"Becoming a hunter is a dangerous job. Accidents happen, and so do crimes. After all, who will prove them? There's no monitoring here, no random passersby. There's nothing stopping them from breaking the law. The weaker you are, the quicker they'll get rid of you. People flock to the strong.
If they see you as useless or in their way...
Well... Just as lizards shed their tails, they will get rid of you."
Jin-Woo clenched his fists, remembering those very words.
Jin-Woo wasn't afraid, but he didn't necessarily want to experience it either.
After all, who would want to experience betrayal and attempted murder? He felt a little sorry for Jin-Ho.
This kid's first raid was turning out to be exactly like this
Jin-Woo couldn't help it.
If they tried something, Hwang's group would take matters into their own hands. What if they started fighting here, accompanied by the boss...
- So what do we do now? The Entrance... These bastards tried to kill us... They want to kill us for those stupid stones!
- Correction. They're still trying. The boss just woke up.
Jin-Woo didn't have to turn around at all, he just heard the movements around him.
The Giant Spider.
A C-Rank Boss.
Jin-Ho turned around in fear and Jin-Woo followed suit, watching a clearly evil spider descend towards them.
Pale and sweaty with fear, Jin-Ho took out his sword and shield with trembling hands.
- S-Stand behind me. Wait a second... I'll think of something.
Jin-Woo examined the monster, looking for its weaknesses.
Many eyes.
A gigantic, hideous mouth with two rows of sharp teeth.
Oversized, long legs.
Compared to this beast, Rasaka looked like it could be raised and put in a terrarium.
Summoning his new dagger to his hand, Jin-Woo felt excited.
Maybe he was in a dangerous situation. Perhaps the boss was stronger than him.
But even so, he couldn't help that the only thing he had in front of his eyes were experience points.
This boss will give him at least one level. And if he was lucky, maybe even two.
- I'll take care of it. - Jin-Woo said, avoiding Jin-Ho and going to meet the boss.
- Wait, what are you doing?! - Jin-Ho shouted after him. - How can you... Are you crazy?! Only the best with a C or B-Rank would be able to handle him.
- Focus on how to escape from here. -Jin-Woo advised Jin-Ho.
He knew that Jin-Ho was right. Even after his recent awakening and reaching level 18, Jin-Woo was weaker than this boss.
But... Rasaka had also been stronger than him.
What other choice did he have? Let himself get eaten?
The spider accelerated, running towards Jin-Woo, making a lot of noise by moving its numerous legs.
Jin-Woo jumped and, flying over the boss, sliced into its abdomen.
He then landed behind the spider, which immediately turned to face him.
Seeing that his attack had done nothing to the monster, Jin-Woo made another approach, clutching Rasaka's Fang more tightly in his hands.
This time the spider was not so easily attacked and instead began to launch its own attacks with its front legs.
Jin-Woo dodged after dodging until he finally saw an opportunity to attack and slashed the monster in one of its legs.
No wound occurred. No incision. It didn't help.
No wound appeared. No cut. It was all in vain. The boss had eight legs, and there were no weak points. It could easily pierce through rocks, as Jin-Woo unpleasantly discovered when one of the spider's legs, in an attempt to hit him, struck the ground and created a massive hole.
Meanwhile, as Jin-Woo fought the monster, Jin-Ho stood frozen in fear and shock as he watched what was happening right in front of him.
Was this supposed to be an E-ranked hunter?
It was impossible!
On the other hand, the Association confirmed its rank. It had to.
But no one with such a rank could move so quickly, so agilely, and with such strength.
Could Hunter Sung be a...
A False Ranker?![1]
At this thought, Jin-Ho swallowed in great fear.
Among hunters, there were occasionally those who could control the level of their power.
With the ability to manipulate the results of their test, they could categorize themselves however they pleased.
Those who did so were called False Rankers.
The problem was...
That most such people turned out to be psychopaths who liked to kill just for fun!
He no longer knew which was worse: being trapped in here with the giant spider or with a potential False Ranker!
While Jin-Ho was dying internally, Jin-Woo launched attack after attack.
However, none of them gave anything.
He felt that he was slowly losing strength and the spider didn't stop attacking and didn't slow down at all.
He hasn't even managed to scratch it once yet.
It was really dangerous.
[ FATIGUE: 57 ]
The more fatigued Jin-Woo became, the weaker his movements were. If he allowed himself to get hit, the battle could be over.
His only option was to rely on the special skills of his dagger: Paralyze and Bleed.
He needed to strike the head, and the most vulnerable spots were the eyes.
However, before he could get close enough to jump up, he noticed that the spider was standing and waiting, then opened its mouth and spat.
It spat acid straight at Jin-Woo.
He jumped up, avoiding the attack and landing a few meters behind.
All this time, the spider had an ace up its sleeve.
Ignoring how absurd that sounded, Jin-Woo needed to close the distance even faster, all while avoiding the acid.
A very challenging task.
He dashed forward, carefully eyeing the spider.
[ SKILL: SPEED ACTIVATED ]
[ YOUR SPEED HAS INCREASED BY 30% ]
Sprinting would quickly rack up his fatigue points, but he had no choice but to use it.
He closed the distance.
He jumped.
He took aim.
[ EFFECT: PARALYSIS HAS BEEN APPLIED ]
[ THE OPPONENT'S RESISTANCE WAS TOO HIGH. EFFECT CANCELED ]
Darn it.
