Chapter 13

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***

Baek Yoon Ho, one of the strongest hunters in Korea and the leader of the White Tiger Guild, looked gloomily at the flaming scarlet gate that sparked with aggressive energy. It was supposed to be an ordinary S-rank gate, but the catch was that only B-rank or A-rank gates could become scarlet gates. Although, an S-rank gate could also turn red, but that would mean disaster for the entire country. So, Yun-ho preferred not to consider such a possibility. But, the association should be notified of the threat that had arisen. Especially since it was the association that failed in assessing the strength of the gate.

- How many of our people have entered? - He asked calmly.

- Twelve men, sir. - Sang Min replied excitedly.

- How many high rank hunters are there?

- There's an A-rang hunter, Kim-Chul, who has been appointed squad leader. And there are seven other B-rang hunters.

Yun-ho mentally calculated the possible developments. How many high-ranked hunters would be needed to mop up a dungeon like this. And at best, only a few hunters would return along with Kim-Chul, but only if it was a W-rang gate. Otherwise, they can all be considered dead. The red gate will open either after the boss is killed or after a long time, during which time the weak hunters are unlikely to survive inside.

- Also, Head Master, another person has entered the gate.

- What? Yunho was surprised.

- A hunter who expressed a desire to watch our new recruits train.

- Is he capable? Are you trying to recruit him?

- That... Song Jinwoo...''

The White Tiger Leader sighed noisily.

- That Song Jinwoo?

- Yes.'' The manager bowed his head.

Yun Ho, on the other hand, grinned.

- ''Then our men have a chance.

He already knew about the appearance of the tenth S-ranked hunter as well as his identity. Although not much was known about him, the association had only left the bare minimum of information. Only name, rank, and specialisation. No contacts or data on the very identity of this hunter.

Still, even if there was an S-rank in the raid, it didn't mean it would be without casualties.

But now they have a much better chance of coming back.

Meanwhile.

Inside the gate, not the most favourable events were unfolding....

The icy wind fluttered my hair as I simply looked around. A winter landscape, a mixed forest, trees covered in snow caps. And surprisingly clean fresh air. Some were already starting to shiver, but I was generally fine. Not just at the expense of inhuman endurance. One of my rings also increased my resistance to a whole range of natural elements. Increased defences against fire, cold and electricity. It wasn't as effective as its more specialised counterpart, the fire ring, but it was enough to protect me from the cold.

- What is this place? Where did we get to? - Dazedly one of the fighters looked around.

Some were looking at the place we had come from.

- Where did the gate go?

- And this place doesn't look like a dungeon.....

The hunters hadn't even realised what was happening when I felt a pulse of power, full of menace.

Jerking towards the girl nearby, I intercepted the arrow that was about to pierce her head. In flight, it seemed to be just a line of white light. When I caught it, the ice arrow began to emit a scalding cold, coating my hand with an icy crust. The ring's defences were no longer able to cope with this effect, but it was still too weak to damage me.

Although, if the arrow had hit me, I might have lost a few per cent of my health. The frost effect alone wasn't enough.

- W-what...

The arrowhead froze a few centimetres away from the girl's eye.

And, at the same moment, another hunter just received the same gift. The arrow pierced his temple and entered his brain, freezing the hunter's head to the point where half of his face was covered with ice. But, it didn't matter, just a moment more and he fell dead.

Off to the side, another girl shrieked.

Someone shrieked in surprise.

- What's going on?- We're under attack!

- Ambush!

The hunters panicked. But Kim had to be commended. Even as a novice, he quickly oriented himself, putting up his shield, he stood in front of several mages, covering them with his armour.

- Everyone follow me! - The tank bellowed.

The girl I had saved looked back at me uncertainly, but when she nodded, she took her place in the formation. And I, as soon as I was out of sight of the group, stepped back and activated my camouflage.

My vision was inhumanly sharp and I easily saw how surprised the eyes of the snow elf, who looked at me from the branch of the tree, from where earlier and fired a shot. The distance was at least five hundred metres, even more. These guys must be very sharp to not only accurately hit from such a distance, but also so competently identify targets. The dead guy was one of the weakest C-rank hunters. And the girl was a B-rank, but she was a mage with weak defence. Killing her with a surprise attack is even more difficult than killing a C-rank warrior, even though her combat power and defensive abilities are even higher. But only if she was willing to defend herself.

