Evolution (2)
“Haa, so we’ve cleared everything from the seventh floor down to the fifth, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
The hunters who had finished dealing with the monsters from the fifth to seventh floors gathered together on the fifth. Park Jihun, having wrapped up first on the seventh, had come down to help them. Thanks to that, they quickly finished clearing the sixth floor and then assisted the lone D-rank hunter who had been handling the fifth by himself.
In the process, the hunters witnessed firsthand the perfectly coordinated battle between Park Jihun and his familiars.
‘...Incredible.’
The hunters were genuinely impressed. The two monsters carried out orders far better than expected, and Park Jihun moved with the clean precision of someone who had trained in martial arts. For two E-ranks and one F-rank, their strength was on another level.
‘They might even be stronger than me.’
Even the D-rank hunter thought that if he faced them, he wouldn’t stand a chance. ‘Honestly, I was looking down on him just because he was F-rank…’‘I figured he couldn’t possibly be worth all the hype.’
But after watching Park Jihun and his familiars fight in person, the hunters felt his true value in their bones.
F-rank. Only two familiars. Yet they had taken down a D-rank orc. If you counted the familiars as part of his personal strength, it meant an F-rank hunter had soloed a D-rank monster. And if the number of familiars grew even larger?
Even if they were only E-rank or F-rank individually, if there were enough of them and they used proper tactics, it would be the same principle as a C-rank hunter dying in a trap laid by a dozen goblins. Flip that around, and a coordinated group of familiars could take down C-rank monsters like Frost Elves or Dark Worms.
‘This is fucking insane.’
He couldn’t be boxed in by the F-rank label. The man had the potential to become a one-man army, exerting power several ranks above his own. In a way, it was similar to a growth-type hunter. No—because his power could be divided and multiplied, it was actually a superior version of one.
Whether for military force enhancement or gate-countermeasure strategies, if he was the sole person in the world who possessed a power the entire planet desperately wanted yet had never managed to obtain…
‘No wonder everyone’s losing their minds over him.’
‘The Association and the big guilds would flip their lids, yeah.’
Seeing the battle with their own eyes, the hunters understood immediately. At the same time, they couldn’t help feeling it was such a damn shame.
‘If only he weren’t F-rank.’
‘If he were at least C-rank… no, even D-rank would’ve been huge.’
Then not only would his personal strength rise, but the quality of monsters he could tame would improve along with the quality of his familiars. A D-rank hunter leading a whole horde of the orcs they had just struggled against? Not the usual handful that normally emerged from a gate, but a swarm like during an outbreak. If those monsters used strategies only possible with human-level intelligence and were armed with top-tier hunter equipment…
‘…It would be a catastrophe.’
Unless it was at least a B-rank raid party or an A-rank hunter, no one would be able to stop it. In other words, with the right preparation, a D-rank hunter could solo clear B-rank gates.
That was why it felt so bitterly disappointing. If only his base stats had been a little higher, he could have become an unprecedented one-man high-rank raid force.
‘What if he actually had B-rank… or even A-rank power?’
The thought suddenly crossed their minds. A high-rank hunter who was already strong, leading wyverns, ogres, and mid-tier demons in droves.
‘…Wouldn’t that basically be a demon king?’
‘The world would be finished.’
At that point he might be able to clear S-rank gates by himself. Maybe he could even tackle the so-called “world-ending gates” above S-rank—the Measureless gates that only the most elite S-ranks from around the world were allowed to enter.
Thinking about it that way made his current F-rank status feel all the more regrettable.
Of course, this was only possible because they didn’t yet know that Park Jihun was a growth-type hunter.
Vrrrr—
Just as those thoughts were swirling, the hunters’ phones began to ring.
“Oh, it’s a message from the Association.”
It seemed the Association had identified all the hunters inside the department store. The text that arrived for everyone basically said that the ordinary citizens they had sent downstairs had been safely guided by Association staff and nearby hunters to evacuation points inside the building.
“Haa, that’s a relief.”
“Yes. Then let’s head down ourselves.”
With civilian rescue complete, their remaining role was to support the higher-ranked hunters—eliminating the monsters that had burst outside, guarding the gate entrance to prevent more from escaping, and assisting with the boss subjugation inside the gate if manpower allowed. For that, they needed to descend.
“They’re saying the gate is probably in the basement…”
Just as Shin Jiyeon had predicted, the Association also seemed to think the gate would be located in the less noticeable basement level of the department store.
“......”
The hunters prepared to head down. Naturally, Park Jihun and his familiars did the same.
The Association had, of course, sent Park Jihun a separate message.
Hunter Park Jihun, the situation appears dangerous, so it would be best if you evacuated separately.
They probably understood his value well and didn’t want to leave him in a hazardous area where a gate outbreak had occurred. Especially since the monsters were D-rank Forest Orcs, well above his actual E-rank stats.
