Chapter 35: A Raid to Remember

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.

--------------------------------------------------------

Narrator POV

Sung Jin-Woo arrives at the Gate that the Hunters Guild's second raid team is meant to raid, and is met with the members of the mining & collection teams, as them as the raid team themselves.

He quickly exchanges pleasantries with all of them and tells them that he's ready to go into the Gate, but they bring up a small problem. "Well, you see, our porter didn't show up today and..." The raid team leader, Son Ki-Hoon, starts saying, but Sung Jin-Woo tells him that it's okay.

"I'll handle it. There's no need for the mining team or the collection team to risk their lives." He says and grabs the porter bag, holding it with a single arm. Son Ki-Hoon tries to protest his decision, but stops himself after seeing Sung Jin-Woo's eyes.

"Okay, then. I won't say anything about your decision, Sung Jin-Woo-nim." He says and turns to the rest of the raid team, then tells them to start entering the Gate. Sung Jin-Woo follows behind them as he inspects the Gate.

"The Gate has been measured, and we've gotten the report that it's become weaker since yesterday's measurement. But still, keep your guards up. We don't want any unnecessary danger to crop up because any of us got cocky." Son Ki-Hoon says and steps into the Gate.

Sung Jin-Woo compares the size of the Gate to the one that he raided with Choi Jong-In and Cha Hae-In yesterday, and he notices that this one is a bit larger in comparison, but he also notices something else. 'This ominous feeling reminds me of the Red Gate. There's definitely going to be something different from what the measurement is telling us, if that's the case.' He thinks to himself as he pulls out the Sanguine Ripper.

As they all enter the gate, Sung Jin-Woo summons out one of his magic soldiers and hands the bag over to him. "So this is what the Guild Master meant when he said that you've got surprising capabilities." Son Ki-Hoon says in astonishment at the shadow.

"But do you have any stronger ones?" He asks curiously. Sung Jin-Woo summons out Igris, Iron, Baruka and Tank. The waves of mana that emanate from them shocks the raid team, but Sung Jin-Woo senses several monsters approaching them and warns the raid team.

As if they weren't being so heavily invested in the capabilities of the shadows, the raid team immediately goes into formation, moving like a well-oiled machine. A few seconds pass, and the monsters come onto view.

"Dungeon Jackals?!" Son Ki-Hoon shouts out in confusion, but he snaps out the confusion almost instantly, and begins attacking the canine monsters, marking the first kill, with the other raid members following suit.

After killing the dungeon jackals, they confirm that no other monsters are approaching then for the time being. Looking at the corpses of the Dungeon Jackals, Son Ki-Hoon and the other members of the raid team had confused looks on their faces, trying to piece together what exactly was wrong.

"Why are Dungeon Jackals, C Rank monsters, in an A Rank dungeon?" Son Ki-Hoon asks. "Is it that rare for dungeon jackals to appear in A Rank dungeons?" Sung Jin-Woo asks the female mage.

"It's not, but since they're at C Rank, they're too weak and too low on the food chain, so they're usually hunted down. Since they're hunted down and eaten by stronger monsters, maintaining their pack numbers is extremely difficult. Even as a group, the average A Rank monster would kill all of them, so there should be no way for them to survive. Unless..." She answers and checks the necks of some of the more intact corpses.

Sung Jin-Woo checks the closest corpse and sees what looks like the traces of an imprint left by a leash on its neck. "Well, you were right, these guys definitely weren't strong enough to survive, seeing as they had been kept alive by something else, most likely to be used as hunting dogs." Sung Jin-Woo says as he pulls out one of Baruka's Daggers.

"It's highly likely that we're dealing with intelligent monsters, so it's best if I take point on the assault." He says as he summons all of his shadows. The Hunters guild members nod in agreement and get into formation, while staying in the protective area made by Sung Jin-Woo's shadows.

A few seconds after, they hear a multitude of heavy footsteps and soon see the monsters at the top of this dungeon's food chain. "No way! High Orcs!" The tank and DPS melee shout as they see the red skinned monsters with various tattoos on their bodies.

The High Orc at the front of the group of monsters immediately begins attacking, throwing a spear with a shaft that's thicker than a human thigh. Iron intercepts the blow and let's out a mana filled bellow as he attempts to provoke the High Orcs onto attacking him first.

However, they seem to shrug off the effects of the taunt. Iron soon notices this and becomes irate, then he dashes forward and with his war hammer held above his head and slams it on the first orc, who was caught off guard, killing it.