In any case, I was ready to attack the elves now, but they didn't linger and just retreated.

I could try to chase them down, but... then I might run into the boss early. And that's the last thing I want to do. And, no, I'm not afraid of the boss, it's just that if I kill him, the gate will close and I won't be able to take advantage of the time distortion.

- They're gone.

- Shit!

Sighing, I cancelled the disguise, hiding my hands in my pockets.

- Is this how they show their hospitality? Ugly!

Tank slammed his shield into the ground and looked around, glaring at the entire group.

- Perhaps someone else hadn't realised the gravity of the situation yet... it's a red gate. That means it's a B or A-rang gate, and we're trapped here. There's no way out, and the guild can't send help unless the gate opens on its own or we kill the boss. But, a day here equals an hour in the outside world. It could be months before we get out.....

The hunters were becoming more and more worried.

Now they really had a better understanding of the depth of the anal orifice they had managed to squeeze themselves into.

- Since I am the leader of this raid, I am the one responsible for your lives. But I won't promise that all of you will return alive.''

Kim Chul continued to rant and he was so engrossed in his speech that it seemed as if he just enjoyed hearing the sound of his own voice. The guy was agitated and tense, but he didn't look scared or annoyed. It was more like excitement. He clearly saw this whole situation as his own personal challenge, and was confident in his abilities.

Honestly, I was expecting a little different.

I remembered that in the comic he split the group up. But given the situation and his abilities, it could be looked at as a tough decision for the sake of overall survival. However, he couldn't use the weaker hunters as cannon fodder like a lizard. After all, he was a guild warrior and reputation was very important to him. He was simply too vain and proud to act like a scumbag. Although his decision was questionable, it could be considered reasonable under such extreme circumstances.

All in all, he was worse than I had hoped, but better than he could have been.

- It's a B-rang gate, at least. - He pronounced. - It would be difficult to manage a large group in such a dangerous place. That's why I decided to create a separate group led by me that will take charge of destroying the boss.

- W-what...

- We can't waste time now. The environment of this place is also our enemy, the longer we procrastinate in this cold environment, without supplies, the less chance of survival we have left.

And yet, the group realised that it was with the A-rang tank that would be the safest. While those who would not be part of this fighting unit would simply become easy prey for the ice elves and other monsters. Their chances of survival tend to zero.

In any case, the most beneficial thing for me would be to just let the situation go as it was in the comic. But...

These people aren't completely downcast bastards that I could safely kill without flinching my hand. And knowing the situation in this gate, doing nothing, I too clearly feel like I'm condemning them to death with my own hands. Even if not all of them, but many.

- It's the A-rang Gate. - I exhaled.

- What?" One of the hunters looked back at me.

Chel looked in my direction, too.

- Why would you think that?

- Those elves had A-rang powers, about your level. And they were just scouts. So it's most likely an A-rang gate.

- What? How could you tell their strength? And at this distance? - The tank hesitated.

I stepped forward, stretching my neck.

- Yeah... I was just about to enter the red gate... but how inconvenient that it happened here with you.

- What are you talking about?

Sighing, I activated the suppression skill for a moment. Although, it can't really be called activating a skill anymore. Over time, these abilities become so familiar to me that I no longer see them as game skills anymore. I don't activate them, I just use them. Like now, I didn't activate the skill, no, I just emitted a powerful pulse of force, but, without putting a threat into it. So, it wasn't even a suppression, there wasn't even a stats reduction effect, but all the surrounding hunters should have felt my power.

- W-what...

- What the...

- You..." Kim's eyes bulged. - You're S-ranked... how?

I coldly glanced at the tank.

Yeah, he might be a good acquisition among my shadows. But on the other hand, my shadow golems are not inferior in strength. And the monsters here, I can raise them just as well. And the truly valuable acquisition will be the S-rank hunters I can get for my army later. Thus, Kim's value doesn't seem so significant anymore to put him at risk for the sake of it. Even if he's not the best person, but he's still not so bad that I can kill him without hesitation.

If I act like a canonical Jin Woo, however, while having the knowledge of where this will lead, nda, I'll be too uncomfortable myself. And, it's just not worth it.

- As you may have realised, I am an S-rank hunter. I'm not part of your group, but I promise, if you agree to my condition, I'll make sure you survive.

