“W-wait!”
Although Jiho hurriedly tried to follow the cat, the monster was blocking him. Jiho looked at the monster casting a large shadow in bewilderment.
Status
| Name | Serpens |
| Rank | C |
| HP | 130 |
| MP | 72 |
| STR | 102 |
| AGI | 117 |
| Skill | Silent Shriek ( B ) Constrict ( B ) Bite ( C ) Strength Buff ( D ) |
The monster is shaped like a snake, with a body circumference of over 1 meter and a length between 20-30 meters. The cat just now was quite literally bite-sized for the monster, yet the cat killed it with one punch….
Of course, size doesn’t really matter between monsters and awakened ones, but wasn’t the cat not awakened?
‘Did it awaken while I wasn’t looking?’
That’s probably what happened. Though it’s rare, animals do awaken, after all.
If it’s strong enough to kill a C-rank monster, that means the cat is at least a high B-rank or A-rank awakened cat.
Jiho looked off in the direction the cat disappeared in.
It’s not like the cat is particularly violent, but… if it can kill that big of a monster with one punch, then he can’t have it freely roaming around.
In that short amount of time, over 10 monsters had crawled out of the fissure. And even more were coming out behind them. Even if the monsters are all C-ranks, it can get dangerous when there’s this many of them.
Although the runaway cat is important, right now, the first priority is to evacuate the citizens.
“Leave this area to me. Evacuate slow…”
Jiho, who was ordering the citizens around him, suddenly felt someone forcefully grab him by the waist and pull him. There’s no one besides Joo Yiwon who would do something like this but…. This touch and scent isn’t Joo Yiwon’s.
Jiho struggled to turn around. When he looked, the person he found was someone unexpected.
“H-hunter Kim Tae Yong?”
“It is dangerous to step forward yourself.”
Holding Jiho by the waist, Kim Tae Yong easily lifted Jiho up on his arm by his butt like a child. Even though he’s a little shorter than Jiho, Tae Yong’s movements were extremely smooth.
Even while the monsters were coming out, Jiho could still feel people taking pictures of them. Jiho’s face instantly turned bright red.
“W-wait. Please put me down.”
“Please give me a second.”
Tae Yong lifted his empty hand and made a sign.
As a result, bright blue mana flowed out of Tae Yong’s body like waves. The force of his mana was so strong that it looked more like a giant tsunami than a simple storm.
Unlike its imposing appearance, Tae Yong’s mana gently wrapped itself around the things around them. From passing pedestrians, to cars, trash cans, and even startled stray cats, Tae Yong lifted everything that was within a certain radius and pushed them out of danger.
Despite moving multiple things of differing weights all at once, Tae Yong was extremely stable. Not a single car or person got entangled with each other while Tae Yong moved them out of the curtain of mana he had created.
Having pushed all of the people out, his mana began to change.
The bright blue mana turned blindingly white, like waves that hit an invisible boulder, before freezing like ice.
The frozen curtain of mana became a perfect barrier, completely separating the inside from the outside.
Even when monsters chasing after weaker humans ran into the barrier, the barrier didn’t budge a bit.
In an instant, tens of monsters were trapped within Kim Tae Yong’s barrier. There was no need for citizens to evacuate in a hurry; it was a perfect form of isolation.
“A-amazing.”
Of all of the barriers Jiho’s seen so far, this was the most perfect one. Tae Yong shrugged as if it was nothing before setting Jiho, who he was still holding, down on the ground.
“Although I cannot leave this boundary up forever because of the MP that it consumes, it will be enough to protect the civilians while we take care of those monsters.”
“I see…. What a relief. I was worried because of how unexpected this fissure was.”
“Ah. No wonder. I thought it was weird that no one was coming out, even though this is happening right in front of Chungram Guild…. Incidents like this have become more frequent recently.”
Unpredicted fissures have definitely begun appearing more often these days.
While it’s a relief that this fissure appeared in the alleyway between Chungram and No Name’s guild offices, if Jiho hadn’t been passing by this area, there might’ve been a couple of casualties.
Now that he was thinking about it, why was Kim Tae Yong here?
Kim Tae Yong’s guild, Mireu, is located in Jongno-gu. There’s not much reason for him to come up to Gangnam Station.
“Guildmaster-nim!”
Someone’s calling broke Jiho out of his sudden thought. It was Lim Seung Joo, who was speedily approaching them.
“Guildmaster-nim, are you alright?”
“I am fine. It’s a good thing that you’re here. A fissure broke out, so I would like you to help Hunter Kim Tae Yong…”
“I will be focusing on maintaining the barrier in case something happens. If possible, I ask that the two of you handle the fissure without me.”
Kim Tae Yong, the strongest in terms of combat ability among the three of them here, pulled himself out of the fight. With Tae Yong’s power, they’d be able to knock the monsters out at once….
Still, in the middle of a big city like this, maintaining a barrier is of utmost importance. Since monsters will keep coming out as long as the fissure is still open, if Tae Yong tries to shoulder two things at once and makes a mistake, disaster will soon erupt.
