Levelling Up In An Exclusive Dungeon

Chapter 20

Kang Jin-hyuk felt no need to question his opponent.

Things like, “Why did you do this?” or “Were you really trying to kill me?”

No matter what answer he got, he didn’t think he could understand it with his common sense.

So instead of asking, he did the same thing the other guy was trying to do.

Even though he swung with minimal force, the sound of Ahn Do-yoon’s head hitting the bat was like a watermelon exploding.

After seeing him collapse like a puppet with its strings cut, Kang Jin-hyuk turned his back.

He didn’t care if the guy died or not.

“What a crazy bastard.”

It was baffling to be suddenly attacked by someone who wasn’t even an enemy. Even thinking about it from the other person’s perspective, he couldn’t understand the reason.

Why did he rush at him like he’d seen his sworn enemy?

Whatever grudge Ahn Do-yoon held, Kang Jin-hyuk was the victim.

The disadvantages and punishment Ahn Do-yoon suffered were all the results of his own actions.

There was no reason for Kang Jin-hyuk to take responsibility for that.

“He got hit once, so he won’t try that again.”

Even animals learn when they get hit.

After being knocked out so miserably, he wouldn’t dare try again, even if it was just out of embarrassment.

To shake off the unpleasant feeling, Kang Jin-hyuk looked for a strong monster.

Then he spotted a ‘Minotaur’ wielding a human-sized axe and ran forward.

Even after seeing that, none of the Titan Hunters stepped forward.

Even though their colleague was beaten unconscious, no one was going to blame Kang Jin-hyuk for it.

Along with Ahn Do-yoon’s reputation hitting rock bottom.

From anyone’s perspective, the situation just now was Ahn Do-yoon’s fault.

Kang Jin-hyuk had simply responded appropriately to the human who attacked him.

“We should send him to a Cleric, right?”

“Of course. Even if he’s a shitty guy, he’s still an A-rank Hunter belonging to our guild.”

If they left him like this, he might get trampled and turn into a lump of meat.

Even if he was a disagreeable person, they couldn’t leave a fellow guild member to die.

The largest of the Titan Hunters gathered nearby helped up the collapsed Ahn Do-yoon.

“I’ll take him and report to the Guild Leader-nim.”

“What are you going to report?”

“That he was acting up in the front and got what he deserved. We can’t say he got beaten by a nameless Hunter, can we? It’s embarrassing.”

The Titan Hunters agreed without a word.

It was better for Ahn Do-yoon and the guild to cover it up like that.

“Sigh, that guy was once the Vice Guild Master…….”

At the blatant criticism someone made, the Titan Hunters showed their tacit agreement.

Ahn Do-yoon’s existence was becoming a dark chapter in their history.

It was a self-inflicted ending, where he had no one to blame but himself.

◈◈◈◈◈◈

The Minotaur, which had been rampaging against the Hunters, instinctively sensed danger and looked around.

The Minotaur’s sixth sense told him that two strong individuals were coming for him.

To shake off the fear and confront them, the Minotaur roared loudly.

“MooOOOOooo!!”

With the roar of their reliable comrade, the smaller monsters, including the Goblins, took courage.

The Hunters were overcome with fear and their movements involuntarily slowed down.

The Minotaur was pleased to see the change in the surrounding atmosphere.

He was confident he could win against anyone if they fought in this heightened atmosphere.

But a fight cannot be won by spirit alone.

Especially against an opponent with a clear difference in skill.

“Moo!”

The Minotaur swung his axe at the faster of the two figures targeting him.

With a heavy ‘Whoosh’, this axe strike had never failed to cleave its target in two.

He had never once considered the possibility of the axe breaking instead.

When the sight he had never even imagined actually happened, the Minotaur was at a loss for how to react.

“Yes. I wanted to see you guys make that face.”

Seo Sang-ho, who had broken the axe with his bare hands, enjoyed the Minotaur’s bewildered look.

When a monster, acting all high and mighty against the Hunters, met a proper opponent.

The moment that high confidence shattered in an instant was never boring to watch.

“If you’re not going to finish it, move aside.”

“What?”

While Seo Sang-ho was flustered, Kang Jin-hyuk’s bat, appearing right behind him, struck the Minotaur’s temple.

Hit in a vital spot, the Minotaur collapsed on the ground with its eyes rolled back.

Kang Jin-hyuk immediately checked the Minotaur’s score accumulated on the counter.

“Huh? The score hasn’t changed?”

He examined the Minotaur and found that it had only fainted, not died yet.

Realizing this, Kang Jin-hyuk clicked his tongue in disappointment.

“I guess I can’t finish off a Minotaur in one hit yet.”

Even with his stats increased by his passive skill, there were clear limits as long as his fundamental level was lacking.

However, what Kang Jin-hyuk felt was lacking was only by his standards.

From Seo Sang-ho’s perspective, Kang Jin-hyuk had already surpassed the normal category.

‘A Hunter who recently reached C-rank is taking down a Minotaur?’

Even if Seo Sang-ho had blocked the Minotaur’s attack, knocking it unconscious in one hit was impossible for a C-rank Hunter.

Moreover, Kang Jin-hyuk had changed his class to Cleric.

Wasn’t that a class with absolutely no combat-related skills?

The more he looked, the more things seemed to deviate from common sense.

Seo Sang-ho liked that very much.

A form that was clearly different from other Hunters.

That uniqueness captured Seo Sang-ho’s attention.

