The vehicle slowly descended onto the helipad. There, a person in a suit and a couple of guys in uniform were waiting for them.
Both of them stepped down, but only Sun Xiao received a warm welcome. After the exchange of salutes was over, one of the two soldiers extended his hand toward Sun Xiao, "Welcome to Aclor, Miss Sun. And you must be the intern. Anyway, please follow us…"
The soldier's voice turned cold when he addressed Sungjun, clearly expressing his disgust on his face for some reason.
Sungjun's treatment wasn't good, but he doesn't have any expectations from the start anyway. So, he maintained his calmness and silently followed the others.
After a while, they reached a conference room with the rest of the team members sitting in their seats while a Goryeo woman, with a delicate V-shaped face, porcelain skin, and almond-shaped eyes, from the same homeland of Sungjun, was seen, wearing a suit, standing at the sheet screen with an image projected on it. Two members were still missing.
"Hello." Sun Xiao greeted everyone with a bit of nervousness as she spotted her former teammates. "Sorry for the delay. I hope I didn't miss anything important."
"Miss Kitty Ranger had only briefed us about the strategy of our allies." The buffed man replied with a smile. He is none other than the leader of the operation, Jin Chen, aka Cyro, also popularly known as the Snow Emperor. The only one with two Codenames, Cyro is his official codename, and Snow Emperor is something everyone in the circle used to call him. "Come, take your seat. You too, Mr. Han." He said, extending the invitation to Sungjun.
As soon as Cyro addressed Sungjun respectfully, everyone who wasn't paying much attention to their former teammate abruptly turned their heads. "A rookie joining our team, eh! What could be more insulting?" A collective thought appeared in almost everyone's head.
In an instant, everyone's gazes changed, and Sungjun found clear animosity from a few. As the room wasn't that large and no one bothered to hold back their tongue while talking to the others, Sungjun and Sun Xiao also heard the words.
Sun Xiao then remembered how the soldier had treated him and what Sungjun said to her. She felt pity for him, but put the thought away.
Meanwhile, Sungjun calmly took his seat without greeting them. Considering the situation in the room with a simple glance, he sat at the end of the table, a bit far away from the others.
As Cyro gestured for Hunter Kitty Ranger to proceed with her briefing, everyone shifted their attention to her.
The woman resumed. "So, as I was saying, your team will enter from a secret entrance."
The image was changed to a blueprint of the temple, which seemed to have four entrances, unlike a normal dungeon. That was because it was originally an instant dungeon that erupted in the Temple of Horus, which was just a tourist site. Hundreds of casualties occurred, with no one left alive. And as the government of the Vashia Republic sent military troops to clear the dungeon and claim the bodies, they only met with failure. Over four decades, as hunters kept on entering the dungeon but only met with failure and their remnant mana turning into food for the monsters, the dungeon and its monsters have evolved. In the end, four such entrances formed, indicating its increased difficulty.
After she explained everything that is needed, Julia Snider (Codename: Kitty Ranger) then addressed Sungjun, "Mr. Han, you are the key to this operation. So, we would like to hear your thoughts."
"What is there to hear from a rookie?" Jaden Wong (Code name: Stryker) sneered in response without even minding the fact that Sungjun was listening. "In fact, I don't think he is anything but the baggage that will slow us down."
Upon hearing his words, a blue-eyed blonde furrowed her brows and scolded him, "If you cannot hold your tongue, at least, mind your tone, Stryker. When Lt. Commander Cheng believes in his ability to guide us, who are you to question his judgment?"
"Xing Lin, you…" Stryker clenched his fist in anger. But, before he spoke another word, all of a sudden, his lips were clamped together with stitches between them. "mmmpf…" He struggled with his eyes widened in shock.
"What the…"
While the others looked a bit confused, Cyro mumbled with a frown on his face. "Who is it?" He glanced at everyone and found Sungjun's eyes appeared to be a little different. His aquamarine eyes turned pitch-black. However, he couldn't sense anything emitting from him.
Just as he was about to speak out, Sun Xiao reacted, "Stop it, Sungjun."
Her words attracted the attention of everyone. She looked at the guy with a stitched mouth, "It's an illusion, Stryker. Just dispel it with your Mana energy."
When he did that, the stitches were removed. He let out a deep breath, "Thanks, Sister Xiao."
Then, something clicked in his mind. "Wait a second… did you just imply that this was done by this damn intern?" He flared up.
This time, Sungjun replied instead of Sun Xiao, "I felt like I should showcase some of my abilities so that you guys no longer think that I'm some kind of baggage."
"And do you think this proves your ability?" Jaden Wong slammed the table in fury. He felt insulted upon being a fool in front of everyone. "What will you do when the Werewolf lord appears before you? You will stitch his mouth?"
"I agree with Stryker. Such tiny illusions won't help us." Lucas Davis, codenamed Steel Guardian, voiced out his opinion, coming in support of his teammate and a friend, "We don't know what we are going to deal with, and no one in the team would have enough time to save the rookie."
"C'mon, you too, Lucas…" Xing Lin was just about to stop these hunters who were bullying the poor guy, but neither she nor the rest of the hunters expected that Stryker would suddenly raise his hands and strangle himself tightly while his mouth was stitched up again.
It only lasted for five seconds before he got free and started taking heavy breaths.
Everyone: "…"