67 Chapter 66 (2/2)

”Ahh, my apologies, Sir. Since you are such an excellent magic-type Hunter and all, I, uh…..”

His nickname wouldn't be 'the ultimate weapon' for no reason, now would it? If Choi Jong-In got serious and used his powers in full, then blowing up a building would be as easy as pie.

In any case, Choi Jong-In continued on.

”Not that. We just have to create a hot mess.”

”So, it was fire…..”

When Choi Jong-In began glaring at his underling, Joh Myoung-Ki hurriedly shut his mouth.

”We leak this to the media.”

'That is…!'

Joh Myoung-Ki's eyes widened.

”The big mistake of the Hunters' Association, a massacre of the large Guild's members, and finally, the ensuing mystery that got buried underfoot. The media just loves that kind of stuff. Wouldn't you agree?”

Joh Myoung-Ki's head automatically went up and down in a nod.

Choi Jong-In chuckled slyly.

”Once they get bombarded by the non-stop barrage from the media, the White Tiger will grow too fed up and in the end, reveal the identity of this mystery helper.”

”So, there was a method like that!”

Joh Myoung-Ki also began smiling as well.

This was a great chance to sucker-punch the persistent White Tiger that dared to chase after the Hunters Guild.

The ends of Choi Jong-In's lips arched up.

”Call the reporters right away.”

[You have entered a dungeon.]

As soon as he stepped foot inside the dungeon, Jin-Woo took in a deep breath.

'Hmm.'

After being 'confined' to an open-field type dungeon for a few days, the air inside the cavern-type dungeon felt new and refreshing.

Yu Jin-Ho followed him into the dungeon soon afterwards.

”Hyung-nim, I wonder just what kind of monsters would come out in this dungeon.”

”Yeah, me too.”

'I can sense their presence close by, though.'

Indeed, they were quite close, but they couldn't spot any.

But, when Jin-Woo took one step forward…

The floor of the cave began rising up here, there, and everywhere.

Crumble…

Rumble….

Humanoid monsters with skins made out of rocks appeared. Yu Jin-Ho quickly recalled their name.

”Hyung-nim, it's the Stonemen.”

Jin-Woo nodded his head.

These b*stards were known to possess the toughest exterior out of all the monsters that appeared within lower ranked dungeons. Common sense was to use magic when one was to hunt down a Stoneman, but….

”Hold this for me, will ya?”

Jin-Woo entrusted the cylindrical vinyl package to Yu Jin-Ho and walked towards the monsters.

'Heok!!'

Yu Jin-Ho flinched grandly, thinking that the content was a weapon, but nothing particularly noteworthy happened.

'It wasn't a weapon?'

Meanwhile, Jin-Woo stood before the Stonemen and summoned both the 'Baruka's dagger' and 'Knight Killer'.

Slice!

In the blink of an eye, the head of the Stoneman in front of the pack rolled to the ground.

Jin-Woo looked at the 'Baruka's dagger' and smiled in satisfaction.

'It's pretty good.'

Then, suddenly, the smiling Jin-Woo disappeared from the spot.

Tab.

Just as Jin-Woo reappeared past the group of the Stonemen, all ten-plus of them collapsed to the ground.

Rumble – crash!

'My body has gotten a step lighter and faster after the Red Gate thing, hasn't it?'

But, of course it would have.

His current level was 60. His level had risen up by nine from 51 after killing all those Ice Bears and White Phantoms. And now, the rank C monsters felt like those Goblins from the rank E dungeon to him.

'At this rate, I don't even need to use my weapons.'

Now that he had warmed up nicely….

'Should I increase the hunting speed, then?'

Time to summon his shadow soldiers.

With an excellent timing, another group of Stonemen was slowly lumbering towards his position from the deeper part of the cave.

'Summon.'

As soon as he issued an order, the soldiers confined to Jin-Woo's shadow rapidly revealed themselves behind him.

