The Assassin Hunter Stops Time
“……Wait a second.”
“Why?”
As the group moved toward the third site, Jang Hoon suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. Won-sik tilted his head in confusion.
Jang Hoon spoke. “We’re turning back. I don’t like the feeling. Something’s off.”
Jang Hoon rarely gave voice to these instincts. He almost never changed plans once they were set.
But this time the feeling was too strong to ignore.
It was as if someone had pressed a knife to the back of his neck—cold and unyielding.
Won-sik’s face showed clear bewilderment at the sudden change of direction, yet he nodded without question and followed his leader.
Occasionally Jang Hoon’s animal instincts proved eerily accurate.
“We’re heading back to the second Cartel Crystal installation site. Wait for me there. Once I join, we move together.”
“Understood.”
“Yes!”
Other hunters had to be dealt with quickly before they noticed anything, but this time haste would be fatal.
‘Even if it takes a little longer…’
Absolute confirmation was needed.
If delay caused discovery by rival guild members, ‘Then I’ll kill every last one of them.’
Jang Hoon told Won-sik beside him, “Keep the emergency flare ready at all times. If necessary, I’ll bring Hao Chen in immediately.”
“Understood.”
This bastard was impossible to figure out, yet when the time came, his power would be indispensable.
Jang Hoon sketched out the next moves in his mind as they reached the second Cartel Crystal site.
But…
“!!”
“H-Hi-na! Mu-ho!”
“Who the hell…?!”
The group screamed upon seeing the corpses of Hina and Mu-ho on the ground.
But the real shock came next.
“The Cartel Crystal…”
“It’s gone!”
Jang Hoon’s expression twisted violently.
Who the hell had carried out such insane sabotage?
‘Not a monster.’
Even if it were a Flame Golem, two hunters wouldn’t fall so easily.
Especially not after deliberately deploying a dealer and healer for backup.
And those wounds…
“They look like they were delivered by a single strike.”
The cuts on Hina’s arms and side were clearly aimed at immobilizing her first.
The final blow through the neck had ended her life.
Mu-ho hadn’t even had time to resist.
‘Assassin-type hunter.’
Among the intruders in this dungeon, had anyone been an assassin?
Jang Hoon furrowed his brows.
But in that instant, one name flashed through his mind.
“That nameless bastard…”
A hunter he had never seen before had been among the group, and Jang Hoon had dismissed it as odd at the time.
Most famous hunters from each guild were well-known, yet one unknown face from the Firebird Guild had slipped in unnoticed.
“What kind of madness are the bastards from the Firebird Guild playing at?”
Thinking back, it had seemed related to the Firebird Guild when the Red Capital burned to the ground earlier.
Were they now systematically obstructing everything?
The thoughts tangled like a web of possibilities.
Then…
KWA-BOOOOOM!
A monstrous explosion echoed from somewhere close by.
“!!”
The Red Circle hunters froze, staring in the direction of the blast.
And…
“Everyone, prepare for battle and move out.”
If his guess was correct…
‘Five people are already dead.’
Just how monstrously powerful must this monster be?
Jang Hoon now fully armed, helmet secured, eyes burning with killing intent.
No matter what happened…
‘I will kill him.’
* * *
KRRRRRR!
A sound like thunder cracked through the air.
Hao Chen’s eyebrows arched as he thrust his spear forward.
“Running away is all you can do?”
Do-jin immediately crouched, barely dodging the lightning-fast attack.
Time Distortion could have been used, but he had to save it for later.
‘No openings.’
These opponents fought with a completely different understanding of combat from anyone he had faced before.
Even if Time Distortion stole their time, the enemy would simply wait and strike at the precise moment.
‘One hit is all I need to win, or else I die.’
Facing someone like this, Time Distortion was a double-edged sword for Do-jin.
The moment the existence of his time-related skill leaked out, the enemy would prepare accordingly.
‘Plus, the cooldown is ten minutes.’
Short by normal skill standards, it still left him vulnerable.
If he failed once, he could be dead within ten minutes.
Swish!
The spear grazed the edge of Do-jin’s head.
He didn’t know the opponent’s exact level, but…
‘Over 200 for sure.’
Pure strength and speed—every aspect crushed him.
Yet Do-jin could still dodge thanks to battle experience alone: the enemy’s gaze, shoulder tension, the direction of the feet, and the tiny preliminary movements before the thrust.
But…
‘This won’t last forever.’
A decisive clash was coming.
Do-jin’s eyes went ice-cold.
Right here and now, he had to end it.
He gripped Archangel’s Anger with all his strength.
It might not match the opponent’s overall stats, but this blade forged from Archangel’s teeth would strike true.
However…
‘It can’t be done here.’
He needed chaos to beat this foe.
In a straight one-on-one, no matter what he tried, he couldn’t fell the enemy.
‘First…’
Paf!
Do-jin kicked off the ground and sprinted away.
Hao Chen’s eyes widened.
