"Only B-rank and higher can go up against a C-rank boss! Or, at the very least, the two of you should be a strong C-Rank hunter!
How do you plan on fighting that thing?!" Jinho's voice, which was full of worry and panic, sounded behind the two of us, so I turned my head and Voiced.
"Relax, just watch the two of us body this monster, I wouldn't fight anything that I have no confidence in beating"
And as I reassured Jinho, Jinwoo dashed towards the Dispider, carrying Kasaka's venom fang.
It looked as if Jinwoo flashed as in the blink of an eye, he passed by the huge Dispider, and only a blue flash could be seen before it also disappeared not long after.
As for me, once I saw that the Dispider screeched angrily before it turned its head toward where Jinwoo was, I took out a card from my deck and inserted it in my visor.
<[Sword Vent]>
A silver single-edged greatsword materialized in front of me, faintly shining in a silver glow as I cast [Enchant:Grow] on the Mirror Deck before transforming, which is the same as enchanting all the gears once I transformed.
My armor also glowed a silver light albeit not noticeable.
I dashed towards the Dispider while holding my blade in its gray hilt tightly, and when the Dispider entered my area of attack, I slashed my blade at the crevice of one of its legs, which, although met with resistance, successfully cut it down, making the Dispider lose one of its legs.
And for the Dispider, suddenly losing one of its legs made it lose balance as it staggered, leaving an opening that Jinwoo saw.
Seeing this, Jinwoo did not waste the opportunity and also cut down one of the Dispider's legs, leaving it with only 6 legs remaining, two on its left side and 4 on its right side.
The uneven distribution of its legs made the Dispider lose its balance even more and it crashed on the ground, struggling to get up.
The Dispider screeched in pain due to its severed legs, dripping with green blood. It swept its remaining legs, trying to hit Jinwoo and me, but to no avail.
Jinwoo tried to rush in, intending to target the Dispider's eyes but when he got near it, the Dispider suddenly shot out acid from its mouth, intending to take Jinwoo down.
Thankfully Jinwoo managed to dodge.
This move of the DiDispider got me confused as in the show, they have never done that, but I pushed that to the back of my mind for now as I needed to focus on the Dispider.
"Oi! Jinwoo! I'll distract the Dispider, find a chance to finish it off quickly!" I exclaimed.
Jinwoo nodded solemnly, so I smiled, which was not seen by anyone outside, before I reached out towards my deck and pulled out another card before subsequently inserting it in my visor.
<[Guard Vent] >
The sword in my hand disappeared, replaced by a silver semi-crescent shield the same size as Jinho's shield. Like the sword, it's also glowing in silver light.
I charged forward, shield in front. Before the Dispider could attack me with its remaining limbs, I activated the ability that the shield possessed; a blinding light flashed out in front, and the light focused on a single point, which I pointed at the Dispider's eyes.
Catching it off guard as it screeched due to the scorching pain the blinding light brought to its eyes.
"Now Jinwoo!!" I shouted, which turned out wasn't needed as In the blink of an eye, Jinwoo already appeared on top of the Dispider's eye, right on time as it opened them.
And Jinwoo did not miss the chance as he dished out slash after slash, which over-triggered his dagger effects, paralyzing the Dispider and making it bleed.
But of course, Just as the Dispider was on its last leg.
<[Sword Vent]>
I did not miss the chance to dish out the last blow by stabbing the Dispider underneath its head, but again, the outcome was quite unexpected as my sword and Jinwoo's knife penetrated the Dispider's head both at the same time.
It seems that Jinwoo still leveled up as his face didn't change for the worse; meanwhile, as Jinwoo jumped down from the Dispider, the Dispider's carcass suddenly started to look drained until finally all,
But I didn't notice it as while the Dispider's corpse dried up, I felt that my body changed, becoming a little bit stronger, while my armor's glow slowly intensified until the Aura of my armor changed from being silver/transparent into the green before the armor absorbed it and it turned back into transparent/silver once again.
Meanwhile, the euphoric feeling that I felt also faded away slowly but surely until the feeling completely disappeared, waking me up from my trance.
