17 16

"Er, yes, that's right…"

"Ah, I apologize .  This way, sir . I'll lead the way . "

"Ah… Okay . "

Thinking that it would be a headache to try and clear up whatever misunderstanding this was, Jinwoo decided to go with the soldier for now .  As he followed, he observed his surroundings,

'Now that I take a closer look…'

Something had clearly happened in the area .  The roads were empty, and the only people around were soldiers and policemen .  On top of that, the area was scattered with abandoned cars, damaged buildings and the corpses of magic beasts .

Jinwoo roughly understood what had happened .

'Looks like a Dungeon Break[1] happened nearby . '

In today's world, the proper management and monitoring of Gates meant that most of them were discovered on time and taken care of .  However, every once in a while, a Gate appears in a hidden place and goes unnoticed until it's too late . Once that happens, the military is deployed to buy time before the Hunters can arrive .

Of course, the weapons of the military did not work on the magic beasts .  Yet they still fought to the best of their abilities; in order to protect the citizens and provide time for their escape, someone had to be the sacrifice .  As such, the military bravely stood up and became meat shields . It was a job that had to be done, and the young men of this country nobly did that job .

"Thank you . "

The soldier that was leading him suddenly thanked Jinwoo .

"Hmm?"

"It's thanks to the Hunter-nims that we are able to live . "

"Ah…"

Gratitude .

Jinwoo was the one who wanted to thank the soldier .

The soldier to the Hunter .  The Hunter to the soldier .

As men who both fought to protect the people, both sides wanted to thank the other .

" . . . Roger .  Over and out . "

The soldier's face lit up after receiving a report through his radio .

"Most of the magic beasts in the area have been taken care of .  They said there is just one big one remaining . "

Jinwoo nodded .  He already knew this without the soldier's report .  Through his raised sense stat, he was able to detect the presence of a powerful lifeform nearby, surrounded by the energy of multiple hunters .

His instincts told him the powerful lifeform was the boss .

Soon, the boss's figure came into their view .  In an empty lot ahead, ten-something Hunters were fighting with a giant made out of stone .  The giant's height was a little above a street light; it was a golem type magic beast .

"My god…"

The soldier took a step back .  As if it was the first time he had seen a magic beast, the man froze as he saw the golem .  Any ordinary human would do the same . The presence of a magic beast in person was quite different than seeing it over the television or a computer screen .

Compared to the soldier, Jinwoo calmly looked over to the battle .

"Healers! Please focus your healing on the Tanker!"

"We're doing our best!"

"Why is it not going down!"

"Dealers[2], what are you doing?! He doesn't seem like he's taking any damage!"

"His defense is too high! We need a few Mage-class Hunters!"

As Hunters who were called over on a short notice, their ranks did not appear to be that high .  Both their defense and offense were lacking .

Bang!

The golem slammed his stone fist onto the ground, and resulting shockwave caused the Hunter in charge of tanking to buckle .

"Cough!"

The man spat out blood .

"Oh no!"

"The Tanker's going go die at this rate!"

"What can we do?! Our magic power's almost gone!"

"Where are the high rankers?!"

The Hunters were reaching their limits .

As he watched, Jinwoo's gaze sharpened .

'If it's this much… I should be able to do it . '

He slowly took few steps backwards .  All the golem type boss had going for it was its high defense; its overall level seemed to be low .  Compared to the pressure he faced against the 'blue poisoned-fanged whatever ', ten golem was a step below .

'So if I can just get through its defense . . . '

What the Hunters needed was a powerful attack to get through that stupid piece of rock .  At a good distance, Jinwoo cocked his arm back into a throwing position . He tightened his grip on the broken sword, and the muscles of his arm expanded .  Thick veins appeared all the way to the back of his hand .

All of his strength was focused on his right arm .

Then, the arm that was drawn back like a bowstring shot forward at the speed of sound .

"Go!"

The D-rank Hunter, Lee Hansoo, despaired; he was at his limit .  The shield that he was so proud of was cracking . The healing Hunters' magic power must've hit rock bottom; the healing on him had decreased noticeably .  At this rate, the entire party would be wiped out .

He had to make a difficult choice .

He decided to buy time for the other Hunters to run away and hope that the high ranking Hunters would arrive in time to take the golem down .

'Or else we'll all die here . '

Lee Hansoo's brows glistened with cold sweat .  He was ready to die .

He turned and shouted,

"I'll take it from here, so everyone-"

It was in that moment he saw it .  Something flashed from a distance and was flying this way .

Rather, instead of seeing it, it was more like he felt it .  His eyes could not possibly see that attack .

BANG!

That something obliterated the golem's head .

"W-what?"

Lee Hansoo's eyes widened .  The headless golem began to falter .  Not noticing, the Hunters pressed their attacks .

"It's working! The attacks are working!"

"It's going down!"

"Just a little more!"

They were all too focused on attacking and did not appear to have seen the 'something' that had flown over .  Only Lee Hansoo, who stood right before the golem, caught a glimpse of it .

groooooan-

The golem finally went down .

