Bugs

// Update Notice!!//

Please ignore the following if you are reading this novel after the 23rd of March 2022

There is a change in Chapter 01: Imposter Syndrome regarding how hunters' level is determined.

Arshey was described as a level 5 hunter, but she is classified as a low Eo rank hunter.

Hunter now groups into F, E, D, C, B, A, and S.

Each level is divided into C-, Co, C+. To move from one to the next you need to reach 100 levels. So C- level 99, then Co level 00.

Additional information regarding the concept of the world:

During a guild raid, the guild will take all the resources, the ones that the Collectors gathered.

While any drops from killing the monsters go to the hunters that killed those monsters.

However, if a Skill parchment dropped. It has to be decided as a group as to who should get it.

Detail on Linguist

Since Linguist is always activated, all monsters voiced will be translated in a bracket

Example: "Ssss…[Kill these monsters]"

And I sincerely apologize for the grammatical errors in Chapter 003: Not A True Ally Part II. I had accidentally copied the unedited version. Chapter 003 has been updated.

Thank you so much

Chapter: 004

Clearing criteria:

Kill the Boss: Flying Blue Bat - Incomplete

Kill 90% of 5017 monsters. 502/4616 - Incomplete

Something wasn't right. For the past 20 minutes, we had only encountered a few cave snakes here and there. All of them were wounded; some with flesh torn, fresh blood still slowly seeping out, and others coated with dried blood. The injuries were all either teeth or claw marks. Initially, we thought that it could be from the Blue Bat, but there were too many injured for a Boss to inflict alone. So, there was a chance that cave snakes were the lowest rank monster in this dungeon or a possibility of a secondary boss.

Finally, everyone was on the same page regarding the situation we were in. This dungeon might be harder to clear than we expected. A difficult Boss with a high number of monsters, this was definitely a C++ dungeon and not C+ as we had initially thought.

The further we went into the cave, the dungeon-generated torches were further and further apart. Kannika summoned more fireflies, around 20 of them, surrounding the hunters in a circular formation to prevent any form of surprise attack.

This time, I had placed myself right behind Jingmin and the Tankers, the furthest I can be from Kannika who had stayed in the back with the other half of the Tankers. During our break, Kannika had approached and confronted me about my increase in speed. Thankfully, the confusion from all the range attacks didn't make my increase in attack prowess noticeable.

I had laughed it off by saying that survival instinct had pushed me to the limit that I had never been before. She didn't believe my lie and warned me that she was watching me. I didn't blame her, there were only two reasons that a hunter would hide their full strength.

First, they do not trust their hunting party. Or second, they are one of those psychopaths who hunt indiscriminately, regardless of monsters or humans.

If she thinks that I am in the first group that would be an insult directed toward her and the party members. Like I did not trust the party enough to protect me that I had to hide my skill to save myself in a dire situation. But if she thinks that I am in the second group, that would mean that she thinks I am a danger to the whole party. Someone who waited for her chance to attack.

Crime within the dungeon wasn't unheard of. Humans are greedy. One second, we can be protecting each other, hunting the monsters while watching each other back, and the next, when the loot dropped, the blades turned to one another. In the worst-case scenarios, there are those who got kicks from killing humans.

Either one of the options wasn't good for me. Although I was known for being a Standstill hunter, the guild didn't really pay attention to me. They simply think of me as an unfortunate hunter who is weak.

But if Kannika was to reveal my Assassin Sprint, then I might be hunted down by others for this Blessed Skill. I don't think that she had realized that my Sprint activates for 30 seconds, she might have only noticed that it has a higher duration than average.

The 150% increase in speed isn't much compared to others with Sprint, but the speed increase can be upgraded with Karma to a certain extent. But anything related to the time limit can't be upgraded, like Skill cooldown or Skill duration. If a high-rank hunter, heck any hunter other than myself, get a hand on this Skill page; they could easily upgrade the increase rate to 200%, 300% 1000%. This just shows how weak I am compared to other hunters simply because I couldn't collect Karma.

"Pzzz, pzzzt"

"Somethings are heading toward us from the front," warned Jingmin with a hand signal for us to stop.

"Airborne!" Travis added.

Now everyone had their guard up. Flying monsters are slightly more hectic to deal with, especially if they are species that can launch range attacks. Dealers that are ground-based with no range attack, like me, couldn't really help the attack force.

Most hunters had at least a skill of another class. It was not uncommon for an Assassin to also use a mana attack or a dealer to have a healing skill. Having a Skill that isn't part of your class simply means that the proficiency of the skill isn't on par with those hunters of that class.

From what I heard it is similar to my attack prowess notification. The system will tell you that you can only use XX% of a Skill because you are not of that class and that percentage of proficiency is varied from hunter to hunter. But there is a positive correlation between a hunter's rank and skill proficiency. If a B-rank Magician and an A-rank magician both tear a healing skill page, it is almost always true that the A-rank can use the skill slightly more proficiently, with a higher percentage, than the B-rank Magician.