I looked for the two and found them staring at me with different reactions; Jinho was ghostly pale, while Jinwoo was as stoic as always, just looking at me with a tinge of curiosity.
"I'll leave the upcoming battle to you, I'm tired."I voiced, sighing as I removed my mirror deck from the belt, which disappeared as soon as the deck stopped touching it.
I put the deck back in my pocket and walked towards the two, then turned my attention to the now paler Jinho and asked.
"The heck, why are you so pale, you look like you've seen a ghost"
"A-Ahh.. Right! Would you like me to carry the essence stone for you sirs?"Jinho offered, his voice full of nervousness and fear.
"Oh right! The two of you must be thirsty from the fight, here's water!" He handed out two bottles of water to us, before he ran to the nearest and most accessible mana crystals, carrying the bag full of pickaxe before putting it down and taking one as he started to mine.
"Ha! All the equipment was in the bag, those stupid jerks! So I'll guess I'll mine the mana crystals while I'm at it"
"?"
"?"
The two of us looked at him in confusion before I remembered why he was acting like that.
But I let it be for now and turned my head towards Jinwoo who's drinking water and Voiced. "Again, I'll let you handle the battle that's about to happen. Are you up for it?"
But before Jinwoo could even answer, the entrance backed by stone exploded, caused by a fiery explosion before the silhouette of the men who trapped the three of us walked into the room.
Jinwoo glared at them and looked back at me and Voiced "Rest up, I'll handle these guys, protect Jinho though"
I nodded at his words nonchalantly before walking towards the tense and frozen, picking up the pickaxe from his hand before throwing it away.
"Oi-Oi, the three of them are still alive? "
"Did the three of them beat the boss?"
"That's absurd! The boss might have been pretty weak if two E ranks and a D rank could beat it"
"Well, I guess with armor like that, the dude could take on a C-Rank boss"
"Wait.. Speaking of the boss, where the hell is it? I don't see any corpse here, although there's blood splattered around"
The last one's voice got the attention of everyone from their group as they looked around the cavern only to find not a single thing, except for splashes of blood and the melted floor courtesy of the acid spit.
Still, they seemed to not pay it any mind as they were more focused on the three of us.
"Dongsuk, what should we do now? This kid is stronger– or rather, his gears are better than we thought"
One of them asked, uncertain of their next course of action.
"We make him an ally, of course," Dongsuk responded with a heavy harrump.
He then turned his head to where we are right now and exclaimed.
"Yoo Jinho! I did a little research 'cause of your fancy armor, and it turns out you're the son of an impressive man. Yoo Contruction's chairman; Yoo Myunghan.
He's your father right?"
Jinho: "Y-yeah, so?"
Dongsuk grinned before continuing.
"Didn't think you'd be the kid of some rich business tycoon. There's something I'd like to discuss with your father. So we'll give you a chance if you…
Kill Seung Woojin and Sung Jinwoo"
Hearing his words, Jinho was flabbergasted, so he exclaimed, "What?!"
"Kill the two of them and become our accomplice. That's the only way you can survive. If you don't, we'll kill the three of you." While Dongsuk said this, the members of his squad slowly approached and encircled the three of us.
"What are you waiting for?"
"Nobody ever finds out whatever happens down here in the dungeons anyway.
"Or could it be that you're scared of only two E-Ranks?"
At this time, Jinho, full of sweat, looked at Jinwoo and me alternately, but I just smiled, my eyes squinted as I awaited what Jinho would do. Will he have a different decision now that I'm here? Or will he still make the same decision?
At this moment, Jinwoo muttered something. "It's Okay; I know you'd betray us; we're just weak E-Ranks after all," his voice clear, without any tone of blaming.
Hearing his words, Jinho looked down, clenching his sword and shield in both hands before he walked in front, facing the 7 people full of bloodlust as he stomped the ground and got into a defending stance.
Surprising Jinwoo, he looked at Jinho's back before smiling ever so slightly, which didn't end long as he went back into his usual stoic face.
Meanwhile, Dongsuk's reaction was different seeing Jinho's action.