On top of that, even without the boost, Lim Seung Joo can easily take care of a C-rank monster, so there will not be a problem.
Of course, Jiho still used his skill just in case.
[Blessing of the Star].
Upon receiving Jiho’s skill, Lim Seung Joo took his sword out of his inventory pocket and soon charged towards the monster. Jiho checked the status window of the Serpens once more before shouting to Seung Joo.
“Be careful, I think those guys use sound to attack!”
“Alright!”
Lim Seung Joo answered shortly as he cut forward.
Lim Seung Joo’s sword is a close-range weapon. Though it’s better to charge forward if the enemy uses a long-range attack, it’s dangerous to charge straight into a crowd of monsters without any plan because they will swarm you.
Wouldn’t it have been better for Lim Seung Joo to use his long-range attack [Is it Concerning if My Attack is Basic] to take care of the monsters?
“Oh dear.”
It seems that Kim Tae Yong had the same thought, as he sighed quietly. Right when he was about to use a shield skill on Seung Joo.
Slice!
Lim Seung Joo sliced the head off of one of the monsters. Despite the monster’s HP being fairly high, the monster was cut easily.
But there was more than one monster.
While Lim Seung Joo swung his sword, the Serpens surrounding him opened their mouths widely. Then, a silent shriek ripped through the air.
“Euk!”
Jiho bent down in pain. Tae Yong covered Jiho’s ears for him. Thanks to Tae Yong’s recovery skill, his head, which was drowning in pain, cleared.
After managing to regain his focus, Jiho looked over at where Seung Joo was.
Thankfully, it seemed that Seung Joo was fine.
Not just fine.
There were four or five Serpens split in half around Seung Joo. It happened quite literally in the blink of an eye.
Confused, Jiho blinked. Tae Yong explained.
“Hunter Lim Seung Joo is quite skilled. He sensed the danger instinctively and swung his sword to disperse the shock wave of the monsters’ skill.”
“Is that possible?”
Even if all skills use mana, it doesn’t make logical sense for a sword to be able to cut through sound. But Kim Tae Yong is saying that Lim Seung Joo did just that.
“Though it is usually impossible, overwhelming strength can overcome anything.”
Hearing Tae Yong’s firm tone, Jiho opened Lim Seung Joo’s status window.
Status
| Name | Lim Seung Joo |
| Occupation | No Name’s Vice-Guildmaster |
| Rank | A |
| Title | No Name’s Slave |
| HP | 845 (+2776) |
| MP | 408/418 (+1200) |
| STR | 1055 (+3182) |
| AGI | 782 (+2473) |
| Skills | Body Strengthening ( S ) Endowment of an Attribute ( A ) Is it Concerning if My Attack is Basic ( A ) Instinctive Sense of Danger ( B ) Ariadne’s Thread ( C ) |
| Status | Blessing of the Star (ON/Time Remaining: 0d 08:59:41) Body Strengthening (ON) |
His stats deserve to be called overwhelming.
The average stat for S-rank hunters is between 1000 to 2000. Although they can go up to 3000 if they’re high, right now, Lim Seung Joo would be among the top S-ranks.
Thanks to that, his work on the C-rank monsters can’t be explained even with the word “overwhelming.”
On top of that, Lim Seung Joo isn’t only good at attacking.
Information
| Instinctive Sense of Danger (Lv. 8) | |
| Rank | B |
| Description | During combat, the chance of avoiding a fatal attack increases. |
A skill that can block fatal attacks.
Thanks to that skill, Jiho has never seen Lim Seung Joo get hit by a dangerous attack. It was that way even when he was only an A-rank, so there’s no way he would face a problem against a C-rank monster from a fissure.
He knows how well Lim Seung Joo has been doing so far; why was Jiho so nervous?
Feeling baffled, Jiho soon found the reason.
It’s because as a pure support hunter, even C-rank monsters are difficult for Jiho to handle right now. Since they’re threatening to him, Jiho reflexively thought it would be the same to Seung Joo.
Lim Seung Joo is different from him.
In addition to Seung Joo, Tae Yong wasn’t affected by the monsters’ skill either. Only Jiho was affected.
Jiho lowered his gaze. His throat felt a little itchy.
“Hunter Shin Jiho recently went from B-rank to S-rank.”
“Yes? Yes, that is correct.”
Not understanding why Kim Tae Yong suddenly brought that up, Jiho answered confusedly. Tae Yong looked at Jiho with eyes full of understanding.
“As your overall physical capabilities improved so suddenly, your five senses will have become much more sensitive. You will be particularly weak to attacks that use the senses, such as sound, for a while. You should be careful. Once you adjust, it will become much better.”
Even though it wasn’t particularly important, Tae Yong advised him seriously. Did he notice that Jiho was feeling ashamed of himself? From when Tae Yong helped him in that dungeon last time, Tae Yong has, in many ways, been observant and kind to him.