This is also something that can't be upgraded with Karma. If a dealer can use only 50% of a B+ healing skill, the only way for them to improve it is to get a higher grade healing skill than B+.

Since I had only been in F and E rank dungeons, it was highly uncommon for monsters to drop a skill page. And since I am poor as fuck, it was almost impossible to buy any useful Skill page.

My Sprint B+ was my father's. The only thing I got from my parents' death…

"Buzzz, bzzz…[humans kill our foods]"

"Buzzz, buzzz…[kill humans]"

"They are the ones who hunted the snakes!" I alerted.

"How do you know?" Jingmin asked while raising his eyebrows.

"I…, I…" Shit. Shit. Shit. Stupid fucking Linguist!

Just then, a swarm of beetles came in each around a meter in length. They were like regular beetles, except for their size.

"Oh wow! These E-rank beetles definitely injure kill the C- Territorial Snake," snickered one of the Assassins.

"I… I wasn't lying" I whispered.

Everyone became more relaxed. These beetles attack by tearing/biting their enemies. Since they don't have a ranged attack, everyone including the Healers can easily defend themselves. Yet, even seeing so… my gut kept telling me to be cautious….

"Stay cautious, don't put your guard down just because they are low rank!" Jingmin commanded.

Then the range hunters attack, both mana and elemental bolts were shot at the swarm of beetles killing multiples monsters from a single hit.

Kill 90% of 5017 monsters. 509/4616 - Incomplete

Kill 90% of 5017 monsters. 513/4616 - Incomplete

Kill 90% of 5017 monsters. 521/4616 - Incomplete

Kill 90% of 5017 monsters. 533/4616 - Incomplete

"If this is where the high number of monsters come from, then I am not complaining" exclaimed one of the Magicians.

"buzz, buzz…[How dare you to attack my children]"

"Buzz…[yes, how dare they!?]"

"Buzzzzzzz…[impotent humans!]"

"Somethings are coming, leaders of these beetles! Two of them" I yelled.

"They are probably a C-rank at most if they are a beetle," mocked one of the hunters.

I could no longer tell who talking. The buzzing of the swarms of beetles, the noise from the attacks, the hunters who were talking, and… and the two monsters that were approaching us.

Those two made my skin crawl, it was as if Linguist is warning me that they are powerful.

I understood where the other hunters are coming from; a leader of a group of monsters is often a rank higher. There were cases where they can be two ranks higher but that is rare. Since these beetles are E-rank, the leader of the same species can be a C+ rank at most.

"I couldn't sense anything strong, are you sure that your sense is correct?" laughed Travis.

"Please be on guard…" I whispered as I tucked Jingmin's sleeve. I do not understand what is happening, but I have this sense of desperation… desperate to make anyone listen to my advice.

"Everyone stays on guard!" Jingmin commanded.

I let out a sigh of relief, at least someone was listening to me.

You have been buffed for the next 5 minutes. All skills have increased by 100%.

"Save the buff, wait for the leaders" I advised.

"Shut the fuck up Arshey, you are not in command!"

"Where the fuck are the leaders you were talking about?"

"Buzz, buzz….[In formation my children]"

"Buzz. buzz… [Kill them!]"

"Pincer attacked! On our sides!"

"Tankers move to the left and right!" commanded Jingmin.

"Why are you even listening to her!?"

"She is not even a Detector!"

"Travis said he couldn't sense anything!"

"Pzzz, pzzst"

"Pzzz, fssss"

"Pzzz, fssss"

The sounds of the wings flapping echoed throughout the cave, hundreds and hundreds of them were heading toward us. Impossible to distinguish where they came from. I noticed that a few of the Tankers had moved away from our left and right.

I turned to our right side, placing myself behind five Tankers. To our left, only three Tankers were in formation. Two Tankers had moved to our front while one moved to our back.

And then I saw it, the one leading the swarms of flies. Unlike the other beetles, the leader is a humanoid monster.

Instead of six legs, this 1.5-meter tall beetle has four limps. The front legs function like hands, their tarsal claws are more like fingers with joints that can bend. Their hind legs were long and with a single joint that bends like a knee instead of dividing into three parts like a regular beetle. A razor-sharp throne with tiny blades like a saw was jutting out on each side of its torso where the middle legs should be. Unlike a regular beetle, its body divides into head, body, and legs instead of head, thorax, and abdomen. Its thorax shapes like a torso, there is no abdomen altogether. Although it was flying, it wouldn't be hard to tell that it can stand on its hind legs like us.

"Buzz. buzz… [Kill them, my children]"

Its compound black eyes reflected the colors of our range attacking. Flashes of orange, blue, red, white, can be seen in the opaque obsidian eyes.

"Shit! A humanoid leader!" screamed one of the hunters.

I backed down, creating a space between me and the Tankers, right before the beetle leader collided into them. The force was so strong that two of the five Tankers fall from their feet.

I could hear a scream from the left side, they probably couldn't embrace the full impact with just three Tankers.