- W-what? What other conditions? - The tank was stunned.

- I won't explain everything. But the main condition is to keep this dungeon open for as long as possible.

Having said that, I take out a few bags from my inventory.

- These are warm clothes. I also have several months worth of supplies for a large group.

- What? From where?

- I've prepared for the possibility of getting caught in the red gate.

- How did you know...

I shake my head negatively.

- I didn't know it was going to be a red gate, I just assumed that sooner or later, I might hit it.

- But... these things..." Kim squinted. - You foresaw that it would be a cold zone!

Grinning, I pulled out a few more bags.

- It's just that I've prepared for the different possible red gate zones. There's waterproof clothes, there's light aba for the desert, and there's boats for the water world.

- N-unbelievable... you've really prepared for these situations..." the girl said dumbfounded.

The same sorceress, a green-eyed brunette with a pretty face.

- If you agree, I'll provide your protection, and when the supplies run out, I'll destroy the boss and open the gate.

- Why the hell not?

I didn't answer.

Instead, I simply stepped back, leaving my warm clothes behind. At the same moment, a grim pack emerged from my shadow.

- Guard. - I gave the shadow wolves a command and turned my gaze to the hunters. - Stay here, I'll scout the neighbourhood.

After which I made a dash, separating myself from the group. I don't use sprint, just with my current characteristics I could already make such high-speed jerks that the human eye can no longer keep track of.

When I froze for a moment already among the trees of the winter forest, Igris stepped out of my shadow.

He looked round as well.

- Scout the other side.

The knight put his fist to his chest as he looked round, and then he took off. I headed the other way. In fact, I went around the hunters' camp in a circle, scouting the area. And thus soon enough I felt the presence of monsters, immediately changing course in their direction. To prevent them from smelling me before I do, I switch to stealth. Not because I really need it, but it will allow me to pump up the skill a bit.

When I came right up to the huge angry bears....

Golems came out of my shadow and started to surround them, but not attack them.

- Fireball...

Burning the damp cold air into a scalding vapour, a fierce blob of flame began to form in my palm. The feeling of primal power concentrated in my hand was breathtaking. The wild violent flames took flight and the monsters roared fearfully.

As it flew, the initially small ball of flame burst into a vast torrent of fire that engulfed the entire group of bears, sinking fangs of flame into their hides. The few bears that were in the centre of this hurricane of fire were practically incinerated, turning to cinders with a strong smell of burnt fur. Those who were not so badly affected by the flames roared with frightened roars and ran away from me in terror.

Bang!

An earth golem from the shadows meets the burning bear and pierces it with spikes sprouting from its own arm. The other golem takes a step towards it and simply slams into the second bear with its massive body, crushing the enemy.

- Not bad... - I assessed the effect.

But the fireball consumes more mana than the cloaking skill.

Okay, now.

- Rise.

And my army of shadows was augmented by bears. But upon discovering that almost all of these guys were only revived as ordinary shadow warriors, I disappointedly let my attire consume them. They were too weak.

And afterwards, I encountered another group of the same bears, which I didn't even try to revive, but immediately used for saturation absorption, having previously tested its one magic skill on them.- Vacuum...

Pushing the sphere of energy forward, I watched as air began to flow towards it in strong currents. Feeling the pressure of the wind, the bears tried to resist it, but all their efforts were barely enough to stay in place. The weakest of the bears began to be dragged towards the sphere. When the tension in the sphere reached its peak, it exploded, tearing the bears nearby to shreds and throwing the bears farther away with a shockwave.

- A furious lunge!

I used the swordsman's combat skill on the survivors before they came to their senses.

A gloomy light enveloped my sword before striking, and a sharp stabbing lunge pierced the bear through and through. The power of the blow almost disembodied the bear. The blade made a massive hole in it, definitely not compatible with life. But, I felt that this skill was not as strong as my chopping. To be exact, its damage is less, but it's more concentrated and penetrates deeper, through the enemy's defence.

- Now...

I'm already using the vacuum blast without a word. But now the surviving bears, who had suffered from the previous explosion, resisted weaker, and they began to be pulled towards the sphere. And then, when the sphere was about to explode, and the bears were in one cramped heap.....

- Fireball!

And this time I tried not to let the fire scatter into a vast stream, but to concentrate all the power of the fireball on the group of opponents. Not as well as I would have liked, but I was partially successful.

