Imposter Syndrome

Chapter: 001

Last Reincarnation

I slashed the last goblin, who was hiding at the crevice of the cave.

You killed a goblin.

100 XP has been dropped.

0 Karma has been added.

With your skill, Empathy for the Dead, 7 XP is added to your advancement.

It was such a pain in the ass. With my skill, killing a goblin with a single hit meant the little guy had extremely low HP left. It took us 20 minutes to collaboratively kill the Boss monster, but it took us an hour to find this little guy. 60 minutes to hunt down a half-dead monster! The Collectors had already finished gathering and transporting all the useful/marketable corpses and materials right before Jay came.

If it weren't for Jay's Skill: Detective, we might have been stuck in this dungeon forever. Thank god, this wasn't a closed-door. Otherwise, the Mercenary Guild wouldn't be able to send Jay in for reinforcement.

"Jesus, that took way too long for a D-rank dungeon."

"30 minutes for a goblin, I thought it was a secondary boss monster or something."

"I mean, It was that damn bastard Daniel's fault for dying in a D-rank."

"Why are you even cursing the dead!?"

"Well, he's the only Detector that we brought in, if he were alive, we could have hunted down this goblin long ago."

"Alright everyone, calm down. Good job hunting today. Let's go out to eat." said our party leader.

"You're paying Leader?"

"Yes, sure. You stingy bastard."

Mr. Kang always knew how to soothe down the situation. This was my third time joining his team, although he didn't much as to blink at an outsider, I could tell that he cares for his party.

Since nobody even glanced at Daniel's body. It looked like I will have to take the job of cleaning up and reporting the death to the guild. I guess I was not part of that meal gathering thing.

As the other party members walked away, I finally picked in the Skill parchment paper.

"What skill is it?"

I glanced at Jay who was standing a few meters away before looking down at the paper.

"Stealth F: basic. Hide body temperature."

"So that's why a goblin managed to fool all of you. It probably pretended to be a corpse."

He was probably right, there was at least 20 dead goblin here. We were careless. This dungeon requirement was to kill all monsters. It should be second nature for us to double-check.

And once again I realized that although I hate my own skills. I relied too much on it again. Whenever I opened my status window, my eyes always skipped the Blessed Skill and went straight down to Cursed Skill.

I've two curses.

Empathy for the Dead. A Skill that made hunting miserable. I got only 7 percent of experience from killing the monster. So for every 100 XP, I got seven. Why was it 7 percent you may ask? I don't know.

This had been the 3rd year of my hunting, I managed to rank up to a low Eo rank, while others who started at the same time were at least a mid C-. This was why I am hunting F and E-Rank dungeons. I only got into a D-rank dungeon with Mr. Kang's team because they needed a speedy Dealer.

The second curse. Linguist. A skill that allows me to understand the monsters. I can't communicate though, I tried to talk to a goblin once like a fucking idiot. But only can understand their tongue, they don't understand mine. I heard all their curses, screams, and pain.

Like when the boss monster just called Mr. Kang, a bald gorilla. I mean, I see where the boss was coming from, with his large Tanker build. Mr. Kang is 2.6 meters tall. Exactly a meter taller than me.

I had relied on Linguist to search for monsters as I can understand their language. But for a goblin to not whisper even a word as we walked back and forth searching for it, showed that these monsters are more intelligent than what humans give them credits for.

Ding. You have acquired a new skill.

The basic Stealth F- skill. You are now able to hide your body temperature.

I tore the Skill paper, while Jay picked up Daniel. He didn't even comment on the fact that I hid the Skill parchment from the rest of the members. But then again, we were technically lone wolves in the Mercenary Guild. During a guild raid, all resources within the dungeon belong to the guild (the ones that the Collectors gathered.) While any drops from killing the monsters go to the hunters. Crystal or jewel drops will go to the hunter that hunted that monster. However, if a monster dropped a Skill parchment, it should be decided as a group.

Mercenary Guild was a guild that doesn't represent a country, hunters from all over the world are able to join. This meant that the guild was composed of those who were abandoned by their country, criminals, or outcasts. I was one of those outcasts, I held a secret that can't be revealed to the world.

Congratulation You have cleared an E-rank dungeon.

10 Karma has been awarded.

Error: You did not meet the requirement to accept Karma.

Ding. The last members of the hunter party had left the dungeon.

Dungeon will disappear.

As Jay and I walked out of the dungeon. The portal cracked and shattered into pieces.

"Don't abandon us, Arshey Winson. Join us and seek your ultimate revenge."

Then those pieces vanished into thin air altogether.

The dungeon knew my name. The dungeons always asked me to help them. The dungeon always asked me to join their side. The dungeon asked me to kill the hunters.

I was a hunter chosen by the dungeon to kill humans.

When is my limit? When would I succumb to this urge for revenge? A vengeance that I didn't know the origin of but bloomed within me.

Am I going to prey upon these hunters? Am I going to accept the dungeon request?