Chapter 148 - Chapter 148 (1/2)

'The raid must've started by now.'

The Association President Goh Gun-Hui looked at his wristwatch and smiled softly to himself. The raid in question was, of course, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's.

If it was at all possible, he wanted to see for himself, but.... due to the nature of his job, it was simply not feasible, so all he could do was to send in an Association employee he trusted greatly as a proxy, instead.

He was getting all worked up already, thinking about what Section Chief Woo Jin-Cheol's report would entail.

'Ah, right. I shouldn't be doing this right now.'

Goh Gun-Hui shook his head lightly to get rid of the distracting thoughts. There were mountains of documents sitting on top of his desk right now. They were practically forming the towers of documents at this point.

Ever since the dungeon break inside the high school happened, this pile of documents didn't want to decrease no matter how hard he worked every single day. No, they seemed to get even taller, instead. That was how insanely busy he was, yet his interest in Hunter Seong Jin-Woo didn't wane one bit.

If only his body was healthy – wouldn't he have cleared some dungeons together with Hunter Seong, too?

'Huh, I'm also being hopeless, aren't I?'

Goh Gun-Hui shook his head one more time and returned to his work with a smile on his face.

And so, just how long did he concentrate on the documents?

Knock, knock.

He raised his head after hearing the knock on the door, and realised that three hours had flown by.

"It's Woo Jin-Cheol, sir."

The news he was waiting for had finally arrived. Without a single hint of fatigue visible on his countenance, Goh Gun-Hui welcomed Woo Jin-Cheol into the office.

"Please, come in."

Creak.

Goh Gun-Hui's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets after he saw Woo Jin-Cheol's face as the latter cautiously entered the office.

'What's this?'

He expected there to be no problems, yet Wool Jin-Cheol looked as if he got dragged through a wringer, instead.

'It's not just anybody but Hunter Seong Jin-Woo we are talking about here, so how come Chief Woo looks like that....??'

His confusion only lasted for a short while, though.

"May I sit down for a little while, sir?"

Woo Jin-Cheol sounded desperate, so Goh Gun-Hui quickly pointed to the couch.

"Of course, it's fine. Do take a seat."

He then got up from the President's chair behind the desk to settle down in the opposite side to Woo Jin-Cheol.

Plop.

Woo Jin-Cheol powerlessly sunk deep into the couch. He rubbed his face with his hands, showing how tired he was.

Just what happened inside the dungeon?

Even before Woo Jin-Cheol could start explaining himself, Goh Gun-Hui couldn't win against his curiosity and started first.

"What happened to you? Why does your face look like....?"

"Pardon? Is there something on my face, sir?"

"You look incredibly tired right now. As if you couldn't sleep a wink for the past few days."

"Ah....."

Nod, nod.

Woo Jin-Cheol wordlessly nodded his head a few times as if he could understand everything now.

"It's probably because I'm just too shocked, that's all. Sir."

"Shocked....? Please, tell me more in detail. My friend, didn't you accompany Hunter Seong Jin-Woo to observe his raid?"

Woo Jin-Cheol lowered his gaze and slowly shook his head.

"That, sir, that wasn't a raid. It was....."

"....It was?"

Woo Jin-Cheol raised his head, shock and fear still writ large in his trembling eyes.

"Sir, it was the scene of a massacre."

The charismatic leader of the Monitoring Division, Woo Jin-Cheol, often thought to be possessing an inborn heart of steel, was speaking with a voice that trembled ever so softly.

"A massacre, is it.....?"

Goh Gun-Hui swallowed his saliva.

Woo Jin-Cheol replied without hesitation, evidently not even thinking of changing or denying his description.

"Yes, sir."

Was there any other description that fit what happened in there? It was as the word suggested, a total massacre. Woo Jin-Cheol didn't hold back on anything and confessed to everything he saw at the behest of the Association President.

"The dungeon was a nest of Nagas, sir."

Goh Gun-Hui narrowed his eyes as he combed through his knowledge of various monsters.

'If it's a Naga....'

Creatures that resembled a hybrid of a human and a sea snake, preferred to live in damp areas, and experts of both melee and magic attacks, capable of giving many experienced Hunters a hard time – those points were the Nagas in a nutshell.

They were also known as really tough opponents to contend with as they moved around in large groups, even though they were high-ranked monsters.

However....

'But, someone of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's level shouldn't be having a hard time against a handful of Nagas going around in groups?'

As if he had read Goh Gun-Hui's inner thoughts, Woo Jin-Cheol clarified himself.

"....I even felt sorry for the Nagas at some point, sir."

".....!!"

Woo Jin-Cheol recalled the scenes back then. When a group of 30-strong Nagas suddenly made their appearance, he even momentarily forgot who was next to him and tensed up greatly. Nagas were dangerous enough existences to warrant such a reaction from him.

But then....

"....The surrounding areas suddenly became 'dark', sir."

Or, more specifically, he should have said that a massive black shadow suddenly extended out from beneath Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's feet.

All the hair on Woo Jin-Cheol's body stood up after he realised that something big was about to happen. And precisely at that moment, soldiers emerged above ground one by one from the extended shadow.

And the battle – no, a massacre, commenced.

- Kiiiaahk!

- Kiihhaaak!

- Kiiaaahhh-!!

Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's summoned creatures pounced forward and proceeded to mercilessly rip the Nagas apart into many bloody pieces.

"At least, those summons wearing black armours, like the humanoid types and the High Orcs types, were a bit more humane. But then....."

The summons resembling bears and ants were far too feral even for his tolerance level.

"Some of the ants even began eating the corpse of the monsters. Hunter Seong Jin-Woo became so incensed that he even physically kicked them."

Woo Jin-Cheol began shuddering after remembering this one ant that tried to sneak a dead Naga's head into its mouth, only to get discovered by irate Hunter Seong. It got splendidly buried deep into a wall from a powerful kick.

Although, he still couldn't tell whether he was shuddering from the horrifying summons, or from Jin-Woo who could unhesitatingly kick a summon like that into a wall.

Seeing the tense look on Woo Jin-Cheol's eyes, even Goh Gun-Hui became extra tense as well, dry saliva gliding down his throat.

"Were his summons strong?"

"They were really strong, sir."

There was no need to even mention it. Soldiers resembling humans, Orc-type soldiers, bears and ant type soldiers; not one of them could be called weak by any stretch of the imagination. But, the biggest highlight of them all was....

"There was this one summon with a red mane attached to its black helmet."

Woo Jin-Cheol raised his dipped head again and stared straight into Goh Gun-Hui's eyes.

"Would you believe me when I told you that particular summon could shoot lightning out of its sword every time it took a swing, sir?"

"Oh my god....."

Goh Gun-Hui was feeling completely astonished now. The lightning magic contained the destructive power of fire-based magic as well as the speedy nature of the light-based magic.