“You little rat! Running away?!”
Hao Chen roared and pursued.
He couldn’t close the gap instantly, but he could certainly keep up.
Of course, that was only Do-jin’s intention.
Normally impossible, yet…
‘With the Cartel Crystal, everything changes.’
If the Crystal’s mana-amplification ability was used, the enemy could be woken.
The creature should be rampaging outside the dungeon, but…
‘I have no choice but to deal with it.’
And right now, Hao Chen’s single strike had triggered a deafening boom.
Anyone who wasn’t an idiot would have rushed here.
“Huu…”
His lips were parched with tension.
He had to finish everything before the rival guild arrived.
How would he explain this situation to them?
Do-jin’s mind spun in complicated loops.
And…
Paf!
Soon Do-jin leaped onto the towering rock formation at the outer edge of the mountain.
Hao Chen’s eyebrows twitched.
“Here…”
Instinct told him everything.
A Flame Golem appearing meant this was a dungeon tied to the Dragon Race.
And the terrain of such a high mountain…
“You’re trying to force chaos?”
But would the bastard even survive here?
His thoughts were transparent.
‘Bring in the Dragon Race monsters to cause chaos.’
“You’re digging your own grave.”
Hao Chen’s lips curled upward.
Just like any fool would think.
“I’ll play along. But the result will be disastrous.”
Before overwhelming power, nothing mattered.
And the other hunters had surely already begun moving.
‘I’ll wipe them out all at once right here.’
Instead, the monsters the enemy had summoned would tighten the nooses around the other hunters’ necks.
The carefully planned sequence had been neatly resolved in one stroke.
Swish.
Hao Chen raised his spear.
Paf!
He chased after Do-jin at breakneck speed.
* * *
“Is this the right place?”
“The trail continues this way.”
“……What the hell is even happening?”
Hwang Rang Guild’s raid leader, Na Jeong-hyun, frowned at the ominous feeling rising in his chest.
Unlike a normal united raid, each guild was acting on its own—completely out of line.
‘They’re splitting apart and moving differently now.’
This was dangerous.
A united front was required to clear a Red Gate, yet here they were tearing themselves apart.
“Let’s just keep going. We’ll know once we reach the top.”
Hye-jin pointed to the ground and continued.
The explosions had masked most traces, but the direction was clear.
The attack teams from Hwang Rang Guild and the United Guild therefore saw the rocky mountain rising ahead.
“It looks… dangerous.”
Jeong-woo-hyun offered his opinion.
Instinct told him this place should be avoided, yet…
“We have to check.”
Hye-jin’s firm tone left no room for argument.
They had to investigate, as she said.
Jeong-woo-hyun took the lead.
“Then we’ll form a line and advance carefully. We can’t ignore whatever monsters come out from here.”
Fortunately, few monsters had appeared on the way up.
Had they been avoided, or were the Flame Golems simply bypassing this area?
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Let’s move.”
Nineteen hunters began their slow ascent up the mountain.
* * *
Drake’s Nest.
The moment the dungeon break occurred and the Red Gate opened, the truth about the sleeping Dragon Race inside became known.
Drake could not control mana or breathe fire like higher Dragon Race members, yet…
‘That colossal body itself was monstrous.’
Do-jin remembered his past life—Drake awakening during the dungeon break.
Over fifty high-rank hunters had rushed in to take it down, and nearly half of them had suffered serious injuries.
Despite rapid cleanup, the damage from the wyverns and Flame Golems that poured out was anything but simple.
The area within dozens of kilometers of the explosion site had been completely devastated.
So Do-jin needed to brace himself for the climb ahead.
He intended to wake Drake to kill the enemies, yet…
‘If I don’t finish the enemy, I’ll never leave this dungeon.’
A truly double-edged sword.
But with Hao Chen on the line, it couldn’t be helped.
If he grew stronger later, maybe not—but right now, with his current state…
‘I cannot beat that bastard by any means.’
Do-jin sensed the distant presence following him.
The enemy was still holding back, playing cat-and-mouse in a leisurely manner.
‘If he grants me that much time, I’d be grateful.’
Do-jin spotted the massive cave halfway up the mountain.
The entrance alone stood over four meters high.
Inside…
“Are you all running away now?”
As Do-jin looked into the cave, Hao Chen leaned his spear against his shoulder and spoke.
Can you even run from someone like me?
Hao Chen’s eyes said exactly that.
But Do-jin pulled out the Cartel Crystal he carried.
“Watch this. It can be used in this way.”
“……?”
He fed mana into the Cartel Crystal and hurled it deep into the cave.
“Rise, you lizard bastard.”
Soon a fierce purple light erupted, and…
KUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGU!
The entire mountain began to shake and rumble.
Hao Chen’s pupils widened in shock.
What the hell was this…
But the thought lasted only a moment.
“KUAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
A despairing roar exploded from inside the cave, hardening Hao Chen’s expression into stone.