Seo Sang-ho could now understand why Cao Cao had been so obsessed with talent.

‘My eyes were right after all.’

Seo Sang-ho suppressed the urge to tell him to join his guild right away.

Judging by Kang Jin-hyuk’s reactions so far, he would obviously feel pressured and back off.

“I see you’ve come as a mercenary.”

Kang Jin-hyuk nodded in agreement to Seo Sang-ho’s question.

“They said they’d pay me for every kill, so… Can I take the last hit on this?”

“Do as you please.”

As soon as he heard the answer, Kang Jin-hyuk repeatedly swung his bat at the fallen Minotaur.

No matter how hard the skull was, it couldn’t withstand repeated attacks infused with aura.

Finally, after seven hits, the Minotaur collapsed, bleeding from its head and out of breath.

Kang Jin-hyuk knew the Minotaur was dead when he saw his level rapidly increase.

“I think I can reach 150 soon.”

Level 150 was the benchmark for a B-rank Hunter and the stage where a second job change became possible.

Since the job change was randomly determined depending on the Hunter’s activities, Kang Jin-hyuk was very excited about his second job change.

Participating in such a large-scale hunt might be an opportunity.

“Then I’ll leave this to you and go.”

Kang Jin-hyuk thought there was no time to waste and tried to leave immediately.

Titan would take care of the monster’s corpse later and distribute it according to their contributions.

‘Since there’s a score on the counter, they won’t backstab me, right?’

He was actually suspicious, but he tried not to think too deeply about it now.

He had heard from Lucia over and over again for the past week that too many distracting thoughts would lead to unnecessary movements, which would become weaknesses.

“The situation is almost over, so you don’t have to rush like that.”

As Seo Sang-ho said, the monster invasion was slowly subsiding while Kang Jin-hyuk was rampaging.

It was possible thanks to the many other mercenaries who participated.

Although it reduced the profit Titan could gain, it certainly minimized the damage.

Seo Sang-ho was very satisfied with this result.

Kang Jin-hyuk, on the other hand, was not.

“It’s almost over, so I have to work harder to catch them.”

It was a shame to end it now.

Since he was using potions to draw on tomorrow’s stamina, Kang Jin-hyuk wanted to finish his second job change.

“Then why don’t you act with me?”

“Huh?”

Kang Jin-hyuk openly frowned, expressing his displeasure at Seo Sang-ho’s suggestion.

Aside from the pressure, he wasn’t confident he could compete with an S-rank Hunter and win over monsters.

Seo Sang-ho fully understood Kang Jin-hyuk’s feelings.

“Don’t worry. I’ll only step in when I think it’s dangerous.”

“Then why are you saying you want to go with me?”

“I think it’ll be fun to watch.”

A truly absurd answer came from Seo Sang-ho’s mouth.

He had heard that the most entertaining things to watch were fire and fights, but this was the first time he had seen someone openly say they wanted to do it.

“I get regular updates on where the strong monsters are. If you go with me, you won’t have to wander around aimlessly.”

Seo Sang-ho, appealing his usefulness, touched the earphone he had in his ear as if he had just received a call.

As soon as the connection was made, a guild member’s urgent voice came through.

“Yeah, yeah. What appeared where now?”

“The sky?”

At the sudden request to look at the sky, Seo Sang-ho raised his head and looked up.

Kang Jin-hyuk followed suit, and dark gray clouds came into view.

It was a strange sight, with clear skies all around but dark clouds only over the battlefield.

“What’s the big deal about this?”

“How many are detected? And how big are they?”

At the same time as the guild member’s report, a flash of light was seen in the center of the dark clouds.

And by the time his mind registered that he had seen it, it had already become a lightning bolt and struck the middle of the battlefield.

“Uwaaaack!!”

The Hunters who were hit by the sudden lightning bolt screamed and collapsed.

The lightning didn’t discriminate against its targets at all.

It mercilessly scorched everything at the point of impact, whether it was a monster or a Hunter.

Seo Sang-ho was speechless for a moment after witnessing the disaster.

It was absurd enough that it was raining lightning.

The fact that a monster 7-8 times the size of a passenger plane was floating high in the sky was something he had never heard of before, and it was despairing news.

A monster of that size could devastate the entire area just by falling, even without the lightning.

“Why are you reporting this now?!”

“Damn it……! What does the government say?!”

“How are they supposed to deal with that with a helicopter…….”

Conventional weapons were completely ineffective against monsters.

Only Hunters could respond, so to catch the monster hiding in the clouds, they had no choice but to go up to the sky themselves.

But it was impossible against that monster.

If they got close, they would be roasted along with the helicopter by a single lightning bolt.

“Why is that crazy bastard only moving now?!”

Hearing Seo Sang-ho’s frustrated lament, Kang Jin-hyuk offered his own reasoning.

“Judging by the way it’s dropping lightning, it doesn’t seem to be able to distinguish between friend and foe. Maybe it was waiting for the number of monsters to decrease.”

“……Do you think a monster can come up with such a strategy?”

“It’s not impossible.”

In a situation where even such monsters were appearing, there was no guarantee that there weren’t intelligent monsters.

“For now, we have no choice but to ask the Hunters with ranged skills to take it down.”

“……Sigh.”

Seo Sang-ho, who had been holding his forehead and sighing, regained his composure and gave instructions to his guild members.

“Gather all the Hunters who have changed their class to Magician right now!”