Levelling Up In An Exclusive Dungeon

Chapter 21

The appearance of the new type of monster greatly overturned the tide of the battle that everyone thought was over.

The lightning bolts that poured down relentlessly with no way to stop them were nothing short of a disaster for the Hunters.

To escape this crisis, they had to quickly subjugate the new type of monster, but as of now, they were in a situation where they couldn’t even figure out how to deal with it, let alone identify it.

Because of the dark clouds, they couldn’t even see its true form, so all they could guess was the approximate size of the new type of monster.

“The lightning rod installation is complete!”

“You’ve set them all up in the designated areas?”

“Yes! No mistakes!”

Seo Sang-ho bit his lower lip as he looked at the lightning that showed no signs of abating.

He thought setting up lightning rods would allow them to respond to some extent.

Unfortunately, it seemed that because they were makeshift items built by those without professional knowledge, they weren’t very effective.

“Damn it.”

Seo Sang-ho immediately came up with the next plan without delay.

Connecting the communication with the Magicians, Seo Sang-ho immediately asked them.

“Can you snipe the monster hiding in those clouds?”

The altitude of the clouds reached 34,200ft.

The Magicians replied that even if their skills could reach, their power would be greatly reduced.

In short, it was impossible to shoot it down with skills.

“As expected, we have no choice but to get closer ourselves.”

Although it was risky, the only method they could try now was to use the helicopter that the government had promised to provide.

“It’s a good thing we requested it in advance.”

It was too dangerous for the Guild Leader himself to approach a monster they knew nothing about.

But there was no other way that came to mind right now.

Seo Sang-ho thought that this was the time for him to step up, and he made up his mind, ignoring the objections of the executives.

“The helicopter is coming!”

Hearing the Guild member’s words, he looked up at the sky and saw a helicopter approaching from afar.

Seo Sang-ho witnessed the helicopter being struck by lightning falling from the sky right in front of his eyes.

The lightning struck with a flashing light, directly hitting the helicopter and burning the people inside to a crisp.

“Oh my god…….”

The helicopter, which crashed with smoke, caused a huge explosion the moment it hit the ground.

Seo Sang-ho’s expression was filled with nothing but despair as he watched it.

“How did that bastard accurately hit the helicopter when it can’t even distinguish between friend and foe……?”

“It seems like it can’t distinguish between friend and foe, but it can detect the target’s movements.”

It was Kang Jin-hyuk, not a Guild member, who answered Seo Sang-ho’s question.

Since it was a fairly credible claim, Seo Sang-ho picked up his walkie-talkie and gave new instructions to the Guild members.

“Try approaching that cloud with the drones you brought for filming one by one.”

Not long after the Guild members started following the orders, lightning struck from the sky several times.

The new type of monster accurately shot down the drones, which were less than 30cm in length and width, without a single error.

They burned through more than 10 expensive drones, but there were gains.

By experimenting with different approach distances for each drone, they were able to figure out the detection range of the new type of monster.

“The detection range is over 1,000m radius. If you get closer than that, it hits you with lightning with 100% accuracy?”

Seo Sang-ho let out a chuckle after receiving the report from the Guild member.

At this rate, approaching by helicopter was nothing but a suicidal act.

“How the hell are we supposed to catch that thing…….”

Next to Seo Sang-ho, who was depressed in the face of this obstacle, Kang Jin-hyuk quietly stared at the clouds.

◈◈◈◈◈◈

Most of the Titan Guild members and Hunters used the basement of a nearby building as a temporary shelter.

Only a minimal number of people remained on the ground to prevent the monsters from going beyond the defense line.

The Hunters gathered in the temporary shelter all thought about ways to defeat the new type of monster.

Even though veteran Hunters who had gone through all sorts of hardships were putting their heads together in one place, they couldn’t come up with a plausible solution.

Time just passed meaninglessly. As no clear solution came to mind, everyone became increasingly anxious.

Eventually, a Titan executive, unable to bear it any longer, asked Seo Sang-ho a question.

“Guild Leader-nim, is it completely impossible for you to take down that monster?”

“The range of my skill is only about 300m. You don’t even know that, even though you’re supposedly an executive?”

“I asked even though I know that.”

If they could somehow get close to the clouds within a range of 300m, they could deal with it using Seo Sang-ho’s skill.

The intention of the executive’s question was whether there was absolutely no way to approach it.

In fact, there was one small possibility.

It was for Seo Sang-ho to jump down alone from a higher altitude that the new type of monster couldn’t detect and reach the range.

Seo Sang-ho frowned after hearing about the plan from the executive.

“Are you telling me to dive bomb?”

“An S-rank Hunter’s body might be able to withstand it.”

“You’re talking nonsense because it’s not your body.”

