Then, I'm coming, too!"

The sub-tanker, Jeong Yun-Tae, stood next to Park Jong-Su.

Succeeding in his mission to get the Ogre's attention locked firmly onto himself, Park Jong-Su yelled out loudly, veins in his neck standing up.

"Attack!!"

With that, the counteroffensive of the Knight Order commenced. Arrows, magic spells, swords, and spears rained down on the Twin-Head Ogre.

Krrroooaar!!

The Twin-Head Ogre became agitated and began rampaging around. However, Park Jong-Su didn't give the monster a chance to divert its attention elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Jeong Yun-Tae quickly ran over and defended the others whenever they were targetted by the Ogre.

THUD!!

Just now, Jeong Yun-Tae defended against the Ogre's kick and was shoved back greatly as two lines were gouged on the ground by his feet. Thanks to him, though, other Hunters suffered almost no damage at all.

"K-krooar, Kheu-uh-uhrk!"

The body of the Ogre was gradually shaved away due to the combined attacks of the damage dealers. It was a spectacular teamwork!

From this spectacle alone, Jin-Woo could now understand why the Knight Order Guild managed to lock down on the position of Yeong-Nam district's number one for such a long time.

"Gheo-uh-uhrk!"

Eventually, the Ogre fell backwards, bubbles foaming in its mouths.

THUD!

It was the moment when a boss-level monster fell without injuring a single person. A perfect victory, in other words.

"We did it!"

The leader of the team, Park Jong-Su, tightly clenched both of his fists.

Was it because they had a guest today? Not just him, but even the rest of his teammates were much more motivated than usual.

How would they have looked in Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's eyes just now?

'I'd be beyond ecstatic if he got moved by our teamwork and suddenly decides to join our Guild….'

Sneak…

Park Jong-Su sneaked a glance and immediately encountered Jin-Woo's gaze.

Feeling as if his inner thoughts had been laid bare, Park Jong-Su became a bit sheepish and began wondering what he should do next, before deciding to approach Jin-Woo with a warm smile.

"We'll stay here for a bit longer to recheck our equipment before advancing forward."

"Ah, okay. Please do."

Jin-Woo nodded his head.

While he only needed to drink potions to refill his magic energy or stamina, other Hunters clearly suffered from a physical limit to their magical energy reserve or fatigue. It was a must to take a break, even if it was a short one, after fighting against a powerful monster like that.

Park Jong-Su was now standing next to Jin-Woo. He stared at the dead body of the Ogre and spoke with an awkward look on his face.

"This is going to be big trouble."

"…?"

Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to Park Jong-Su. The latter continued on.

"It seems likely that this raid won't be easy, unfortunately. To think, we'd end up running into a Twin-Head Ogre right from the start."

He rubbed his chin before turning to look at Jin-Woo with a grin.

"Do you know what the nickname of a Twin-Head Ogre is, by any chance?"

Jin-Woo shook his head, and the older man replied as if he expected that answer.

"It's the 'grave keeper'."

Did that nickname come about because it was such a powerful monster that killed a lot of people? However, Park Jong-Su's explanation was far off Jin-Woo's estimations.

"The thing is…."

The older man cast his gaze deeper into the cavern's interior. An ominous aura seemed to be oozing out from the other side of the cavern still enshrouded in darkness, at least in his eyes.

"….When you meet one as the boss of a dungeon, it's fine, but when you run into one right at the beginning, then well, you'll find that this dungeon…"

Park Jong-Su sounded worried as he finished his sentence.

"….This dungeon is full of undead monsters."

***

An urgent call came through to the Hunter's Association emergency hotline. The caller's voice belonged to a young teenage girl.

– "Is, is this the Association?!"

The call centre employee heard the scared sobbing coming from the other side of the line as soon as the call got connected, and realised something was wrong.

"Yes, it is. Please speak."

– "This, I'm in, sob, my school, but….. There are, sob, there are monsters outside."

"Outside? Where are you making this call from?"

– "I'm hiding, I was with, my f-friend, but my friend, I, sob, I'm in the bathroom."

Her sobbing meant that her words were constantly being cut off and it was hard to carry on a conversation. However, the call centre employee was experienced enough to piece together those stuttering words and figured out what this girl was trying to say.

Immediately, an urgent message was sent to the Association's main building.

[Monsters appeared in the local school, one confirmed victim, the informant in hiding.]

Could it be that a dungeon break occurred inside a school? The employee shuddered from the horrifying images taking root in his head and focused all of his being in trying to keep this female student alive.

"How many monsters are there? Are they any near you right now?"

– "I don't know, I really don't know. Ah, ah! I hear screams. Sob, sob. I can hear so many screams. I, am I, sob, am I going to die?"

"Please calm down and listen to my voice."

This employee knew very well from his extensive experience about how weak-kneed humans could get when faced with life-threatening situations. He knew he had to be calm and collected in such situations while answering the call.

He had to calm the caller down sufficiently enough and then, had to suggest some kind of a plan for the current situation. That was his role.

"Right now, Hunters from the Association are headed your way. These Hunters will not give up on you guys. That is why you need to stay calm and rational, okay? Can you hear me?"

– "Really? I-in that case, sob, can I, can I survive?"

The voice coming from the other side of the line was gradually recovering from the panicked state. That was a good sign.

The employee thought that he succeeded in calming the female student down, and then asked the question that could prove to be most important in saving the girl's life.

"By any chance, those monsters… do you know what kind of monsters those are?"

– "Yes, yes. I know. I know. I saw them. On TV."

"Which monsters are they?"

If the monsters possessed weak senses and chased after humans using their eyes, then hiding in a bathroom would work as a suitable solution for the time being. The employee prayed that such monsters had invaded the school, instead.

– "They… they have human bodies, but, sob, but they have ugly faces. Ah, and their skin is green."

'Can it be?!'

The eyes of the employee grew wider and wider.

"Orcs… are they Orcs?"

– "Yes, I think it was what they were called. Orcs."

'N-no, this can't be!!'

The employee shot up from his seat before he realised it and cried out.

"You need to run away from there! Hurry! Orcs can….."

It was then.

Despite the employee's earnest prayer, he could hear the sound of the bathroom door being destroyed, followed soon by a sorrowful scream.

– "Kyyaaaahk!"

***

The Knight Order's raid was trucking along quite smoothly.

As a matter of fact, things were working out so well that the Hunters felt the whole thing was strangely too easy.

For instance, there encountered yet another monster, but….

"Kuwaaahk!"

A rotting creature the size of a house tried to escape from the assault team, only to get ensnared by the restriction magic spell cast by the Mage-type Hunter, and soon, it too met with a grisly end.

And when the exact same thing repeated itself over and over again, the Hunters were getting progressively more puzzled.

"Isn't this weird?"

"Why are these monsters running away when they see us?"

"Isn't it like they were being chased away?"

Powerful undead creatures, such as Vampires, Lichs, Dread Worms, Red Ghouls, etc., continued to pop up inside this dungeon.

Undeads were difficult opponents to fight against.

Not only were they difficult to kill, but even after killing them, Hunters couldn't let their guards down. Because no one knew when they would regenerate or get revived to start attacking again.

However, these creatures couldn't do much to display their prowess for some reason, and continued to get powerlessly massacred at the assault team's hands.

'It's like they are too scared and can't even think about resisting us…..'

That was Park Jong-Su's assessment after observing the monsters and their strange behaviour. He even thought that maybe there was no need to bring Hunter Seong Jin-Woo along when things were this easy.

'Seriously, man. You really can't tell what's going to happen inside a dungeon.'

Who'd have imagined that they were clearing a highest-difficult rank A dungeon this painlessly?

'Even still….'

Being able to end a raid without a single person getting injured was always a good thing. There might have been an unnecessary loss of profit here, but result-wise, it sure was a big relief.

On the other hand, Jin-Woo was inwardly feeling quite disappointed.

'Here I was, really hyped up because this place was supposed to be the hardest rank A dungeon there could be….'

There was still that enormous magic energy leaking out from the deeper part of the dungeon, but would he even be able to earn any experience points if things continued on at this rate?

Because of the spirited attacks by the members of the Knight Order Guild, he didn't even have a single chance to step forward at all.

'.....'

Jin-Woo inwardly sighed out. But then, he abruptly halted his steps.

'Uh?'

When Jin-Woo looked behind him, Healer Jeong Ye-Rim also came to a stop as well.

"What's the matter, Seong Hunter-nim? Is something following us?���

Jin-Woo didn't answer her. As a matter of fact, his heart was beating so madly that he didn't even have any leeway to answer her questions.

'Could it be…..?'

Jin-Woo's eyes, as they stared towards the outside of this dungeon, began quaking violently. Only then did Jeong Ye-Rim also realise that something was wrong as well.

"Seong Hunter-nim??"

It was then.

Jin-Woo's expression hardened like stone.

***

"Uwaahhk!"

"Kyaahhk!"

Heartbreaking screams rose up from all corners of the school.

Less than half of the students managed to escape from the school alive. As for the rest, either they had all ended up as corpses, or were busy running around inside the school's premise trying to evade the Orcs. Unfortunately, their futile resistance could only buy them a brief respite.

The hunts of the Orcs that started from the lowest floor continued on to higher floors and drove all victims caught in their wake to gruesome deaths.

"Uwaaahk!"

The students who couldn't run away in time and remained trapped in their classrooms could only cover their ears as more screams rose up from the lower floors.

The classrooms for the third year students were located on the top floor of the school building. Jin-Ah was also among those 3rd-year students who couldn't run away in time. The doorway shoddily blocked up with junk was the only thing that could defend them against the marauding Orc horde.

"Ah…."

"….F*ck me."

The male students grabbed onto chairs and mops or whatever that could serve as weapons with their trembling hands. But, none of them helped to instil a sense of confidence in the scared students.

No, all they could do was to wait and pray fervently for the Hunters to show up before those Orcs stepped foot inside their classroom.

KWANG!

The bent classroom door was flung away.

"Uwaaahk!"

"Kyaaahk!"

As the screams of the frightened students resounded out, two Orcs covered in the blood of the countless number of people they had murdered stepped into the classroom.

"U-uwaaahk!"

A male student holding a mop near the door threw away his make-shift weapon and ran to the back entrance, before yanking it open.

However, another Orc was lying in wait there, and it slammed an axe down on the forehead of this fleeing male student.

Kwajeeck!

The male student fell powerlessly, the light of life leaving his eyes.

"Kyaaaahk!"

"Uwak!"