Igris and Baruka slip into the battle, with Baruka going unnoticed as he had activated his Stealth skill. Igris uses his deft movements to slip in between a small group of High Orcs and spins in place with his sword in a sideways slash, beheading two and cleaving open the chests of three others.

Baruka goes around slashing at the tendons and joints of the High Orcs, greatly impairing their movements. For the unlucky ones whose heads lowered, they are swiftly relieved of their heads.

Tank and his pack members rush down the remaining High Orcs and tear into them ravenously, ripping them apart and turning their once robust bodies into mangled corpses.

Just like that, the group of High Orcs that seemed like a mountainous threat was dealt with in less than a minute, without Sung Jin-Woo making a move himself. The level of amazement that filled the raid team was far greater than them seeing Choi Jong-In using his magic.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to go ahead and clear this dungeon. The ominous feeling I've been having for a while now isn't going anywhere, so I'm gonna go ahead and kill the boss. If you feel like you can't go on, then take my advice and leave. I can already feel some more headed our way." Sung Jin-Woo says with an intense look in his eyes.

The raid team stays in a contemplative silence before they all nod in agreement. "We'll go. But if you don't mind, would you escort us there?" Son Ki-Hoon asks, his arm shaking slightly, and his eyes looking uneasy.

Sung Jin-Woo notices this in most of the others as well and let's out a sigh. "Fine. Igris, Iron. You two are with me. Everyone else, make sure that none of these guys get past you." He says and turns to the direction of the Gate entrance.

"And you guys better run if you're intent on getting out quickly." He says to the raid team. "Ah. Of course. Thank you very much." Son Ki-Hoon says and begins running in the direction of the entrance, with the rest of the raid team following shortly after.

After confirming that they were all moving toward the entrance, Sung Jin-Woo dashes after them with Igris and Iron following behind him. He soon overtakes the raid team, then instructs Igris and Iron to stay at either flank of the team to prevent any attacks from the sides, just in case.

They all continue running to the entrance for a few minutes and happen upon something that they did not expect. "Hmm, a barrier. So it seems that running here was a waste of time." Sung Jin-Woo says as he walks up to the now sealed off Gate and places his hand on the barrier that is sealing it.

|Buff: Status Effect has been removed due to the effect of 'Immunity'.|

|'Curse: Agony' has disappeared.|

|'Curse: Frenzy' has disappeared.|

"Don't touch the barrier. It's got curses that are meant to attack anyone that interacts with it." Sung Jin-Woo tells the magicians of the raid group. "If that's the case, how come you aren't affected by it?" The flame magician asks him.

"I was affected by it, but I recover pretty quickly. It's just been like that ever since I reawakened." He says as he walks past them. "We're heading back. It's pretty clear that the only way for us to leave is to kill the dungeon boss. You can just stay out of the way, so that you don't get overly hurt." He says and begins dashing back to where he left his other shadows.

After reaching the place where he had left his shadows, Sung Jin-Woo notices that there is now a much greater number of High Orc corpses than what he had left when he moved the raid team away.

"I guess it was a good idea to tell them to stay out of this. Just from this, I know they'd have either surrendered or gotten killed." He says as he spreads his senses to detect the exact location of the boss chamber.

"Return." He says as soon as he locates the boss chamber, and all his soldiers turn into dark wisps that then enter into his own shadow, making it darker and look like it's moving.

He then activates Stealth and dashes to the boss chamber, leaving the High Orc corpses behind. But due to his singleminded focus on the boss chamber, he didn't notice that the raid team was slowly making their way back to where they remember him leaving his shadows.

...

Meanwhile, outside the Gate

Cha Hae-In had gotten a little more than a mild interest in Sung Jin-Woo, so when she had heard him say that he would most likely take part in the raid today had given her some excuse to try and get in contact with him, especially since she hadn't gotten his phone number.

But when she had arrived at the Gate, she noticed that the intensity of the mana that the Gate was emanating was considerably higher than the Gate that they raided yesterday. She had gotten quite worried, so much so that even in her casual clothes, she chose to rush into the Gate, armed with only a pickaxe from the mining team.

...

As she moves through the dungeon, she comes across multiple monster corpses. She sees Dungeon Jackals that had been clearly killed recently, as well as multiple High Orc corpses. But she soon senses a bit of mana that is different from what she had been sensing since she entered the dungeon, and rushes to reach it.

