Entering the portal, Woo Jinchul and a few other A-rank hunters from various guilds were on high alert as they looked around the forest, hoping that they would be able to find the boss of the dungeon.
"Choi Yurin said the mana was so explosive that it's after-effects traveled through the gate, into the real world. So much so that she was blown away. You get what this means right?"
Woo Jinchul made sure to hammer the situation into the heads of those present. Even though they had cleared many A-rank gates with their individual guild level strike teams before, this one was much more dangerous.
The enemy had already killed one of their own. So further mistakes couldn't be made.
On his left was A-rank healer, Jung Yerim, a well known woman from the prestigious Knights Guild. She was brought just in case, by some miracle, that Hunter Kenjaku was alive.
Then her healing may be able to save him.
On his right, was Lee Bora, a Gothic summoner from the Hunter's guild. Woo Jinchul only brought her because she's good at restraining magic beasts.
Her personality was...interesting to say the least.
The trio walked quietly until they got to a large clearing, revealing the completely decimated parts of the forest.
On the ground were many essence stones, mangled wolf corpses and just destroyed trees.
"What happened here? Woo Jinchul, you said a D-rank hunter was the one who entered right? These wolves are C-rank beasts. And from the looks of it, they didn't put up much of a fight."
Lee Bora looked around the destroyed area, hoping to find some traces of the boss or Kenjaku. But nothing came of it.
"That's right. I'm stumped myself. No matter how you twist and turn it, this was all done by a D-rank. Ha."
Woo Jinchul let off a slight chuckle at the end because this situation reminded him of someone else, Hunter Sung Jinwoo.
AWOOOOOO!!!
Suddenly, the mournful cry of wolves erupted, causing the trio to immediately run towards the sound.
"That's where all the magic beasts are! Up on that cliff! Hurry, we might be able to save him in time!"
The trio sprang up a nearby ledge and moved up the cliff with incredible agility. Just as they got to the edge, Woo Jinchul pulled them back and told them to hold on, saying, "Be careful, all of the magic beasts are-"
"You can come out, all of you."
They were shocked as they heard this voice. This was the voice of a human...and he sounded perfectly fine.
Jung Yerim was the first to peek over the ledge after this announcement.
Once again, the sight shocked her.
The wolves were standing in a line, making a path for them to walk through their innumerable numbers.
It seemed the magic beasts had already found them, but had no intention of attacking.
Clicking his tongue at his folly while expecting the worse, Woo Jinchul led Jung Yerim and Lee Bora through the path, soon arriving at the precipice of the cliff.
When they got there, they saw many Werewolves and between them, a man wearing the fur cloak of what seemed to be a white wolf. On his left shoulder lay the massive head of the white wolf, while it's front steel claws lay on his right.
It formed quite the contrast with his all black, bloodied outfit.
Looking at the face of this man, Woo Jinchul already recognized him from the pictures. But...this couldn't be. This was impossible.
"Hunter Ken-"
Slowly placing a finger up to his mouth, Kenjaku interrupted, stopping the man's speech.
"Shh. The surrounding warriors are grieving the passing of their king. Have some respect."
Woo Jinchul clenched his fist, struggling to grasp the idea of what was going on here. These were magic beasts. Kenjaku was a human. These two don't mix. They never mixed at all. So what was going on now?
Several minutes had passed and Lee Bora was now at her wits end too. She was the most logical one here. So she understood what this scene meant.
A D-rank hunter had defeated the boss of the dungeon.
'And judging from that cloak...I'm guessing that...was the boss.'
Jung Yerim, tired of all the guessing games, stepped forward and attempted to talk to Kenjaku, only for a trio of Werewolves to block her path, their fangs bared.
"Let her through."
Hearing this, they lowered their heads and walked off to the side, letting the girl pass.
'Does he have a spell to control magic beasts or something? Why are they this docile?'
Walking up to Kenjaku, Jung Yerim pointed at him and said as sternly as she could in this moment, "Y-you must be Hunter Kenjaku, right? You n-need to come with us."
Hearing her anxious tone, a small smile appeared across Kenjaku's face.
"That's me. Don't worry, I won't be long."
The confirmation didn't do much for her but it did mean that some conversation was now possible.
Woo Jinchul immediately walked up with Lee Bora in tow and cleared his throat.
"Hunter Kenjaku. Before we ask you anymore questions, is the boss of this dungeon dead?"
"Yes."
"How long ago did he die?"
"About 30 minutes ago."
"Did anyone start gathering essence stones?"
"No."
"I see. Then, you need to come with us. We need to hear some more from you."
Woo Jinchul was direct, but that was only because time was now on the line. The dungeon was about to close in 30 minutes and they had all of these resources just laying around with only a few miners to grab them.
Kenjaku nodded and patted the werewolves on their shoulders as he passed, signaling them goodbye.
It was time to leave this place behind. For now.
The trio moved with incredible speed as they ran to the gate, breathing a sigh of relief when they exited the dungeon.
"Now let's wait on-"
Feeling Jung Yerim pulling on his sleeve, Woo Jinchul turned to see her pointing behind them.
When he glanced back, his mouth was nearly on the floor.
Kenjaku was already outside, talking with Mei Mei who was hugging him tightly.
'So fast! Was he a false ranker? Or did he go through some kind of reawakening? Sigh...there's just so much to think about. Alright, lets start from here.'
Woo Jinchul asked the miners and any spare hunters to go gather essence stones as fast as they can before the gate closes.
Now, the only ones outside the gate were Woo Jinchul, Mei Mei, Kenjaku and another girl that Mei Mei had found to temporarily join their guild so they can officially form it.
"Ahem. I'll be frank. Hunter Kenjaku, did you reawaken?"
Kenjaku had no change in expression as he responded, "I did."
Not expecting such a direct answer to this question, Woo Jinchul stumbled a bit before he replied, "Wait, really? We need to go perform a reawakening test right-"
"Not now, I'm a bit tired from the raid. I'll be there next week."
Although Woo Jinchul was a bit hesitant to agree, he had to concede due to the fact that Kenjaku was indeed not in the best shape.
"Fine. Just, don't take too long. The chairman will be expecting you. Before I let you go though, what do you want to do about your share of the essence stones?"
Mei Mei immediately interjected.
"That would be a question for me! We will just..."
Kenjaku stopped listening to their conversation when it no longer concerned him. This fight with Zaiga had left a large impact on him, causing him to think about certain things.
When Woo Jinchul left, Mei Mei turned to the girl she spoke about and said, "This is Hunter Kenjaku. The leader of our guild in the making. Make sure you say hi."
The girl looked to be around eighteen years old and wore a hoodie, seemingly trying to hide her identity.
"I'm Han Song Yi. It's a pleasure to meet you, Hunter Kenjaku."
Seeing this, Kenjaku glanced at Mei Mei and she immediately noticed this, giving a slight nod.
He understood immediately what she was saying.
'So this is the body she found for Nagi huh? An E-rank? This works for now. It won't be too hard to get her back into shape, anyways.'
Mei Mei then said to the girl, "Now that introductions are over, we can both head to the Hunter's Association! By the way, Ken, before you leave, what's the name of guild? You never told me."
Not stopping as he slowly sauntered away, Kenjaku just said lightly, "I had something else in mind, but I think I'll go with this instead. Name it, 'Tyrant'."