Chapter 24
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: D-Rank Solo Challenge
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After checking Yang Jeong-hyun's message at the headquarters entrance, Lee Ru-ri quickened her pace toward the lab.
"Over there."
"Yes?"
"Excuse me, do you know where the Association headquarters is?"
"Oh, just keep going straight from here, then turn left— it'll be right in front of you."
"Ru-ri?"
"Professor!"
"I told you to wait. What's going on?"
"I was just asking for directions."
"A hunter who doesn't know where headquarters is? Who is this guy?"
When Yang Jeong-hyun asked sharply, the man who had spoken to Lee Ru-ri bolted in the opposite direction.
"Huh?"
"No, don't chase him. It'll be on CCTV. I need to tell Si-jin. Let's go for now."
"Okay. But what happened? You look pale."
"That old geezer Chairman Han... his mind is completely gone."
"What...?"
"You know how guilds are popping up everywhere right now? This lunatic wants to close the first round of guild creations at midnight today and set guild battles as the requirement for the second round."
"B-battles?"
"Only the ones who win fights get to make guilds. He's definitely lost it."
The two of them sipped tea in the lab while waiting for Han Seung-woo and Choi Si-jin.
Han Ho's idea was pretty dangerous.
Hunters had physical abilities far superior to ordinary citizens.
So while citizens and hunters lived intermixed, they didn't interact directly.
Citizens generally shied away from hunters.
Even among those citizens, there were people who desperately tried to become low-rank hunters despite not having the physical aptitude for it.
In that sense, Lee Ru-ri was undoubtedly one of the lucky ones.
She'd gone through tough times, but she'd finally found her true position and was in a state where she could keep growing.
Ordinary people forcibly awakened via magic stones had dramatically low latent mana values, making promotion a pipe dream.
They just wandered from cleanup raid to cleanup raid as low-rank hunters until retirement.
That was the typical life for those who'd become hunters against the odds.
The problem was, if guild creation criteria became guild battles as Han Ho envisioned, there'd be no way to prevent meaningless sacrifices from the low-rank hunters mixed in there.
"They're saying create temporary guilds first, then make guilds of similar ability fight each other once real revenue-generating activities kick in... But who decides what's 'similar ability'? And even if they do, that important rule against using skills outside gates becomes worth less than dog shit."
Yang Jeong-hyun had grabbed Lee Ru-ri and was ranting on.
Just then, Han Seung-woo and Choi Si-jin entered the lab.
"Sis, that guy who talked to Ru-ri? I dug everywhere, but no info. What if he's not even a hunter?"
"I definitely felt mana from him. What the hell?"
"I'll keep looking."
Han Seung-woo continued.
"Anyway, Si-jin will keep at it. For now, you and Director Kwon pushed back hard, so the chairman's plan is on hold. No clue what that rich guy in America is scheming."
"I told you, he's senile. Ugh, headache."
"Most high-rank hunters are against it, so he won't decide rashly."
"Damn right!"
"And Ru-ri, we've got a raid scheduled for our guild's first clear. Want to come?"
"Ah, that's why you called."
"Yep. Leaving tomorrow morning, S-rank. Gate intel's being gathered country by country right now, so we can't delay high-rank clears for verification."
"Seung-woo, I've been looking at the data too. The info from each country varies a bit. Didn't you say something felt off about the Beijing CITIC Tower gate?"
"Oh, right. It was S-rank, but three drakes popped out as gatekeepers. Was a pain."
"Definitely weird. Better hurry. Team set?"
"Waiting on Ru-ri's answer. Was debating adding another healer."
"I... you can't rely on my heals..."
"What are you talking about? Of course you'll be coming as a dealer."
"Huh...?"
"Assuming you're in, get ready."
After a quick meal together, Han Seung-woo and Choi Si-jin headed back to headquarters to handle remaining work.
"What're you up to now, Ru-ri?"
"Nothing special planned."
Yang Jeong-hyun checked her watch.
"I saw it, you know. Your low-rank gate clear times are insane."
"Y-you saw that...?"
"Looks like you could solo D-rank to me. Wanna test it?"
"That okay?"
"You're a Light Guild member now. No need for Ghost Crew—you can raid solo anytime. Best part of a guild? Backup request if things go south."
"True. Crews wouldn't let non-requested people in."
"Exactly. Let's check it out. I'll wait at the entrance. Can write reports from the car. I'm a B-rank hunter, you know."
"Thanks."
They checked gate status and headed to a D-rank gate near Yeongdeungpo.
Yang Jeong-hyun parked nearby.
She walked with her to the entrance, watched her cautiously enter, then returned to the car.
Ding.
[New Message]
[Han Seung-woo (A): Are you with Ru-ri, Professor Yang?]
"Who is it."
[RE]
[Yang Jeong-hyun (B): She just entered the gate. Why?]
[New Message]
[Han Seung-woo (A): A-Market's owner is at the Association.]
"A-Market... Jin Mi-seon? The woman who looks out for Ru-ri?"
