I Possess Too Many Characteristics

Chapter 32

Swish━

Jeonghyeon, who had already drawn a dagger when he gave the warning, immediately threw it at the Ghoul charging towards him.

The violet dagger cleanly pierced its forehead.

Humanoid monsters had obvious weaknesses.

The Ghoul, running a few more steps due to inertia, gradually lost its posture and by the time it reached Jeonghyeon’s feet, it was about to collapse and slide.

A D-rank Throwing Technique imbued with all sorts of indirect buffs was not something a Ghoul could withstand.

The remaining one charged towards Woojun.

Woojun still seemed to be unable to decide whether to nock an arrow or draw his dagger.

‘Pathetic.’

Whether it was shooting an arrow or drawing a dagger, Jeonghyeon, who wasn’t an archer, didn’t know the right answer, but one thing was certain.

It was much better than doing nothing.

Jeonghyeon immediately threw himself forward.

It was a fact he hadn’t confirmed yet, but it seemed like there was one more function added to the attack path prediction.

‘Did it show attacks on others too?’

Of course, it was a little more blurry than when it was F-rank, but he could clearly see the Ghoul’s attack path towards Woojun.

Its sharp claws aimed for his neck.

Then, there was no need to think about how to react.

Thwack━

Since it was aiming for a surprise attack, he struck the Ghoul’s arm, stretched straight in a straight line, with his mace.

The arm broke off at once and dangled.

“Kik━ Kik━”

The Ghoul, unfazed, immediately stretched out its other arm.

At least in terms of not panicking in unexpected situations, the Ghoul was much better than Sangjun, Seunghyeok, or Woojun.

But it was all the same since Jeonghyeon knew it all too well.

Jeonghyeon swung the mace again and flung the Ghoul’s arm outwards.

Even so, the Ghoul’s aggressiveness, opening its mouth and lunging in an instant, was formidable.

The sight of it fiercely attacking, aiming only at Woojun without changing its target in the middle, was chilling.

In the end, Jeonghyeon used his weight with the force he had accelerated once more and collided with the Ghoul from the side.

The Ghoul’s body, full of strength, was incredibly hard, but most of the impact was absorbed by the armor made of Orc leather, and the remaining impact was bearable.

He couldn’t afford to hesitate at this level of impact.

To prevent a surprise attack, a flowing response was important.

The Ghoul, which had collided head-on with Jeonghyeon and bounced off, crashed into the wall again and hadn’t regained its posture yet.

It was a natural risk since its one-shot, one-kill attack had missed.

Jeonghyeon immediately plunged his mace into the Ghoul’s forehead.

Because once might not be enough,

Thwack━ Thwack━ Thwack━ Thwack━

Until it couldn’t even twitch a finger.

“Phew……”

All of this happened within just two breaths.

One breath when throwing the dagger,

One breath when dealing with the Ghoul attacking Woojun.

Naturally, Sangjun and Seunghyeok were only now running over, but the situation was already over.

It was a pretty fast pace considering they were chatting and joking around, but that was it.

Life and death don’t care about such circumstances.

“……”

Two Ghouls instantly turned into corpses and sprawled on the ground, with Jeonghyeon standing between them.

Those who had been ignoring Jeonghyeon until now, seemingly fed up even with that, couldn’t say anything.

“Well, well, you should always be careful of surprise attacks inside the Gate. Is everyone alright?”

After a moment of silence, Jinwoo asked, clapping his hands a couple of times.

Even if he asked if they were alright, the only one who came into contact with the Ghouls was Jeonghyeon.

Jeonghyeon looked at Jinwoo with a renewed gaze.

He didn’t know how many of them had noticed, but he saw it clearly.

Jinwoo’s reaction of readjusting his grip on the mace as soon as he gave the warning.

If no one had reacted, Jinwoo probably would have easily dealt with the two Ghouls by himself.

‘He either knew around the same time as me, or right after.’

No matter how much the range of abilities indirectly increased regardless of the trait as the rank went up, it wasn’t something that could be explained that way.

