Ch. 14 Hidden Danger

Looking at his bank balance, John could help but smile at it

[$723,639.]

He only needed $500,000 to pay for his brother's treatment, but he made sure to obtain extra in case of sudden complications.

'I should rest'. John though to himself as he looked at the grim and caked on monster blood that had accumated over the two week dungeon grind.

Walking past the moldy smell from the kitchen and weakly threw himself onto the bed, He didn't feel physically exhausted due to his Heal but he couldn't ignore the accumulated mental stress.

Even with the high stress tolerance that came with the thousands of memories of Roukels fighting and nearly dying, John still felt incredibly fatigued.

Laying down in his bed, John felt his tense muscle finally relax as his mind finally began to wonder.

'That Living Armour boss somehow knew about Roukels swordsmanship, how does a random monster know my past lifes swordmanship? That could only mean one thing, these invading monsters come from Roukels world, my past life...' Thinking of this, John felt his entire body tremble.

Roukel had memories of Lichs that could summon army of Millions of powerful undead, Dragons that could wipe out continents in hours and powerful vampires that could disguise amongst us. While thinking of this, John had an even worse thought

'Forget about the actual monsters, what about the beings that can casually slaughter those monsters! What would happen if Roukel, or someone like him, stepped through a portal into our world!'

John knew that Roukel was dead, as he was his past life, but the thought that someone similar to him crossing over shook him to the core.

John didn't know what to do with these memories, if he shared knowledge of the Invaders world, would that even help? It probably would help, but he also bring upon unnecessary risk to himself and his little brother, something that he refused to let happen.

'Humanity already had knowledge about dragons, demons, Lich's and vampires, knowing the history of the other world would be beneficial but it wouldn't matter when the fighting begins.

John calmed himself down. So long as the Dungeon Gates get raided regularly, then monsters couldn't dungeon break and step foot into the world.

Trying to convinces himself that, John decided to go to sleep.

------

"Walter Jackson's guardian…" standing infront of the nurse nurse receptionist, John checked himself into the Hospital list.

He didn't need a waiting number ticket since he already had an appointment and the fact that it was a VIP made things easier.

"Please enter the second doctor's office."

John complied and opened the door of the second doctor's office.

The doctor, Edward Clark, clad in all white, was seated in the wide, spacious room. He looked like he was in his mid-fifties, with balding and greying hair on top.

Nothing stood out about him, but he was a specialist in hematologic malignancies.

"Welcome."

"How is my brother's condition?" John cut to the chase.

The doctors here weren't his friends, he paid them to treat his brother and if John died in a dungeon then they simply toss Walter out to die when he ran out of money.

Taking the hint, Dr Clark looked at the medical treatment records thoroughly and sighed.

"His numbers haven't risen since he first got here," said the doctor.

"That's a relief," John replied quickly

"He's stable, but his numbers remain dangerously high," Dr. Clark said as he tried to soften the blow

John's head fell when he heard this. He knew long ago that his brothers was in critical condition but he felt uneasy hearing about it again from a doctor.

"I told you this before, but if nothing is to be done, your brother will soon pass." Dr. Clark spoke with a solemn expression.

Biting his lip, John continued to listen.

"Your brothers Acute Myeloid Leukemia has stopped progressing... But there isn't much we can do for him at this point." The doctor spoke sincerely.

"That's why I wanted to talk about the new medical treatment that was tested in Switzerland, the one I mentioned last time," replied John

"Are you talking about that RG7 treatment? Using mana crystals to synthesize a medicine that stops cancer cell proliferation by disrupting mitotic processes and drastically increasing the patients immune system to superhuman levels to fight off the cancer." Saying this, Dr. Clark held in a sigh.

"I believe the application period hasn't ended yet."John said calmly

"It's gone through several tests and is considered a moderately successful medical treatment most of the time, but it's still in its trial phase at the moment and hasn't passed FDA certification yet. Not to mention the hospital would have to buy all new machinery and place a costly order for medicine for a treatment that hasn't officially been proven, doing this would be a costly affair..."

Johnn nodded, he knew the cost before hand and knew it was just in it's expiremental stage right now, but it was his brother's only shot!

"I want to apply" he said.

"I'll tell you this in advance, there has been many instances of patients surviving the treatment but their Death are quite horrific. The patients will gain traits akin to that of a monsters as their skill change and bones break and transform, eventually killing themselves in the process. "Dr. Clark warned.

