Training or Trickery?
But false, right? Why would the instructors lie? Those thoughts crossed my mind. Yet they quickly faded, realizing this might simply be one stage of the training process.
Now that I knew it was a lie, there were definitely some odd parts in the context.
‘Yeah, even if the mana circuit is unstable, the best we could do is trap some goblins. No way a C-class instructor trio couldn’t break through.’
If it was true that the instructor trio couldn’t break through, it didn’t make sense that Hwang Ha-na, who was here, couldn’t enter.
Thinking about it coldly, I could see the facts clearly. But since my teammates were experiencing their first real mission after the tutorial, I couldn’t help but be surprised by the talk of an emergency situation.
“Mana circuit anomaly detected?”
“Even so, the order is to escape, so it’s probably not that serious.”
“When danger hits and the instructors can’t help, it’ll be bad…”
“Hoo, it might be a bit risky.”
Fear had grown noticeably since I first entered. Since an emergency alert had sounded, panic was inevitable.
I was worried about that part and hesitated whether to call out the broadcast was false, when Kim Yong-chan suddenly met my eyes.
‘Dohyun is in an emergency situation but is so calm?’
Then, not just Kim Yong-chan but also Gu Min-a, Park Ye-seul, and Jeong Min-woo all saw Dohyun’s actions and realized the same thing.
‘Not only that he’s calm…’
‘He’s trying to figure out how to handle us?’
‘Big brother Dohyun…’
The image of Dohyun looking calm clearly created that misunderstanding because he was thinking of something.
It was a misjudgment, but because of the path he had shown so far, it looked that way.
Because of that, even though fear had grown, their will was not shaken at all.
“Hoo, honestly it’s a bit scary, but eventually we have to take risks to become hunters anyway?”
“Yeah, let’s give it a shot.”
“I’ll just die anyway.”
Everyone was burning with that spirit as they talked, and I saw them and scratched my head.
In that atmosphere, there was no need to say anything.
I had no intention of interfering with those trying to show their courage and burning their will.
There was no normal person who would want to stop someone trying hard. I was the same.
But unlike them, I had already grown in this maze, so I could only feel a little regret.
‘I want to raise my stats too.’
Suddenly a strange idea came to mind.
The stats I had gained by analyzing the teammates’ stats just raised crossed my mind.
That meant…
‘If I push my teammates hard, they’ll grow and I’ll grow too, right?’
What an amazing strategy!
I praised myself inwardly and smiled faintly before saying to the teammates,
“Then let’s do this. I’ll lead at the front like before and head in the direction of the fastest exit from this maze.”
“……If that happens, brother….”
Jeong Min-woo tried to express worry, but Kim Yong-chan grabbed his shoulder mid-sentence and stopped him.
“Dohyun already made up his mind, so he wants us to exit as fast as possible.”
“Ah! That’s what he means!”
“Whoa, as expected from Big Brother Dohyun.”
“We’ll follow hard!”
Everyone was tightening their resolve and talking to me when I wondered why this had happened.
No, I just wanted to raise my own stats by making you grow. I was a little embarrassed because I was using you for my own gain, but since my teammates would see this as a life-or-death situation, those dramatic words were fine.
I gave it because it would be too embarrassing not to.
Anyway, I pulled out my sword in advance and prepared to run.
Thus, the one-man party also prepared to follow me. Dohyun said,
“Let’s go.”
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
When I said that and stepped forward, the one-man party panicked and rushed to follow me.
Running at speeds that recalled the morning run, they were all in a hurry to chase me.
“You’re too fast!”
“D-Dohyun brother?”
I ignored the voices behind me and accelerated even more.
I kicked the floor much harder than before.
Taaang!
A sound like a gunshot rang out, and at double the previous speed, I shot forward while a faint mana coursed through my single-strike technique.
Then, like a stunt, both legs hit the ground, I did a somersault, and I used my skills instantly while aiming at the floor.
The skills I was using now were Single Strike, Sword King’s Intuition, and…
[[I have successfully analyzed the trap.]]
I stabbed my single-strike technique straight at the weakness of the trap clearly visible on the floor through Analysis.
Kagagang!
Since my mana and skill were still weak, I couldn’t split the floor like tofu, but I precisely pierced the trap’s seam and neutralized it.
Dda-ttak!
With a movement close to artistry, the sound of the trap being neutralized rang out. The late-arriving teammates were about to exclaim in admiration when…
Dohyun, who had neutralized the trap, quickly pushed off the wall and ran to the side.
Thus, the teammates entering the sharp turn at high speed while those who hadn’t even caught up to my tail shouted at me.
“……?”
“H-huh, let’s go together…!”
“T-together… just a little!”
“Hah! Let’s go fast!”
I didn’t stop even once to wait for them even though a dog barked and the train kept going. Everyone rushed into the back alleys to chase me. In the meantime, I rushed toward the trap on the wall and stabbed my sword in, neutralizing it.
Then, still floating in the air, I stepped on the wall again and added the skill I hadn’t used when neutralizing the trap.
Using Single Strike on Analysis, Sword King’s Intuition, and finally Sudden Strike, I kicked off the wall even faster and shot forward.
Dohyun, who shot forward, charged straight at four goblins standing at the end of the alley. His single-strike sword glowed with mana and left a faint blue afterimage in the air.
The blue afterimage from the wall extended like a shooting arrow and reached the neck of the goblin at the front.
And…
Puuwaaaak!
The blue light instantly severed the goblin’s neck, and the single-strike sword that followed smoothly drew a graceful curve and formed a circle in one go. Blood spurted from all the goblins’ necks in that place.
Pshuuuuwuuuuk—!