One of the innate skills of a Tanker is a skill that permits all Tankers to infuse their defense together, allowing them to create a barrier to block the upcoming attack. The more powerful the Tankers, the more damage the barrier can block. This invisible shield allows all allies' attacks to fire through. This innate skill also a Tanker to infuse their defense to Magicians with a skill to create mana Shield. However, Magician couldn't do the same to Tanker.

"How is this a C rank dungeon!?"

All recorded appearances of a humanoid monster indicate that they are a least a B rank. Since this is a C rank dungeon, there is no monster than should exceed a B+ rank. So if we were lucky, these two beetles are B-; if we're not, they are B+ like the Flying Blue Bat.

"Buff! The shield can't hold any longer!" yelled one of the Tankers in front of me. I can't really imagine what was going on the left side, considering that one single collision already cracked the barrier.

"Magician creates a separate shield if possible!" commanded Jingmin.

"The Tankers can't brace the impact of these leaders alone!"

Just how strong are these two? I glanced back and noticed that Jingmin had rushed to attack the leader head-on. Some Dealers had moved to either side of the beetle swarms, stepping out of the barrier.

"Buzz, buzz...[kill those humans at the back]"

"They are aiming at the Healers!" I screamed. Rushing to the back where the four leaders were grouped.

Beetles from both swarms break from their formation. Half of each swarm stomped toward the Healers while the other half remained to break the barrier with their leaders.

What was I thinking?! Placing myself in front of these Healers, it was not like I have any defense skills to help them!

Assassin Sprint B+ has been activated.

Your speed has increased by 150%.

You do not meet the requirement to use the full extent of your skill.

You have been betrayed and you have been buffed.

Your final speed is +210% for the next 30 seconds.

"My buff will be gone in 45 seconds!" Kannika informed.

I rushed toward the closest coming beetles.

140 percent of your damage prowess is being applied!

140 percent of your damage prowess is being applied!

140 percent of your damage prowess is being applied!

Buff effect has run out.

70 percent of your damage prowess is being applied!

70 percent of your damage prowess is being applied!

You have killed a beetle.

Kill 90% of 5017 monsters. 579/4616 - Incomplete

A few of the Magicians and two Tankers had placed their mana shield to protect the Healers. While the Healers helped to recover the stats of Tankers who currently were taking direct hits from the beetle leaders.

"I have to get closer to the Tankers. I can't do range," said a C-rank Healer.

The healer class has the innate skill that allows Healers to either heal, regaining the HP, or recover, either reducing fatigue or recovering mana. However, range healing or recovery can only be activated through either skill page or leveling up to an A- rank.

"I will accompany you," said one of the Magician.

I glanced at the two approaching the Tankers to the left and frowned. The humanoid beetles had shown great intelligence given that they can detect the Healers within minutes. A Healer going close to them was simply a suicidal move.

"hsss," I hissed as one of the beetles gnawed my arm. I was being too careless.

70 percent of your damage prowess is being applied!

70 percent of your damage prowess is being applied!

70 percent of your damage prowess is being applied!

70 percent of your damage prowess is being applied!

70 percent of your damage prowess is being applied!

70 percent of your damage prowess is being applied!

You have killed a beetle.

"Ahh,"

"Shit,"

Woosh…

One of the barriers broke and a deathly chill ran down my body. Without even turning back I could tell that the five Tankers on the right received great damage.

Thud.

"It killed him! It killed him!"

"Ah…. his head!!!" screamed one of the Healers!

"Can't heal!" screamed another Healer.

"Protect the Healers!" Jingmin yelled.

I could hear the sound of approaching wings from behind.

"Re-shield! Got damn it, get up!"

"Buzzzz. buzz… [Kill that one, my children]"

"buzz, … [the one with short hair]"

"Be careful Jie Healer!" I warned the Healer with short bob hair.

As I turned toward her, I saw her running toward me with her arm reaching out.

The next thing I know, I was pulled in front of her, staring at the approaching humanoid beetle. The rest of the swarm followed behind, but my eyes seemed to only focus on their leader. Its elytra lifted straight up allowing the underwing to fully function without blocking. Its bloody arm (front leg) was reaching, probably aiming for my neck. I watched the red droplets dripping from its claws. So it beheaded a hunter with that hand. Was it that powerful? To kill in a single grip?

Ah, fuck me!

Ding. You have been betrayed.

Twice in a single dungeon, this was a new record. And probably the last.

You can use 80% of your Skills for the rest of your raid.

80%? Would I even get a chance to know how much my prowess and speed increase? Why am I always the closest to those who are about to be in danger?

"Ah sorry, I killed a few of your children,"

That was not what I meant to say, that wasn't what I want my last words to be.

But, I did feel somewhat sorry. Since these two leaders had evolved to this point, they might even feel emotions like humans do…

They didn't get a chance to fully grasp the grief and had to continue fighting. Because pausing meant more deaths...

"I killed two of them,"

I watched as the leader stopped a third of a meter away from me. No attacking…

The compounded eyes mirrored my own face, many tiny me can be seen. The swarm of beetles flew past us and at that moment darkness surrounded me.

When did my firefly got killed?

"Buzz.. [human?]"

Ding. You have Empathized the Dead.