It's Grinding Time (2)

Hans cocked his head behind and glared at the hand's owner. His eyes immediately widened in shock.

"Gab!?" 

Wasn't he there a while ago? 

Hans moved his gaze back at the distance where another Gab talked towards the 6 people. He alternated his eyes between the two. 

Sensing Hans' dazed expression, Gab swiped his nose and chuckled, "So even my Mirage can fool you huh?" 

"Wait, that's a clone?" Hans raised his eyes slightly.

"No, no, that's an illusion." 

"Illusion?" 

Focusing the mana in his eyes, Hans observed the Gab on the other side. Other than the fact that he wouldn't stop talking, the illusion Gab was no different from the real one. 

'I didn't know I'm this weak in illusion.'

There were many illusion type Awakened but this was the first time he saw one. From Gab's ripped body and style, it's hard to believe that he's not a close combat fighter. 

Crack—

As if the world was in a mirror, the illusion began to break. Hans watched the process and kept in thought his newly found weakness. 

Shards of broken mirrors fell on the ground before vanishing as the wind passed by. Gab wrapped his hand to his neck and pulled him to the other members. Their spot wasn't far from the dungeon gate. 

Hans inspected the whirling orange portal that stood a few meters away. The portal was huge, enough to fit a 2 motorbus inside. 

The 6 Awakeners approached Gab and Hans. Hans shakes their hands while observing them meticulously. In his opinion, this team's chemistry is garbage. 

Two of them appeared like they were recovering from hangovers, while some even gave an expression of a coward man. There was even an old guy, probably in his 60s, holding a blunt weapon with a shield on his back. 

It was their tanker. 

Hans shuddered at the thought of this old man's tanking attacks. He looked at Gab confirming if this party was gonna work. 

"Don't worry, I saw their resume. They are good."

Gab patted his shoulders assuring his doubts. Hans forced a smile and pulled out the gear from his inventory. The inventory function of the system would only be unlocked at Level 100 so Hans settled for the space bag first. 

"Why do you buy cheap items?" Gab asked, seeing those worn-down items. 

"It's just an orange dungeon. No need for fancy suits."

After Hans equipped the gears, Gab stepped forward and placed his hand on his chest. 

"My name is Gabriel Lewis. I will be the raid's in charge and this person here." He pointed towards Hans and continued, "... is my best friend. He's strong so you don't have to worry about getting hur—. Hey, old man! Why are you peeing on your pants!!?" 

Hans facepalmed at the chaotic party Gab gathered. 

........ 

"Now, for the dungeon details." Gab pulled out a paper from his pocket, "According to the previous raiders, this dungeon is filled with black panthers. These monsters are well versed in shadow skills so we have to be 2x on guard on any possible sneak attacks." 

One of the six Awakened hesitantly raised his hand. 

"I'm a sensor mage."

Sensor mages were auxiliary mages that only gave support and buffs. They have attack spells, yes, but it was limited to only simple skills. Sensor mages have high perception despite having small mana. 

"Oh, a sensor mage!? Good, good." Gab held his chin as if realizing something, "Then why does your resume say you're an offensive mage?" 

Hans noticed the guy sweating heavily. 

"P-please, don't kick me out." the man bowed, "No one hires sensor mages nowadays so I needed to lie to participate in raids." 

Gab narrowed his eyes. Sensor type mages were less popular among mages. Usually, parties would rather bring attack mages in the raid, leaving behind sensor mages. 

But in sneak type dungeons where monsters like to sneak around, launching surprise attacks, sensor mages are popular. 

Gab cleared his voice and smiled. 

"I'm not going to kick you out." Gab grabbed his shoulder and patted his back, "Don't worry, anyways, there is currently a break every raid to refresh the dungeon monsters. Once it's done, It would be our turn next so prepare yourselves."

"Got it!" 

The 6 people became wary of each other after seeing their looks. Just like Hans, they also doubt this team's strengths. But even then, they did not complain and instead just whispered among themselves. 

"Why do we have an old man here?" 

