The novel 'Ways to Become the No.1 Hunter' described Asphodel as a country that looked good on the outside, but one would realize that it was not just a normal fantasy novel if they took a closer look at it. It was a novel about trying to survive both from dungeons and hunters.
It was true that the main cause of deaths in the novel was from trying to clear dungeons, but the second one was quite unfortunate since it came from something very close to the hunters. This one could be counted as one of the main conflicts in the story.
And that was hunters killing each other for the prize.
No matter high or low-ranking the hunters were, they all would kill for the artifacts.
Of course, even Han also killed several hunters for dungeons' prizes.
…
Now, silence prevailed in the place.
Everyone looked at one another carefully. No one moved or said anything. The only sound that broke the silence was the phone notification. It showed a new text from the government.
[Start the countdown.]
[9:59 minutes]
[If no one manages to claim ownership over the artifact within the given duration, we shall take back the prize.]
The atmosphere intensified.
Raydel's body tensed without realizing, feeling as if he had just survived a dungeon just to be in another dungeon. He knew that the government would make the hunters fight one another for the legendary artifact in the end, but he never would have thought that it would happen to a volunteer group whose job was just preparing the way for high-ranking hunters.
Normally, fights for the prize would happen to the hunters that later arrived. But because the volunteer group managed to kill the boss, the government treated them as if they were the hunters sent in to clear the dungeon.
If Raydel was asked if he was afraid that they would kill each other, the answer would be proved by the sweat on his face. As someone who had read the novel 'Ways to Become the No.1 Hunter,' he was confident that they would.
The government giving them the offer was no different than throwing bones toward a group of starving dogs.
Under the weight of the pressure that had taken over the boss room, each hunter held their ordinary artifacts firmly, ready to pull out a weapon at any moment. Then, a 'schluk' sound broke the silence, dragging everyone out of their minds.
Raydel turned around instantly and saw that Han had just walked to the Plague Doctor and pierced his sword through the center of its heart.
After the Doctor stopped moving, it no longer had a shield to protect itself, so the sword easily penetrated through its chest and destroyed all of its remaining health in an instant.
Thud.
The Plague Doctor collapsed onto the ground like a lifeless doll. It gradually disintegrated into a dark mist, and so did the skeleton.
Now that the boss was gone, the hunters swallowed and stared at the countdown and the legendary artifact floating above their heads. Finally, a person blurted out.
"Who will take the legendary artifact?"
All the piercing eyes went straight to the person who asked the question.
"Or… or maybe we choose at random?" someone said.
"Are you out of your mind? I won't do that. I risked my life coming in here in case you forgot," another argued.
"And so did I! Who would ever let the high-ranking hunters take it?"
The reason many of them were willing to go into the boss room was for this opportunity, or else the high-ranking hunters would take the prize instead.
Now that someone shouted, the others started to get angry.
"Normally, we should let the person who killed the boss take the prize, right? But…"
Everyone looked at the one who killed the boss.
They saw Han and became silent.
"He's not even in the voluntary group."
"Just a no rank who arrived late and took the opportunity."
"Giving him the legendary artifact? Keep dreaming about that."
Many of them were clearly giving Han suspicious and ill-intentioned looks.
Raydel's face became pale. He glanced at Han, expecting that the protagonist would say he did not care for the prize and whoever wanted to have it could have it. But when Han heard what the hunters were saying, he started to grin.
"If I take the legendary artifact then what about it?" he asked.
"..."
He forgot that this man loved fighting!
Raydel's instinct told him to back away from Han and acted like they did not know each other. Not friends. No relationship between them. If Han fought the other hunters, he would easily win. Raydel wouldn't want to get involved in it.
The hunters shouted back instantly.
"What the hell did you say? It's not a walk in the park for me to get here!"
"It's not fair for newcomers like you to take it!"
"If you want it, go find another dungeon. Don't do this to us who can't wait to quit being hunters!"
Raydel tightened his lips into a straight line. Although there were many high-ranking hunters in the world of the novel 'Ways to Become the No.1 Hunter,' for ordinary hunters that were side characters, they would rather not get involved with the hunter's world if they could. They would choose to be normal people with full time jobs who didn't have to try clearing dungeons for a living or to improve their strength.
Most of the people who became hunters did so just for the prize that could change their lives.
"Ah!"
At that moment, the legendary artifact slowly fell down. The hunters saw it and ran toward it immediately.
"Get off! It's mine!"
"It's MINE!"
"Don't come any closer or I'll stab you!"
People were pulling out weapons, but no one had hurt anyone yet. But the legendary artifact almost fell down to the level of the hunters' open hands. Pressure and stress spread throughout the area faster than forest fire. Everyone pushed one another. A few of them fell down. Then, they all stopped when they heard footsteps getting closer.
