Levelling Up In An Exclusive Dungeon

Chapter 19

Kang Jin-hyuk, along with the other Hunters persuaded by the secretary, headed towards Titan’s defense line.

Titan’s executives frowned upon discovering the sudden influx of Hunters.

To the executives who intended to resolve the situation with Titan’s strength alone, the Hunters who came to help were uninvited guests.

“Who ordered these people to be called?”

“It was the Guild Leader’s order.”

Hearing the secretary’s words, the executives wore displeased expressions.

They wanted to send them back, but they couldn’t disobey the Guild Leader’s order.

Even though the executives held the real power, it was unacceptable to ignore the command of Seo Sang-ho, Titan’s symbol and an S-rank Hunter.

In the end, one of the executives reluctantly gave instructions to the guild members.

“Tsk, let them through.”

Thanks to the guild members maintaining the defense line moving aside, a path opened up.

Kang Jin-hyuk and the Hunters quickly entered through the gap.

As the secretary also tried to follow, the executive who had opened the path asked her a question to confirm.

“Are you sure it was really the Guild Leader’s order?”

“….Of course it was.”

The secretary answered as if she was calm, but inwardly, she was contemplating the reports she would have to write and the pay cut she would receive.

Since she had arbitrarily used the Guild Leader’s name, she might have to make do with instant meals for at least three months.

“Excuse me.”

The secretary bowed her head and hurried her steps again.

The Hunters who had asked for help and Kang Jin-hyuk were waiting for her instructions not far away.

Upon finding them, the secretary immediately began dispatching the Hunters to appropriate locations as soon as she joined them.

Hunters specializing in close-range skills were sent to the frontline where the tanks were.

Mage-type Hunters were to provide bombardment support from the rear.

And those with support skills were asked to assist from the middle ground.

While the other Hunters all took their positions as requested, Kang Jin-hyuk, despite having the Cleric class, was heading not to the middle, but to the frontline.

The secretary, noticing Kang Jin-hyuk’s actions, hurriedly approached him.

“Wait a moment. Are you really planning to go to the front?”

“Why are you asking the obvious?”

The secretary barely managed to suppress her urge to ask what was so obvious about it.

He was a Cleric, yet instead of providing support as he was supposed to, he was charging towards the monsters.

The secretary, debating whether to argue or not, let out a small sigh.

She couldn’t waste time on a single Hunter in this urgent situation.

“…Do as you please. But if you don’t meet the quota on this counter, there will be no reward.”

What the secretary held out as she spoke in a cold voice was a tool that looked like a pocket watch.

“What is this thing for?”

“It’s a tool that measures the magical power of the monsters you hunt and accumulates it as points.”

For example, a Goblin would be treated as 1 point, and an Ogre as 3 points.

If you killed 100 Goblins and 3 Ogres, a total of 109 points would be recorded on the counter.

Titan was already actively utilizing this recently developed tool to prevent cheating.

“The average score for Hunters assigned to the frontline is currently 82 points. If you want to be rewarded, you need to achieve a score higher than that.”

“Aren’t you being too harsh on me?”

“I intended to bring a supporter, not a damage dealer.”

The secretary had a point.

Excluding the fact that he was a Cleric, Kang Jin-hyuk was nothing more than an ordinary D-rank Hunter right now.

It was unreasonable to promise a high reward to such a Hunter without any basis.

“Don’t be surprised later.”

The secretary sneered inwardly as Kang Jin-hyuk accepted the counter with a confident attitude.

No matter how much he jumped around, he was a Cleric, not a specialized damage dealer.

The secretary couldn’t understand why Seo Sang-ho held this person in such high regard.

“I’ll be expecting results.”

Left alone after the secretary departed, Kang Jin-hyuk put the counter in his pants pocket.

Although the secretary left with a smile, he knew it was a fake attitude.

Kang Jin-hyuk vowed to make her deeply regret looking down on him.

“I didn’t want to use this if possible.”

What Kang Jin-hyuk took out of his inventory with a hesitant face was a Stamina Amplification Potion.

It boosted his energy to more than double his usual level, but it came with a terrifying side effect of making him extremely exhausted the next day.

Kang Jin-hyuk downed the potion contained in the brown bottle in one gulp.

It was an unavoidable choice to face the monster army with a body that had been overworked for a week.

“Ugh……. It’s a damn unhealthy potion, but it’s really effective.”

The taste was horrible, but its efficacy was undeniable.

The moment the potion passed through his esophagus and reached his stomach, his head cleared up and strength surged through his entire body.

Kang Jin-hyuk began to pour out his borrowed energy on the frontline.

The bat he swung with all his might in a full swing collided with the Ogre’s club that was aiming for the Hunters.