Both entrances of the classroom were now blocked off by the Orcs.

The remaining students screamed out loudly and crowded against the windows, but they all knew that the results would largely end up the same regardless of whether they chose to jump out from a sixth-story window or get caught by the Orcs.

'Oppa, oppa!!'

Finding herself stuck in the middle of the students fleeing towards the corners of the classroom as they tried to get away from the Orcs, Jin-Ah squeezed her eyes shut and called out to Jin-Woo.

Her oppa, the rank S Hunter. If she called out to him, it felt as if he'd show up here right away. That was her only hope.

"Kurururuk."

"Ku-euk?"

The Orcs stopped advancing after they surrounded the students from all corners. They began conversing to each other in their native tongue.

"Boss. There is a human with magic energy coming off."

"Kill that one first."

Unlike regular humans, those that knew how to wield magic energy were dangerous opponents. Therefore, these Orcs had to deal with a threat like that first.

The Orc, having received the boss's order, began scanning the students before eventually locking onto Jin-Ah's location.

"Ah!"

The Orc grabbed her wrist and dragged her out to the middle of the classroom.

"Is this female the one?"

"It is, boss."

The underling was right. Although faint, they could sense magic energy coming from somewhere on this girl. Whether that came from this female's abilities or some sort of a weapon she possessed, it didn't change the fact that she had to be eliminated first before everyone else.

The boss raised its axe up.

"Ah, ah….!"

Jin-Ah saw the axe rising up high above her head, and eventually squeezed her eyes shut.

"Kuruk."

The boss twitched its nose and swung the axe down with a disinterested face.

Swiiiish-!

'Oppa!'

But then, this happened.

Rumble-!

A veil of black smoke suddenly exploded out from Jin-Ah's shadow and took on a solid shape.

Grab.

The brows of the advanced scout's boss shot up high in surprise.

Because, it just realised that a High Orc wearing black armour suddenly appeared out of nowhere to grab onto its wrist, that was why.

"Kuruk?"

Before the puzzled Orc could say something….

The High Orc threw a simple punch and shattered the head of the monster like an exploding watermelon.

Kwajeeck!!

Chapter 141: Chapter 141

How should one go about deciphering this situation?

The jaws of the students watching this sight fell to the floor.

They were about to avert their gazes before the scene of their classmate getting murdered played out, yet these 'soldiers' decked out in black armour suddenly appeared without a single warning.

Soldiers?

No, hold on – was it even okay to call those things 'soldiers'?

But, these monsters looked more Orc-ish than Orcs themselves, and were at least double the size of an Orc and featured red skin? Really?

When standing before the black-armoured Orc, that scary-looking Orc now resembled a boy about to enter his teenage years, instead. But, that was to be expected.

The Shadow Soldiers Jin-Woo had left behind in Jin-Ah's shadow were the High Orcs serving as the guards of the boss monster 'Fangs' from the high-ranking dungeon. Not only that, these guys were the cream of the warrior crop found there.

Regular Orcs dared to have a go against High Orc warriors? What a funny notion that was.

As if to demonstrate that clear gap in power, the High Orc threw a powerful punch.

Kwajeeck!!

An Orc's head shattered from the impact and the dead monster crashed down to the classroom's floor. Meanwhile, the students were freaking out properly now.

'Heok!!'

The terrifying monsters threatening their lives up until only a few seconds ago were getting massacred by even more monsterish monsters now.

Their current level of shock and fear had gone far past what they could tolerate, and caused the inside of these students' heads to completely blank out. Except for one person, that was.

Only Jin-Ah knew the significance of those black armours and began crying softly.

'Oppa? Did oppa….?'

Jin-Ah could sense her oppa's trace from these three High Orcs surrounding her like a trio of bodyguards.

"Gururu…."

The two High Orcs standing behind her didn't even need to step forward. The High Orc in front, having destroyed the head of the scout leader Orc, reached out to grasp the scruffs of the two remaining Orcs trying to flee.

"Kururuk!!��

"Kheuwahahahk!"

Now raised up high in the air, two monsters kicked and struggled desperately. But their struggles were ultimately in vain as their heads were violently slammed into one another.

KWAHNG!

The dead monsters and their shattered foreheads fell in a pair of heaps on the floor.

Plop.

Plop….

In the blink of an eye, the three Orcs invading the classroom were taken care of. That was the end.

The High Orcs stopped moving again from their spots and quietly guarded Jin-Ah's sides.

Just how many seconds ticked by like this?

The students had regained some semblance of calmness by then; while trying their best to suppress their still-pounding hearts, they silently exchanged glances with one another.

'W-what's going on here?'

'Did those monsters save us?'

'Are we being protected?'

At the bare minimum, they felt sure of these black-armoured Orcs weren't going to harm them.

"W-where is oppa? Is he here?"

Jin-Ah tearfully asked for Jin-Woo, but the High Orc soldiers didn't reply back to her.

"Oppa?"

Instead, they lightly stopped her when she tried to go somewhere else.

"…..?"

When Jin-Ah cautiously looked up at the High Orc, the creature silently shook its head. The top priority for these High Orcs was to secure Jin-Ah's safety. They couldn't let her roam around the building when it was packed full of enemies right now.

And, sure enough, footsteps climbing up the stairs could be heard coming from outside the classroom.

Step, step, step!

Step, step, step.

High Orc soldiers began pulling out their weapons housed on their backs and waists.

The students got tenser and tenser as those footsteps approached closer, but at the same time, hope wormed its way into their hearts as they watched these High Orcs calmly get ready for battle.

The hope that they could get out of here alive, and the sense of relief that there were powerful allies protecting them.

Among them, though, there were still a few who cried from the jumbled mixture of emotions – from fear, worry, anxiety, sorrow, etc.

"Sob…. Hic…."

Students hugged tightly their sobbing friends and held their breaths.

The footsteps were getting closer and closer.

Step, step, step.

And so – the Orcs spread around the school building all heard the death throes of their brethren and began gathering near the classroom of the third year seniors.

***

The signal was coming through loud and clear.

The High Orcs tasked with protecting his sister were sending out powerful signals.

'Did something happen near Jin-Ah's vicinity?'

"Seong Hunter-nim?"

Jeong Ye-Rim called out to him again, still sounding anxious.

"…"

With his lips firmly shut, Jin-Woo walked past her.

She tilted her head in utter confusion.

'What's gotten into him?'

The attitude of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, who was practically a paragon of relaxation up until a few seconds ago, suddenly did a complete 180. She could even say that he had to be someone else just from looking at the expression on his face now.

'Hold on….'

Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was a rank S. Such a man was now looking behind him with a grave expression etched on his face. Could that mean he had discovered something on the path they walked past earlier, something they all failed to notice back then?

She suddenly felt her anxiety spiking up.

'Ng?'

Jeong Yun-Tae looked behind after sensing the approach of a person.

"Hyung-nim? Seong Hunter-nim is walking over here."

"What?"

Park Jong-Su stopped his advancement, which meant that the assault team's advance also naturally came to a halt, as well.

'Why would Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim….?'

He turned around to look, only to gasp out inadvertently after locking gazes with the approaching Jin-Woo and his eyes.

'Heok!'

Jin-Woo's atmosphere was completely different from only a few moments ago.

'What's going on?'

In that brief moment, Park Jong-Su quickly combed through his memories to see if he had done anything stupid to get on Jin-Woo's nerves. But, regardless of how hard he wracked his brain, he couldn't come up with an answer.

'If that's the case….'

If that was the case, then how was he to interpret that young man's hardened expression and that murderous glare?

Park Jong-Su nervously swallowed his saliva after finally realising what it felt like to deal with a stronger being who was clearly not having a good time at the moment.

This here was inside of a dungeon. Anything could happen in here and that wouldn't be seen as strange at all.

Park Jong-Su's attitude became a level more cautious.

"Hunter-nim, is there something troubling you?"

Jin-Woo was feeling really pressed at the moment, so he didn't bother to beat around the bush.

"Something urgent came up and I must leave now."

'Heok!'

Park Jong-Su freaked out. This was a far worse situation than his expectations.

The raid had been a relatively easy one so far. Indeed, it was chugging along so painlessly that he even wondered if it was a necessity to ask Jin-Woo to accompany them in the first place.

However, Park Jong-Su was one of the very first Hunters to appear when this whole started all those years ago. Meaning, he wasn't some naive rookie who might forget that accidents always happened when one was being too careless.

'Nothing happened until now, so we need to be even more cautious from here onwards.'

In a situation where no one could tell what kind of dangers were hiding up ahead, losing the most powerful combat potential would prove to be a big, painful blow.

Park Jong-Su's complexion darkened.

"Without your presence, Seong Hunter-nim, we could find ourselves in great danger. You know this too, don't you?"

Park Jong-Su did his best to dissuade Jin-Woo in the most roundabout way he could think of. He was acutely aware that agitating Jin-Woo was far more dangerous than attempting to clear this dungeon without the young rank S Hunter's help.

That was how badly contorted Jin-Woo's current expression was.

'.....'

Park Jong-Su felt as if he was walking on a tightrope suspended at a dizzying height, as he cautiously observed Jin-Woo's reaction.

As his lips dried up from the nervousness….

Jin-Woo finally raised his voice.

"Then, let me do this."

"Ah, yes."

Park Jong-Su ended up nodding his head even before hearing what Jin-Woo had to say.

"Right now, let me call on a friend that you can place your trust in, as much as you'd trust me. From here on, that friend will take care of everything."

Park Jong-Su's ears perked up. Not just anyone, but another Hunter whose ability was guaranteed by none other than Hunter Seong Jin-Woo himself?

'Who could it be? Choi Jong-In? Or is it Cha Hae-In?'

Now that Park Jong-Su thought about it, didn't he see a document containing Hunter Cha Hae-In's profile in Jin-Woo's office yesterday?

'If its Cha Hunter-nim, then yeah, she'll be more than enough.'

Although it was regretful that he couldn't stop Jin-Woo from leaving, but still, Park Jong-Su's expression got brighter at the prospect of the potential replacement. As long as it wasn't Mah Dong-Wook from the Shining Star, then he'd welcome anyone.

"If you do that, then we will….."

Park Jong-Su's eyes sparkled brightly now. How powerful would this Hunter be, that he was capable of subbing for Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?

Anticipation began filling up the void left behind when anxiety receded in his mind. The rest of the team members also eavesdropped on the conversation and began looking at Jin-Woo with eyes half mixed with anticipation and misgivings.