".....It's either this or he dies, please just register my brother for the treatment. I already have the $500,000 you estimated for the procedure, and another 200,000 if the need arises" John said as his eyes quivered in sadness.

----------

Having set aside set the $700,000 needed for his brother's treatment in a separate account, he immediately visited the Dungeon Bureau and applied for matchings before going home.

While he had enough money for his brother's treatment, he didn't feel comfortable not continuing to make more money just in case the treatment costed more.

'I should be able to get a few hours of rest until the matching is read-" *Ring Ring*

Sourly looking at his phone, John begrudgingly picked it up.

"Hello, Hunter. This is the Dungeon Bureau. We have matched you with a B-rank dungeon. There are four people including you. Would you like to proceed?"

"...Yes, I will proceed." John was hesitant, but from first hand experience he knew that if he pushed himself, he could solo a moderate B ranked dungeom. Beside, there would be an extra teammate this time.

The worker provided John with a time and location, giving him a sigh if relief when he found out it was scheduled in eight hours.

Turning off his phone, John closed his eyes to take a quick nap.

-------

Sitting on the dirt floor on the side of a hill, a clearly displeased John could be seen impatiently waiting

"Did the others not arrive yet?" John asked impatiently

"Hunter Joseph is arriving in just a few minutes and I just received word that the others might be a little late" The worker said meekly.

Letting out a sigh, John began to wonder if partying up for stronger B rank dungeons was truly worth it. While the crystals he obtained would be better, he would have to split it with the others making it only slightly better than a solo C rank. He'd be face a moderate risk in the B rank dungeons compared to the easy C ranked Dungeons, and he now he has to waste his time waiting for the others as he wasn't allowed to enter without his full party.

The only thing that was motivating John to face stronger Dungeons was the fact that he'd be able absorb more mana and increase his own mana at a faster rate.

After waiting for a few minute, a red Jeep pulled up and a normal looking man wearing robes stepped out.

Reaching his hand forward, the hunter introduced himself. "I'm Joseph Watanabe B-rank Supporter."

"My name is John Jackson. B-rank Healer."

They both simply introduced themselves and waited in silence for ten minutes, until the two remaining Hunters arrived at the same time.

They were talking to each other and moving leisurely from afar, causing Johns brow to furrow.

'You're late and yet you're taking your sweet time.' is what he wanted to say, but he could tell that they had joined as a duo. John didn't mind if they were late but ftwere rushing over, but they held no regard for his time whatsoever.

They briefly introduced themselves again when the final two grouped up with them. The two Hunters who had applied as a Duo were Combat Hunters and their names were Kevin and Jim.

"Let's go," Kevin said, taking the lead.

When the last Hunters finished their verification and the party had grouped in front of the dungeon entrance…

"One second, please."The Dungeon Bureau worker urgently ran towards them

"What's the matter?" Kevin asked with anxious eyes, looking as if he were on the run.

"I just got a notice from headquarters."

The worker calmly gazed at the tablet's screen and said, "Pk-ing, or murder, has been occurring frequently in over C-rank dungeons. Just within the past hour, four confirmed instances of PKing have taken place and dozens of suspected incidents have occurred. For whatever reason, PKers seem to be more active, Please be careful"

The Dungeon Bureau couldn't do anything inside of the dungeon, as it was a lawless area. Even if someone was murdered, so long as all the witnesses were killed, and the evidence was destroyed, who would know if it was murder or accident.

If murdering, or the common Hunter slang, PK-ing, occurred inside the dungeon, the Dungeon Bureau and the Hunter bureau dispatched an investigator, but finding conclusive evidence was rare.

'If there isn't any conclusive evidence, the Bureau can't easily intervene.' That was one of the reasons why dungeon runs were dangerous with strangers.

You not only had to be cautious of the monsters in front, but also of the potential murderers lurking around if your not with your own guild mates. It was the sad truth.

"Hahaha, there's no way there's a murderer amongst us. Let's hurry and go in!" Jim awkwardly laughed, leading in front. Hearing this John immediately felt something was off with him, Roukels decades of experience told him something was wrong.

Entering the gate, the four hunters immediately started by brightening the room with their collection Light Drones, then they began their dungeon assault in earnest.

For a B-rank dungeon, its difficulty was on the lower side. John couldn't find the opportunity to draw his sword since he came here as the healer, and after a relatively easy 4 hours hunt, they arrived the boss room.

John felt like it would be a bad idea to break the formation that worked, just so that he could get a bit of sparring in on Monsters.

