CHAPTER 124. Hunter

Bonus Chapter

...

(Author's Note: Give me powerstones and I will give you chapters!!!)

...

Not all scars show Not all wounds heal

Sometimes you can't always see

the pain some feels

.....

(Author's Note: So I am writing a small Re, zero story if you like you could give it a visit. Fate's Re: Zero Transmigration: The Legendary King Awakens

.....

...

An Amazing Commander with the undying army.

I am the best Caster.

A better Assassin.

A Good Berserker.

Being a Seber needs some work.

Lancer needs a lot of work.

Archer, I can become at any time.

And I will become a Rider by riding Dragons and Demon Beasts.

Not only would it be cool, but it would also allow me to access all the classes in Type/Moon, which would come in handy as I could be someone of any of the seven classes, maybe even as a Beast or Foreigner.

I have to make sure I am eligible to summon in every class as I am sure I can't enter Type/Moon without being summoned as a servant.

And I need to be in the Type/Moon. It's a place I must go if I truly want to be powerful and have more power in my pocket.

Without going into Type/Moon, I can't become an Angel. I need to be in the Nasuverse for me to execute my plans perfectly; without it, I will be lost.

Anyway, I will think of that later as I need more power… more than ever… power to break the world barrier."

"Well, I have it now. I have shadow control, so time and learning isn't that much of a problem..." Jin waved his hand as he felt that he knew what he had to do and what he needed to achieve.

The objective with the minimum force needed, but it still needs a lot of training to use it perfectly.

*Ding~.*

*Ding~*

*Ding~*

"It seems they have already started the hunt."

Ignoring the running, I looked at the continuous messages that were appearing in front of my eyes.

…

The massive creature also possessed incredible agility as well, and before long, the distance between him and the destination rapidly closed up.

Of course, they still encountered obstructions every now and then.

"Kiireek!"

"Keek, keek!!"

Roar!!

One thunderous swipe from the beast soldier, and the situation normalized right away.

"Ho-oh."

Jin formed a deeply impressed expression.

'I only decided to ride it for fun, but isn't this actually pretty cool? Does it mean it feels more amazing to ride a dragon?

It doesn't feel that amazing when I ride Typhon.'

Thinking that he should utilize this means of transportation often from now on, he even named his new ride right there and then.

"From now on, your name shall be Tank."

"Roar!!"

The beast soldier, no, Tank, roared out while raising its head high up.

Was it trying to say it liked it, or hated it?

What with its incredibly powerful vocal cords, Jin couldn't really tell which was which.

In the meantime, the light pillar got closer and closer. Tank gradually slowed down and eventually stopped before the light pillar.

"Nice work."

Jin got down to the ground and patted Tank once, before storing the big guy back into his shadow. Then, he turned around to look back and saw the destruction that was going on as Shadows killed everything.

So with a smile, he turned his face again and looked at the magic circle. The familiar mechanical beep rang inside his head as soon as he did.

*Ding~.*

*Ding~.*

[You have discovered a floor-transfer magic circle.]

There was a magic circle carved on the ground. The light shooting out from it was reaching into the sky. Without hesitation, Jin stepped inside.

'.....'

….Nothing happened.

Jin tilted his head this way and that before taking a few more steps to stand in the middle of the circle.

Only then another message popped up in his view.

[No floors have been opened.]

[Which floor would you like to transfer to?]

"How many floors are there?"

Of course, there was no reply.

'Is there no other way to find out how many floors there are, except for finding out for myself?'

Jin pondered for a moment.

There wasn't that much left for the experience points. Soon his Shadow army will be back. So should he stay and raise his level before going up, or should he just go up and level up there?

'Unlike other instant dungeons, there is no monster respawn in this place, so staying on one floor will be inefficient in the long run.'

And it's not like I am leaving too much Exp.

Besides, the System said that demons with more souls existed on upper floors as well.

He concluded that, for both his experience points and to clear the quest, it could be more advantageous to get to higher floors as quickly as possible.

Then Jin stood there for five minutes as his shadows returned, handing over him tons of Low-Ranked Demon's Horns.

[Collected Souls of Demons: 1123/10,000]

"Well, it's going to be a walk in the park."

Jin said while glancing at how many souls he already collected.

'Fine.'

Let's go up, then.

Jin spoke up.

"Second floor."

[You need the entry permit.]

Jin summoned the scroll as per the instruction. As soon as it appeared, it dissolved into the light.

[The second floor of the Demon's Castle has been unlocked.]

[You are transferring to the second floor.]

Buzz…..

An even stronger ray of light began rising up from the magic circle. At the same time, Jin realized something.