Jin-Woo didn't waste time hesitating and summoned forth the most powerful soldier in his shadow army.

'Beru.'

The king of ants, its body shrouded in black mist, answered its master's call.

'Oh, my king….'

Beru emerged from the shadow and politely knelt before Jin-Woo, its head respectfully lowered.

"Uh?! Uh-uh!!"

"Uh?!"

Beru didn't bother to mask its overwhelmingly evil magic energy and that freaked the Hunters out so much that they had to retreat far away immediately.

That absolutely horrendous amount of magic energy, and the exact same outer appearance as 'that' thing.

"C-could that be….??"

"N-no, but how come?!"

These Hunters immediately recognised the identity of Beru.

Without a doubt, this was the very same mutated ant monster that toyed around with the Korean rank S Hunters back inside Jeju Island's ant tunnel. Park Jong-Su quickly asked, unable to hide his shock in his voice.

"H-Hunter-nim, isn't that the mutated ant monster from Jeju?"

Jin-Woo nodded his head. With these high-ranked Hunters recognising Beru, it became more convenient for him now since he didn't need to explain himself any further.

The whole of the country witnessed Beru's power, after all.

"From here onwards, this guy will sub for me."

"EH??"

Park Jong-Su's eyes grew extra wide. Jin-Woo knew what he was about to say. But he simply didn't have enough time to answer all of their questions. He ignored the panicking Park Jung-Su and gave a new order to Beru.

'Protect these humans.'

'I shall follow.'

Beru made a short reply and raised its head.

'In that case, oh my king. What should I do about the existences besides these humans…?'

Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the deepest part of the dungeon for a second or two, before issuing one more order to Beru.

'Do whatever you wish.'

It was right then. Beru's repressed desire to kill morphed into an unbridled joy and spread all over its body.

Kiiiiieeeehk-!!

Beru stood back up and screeched out loudly, the entire cavern reverberating from that horrifying sound.

Shiver.

Hunters began trembling from that screech, even though it wasn't even directed at them.

'W-wait… we, we need to finish the raid with that, that thing?!'

Cold perspiration trickled down Park Jong-Su's back.

Jin-Woo didn't even pay any mind to the reactions of the Hunters and simply summoned twenty more 'ant' Shadow Beast Soldiers to aid Beru's cause.

Kiiiehhk-!

Kiiieehk!

Having breathed in the 'fresh' outside air for the first time in a long while, the Beast Soldiers began screeching out loudly as well. And quite obviously, every Hunter bearing witness to this spectacle froze up where they stood.

"H-hold on!!"

Jeong Ye-Rim quickly turned around and called out to Jin-Woo.

"A-are you going to leave just like that? After letting loose this monsters here??"

"If you want, I'll simply undo the summoning. But, when that happens…."

Jeong Ye-Rim flinched when Jin-Woo's cold glare landed on her.

"….I'll no longer care about what happens to the Knight Order Guild."

Jin-Woo made a promise. And that was, he'd protect the members of the Knight Order Guild and ensure that they wouldn't get harmed.

However, if the other side declined his act of goodwill first, then he didn't see the need to stay responsible for these people, either.

"…."

Jin-Woo's unyielding declaration shut up the mouths of not just Jeong Ye-Rim, but the rest of the Knight Order's Hunters, as well.

Jin-Woo spun around. And almost instantly, he could no longer be seen by the Knight Order's raid team members.

'How long do I have left until the cooldown time ends?'

As his distance from the raid team grew, Jin-Woo summoned up his Skills window to confirm.

[Skill: Shadow Exchange Lv.1]

Class specific…

…..[01:02:16] remaining before the skill can be used again.

'D*mn it…..'

Jin-Woo bit his lower lip.

He needed to wait over an hour if he were to use the Shadow Exchange skill. The signals from his soldiers were still coming in, even right now.

He was getting a really bad premonition here.

'I can't wait for another hour.'

He needed to exit from this dungeon first. Making up his mind thus, Jin-Woo took another step, but then….

Undead monsters that were supposed to be finished off after the assault team went past here began raising their bodies up again.

'...'

Jin-Woo's eyes burned brilliantly from rage. He was enraged by these worthless monsters trying to block his path.

When that happened,

'.....??'

Like a lie, the undead monsters all knelt down towards Jin-Woo.

Plop.

Plop.

There was not one exception here. Every single revived undead monster was prostrating before Jin-Woo now.

'But, why?'

Jin-Woo tilted his head. Could the reason for every monster encountered by the assault team being so terrified be all because of him?

'Is it because I possess a higher ranked Class than a Necromancer capable of controlling the undead?'

The current situation was puzzling, but he didn't have enough time to think about this too deeply. He stored the shortsword back in his Inventory and ran with all his might to exit from the Gate.

The attention of the people waiting outside the Gate focused on him in an instant.

Why did only Hunter Seong Jin-Woo get out of the Gate?

They sent their curiosity-filled gazes in his direction, but Jin-Woo ignored them all.

'Kaisel!'

Suddenly, a Sky Dragon covered in black mist revealed itself.

Kiiiaaahhk-!!

The spectators immediately recognised the Sky Dragon, which had appeared in the news a couple of times before, and they began crying out while pointing to Jin-Woo.

"Waaaahh-!!"

"Look! That!!"

"That's Seong Jin-Woo!!"

Jin-Woo quickly climbed above Kaisel's back as the people cheered on, and he issued a command to his mount.

'To where my little sister is! At your fastest speed!'

If something tried to block his way, he'd smash past them regardless of what they were.

Kaisel roared out in happiness, knowing that now it could flap its wings without any restrictions whatsoever.

Kiiiaahk!

Right away, Kaisel unfurled its massive wings and took to the sky.

Chapter 142: Chapter 142

The last restriction was finally undone.

Finally gaining the freedom of movement, the 'owner of the dungeon' left the boss chamber and strode outside the Gate. It was the Chieftain of the Orcs, 'Guroktaru'.

Its entire body was covered in black tattoos, seemingly not leaving behind even a single patch of empty skin.

Tattoos signified victory to Orcs. These were proof of how many battles this creature fought and how many enemies it had slain so far.

"Guroktaru!"

"Guroktaru!!"

The Orcs waiting for the Chieftain in front of the Gate chanted out its name and lowered their heads.

On the other hand, Guroktaru raised its head towards the ceiling without saying anything.

'...'

Because, it was getting rather noisy up there.

It had been some time since the advanced scouts took away a few of the warriors while declaring that they would conquer this castle of humans.

However, they still hadn't ended their battle yet?

A sweating Orc received the furious glare of its Chieftain and hurriedly explained the situation.

"High Orc warriors are aiding humans."

"High Orcs?"

Indeed, High Orc warriors were strong. Regular Orc warriors wouldn't be able to fight against them. Meaning, it was now time for the Chieftain to step up.

"How many?"

"Three."

Even if their opponents were strong, what a shameful notion it was for dozens of great Orc warriors to fail at subduing only three High Orcs.

"Pathetic…."

Guroktaru's expression crumpled.

The Orcs were scared stiff from the Chieftain's anger and began trembling like leaves. It was then, the Orc great warriors that had been left behind by Guroktaru's speed, finally emerged out of the Gate one by one.

There were a total of five out-of-breath Orc great warriors.

Confirming that all of its guards had escaped from the Gate now, Guroktaru gestured at the Orc making that report with its chin.

"Lead the way."

The Orc lowered its head and stood at the front. The Chieftain and its guards strode right behind. Meanwhile, lights of madness were burning furiously within Guroktaru's eyes.

'Insolent b*stards….'

It was now time to demand appropriate compensation from the High Orcs, who dare to interrupt the hunting of the Orc warriors.

***

Suddenly finding himself left behind along with ant monsters, Park Jong-Su was feeling rather dumbstruck at the moment.

"Hyung-nim….."

"Leave me for a bit, okay? I need time to think."

Kiiieeehhk-

Keeck, keeck…

Ka-ahahak!

Being surrounded by over twenty of these monsters, no, 'summons', Park Jong-Su was getting this close to abandoning this raid altogether.

Not only that….

Well, this guy over there. This one guy, with a far bigger physique and with wings on its back. Wasn't that guy the same mutated ant monster that made an utter mockery out of the rank S Hunters?

This guy's horrifying level of magic energy was making Park Jong-Su's skin crawl just by being near the dang thing.

'If I think about a creature like this turning on us…..'

He suddenly thought that the rank S Hunters willing to fight against this thing were a rather amazing bunch of folks, instead. And, at the same time…

'Hold on a sec….'

…And, at the same time, a certain suspicion bloomed in his head.

Just what was the identity of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo controlling this mutated ant monster as his summoned creature?

'Didn't Hunter Seong Jin-Woo solo this guy, too?'

When his thoughts reached that point, his heart began pounding even harder.

'No, wait. I've gotten sidetracked.'

Park Jong-Su shook his head to throw away all the distracting thoughts.

Indeed, he needed to think about whether to continue on with this raid along with these monsters or not, instead of wasting time on nonsense like how strong Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was or what his true identity could be.

'Okay, so… let's say that we give up on this raid.'

If so, then how should he explain the result of this raid to the reporters waiting outside?

Could he say, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had to suddenly leave the assault team and therefore they couldn't afford to advance forward anymore?

Or, they had to give up on the raid because they got too scared of the new 'friends' Hunter Seong Jin-Woo summoned here for them?

'What kind of an embarrassment would that be…..?'

Didn't matter which excuse was used, it'd become a source of ridicule for them, probably for forever.

Park Jong-Su clenched his teeth.

'Fine. We go forward.'

Did it really matter if they were scared of these summons? At the end of the day, weren't they Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's slaves?

When Park Jong-Su thought about this, his mind calmed down just a tad.

'I mean, seriously. These guys are Seong Hunter-nim's summoned creatures, so they won't do anything weird to us, right?'

Park Jong-Su's confidence filled eyes shifted over to Beru, and the latter approached the Hunter after sensing his gaze.

'Heok….'

The confidence of a few seconds ago evaporated real fast, and Park Jong-Su could barely squeeze out a trembling voice.

"L-let's get going."

Rather naturally, he began speaking in a super-polite tone. However, Beru showed no reaction even after hearing Park Jong-Su's voice. No, 'it' just stood there and simply stared back.

Wondering if his manner of speech was still not good enough for this creature's whims, Park Jong-Su became even more polite in his tone.

"Should…. Should we get going now?"

Even then, Beru showed no sign of budging from the spot.