Even though S-rank Hunters had superior physical abilities compared to others, it didn’t mean they were invincible.

If they failed to shoot it down from an altitude of 34,000ft and fell, even an S-rank Hunter wouldn’t be able to find a single piece of their body.

“Shut your mouth unless you’re going with me. I’m not going to risk my life on uncertain odds.”

“……I apologize.”

The executive who backed down was glared at by his other colleagues.

No matter how bad the situation was, it was crossing the line to ask the Guild Leader to sacrifice himself.

As the atmosphere became extremely heavy with Seo Sang-ho’s cold expression, another executive stepped up and spoke.

“Then it seems we have no choice but to wait for another S-rank Hunter.”

“That’s right. For example, the Guild Leader of Getia……”

“Getia? You think those guys would help us?”

They were a guild that gathered only the best of the Hunters who had changed their jobs to Magicians.

Not only did all of them have a rank of A or higher, but like Titan, their Guild Leader’s rank reached S-rank.

Their skills were guaranteed, but they lacked character.

Their sole purpose was to research and analyze monsters.

Even if someone died right next to them, they would never help if it was outside their objective.

Seo Sang-ho frowned as he recalled the arrogance the Getia Guild members had shown.

“Praying while holding cold water would be better than hoping those guys would help.”

“Well, wouldn’t it be different this time?”

“Based on what?”

“The monster that appeared in the sky is a ‘new type’ of monster with no prior sighting information.”

The Titan executive argued that Getia would actively cooperate to obtain information on the new monster.

Despite it being a plausible story, Seo Sang-ho shook his head.

“That’s why it’s more of a problem. What if those guys try to preserve the monster’s corpse as much as possible?”

“What’s the problem with that? We just need to kill it, right?”

“It’s not that simple.”

Seo Sang-ho continued his explanation for the bewildered executive.

“Who’s going to stop a monster’s corpse, which is 500m in size, from falling from an altitude of over 30,000ft?”

“Ah…….”

Only then did the executive realize the problem he had forgotten.

The new type of monster that appeared this time couldn’t be solved just by thinking about how to hunt it.

Since it appeared in the middle of the city, they also had to come up with ways to minimize the damage.

“Can’t we lure it to a river or the sea?”

“How?”

The Hunter who made the suggestion closed his mouth and backed down at Seo Sang-ho’s question.

Everyone had some kind of plan, but they couldn’t come up with a concrete way to carry it out.

It was impossible to solve this issue with such a half-baked plan.

1. Hunt a monster at an altitude of 35,000ft that snipes with lightning within a 1km radius.

2. Prevent the 500m body from crashing into the city.

Only by solving these two difficult problems simultaneously could they completely resolve this situation.

“This is driving me crazy.”

While they were agonizing over it, the cloud monster’s attacks continued.

As if mocking the flimsy lightning rods, the number of falling lightning bolts increased.

There were already 43 seriously injured and 12 dead.

Even though the number of victims was increasing, Seo Sang-ho couldn’t tell them to evacuate.

Since there were still monsters that hadn’t been completely dealt with on the ground, they had to keep the personnel on the defense line.

Seo Sang-ho was using his position to force the Hunters to sacrifice themselves.

He was aware of how cruel it was.

“Damn it…….”

As anxiety built up in proportion to the passing time, a call came in on Seo Sang-ho’s emergency line.

One of the reports he didn’t want to hear finally arrived.

He had expected that this situation would come someday.

However, it was much earlier than he had thought.

“I remember there being enough personnel on that side, but it’s already collapsed?”

Upon hearing the report, Seo Sang-ho let out a deep sigh on the table.

Since he was in a safe place, just racking his brains, he couldn’t blame them for fleeing to survive.

“Alright. We’ll send support from here, so try to hold on for 5 minutes.”

After ending the call, Seo Sang-ho looked around at the Hunters gathered in the shelter.

Seo Sang-ho couldn’t help but scoff when he saw that the Titan executives were all gathered without exception.

‘They want to save their own lives, even though they’re like this.’

Seo Sang-ho didn’t want to be treated the same as those people, so he wanted to go out as a relief force himself right away.

However, for him, the core of Titan, to give up the meeting and go to the battlefield would only lead to a more serious situation.

Seo Sang-ho, who had been lost in thought for a moment, biting his lip, asked the Hunters.

“We need personnel to support the right defense line. Is there anyone who would volunteer to go?”

Since it was a request to go out to a battlefield where lightning was falling and monsters were running rampant, not many people responded immediately.

Still, thanks to those who stepped up with a sense of responsibility, they were able to gather about 10 people.

Seo Sang-ho bowed his head to those who volunteered to support.

“I’ll make sure to pay you three times the promised amount.”