Jeonghyeon’s eyes gleamed sharply.

‘This guy is the real deal.’

The intuition that a monster was hiding behind that smiling face that he couldn’t understand.

He could be sure that the gap between himself and Jinwoo now was even greater than the gap when he fought Jucheol or Heesu before.

It’s ridiculous, even if rank is king.

To think he’s about the same level as himself with four traits.

Of course, experience would also be a significant factor in that gap.

But Jeonghyeon soon averted his gaze and replied.

“I’m fine.”

Jinwoo wasn’t his enemy anyway.

He didn’t seem to have any intention of directly participating in combat, but wouldn’t it be reassuring to have someone like that watching his back?

It was easier to think that way for now.

But a wall he would have to overcome someday.

He couldn’t just keep feeling this gap with a mere C-rank Hunter.

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There are people like that.

People who, with only meager luck, have the arrogance that their own level has risen.

Awakening is just luck.

And it’s also bad luck.

What else would it be but bad luck to be driven into the death trap that is the Gate just because you’ve awakened?

Awakening might be considered a means of turning your life around now, but most of my time as a Hunter has been a struggle.

D-rank Level 3?

Even an A-rank Level 7 can’t let their guard down in a Gate.

Those who don’t know that are nothing but corpses in waiting.

I make corpses in waiting into Hunters.

And Jeongjin is where such Hunters gather and endure.

But sometimes, there are already complete Hunters.

For example, this man in front of me is like that.

Unregistered Level 3.

Until I saw him myself, I thought he was definitely F-rank.

But it was a little different.

Having a strong inner self, enough to calmly endure countless taunts, is a great asset.

Because there’s something called human strength that can’t be expressed simply by rank and level.

But even human strength has its limits.

It might feel sad, but that’s reality.

“I’m fine.”

“Then let’s go in a little further. I hope no one will let their guard down now.”

An F-rank Level 3 taking down two Ghouls that rushed in within two breaths?

That’s impossible.

My experience of watching people while stepping back from the front lines and working in the HR team told me so.

He was at least superior to the corpses in waiting who relied on the meager power they gained without effort and acted recklessly.

I’ll have to observe a little more, though.

A Ghoul lurking in the darkness sprang out.

“There are four this time!”

It was always Han Jeonghyeon who sensed their presence first.

Even slightly before me, a C-rank.

Even if he’s specialized in Agility, you’d need to be at least D-rank for that. But then,

Swish━

How can you explain that Throwing Technique that unfailingly pierces the Ghoul’s head and kills it instantly?

As if he has multiple traits.

……That’s nonsense.

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Since he had already revealed his skills once, there was nothing to hold back now.

That didn’t mean he was going to work hard in a hunt he came to be carried in, though.

Jeonghyeon decided to throw a couple of daggers at the start of each battle to reduce the number of Ghouls.

It wasn’t that difficult anyway.

『You have acquired 1 Coin.』

The Coin acquisition notification that makes your stomach full just by looking at it.

‘The taste of Coins is good, and the feeling of throwing is good!’

Perhaps it was because of the synergy increase that his body was finally able to fully utilize the D-rank Throwing Technique trait.

‘This is a problem, there’s no way someone can have multiple traits, so I can’t ask anyone about it.’

That was a hypothesis that only Jeonghyeon had to figure out.

Does it mean that a single trait can’t exhibit its full potential?

Then, the advantage of having multiple traits wouldn’t just stop at a simple sum calculation, apart from the synergy effect.

“Haap!”

“Watch out for the arrows!”

Jeonghyeon looked at the other Hunters with a sense of accomplishment as he thought about this and that.

Everyone was working hard, probably because they had a tough time once.

Since everyone’s abilities themselves were excellent, taking down three Ghouls was a piece of cake.

The speed of the Ghouls rushing in usually led them to a quicker death.

After one round of combat ended quickly, Sangjun glanced at Jeonghyeon, who wasn’t even sweating.

