Chapter 11
A report reached the Eccho Guild office, specifically the executive suite. Joo Hyung-seok, a B-rank Hunter and an executive member, checked the contents. With every line he read, his expression darkened more quickly.
"Brother. Do you remember how, not long ago, we sent two of our people to bring in Kang Hyun-jun, the one who came out alive from that C-rank elite dungeon?"
At Hyung-seok's question, Jeong Seong-min, the executive chief who had been focused on other work, looked up.
"I remember sending one B-rank and one C-rank. Why is the news so late?"
"We just received the related report."
"Oh? Go on."
Seong-min's eyes gleamed. He naturally assumed the report would be about the mission succeeding, that the guild Hunters were in the middle of subduing Hyun-jun and bringing him here.
"The two people we sent are both dead."
"Both of them?"
Seong-min frowned at the report. He couldn't believe that two executive Hunters with plenty of experience in human combat had fallen to Kang Hyun-jun, who had only just become a C-rank.
"Yes. We just got the report. They've already confirmed the bodies on our side as well."
Hyung-seok drove the nail in deeper.
"This doesn't make much sense..."
"Couldn't we just form another team and send them? If we mix in two B-rank Hunters and a few C-ranks... I think we could subdue him."
"Wait. First we need to think carefully. If he killed two of our people, then surviving a C-rank elite dungeon alone might not have been luck."
Hyung-seok could tell, at least to some extent, what Seong-min was getting at. With a stiff face, he spoke.
"Are you talking about the possibility of a second awakening?"
"There's no reason to rule it out."
"Then shouldn't we crush him even faster?"
There was fear in his voice. It was common knowledge that the growth rate of a second awakening was monstrously fast.
"I'm not saying we should leave him alone. I'm saying we should move carefully. Once this mess we're handling now is over, how many B-rank Hunters can we mobilize?"
Seong-min asked. He couldn't move at the moment because he was tied up dealing with another guild's executive division.
If only they hadn't stolen the item that came over from England...
He thought it in silence.
"At minimum, we can mobilize four. We can move even more C-ranks."
"Good. That should be enough. Since it's come to this, we'll throw the full weight of the executive division at him and crush him."
Killing intent seeped through Seong-min's voice. There was a single-minded resolve there, a determination to take revenge no matter what.
*
The spear swung by the C-rank monster, an orc berserker, slammed into Hyun-jun's shield.
Bang!
The impact boomed through the passage, but Hyun-jun's stance didn't waver. Instead, the orc berserker couldn't withstand the recoil and staggered backward.
An opening!
He didn't miss it. The sword he thrust forward at full force pierced straight through the orc berserker's throat.
"Grrrhk!"
With that strange sound, the orc berserker collapsed weakly to the ground.
"That's incredible. There's hardly any room for me to step in."
The one exclaiming behind him was Park Se-jun, a B-rank Hunter and the party leader. Under normal circumstances, Hyun-jun would have held off the monster's attack while Se-jun delivered the finishing blow, but Hyun-jun was taking every attack head-on and killing them with counterstrikes before anyone else could act. It had turned the raid into a grotesquely lopsided affair, with the front line monsters being wiped out in an instant.
"Please leave a little for me next time. All right?"
This time, unlike the pure admiration from before, there was a sharp edge in Se-jun's voice. He was acting on the assumption that Hyun-jun, who kept putting in such overwhelming performances, might later demand a bigger cut of the payout.
"I'll try."
"I really mean it, please!"
Se-jun said with an exaggerated gesture. After that, they eliminated the six orcs that appeared and walked for about thirty minutes before a thick iron door came into view.
"We'll rest for thirty minutes, then move out."
Se-jun declared the break, then checked the magic stones the porter had looted. He seemed to be a meticulous man. Meanwhile, Hyun-jun took a seat in a corner and pulled a strip of jerky from his pocket, stuffing it into his mouth. Because he had overslept, he hadn't managed to pack any proper food beyond the jerky.
"Here."
When he looked up, someone was holding out a water bottle. It was the woman with the glasses and ponytail, a party member he had exchanged names with earlier, though he couldn't remember hers. Just as Hyun-jun was frowning, trying to recall it, she spoke first.
"It's Choi Ye-seul. Please remember at least my name."
"Ah, thanks."
The moment he heard it, he remembered that she was a C-rank support-type Hunter. Hyun-jun didn't refuse her kindness and brought the bottle to his lips.
"That was really amazing. I don't think I've ever seen a Hunter fight a monster of the same rank as well as you do, Kang Hyun-jun."
"Thanks."