"Your healing power seems quite high."Joseph said in earnest as he saw just how quickly John managed to heal Jims wound.

"Thank you." Compliments always made someone feel good, and John did feel better when someone complimented his own Healing magic rather than Roukels swordmanship.

Entering the Boss Room, Joseph waved his staff "Haste! Bless!". A faint white energy emanated from the two hunters legs and yellow energy wrapping around their weapons.

Giving the two warriors buffs, they both charged forth. Kevin and Jim matched their breathing and aced the boss just by themselves, perfectly making up for each other's shortcoming.

Looking at the 15 ft Ogre with a club the size of a tree, John felt jealous that he had to stay in the back and just heal but could only shake his head.

There were quite a few minions that appeared, but as expected, the two dealt with the monsters before John even needed to intervene, annoying him even more.

"Those two's skills seem to be quite considerable." John nodded his head slightly at that. Although they werent the best, they made up for their lack of skill by being so intune with each other, perfectly synchronizing their attacks.

Joseph continued, "This is my fifth year as a B-rank Hunter. However, it's the first time I've seen Hunters with such efficient movements." He said in admiration

John rolled his eyes slightly at the support mages comment. While they were good together, John knew that if he separated them, their technique would be as good as the average B ranked warrior.

John already thought lowly of these two, as he his instincts screamed not to trust these two and John follows his instinct.

"They're good, but the way they move and the tiny habits they reveal, shows they are much more accustomed to fighting against other humans than monsters. Looks like I'll be fighting after all." John said as a slight smirk appeared on his face.

"What was that?" Joseph questioned in bewilderment, but John just ignored the oblivious support mage, as the boss ogre had collapsed.

"Time to start looting the magic stone now!" said Jim as he cut into the orc minions chest

John and Joseph also began to loot the magic stones from the minions in order to speed things up, cutting into the chest and head of the dead monsters and retrieving their crystals.

After 10 minutes of retrieving, the group finished looting the magic stones and completed a final check before they started walking towards the exit of the Dungeon.

Feeling the heavy tension in the air, John's face remained passive as he was being sandwiched by Kevin and Jim, with Joseph being on the far left.

"Hey John, I got a small cut on my hand, can you give it a heal." Turning to his right, John saw a fresh small cut that was obviously made just a few seconds ago.

"Sure bud, I'll he- Magic Shield!"

With a clang, the sound of Kevin's blade landing on the magical shield on John's back rang out.

Lightning quick, John grabbed Kevin's wrist before throughing him in Jim's direction to group them together.

"W-What's going on here" Joseph couldn't comprehend the situation, he had already relaxed his guard as the dungeon exit was just a few minutes away.

"Well Joseph, those two over there are PKers and they just tried to kill me. I will be using you are my witness so calm down and observe properly." Pulling out Roel for the first time in the dungeon, John felt like letting off steam.

"Kill him!" Kevin Rush forward with this spear tip leading the way and Jim followed close behind, sword at the ready.

Ducking down, the spear whized past John's head as he lifted Roel to his face, blocking the sword slash that came milliseconds afterwards

'Its pretty obvious that this Kevin guys is supposed to corral me into positions with his spear so that Jim could finish me off with the sword. This might work on brainless monsters, but not with me.'

Dispute them being physical as strong as him, If not a little stronger, John saw through their duo parlor trick and was disappointed in their skill.

Parrying Jim sword to the side, John used his free hand to punch Kevin in the solar plexus, knocking all of the wind out of him and causing him to backstep a few feet

"How can a heal-" "Stop talking". Cutting Jim off with his pathetic was attempting to buy time by talking, John didn't want to hear it .

"Don't worry, I'll wait a few seconds until he can breathe properly. Joseph, buff them!" Saying this, John took off his enchanted overcoat and threw it on the floor.

"Are you insane! They are trying to kill u-" Grabbing Joseph by the shoulder, John looked his straight in the eyes, his eyes looking as dark as the abyss at the moment.

"Just do as I say Joseph, ITS FINE." Despite not unleashing any killing intent, Joseph legs were shaking from what he saw within John's eyes.

"H-haste!" "B-blessing!" The haste magic went into bodies of the both of them, and the blessing attached itself to the blade of their weapons.

"That should be enough time for you to catch your breathe, now it's time to fight!" Johns overwhelming bloodlust filled the room as Joseph collapsed to the floor from the choking atmosphere.

Meanwhile the two PKers gulped nervously, knowing full well that John was committed to ending their lives.