“Something you need?”

“……No.”

At Jeonghyeon’s cheerfully smiling face, Sangjun couldn’t say anything and focused on his own task again.

He had a mountain of things he wanted to say.

Why aren’t you doing anything?

Are you just going to keep getting carried?

You, an unregistered Hunter.

But what could he do?

The fact that Jeonghyeon’s contribution rate had risen to almost the same level as the others once he started casually throwing daggers.

At least based on the results alone, no one could blame Jeonghyeon for not doing his part.

And crucially,

‘He’s the one who told me to get carried, so he can’t say anything now, can he?’

Whatever he said, it would only end up being self-contradictory for Sangjun.

Even if he looked down on him for being unregistered, it would be like spitting in his own face since he was at the same level as an unregistered Hunter, and since he had boldly stepped up saying they would carry him, he couldn’t tell him to work hard now.

In the end, a situation where he couldn’t express any dissatisfaction, even though Jeonghyeon must be incredibly annoying!

It was all gain and no loss for Jeonghyeon.

Besides, Jeonghyeon’s contribution couldn’t actually be measured numerically.

“Hunter-nim Jeonghyeon, do you have any criteria when you throw your daggers?”

Jinwoo stealthily asked Jeonghyeon.

Jeonghyeon flinched slightly and laughed awkwardly.

“Ahaha, what criteria could there be? I just throw them as I see them. They’re just hitting well today.”

It’s not easy to avoid Jinwoo’s eyes after all.

Jeonghyeon aimed for the Ghouls in the middle, neither at the front nor the rear.

That way, he could create gaps in the offensive.

Even if Sangjun or Seunghyeok in the front line didn’t notice, they would probably feel it subtly.

That the pressure was somehow lighter.

‘Well, it’s not that long of a time, though.’

It was also awkward to express such things outwardly.

Jeonghyeon made a vague excuse, but Jinwoo, who seemed to nod, seemed to have guessed the unspoken words on his own.

‘High-rank Hunters are scary after all……’

This guy was indeed Lucky Cha Yerin.

Jeonghyeon concluded that inwardly.

When they finished reorganizing to some extent and started walking again.

Jinwoo spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Alright, I think we’ve done enough, so let’s go back after the next battle.”

“……Okay.”

As Sangjun nodded, the other two also reluctantly expressed their agreement.

It probably wasn’t a very satisfying hunt for them.

How could it be pleasant when they were practically indebted to the human they had looked down on so much?

Pride turns into an inferiority complex more easily than you think.

A large hall appeared before them.

“What is this?”

Since it was the first time he had seen a hall of this size, even though he had seen many rooms before, Sangjun grumbled and entered the hall.

The structure of the hall was revealed only when the light from the torch Jinwoo was holding reached it.

It was a place with a high ceiling and five corridors branching out from the hall.

‘I have a bad feeling about this.’

In Jeonghyeon’s experience, special places had special patterns.

It seemed that the others felt it to some extent as well, as they were more wary than usual.

And when they reached the middle of the hall,

“Kik━ Kik━”

“……? Uwaaaah!”

“What the?”

Bang━

The full extent of the unease Jeonghyeon had felt was revealed.

The above, which even he hadn’t paid much attention to.

It was late to detect because it was moving without making a sound.

The moment Seunghyeok passed under the old chandelier, a Ghoul suddenly fell on him as if it were dropping.

Fortunately, he had raised his shield just in time, so there was no damage.

However, the unexpected attack brought panic.

“Uwaaaah! Get this thing off me, get it off!”

“Stay still, Seunghyeok!”

Due to the unexpected situation, Sangjun and Seunghyeok’s coordination didn’t work properly and went awry.

It was fatal for a single Ghoul to cause such an aftermath.

Even Jeonghyeon hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should throw a dagger, so he couldn’t properly sense the presence.

“Kik━ Kik━ Kik━”

“They’re coming!”

And from the five unlit passages,

Ten Ghouls rushed out at once.