[RE]
[Yang Jeong-hyun (B): Why's she at the Association?]
[New Message]
[Han Seung-woo (A): Better to talk in person.]
"Ah, message logs. Such a thorough guy."
[RE]
[Yang Jeong-hyun (B): OK.]
Meanwhile, inside the gate.
"E-ranks are the same, but D-rank gate monsters have zero favorability work done. Get careless, and you'll get seriously hurt. First, check if Leap works."
Lee Ru-ri glanced at her info in the auto-activated status window, closed it, and hopped high.
"Crawlers on the ground won't be an issue."
She advanced in leap mode.
Soon, a monster's cry echoed.
—Grraaaah...
She tensed, eyes fixed on the sound, and kept moving.
—Grraaaargh!
"Gasp!"
A nose-stinging rotten stench hit instantly as something clamped onto her shoulder.
She blasted rough Extinction at the monster hanging from her shoulder.
Extinction
Boom!
—Grraaaargh!
She leaped higher, pondering skills to light up the gate interior.
"Pre-first awakening, Extinction was fire-attribute, easy to use for bright flames..."
The foul smell from before hadn't returned yet.
She quickly opened the skill window and scanned the list.
"Time to test Vassilan's skill."
She assigned a command word to the skill.
"Spear of Lament, so Spear."
The moment the command was set, a flash exploded from the gate ceiling.
Through that flash, a massive spear plummeted like lightning toward the floor, sparking more light around.
She froze in place.
Under the glaring light lay countless decayed monsters, maggots crawling over rotting skin.
Snapping back, she extended her hand for a proper attack.
Monster info appeared.
[D ― Ghoul: Current Favorability <0>]
"Ghouls... They look utterly disgusting. No desire to win favor... One bite took 7% HP. For it to hit me mid-leap means they can climb walls."
One ghoul's attack had shaved off 7% HP.
The pain lingered, unrelenting.
Ghouls focused on Spear's light scattered as it faded, all turning to her.
"They react to light, huh?"
She hurled another Spear at the center of the ghoul horde.
Spear
Ghouls touching it turned to ash.
The rest panicked, scaled walls at terrifying speed, and charged her.
Overwhelmed by numbers, she couldn't fend them off.
Ghouls had HP as pathetic as skeletons.
The issue: one bite slashed her HP badly.
"Need at least one Heal, but mana ball's toast. Tricky."
She dodged bites while thinking, avoiding feeding time disadvantage.
"Thin the herd first, then favorability work."
Decision made, she swept through ghouls.
Snapping to, only five or six remained.
She hopped down to the floor.
The survivors lunged.
She charged too, smashing a fierce punch into the lead ghoul's face.
Hundreds of maggots burst under her fist.
Revulsed by the vivid horror, she cast Heal.
"Heal!"
[Ding.]
[Ghoul's favorability has increased by 1. Current favorability: 1]
The ghouls halted attack as favor rose.
"Ugh, I hate this so much!"
She rubbed her hands frantically on her pants to erase the sensation.
Still, the ghoul skin feel wouldn't fade.
She pondered.
Her smallest controllable Extinction dealt 1 damage.
Even that killed plenty of ghouls.
Her punch wasn't pure 1 damage like Extinction—it just registered as 1 numerically.
The punched ghoul hadn't died.
Choices: endure the horror to build favor, or wipe them out.
She'd left a few for favor, but that sensation was too nightmarish to repeat.
"Couldn't get Black Moth's skill because of Cheon Ye-jong, but no issues so far, right?"
Resolved, she Speared the remaining ghouls.
Spear
Letting go felt liberating.
She leaped again, hurrying to the next monster.
Rumble rumble.
Thud!
Familiar boulder-rolling sound.
Excited, she dashed and dispatched one ogre and two pups in a flash.
The last was the Ogre Chief from an F-rank gate.
"Minimize judgment errors, and D-rank's no sweat."
Recalling the shop command from the hidden gate waiting room opened the hidden gate status in normal gates too.
After clearing all spawned monsters, she organized thoughts and opened the shop.
She traded the Ogre's Tear from the chief for a holey key.
Kept only the graspable Ghoul Claw and fresh Ogre Chief's Axe Blade; rest to Sion.
Tempted by hidden gate, but thinking of waiting Yang Jeong-hyun, she closed status.
Gate clear alarm blared immediately after.
Waiting Yang Jeong-hyun eyed Lee Ru-ri head to toe as she signed the clear.
"Met ghouls?"
"How'd you know?"
"The smell, bite wounds."
Checking time while answering, Yang continued.
"40 minutes. Solo D-rank in 40. Insane, really. Got a favor—mind if I tag along once?"
"Th-that's..."
"Promise, top secret. Just too curious. Please?"
"Even so..."
"Hahaha, kidding. It's tied to money—think I'd covet yours? I'll see how you fight tomorrow anyway."
"Y-you scared me!"
"Let's go. Someone Ru-ri'll be thrilled to see is waiting."
"Someone I'll be thrilled about?"
Yang Jeong-hyun just grinned instead of answering.