With a faint smile, Hyun-jun handed the bottle back. Ye-seul returned to her place with a charming smile in her eyes. Before long, Se-jun announced the resumption of the dungeon raid.
When they opened the iron door and stepped inside, a pack of more than ten orcs greeted the party. They were armed with spears, shields, and swords. The orc standing farthest back held a bow and arrows.
"Everyone, be careful. There's an archer."
Hyun-jun was the first to spot the archer and warned them about the danger of ranged attacks.
"There are quite a few of them. We'll need a buff. Something for agility, please."
At the party leader's order, Ye-seul drew her mana up.
"Haste."
The Haste buff settled over the party members, excluding the porter. At the same time, the orcs rushed toward Hyun-jun. The surge of mana from the buff's activation seemed to have provoked them.
They're coming!
Hyun-jun also gathered his mana and called down his blessing.
-Carthago's Righteous Shield protects you.
Carthago's Blessing activated. Aura Shield settled over the shield. Perhaps because he had gone through training once more, the aura seemed sharper than before.
"Haaah!"
With a shout, he swung his shield and smashed it into an orc's head.
Bang!
The orc's skull shattered with a thunderous crack. An arrow flew in a split second later, but it couldn't pierce the Aura Shield and bounced away.
My body feels lighter than usual.
Was it because of the blessing? At first he thought so, but he soon realized that wasn't the only reason. By the time he had cut down the orcs in a frenzy, only one archer remained standing.
Was a C-rank Hunter's buff this strong?
No matter how he thought about it, the buff's efficiency seemed excellent. But since he had never properly received a real buff before, there was nothing to compare it with, and the battle still wasn't over, so he had no room to think further.
At last, the sword Hyun-jun thrust forward buried itself in the orc archer's heart, and the fight came to an end. After confirming that the porter had begun looting the magic stones, Se-jun quietly approached Hyun-jun and spoke.
"From here on out, I'll take the lead. No objections, right?"
"Can you handle tanking?"
Hyun-jun voiced his concern.
"Yes. Don't worry. I'm a B-rank Hunter. I'll handle everything."
"Understood, for now."
When Hyun-jun yielded, the other Hunters didn't object either. Se-jun put away his two daggers and drew a shield and sword from his subspace pouch. He took up the role of the front line tank. One C-rank combat Hunter took the second row, and Hyun-jun was assigned to escort Ye-seul. Then, the moment they opened the iron door that had appeared and stepped inside, it happened.
-Hashashin's insidious laughter warns you of danger. Someone is waiting for you in the darkness.
Hashashin's Blessing warned him.
"It looks like there's an ambush."
"I'll tank it. It's fine."
Se-jun didn't listen.
Bang!
The iron door slammed shut. Hyun-jun tried to open it on the off chance, but it was firmly locked. Hashashin's blessing kept warning of the ambush, but Se-jun didn't seem to sense anything and moved forward at an easy pace.
Watching him, Hyun-jun gave a short sigh and shook his head. He had already done his duty by warning them once about the ambush. He had no intention of trying to drag along someone who wouldn't even understand him.
He'll handle it himself.
He had already survived a C-rank elite dungeon alone. Even if he ended up on his own, he could still clear a C-rank dungeon boss. That was what Hyun-jun believed.
"You said there was an ambush earlier, Kang Hyun-jun. So when exactly is it supposed to show up?"
Se-jun said it with obvious mockery. Hyun-jun was just about to open his mouth to answer when he sensed the presence hidden in the darkness rapidly closing in, and he raised his shield.
"W-what the hell!"
Se-jun also belatedly caught the presence and threw a throwing knife up at the ceiling.
"Kuwaaaagh!"
"Kyaaah!"
Two orcs hidden on the ceiling fell to the ground as corpses. Throwing knives from Se-jun had been lodged in their necks. But not all the orcs had been taken out by the knives. One orc berserker landed and drew a greatsword straight down toward Se-jun.
"Kh, k-urk!"
Se-jun coughed up a cry of pain with a mouthful of blood. Even from a distance it was clear he had suffered a fatal wound, yet he did not fall. Instead, he drove his sword into the orc berserker's body.
Even if he was a B-rank Hunter, there was no way a strike delivered while suffering such a severe injury could inflict a fatal wound on an orc berserker. He had aimed for the heart, but it only managed to lodge in the left forearm.
"Y-you damn..."
That was the end of it. Another orc dropped from the ceiling and thrust a spear through Se-jun's abdomen. Cursing, he collapsed while vomiting blood. Two fatal wounds in quick succession. Even a B-rank Hunter couldn't possibly endure injuries like that.