The boy's words didn't sound like a joke. He was staring at Martyn with a murderous expression.
("Shit, I knew he'd pull something like this.")
Martyn knew the boy's personality well. During the hunter's trial, the person in front of him had killed several people.
He was a full-fledged killer.
[Skills]
"Let's see how strong you are."
[You're using Analysis.]
In an attempt to confirm the level of the person before him, Martyn used his skill.
[Kael Fenrirson]
To his surprise, the result was different from last time. He still couldn't see his power, but now he could see his name.
That only proved that Martyn had gotten a bit stronger.
"Hey, are you just gonna stand there staring at me, you son of a bitch?!"
The white-haired boy had had enough and rushed at Martyn.
[Skills:]
[Flow]
Thanks to his skill, Martyn barely managed to dodge the boy's attack.
In fact, Kael's claws grazed his cheek.
He really wanted to kill him!
("Looks like the bastard is serious.") Martyn leaped backward, putting some distance between them.
Kael closed in aggressively, launching several attacks at Martyn, but he dodged them with ease.
"Why don't you take a break?"
Having memorized his opponent's attack pattern, Martyn grabbed the boy's wrist and threw him far away.
"This son of a bitch is good. I'll have to use more speed."
Kael stared at Martyn, noticing that the guy was just waiting for him.
Martyn gripped his dagger tightly, looking the boy dead in the eye, standing his ground.
He was inviting him to fight!
His opponent understood this instantly, and with a grin, he dashed toward him.
("I just need to get close and slash him.")
That was Kael's plan, steadily closing the gap between him and Martyn.
He was confident in his abilities—he had already killed several talented hunters before.
"I've got you!"
With that victorious shout, as soon as he closed the distance, Kael swung his claws at Martyn's neck.
"So do I." With an arrogant smirk, Martyn raised his dagger in front of him.
At first, Kael couldn't comprehend Martyn's words—what did he mean by 'got him'?
But soon enough, he realized what was happening: Martyn's dagger was radiating a massive amount of mana.
Martyn had charged his blade with mana!
"Son of a—"
Before Kael could finish his sentence, his body was blasted away by the attack.
Martyn aimed him straight for the sea—maybe if the boy got wet, it'd cool him off a bit.
"I hope he doesn't die. I've never charged this much mana into my dagger before." With a bit of concern, Martyn watched the boy fall into the water.
"Bam!"
"That hurt, you son of a bitch!"
But something strange had happened.
"Wait a second... Why didn't he fall?"
Martyn asked himself as he tried to confirm if his eyes were playing tricks on him, but his vision wasn't lying.
Kael was standing on the water!
When Kael landed on what was supposed to be the sea, he didn't get the soaking Martyn had expected. Instead, he was lying on it like it was a solid surface.
"Is it part of his blessing?" Martyn wondered to himself. This was quite odd.
But apparently, that wasn't the case. After recovering from the hit, Kael also looked around in confusion at what had just happened.
Was he hallucinating from the blow? It didn't feel that way.
"Hey, come check this out! It's weird!"
Completely forgetting they had been fighting moments ago, Kael motioned for Martyn to come over.
At first, Martyn was suspicious, but curiosity got the better of him, so he decided to head over.
But as soon as he stepped into the sea, his leg sank instantly. This was normal water.
"It seems like the anomaly is only in that spot."
Determined to investigate the mystery, Martyn charged mana into his dagger and propelled himself to where Kael was.
Upon landing, Martyn felt it—his feet had touched something solid. This couldn't be water.
"Weird, right? I've never seen anything like it." Kael began speaking while knocking on the water.
"I'm sure it's solid. You think this could be a hidden dungeon? I've heard it happens sometimes," Kael asked excitedly.
Martyn stared in amazement at the solid surface beneath his feet, even though it still looked like water.
("A secret dungeon, huh...")
Martyn had heard of dungeons before. They were anomalies that occurred when a rift was closed, making the connection between worlds more unstable than it should be.
When that happened, the mana from the rift would solidify into new structures, which, unlike rifts that could be considered another world, were completely within this one.
Since the mana solidified in one place, dungeons were structures that produced monsters and rewards infinitely. The more mana that solidified, the better the rewards.
But the enemies inside would be equally strong.
Because of this, each guild base had its own dungeons under their control. These allowed them to clear them each month, gaining rewards and helping their guild members gain experience.
Unfortunately, the main base didn't have any dungeons under its name, as it couldn't compete with other guilds in terms of money, let alone power.
"Yeah, it looks like one," Martyn finally replied.
Secret dungeons were those that hadn't been explored or claimed by any guild yet.
Some people, upon discovering them, wouldn't tell anyone and would try to keep them for themselves. But this rarely worked, as once the dungeon was cleared for the first time, it would release a massive amount of mana, which would instantly alert the base's technology.
"Alright, let's explore it," Kael said, his face full of excitement.
"What? Are you serious?"
Martyn couldn't believe what he had just heard. Was Kael stupid, or was he not seeing the problem?
Exploring a dungeon without preparation was basically a death sentence!
"Come on, this is our chance. The other guilds have taken all the missions. If we miss this opportunity, they'll take this dungeon too."
Kael's logic made sense. They didn't know how long this dungeon would last before being discovered by a major guild.
("It's really dangerous, but I might find materials for my runes. And who knows, maybe even a powerful weapon.")
"Alright, let's explore it."