Park Jong-Su's consciousness was gradually getting fainter as he had to stare longer and longer into the powerful glare of the creature in front of him.

It was then, Jeong Yun-Tae approached him from behind.

"Hyung-nim, will we be continuing with this raid alongside these guys?"

Park Jong-Su was already feeling jittery, so when his deputy began pressing him, he ended up blurting out in anger.

"Just keep quiet, will ya?!"

The words, 'Or, why dontcha become the leader of this assault team and tell these things we're going to give up', almost jumped out of his throat but somehow, he managed to swallow them all back down.

Park Jong-Su glared daggers at the poor Jeong Yun-Tae for a bit before shifting his attention back to Beru.

Gulp.

His dry saliva went down the throat all by itself. Park Jong-Su desperately wanted this awkwardness to go away as soon as possible.

But, then suddenly a thought popped up in his head.

'Could it be that this guy can't understand what I'm saying here and that's why it's not moving?'

When Park Jong-Su's thoughts reached this point, he forced his facial muscle to contort into an ungainly smile. And then, he pointed towards the interior of the dungeon.

"In front. Forward."

In that moment.

Pii-shook!

The mutated ant monster disappeared instantly, along with the sound of a bullet leaving the silenced gun.

'….Uh?'

Where did it go?

Even before Park Jong-Su could scan his vicinity with puzzled eyes, Beru returned to his original position.

Taht.

Beru then pushed forward something held in his hand towards Park Jong-Su's face.

'W-what the heck?'

When the flustered Hunter took a closer look, he realised that the mystery object was actually the head of a monster.

Not only that, it was the helmet of one of the most powerful undead monsters, Death Knight, with a rotting head still trapped inside. It dangled oh-so innocuously in the hand of the mutated ant monster.

"U-uwaaaahk?!"

Park Jong-Su freaked out and plopped down his butt, real hard.

The other members of the assault team also were jolted into stunned silence and hurriedly gathered around Park Jong-Su.

Beru disinterestedly scanned the Hunters now grouped together in one spot, then tossed the Death Knight's head away somewhere. He loudly screeched out to the rest of the ant monsters.

"Kiiiieeehk!!"

With that, the ant army began to march forward in perfect order.

'...'

Beru looked down at Park Jong-Su still on the ground for a little while, before he slowly turned around and followed after the marching ants. The Hunters hurriedly checked out Park Jong-Su's current condition.

"Hyung-nim!!"

"Chairman, are you alright?!"

"Are you okay?"

Park Jong-Su replied to them with a stupefied face.

"Uh, uh. I'm okay."

His body was fine. But, for some reason, his heart ached, instead. It felt as if he got ridiculed by a summoned creature.

'There's no way that's true, surely not….'

Indeed, a summoned creature couldn't have possessed such a level of intelligence. Whatever the case may be, though – he couldn't give up on this raid now that he even got humiliated somewhat like this.

Park Jong-Su dusted off his butt and got back up.

"Let's go, as well."

The expressions of the Hunters stiffened up.

"Eh?"

"You want to follow after those things?"

"How can we go on a raid with monsters? I won't do it."

"Yeah, me too."

Park Jong-Su spat out a groan as if he was feeling annoyed now.

Was there a need for him to waste his breath convincing these folks with words here? He quickly searched for the head of the Death Knight discarded by the mutated ant monster and picked it up.

"Heok!"

"H-hey, isn't that the head of a Death Knight?"

"A Death Knight, you say??"

The experienced Hunters among the group recognised the helmet of the Death Knight and gasped out in pure shock.

Park Jong-Su calmly explained it to them.

"You are all aware of how much Magic Crystals coming out of high-ranked monsters sell for, yes?"

Gulp.

Hunters swallowed their greedy salivas.

"All we have to do is to follow them and simply pick those Crystals up."

The expressions of the Hunters, filled with dissatisfaction up until a second ago, gradually brightened up. That was an expected and perhaps, inevitable reaction in this situation. Park Jong-Su used a question to end his speech.

"So, anyone still unwilling to continue?"

Hunters moved in an even more orderly fashion than the ant army. Those who had already advanced far forward looked back and called out to Park Jong-Su.

"Chairman? What are you doing at the far back?"

"Please hurry up! We might leave you behind, you know?"

"Hyung-nim, how long are you planning to stay there?"

Park Jong-Su bitterly smacked his lips.

"Well, I'll be… these people. Seriously."

And so, the momentarily-halted raid of the Knight Order Guild recommenced from this point onwards.

***

Jin-Woo directed his gaze below him.

People, roads, cars, buildings, rivers, trees, mountains, mountains, and even more mountains – the scenery kept changing every time he blinked over and over again.

'So fast.'

Kaisel's unrestricted speed had reached a truly gobsmacking level.

If he was a simple, regular powerless person and not a highest-ranked Hunter out there, then he wouldn't have been able to withstand the air pressure his body was being subjected to right now.

Even then….

Despite this amazing turn of speed….

Jin-Woo was getting more and more anxious.

The signals from his soldiers were still getting to him, but they were gradually getting weaker.

Not only that…

'Status window.'

[MP: 8,619/8,770]

From a short while ago, his MP began declining as well. That definitely was not a good sign. Because it could only mean that the High Orc Shadow Soldiers were repeatedly being destroyed only to get revived again.

'An enemy on the level of destroying my Shadow Soldiers are aiming for Jin-Ah.'

Grit.

Jin-Woo's expression hardened.

Even if not a single strand of his little sister's hair was harmed, he swore to never let this enemy get out of there alive. Murderous rage filled up in Jin-Woo's eyes.

'Faster. Faster!'

Kyaaahhh-!

Kaisel heard Jin-Woo's order and screeched out again, before increasing its speed even further.

***

The High Orc warriors were indeed strong. Unfortunately, they were still no match for the Orc Chieftain, Guroktaru.

The Orc's leader left behind its guards in the corridor and stepped forward to fight all by itself. And then, while easily evading the attacks of the High Orcs, pulled out a scimitar sheathed on its back.

"Is this all you have?!"

The interior of the classroom was filled with the corpses of the Orcs. Even at a casual count, there were 50 of them here.

Over 50 of its underlings were done in by these three High Orcs.

"Make me enjoy this more, warriors of the High Orc race!"

The Chieftain's rage was transferred directly into merciless swings of its curved blade.

Guroktaru's scimitar drew elaborate arcs in the air and began shaving away the High Orcs, their armours and all.

"Ahh!!"

"Kyaaahk!"

The screams didn't come from the High Orcs, naturally, but from the mouths of the humans hiding behind them. Guroktaru's forehead creased up in displeasure.

'Annoyingly noisy.'

After taking care of these High Orcs, those bugs would be next.

Guroktaru sliced off an arm of a High Orc and chopped it up in fine pieces until it got eventually bored of doing that, and spun on its heels to cut off the opponent's neck clean off.

Slice!

When that happened, other Orcs who had retreated outside the classroom because of the High Orcs all began raising loud cheers.

"Guroktaru!"

"Guroktaru-!!"

It was then, Guroktaru's brows quivered.

The headless High Orc morphed to black smoke before reverting back to how it was originally, right in front of its eyes.

'Is this shamanism?'

Even after the Orc Chieftain cut and sliced its enemies several more times, the story remained the same.

"Kuwahk!"

Guroktaru eventually became really frustrated and roared out. It had sliced and hacked these High Orcs numerous times to death, yet they all reverted back to their original shapes again and again.

'It won't be hard killing them hundreds, thousands times.'

However, there would be no end in sight if that happened.

Even right now, that d*mn voice in its head was repeatedly ordering Guroktaru to kill humans. As a matter of fact, the Orc was beginning to suffer from a migraine as the voice continuously rang inside its head.

But that didn't mean it could ignore these High Orcs and try to kill the humans, either.

'….Time to finish this.'

Guroktaru rolled its brain into gear.

If these High Orcs were creations from some kind of sorcery, then without a doubt, there must be a shaman controlling them somewhere. Guroktaru had fought against many different kinds of sorcery in the past battles, and therefore, it subsequently knew how to end this dirty trick once and for all, as well.

'That female!'

That human female, standing far behind these High Orcs and holding her breath! Although faint, she was somehow connected to these High Orcs.

Guroktaru's eyes gleamed dangerously.

'So, is it you?'

The monster's target for its murderous rage was redirected to her. The moment Jin-Ah met Guroktaru's gaze, her entire body shuddered uncontrollably.

That human female definitely knew something – Guroktaru decided as so, and pointed at Jin-Ah while glancing behind itself.

"Kill that human female!"

Even before its words were finished, the guards observing the fight from the back rushed forward to carry out Guroktaru's order.

Then, the High Orcs ignored Guroktaru in front of them to desperately block against the advancing guards.

'I thought as much.'

Indeed, the Orc Chieftain's guess was correct.

By seizing the opening created from the High Orcs being held up, Guroktaru stood before Jin-Ah.

"So, it was you."

The Orc used the hand not holding the scimitar and grabbed Jin-Ah's neck, before lifting her up.

"Ah…."

The female, with her airways squeezed tight, couldn't even scream properly. This caused Guroktaru to tilt its head.

It was such a weak, slender neck that it'd get broken just from the monster squeezing a little harder than usual. But, how could such a weak human manage to complete a high-class sorcery that changed warriors into immortals?

There was a simple way to find out.

'Kill her and I'll see.'

And, just as Guroktaru began squeezing the female's neck to snap it in half….

Kiiiaaahhk-!

From afar, the cry of a Sky Dragon resounded out.

Chapter 143: Chapter 143

Right away, Guroktaru felt every hair on its body stand up.

'What is this?'

As time slowed down from the extreme tension it felt, the Orc Chieftain's instincts of a warrior, trained to their very limit, sent out countless warning bells. It said that a truly 'terrifying' being was headed this way.

Badump!!

The sound of the Orc's heartbeat rang around painfully in its eardrums, like a series of thunderclaps.

If it didn't get out of here right now, it'd be killed.

The sharp instincts of a warrior, honed like a fine blade, would sometimes display powers close to that of the gift of foresight. Just like right now!

'....!!'

Guroktaru quickly discarded the human female and with the movements akin to a wild animal, fled to the door of the classroom.

BOOM!!

A mighty, ear-splitting explosion occurred next, the shards of glass flying out like shrapnel. Meanwhile, Orcs manning the doorways began hastily retreating away after the back of their Chieftain suddenly appeared in front of their eyes.

'...'

Guroktaru wordlessly glared forward, its breathing now becoming extremely cautious.