And sure enough, there was a loud scream accompanying that, too.

”Uwaaaak!!”

Oopsie.

Jin-Woo facepalmed and turned around.

'I forgot he was here with me.'

He got way too excited and completely forgot about Yu Jin-Ho for a moment there.

”H-hyu-hyung-nim!!”

While plopped on his a*s, Yu Jin-Ho pointed his trembling finger at the shadow soldiers standing right in front of him.

”W-w-what are these??”

”It's a bit complicated to explain… well, it's my skill.”

”You, you can summon these things as your, your s-skill?”

Jin-Woo nodded his head.

Yu Jin-Ho's jaw remained slack and didn't want to close.

”Ahh…”

Him and hyung-nim had entered dungeons together eleven times already. He thought that he wouldn't get shocked anymore, but he was proven wrong once more.

As expected, hyung-nim was an existence that easily exceeded one's imagination.

Gulp.

Yu Jin-Ho laboriously swallowed his saliva as his eyes took on the black-armoured soldiers emitting a blood-chilling aura.

Meanwhile, Jin-Woo shifted his gaze away. The lumbering Stonemen had already arrived near their vicinity.

Jin-Woo pointed at them with his chin.

”Go.”

As if they were waiting for that, the soldiers silently rushed forward.

Rumble!!

The floor of the cave shook hard as the forty-odd armoured soldiers all ran at the same time. For sure, with the addition of Iron and the beast soldiers, the overall weight of the group had increased by a lot.

'It's like I'm looking at a fleet of tanks, isn't it?'

Jin-Woo formed a very satisfied expression.

What with the shadow soldiers sweeping through everything, the dungeon got cleared in the proverbial blink of an eye.

The only things remaining on the floor were the scattered and broken bits of Stonemen that resembled cookies made out of dirt.

A rank C dungeon was destroyed in no time at all, in other words.

”Hoh…”

Jin-Woo exclaimed in admiration.

'At this rate, we might get to mop up the rest of the raids pretty quickly, no?'

It seemed that the remaining eight raids would not take that long to finish up.

As soon as the battle ended, the shadow soldiers retrieved the magic crystals and stood before Jin-Woo in orderly columns. Igrit and Iron stood in front of them.

The two knights stepped to the front and knelt down.

Once the soldiers stopped moving, Yu Jin-Ho finally sneaked in closer to Jin-Woo's side.

”Hyung-nim, here….”

He then returned the mystery vinyl package back to Jin-Woo.

Jin-Woo wordlessly took out the tumbler contained with the vinyl pack and began sucking on the straw.

”Hyung-nim, what is that?”

”It's veggie juice.”

”Oh….”

”I kinda like its taste, actually.”

Slurp, slurp….

After he almost completely drained the tumbler, Jin-Woo asked Yu Jin-Ho.

”Hey, Jin-Ho. How many Gates did you book today?”

Yu Jin-Ho was in the middle of cautiously reaching out to touch the fur of one of the beast soldiers, but he quickly pulled his hand back and turned back to Jin-Woo.

”Four Gates, hyung-nim.”

With four today, only five would remain. He didn't see any reason to waste any more time on this.

”In that case, let's finish up everything by tomorrow. It doesn't matter if a Gate is a bit far away, anyway.”

”You mean, tomorrow?”

Inexplicably, Yu Jin-Ho took a look around him. Seeing all the broken wreckage of Stonemen littering the floor, he couldn't help but slowly nod his head.

'For sure, with this kind of speed….'

”Understood, hyung-nim. By the way….”

Yu Jin-Ho hesitated slightly, before opening his mouth with some difficulty.

”Can I be the one to retrieve the magic stones?”

”….Why?”

”I'm kinda upset because it feels like my role's been stolen by these guys, hyung-nim.”

Jin-Woo burst out into a soft chuckle.

'Yup, this kid really is a weird one.'

And a day later….

Jin-Woo finished the 19 raids he had promised Yu Jin-Ho.