Chapter 40: Recruitment, Compromise & Undead Dungeon

A/N :

" " : Dialogue,

' ' : Thought,

[ ] : System, Akasha, Minerva,

"Italicized text" : Telepathy,

« » : Artificial Intelligence,

| | : Sung Jin-Woo's System Panels, Sung Jin-Woo's System Messages,

"Bold text" : Shadows & Deathborns.

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Dante POV

It's been 3 days since Norma got traumatized by Jin-Woo, and from what I've seen of her mental state, it's safe to say that it'll take a lot for the US to help her out of that trauma.

But moving past that, we're now faced with a situation that has stumped Jin-Woo, that being Cha Hae-In's intentions to join our guild. None of us really had anything to say against her, as it was not really disadvantageous for us to have her.

Jin-Woo and Jin-Ho were surprised that she was willing to pay the penalty for leaving the Hunters Guild before the end of her contract. And for the first time since the day we trained him, Jin-Woo doubted my judgement.

I had told him that Shiro had helped Hae-In train over the past few months, making her the most skilled S Rank Hunter in Korea, save for him and Il-Hwan. But he insisted that he test her skills himself, which led to the current situation, where she's facing Beru with one of our practice swords.

...

I don't see the sense in any of this, if that wasn't already clear. I'm sure that he's noticed that she's been trying to make advances on him. Plus, she's joining our guild out of sincerity and a desire to be close to him. So why the absolute hell is this idiot doing this?

I read his mind when he was suggesting this 'test' of his, and it all came down to seeing if she'd be able to contribute anything in our battle against the Monarchs. Which is just stupid, considering the fact that I've already told him that even the National Rank Hunters won't be able to do shit against the Monarchs.

But then again, I also saw him wondering if she'd be able to at least escape if the Monarchs chose to attack her. So while it's somewhat cute that he's already worried about her in that direction, his tsun-tsun act is becoming frustrating to even look at.

Similarly to the canon, he told Beru to defeat her without harming her, which is honestly the only handicap that he could give her. If Beru was allowed to go all out, she'd be dead in an instant, and that stands even truer in this timeline.

The instant the battle began, Beru rushed behind her, faster than she could see. But due to her familiarity with attacks to the back, thanks to Shiro's training, she blocks the attack and immediately goes for a mana infused palm strike.

"So you taught her mana control, huh." I say to Shiro, who had me rebraid her hair. "Just the basics for physical enhancement, nothing much." She replies with a small smile. "Besides, she'll need that much, at least, to be able to face any of the stronger monsters."

Beru, already holding her sword, moves to grab her right arm, but is rebuffed by a quick expulsion of concentrated mana. She then backs away, her eyes trained on Beru, watching for even the slightest movement. Too bad she doesn't know Shūndō, otherwise she'd have escaped Beru's next attack.

With a small shift of his foot, Beru releases a line of massive glaciers towards her, and while she started slashing at the ice, trying to break it down, he dashed to the side, flanking her and catching her off guard.

When he reached her, instead of punching her like one would expect, he screeches out, releasing a wave of mana with so much force, that it blasts her away to the wall of the training area.

Now, most people who don't know how strong Beru is would think that Hae-In is weak, seeing that Beru's holding back and all. But they'd be wrong. From this small exchange, I can safely say that Hae-In is definitely skilled enough to defeat any other S Ranks in Korea, and all of the ones from Japan, even if she faced up to four.

"Are you satisfied?" Jin-Woo asks coolly. "Not yet." Hae-In responds in between pants. She stands back up with a laser focused gaze, preparing to retaliate against Beru.

Beru sees this, and a boiling rage begins to build up inside him. He felt that any enemy of his is prey, and as a monster used to living by the laws of the jungle, seeing his prey trying to stand up to him was unacceptable.

Beru dashes towards her, preparing to punch her. She sees this and activates her innate skill, Sword Dance, which channels her light element mana into her sword, then dashes at him as well.

Beru throws out a claw, and she sidesteps the blow, causing the blow to impact the ground, causing a small tremor. Seeing an opportunity, Hae-In slashes at Beru a few times, but he blocks the blows with his other arm, then swipes at the sword, rebounding it and Hae-In away.

Hae-In takes this as an opportunity for a large attack, and activates what is basically her ultimate skill, the Blade of Light, and like the canon timeline, she stabs into Beru's chest.

