Chapter 6

Rion carried the giant sword with exhaustion, walking towards the exit of the parking lot.

After Rion's incredible performance, no one had even the thought of taking the weapon for themselves and merely convinced Rion to take it for himself.

It wasn't that Rion didn't want such a weapon, but that he thought himself still weak to maximize the potential of the weapon.

From the front, Larsson and Alessandro approached him with warm smiles.

Alessandro waved at him, "Great job out there, Rion. If it weren't for you we would've had problems with the Dullahan… not to mention the Banshee."

The stone-cold confident man known as Larsson broke all the dignity Rion had thought of the man to be attributed with and uncouthly said, "Fucken monsters… That Albino White Bat was a pain in the ass…"

Rion stopped his mouth from dropping at seeing the man he thought as graceful turn into a languid man.

"Don't even get me started on the damned Banshee… ugh I hate even hearing the name of those things…"

Alessandro laughed and patted the red haired man's shoulder, "Five banshees at once must have traumatized you, huh?"

They both shivered at the memory.

"Urgh, I almost wanted to cry tears when that Sentinel said we'd face a Banshee," Larsson slammed his fist against his palm.

Rion sweat-dropped while staring at the two dignified… scratch that… at the two powerful men who now looked nothing different than normal friends.

"...Stupid Albino bat…" Larsson muttered petulantly.

To be truthful, Larsson had to take care of the other lower rankers while fighting the monstrosities. In fact, they were mini bosses fit to have been in an A-Class Dungeon, due to their permanent rage mode and boosted stats after being revived.

"Anyway, we'll be going out for drinks. Care to join us, Rion?" The red-headed dungeon Leader referred to Rion.

"Ah…" Rion slightly considered his options before he glanced at his manager who cutely stood to the side awaiting him. She came all the way over just to drive him back.

Following his gaze, the two men gained shit-eating grins.

Alessandro and Larsson immediately began patting his back with chuckles.

"Go smash the bed, hunter!" Larsson pumped his fist.

Rion had an itch to punch the two veteran hunters as his fists crackled in power.

"Hunter Rion, will you be out to drink with Mr. Larsson and Mr. Alessandro?"

Si Eun approached from nowhere and scared the living daylights out of the three grown men.

"...Ah no need to worry about us! Youngsters should…" the blue haired-man quickly blocked the mouth of his counterpart.

"You damned vagabond, your mouth spills what it wants to spill," Alessandro turned towards Si-Eun with a polite smile, "Nice to meet you, I am Alessandro… We had plans to go out drinking with your boyfriend but it seems you already have plans with him?"

Though Rion had made no mention of her being his girlfriend, his glance at her that seemed to ask if it was okay to go when they asked him out for dinner that seemed habitual, her casual clothes and her look when staring at Rion completely convinced them that she was in fact with the young talent.

Si-Eun shyly smiled and tucked her hair while staring at Rion, "Ah, well you three should go have fun."

Rion had an aura of fire behind him as he stared at Alessandro fiercely.

"She's my damned manager!"

"Damn… that's hot," Larsson spoke while staring at Rion.

Rion raised his fist, "The hell does that mean?", he threatened.

Alessandro quickly attempted to block Larsson's mouth again but the red-haired man skillfully evaded the hand and cluelessly spoke,

"Rion, I once too had a relationship with my manager. It all went wrong when we were discovered while at work," Larsson's atmosphere turned serious but tender, "Rion… I know you two are youngsters but don't ever make the same mistake I did and do naughty things in the Hunter's Association building."

"Hee~? The fuck do you take me for?" Rion's fist was hissing with intensity as he stomped towards the red-haired man.

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The three hunters were sat at a well known Korean Barbecue, famous for maintaining its great tradition and Korean taste while also accommodating American culture.

Presently, Rion had an unflattering bump on his head while Larsson childishly giggled, pointing at the injury a hunter wouldn't commonly receive.

Alessandro sighed and covered his own face, "Rion… you know full well that attacking an A-Ranker won't end well for a B-Ranker…"

Rion petulantly looked to the side, "I was too angry to think…"

Larsson began laughing harder at the swelling on the dark-haired youngster's head.

"I'll punch you! I swear I will," Rion threatened the Larsson who would not stop laughing.

"Pfft— Are you gonna give me a bump like the one you have?" He began laughing even harder.

Alessandro covered his embarrassed face with both his hands.

"Hello, I'll be taking your order for tonight. Have you decided yet?"

She cluelessly stood to the side while watching the three well-known hunters.

Both Larsson and Alessandro were young yet were already considered some of the best in dungeon clearing. Apart from their celebrity-like faces that made them more charming and popular, they are reliable faces that have consistently been the first to arrive at any dungeon outbreak to save lives.

Rion was one of the leading rookies with enough power to boot to his name. His impressively proficient and reckless performances that were spread all over the internet with millions of views had made him very admired. He properly embodied the name of a 'Berserker', someone who fought in a trance-like fury.

Though they were well-known, the Korean barbecue was somewhere famed hunters very often went due to the high quality satisfying all you can eat food and the staff members who treated them like any other customer. It made them temporarily forget the stresses of a Hunter's life.

"Well, the premium option for all three of us and we'll entrust you with a jar of lemonade."

Alessandro spoke casually with a smile.

"Anything else?" The waitress smiled.

"Some healing ointment for this idiot's bump on the head," Larson began laughing midway through his sentence while teasing Rion once again.

The waitress smiled once again in amusement, "It shall be done, then. Please tap this bell once you're ready to have the food delivered," she handed them eating utensils and a bell.

"So anyway, cough, how'd you feel the dungeon?" Larsson coughed to dispel the strange atmosphere and started conversation with a normal hunter conversation starter.