It was picking up on an unusual and eerie vibe. It could see a human male it hadn't seen before standing on the spot where the human female was just now.

Guroktaru shifted its gaze ever so slightly to the side.

Its opposite corner was where the windows were. Nothing remained of the entirety of that wall as if it had been struck by a powerful siege weapon.

'Did the human enter by breaking through the windows?'

Even with its excellent dynamic visual acuity, the Orc Chieftain still failed to follow that man's movements.

'....'

Guroktaru could only swallow its saliva at the sudden entrance of a powerful opponent. A strand of cold sweat trickled down its temple.

Kiiiaaahhk-!!

Guroktaru's head snapped upwards after it heard that screech.

Past the ceiling, beyond the roof – yet another powerful enemy was circling around above the Orc's head like a hawk waiting for prey to emerge.

'This might become a difficult fight.'

Guroktaru's eyes were now dyed in the colour of nervousness, something that didn't exist only a few moments ago.

The new enemy completely ignored the presence of the Orc Chieftain and its underlings, and simply proceeded to confirm the human female's condition.

Guroktaru spoke to its enemy.

"I am Guroktaru, from the proud tribe of Red Blade!"

That was the warrior's introduction only granted to an opponent capable of reaping away the Orc's life. Having completed its introduction, Guroktaru asked the human male.

"And who are you?"

Jin-Woo raised his head and quietly spoke.

"Shut your mouth and quietly wait for your turn over there."

A human just used the language of the Orcs?

The Orc's surprise lasted only for a moment.

Perhaps it was because of the power carried in that man's voice, none of the Orcs, which included Guroktaru itself, could even dare to budge an inch from the spot.

***

"Cough, cough."

Jin-Woo gently patted Jin-Ah's back as she continued to cough and wheeze while he carefully checked to see if she had sustained any injuries. Thankfully, he couldn't see any.

….With the sole exception of the handprint clearly visible on her neck, that was. Jin-Woo asked, his expression hard and unforgiving.

"Are you alright?"

"Oppa!!"

Jin-Ah finally stopped coughing and jumped into his embrace, tears streaming from her eyes.

Jin-Woo gently stroked her hair as if he was soothing a scared child.

'…Oppa?'

'Jin-Ah's Oppa… that means….?'

'Ah!'

The students finally realised who the man in front of their eyes was. He was Seong Jin-Woo, a Hunter ranked S!

'We're saved!!'

The students confirmed Jin-Woo's face and began sobbing again. These tears weren't of despair and fear like the ones from before, but were formed from the mixture of joy and relief they felt.

"Sob, sob…"

"It's fine now. I'm here, so everything will be okay."

Jin-Woo gently soothed his sobbing sister, while extending his sensory perception to the rest of the school. And, within this large school building, the only presence of humans he could pick up on was…. 17.

'....'

Jin-Woo's hardened complexion was now dyed in the darkness of rage.

He very cautiously separated his sister from him as she tried hard not to leave his side. He then called out his Shadow Soldiers matching the exact number of the surviving students.

"Everyone, follow my summons out of the building."

The students nodded their heads, and the soldiers proceeded to pick up them up in an embrace. As for Jin-Ah, he entrusted her especially to Igrit.

"Please wait for me downstairs, okay? I'm going to join you very soon after dealing with this."

Normally, Jin-Ah would try to stop her oppa, telling him that they should go together regardless of whether he was a rank S Hunter or not. No, she'd still say that even if he was something greater.

But now…. She couldn't do that.

Because, Jin-Woo's current expression was far, far too scary for her to say those words. So, Jin-Ah could only nod her head.

Jin-Woo gave out his signal, and the soldiers carrying the students jumped outside of the destroyed wall one by one. Orcs in the corridor flinched slightly at the sight of the almost-caught prey making their escape. When that happened, Jin-Woo glared at them with his ice-cold eyes.

"I told you not to move."

Like some kind of a lie, all Orcs stopped moving altogether. None of them could go against his glare.

One of the Orcs, its complexion utterly pale, sneaked its gaze around and cautiously whispered to Guroktaru.

"C-chief…."

"Shush."

Guroktaru was in agreement with that Orc, though.

It was true that right now wasn't the time to care about those weak prey escaping. No, they should be minding the 'hunter' right in front of their eyes. A fight between hunters would commence very soon, where who eats who would be determined.

'Even then…. We can't let them get away that easily.'

Guroktaru sent out a sneaky little signal, and two of its guards moved without making any sounds.

After confirming that all of the students had left the classroom safely, Jin-Woo turned around to face the Orcs. He didn't let them leave because he was worried about them getting injured.

'These measly Orcs….'

He was confident of killing them all in the blink of an eye.

He simply didn't want to show his little sister or other kids what was about to happen in here, that was all.

And now, there were no more eyes watching. Meaning, there was nothing to restrict his actions now.

'...'

Jin-Woo's gaze briefly drifted towards the stairs outside the classroom. He sensed two Orcs going downstairs while hiding their presence to the best of their abilities. It seemed that they were going after the kids, but… it didn't matter.

He had sent Igrit there, and Kaisel was circling around in the air, too.

'So, the remaining task is to deal with these lot, then.'

Jin-Woo exhaled softly. The exiting air contained a heavy, dense amount of magic energy.

Guroktaru asked him again.

"Who are you? How can you speak our tongue?"

Jin-Woo ignored the Orc's words and slowly made his way over to them. Realising that the human male had no intentions to answer back, Guroktaru bared its fangs and shouted out.

"Attack!"

The brave Orc warriors pounced on Jin-Woo all at once after hearing the Chieftain's order.

"Kurururuk!"

"Kurarak!"

When they did… the time froze.

Within this freeze-frame of a moment, Jin-Woo leisurely walked in between the Orcs that were moving agonisingly slowly, and proceeded to destroy them one by one.

He didn't even need to take his weapons out. He only needed to use his finger. Every time Jin-Woo���s finger brushed by an Orc, heads, shoulders, wrists, waists and midriffs of the monsters exploded into bits. And after utterly destroying over twenty Orcs in one blink of an eye….

Jin-Woo stood before Guroktaru.

The Orc Chieftain could only barely keep up with Jin-Woo's afterimage with its eyes. Its trembling lips parted with much difficulty.

"W-what….?"

It didn't even have a chance to swing its scimitar. Jin-Woo's left hand grabbed Guroktaru's mouth and jaw, and the Orc could only whimper pathetically.

"Keok!"

Jin-Woo walked forward just like that and slammed the Orc's head against the corridor's wall.

SLAM!!

The empty corridor reverberated with the thunderous boom.

Jin-Woo's gaze shifted towards either end of the corridor. It was filled with the remains of the students. It was truly a hard-to-look gruesome sight to behold.

However, Jin-Woo didn't avert his gaze and imprinted the sight of every single one of these kids in his mind, just so he could demand reparations from the guilty one responsible.

Jin-Woo shifted his eyes to Guroktaru.

"Why?"

His voice was incomparably icy.

"Why does your kind want to kill humans to this extreme level?"

Guroktaru had long lost its desire to resist and could only tremble in fear as it replied.

"In, in our heads, telling us…. to kill humans…."

Jin-Woo became momentarily confused.

'Kill humans?'

He had heard of the exact same thing before. But, back then, he interpreted the word 'humans' as another term for 'Hunters'.

But it seemed that the word 'human' really did mean all humans, now that he got to hear this monster's reply.

"Then? What about me?"

Jin-Woo asked the Orc again.

"Do you not hear the voice telling you to kill me?"

He brought his face closer.

It was inevitable that Guroktaru would look into Jin-Woo's eyes. The Orc began shaking its head and shivered hard as if it had discovered something in there.

"F, f-forgive…. Forgive, me…."

Something impossible happened. The brave and mighty great warrior of the Orc race began shedding tears like a little child. Jin-Woo felt the inside of his head suddenly cool off as he watched the terrified monster cowering before him.

'So, that's how it is….'

He was not being seen as a human even in this guy's head, was that it?

'….Well, it doesn't really matter.'

Jin-Woo wasn't all that interested in how monsters viewed him. No, he simply killed them because they were out to harm humans.

Guroktaru shivered and continued sob as the fear it couldn't overcome completely enveloped it.

"Please…. forgive….."

Jin-Woo replied.

"I'll forgive you."

And then, he summoned the 'Demon King's Shortsword'.

"However, do not think that the process will be a painless one for you."

***

The Knight Order Guild's assault team could only gasp out in astonishment while spectating on the battles of the monsters.

"Heok!"

"H-how could it be…."

How could anyone call this a raid now? Because, the ants very easily subdued the undead monsters and then, began greedily devouring them.

Crunch, crunch….

The eyes of the Hunters opened wider and wider from this horrifying spectacle.

"B-but, if they eat up everything like that, nothing will be left behind, you know?"

"Right. Even the Magic Crystals…."

The Hunters could only anxiously look on as the top-class Magic Crystals all ended up in the stomachs of these monsters, no, summoned creatures.

Unable to watch from the sidelines any longer, Jeong Ye-Rim hastily ran out.

"Don't you know how expensive that is?!"

She tried to wrestle away the corpse of a Vampire, but that only managed to annoy the ant, and the creature swung its arm at her direction.

"Ahk!"

She cried out and tumbled backwards after the ant's claw cut into her forearm.

Plop.

"O-ouch."

Just as she tried to get up while rubbing her butt….

��Kururuk-!"

By the time she regained her wits, the ant monster that swung its arm was standing before her. The creature had its gigantic maw and its horrifying mandibles wide open as if to swallow her head whole.

Jeong Ye-Rim's expression froze stiff at that moment.

"Ah…. Ah…."

It was then. Beru had come swooping in and turned that ant around. He opened his own maw wide just like how this ant did a moment ago, and then….

"Kiiiieeeeehhhk-!!!"

…And then, he screeched out incredibly loudly.

Being subjected to the rage of an existence on another level, the ant creature couldn't even meet Beru's gaze and simply shivered in fear.

"K-keeiick…."

Beru let go of the ant's shoulder, causing the creature to hurriedly scurry away from there. Jeong Ye-Rim watched this scene play out in a total daze, but Beru approached her and extended his hand out.

'Uh…..?'

Still stupefied over everything, she grabbed the offered hand and was able to finally stand back up.

"I, uh… T-tha…."

She was about to say something, only for her lips to stop. Because, she saw the gentle blue light circulating around Beru's fingertips, that was why.

"….Healing magic?!"