As the attack lands, Beru lets off a great amount of killing intent, and pops out his claws. "That's enough." Shiro says, and Beru stops. Although, I can tell that it's not of his own volition, seeing as he's still in the wind-up position for his attack. "Stasis?" I ask her, and she nods, confirming that she used her Evil Eye of Stasis on Beru, halting him.

"So? I believe that she's adequate for our guild's standards, don't you?" Shiro says to Jin-Woo, and he nods. "What about him?" Jin-Woo says, pointing at the static Beru. "I only stopped his body and mana, his mind and senses are still very much active, so you can scold him if you want." She says, then struts to Hae-In, checking her body for wounds.

Jin-Woo turns to Beru and sighs. "I told you to do this without harming her. That was my main instruction to you regarding this battle, yet you went against that." Beru's mind shakes with fear, not from fright, but because he doesn't want to disappoint Jin-Woo.

"It better not happen again, Beru." Jin-Woo says, then looks to me. I sigh, then dispel the stasis, releasing Beru from his prison. He immediately goes into a fit of tears, apologizing profusely to Jin-Woo.

"Well, now that that's over, let's go up to the leader's office." Hae-In looks at me, then nods. "Haha. To think I'm the only one that isn't S Rank in the entire guild." Jin-Ho says with a depreciating laugh.

"Don't worry. It just means that you're under the best protection that anyone in the world can ever have." I say, slightly unsealing the restriction I had placed on my Charisma passive skill, Silver Tongue. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right." He says, perking up from his formerly downcast mood.

As we head up, Shiro and I notice that Hae-In stays close to Jin-Woo, striking up conversation with him, all with a soft blush on her face. Shiro looks at me and I nod, tuning out their conversation with smiles on our faces.

...

The next day

Narrator POV

The United States of America

After their failure in recruiting Dante, Shiraori and Sung Jin-Woo, Michael Connor, along with the other employees of the Bureau of Hunters, as well as Norma Selner, returned to the US, bearing the disappointing news of their failure.

After Norma had gotten more stable, they headed to the Bureau of Hunters, where they met with the director, and explained everything that had happened in their meeting with the Dominion Guild's members.

The director of the Federal Bureau of Hunters, David Brennon, wracked his brain, trying to think of some way or something that he could offer to the 3 most powerful Hunters of Korea that would convince them to turn over to become America's Hunters.

After making his decision, he told Michael to follow him, and headed down to a basement floor 24 storeys down. "Do you remember the first S Rank Gate?" He asked Michael as they headed down in the elevator.

"Of course. How could I forget. It was a dungeon break that caused the entire western part of the US ro be destroyed. The US offered a huge reward for the clearing of the Gate, and many of the world's best Hunters gathered, but only 5 survived the Gate. Those 5 were given authority equaling that of a nation, becoming the first National Rank Hunters." Michael said, referring to the terrible past that the US had to overcome.

"Yeah. That's what happened then. The Inextinguishable Flame, the Dragon, Kamish. A single beast massacred countless top class Hunters. It was a living horror." David said with a sigh, as he walked out of the elevator, with Michael following close behind him.

"Now, would you believe it if I told you that the horror left behind a small gift?" He said, coming to a massive door with multiple danger signs around it. Michael's eyes widened in realization. "You don't mean..." David smiled. "I do." He said as he finished inputting the code for the door to open.

The door opened to reveal a massive underground area with many people working on a gigantic dragon skeleton. And in a room behind mana tempered glass, was something that many Hunters would kill for, a Runestone, one that was multiple times larger than any other runestone that one could find.

"About 8 years have passed since the Kamish raid, and since there weren't any mages amongst the National Rank Hunters, this rune has been waiting here in this basement for its rightful owner. If this goes well, Kamish will once again give this beautiful country a valuable gift." David said, hoping to attract the attention of at least one of the Dominion Guild's National Rank Hunters with this.

...

The next day

Korea

A quick wave of tumult went through most of Korea as the news that Cha Hae-In had left the Hunters Guild for the Dominion Guild. It was a surprise to many of Korea's residents, but it was soon met with understanding as Choi Jong-In came out, giving Cha Hae-In well wishes as she left his guild to another.

