CHAPTER 14

The Association had allotted 5 days for their Raid, which meant that they still had 4 days remaining. They would wait to see if the spider would fall asleep. If it didn't, they would just take it down and try to mine as many crystals before the Gate closed.

They probably couldn't get it all in just an hour, but with two fewer shares to give, they probably could still walk away with a great income. Wasn't that better than working away in fear? The most important thing was their safety, after all.

'And of course, that's the worst-case scenario…'

If they were lucky, they would be able to grab all the mana crystals, take down the spider, and get Yoo Jinho's gear to boot.

'That sword and shield… at minimum, they'd be worth a few hundred million each.'

There was little they could lose.  The corners of Hwang Dongseok's mouth rose.

"Alright, block the entrance, and let's go out for a smoke."

"Yes, hyung."

As he replied, a blinding light gathered in Jo Gyuhwan's hands.

"…"

Yoo Jinho's eyes were fixed on the spider, doing his best to quiet his breath.  He asked with a fearful expression,

"That spider… You don't think it'll wake up, do you?"

"Hmm…"

I waved my hands.  I knew what was about to happen, but I felt like explaining it in full would make the young man faint.

'Now that I think about it…'

Yoo Jinho's words to him just now were after five minutes of silence.  Compared to his chatty demeanor earlier, it seemed like the young man was truly afraid.

It was at that moment,

BANG!

With a disastrous sound, the entrance of the boss room collapsed.

"Huh? Huh?!!!"

Yoo Jinho ran towards the entrance in panic, but the fallen stones had already blocked off the exit.  He pushed with all his might, but the rocks did not budge. I approached him casually.

"Hng-! Hyung, help me with this!"

The young man was still trying to clear the rocks with every ounce of his strength.

'The mage's name was Jo Gyuhwan?'

I noticed a flash of light before the collapse.  A C-rank Mage who used light. This was definitely his doing. Would he be a good use as my Shadow Soldier maybe after all light magic is rare and he could be pretty useful in time. 

With those thoughts, I decided I would be saving his corpse. 

I placed a hand on one of the rocks.

'I could get out of this easily.'

I was able to feel the weight of the stone through my touch.  It was lighter than expected. Putting a little bit of power into it, I felt the nearby rocks budge slightly.  However, I had no intention of leaving.

Especially when Exp and money are behind me.

"Ah! I got it!"

Yoo Jinho suddenly stopped pushing and spoke understandingly.  He turned to me with a red face and continued,

"Those sons of bitches are trying to kill us! They don't want to share the mana crystals so they're going to block us in and let the spider do their job!"

'Yes. You got it. Way to go Sherlock.' I am sarcastic.

As I held back a sigh.

"You got it. Looks like we're in trouble. As I said before in a dungeon monsters are not the only thing you should be "

"Argh!"

The face that was red with anger quickly turned pale.  I didn't need to ask why. He saw the movement of the giant magic beast reflected in Yoo Jinho's eyes.  He turned around.

grrrrr

The spider, having woken up from the sound, was slowly moving his giant body.

Size of a house.

Dozens of eyes.

Terrifying mandibles.

Long, thick, spikey legs. (not in the wrong way.)

Seeing the thing in motion made it seem much more terrifying than when it was sleeping.

"Wah…"

Yoo Jinho began to moan in terror.  His entire body froze up. On the other hand, I fixed my gaze on the spider and calmly called for Casaka's Poisoned Fang from his inventory.

I didn't plan to kill it. I just have to subdue it after killing it means losing most of the money and I am someone who's very much in need of money. After mining all the magical crystals I will end the spider. 

'You're mine.'

It was finally time to test my increased abilities.  Casaka's Poisoned Fang appeared in my right hand. Holding it as if it was always there, I tightened my grip.

Now would begin the real hunt.  Time to show why Hunters are called Hunters!

"W-wait, Hyung!"

Yoo Jinho frantically stopped me, who was walking toward the spider.

"W-what are you going to do?"

The hands holding onto me were trembling.  I pointed at the spider with his left hand.

"I'm going to take it down."

This was one of the reasons why I had followed Hwang Dongseok up until now.  If he attempted to 'cut off the tail', I would take all the magic beasts of the Dungeon for myself.  It was a good opportunity to obtain valuable experience points and magic cores.

'If only the boss hadn't eaten all the magic beasts…'

I could've earned so much more.  It was regrettable.

In the meantime, Yoo Jinho, who did not know the truth about me, looked at him incredulously.

'What is this hyung even saying?'