"There are also two drunk men. Can they even fight?" 

"It doesn't matter, as long as we get paid."

"Yep, make sense." 

They all hesitated but the spoils were just too good to pass by. If not for the need for money, they wouldn't apply for this raid. Everyone stared at Hans whose face was covered with a face mask. They haven't heard of him but since the leader said he's strong, no one questioned. 

Meanwhile, Hans sat on the empty bench. The scent of flowers tickled his nose but the winter breeze killed the mood. His eyes darted towards the guards seemingly counting on their watches. 

Shortly afterwards, they waved their hands and signaled Gab. 

Looking at the time, Gab gathered the team. 

"I explained everything you needed to know. If you want to back out, now is the time. We have schedules and we don't have time to deal with delayed decisions."

"..." 

"..." 

"..."

No one answered. Gab nodded before everyone began walking towards the large portal. As of remembering something, Gab pulled out a ring from his pocket and wore it on his ring finger. 

"What is that?" Hans' curiosity made him ask. 

"Oh, this?" With a touch of Gab's finger, the ring clicked before it transformed into various weapons, "This is the newly released Grand Ring from Iceland. It mimics all weapons known to man. Cool right?" 

"Can it mimic nuclear bombs?" 

Everyone's eyes darted towards him.

"..." 

"I mean, I'm just curious. It's not like I want to bomb the dungeon or something, that's ridiculous."

"Uh… I heard it's just melee weapons. Nothing destructive like missiles whatsoever. But I guess having a nuclear bomb would be cool too." Gab explained.

"It's hot."

"Hot?"

"Nevermind."

Gab tilted his head before stepping inside the dungeon. 

....... 

One by one, everyone began to follow suit. Although Hans and Gab had calm expressions, others didn't let their guards down. Inside a dungeon, being careless is a sin. 

One of the Awakened, Arman, stared at the two men's back. One is an enigma while the other is just rich. They were talking to each other with a roller coaster of emotion. In the end, Gab sighed in defeat. 

"What do you think they were arguing about?" 

Arman leaned closer to the other five and whispered. 

"Oh, young kids nowadays fight because of women. Maybe, it's that?" The old man voiced his thoughts. 

"Money? Did the other guy charge more money?" 

"What was his name again?" 

"I heard the leader called him Hams."

"Pfft, really? Hams?" 

Of course, these Awakeners all have something to say but they didn't get to finish as Gab turned towards them.

"Everyone, I have good news for you." 

"Oh, an increase?" 

"Yes, you could say that." Gab then swiped the air and 6 papers spread out on each Awakened, "This is a contract. I'll pay each of you 500K USD as long as you don't disclose what happened inside the dungeon."

"Man, we got a double!" 

"We accept! We accept!"

Immediately, the 6 Awakened signed the contract without even reading the terms. Shortly, the contract was signed by both parties. 

"Thank you, everyone!" 

Gab turned around and started walking towards Hans who was venturing deeper inside the dungeon. The others began to follow suit but before they could walk, Gab's voice echoed in their heads.

"Ah, I forgot. The terms also said that you don't have to participate in this raid and just quietly wait for us to return."

"..."

"WHAT!!!!?"

"The fuck are you saying?" 

"Are you insane? Don't you know that Orange Dungeons needed to be cleared by 5 D-Class at least?" 

"Man, enough of these jokes."

However, Gab showed a serious face. Others immediately realized that he wasn't kidding. They wanted to refute but Gab's already walked away. 

"These two are crazy!!" 

"Tch, don't blame us if you die!!!" 

The old man holding a shield took out an alcohol bottle from his large pocket and chugged it down. 

"Ahh, it's good to be young." 

The strong scent of alcohol filled the air. They began to sit one by one throwing small rocks everywhere. Even if those two were strangers, they were still humans too. The apocalypse took many lives but even then the people weren't developed to the point that seeing death is normal for them. 

The 6 Awakened was concerned. What's more, the monsters were Black Panthers and those two wouldn't be able to detect them. What a pity, they would die young. It was regrettable. They were blinded by money. 