Jeong Ye-Rim's brows shot up real high in surprise.

The wound in her arm healed up immediately the moment that blue light touched her. After confirming that her wound was completely cured, Beru turned towards the ants and shouted out.

"Khe-ehck!"

That caused the ants to end their mealtime and began moving deeper into the dungeon's interior.

Jeong Ye-Rim watched the back of Beru and murmured to herself.

"How can…. a summon cast better healing magic than me??"

***

The Hunters finally arrived in the school.

They followed the direction the needle of the magic compass was pointing to and climbed up the stairs. An incredible magic energy reaction was coming from the sixth floor's corridor.

The man in charge of the Hunters looked behind at his group and spoke.

"Be careful."

The Hunters nodded their heads.

And when they eventually arrived on the sixth floor, they got to discover two things.

"Heok!!"

One, an Orc sliced up into so many pieces that it was impossible to count; two, a lone man covered in blood standing still with a shortsword in his hand.

'And that person is….?'

The leader of the assault team met Jin-Woo's icy cold eyes and his breath nearly came to a sudden stop. But he recovered somehow and picked up the walkie talkie.

"Yes, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo is here."

The leader took a look around and made another report.

"The situation has been resolved."

Chapter 144

Because of the nature of the incident itself, a massive crowd of people had rushed towards the school's perimeters.

"My son goes to this school!!"

"Get out of the way!"

"I need to confirm what happened with my own eyes!!"

"Aigo, aigo!!"

If it weren't for the desperate crowd control efforts by the police and the Association's employees, the scene of the incident would've descended into pure pandemonium from the maddened crowd.

The reporters had also rushed here as soon as word got out and were now busy snapping away with their cameras.

"Uh? It's Seong Jin-Woo!"

"Take his pictures!!"

Jin-Woo evaded their gazes and wordlessly walked over to someone that seemed to be a staff member of the Hunter's Association. This staff member immediately froze up in nervousness after seeing Jin-Woo's face. That was how scary the Hunter's complexion looked at that moment.

"S-Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim…."

"Where's my sister?"

"Miss Seong Jin-Ah and other students have been transferred to the Seoul Il-Sin hospital."

"….."

Jin-Woo nodded his head, his expression still remaining grave, and turned around to walk away. The staff member unconsciously swallowed dry saliva while watching his back get further away.

Gulp.

The first thing those arriving here did was to confirm the status of the student named Seong Jin-Ah, as per the instruction from the Association. Thankfully, she was unhurt. With the exception of abrasions suffered around her neck and wrists, there were no other injuries on her.

Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was the one who had rescued her, so he should know that fact better than anyone, yet….

'Even then, for him to be that p*ssed off….'

It was a good thing that he arrived on time, otherwise, how would he have reacted if something happened to his sister? The staff member shuddered from the terrifying dizziness he suddenly felt just then.

It indeed was a huge relief.

Contrary to the relief of the staff member, though, Jin-Woo was feeling quite gloomy at the moment as he pulled out his phone.

'I'm sure Mom's about to get the news.'

Too many students lost their lives at the hands of the monsters. Rather obviously, his mother would feel like her world was about to crumble after receiving the news.

'Before that happens, I need to tell her that Jin-Ah's okay.'

He thought as such and was about to tap the "Call" icon, but then, he heard an unexpected voice coming from behind him and stopped.

"I've already sent some of the Association's agents over to speak to your mother, Seong Hunter-nim. They should be on their way to the hospital as we speak."

Jin-Woo looked behind him.

"Mister Association President."

Goh Gun-Hui stood there, his complexion as dark as Jin-Woo's.

Even though the President himself was not at fault here, as the person representing South Korea's Hunter's Association, he was feeling the burden of responsibility for failing to prevent this tragedy. Jin-Woo could only express his gratitude for Goh Gun-Hui looking out for his family even under the current circumstances.

That prompted Goh Gun-Hui to shake his head.

"No, it's us that should be thanking you."

Seventeen students survived.

It was only because of Jin-Woo's arrival that those students among the trapped in the school building were able to get out of there alive.

"We are constantly in your debt, Hunter-nim."

Jin-Woo could only smile bitterly at that.

He could have saved a lot more students if he were able to use the Shadow Exchange and get here right away. Such regret seeped clearly into his expression.

Goh Gun-Hui could faintly sense what Jin-Woo was feeling right now from his expression. But the older man shook his head.

'Now isn't the time to wallow in our emotions.'

Indeed, didn't he have something important to say to this young man? Goh Gun-Hui raised his head.

"Will you be heading to the hospital now?"

Jin-Woo thought back to the Gate in Gwang-An-ri, but quickly stopped worrying about it.

His MP remained the same as before. Meaning, Beru and his ants were conquering the dungeon without encountering any problem at the moment.

'Well…. It's not just any soldier but Beru, so it'll be fine.'

There was no need to worry about the progress of the raid right now.

"Yes, I am."

"Please, let me give you a ride there."

"No, I'll be fine."

"Please, allow me. There is something else I wish to talk to you about on the way, as well."

Jin-Woo initially declined thinking that the offer was made out of courtesy, but he nodded his head after seeing the earnest attitude of the Association President.

"Alright, I will."

Jin-Woo followed Goh Gun-Hui's guidance and they both climbed into the back seat of the waiting car.

Even though it was a full-size saloon, the back seat felt cramped after Goh Gun-Hui's huge frame and Jin-Woo's wide shoulders climbed aboard. Woo Jin-Cheol was sitting in the driver's seat, and nodded his greeting through the rear-view mirror.

Jin-Woo also nodded slightly as his greeting.

The car slowly set forward and only then did the Association President stop hesitating and speak up.

"…In a way, you could say that today's tragedy has been foretold in advance."

His expression was hard.

On the other hand, Jin-Woo was feeling confused.

'Does that mean the Association didn't do anything about an incident they could have prevented in advance?'

Before his confusion had the chance to transform into anger, the Association President pulled out his phone and showed Jin-Woo its display. It showed a graphical chart.

"This shows the increase in the Gate activity around the city of Seoul for the last six months."

The dots drew a gentle curvature but when it got nearer to present, it suddenly spiked up steeply.

"And this side shows the stats from around the world."

If the Association President didn't make that clear, Jin-Woo might have mistaken them for two of the exact same thing. That was how similar-looking the inclines in those two graphs were.

"The numbers of Gates appearing has spiked up noticeably throughout the world."

Goh Gun-Hui's complexion got darker and darker.

"However, that isn't the only strange thing."

He returned the phone back into his inner jacket pocket and carried on.

"People wanting to confirm their Awakened rankings are practically lining up in a long queue outside the Association every day now."

The number of Gates where monsters come out was increasing, and at the same time, the number of Hunters who were supposed to block the Gates was also increasing? As if to maintain a balance?

Seeing Jin-Woo's interested expression, the Association President spoke in a complicated tone of voice.

"We think that….."

Goh Gun-Hui ended his lengthy explanation while implying that it was only his personal hypothesis.

"….Something is changing."

Jin-Woo nodded his head.

This was indeed interesting information. Anyone could tell something big was afoot from that data. Unfortunately, that didn't mean Jin-Woo could do anything about them right now. It was the same story for Goh Gun-Hui, as well.

Also, a simple phone call would have sufficed if it was about sharing of information and a hypothesis. Jin-Woo thought that Association President wouldn't have taken time out of his packed schedule to simply have this conversation.

"In that case, what you wish to talk to me about was…..?"

As if he was waiting for that, Goh Gun-Hui picked up a briefcase resting by the footwell and pulled out various documents from there.

"Japan, the States, China, Russia, France, Britain, Germany, and even from the Middle East…."

All the nations with some international clout were brought up abruptly.

"These are all the official documents sent in from those nations that wish to make contact with you, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim. I'm fairly certain that some of them even have made unofficial contacts with you already."

Jin-Woo briefly recalled the incident involving the American Hunter Bureau's people, but decided not to mention it.

"In all honesty, we at the Hunter's Association simply don't have any rights to stop these people. No, we can only protect your personal information according to your request."

Jin-Woo silently listened to the older man's story.

"I know that everything depends on your decision, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim, but…. But, I fear that our country will not be able to adapt to the incoming changes if you decide to leave us."

Rather than a concrete answer, Jin-Woo shifted his gaze out of the car's window. As he fell deeper into a myriad of distracting thoughts, one of the biggest hospitals in the country entered his view.

It was the very hospital where Jin-Ah had been admitted to.

"We will provide you with every convenience we can possibly provide."

Goh Gun-Hui stuffed the documents back inside the briefcase and asked Jin-Woo with a tense expression.

"So, would you please remain in South Korea?"

***

The Knight Order's assault team chased after the ants and arrived at the boss chamber's entrance.

Jeong Yun-Tae's eyes grew extra large after he spotted the ants that began entering the boss chamber.

"Hyung-nim, shouldn't we try to stop them??"

"….I don't think I can."

Indeed, Park Jong-Su was not confident at all of persuading the summoned creatures that they needed to stop the raid for the moment, so they could start retrieving the remains of the dead monsters and the Magic Crystals.

He could only spit out a resigned sigh.

'Yup, let's just forget about it.'

His thoughts just went and did a 180.

They entered this Gate in order to let the world know that the Knight Order Guild was still going strong, didn't they? It'd be perfectly acceptable to show the world that they could still clear a rank A dungeon, the highest rated one at that, without a single casualty or someone getting injured badly during the raid itself.

'Not only that, without Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's presence, too!'

Wasn't it the case of no one would know of what happened inside a dungeon?

Even if those ants managed to defeat the boss, the folks outside would only remember the name of the Knight Order Guild, not the creatures Hunter Seong Jin-Woo summoned out before leaving in a hurry.

Better still, once the boss died and the Gate closed, there would be no way to confirm the truth. Judging from Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's personality, he wasn't the type to go around blabbing his mouth, either.

Park Jong-Su's thought process arrived at that point and a smile floated up on his lips.

'Well, isn't this a fortune among misfortunes?'

It was then. The Hunters at the back of the pack suddenly became rather noisy.

"Chairman? There are a lot of things coming from our rear!"

"Yeah, I can hear them coming, too."

"….Mm?"

Park Jong-Su tilted his head and walked to the rear of the team. And for sure, he could hear lots of footsteps as well.

'Wait, did the retrieval team enter the Gate already?'

But, the highly-trained retrieval team of the Knight Order Guild wouldn't have entered a dungeon without receiving an order first, so how could this be?

Just as such thoughts entered his head….