Meanwhile, over in the Dominion Guild, they were going about their daily guild activities, which included training, making the guild's different products, and shipping them out to different countries using the deathborns, when Aurora suddenly notified all of the Dominion Guild's members of an impromptu meeting with members of the Knights Order Guild.

Although Cha Hae-In was still new to the guild, Dante had decided to include her in the meeting. And so, everyone, save for Sung Il-Hwan, who was at home, was present in the meeting.

"Good morning, Park Jong-So-ssi. What brings you and your colleagues here today?" Dante said with a courteous expression on his face, unlike the stiff smiles that the Knights Order Guild members had on their faces.

"Good morning, Dante-ssi. I hope that you could help us with this." Park said, putting a laptop on the table, and opening it to show a crowd of people in front of a large Gate.

"As you know, the physical size of a Gate and its size don't always match. But this one has an immense amount of mana flowing out of it." Park Jong-So said. "I see. And the Rank?" Dante said, keeping his eyes on the screen.

"It's at the limit of A Rank, making it the largest Gate to ever spawn in Busan." Park Jong-So said, holding back a sigh. "The Association is denying us entry because we don't have any S Rank Hunters. So if you agree to aid our attack force, we'll be able to take care of this raid. And I'll make sure that whoever joins is well compensated." He said with confidence.

Through all of this, Dante's main train of thought wasn't on the discussion, but rather on the events that would take place the next day. Since he no longer had much use for his prior knowledge of the world, he looked into the future that would happen, and saw a Gate opening in a school.

This was not just any school,as it was Sung Jin-Ah's school. Having this knowledge, he transmitted a set of instructions to Mammon, the minotaur deathborn that he had placed in Sung Jin-Ah's shadow, putting in place his own contingency to avoid needless deaths.

"Okay, then. But our Hunter will take 30% of the loot from this dungeon. That part's non-negotiable." Dante said, giving the Knights Order Guild members some much needed relief. "Think you can take care of this one, Jin-Woo?" Dante turned to Sung Jin-Woo, and he nodded.

"There you have it. So, how soon can you get ready for the raid?" Dante's question shocks Park Jong-So. "May I ask why you're asking that?" He said politely. "Because he's ready to go right now, and he'll only have to wait on you guys." Dante said, surprising them.

After a few seconds of silence, Park Jong-So spoke up. "We'll be ready by 4pm, today. Thank you." He said, then got up and left with the two Hunters that followed him.

"Well, I've got to go ahead and get ready for that then. I'll see you later, then, Cha Hae-In-ssi." Jin-Woo said and started to leave, but was interrupted by Cha Hae-In's voice. "Please, call me Hae-In." He turned around, and saw her turn her head away from him.

But he caught a glimpse of her face and ears, saw the rosy blush on them, and smiled. "Of course. Then please, call me Jin-Woo like they do." He said, then left the room.

Yu Jin-Ho's head was turning to face the both of them as they spoke, and as it clicked in his head, a new understanding of their relationship plastered itself in his head. "I've been disrespectful, sister in-law." He said to Cha Hae-In with a bow, causing her to blush even harder.

...

The time for the commencement of the raid came by, and as Park Jong-So had said, the Knights Order Guild had gotten all their teams for the full clearance of the dungeon ready. The collection team and mining team were on standby for the assault team to clear the Gate.

Many of the Hunters were fans of the Dominion Guild's Hunters, especially Sung Jin-Woo, and so they were enthused when they saw that he was going to be aiding them with this raid, with some of them even wanting him to lead the raid, much to Park Jong-So's annoyance.

After a quick debrief, they entered the Gate, and we're soon met with a monster. "It's an ogre! A twin headed one at that! Be careful!" Park Jong-So shouted to get the raid team to kick in gear. The twin headed ogre roared loudly, then swung its axe at them.

Park Jong-So went in front of the team and activated his skill, creating a barrier of mana that took the brunt of the ogre's attack. As its attack hit, Park Jong-So called out to Jung Yoon-Tae, who quickly dashed forward and used the ogre's arm as a foothold to move up to its face, then slashed the ogre's eyes, blinding it.

"Noonas, Hyungs! You can deal damage now!" Jung Yoon-Tae shouted, and every warrior and mage converged their attacks on the ogre, killing it in less than a minute. Despite that, Park Jong-So frowned.