She soon comes across the source of the mana that she was sensing, the raid team,who told her that Sung Jin-Woo had his summons kill the dozens of High Orcs, whose corpses littered the ground where they stood, then left to face the boss of the dungeon by himself.

She then tells them to follow her to the boss chamber to give Sung Jin-Woo some support, and they follow her orders, given that she is the Vice leader of their guild. But when they reach it, what they see baffles them to an unimaginable degree.

...

Some minutes ago

As Sung Jin-Woo reaches the boss chamber, his senses pick up the number of life forms in the boss chamber, and he notices that there are well over 100 of them, with the most powerful of them being 5 stronger mana signatures at the end of the room, which was most likely the boss being flanked by 4 guards.

He walks into the room, still under stealth, with the monsters none the wiser. He looks around,and notices that the place looks like a throne room, or a chieftain's chambers. As he reaches the area in front of the platform where the boss is sitting on a throne, he deactivates Stealth.

The High Orcs all notice his presence the instant that Stealth was removed, and one of them begin rushing towards him with its weapon at the ready. Letting out a short snort, Sung Jin-Woo turns his hand to the direction of the High Orc as if reaching for it, and closes his hand.

The High Orc that was rushing at Sung Jin-Woo stopped in place when he put his hand out, and was crushed when he closed his hand, being reduced to a blob of flesh, organs and broken bones.

"You're quite strong, probably the strongest enemy I've ever faced." Sung Jin-Woo says to the boss as he uses his Ruler's Authority to pull out his daggers. "What a surprise, the same goes for you, human. But it won't matter as you will die here." The High Orc boss replies to him, giving Sung Jin-Woo pause, as not only is this the second time a monster has actively spoken to him, this time the monster sounds like it actually spoke Korean, not that he could simply understand it.

"I see. You, what's your name?" Sung Jin-Woo asks with a strange look in his eyes. "So you wish to know the one who killed you. Then I shall tell you, human. I am the prideful Orc's great shaman, Kargalgan, and I will be the last being you will ever see!" The Boss says as he violently flares his magic power.

*Kargalgan*

"Kargalgan, huh? It doesn't match my taste, so I'll change it when I kill you." Sung Jin-Woo says as he brandishes his daggers. "Hahaha. How would you kill me, when you can't even kill my army?" Kargalgan says as he spreads his arms to his army of High Orcs.

Looking around, Sung Jin-Woo scoffs with an amused smile. "An army, huh? Since that's the case, then this is a pretty bad matchup. For you, that is." He says and summons his army of shadows.

"Is that it? You're trying to pick a fight with my warriors with only that many soldiers? You're more of a fool than I thought." Kargalgan says, and Sung Jin-Woo just smirks at him.

"Underestimating us so much would be disastrous for you." As Sung Jin-Woo speaks, his shadow expands greatly, easily covering a fifth of the room, with him at the center. As this happens, the shadows begin to glow a strong purple, as they had been strengthened.

|Skill: 'Domain of the Monarch' Activated|

|Shadow soldiers fighting above the caster's shadow will have their stats increased by 50%.|

During his time in the Demon Castle, he received a new class-specific skill at level 70. The skill, Domain of the Monarch, gave him the ability to spread his shadow and strengthen his soldiers, which helped him go as high in the Demon Castle as he did.

"What are you all doing? Destroy him already." Kargalgan barks to his warriors, and they begin rushing him and his soldiers. Iron roars, using his skill, Taunting Cry, but it doesn't faze the High Orcs, once again. This makes him irate, and he uses his war hammer to smash some of them to pieces.

Igris and Baruka dash to the middle of almost a dozen High Orcs and begin a dance of death, as they slash multiple High Orcs and bisect them.

The few that attacked Sung Jin-Woo have gotten their heads slashed off or slashed open. However, this didn't mean that all his shadows were doing as well, as some had been destroyed a few times in their attempts to kill other High Orcs.

Seeing this, Sung Jin-Woo moves faster, killing more High Orcs in an attempt to lower their numbers, when seemingly out of nowhere... "Hymn of the Fire Dragon."

A blast of flames comes by and destroys multiple shadow soldiers in a single shot, lowering his mana even more as they reform.

"You dare to act so arrogantly with useless puppets such as these?" Kargalgan says from his throne. Sung Jin-Woo just laughs at him. "If anyone is being arrogant, it's you. For as long as I'm alive, they will not stop regenerating, and neither you nor any of your warriors is capable of killing me." He says calmly, sending a small jolt of shock into Kargalgan.