Jinho recalled hearing somewhere that people would sometimes go insane after a great shock.  And now, this E-rank Hunter was saying he would solo a C-rank Dungeon's boss. What was this, if not insane?!

"You're going to take that thing down?"

I scratched the top of my head and said. 

 "Do you want to do it?"

-10. Give and Take-

Before he could respond, I turned back to the boss.  There was no need to hear his response. Yoo Jinho just stood with shaky legs.  From the start, I expected nothing from Yoo Jinho. Rather, I was glad that the young man didn't offer to help and become a hindrance for me. 

'He'll just get in the way.'

I slowly walked towards the spider.  Having discovered him as well, the spider moved its eight legs and faced me.

It was coming.

As if amused by a new type of food, the spider did not hurry.  It took small steps with its long and sharp legs and slowly closed the gap between the two.

"Breathe-"

Faced with the spider's giant figure, I felt my breath speeding up.  My heartbeat raced crazily. I was still not used to facing monsters but no biggie I would soon get it. 

ba dum ba dum ba dum

I controlled my breathing and tried to bring down my excitement.  I had to be calm. As I didn't want to end the spider and lose the loot The image of him standing before the third-level entrance at the subway station came to mind.

'The Blue Poison-fanged Casaka...'

Thankfully, the pressure I felt from the spider in front of me was not as great as at that time. When I faced the Monkey. I felt fully confident in my ability to take it down. After all, if I had felt that it was an impossible boss to face, I would not have stayed behind.

I don't fight a battle where there is even the slightest chance of me losing. 

grrrrrl-

The spider was close enough that I could see my face reflected in its eyes.

My eyes narrowed.

'His skin looks pretty tough… Wonder if I could damage it with this dagger.'

The dagger had a shorter reach than the sword he used in the Instant Dungeon.  To inflict a deep wound with it, he would have to use a lot of strength. I flipped my grip on the dagger, holding it downwards.  This way, I felt like it'd be easier to do damage with it.

grrl...

The spider stopped before me.  It raised its two front legs. Outstretched at its sides, its figure looked like a giant X from the front.

Slam!

If I did not instinctively move my body, my chest would've been pierced by the spider's leg.  The spider quickly retracted its leg from the ground and assumed the striking position again. Bits and pieces of rock fell from the tip of his legs.

I made a quick glance behind me.  The ground made of stone had a hole in it.

'If I get hit by that, it won't end in just pain.'

The spider leg strength was pretty high. 

My eyes flashed with readiness.  It was time to focus.

'Here it comes again!'

wooooosh-!

I began to be able to see the legs that previously moved like bullets.

Left.

I lowered my head, evading a leg.

Right.

Turning my body to the side, I dodged the spider's right leg and advanced a step.

Right again.

The leg aimed at my head again was dodged.  I took two more steps.

Left. Right. Right. Left. Right. Right. Right. Left. Left.

slam! slam! slam! slam! slam! slam! slam! slam! slam!

The sound of the spider's legs striking the ground stung his ears; bits and pieces of the ground flew in all directions.  Dodging the rain of assault, I closed the gap with each step he took.

 ...

Pov Change

Yoo Jinho could not believe his eyes.

"Who- who the hell is he?"

Even from a distance, the spider's attacks raised the hair on the back of his head.  And this man was evading all the attacks while closing the gap at the same time. My body which made no wasted movements was chilling.

"That's an E-rank Hunter?"

No.  There was no way.

If he was standing in the place of Sung Jinwoo, his body would've been torn apart like rags.  He did not have the confidence to dodge a single attack. But Jinwoo was doing so without a single mistake.  An E-rank pulling off something that was impossible for a D-rank?

There was only one answer.

'...A false ranker!' 

Yoo Jinho's face darkened.  Of the skilled Hunters, there were those that could control their own magic power.  If they wanted, they could even hide their own rank. Purposely lowering their magic power, they would receive a lower rank than they should.

These people were called "false rankers".  Most of them were known for their malicious intents.

'I heard they were serial killers who enjoyed slaughtering low-ranked Hunters in lower-ranked Dungeons…'

Since only the people who had participated in the Raid would know what happened in the Dungeon, it was the perfect place to commit a crime.  

Yoo Jinho gulped.  Suddenly, Jinwoo was scarier than the spider.

'Why did I come here…'

He felt like crying.

 …

Jin Woo

woosh! woosh! woosh!

The spider continued its attacks relentlessly.  I became confident of his victory as I dodged the attacks.  As I closed the gap, bit by bit, the spider's head entered my range. Due to the simple pattern of the spider's attack, I did not have that much difficulty.

'First let's shut his vision, his eyes.'