'Ah…. So that's how it works. Just space manipulation. '

As it turned out, this whole thing was just an elevator with a little sprinkle of space manipulation.

The moment he realized what this pillar of light actually was, Jin was immediately transferred to the second floor, along with the blinding explosion of light.

***

Second floor, third, fourth…. and eventually, the 27th floor. That was the result of grinding for 37 hours straight non-stop.

He had told Jinha and Esdeath that he'd be on a week-long trip.

'I have around six more days.'

Considering his ever-increasing clearing speed, he began to think that it might be doable to get to what he assumed to be the last floor, the 100th floor, within the next five days. Maybe even sooner than that.

Jin took a look at his surroundings. It was still a ruined city.

'I can't tell which city this floor is based on anymore.'

Every floor was modeled after a different city.

However, the higher he climbed, the state of destruction of the city got worse and worse, and on this 27th floor, he found it hard to tell whether this place used to be a city or not.

Would a city look like this after having experienced concentrated carpet bombing?

Jin quickly threw away these useless thoughts and shook his head.

'I shouldn't be wasting time like this.'

He checked the time with his wristwatch, and it was already 2 in the morning.

There was no daytime or night inside this dungeon. So he needed to rely on his watch to keep time. 2 AM would be a good time to get some shut-eye if he wanted to continue clearing this dungeon tomorrow with a refreshed body and mind.

But before that….

'Should I check the result of my hard work first?'

Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the quest progress window.

[Collected souls of demons: 8,966/10,000]

'Just a little blow then 9 thousand, is it….'

Meaning, he had hunted down over a thousand demons in a day.

He had killed quite a lot during the last two days, that's for sure.

It wasn't long before he reached his goal of ten thousand souls, as he hunted down every last demon he could find on each floor.

His gold gain was also great due to how many drops he had collected.

Plus, the juicy Experience points he continued to gain with the loot and not only did he level up, but his shadow army also gained levels, and soon most of the shadow army will be ready for promotion.

'Right, getting to higher floors should remain my priority.'

Next up, his level.

"Heok!!"

Jin's eyes opened wider.

[Level: 98 (93.1%)]

His level had climbed to 98 even before he had noticed it. And he will soon be level 99.

He reached this point due to hunting down every beast he could find on each floor.

He'd been hunting Low-Ranked Demons worth 105 Exp for a long while, but then, his leveling up speed exploded upwards after he began hunting Mid-Ranked Demons that gave out 315 Exp each. With 300 exp normally and then 15 bonus points.

'My level is climbing up really nicely, too.'

The level he gained appears to be low as it's only 4 levels, but considering it's the last level to reach the Exp requirement also gone sky high.

Lots of monsters, rich experience points, and the perfect level of difficulty.

The Demon's Castle was the best level-up zone one could ever hope for.

His level wasn't the only thing experiencing a rise, either. Jin-Woo's proficiency with his various skills was also rising as well.

As whenever he sees a huge group of demons he demolished them using his most destructive spells like 'Calamity Descent,' 'Sharding Cyclone,' 'Heaven's Wrath,' 'Rain Lightning,' 'Catastrophe,' 'Shining Burst,' 'Holy Smite,' 'Chain Dragon Lightning,' 'Explosion,' 'Call Greater Thunder,' 'Tempest,' 'Thornbind,' 'Inferno Flame,'

And many more, and most of them were the spells that were created here. They all possess a destructive power that could level up a small city with minimal mana use.

Still, while using these spells drained him a lot of mana, so much so he can't use more than 3 simultaneously and more than five without taking a ten-minute break.

Still, he was gaining levels in most of his spells and skills were leveling up.

Currently, the 'Knight Killer' was floating above Jin's palm. He was using the skill 'Ruler's Reach'. The power allowed him to physically manipulate objects without actually touching them.

Even when he was doing nothing, like right now, he devoted himself to increasing his proficiency with the skill.

'Well, this Ruler's Reach skill doesn't require any Mana to begin with.'

It was a bit tiring mentally because he had to constantly focus on the skill, but his INT stat is pretty high, and compared to the potential uses this skill had, a small little headache was a cheap price to pay.

With nice timing, a good piece of news arrived before his eyes.

[The level of the skill, 'Ruler's Reach' has increased!]

[Skill 'Ruler's Reach' is level up]

'Ruler's Reach' (Lv. 9)

'Nice!'

Jin grinned brightly and leaned against a wall. He felt safer and more content as he became stronger bit by bit. His eyelids slowly closed.

'Now that I think about it, I hope Esdeath is not making a mess while I am out.'

Was Jinha doing well?