- Groooooaaaah! - The bears roared furiously, engulfed in flames.

And then there was a powerful explosion that absorbed streams of flowing plasma. And just before the explosion, the sphere concentrated the collected flames to the limit, doing monstrous damage to the piled up animals before ripping them to shreds and incinerating the pieces into smoking embers.

- Magic... impressive... - I stretched out.

Using these skills was indeed quite exciting.

And with that, I made a detour, destroying the monsters around the hunters that had already set up camp. Igris also faced the monsters and destroyed them, but since he was far enough away from me, I gained less experience. Back in the Demon Castle, I noticed that I only get full experience from shadows if they fight near me. But the farther their fight goes, the less experience I get from them.

As for the hunters' camp...

This was to be expected. By the time I returned, there were only five people left in the camp. I didn't even need to ask what happened. Besides it was easy to guess, I could also hear their conversations through the shadow wolves that were left here. Over time, my control over the shadows got better and opened up more fully, allowing me, among other things, to see through the eyes of the shadow servants. But, at the same time, it was as if I wasn't looking directly through their eyes, but as if from the side.

So, I knew that Kim-Chul, angered by my demand to leave the boss for a while, had gathered a group and went on a raid by himself. And he only took the B-rang hunters. And he wanted to take them all, but two of them refused. The archer and the sorceress.

- Looks like the group has dwindled. - I sighed, returning to the camp.

- That's...

- I realised. Kim-chul took the men and went after the boss.

- Are you going to help him?

- No.

I've already made some serious concessions under the pressure of my conscience. But I wasn't going to sacrifice a month of training for this guy. I just covered my eyes and looked at Kim's surroundings through the shadow attached to him. They had already encountered a pack of bears, but easily overpowered them and moved on, assured that this would, in fact, be an easy dungeon.

- And yet... we decided to trust you, Jin Wu-san. - The sorceress approached me. - Why don't you tell us why you're so reluctant to touch the boss? It would be better to team up with Kim Chul. With your strength and his, you could probably close the dungeon.

Walking to the edge of the forest, I cut down a tree and fell the trunk just to sit down on a stump more comfortably.

- Oh... ah... - The girl's eyes glistened.

And before she could ask a question, I simply summoned a shadow blade and chopped down a few more trees just like that, so that there would be enough revenge for everyone.

- Hmm, you know that a hunter's strength is determined upon awakening. Even if we're divided into classes like in games, we don't level up.

- Hmm, well, yeah.

- However, hunters do get stronger over time. Magic power increases a bit, but usually these changes are minor and certainly don't allow a hunter to move up to a higher rank.

The girl nodded in agreement.

And the other hunters listened just as attentively.

- In fact, the strength of a hunter depends on two factors. - I show two fingers. - It is the source of the power, and the ability of the hunter to extract that power. There are times when a hunter could even qualify for S-rank, but his source is weak and he remains at a low level. Or it can be the other way round, where the source is great but the hunter himself is only able to extract a fraction of that power.

- Umm... I haven't heard of anything like that....

Waving my hand at the guy who spoke, I continued.- Because of that, after waking up, the hunter's strength can still increase a bit because his body adapts to the source and extracts more power. And this directly applies to my situation. I've only recently undergone re-awakening and my body is still adapting to the force. I have already reached S-rank, but within the next month, I can reach the strength of a national level hunter.

In fact, the national level is also S-rank, but the problem is that there is no way to measure the strength of such hunters. Unless it's to determine their hierarchy through a duel. Alternatively, S-rank hunters can sense the strength level of another hunter to some extent. So, the national level is already the world level hunters. In fact, among the ten S-rank hunters in Korea, there are no national level hunters.

- I mean... is that possible? - The girl's mouth gaped open.

- Yes, and this time I want to spend here to fully enter the force as quickly as possible relative to the time in our world.

- Ah... but why?

- Hmm... I have my own reasons. - I said calmly.

The sorceress looked at me thoughtfully. And in her gaze flashed apprehension. She was trying to imagine what kind of circumstances I considered more dangerous than being in an A-rank locked dungeon.

- Okay... let's eat. And then I'll do a sweep of the neighbourhood.

I may not want to touch the boss before the time, but I also don't want any baddies hanging around the camp.

*** 

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