Before he could formulate a complete thought, Sung Jin-Woo dashes towards him with the intent to kill. "Hmph. Hymn of Protection." Kargalgan says and deploys a magic shield in front of him, that to Sung Jin-Woo's surprise, actually blocks his attack, leaving only a light scratch.

"Your efforts are useless. If you must die for them to stop showing them, then all I have to do is tire you out, and my warriors will kill you." Kargalgan says with a vicious grin. "I wouldn't be so sure. I've got some strong soldiers as well, so I can trust them to kill your warriors." Sung Jin-Woo responds coolly.

"Then I'll destroy you along with them. Hymn of Blazing Fire." Kargalgan says, and multiple explosions go off where Sung Jin-Woo's shadows are, destroying all of them in one fell swoop, and drastically reducing Sung Jin-Woo's mana.

Despite that, Sung Jin-Woo just calmly looks at Kargalgan and pulls out a mana potion and downs it. "Arise." He says as he finishes drinking the potion, and raises 5 of the dead High Orcs as his own soldiers.

"What?! Turning my warriors into undead?! Can it be... Is he the Monarch...? Then why are we..." Kargalgan says in confusion as he sees the his dead warriors raised as soldiers for his enemy to use against him.

For a few seconds, he wonders why he is here. His mind returns to the first memories he had when he opened his eyes in the dungeon. Back then, a single order resounded in all of their heads; Hunt down and kill the humans. He eventually comes to a decision, there is no reason to disobey the order given to him.

"Tear him to pieces and bring me his bloodied corpse." Kargalgan says to his generals that haven't moved, until now.

Sung Jin-Woo looks at this with amusement as he watches his strongest shadows engage the 4 High Orcs. Iron intercepts his attacker's blow with his hammer, then pushes his sword down to the floor and strongly headbutts him, disorientating him, then ends his life with a crushing blow to the head.

Igris and Baruka are attacked by two of the generals, and after a quick look at each other, they decide which of them they'll take on. Baruka attacks the one with claws as his weapons, while Igris engages the other, that is holding a sword.

Baruka rushes forward, and flips over the head of the High Orc as it tries clawing at him, then throws both his daggers into the High Orc's head, killing it. Meanwhile, Igris blocks the downward slash that the other High Orc sent his way, then turns his longsword downward, causing the High Orc's sword to slide down his blade.

Seeing the opening, Igris jumps and twists his body to the right mid air, with his longsword following him. The High Orc begins turning and sees his comrade get killed, and in the tiny lapse of his attention, Igris slashes his sword at his neck, severing it and causing the head to fly off.

The fourth general had made the mistake of heading after Sung Jin-Woo himself, and he was dispatched quickly, with Sung Jin-Woo twisting his head 360 degrees, and pulling it off his body with Ruler's Authority.

"It would seem that my generals are superior to yours." Sung Jin-Woo says coolly to Kargalgan, who is quite surprised at how quickly his strongest warriors were killed. In anger, he finally stands up from his throne. "I refuse to allow you to continue running your arrogant mouth in front of the great Kargalgan!" He shouts in anger.

"Hymn of Slumber. Hymn of Lethargy. Hymn of Blindness." He says as he sends 3 curses to Sung Jin-Woo, and his face breaks into a grin underneath his skull mask. However... "What?! How did you dispel the curses I casted?!" He shouts as Sung Jin-Woo dusts off his shirt.

"Did you forget what I said earlier, I'm a bad matchup for you. Now, let me get rid of that annoying shield of yours." Sung Jin-Woo says as he orders a magic soldier that he had given the Orb of Avarice to fire a spell at Kargalgan's shield, shattering it, as well as his skull mask.

"You.... How.." Kargalgan says in confused astonishment. And shortly after, Cha Hae-In and the members of the raid team walk into the boss chamber, to see the craziness that is going on in the room.

"I still can't get used to how many summons he has, but I don't understand how they're so much stronger." Son Ki-Hoon says as he watches Sung Jin-Woo's shadows continue to dispatch High Orc after High Orc. Suddenly, a strong wave of mana hits them, as Kargalgan roars out in anger.

"You rubbish talent will no longer work on me! Hymn of Rage. Hymn of Strengthening. Hymn of Giants. Hymn of Combustion." Kargalgan roars as he casts multiple buffs on himself, with a zodiac manifesting behind his head.

As he finishes casting the spells, his body increases greatly in size, with almost everything else in the room only reaching his ankles, and flaming explosions are released with his every step. "I'll crush you all like insects!" He shouts as he stomps, destroying a few of Sung Jin-Woo's shadows.