Han forced his way into the middle of the crowd, and then…
He hit the hunter who pointed a dagger at him in the forehead with his hilt.
Clang!
"...!"
The others panicked instantly. The hunter who was hit staggered back, feeling so dizzy he let his dagger fall into the floor. Han kicked it away before looking around and speaking in a straight tone.
"If you all want it that much then go fight for it there."
Then, he hit the legendary artifact with his sword, sending it flying the other way!
Many hunters' eyes widened before they dashed after the artifact, forgetting about the safety of themselves. They were taken aback when they realized the giant rats around them started to stand up with their eyes glowing with life and ferociousness again.
Clink.
The legendary artifact landed on a corpse of a giant rat. It started to wiggle its legs instantly. Its red eyes opened wide before it trapped the artifact within its tight grip. Its whole body trembled as if it was sucking some power from the artifact.
A message suddenly popped up above its head.
[Unlock the 'Temporary Boss' status.]
"What the hell did you do!?" many hunters screamed.
Han's expression remained unbothered. "The dungeon already mutated. Can't you see that?"
"But you just threw the legendary artifact to the monster!"
"It doesn't matter if I throw it or not, it'll fly to the monster anyway. I just made it quicker."
"What?!"
Raydel could only smile sheepishly while listening to the arguing between them. The protagonist was more troublesome than he thought. In fact, Han did not make anything worse. The dungeon was a mutated one, so killing the boss did not mean clearing the dungeon. They needed some high-ranking hunters with exorcising power to come and do so to completely clear the dungeon.
Actually, the giant rats had already started to move even before this. Raydel noticed that as the legendary artifact descended, it obviously leaned toward the rats. There was no way it would fall into one of the hunters' hands. Monsters would try their best to attract the artifacts containing the power of its dungeon, and the artifact had chosen one of the giant rats to become the new boss for the time being.
However, even though the monsters had all been resurrected, they did not charge at anyone in the boss room. Instead, they ran out of the room.
Around twenty giant rats surrounded the temporary boss, crashing into anything to get out of the room. They did not stop even when some were killed by the hunters.
"Where are they going?"
"Do we need to follow them?"
"Yes!" Sheryl shouted. "They're heading to the train!"
A new notification rang suddenly.
[New Mission: 'Protect the train while waiting for the high-ranking hunters to arrive.']
[The volunteers in this mission will receive an additional 5,000 del.]
The hunters' faces distorted in anger.
"Fuck!"
"When will the high ranks arrive!?"
"I volunteer for God's sake!"
While the hunters were running after the giant rats, Sheryl picked up her dagger from the ground. She rolled her sleeves up as high as she could and followed everyone even though she seemed exhausted, leaving Shane and Minnie standing behind not knowing what to do. They still did not know how to react to this unexpected turn of event.
"I couldn't wait to get out of here," Shane moaned jokingly. "When will the high-ranking hunters arrive?"
Raydel felt that something was off again upon hearing Shane's words.
Right, when will they arrive?
Minnie hugged her sword and glanced at Raydel. Her eyes locked at his right hand for a moment before she followed Shane.
There were only Raydel and Han left.
Raydel picked up his dagger and rushed out of the room, following everyone. He would never let himself be alone with Han. The only thing he wanted now was to get out of this dungeon and not have to talk to Han about blocking his number.
He heard footsteps following him. The other person did not say anything, but Raydel knew that Han must be staring at the back of his neck because it felt weirdly hot there.
I won't unblock you! he thought.
Now, each room was left empty with no doors like when they were heading inside. There were no traps as well, so Raydel could walk straight to the train. He was met with chaos. The train doors were shut while panicking passengers were looking out through the windows.
Hunters were fighting with the giant rats in front of the train.
But even in the middle of the fight, all of them had their eyes fixed on the temporary boss.
[7 minutes]
Raydel's phone screen showed.
Now, everyone was scattered around the underground station that had become a graveyard. Their backs turned against the train while their hands slashed at the giant rats endlessly pouring out of the dungeon. The numbers of the monsters increased at a high speed with the boss in the middle of the crowd, and monsters that filled the area looked like worms wiggling. The legendary artifact was attached to its fur, alluring everyone.
Boom!
The sound startled many of the hunters, but then they saw that the hunter that arrived the latest had just swept ten rats off the earth's surface. The look on his face told them that he was extremely satisfied with the fight. The other hunters finally had a moment to catch their breaths when the explosion sound attracted all the monsters toward Han.
However, several hunters started to move away from the train and toward the temporary boss.
"Where are you guys going!?" Sheryl asked. "Don't abandon your positions!"
She cursed, knowing that they were going to fight each other for the legendary artifact. She signaled for Shane to take her position before she ran to them and tried to punch some senses into their heads.