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"Anyway, Rion, have you ever been in an A-Class dungeon?" Alessandro asked Rion, who had taken charge to grill the food and take care of the three's bellies for the night.

"Hmm," Rion placed an uncooked piece of meat in Larsson's bowl, "To be frank, I've never before been in an A-Class, how is it usually?"

Larsson placed the uncooked meat back in the cooking grill with his chopsticks, "It's a whole different ball game from B or C Class dungeons. The difficulty dramatically scales; not only in fighting difficulty but the strain on mental well-being. There's a reason why those who participate in A-Class dungeons usually take a long break before delving into another dungeon."

This time, Rion placed well-cooked meat in both Larsson and Alessandro's bowls and curiously said, "I've tried to analyze A-Class dungeon runs, but most of the time the clips are heavily edited and it's pretty hard to take hold of raw footage."

"Hmm, I have access to most of those. How about hanging out tomorrow at my place to review some of those?" Alessandro suggested.

Larsson's eyes immediately shot up from his food and stared intently at Rion, "You must accept."

"...Ah sure, then…"

The red hair grinned, "Good choice. Tomorrow I'll properly beat you up…"

"Oh, we'll be sparring?" Rion inquired.

"Huh? I mean, yeah sure... but I was referring to beating you up in video games." Larsson had an awkward look as he scratched his head.

Rion gained a blank look on his face, "Uh… video games..?"

"Hee~ look at this old man?"

"...I'm not old…"

Rion just never had such an interest in video games.

"Anyway, Virtual Reality is a good tool to train."

"...That's the excuse Larsson uses to play video games." Alessandro had no qualms about exposing Larsson's shady figure.

"No way! I swear, they're really good to train. Anyway, there's this game called Teab Baser that's good for swordsmen. It teaches you rhythm and proper timing through music and to slice at things from awkward angles and to quickly recover your overextends. If you properly use sword dances and techniques while playing the virtual reality game, your technique will improve massively. Of course, it's useless if you just swing without taking care of your technique."

Rion paused for a moment and considered Larsson's words. It kind of made sense, thinking about it.

"No way, so that's how you managed to beat the Sword King?" Alessandro stared at Larsson with a slack jaw.

Larsson gained a shit-eating grin and pointed at himself, "I'm the Sword King now, not that old bastard."

Rion almost had the urge to vomit blood. This man that played video games and destroyed his enemies got all his skills from playing around?

"I keep telling others that this method is the best to get good but no one will believe me."

Perhaps if other people had listened to him they too might have received a bump on their head from attempting to attack an A ranker.

"Larsson… I think it's that your sword talent is way too good, not that the method itself is good…" Larsson's best friend suggested.

"Eh? Really? Well, whatever. The way to get good at things without even trying is to have fun while doing them." Larsson skillfully took meat from Alessandro's bowl while the two distractedly thought of the Egyptian Sword King's expression once he realizes that he was beaten by a video gamer.

Alessandro looked back at his bowl to see nothing and yelled at his red haired counterpart, "You otaku fucker!"

Rion seriously nodded.

"Alessandro, we must head to your house for training immediately. I wish to attempt the 'Teab Baser'..."

"We'll just go tomorrow after the debriefing, you need to rest as well," the two shot down his request.

From behind, the waitress came holding a glass vial.

"Customers, I have brought healing ointment."

Larsson and Alessandro would irritate Rion for ten more minutes before they stopped laughing.

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"Good evening Ms. Cha. Thank you for rescuing me at such a late time."

"Mr. Lee," she smiled without taking her eyes away from the road, "You must remember that many people recognize and admire you. From now on, call me if you decide to move in public."

He wiped the sweat from his eyebrow and stared behind at the crowd of people who had recognized him waving at the car.

"...Of course."

Rion slightly shifted in his seat while watching the bright city night.

"How was the dungeon?" She inquired after a moment of silence.

"Not too bad. I got injured pretty badly but I was healed on priority so I'm just tired now…" he sighed.

Watching the civilians who walked peacefully without any sense of danger, he continued, "We fought against some undead, bats, and rats… Standard things but then serious enemies came out at the end."

She smiled, "I heard you took on a Banshee and a Dullahan by yourself?"

The handsome young man chuckled, "The Dullahan was a tough nut to crack, he beat me up pretty good but I took care of it in the end. To be honest, I was more worried about the Banshee but she ended up being easier to beat."

Si Eun laughed, "It's the first time I've heard the words Banshee and easier used in the same sentence."

Rion smiled and looked to the side.

"By the way, the forge master found a way to fuse your Dread sword with the Dullahan's sword. Aren't you excited to see?" Si Eun placed her eyes on him while in the traffic light stop.

"Eh? Wait, really?" His eyes glittered. No matter what it was, getting a new sword was always something he'd be excited about.

He was slightly upset at having the sword ruined in his first run after the fight with the Dullahan almost smashed the weapon. Not only that, he still did not have enough strength to properly wield the colossal sword.

"Hmm, yes… Would you like to see it?" She looked at him mirthfully.

"Yeah, sure."

"It'll be ready by tomorrow," her eyes glinted.

Rion drooped his head, "You got me this excited for no reason…"

Si Eun looked at his downed head and patted his head with a bell-like laugh.

"Ah…" Rion suddenly glanced away at the window.

Realizing what she was doing, Si Eun stiffly looked at the road with a straightened back.

The two had an awkward silence on the way back, one wondering if she could have what she wanted in the future and the other considering if he should be selfish for a temporary happiness.

It seemed that Larsson's words had had more than a big enough impact on the two youngsters.

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