Time passed by. 2 minutes, 3,4, 10 minutes. 

An Awakened stood up, brushed the dirt off his gear, and decided. 

"I will follow them."

"W-wait, how about the money?" 

"What money? We already got 250K. Those two were clearly risking their lives. I don't care about the contract anymore. I'm going in."

At that moment, the cave slightly quakes. Hans and Gab silhouettes began to appear from their sights. The guy named Hans was covered with green blood while Gab was clean. 

"Oh, thank god, you two survived!"

The Awakened stood up and greeted the two with a face full of relief. The anxiety tortured them for 10 minutes but it doesn't matter now. 

Gab was breathing heavily, his back covered in sweats. However, Hans was different. It's as if he came from a stroll. 

"Fortunately, you two came back. I was thinking of following you guys." 

Because of the short time, everyone thought that the two scouted the path ahead. After seeing that they couldn't beat the black panthers, these two came back for help. 

"You two rest first. Then we'll raid the dungeon afterwards."

Gab looked at the man and smiled, "No, we're leaving the dungeon now." 

"Oh, we're leaving!? That's goo—… wait did you just say leaving?" 

Gab didn't answer and began trudging towards the dungeon exit. 

"Man, are they mad?" 

"W-wait look!!" 

Suddenly, an Awakened yelled. Everyone looked towards the guy was pointing at. Their expressions started changing. 

"N-no way!!" 

"T-this is impossible right?" 

"It is!" 

It was common knowledge that once a monster was killed, the exp will be shared through the participants. Although they didn't participate in the actual raid, they would still receive Exp albeit just a small amount. 

Their exp bars were filled up. Meaning, those two killed a lot of monsters. 

Meanwhile, while the others were still dazed from shock, Hans silently sneaked through them until he arrived at the dungeon exit which was the entrance as well. 

Hans and Gab slipped through the dungeon and immediately got into the parking lot. 

As they walked towards the car, Gab broke the silence. 

"You hid well, Hans."

"Heh, that's quite a compliment coming from a false ranker. But how did you know though?"

"As expected, you're still naive. Many skills couldn't be explained by a mere simple description, Hans."

Hans went silent. Soon they reached Gab's car which was parked at the far end corner. 

"So it's a skill?" 

"You can put it that way."

Earlier, Gab said that he already knew Hans' strength. That was why they had a short argument back at the dungeon. To hide it, the two decided to leave others and they would raid the dungeon. At first, Hans had thought of killing Gab. 

But…

[Hmm… so that's why I could smell a familiar scent on him. Don't kill him.]

Plundy stopped him. He asked and he got a rather unexpected answer. 

[The Golden Crown.]

One of the five keys required to enter the tomb of the Ruined King… 

Hans could pretty much guess the next phrase. 

"I see… we'll meet again perhaps."

Gab opened the car and chuckled. 

"I'll wait for that time then…" Gab crouched and sat in the driver's seat. The loud engine boomed before the car drove away. 

Hans was left alone. He sat on a small stone and opened his status window. 

[Level: 25

New Plundered Skill: [Umbral Steps (C)] 

The skill was plundered from a mutated black panther. 

'3 levels? That's slow.'

Every level up, the Exp required would increase as well. If he wanted to reach level 50 in two days then at least he needed approximately 30 Orange Dungeons raids. 

All should be cleared solo. 

That is why… 

Tri-ring—

His watch rang. Someone is calling.

"Speaking of the devil…" 

Hans pressed the answer button. 

"Hello?" 

—"Oye, kiddo, I got what you asked for.'

The voice on the other side spoke with a charm.

"How many?" 

—"40? I haven't counted it yet. Too lazy."

Hans grinned in satisfaction. 

"Thanks, Freya…" 

—"Just don't be late after 2 days."

Tut— tut—

The call hung up. Hans got up from the seat and slipped away quietly. 

The level grinding wasn't over yet. 

As he reached the dark corner, Hans' figure suddenly vanished.