But Park Jihun ignored it.
‘Why the hell would I leave when Jiyeon’s still here?’
Besides, after fighting them earlier, D-rank Forest Orcs seemed perfectly manageable. With his familiars, he figured he could handle three or four without breaking a sweat.
‘This is a growth opportunity for our girls. No way I’m passing that up.’
It was a chance for Briana and Kar to grow. The stronger the monsters they defeated, the more their stats would rise. So Park Jihun had zero intention of leaving. If anything, he planned to hunt every last monster he could.
“Let’s go, kids.”
With that, Park Jihun led Briana and Kar down to the lower floors alongside the other hunters.
“...This must be the place.”
“Yes.”
Shin Jiyeon and C-rank hunter Kim Jeongjun, who happened to be nearby, arrived at the department store basement where the gate had erupted, sweeping aside orcs as they went.
Finding the source was simpler than expected. The deeper they went, the more orcs appeared. That place was obviously where the gate—the root of it all—was located.
“Looks like there are almost twenty here.”
“Yes.”
They had already faced around forty Forest Orcs on the way down, so nearly half of the total were crammed into this single basement. Including those that had escaped to the fifth through seventh floors, the count reached nearly seventy. For a lower-rank gate, where the monster count usually didn’t exceed sixty, this was quite a lot. There were probably still more inside that hadn’t come out yet.
This was the result of a gate outbreak. After opening, a gate continuously produces monsters. Once it surpasses what it can contain, it tears open a rift and spits them outside. That is a gate outbreak. The monsters then pour into the new world and attack people indiscriminately.
A rift that has already burst wide open due to an outbreak will never close again unless the gate’s core is destroyed. That’s why the monsters keep pouring out. If left alone, more will be generated and released indefinitely. It literally becomes a ‘spawner.’
Therefore, the higher-ranked hunters’ job is to locate it as quickly as possible and shut the gate down.
Of course, some might think, ‘Then wouldn’t leaving the gate open give us infinite magic stones?’
Unfortunately, that isn’t possible. After producing a certain number, newly generated monsters stop dropping magic stones. Moreover, monsters without magic stones dissolve into nothing the moment they die, leaving no byproducts. It was as if something deliberately prevented further gains. People speculated it had something to do with the mana inside the gate itself.
In the end, it meant a flood of useless meat sacks that were nothing but a hassle to clean up. So the moment a gate appeared, they cleaned it up fast—before an outbreak could cause real damage.
“Are you still holding up?” Shin Jiyeon asked the C-rank hunter Kim Jeongjun who had come with her.
“Ah, of course!”
Kim Jeongjun nodded, doing his best to look cool. Truthfully, even though the monsters were low-rank, there was only a one-rank difference and their numbers were overwhelming. He was honestly scared and wanted to run. But with a beautiful woman who perfectly matched his taste standing right beside him, he refused to show any weakness.
“Then I’m going in.”
“Yes!”
Shin Jiyeon, positioned for close combat, charged forward first. Kim Jeongjun, a mid-range archer, nocked an arrow.
Vrrrr—
Blue energy wrapped around the bow. He was infusing it with mana—mana reinforcement that raised destructive power, accuracy, and penetration all by one level. It was a veteran hunter’s technique.
Srring—
The same applied to Shin Jiyeon. A blue sword aura enveloped her blade as well.
Slash!Splatter!Stab!
She carved through the orcs at terrifying speed. One-hit kills. With a single strike their heads flew off, bodies split cleanly in two, spraying blood and guts in every direction. A B-rank hunter’s strength combined with the cutting power of mana sword aura sliced through the orcs’ tough muscle and bone like they were tofu.
Whoosh—Crunch!
Those that charged in from her blind spots suddenly collapsed as blue streaks of light flew in from nowhere, piercing straight through their temples.
After several graceful arcs of light and incoming beams had passed—
“...Haa. All cleared.”
“Yes, good work.”
Before they knew it, all twenty Forest Orcs had been wiped out.
Shin Jiyeon stood atop the pile of collapsed orc corpses, drenched in bright red blood and entrails. Yet even that sight was breathtakingly beautiful. She looked like a goddess of blood and battle. The blood clinging to her clothes only accentuated her voluptuous figure even more.
‘Does she have a boyfriend? I really want to ask for her number.’
Even while dizzy from expending so much mana, Kim Jeongjun sincerely thought he wanted to date this sensual, beautiful hunter.
But that was only because he didn’t know the truth—that she already had a boyfriend. That she was a total pervert who happily shared her boyfriend’s cock with his familiars.
‘How dare you ruin the shopping trip I was enjoying with Sunbae and our cute girls? I was planning to go home, dress them up in the new clothes we bought, and have an exciting 4P session! And you’ve covered me in blood like this and made us late…!!’