Meanwhile, Sung Jin-Woo had just finished drinking a mana potion, and was wiping his mouth. "You're touching my sore spots over here. Since I've got some bad memories with giants." Sung Jin-Woo says in amusement.

"Don't get cocky because I played with you for a bit, human! Do I, the great Kargalgan, still look inferior to you?!" Kargalgan says as he blasts out a stream of fire from his mouth. Sung Jin-Woo uses Shūndō to evade the attack and appears right beside his face.

"Yup." He says, and jams a dagger into Kargalgan's eye, causing him to roar in pain. "Making yourself bigger just made you an easier target. And there's no way a sorcerer can stop an assassin's attack without having any guards." He says and starts dashing around using Shūndō while slashing Kargalgan.

As he continues attacking, he notices that he's not dealing as much damage as he would like, so he does something that he hasn't done since the day that he trained with Dante... "Igris! Sword!" He switched weapons.

Igris obeys the order and throws his longsword like a spear towards Sung Jin-Woo, then he proceeds to kill as many of the remaining High Orcs with his fists and throwing knives.

Sung Jin-Woo catches the sword and begins attacking Kargalgan while channeling a great deal of his mana into the sword and keeping it from leaking. When the mana saturates to a point that he feels is satisfactory, he uses a skill that would be imprinted in the memory of all who witness it.

"Lacerate." He says, and slashes at Kargalgan's chest horizontally. A wave of highly concentrated mana is released from the sword, and it slashes through Kargalgan with so much ease and force, that everything from his chest upward is blown off from the rest of his body.

Despite his body being split in two, Kargalgan was still clinging on as tightly as he possibly could to life. But, the reality of things remained undeniable, he would soon perish.

Before the last embers of life left his body, he saw the risen forms of his dead generals all standing behind Sung Jin-Woo as his loyal soldiers. In his heart, Kargalgan wished to curse the human before him, but he knew that no matter what he may want to say or do, there would still be no chance for him to even attempt it, as he was surely dead.

|The dungeon boss has been slain.|

|You have leveled up!|

|You have leveled up!|

The notifications pass by Sung Jin-Woo's eyes, as he looks at the now dead boss. He looks around to see his soldiers killing off the last few remaining High Orcs. Then he looks back to Kargalgan's corpse and wonders if he should take the drops gotten from Kargalgan.

Shaking his head, he decides to leave the drops to the Hunters guild, but he wasn't going to be leaving empty handed.

Everyone watches him as he walks to the corpse of the dungeon boss and places a hand on it. "Arise." As he says this, a scene unlike anything the Hunters had ever seen unfolds before them.

A soul tearing scream comes from the shadow of the dead boss, and a shadowy figure that looks like a mage in a large black robe rises out of its shadow. It is at this point that a theory for how Sung Jin-Woo gains his shadows begins forming I Hunters guild members' heads. 'Sung Jin-Woo-nim can raise dead monsters to fight for him as his summons.'

While they continue to theorize, Sung Jin-Woo is inspecting his newest soldier. And he notices a new sight, a rank that he has never seen any of his current shadows have, the Elite Knight rank.

|Choose a name for the soldier.|

Looking at the shadow's appearance, be just puts his hand forward and says one word. "Tusk." After that he looks at the nameplate above his soldier's head. "Yeah, let's go with Tusk." He says with a smile.

Turning to the entrance to the boss chamber, Sung Jin-Woo sees the raid team, as well as a face that he didn't expect to see for a while. "Cha Hae-In-nim, how are you today?" He says with a smile.

She tries to respond, but flubbs her words in a flustered fit. While Sung Jin-Woo just thought that she might have still been surprised, the ladies that were part of the Hunters guild B team noticed the blush on their Vice-leader's face, then they looked at Sung Jin-Woo with sheer amazement.

"Don't worry, Cha Hae-In-nim. As you can see, I'm fine. Now, why don't we get out of here before the Gate closes." The Hunters guild members were going to protest, but then they saw Sung Jin-Woo's shadows taking every single material they could, so they kept silent and followed him and their Vice leader out of the dungeon knowing that they would never forget what they had seen today.

Chapter End.

🧷Cover Art Submissions🧷

A/N: Similarly to how Mutilation is the final evolution of the dagger only skill Vital Strike, Lacerate is the final evolution of the sword only skill Power Slash.

Word Count: 4,442