"….Heok?!"

Park Jong-Su's brows shot up high. Because, the undead monsters, those the ants didn't snack on, were busy rushing to where the assault team was, all of them fully revived back to how they were.

'C-could it be….??'

Did the ants chow up the undead because they knew this might happen?

Such a thought only lasted for a moment in his head. Park Jong-Su realised that his team wouldn't be able to deal with that many monsters, and hurriedly shouted out to his teammates.

"Everyone, enter the boss room, now!"

Their sole hope for survival was the summoned creatures left behind by Hunter Seong Jin-Woo. The assault team didn't even have a chance to confirm what was waiting for them inside the boss chamber and hurriedly jumped in.

After confirming that every last Hunter had entered, Park Jong-Su shouted out, veins popping up in his throat.

"Block the exit!!"

Jeong Ye-Rim activated her skill, 'Holy Wall', and blocked up the entryway connecting the boss room and the passageway before it.

Slam-!

Boom-!!

The Death Knight standing in front of the rushing horde noisily pounded on the invisible barrier. Her forehead soaked in cold sweat now, Jeong Ye-Rim turned her head towards Park Jong-Su.

"Chairman! I won't be able to hold this for more than five minutes, tops!"

"I know!"

Not only Park Jong-Su, but the rest of the assault team members had finished preparing for a battle in case the wall was breached.

But, when they took a good look at the undead monsters pressing forward like a horde of insects on the other side of the wall, they began doubting whether they had any chances of winning here.

"All we can do here now is to pray that the summons kill the boss quickly and open up the path for us."

Park Jong-Su looked back at the ants that should be facing off against the boss with a pair of desperate eyes. He prayed that the boss was an easy monster to fight.

'….Oh, my dear lord.'

His eyes opened even wider than before.

The boss monster currently standing in a face-off against the ants was something even Park Jong-Su knew of, after hearing about it many times in the past.

A pale-faced 'Mage' wearing a tattered robe – the Arch Lich.

It was the strongest undead-type monster, thought to be the creature at the top of the undead food chain.

'Why did it have to be a d*mn Arch Lich?!'

Park Jong-Su's complexion darkened considerably.

He prayed for the summoned creatures to quickly kill the boss and help them out, but then, the opponent turned out to be a d*mn Arch Lich. It'd be more realistic for the Hunters to get rid of the scores of undead first and help the summoned creatures out next.

It was then.

Beru took a step forward towards the Arch Lich.

The Arch Lich then immediately summoned over a dozen Death Knights around the ants and surrounded them.

"Kiiiieeehhhk-!!"

Beru bared his fangs and extended its claws out.

'…..?'

The Arch Lich recognised the black smoke continuously rising up from Beru's entire body. It was almost as if the completely-empty eye sockets had widened for a second there.

"The Shadow Army??"

The language of the monsters came out from the Arch Lich's mouth. Beru retracted his claws after hearing the boss's words.

The Arch Lich swept its gaze around the ants behind Beru and asked in a puzzled voice.

"Why is the king's personal army attacking us?"

Kekeke.

Beru leaked out a sound that sounded like a cackle of ridicule, before pointing to himself.

"We have been chosen by the king."

And then, he pointed at the Arch Lich.

"And you… weren't."

The Arch Lich couldn't believe it, its voice now containing a trace of anger.

"That can't be! I shall personally report to the king, and…..!"

Unfortunately, even before the Arch Lich could finish its sentence, Beru appeared right before its stunned eyes.

'….!!'

The shoulders of the Arch Lich quivered momentarily.

Beru was a high-class monster that the owner of a rank S dungeon sacrificed its own lifeforce to create. Even if its overall Stats had fallen a little ever since becoming a Shadow Soldier, there was just no way that an owner of a measly rank A dungeon, an Arch Lich, could fight against Beru.

The former ant king simply thrust its hand into the shocked boss's chest without hesitation.

Stab!!

The hand pierced through the chest, along with a pendant hanging on the Arch Lich's neck.

"Keok!!"

Beru's hand exiting from the back of the Arch Lich was grasping the pendant now. That piece of jewellery was basically the heart of the Arch Lich.

It wasn't all that difficult for Beru, once a top monster himself, to detect what was supplying the lifeforce to his enemy. The Arch Lich desperately shook its head.

"No…. This can't be….!"

However, Beru didn't pay any attention to the pleading of his enemy and simply crushed the pendant in his hand.

Crack.

"You talk too much for someone about to die."

Along with Beru's words, the body of the Arch Lich crumbled to dust.

Chapter 145: Chapter 145

Park Jong-Su's jaw dropped to the floor. He was so shocked that he needed some time to process the event his own two eyes had witnessed just now.

'How could it kill the Arch Lich in one hit?!'

There was an event that catapulted the Arch Lich as a pretty infamous creature among the boss-level monsters. And that would be the incident of the Gold Dragon Guild's annihilation.

An entire Guild was completely destroyed by a single Arch Lich. Not just any Guild either, but one that was supposed to be quite powerful even within China, no less. But then again, that might have been an obvious result.

The Arch Lich could continuously summon out 'Death Knights' any time it wanted to. And one Death Knight was a very powerful undead-type monster that required the bitter struggle of multiple rank A Hunters to defeat.

If you underestimated the boss monster simply because it didn't have any guards around it initially, then you'd not be able to escape the fate of total destruction.

In the end, a dungeon break occurred from the Gate the Gold Dragon Guild failed to close. China's own Special Authority-rank Hunter Liu Zhigeng arrived in the nick of time so the incident didn't turn into a catastrophe, but still, many Hunters got to know the terror an Arch Lich posed through this incident.

'But now…..'

That mutated ant summon killed the Arch Lich in one hit. What an astonishing event that was.

Maybe it wasn't only Park Jong-Su who thought like this, because Jeong Yun-Tae standing next to him also couldn't seem to close his slack jaw at all.

"Oh, my god….."

As if he couldn't believe his own eyes, he asked Park Jong-Su for another confirmation.

"Hyung-nim, wasn't that an Arch Lich?"

"Yeah, it was. The thing that came out of the Gate during that Gold Dragon Guild incident."

"If that's true, then that ant just one-shotted an Arch Lich….?"

Jeong Yun-Tae now formed a completely disbelieving expression. Other Hunters also heard the conversation taking place between Park Jong-Su and Jeong Yun-Tae, and failed to hide their extreme shock as well.

"An Arch Lich?!"

"That thing was an Arch Lich??"

"And the ant took it down in one hit??"

"Whoa."

Just as the entirety of the Knight Order Guild's assault team was being astonished by Jin-Woo's 'summon' that could kill the boss of a rank A dungeon in the blink of an eye….

The multi-talented healer Jeong Ye-Rim, currently sweating profusely while trying to hold back the tide of the undead monsters, was dying of curiosity regarding what happened behind her back.

"What was that? What happened??"

However, her curiosity couldn't be maintained for long. Something quite surprising started happening right in front of her eyes, that was why.

"Uh??"

All those undead monsters, rampaging around as if they were only a moment away from breaking past the 'Holy Wall', suddenly collapsed on the ground like puppets with their strings cut.

Plop.

Plop.

And then, they didn't stand back up again.

"C-Chairman??"

Jeong Ye-Rim was startled by this sudden turn of event and hurriedly looked behind her. Park Jong-Su was nodding his head.

'The Arch Lich must've had something to do with the defeated undead monsters reviving in full.'

He really did feel utterly dazed and lost at the sight of the crazed horde of the monsters rushing in like a black tidal wave, wondering what would happen to him and his group, but now…

It felt like he could breathe easy again.

"Fuu…."

Behind Park Jong-Su busy sighing out in relief, the Hunters standing there failed to hide their elated expressions. They were all excited at the idea of exiting from this dungeon safe and sound.

"Hyung-nim, you worked hard."

"What do you mean, I worked hard���.. It's those guys that worked hard, not me."

Park Jong-Su used his chin to point and Jeong Yun-Tae looked behind him. The summons were all standing still unmoving and staring at the human Hunters as if to ask 'Where are we going next?'

'Well, uh, them standing around like that and not budging makes them look a wee bit cuter…..'

However, one of the ants must've felt bored, because, for no apparent reason, it loudly screeched towards the ceiling.

"Kkkkiieeeehhhk-!!"

Just like that, Jeong Yun-Tae's expression that contained a hint of favourable impression towards the creatures flew away in an instant.

Swish.

Jeong Yun-Tae swivelled his head back and asked his boss.

"Hyung-nim. Isn't this the same as Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim solo clearing this dungeon?"

"Yup, more or less."

Park Jong-Su also agreed with that assessment. In the deeper parts of the dungeon, where the difficulty was at its highest, the Knight Order Guild's assault team did nothing but just followed around the ant monsters.

And those ants were Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's summoned creatures. In the end, it was the same thing as Jin-Woo clearing the dungeon all by himself, just as Jeong Yun-Tae had alluded to.

'What a scary power….'

They had seen the extent of his power in Jeju Island, but having witnessed it for real, they had to concede the fact that he possessed an incredible ability.

The fact that the summoned creatures were capable of displaying levels of combat prowess easily exceeding their imagination, and the fact that Seong Hunter was able to freely control these summons, left a deep mental shock in the Knight Order's Hunters.

"Which means, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim doesn't even need to enter a Gate and still gets to clear it by just sending these guys in, no?"

Jeong Yun-Tae spoke without thinking too much about what he was saying. However, Park Jong-Su felt goosebumps break out all over his skin after he thought about what his deputy just mentioned in passing.

'Hold up….'

The number of summons Hunter Seong brought out back in Jeju Island was at least over two hundred. That was only from those that got caught on camera. So, it was difficult to even estimate how many more he could actually summon out at once.

What if he didn't even need to make a single move, but simply send out his summons to clear out dungeons….?

'There must be some exhaustion of magic energy when summoning out and controlling these creatures, so he might not be able to use them all at the same time, but….'

Just half of his summons.

No, even if that guy could only utilise half of that half, his method would be so much more efficient than what other large Guilds could even come up with.

'Urgh.'

Park Jong-Su suddenly realised that he'd have invested his entire life savings if Hunter Seong's Guild was a publicly-traded company.

"Hyung-nim, let's not waste more time and push ahead with merging our Guild with Seong Hunter-nim's Guild."

"This guy, really now….."

Park Jong-Su glared scarily at Jeong Yun-Tae, before his expression became a lot more serious.