"You're taking their side and will fight against us?"He asked loudly
"Dongsuk, what should we do?"Kyuhwan asked while his eyes darted around me, Jinho and Jinwoo.
"... Let's get rid of the weakest first"Dongsuk replied before he equipped both his sword and shield and walked forward, with the rest following suit.
"Tell me…Have you… ever killed someone before?" Dongsuk asked with a heavy tone.
Right as he finished his words, Kyuhwan, the mage, suddenly extended his right arm and aimed it at Jinwoo before firing a fireball, launching Jinwoo across the room where he broke a layer of the wall.
"Jinwoo!!"Jinho exclaimed before he looked back at me, his face saying it all.
He wanted me to help Jinwoo but I shook my head and Voiced which only he could hear "This is his trial, you must trust him and not interfere"
Jinho clenched his hand and was about to say something but got interrupted when one of Dongsuk's lackeys voiced.
"Yoo Jinho! Stop worrying about a guy who's as good as dead; the guy beside you is next in line! So come with us!"
Jinho looked back at them, tears in his eyes as he voiced "Y… YOU…murderers!"
I just looked at them with a smile, fully knowing what would happen to these guys a few moments later.
It seems that they saw my smile as they exclaimed with anger, "What the hell are you smiling for?! You're the next guy we will send to the path of hell!"
But I ignored them and instead raised my fist before slowly counting.
"3…2…1"
Right as Kyuhwan wanted to fire a fireball spell at me again, they got distracted when they saw Jinwoo rising from the ground, mouthing something that all of us could not hear.
"Man, Kyuhwan, you kinda suck now."
The assassin with brown hair mocked which was followed by the Swordsman of their group.
"Right! Totally embarrassing, it should've only taken a single blow to wipe an E-Rank from existence"
"Kyuhwan, you should've done a better job."Dongsuk followed suit, making the one in question embarrassed.
Meanwhile, Jinwoo passed Jinho and me as he continued walking towards the 8 people.
"Since you guys are playing around with people's lives, I'm assuming you're prepared to face the consequences as well," Jinwoo said as he continued to take slow and steady steps.
"What is this idiot on about?" wondered another lackey of Dongsuk's
"Since you call yourselves hunters… I'm asking if you're prepared to be hunted" Jinwoo then stopped right where he finished his words as he glared at the eight people in front of him.
"Dongsuk, I'll take care of him"
Suddenly, one of the 8 people started to swagger toward Jinwoo, not worrying about potential attacks from him at all.
He nonchalantly walked step by step until he reached Jinwoo before putting his arms around Jinwoo's shoulder.
"Look, man. It seems that you still don't fully understand the situation at hand, "He arrogantly said, not noticing the commotion happening on Jinwoo's right hand until it was too late as Jinwoo's Kasaka's venom fang that is glowing with blue aura, courtesy of my [Enchant:Grow]— already reached his neck.
And before he could react, his head was already separated from his body.
*Flop* *Thud* The sound of the head and body falling on the ground reverberated in the whole room, with everyone except me getting stunned by the unexpected twist of events.
"One… "Jinwoo uttered, as he looked at the rest without any hint of emotion on his face.
"J-Joontae!! "
"What the?!"
"Since when did that bastard have a Dagger?!"
"Where did he get it from"
Every one of Dongsuk's group was flabbergasted at what had just happened.
Suddenly, Jinwoo's aura boomed, and when Kyuhwan wanted to fire another fireball at Jinwoo, Jinwoo suddenly disappeared, and in the blink of an eye, he was already facing Kyuhwan.
And before anyone could react once more, they suddenly caught a glimpse of multiple flashes appearing and before they knew it, Kyuhwan got diced by Jinwoo.
"You piece of shit!"
"Die!"
The brown-haired assassin and another Swordsman from the group charged at Jinwoo, intending to flank him.
The Swordsman did an overhead slash with his greatsword, unfortunately for him, the sword only met the ground as Jinwoo already flashed away from that place before appearing behind him.
The Swordsman spurted blood from his mouth before his head and body fell to the ground, just like Joontae.
The brown-haired assassin wanted to follow up with a front stab, but Jinwoo deflected his right arm using his left hand before breaking his elbow and subsequently stabbing the assassin in his stomach.