Thanks to those comforting words, Jiho’s turbulent heart definitely calmed back down.
‘That’s right, Lim Seung Joo fighting like that is thanks to my skill.’
Shin Jiho is the guildmaster of No Name. If Shin Jiho had advanced to an S-rank hunter on his own, people wouldn’t have been so focused on No Name as they are now.
A hunter that can make other hunters several times stronger than they were before. That is who he is.
Instead of feeling haughty or guilty, he should work hard.
For now, focus on the situation at hand.
…Well, even if he wants to focus now, the situation is already nearly over.
Even without any help, Lim Seung Joo was cutting through monsters two at a time. The bodies of the sliced monsters were thrown atop the other dead bodies.
It was, without a doubt, a one-sided massacre.
Seeing this, Kim Tae Yong was amazed.
“I thought I would need to step in a little, but… it appears as though he does not need any help.”
“You can help.”
“No.”
The rewards from the Hunter Association depends on how many monsters a guild catches. To leave an easy target alone and focus on keeping the barrier up essentially means that he’s yielding to them.
“T-thank you.”
“This is not much.”
Kim Tae Yong smiled generously. Of course, he might be appearing generous right now because he’s giving them money.
In truth, giving up C-rank monsters like these probably aren’t much of a loss to Kim Tae Yong, but Jiho was still grateful.
It was then that Jiho heard a loud sound come from one side.
It was the hunters from Chungram Guild, who saw the fissure appearing right under their own building. Tae Yong must’ve adjusted the barrier, as they were able to come inside easily, unlike the monsters struggling to escape.
Jiho looked to see if there was a tall head sticking out among the guildmembers, but the face he was hoping to see wasn’t there.
Instead, another familiar face came up to him.
“Jiho, are you okay?!”
“Gyung Woo-hyung.”
It was Yoo Gyung Woo, Chungram’s vice-guildmaster and Jiho’s ex-brother-in-law. As soon as he saw Jiho, Gyung Woo ran up to him and made sure he was okay before sighing in relief.
“It seems like it’s almost over. We were one step too late….”
They came pretty quickly to say that they were one step too late. It’s just that Lim Seung Joo sliced through all of the C-rank monsters like they were F-ranks. It seems that Gyung Woo was a bit all over the place, as he finally noticed Tae Yong standing next to Jiho. Gyung Woo bowed and greeted him.
“Hello, Mireu Guildmaster-nim. Thank you for your help.”
“I just did what I am supposed to do.”
“Haha, you have worked hard.”
Gyung Woo looked very embarrassed for some reason as he shook Tae Yong’s hand. Is there a reason Chungram’s vice-guildmaster has to be so respectful to Mireu’s guildmaster? Unable to ask this to anyone, Jiho listened to the two people exchange awkward pleasantries.
While that was happening, Chungram’s hunters took care of the remaining monsters. Lim Seung Joo sheathed his sword.
Lim Seung Joo looked unsightly, with the monsters’ blood and fluids splattered all over him. As he walked up to them, Tae Yong used water to wash Seung Joo’s body clean.
“It seems as though everything has all been taken care of now, so I will inspect the barrier and check the situation around the fissure.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
Tae Yong disappeared to inspect the barrier, leaving the three people to themselves. All three of them were familiar with each other in some way.
Lim Seung Joo’s original guild was Chungram. As an A-rank combat hunter, he probably participated in a lot of dungeon raids with Yoo Gyung Woo.
“Vice-Guild… no, Hunter Yoo Gyung Woo.”
“It’s been a while, Hunter Lim Seung Joo.”
“Yes it has been a while.”
The two shook hands very amicably. After letting go, Gyung Woo looked around once more and let out a breath in awe.
“Very impressive. If we fought now, I would probably lose without being able to put up a fight against you.”
Lim Seung Joo smiled, but didn’t refute it.
“Hunter Lim Seung Joo got rid of 43 monsters on his own. You might give that guy Yiwon a run for his money.”
“This is all thanks to Guildmaster-nim.”
“Haha, of course, Jiho is amazing as well. I saw the video, but it’s even more spectacular in real life. I look forward to seeing how No Name Guild will grow from here.”
“Thank you.”
Unlike Seung Joo, who answered humbly, Jiho was pushing down his desire to refute something else Gyung Woo said.
‘Even if he has my skill right now, Lim Seung Joo is nowhere near Joo Yiwon’s level.’
Seung Joo isn’t giving Joo Yiwon a run for his money. That guy is perfect. Even if Gyung Woo was just saying empty words, they should be within reason.
Still, since Gyung Woo’s praising a hunter from his guild, Jiho can’t say anything about it. Jiho suppressed the words that came all the way up to his throat.
LaZ Bird Corner
Jiho’s going through Yiwon withdrawal. Remembering his scent, looking for him in crowds…. Where are you, Yiwon???
Also just as an extra note, the suffix -gu means district, -dong means neighborhood, and -myo means shrine.
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