"Damn it. To think we'd encounter a twin headed ogre from the start. It looks like this one won't be easy." He said, clenching his jaw in anger. "Hmm, the twin headed ogre that is known as a gravekeeper is out here this early. It seems that this is going to be an undead dungeon." Sung Jin-Woo said, and as they walked to the next room within the dungeon, they came across a horde of skeletons, skeleton knights, and other undead.

They immediately went on guard as they saw the undead, but something unexpected happened. The undead flinched and backed away from them, as if something that was innately superior to them had appeared before them.

Sung Jin-Woo narrowed his eyes, his interest piqued, and he walked forward to the front of the raid team. And much to everyone else's surprise, the undead continued to back away, with some of them dropping to the ground and blowing their heads, as if a king was passing through.

"Take us to your master, and I'll decide what to do with him then." He said, his voice echoing throughout the entire dungeon, and the undead all complied without protest of any kind.

Park Jong-So wanted to ask what had happened, but the pressure coming off Sung Jin-Woo kept him shut, and he was left wondering why the undead from a dungeon would listen to Sung Jin-Woo.

An hour passed and they were now in front of the dungeon's boss, the Archlich, who like every other undead, bowed in reverence towards Sung Jin-Woo. "I humbly greet the Monarch." It said in monster tongue.

"Hmm, so that's why you're all so docile." Sung Jin-Woo replied in monster tongue as well, shocking the Knights Order Guild members. "Tell me, do you hear any voices in your head?" He asked, still speaking in monster tongue.

"Yes, Monarch. It continually tells us to kill the humans." It said, its head still bowed. "And I take it that you don't hear that with me." Sung Jin-Woo inquired, and the Archlich shook its head.

"Fine, then. I will take only you and your death knights into my army. Every other undead here will be destroyed." Sung Jin-Woo said, pulling out the pair of Demon King's Daggers.

"Ah. With my destruction, they too shall disappear. For this opportunity, I express my gratitude to the Monarch." As soon as it said that, Sing Jin-Woo's arms blurred, and every single death knight had their upper halves smashed to pieces, while the Archlich had been sundered in two.

"Arise." He said calmly, and from the bodies of the death knights and the Archlich, shadow versions of them came out, looking less like skeletons and more like actual knights and a death mage. And to Sung Jin-Woo's pleasure, he saw a familiar, albeit rare notification pop up.

|You have upgraded the shadow|

|??? LV. 29|

|Rank: Knight|

|Choose a name for this soldier|

"Haegol." He registered the name for the Archlich, which if any of his fellow guild members were here, they would say that it was another victim of Sung Jin-Woo's naming sense, or lack thereof.

While his ability to raise dead monsters as his soldiers was well known, after all it was recorded during the Jeju Island Raid, his ability to speak monster tongue, as well as the authority he seemed to have over undead, were abilities that most people didn't know he had.

Sung Jin-Woo turned to the Knights Order Guild members, and they gulped down saliva they didn't know was pooling in their mouths. "I believe you all understand that this must not be spread beyond this dungeon." He said to them, and they all nodded in understanding.

"Good. As had been agreed, I'll take 30% of the loot from this dungeon." He said, then headed for the Gate. After he left, Park Jong-So let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding, and began panting.

Everyone else dropped to the ground, as if a great deal of tension was released from their bodies. "Hyung. Do you still think that we could merge our guild with theirs?" Jung Yoon-Tae asked Park Jong-So. "Haha. I don't think they'd even be interested." Park Jong-So replied, remembering that every active Hunter in the Dominion Guild was at minimum S Rank.

...

Meanwhile Sung Jin-Woo had stepped outside the Gate, and received a phone call almost immediately. He checked the phone, and saw that the caller was Shiraori "Yeah. What's up?" He asked. "Get to the Association building. We've got a meeting with Old Man Hee." She responded.

"Alright. I'll be there soon." He said, then hung up. One of the Hunter Association's employees came up to him, asking about the condition of the Knights Order Guild members. "They're alright. They're just taking some time to come out." He said, then turned to the collection and mining teams who had started approaching him.

"Oh, great. We've taken care of the monsters inside, so you can all go ahead and start your work." They nodded and began moving and gathering their tools. "Thank you for your efforts, Hunter Sung Jin-Woo-nim." The Hunter Association's employee said, then turned back to keep an eye on the Gate. "Ah. By the way..." The next second, Sung Jin-Woo had seemingly vanished.

Chapter End.

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Word Count: 3,461