Jinwoo then slashed through the assassin's body, separating the assassin's torso from his waist.
Without delay, Jinwoo ran towards his next prey, another Swordsman who used a longsword, who-after seeing him attack, tried to parry each of Jinwoo's slashes but failed miserably as Jinwoo's Kasaka's venom fang's special effect paralyze affected him.
Rendering the Swordsman unable to move. But unfortunately for the Swordsman, his pain didn't end there, as Jinwoo slashed him one more time, and this time, the bleeding effect of Jinwoo's dagger activated, making him bleed heavily in his seven orifices, effectively sealing his fate.
Jinwoo then let the man be and dashed towards the group's marksman and the last assassin they had, he slashed and activated the paralyzing effect on both of them before he reaped their lives not long afterward.
At this moment, only the stunned Dongsuk was left, carrying his sword and shield, and seeing Jinwoo walking towards him slowly, he exclaimed.
"You bastard, You've been hiding your abilities! Were you also the one who defeated the dungeon boss?"
But Jinwoo ignored his voice and continued to walk towards him, his face full of apathy.
Seeing this, Dongsuk scowled.
"I didn't think every single one of my guys would be taken down. Come! I'll show you that not all C-ranks are the same!"
"Enhance power!" He exclaimed before a red aura manifested all around his body before he charged forward, intending to ram his shield into Jinwoo but sadly, Jinwoo stopped his charge midway as he flashed and met Dongsuk in the middle.
Jinwoo's hand on top of Dongsuk's face, as he complimented
"Mr. Hwang Dongsuk, You're strong… But there's one thing you don't know about… "
Jinwoo smashed Dongsuk's head into the ground before he continued.
"I've been tirelessly leveling up."
Dongsuk Heaved as he felt a myriad of emotions from what was happening right now.
But he tried to stand up and decided to change his course of action.
"W-wait, Don't kill me! Spare me! If it's money that you want, I'll give it to you! You can take all the mana crystals, and the essence stones here too!"
Yes, He begged for his life.
But Jinwoo was having none of it as his voice laced with suppressed fury sounded.
"Three times. You tried to kill me three times, and now you're begging for mercy?"
Hearing this, Dongsuk realized that his plea of mercy would not work so he resorted to another way, Threatening.
"S-Stop! Do you think you'll get away with this?!"
But Jinwoo was having none of it as well as he replied.
"You said what happens in the dungeons… stays in the dungeons, right?" His voice carried a hint of threat, as he glared down at Dongsuk.
"Yeah! You did say that, didn't you Dongsuk?... What are you gonna do now? Call you little bwother?" At this moment, I couldn't help but voice with ridicule.
After all, this trash of a human being has most likely done what they tried to pull on us countless times before and succeeded.
At this moment, Dongsuk's eyes widened. He shuddered, but fury took over his mind as he loudly stated, "YOU BASTARDS! DON'T YOU KNOW WHO MY YOUNGER BROTHER IS…?! HOW DARE-"
I glared at him in annoyance, but before I could say anything…
Jinwoo suddenly flicked his right hand, causing his dagger to decapitate the kneeling Dongsuk.
Meanwhile, Jinho could not take it anymore and vomited what he had eaten during our lunch break before, making me jump away in disgust.
Jinho then glanced at the two of us, terrified, but the entire place started to shake, signifying the dungeons closing.
"Now that the boss has been slain for a while now, the dungeon is slowly closing up… Let's hurry up and get out of here"
Jinwoo's voice was heard by the two of us, and I nodded.
________________________________________
A/N: Hello! It's ya Boi, Z!
It's been quite a while since I have updated, I was just focused on writing this fic and had just finished writing Chapter 15! So my quota is done for this fic!
For the next month, I'll be focusing on the Pokemon fic of mine. Maybe, 11 chapters? Then I will write chapters for this fic again!
This is all for me! Goodbye for now!
Check out my p@treon for 10 advanced chapters!
p@treon.com/LazyWriter
(change the "@" to a)
Don't forget za powa stones! Would be a great help for the book.