Perhaps because it had been a while since he acted alone, he couldn't help but recall the smug face of Esdeath and the lewd faces she made at their last night.

'I also love Yoo Jinho. Was doing well without me.'

The successful first-born who had become an excellent entrepreneur, and the second-born with the qualification to become a Master, but who was still a university student. The fight between them would not be easy.

'Do your best, Yoo Jinho.'

After cheering Yoo Jinho on in his mind, Jin-Woo slowly drifted off to a deep slumber.

***

Yoo Jin-Ho entered a luxurious traditional Korean restaurant with a determined face. He had chosen this place after taking into account his father's taste.

"Has the Chairman arrived yet?"

"Yes, he's waiting for you."

Yoo Jin-Ho swallowed his saliva after hearing the maître d'hôtel.

"Please, this way."

He was guided to the private room where his father, Yoo Myung-Han, was waiting for him. The traditional sliding paper door was opened, and immediately, Yoo Jin-Ho's nervousness increased by several folds after seeing his father's face. He wondered if he was getting weak-kneed again, but Yoo Jin-Ho hardened his resolve and settled down on the opposite side of his father.

"What's the occasion? You even called me first for this meeting."

"Father, before I begin, I'd like you to take a look at this first."

"And this is…?"

"This is my Guild Master license, as well as the records of the raids I've been on so far."

"Your Master… license? Yours?"

When Yoo Myung-Han formed a disbelieving face, Yoo Jin-Ho nodded his head with a smile.

"Yes, Father."

Yoo Myung-Han wordlessly took a look at the documents his son had handed over. And then, a certain light began gleaming in his eyes.

"….."

While his father maintained a weighty silence, Yoo Jin-Ho's heart was beating so madly that he found it hard to breathe properly.

"And so…."

Yoo Myung-Han carefully placed the documents on the table and continued.

"….You wish to run the Yujin Guild, is that right?"

"That's correct."

"Hmm…."

It was at this point that a hint of a dilemma, alongside the emotion of shock, appeared on Yoo Myung-Han's face.

'To think that father is pondering between me and my older brother….'

Yoo Jin-Ho was genuinely moved inside. The fact that his father was thinking about this matter was a big win for Yoo Jin-Ho.

If it was in the past, he'd be satisfied with this much. However, he had no desire whatsoever to back off now, especially when he was the one that brought such a big deal for his father's company.

The metal Jin plans to sell had more value than their whole company, so much so both NASA and Roscosmos were interested in pursuing the metal as much as they could. This metal is so precious that even without many people knowing its value, it's in trillions.

"As you already know, Father, giving the position of the Guild Master to an outsider carries too much risk…."

"Enough."

Yoo Myung-Han raised his hand.

At the same time, Yoo Jin-Ho's mouth stopped moving. Father's 'Enough' was one of the most absolute commands that no one in the Yoo household could go against.

"There is someone I want you to meet."

"Pardon me?"

Yoo Jin-Ho's eyes went round at that. He was the one who called and asked for this meeting, yet his father wanted to introduce him to someone?

Who could it be?

Just as Yoo Jin-Ho's curiosity peaked, the door opposite to the one he used to enter the room slid open.

"Ah…. Hello there."

Was he in his late twenties? Or early thirties? A man around that age group awkwardly greeted Yoo Jin-Ho as he entered the room.

Who was this man? Yoo Jin-Ho couldn't recognize this man at all.

When Yoo Myung-Han signaled with his chin, this unknown man settled down next to him.

"This here is… Hunter Goh Myung-Hwan."

'Goh Myung-Hwan?'

Yoo Jin-Ho tilted his head.

He had never heard of this name before.

Father nodded his head as if he had expected this already and continued on.

"He is one of the survivors from the White Tiger Guild's Red Gate incident, the one that's been making so much noise lately. The one who eradicated the Ice Sphere of Ice Empress, the new tenth S-Ranker of Korea, with the 11th rank being Ice Empress, who's in a relationship with the tenth S-Ranker. Both of them now became local news."

…

Yoo Jin-Ho was taken by surprise.

'….The Red Gate?'

Why was the story of the Red Gate brought up here, out of the blue?

And Yoo Jin-Ho knew out of two new S-rankers, one of them was going to be Hyungnim, but if he was the one to destroy that ice ball of doom, then it makes a lot of sense. But he didn't know Ice Empress and Hyungnim were in a relationship. Forget that, how did his father know that?

And where does this red gate fit in all this?

........

Author's Note: So I am writing a small Re, zero story if you like you could give it a visit. Fate's Re: Zero Transmigration: The Legendary King Awakens