However, some of the hunters had already got to the boss and brutally killed all the giant rats surrounding it. When only the boss was left, they all raised their weapons in unison.
All the raised weapons plunged straight into it, spilling blood all over the place. The sounds of blood splashing and rats screeching harmonized. Sheryl heard people screaming and fighting like they were going mad.
"It's mine! Back off! It's mine!"
"Give it to me, please. I don't want to be a hunter anymore!"
"Arghhh!"
A hunter had just stabbed his dagger into the arm of another hunter. Their eyes widen looking at each other, forgetting the fear for a moment. They punched and fought, trying to reach for the legendary artifact on the boss with all they had!
"Stop!" Sheryl shouted.
We can't be killing each other like this, she thought frantically and rushed toward the hunters that were fighting to stop them, but it turned out that she was punched as well. She gritted her teeth.. Her heart beat as if it was about to jump out of her chest.
I won't be able to bear the consequences if another one of us dies, she thought.
"Stop!" She screamed.
She suddenly thought of the time she was at her office.
Sheryl, who was the team leader, stood still with her hang low, taking all the curses and criticism from her boss for her subordinates.
'What kind of a leader are you? Why didn't you take care of your subordinates?!'
She tightened her lips and clenched her fists before whispering.
'I'm sorry. I won't let this happen again.'
'You better. Because if this happens again, I'll fire you. You won't be working here ever!'
'Look at that. She's scolded again. What a stupid leader. When will she get promoted working like that?'
…
When Sheryl woke up from her memory, she stopped right in her tracks and stared at the legendary artifact on the giant rat.
She stood still for a moment. A thought occurred in her mind.
Me? I don't want to be responsible for anyone's lives any more.
At that moment, the hands that tried to stop the other hunters stopped. They grabbed the collar of the nearest hunter and threw him away!
"?!"
The hunters that were fighting staggered back in all directions because Sheryl flung them away. She hit one of the hunters in the nose with her elbow, sending him collapsing down onto the floor while crying and holding his bleeding nose.
The woman walked over several hunters straight to the temporary boss that was lying in its own puddle of blood. She had a calm and cold expression. There were no more sparkles in her eyes. Blood dripped on her cheeks. She looked at no one as she bent over to pick the bloodstained legendary artifact.
Then, before she put it in her pocket…
A sword pierced through her stomach!
"Sheryl!"
Raydel's entire body screamed with ache as he struggled toward Sheryl.
The hunter that stabbed her was shocked like he never imagined that so much blood could be pouring out of the wound. He stepped back with his face colorless. His mouth kept repeating the same words. "I… I didn't mean to." Sheryl collapsed. Her white office uniform was painted deep red with the blood spreading all over her back and stomach.
No, Raydel thought, she can't be one of the twenty-one who died.
The hunter who attacked her frantically tried to pull the sword out of her body, but Raydel got to him in time and stood between him and Sheryl.
"Don't pull it out!"
The hunter was stunned. "What… why?"
"Because she'll bleed to death!" Raydel was so panicked that he accidentally shouted in his face. "Back off! I have to take her…?!"
"YOU back off! Give me the legendary artifact!"
The other hunters charged at Raydel, pushing him over. The man gritted his teeth and quickly sat down, protecting Sheryl with his body. His eyes searched for the artifact in her hands and saw that she was holding it in a loose fist. She had a spaced out expression on her face like her consciousness had already traveled somewhere far away.
"...!"
Raydel frowned. People kept kicking him and tried to yank him out without caring about his wounds. Pain exploded all over his body, but he persisted in staying in place. He decided to hold Sheryl's hands in that second before turning around to look at the hunters behind him with resolution.
He threw the legendary artifact the other way!
"?!"
People stopped attacking him in an instant. They all turned around and rushed after the artifact like a group of starving wild animals. The artifact fell on the ground before the whole crowd ferociously raced for it. The sight was even more violent than that of zombies biting and eating living humans lying on the floor.
No one paid attention to Raydel and Sheryl anymore. He sighed with relief before he raised his hands that were holding hers.
The legendary artifact was still in her hands.
But his pocket was now empty. Before this, there was something in it, but he threw it away.
Raydel looked at the crowd fighting for something on the floor.
What everyone was trying to get their hands on was… the coin from the hospital dungeon.
Goodbye my three thousand del, Raydel thought miserably.
"Sheryl!" He turned back to her and tried to wake her up, frightened. When he helped her sit up, his hands touched the artifact in Sheryl's hands. At that moment, a sudden surge of power flooded into his body, shaking him to the core!
He saw tentacles… trying to yank his fingers out.
Then, he heard a voice in his head.
An angry voice.
'Where did you throw me?'