The paralysis had no effect.
He had to hurry and finish it now.
[ FATIGUE: 68 ]
Faster, he had to move faster.
Jin-Woo avoided the leg flying toward him and leaped up again, aiming for the head.
[ FATIGUE: 74 ]
However, unexpectedly, another leg hit him very painfully, throwing him back so hard that he hit the wall, making a hole in it.
The spider was about to deliver another blow to the fallen hunter when he, trying to find a way out of the deadlock, remembered that he hadn't claimed today's reward for training.
When the regeneration of strength took over his body, eliminating all his fatigue, Jin-Woo managed to avoid the leg flying towards him in time and jumped towards the head again.
Then he hit the eye.
First one, then the second, and the third.
[ EFFECT: PARALYSIS HAS BEEN APPLIED ]
[ EFFECT: BLEEDING WAS APPLIED ]
[ THE TARGET WILL LOSE 1% HP EVERY SECOND ]
Jin-Woo didn't stop.
He stabbed the same eyes again and again, and then he leaped away when the spider started swaying.
While he jumped back, the spider fell to the ground with a loud bang.
[ THE DUNGEON BOSS HAS BEEN DEFEATED ]
[ YOU'VE LEVELED UP! ]
[ YOU'VE LEVELED UP! ]
[ YOU'VE LEVELED UP! ]
With a relieved sigh, Jin-Woo wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Thankfully, he hadn't claimed the reward for his training earlier. Without that, he'd be in pieces by now.
And it gained three levels.
From 18 to 21.
Quite the accomplishment.
[ YOU HAVE ADVANCED ABOVE LEVEL 20 AND THE SHOP FEATURE IS NOW UNLOCKED ]
Finally, he could use the shop. That was nice, too.
Then he simply took the cores from the boss, seeing that they were quite strong and there were as many as ten of them. Actually, one of them was from the boss and was worth about 10 Million Won. (7405 USD) and the rest came from his belly and once belonged to eaten insects.
He wasn't going to give those cores to those pigs.
Not after this ugly betrayal.
- Uh... Sir, would you like to store your stones in the backpack?
Seeing Jin-Ho having a backpack on his back and an extremely sweaty and tense expression on his face, Jin-Woo tilted his head in confusion.
- If you are thirsty, please drink some water.
- Um... Thanks. I'd appreciate that. - Jin-Woo took the water from Jin-Ho, still looking at him strangely.
- The equipment was in the backpack. Damn liars. I'll retrieve some of those stones since we're already here.
The kid was definitely acting weird.
Although... after all, Jin-Woo saved his life. So maybe he was just grateful... or something.
However, before Jin-Ho could grab the pickaxe, a loud bang and a wall of fire came from the side of the passage.
When the fire had subsided, and the dust settled, Jin-Woo saw a group of eight hunters who had left them there.
The fight is probably not over yet.
Could he handle eight hunters?
He quickly opened the status window to check.
Each of his stats was at least at the 30 thresholds or above.
He'd be fine.
- The boss is dead!
- What are they doing here?!
- What happened here?
- Did they kill him by themselves?
- That Spider was kind of crazy.
Hwang Dong-Suk looked coldly at the two hunters who were still alive.
With this equipment, could this sickly puppy kill the boss?
He had no experience, so how...?
That stupid Spider was C-Ranked!
But on the other hand, the boss probably didn't kill himself.
There was no way a shitty E-rank hunter could even help in a situation like this. So this brat had to defeat him alone.
In fact, He didn't even know how powerful this kid's equipment was.
- Hwang, what should we do?
- We need to persuade him to join us. Yoo Jin-Ho! We've checked you out a bit, and it turns out you're the son of a pretty big shot. Who would've thought I'd be dealing with the son of Yoo Jin, the real estate office president? That's your father, right?
- So what?!
- I had suspicions you might be the child of someone important, but I never thought it could be true. I'd like to talk to your father about something. So, we'll give you a chance... Kill Sung Jin-Woo.
- What!? - Jin-Ho shouted in disbelief, looking at all the hunters, mostly maliciously smiling hunters.
- Kill him and join our team. It's the only way you'll survive. Otherwise, you both will die.
Jin-Ho looked at Jin-Woo, who remained silent and composed.
He merely shrugged his shoulders outwardly.
Inside, he was seething with anger and frustration.
Now, saving Jin-Ho's life, the boy's gratitude, or his earlier somewhat annoying attempt to start a conversation didn't matter.
Weak people are always betrayed.
He had been so naive...
- Why are you hesitating? No one will ever find out. Or are you afraid to fight an E-Rank hunter?
To everyone's surprise in the room, including Jin-Woo himself, Jin-Ho pulled out a weapon and stood in front of Jin-Woo, as if he intended to protect him.
- Are you planning to fight us? - Hwang Dong-Suk asked with amusement.
- So, what now, boss? - Gyu-Hwan looked at their leader.
- Let's deal with the weaker one first.
When Hwang took out his shield and sword and started walking towards them, an unexpected system message appeared before Jin-Woo's eyes.
[ AN URGENT QUEST HAS ARRIVED. ]
[1] T/L: Fake Ranker, Faker, Shifter... There are many ways to write this, I Like ' False Ranker' 🙃