Koong!

Its heavy body threw up a large cloud of dust .

"Yeaaaaaah!"

The Hunters shouted and cheered .

"We did it!"

"We took it down!"

Only Lee Hansoo, who saw what happened, shook his head .

'No . Our attacks weren't even working . '

He quickly searched around the fallen golem .

"Just what the hell blew apart its head?"

Scanning the ground, Lee Hansoo came across the pieces of a broken sword .  Although it had magic power, it was a rather plain steel sword .

'That thing was something over 10 Hunters were having difficulty taking down… And someone blew its head open by throwing just this?'

He was at a loss for words .  Looking back and forth between the golem's corpse and the remnants of the sword, Lee Hansoo walked past the cheering Hunters to the direction the sword had flown from .

"Oy!"

There was a soldier standing there .

"Sir? Are you talking to me?"

"Yes, you!"

As the large physique of the Hunter walked towards him, the soldier stiffened and gulped .  Such was the pressure Hunters gave off towards ordinary people .

Lee Hansoo held out the sword and asked,

"Did you throw this?"

"Ah, that was-"

The soldier gestured behind him, then stopped .

"Wait, what? There was a Hunter-nim right here . "

There was no one there .  As the soldier panicked and looked around, Lee Hansoo scratched his head and looked at the sword in his hand again .

'That power . . . that destructiveness… Did a high ranking Hunter come here?'

As the man in question had disappeared, he had no way of knowing .

At that time, Jinwoo was on the way home .  He had already turned to leave when he saw the golem falter .

He had taken down the golem .  Normally, a dead magic beast's drops belonged to the person taking it down .  If he wanted, he could've laid a claim on the golem's corpse .

'But the problem is that I'd have to prove that I was the one who took it down . '

Who would believe that it was an E-rank Hunter's attack that took the golem down? He had no proof; the broken sword or the soldier standing by did not seem like it would be enough .  Even if he was able to prove it, he would have to reveal how he obtained the power to take down a golem . No matter how Jinwoo looked at it, the costs outweigh the benefits .

The unique ability to level-up .

He had no intention of revealing this historical occurrence over a mere golem's corpse .

'Regrettable, but what can I do . '

Well, it wasn't all for nothing .  No, there was an unexpected boon . A message appeared to him, when he took down the golem:

You've leveled up!

Taking down the golem gave him one level .

'So I CAN level-up by taking down magic beasts . '

It was good to know .  This was enough for him, for now .

At the outskirts of the city, there was an old and worn down apartment .  Jinwoo's house was on the 9th floor of this building .

The house was dark when he entered .

'Looks like Jinah's being diligent . '

His little sister was probably at the library .  There was dinner on top of the table . It was Jinah's work, having picked up the slack after their mother's hospitalization few years ago .  There was a small note next to the food, written in cute letters,

"Don't starve . I'll check whether or not you ate . "

Having received the news of his discharge today, she must've taken the time to do this, even during her busy schedule .  Jinwoo smiled and sat down at the table, but there was something he wanted to check before eating .

"Status screen . "

Name: Sung Jinwoo Level: 18 Class: None Title: Wolf Slayer HP: 2220 MP: 350 Fatigue: 2 Stats   Strength: 48 Constitution: 27 Agility: 27 Intelligence: 27 Sense: 27   (Available stat points: 0) Skills   Passive Skills -(Unknown) (Lv . Max) -Unyielding Spirit (Lv . 1)   Active Skills -Sprint   (Lv . 1)

It was a long day .  In that long day, he was able to go all the way to level 18 .  His strength was nearing 50, and his other stats had also risen greatly .  Additionally, he was able to learn the effects of the agility and sense stats .

'On top of all that, I got a nice dagger with good effects and a good amount of gold… that I can't spend yet… still . '

Putting aside the venom that he didn't want to use…

The attack on the Instant Dungeon was a big success .

-9 . Lizards-

People who left their homes in the dawn of day always made a point to do so quietly .  After all, they didn't want to wake up their family . Jinah was no different . Think of her sleeping brother, she quietly locked the door and turned to leave for school .

"Going to school?"

"Eh?!"She abruptly turned to see her brother jogging toward her .  He was wearing a tracksuit and sneakers, his head covered by a hoodie .  It looked like he was coming back from a run .

Jinah stared at her brother with wide open eyes .

"What the . You were awake, oppa?"

"For a while now . Have a good day . "

"Ah… okay . "

She watched her brother go inside the house with her head tilted .

'Huh . To think that there'd be a day where oppa woke up before I did . '

It was not that Jinwoo was lazy, but Jinah was a diligent student who often got up at the crack of dawn for school, so it was a rare sight for her to see her brother in the morning like this .

'Now that I think about it…'

Her brother's shoulders were a bit wider than she'd remembered .

'Eh, I must be mistaken . '

Human bodies were not rubber bands .  They don't stretch like that in just a few days .