“Can we receive that even if we die?”

Seo Sang-ho made a complicated expression at the joke one of the Hunters made.

He couldn’t thank them enough for stepping up willingly even though they weren’t Hunters belonging to the same Guild.

The Hunters patted Seo Sang-ho’s shoulders one by one and left the shelter.

Kang Jin-hyuk, who was quietly watching the scene, walked towards the table.

“I have a question.”

As the executives were about to say something about the appearance of a C-rank Hunter whose face they didn’t even know, Seo Sang-ho raised his hand to stop them.

“What are you curious about?”

“How much do you need to destroy that monster in the clouds so that you can handle the remaining debris?”

“Even if it’s just the weight of a lump of meat, one-third is the limit.”

Considering the falling height and weight, Seo Sang-ho’s body couldn’t withstand more than that.

“Then please come out and get ready when I contact you.”

Seo Sang-ho and the Titan executives looked dumbfounded at Kang Jin-hyuk’s words.

“Does that mean you can catch that monster?”

“I’m not sure, but I’m going to try.”

“You’re going to try…….”

While Seo Sang-ho was speechless in disbelief, Titan executive Han Young-seok stepped forward.

“Are you kidding me? Who are you to try to step up in this situation?”

“There’s something I want to try.”

Han Young-seok scoffed at Kang Jin-hyuk as if ignoring him.

He knew Kang Jin-hyuk’s face well, the one who knocked down Ahn Do-yoon with a baseball bat.

It was thanks to the investigation he did to get revenge someday because he had tarnished the Guild’s reputation.

“You’re just a C-rank Hunter. What can you do?”

“I’ll do something more useful than just sitting here.”

Han Young-seok’s face turned red in that moment.

He was furious because Kang Jin-hyuk’s words seemed to be sarcastically implying that they were doing useless things.

“Alright, if you say so. If you catch that monster, I’ll give you an extra reward. But if you fail, all the rewards you’ll receive for this battle will be considered void.”

To say that he would only give the promised reward if he caught a new type of monster that even S-rank Hunters couldn’t handle.

Han Young-seok’s words were nothing short of unreasonable.

But Kang Jin-hyuk didn’t mind hearing that unreasonable claim at all.

“Forget the rewards. Just don’t whine to me later to hand over the monster’s corpse.”

“Wha, what?!”

Han Young-seok couldn’t stand the fact that Kang Jin-hyuk, who was just a C-rank Hunter, was talking back to him, a high-ranking executive of a large Guild.

However, before Han Young-seok could step forward, Seo Sang-ho stretched out his arm to stop him.

While Seo Sang-ho was stopping Han Young-seok, Kang Jin-hyuk showed a meaningful smile and left the shelter.

“Why did you stop me?!”

When Han Young-seok asked angrily, Seo Sang-ho looked at him with a pitiful gaze.

Then, without even responding, he turned around and started discussing countermeasures with the other Hunters.

Han Young-seok gritted his teeth at Seo Sang-ho’s attitude.

◈◈◈◈◈◈

More than 30 minutes had passed since Kang Jin-hyuk left the temporary shelter.

At first, when they heard that he had passed the defense line and gone outside, they had some expectations, wondering if he really had a way.

But now, since there was no news from him, they were just suspicious.

‘Was it just something he said to try and run away?’

Even Seo Sang-ho, who had a positive view of Kang Jin-hyuk, couldn’t help but doubt him this time.

It was understandable because even though he knew Kang Jin-hyuk’s abilities were outstanding, this was a situation where even he, an S-rank Hunter, couldn’t find an answer.

It wasn’t a problem that could be solved just by being good at swinging a baseball bat.

‘If he wasn’t trying to run away, it was just a bluff. Either way, it must be one of the two.’

While contacting other S-rank Hunters and looking for ways to overcome the current situation, Seo Sang-ho forgot about Kang Jin-hyuk and stopped paying attention to what he had said.

Then, at a moment he didn’t expect at all, a call came in from Kang Jin-hyuk on the smartphone he had placed on the table.

The call ended after leaving only a short word.

Seo Sang-ho wondered what kind of nonsense this was.

It was something he couldn’t trust at all, beyond just being half-convinced.

‘Get ready? Don’t tell me?’

What could a C-rank Hunter possibly do to say such a thing?

The moment he was about to ignore it, thinking it would be a waste of time.

A loud noise came from beyond the walls of the shelter, which even the sound of thunder couldn’t penetrate.

“Wha, what’s that?!”

Seo Sang-ho immediately jumped up from his seat and ran outside after hearing the earth-shattering sound.

As he looked up at the sky, he saw a streak of light just crossing the sky.

And then.

The sorrowful scream of the new type of monster, which had been tormenting the Hunters until now, could be heard.