In an instant, the alley was painted with goblin blood, but Dohyun was already gone.
When I stepped back to avoid the spurting blood and prepared to advance again, I suddenly looked back at the teammates who weren’t chasing me.
Then Dohyun looked at the teammates as if to say “What are you doing?” and spoke.
“Not coming?”
Instantly, everyone who had stopped from surprise at my skill and was about to explain with a face of “oops” shouted out desperate excuses.
“You’re too fast.”
“Chasing is….”
When Gu Min-a and Park Ye-seul said that at the same time, Dohyun tilted his head in confusion and muttered,
“Huh? I didn’t even use half my speed. Isn’t this enough for you to catch up?”
“…………”
With that, the other teammates couldn’t say anything.
It was clear they had clearly felt they were running at less than half the speed compared to just running or attacking the goblins.
The teammates who couldn’t ask to go slower here naturally had to close their mouths.
But Dohyun, as if unaware of their feelings, threw words that would hurt their hearts.
“Then I’ll slow down a bit. Keep up.”
Dohyun said that and started running again. Although slightly slower than before, the teammates ran while watching his back as he still ran at high speed.
And suddenly I recalled…
‘This….’
‘In the morning….’
‘Wasn’t it the same as that….’
‘Running again?’
It felt like training for stamina rather than combat, so I thought my stamina and agility would increase. But no one here dared to object to me.
Even the feeling of becoming faster and having stamina was a reason I couldn’t say anything more.
Watching that, I smiled happily and muttered to myself.
[[I have defeated four 『Goblins』.]]
[[I have acquired a total of 40P.]]
[[I have acquired a total of 40AP.]]
[[I have successfully analyzed the growth of others’ stats.]]
[[Strength, agility, and stamina will permanently increase by +1 each.]]
‘That’s sweet!’
Who said I couldn’t grow in this maze!
I’m growing like this.
One-man party that was quickly circling the maze, having forgotten what they thought a few minutes ago.
***
Meanwhile, as Dohyun was quickly circling the maze, the guide trio watching it had an expression of great admiration as they monitored.
They were watching Dohyun’s judgment, movements, and combat method without missing a single detail.
“Wow, I understand why Senior Jihun praised him.”
“Senior Jihun said he praised him and told us to look, but…”
“Ah, Yujin-ah, that’s praise. You should study Korean more. Can’t you read context?”
“Anyway, that Lee Do-hyun kid is no joke.”
“Yeah, he can already handle the edge of F-class areas?”
“He hasn’t learned regular training or skill education yet, and he’s already like a monster?”
Everyone had no choice but to admire Dohyun’s appearance.
At first he showed leadership by leading the teammates and demonstrated strategy, but after the emergency broadcast, he was moving so actively, processing every trap and goblin and running as if going somewhere.
“It seems One-chan couldn’t do this much…”
“……On the first day One-chan got lost. From the second day he was flying around.”
“Hoo. The end of possibilities is in sight.”
Each of the three instructors was sighing.
Honestly, I didn’t expect this much. Since Hwang Ha-na and Choi Pil said so and Kang Ji-hoon told us to watch himself, I had expected some level. But it exceeded even that.
Even so…
“He seemed to have noticed we were lying.”
“Yeah, from the beginning he wasn’t tense or surprised.”
“He was even hesitating whether to say something to his teammates.”
Although we were only watching on monitors, with our experience we could read it to that extent.
Thinking about those things, they muttered to each other.
“We should bring him to our guild.”
“It’s tough with the chief instructor Hwang Ha-na.”
“Taebaek Guild will definitely intervene. Even if it’s the Taebaek Guild claiming fairness, this is a level where we have to bring him ignoring that.”
We had no choice but to think we had to bring Dohyun to our guild somehow.
For now, being F-class, it could be ignored, but this was the first day at the Hunter Training Center. In other words, in this real training where regular education hadn’t started yet, showing the combat power of the edge of F-class or maybe E-class hunters, if we didn’t think of recruiting him, our eyes were rotten.
But since Hwang Ha-na was involved, we decided not to rush and looked at the monitor on the opposite side as well.
Then…
“Ah, that side is over.”
“It’s the same one-man show, but the atmosphere is so different.”
“I remember two-man party had a good atmosphere too.”
“The problem is Park Dong-wook.”
“Like the muddy water flows, stirring things up.”
“But Ji Yu-chan is also amazing!”
With Yoon Sang-woo’s final words, everyone nodded.
It was surprising that Dohyun was handling mana, but Ji Yu-chan was also handling it and infusing it subtly into his sword.
Compared to Dohyun’s, it was definitely a little weaker, but he also showed a similar appearance of instantly cutting the goblin’s neck.
Although speed and movement were still lacking, this much…
“What is this talent field? Two newbies who can surpass One-chan?”
“That’s impossible.”
“Eh? But Park Dong-wook, that bastard!”
With Yoon Sang-woo’s words, everyone let out sighs.
The worry we had been having finally came true.
“Huh?!”
“Ah, this team is over. Should I go?”
“No, I’ll go.”
With Jeong Yu-jin’s words, everyone said they knew and were about to send him when Shin Ji-yeon suddenly tilted her head in confusion.
“Eh? One-chan is moving?”
With that, everyone looked at the one-man party monitor and could see Dohyun exiting the exit along with the other teammates.
The other teammates were lying exhausted on the floor when only Dohyun was still moving.
“Huh? Where did he go?”
“No way? Let’s check direction.”
“Eh? Really he’s going?”
“Why is he going to the two-man party?”
“Th-that?”
No instructor could answer that question.
And the three of them could only watch the monitor with fascination.
They didn’t know Dohyun’s intention.