Attacking the weakness of a magic beast was a Raid fundamental. Plus it would be easy to mine if he can't see. Plus I chose the eyes, which are the softest target in every monster.

'Now let's cut its eyes!'

It was as if he made the decision.  The spider's attacks seemed to slow down.

woosh! woosh!

slam! slam!

My eyes may be tricked, but not my ears.  The sound of the attacks striking the ground had definitely slowed a beat.  Even before my strengthening, I was confident in my hearing. An uneasy feeling washed over him.

Looking closer, Jinwoo saw the spider's mandibles twitching.

I knew what was about to come so I jumped to the side, instead of up.

shaaaaaa-!

The spider spat out a murky green fluid from its mouth.  I rolled on the ground, got back on my feet, and looked behind me.

The space where I was standing was now smoking and turning black.

shiiiiiii-

The stone that made up the ground was melting.

The stone would not be the only thing melting.

Seeing that I dodged the attack. The spider quickly turned towards me.

skitter skitter skitter

The spider was already before me as I raised my head.

woosh!

I jumped up from his spot, dodging the spider's leg.

slam!

Its attack had started up again.

I made the same movements as before, getting closer to the spider but was driven off again by the acid attack.  As another move was added to the spider's attack pattern, the situation became difficult.

Acid if I got too close.

Legs if I kept my distance.

"Fuck!"

Frustrated, I tried attacking the legs.  But my dagger could not even scratch the tough chitinous exterior.

While the spider was just using its two front legs to attack, I was evading with his entire body.  It was obvious who would tire first.

'Fatigue.'

Fatigue: 34

As expected, my fatigue was rapidly rising.  If it hit 40, his speed would slow down. Above 90, my breath would seize and it would become difficult to move.  I was running out of time.

 Well, let's go faster…

slam! slam! slam! slam!

'Sprint!'

[Sprint has been activated.

Your movement speed has increased by 30%.  

While active, 1 mana will be used up every minute.]

Accompanying the message, my body became faster as if a booster was applied.  It became a lot easier to dodge the spider's attacks.

woosh! woosh! woosh!

slam! slam! slam!

Dodging the lightning-like strikes of the spider legs, I quickly pulled a dagger out of Inventory in an instant I used.

[Skill: Dagger Throw. ]

Level: 1

Type: Active 

Skill Grade: Unique 

No Mana Required

Cool Down Time: None

Skill Effect: Once the skill is activated,  the chance of your throwing dagger hitting its target increases by 10%

The chances of inflicting critical damage increase by 2%

The chances of inflicting fatal injury increase by 3%

Physical defense is greatly ignored by the skill.]

I throw the dagger at the eyes of the spider and with my strength and speed the dagger instantly hits its target. 

shaaaaaa-!

The spider cried in pain. And it gave me enough time to respond to its attacks. 

Easily dodging the acid spray, I jumped toward the spider's head.

Slash!

The dagger slashed across the spider's eyes. Tons of blood poured out of its eyes. 

Ssss Rrrr Aaaa* 

The spider screeched in pain as it struggled to shake its head trying to get rid of me.

Paralysis has been inflicted.

The target's resistance was too high.  Effect canceled.

The special effect of the dagger, Casaka's Poisoned Fang, was unsuccessfully applied.

Screeeech!

The spider howled and twisted its body.  I did not miss the opportunity. Landing on the ground, I immediately jumped on the ground. I put Casaka's Poisoned Fang in my inventory as it will be bad if it's bleeding on it which would have the spider to lose 1% of its health every second. 

And I am keeping it alive. So it would be stupid of me to keep using it. So after the spider lost its vision it started to throw its legs everywhere and bash its hand on the ground. 

So after some thoughts, I changed my plans. As I realized that if he goes to Fate when he is around level 90 as Fate/Apocrypha is filled with strong servants especially the red faction with Karna and Achilles nearly immortals it was just plot armor that saved Black.

and if I sand him now I had to nerf them which is no good.

So he won't be going there. at least not now maybe after we are done with Solo Leveling before going to Second Life Ranker he would have a small visit in

Fate/Apocrypha.

but now we have the question of where he should visit. a world where he can level up quickly and gain some op skills and shadow servants.

so I am open to suggestions.. please share your thoughts.

What do you think?

So I am planning on crossing over before ending the Solo leveling story around the Demon Castle Arc. And the crossover will be with the Fate universe.

What do you think?

It could be with either

Fate Stay Night.

Fate Zero

Fate

Fate Grand Order

Fate/Apocrypha

I could make him one of the Beasts of Calamity.

What do you think about it?

Fun Fact.

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