"Refer to it as 'M&A', okay? M&A. The new Guild created by the best Hunter, and one of the five major Guilds in the country, the Knight Order, pushing forward for the M&A. How nice sounding is that?" (TL: M&A = mergers and acquisitions)

"Keok??"

Jeong Yun-Tae flinched grandly.

"You really wanna try your luck with that, hyung-nim?!"

"Think about it. Combine Seong Hunter-nim's abilities with our Guild's know-how – even the likes of the Hunters Guild should be terrified by our potential, man!"

Would Vice-Chairwoman Cha Hae-In leave the Hunters Guild and join hands with Hunter Seong for no reason? Of course not.

Elation bubbled up in Jeong Yun-Tae's face as he nodded, but then, he began rubbing his chin and tilted his head.

"But then, hyung-nim. You honestly believe that Seong Hunter-nim needs us?"

"Tsk, tsk."

Park Jong-Su tutted and explained in detail.

"Do you really think that Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim will be able to disregard the law if he wants to work?"

"Excuse me?"

"Even if it's possible for his summons to clear dungeons, he still needs to fill up the minimum headcount for the raid team, no?"

"Ohh…."

Hearing that plausible explanation, Jeong Yun-Tae's expression brightened up once more.

"You're right, hyung-nim."

As the two men stared at each other with happy smiles on their faces, the ground beneath their feet trembled ever so softly.

Rumble….

"Aigoo."

Park Jong-Su stopped wasting time. With the death of the boss-level monster, the Gate was starting to close up.

"Well, let's carry on our discussion after we get out of here first."

"Yes, hyung-nim."

Park Jong-Su loudly called out to the rest of the assault team still waiting for his orders.

"Everyone, let's all get out of this place before the Gate closes down!"

"You'll provide all the convenience you can?"

"Yes, that's correct."

Jin-Woo's question was met with Association President Goh Gun-Hui's assured answer.

Officially, there were ten rank S Hunters recorded in the Korean Hunter's Association's database. But, they had lost three now. Two died at the hands of monsters, while one abandoned Korea for America.

From the perspective of the Hunter's Association, they could not afford to be hands-off in this matter anymore.

They wanted to do everything they could – this wasn't just the opinion of Association President Goh Gun-Hui, but the rest of the Association as well.

'Unless it's the other rank S Hunters…..'

They definitely could not afford to let Hunter Seong Jin-Woo slip away.

Goh Gun-Hui's eyes gleamed with the light of determination. As the representative of the Hunter's Association, he had met countless Hunters over the years. Several of them were those whom you'd qualify as some of the strongest in the world, as well.

However, Seong Jin-Woo was the first Hunter ever to make his heart race this madly. Not just as the Association President, but as the citizen of this nation, he definitely wanted Jin-Woo to remain in South Korea.

["We will provide you with every convenience we can possibly provide."]

Those words expressed the Association President Goh Gun-Hui's strong will to keep Jin-Woo in the country. They also contained how highly the older man thought of the young Hunter, as well.

"If that's the case…."

Jin-Woo thought for a little while, before opening his mouth.

"Will you let me enter high-ranking Gates all by myself in the future?"

"Pardon me?"

When he was faced with a completely unexpected demand, Goh Gun-Hui's eyes opened up wide.

"Are you asking me to exclude you from the minimum headcount rule?"

Jin-Woo nodded his head.

"Huh-uh…."

The regulation regarding the number of raid team members was the minimum safety net in place for the Hunters. It was a policy to prevent the incidents of Hunters entering a dungeon without sufficient preparation and losing their lives.

However….

Did Hunter Seong require such a safety net when his summons could beat down countless rank S monsters? Abruptly recalling a certain scene from the ant tunnel raid, Goh Gun-Hui asked as his expression tensed up.

"By any chance…. The raid permits your Guild will be issued with, are you planning to clear those Gates all by yourself?"

"Yes."

Goh Gun-Hui became speechless from Jin-Woo's straightforward reply. There was not one trace of worry in his voice.

'Could it be that he made the Guild just for this…..?'

Did he do that so he could solo-clear high-ranking dungeons?

There were many powerful Hunters throughout the world, but none of them planned their raids in this manner.

But, when the images of this Jin-Woo confidently chatting away, and the Jin-Woo back in the ant tunnel summoning countless soldiers to sweep away the ant monsters, overlapped in Goh Gun-Hui's eyes, the older man suddenly began shivering almost uncontrollably.

'A one-man army….'

For Goh Gun-Hui, who had been constantly worried about the unchecked growth of the major Guilds, that proved to be one hell of an attractive concept.

Ba-dump, ba-dump!!!

His heart began racing again.

Goh Gun-Hui placed his hand on the chest that began to hurt a little, and formed a bitter smile after comparing himself to the virile and healthy-looking Jin-Woo.

"Will it be difficult?"

Jin-Woo asked, but Goh Gun-Hui immediately shook his head.

"It's not going to be impossible."

Indeed, it wouldn't be impossible, but it'd be quite difficult, nonetheless. That was what Goh Gun-Hui thought.

But, just what kind of man was he? He was the President of the Hunter's Association, a rank S Hunter, and the member of the National Assembly.

This was a request from not just anyone, but Hunter Seong Jin-Woo. Even if it was a tough request, there would be nothing holding Goh Gun-Hui back from fulfilling it.

And if that was enough to keep Hunter Seong in South Korea, then all the better for it.

"Leave it to me."

Jin-Woo grinned brightly after hearing Goh Gun-Hui's confident reply.

'Nice.'

One of the things that could've proved to be a source of headache got resolved just now.

"Thank you."

Jin-Woo smiled and expressed his gratitude, and Goh Gun-Hui replied with a smile of his own.

"I always bring this up, but well, it should be us thanking you, Hunter-nim."

Screech.

The large saloon carrying the two stopped at a bit of distance away from the hospital's entrance.

"Let us speak again soon, Seong Hunter-nim."

"Of course."

After sharing simple goodbyes, Jin-Woo climbed out of the car.

The news of the victims being transferred to this hospital must've gotten around, because there were a lot of reporters camping by the entrance already.

The car stopping a fair distance away from the entrance was all due to Woo Jin-Cheol's consideration. There was little doubt that another commotion would've broken out if the car carrying the Association President came to a stop in front of the hospital and Jin-Woo climbed out from there.

'It's times like this that being famous can get really annoying.'

Jin-Woo shook his head and used 'Stealth' to conceal himself.

Inside the office of the Yujin Construction's chairman.

Chairman Yu Myung-Han, who had been taking a nap on the impossibly-wide desk, slowly raised his slouched torso up.

Sunlight entered at an angle through the windows.

He felt his eyelids getting impossibly heavier, and it seemed that he eventually had fallen into a bit of slumber.

On the couch located in front of the desk, the right-hand man of Yu Myung-Han, Secretary Kim, was sitting upright and looking back at his boss.

Yu Myung-Han rubbed his face to chase away the remaining sleepiness and spoke up.

"Looks like I have napped for a little while. How long was I asleep for?"

Secretary Kim looked at his wristwatch and then raised his head back up again.

"Sir, you've been asleep for 23 hours and 46 minutes."

'....'

Yu Myung-Han's hand rubbing his face came to a sudden stop.

"I've been waiting here in order to carry out your order of escorting you to the hospital if you don't wake up after 24 hours have elapsed, sir."

Was it that illness striking again?

Yu Myung-Han's face, his hand no longer covering it, was frozen stiff.

He would sometimes fall into a state of deep sleep without any warning signs, and once asleep, it became harder and harder to wake up.

The 'Eternal Sleep' disorder.

Although the process was slow, this disease definitely dragged all of its victims to death's doorway.

Secretary Kim strode quickly forward and stood before Yu Myung-Han.

"Sir, there are two things I need to inform you about."

"What are they?"

As befitting his nickname of 'Pokerface', Yu Myung-Han had already wiped off all traces of worry from his face and reverted back to his regular stoic expression.

Secretary Kim picked up the newspaper resting at the corner of the large desk and politely placed it before Yu Myung-Han.

'….?'

Somewhat puzzled, Yu Myung-Han quickly picked the paper up and browsed through it. The article dominating the front page was about the event of a Gate opening up in a school somewhere in Seoul, causing the devastating losses of hundreds of high school students.

"Tsk, tsk…."

Yu Myung-Han grimaced after seeing that terrible news.

"What a terrible incident this is. Make sure our company donates something to the school and to the victims."

"Yes, sir. But, Chairman, that's not it."

Yu Myung-Han put the paper down. Secretary Kim bowed slightly and carefully flipped the page of the newspaper, so the next page could be seen. There was a large photo dominating this page.

"This is the photograph I wanted to show to you, sir."

The tip of Secretary Kim's finger stopped by at a certain lady within that photo.

"This woman…. Do you recall who she is, sir?"

The photo was of a hospital where the survivors of that horrible incident had been admitted to. Secretary Kim had singled out a certain woman among the many pictured. She was hurriedly running into the hospital's entrance.

Quite coincidentally, she was someone Chairman Yu Myung-Han still remembered quite clearly.

"But, how…..??"

Yu Myung-Han never forgot a person's face. And he definitely had seen that woman's photograph before.

She was none other than Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's mother.

"But, I thought Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's mother suffered from the Eternal Sleep, too?"

He had studied Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's profile several times in great detail.

A person who, according to Yu Myung-Han's knowledge, should be confined to a bed and unable to move while completely dependent on the life support machines, was walking around looking completely healthy.

The thing Secretary Kim wanted to talk to him about – Chairman Yu Myung-Han finally realised what that was. His hand gripping the newspaper began trembling.

"Can you find out for me what happened in detail?"

"Understood, sir."

"…..Thank you."

As his response to Yu Myung-Han's praise, Secretary Kim bowed again for a brief moment, before raising his head again. After putting the newspaper back down again, Yu Myung-Han quietly opened his mouth.

"You said there are two things I need to know about."

"Yes, sir."

"What is the second matter, then?"

Yu Myung-Han raised his head and met Secretary Kim's gaze. And the light in the latter's eyes wasn't so good. This was one of Kim's old habits. He always brought up the good news first, then spoke the bad news the last.

Secretary Kim displayed some hints of hesitation, before speaking up as if he decided to give up.

"The Young Miss has returned home yesterday."

As if waiting for that declaration…

Clung!

The door to the Chairman's office was flung wide open and an intellectual-type beauty rushed inside.

Chairman Yu Myung-Han's daugther, Yu Jin-Hui, saw how thin her father had become and tears began wetting her eyes.

"How long have you been like this, Father?"