With a loud crash, it wasn’t Kang Jin-hyuk’s thin arm that shattered, but the Ogre’s club.

“Whoa?”

The Ogre stared blankly at its club.

It seemed unable to believe that its cherished club had been broken by a small human who wasn’t even as tall as its waist.

The surrounding Hunters were equally surprised.

“What? That guy?”

“Is that even possible with a bat?”

The reason Kang Jin-hyuk could pull off a feat that would normally only be possible for an A-rank Hunter was thanks to the training he had done with Lucia.

Thanks to a week of hunting monsters, his level had reached a whopping 140.

Of course, based on level alone, he was barely at the B-rank level, which was insufficient to deal with an Ogre.

However, Kang Jin-hyuk had the effect of 『Divine Power Application – Stage 3』.

Thanks to the divine power flowing through his entire body, his physical abilities had greatly increased.

As long as his MP didn’t run out, Kang Jin-hyuk’s stats could surpass even those of an A-rank Hunter.

“I’m glad I filled up on potions beforehand.”

Normally, the Association didn’t sell large quantities of potions to individuals to control the supply.

However, the black market of the organization Kang Jin-hyuk was dealing with was different.

It was possible to purchase over 100 potions by paying a small commission.

Currently, the number of Mana Potions Kang Jin-hyuk possessed was 1529.

His mana wouldn’t run out until his stomach could no longer handle it.

“How long are you going to stare at your broken club?!”

Kang Jin-hyuk kicked off the ground and soared to a height above the Ogre’s head with just a jump.

Only then did the Ogre take its eyes off the bat and try to move.

But it was already too late.

The bat swung by Kang Jin-hyuk shattered the Ogre’s head like a bursting balloon.

The Ogre’s massive body, having lost its head, collapsed onto the ground, raising a thick cloud of dust.

“Heave-ho.”

Landing on the Ogre’s corpse, Kang Jin-hyuk took out the counter and checked his score.

“An Ogre gives 12 points. Then I just need to catch about 6 more.”

Leaving the horrified Hunters aside, Kang Jin-hyuk moved towards his next target.

“Since I’m getting paid per kill, it’s better to fight where there are many witnesses.”

Kang Jin-hyuk didn’t trust Titan.

Even if the counter was working properly, there was no guarantee that they wouldn’t try to back out of their agreement later.

Kang Jin-hyuk thought it would be better to fight in places with as many eyes as possible to create witnesses, preventing them from denying it.

“Let’s see…… That area over there seems a bit noisy.”

As he searched for places with as many people as possible, he naturally ended up visiting scenes of crisis.

Powerful monsters that were rampaging against numerous Hunters.

Those were Kang Jin-hyuk’s primary prey.

Gulping down Mana Potions, Kang Jin-hyuk dashed around freely.

No matter how tough a monster’s body was, it couldn’t withstand his bat swings enveloped in aura.

At some point, the score on the counter had already exceeded 82 points.

“He took down the monster that A-rank Hunters were barely holding off with all their might in one hit…….”

“Who is that guy?”

As he took down the troublesome monsters one by one, the attention of the Hunters gradually began to focus on him.

The Hunters were impressed by Kang Jin-hyuk’s skills, but at the same time, they were puzzled.

“I can’t believe I didn’t know about a Hunter with such skills until now.”

“I’m seeing him for the first time today too.”

“I don’t think he’s on the list of A-rank Hunters, at least.”

Once you started living as a Hunter, you were bound to stand out, whether you liked it or not, if you showed your talent.

But there was very little information known about Kang Jin-hyuk.

Until just a few weeks ago, he was a D-rank Hunter that no one paid attention to.

His recent achievement was nothing more than helping Titan and protecting a Cleric.

Even that didn’t make his face known because Titan’s executives desperately controlled the information.

The only ones who knew Kang Jin-hyuk’s name and face accurately were the people who participated in the hunt at that time.

And Ahn Do-yoon, who had been knocked unconscious by him.

“When did that bastard get so…….”

Ahn Do-yoon stroked his chin as he watched Kang Jin-hyuk from afar.

Seeing Kang Jin-hyuk rampage made the part where he had been hit feel like it was throbbing again.

“Why does that bastard keep showing up in front of me?!”

Ahn Do-yoon didn’t know why Kang Jin-hyuk had become so strong in such a short period.

Not knowing the means made his existence even more irritating.

“I’m barely managing to level up like this, risking my life, but how the hell did that guy……!”

There was no way Kang Jin-hyuk had found a hunting ground where monsters frequently appeared on his own.

Ahn Do-yoon knew that he barely even left his house, let alone hunted.

Because he had been secretly investigating him to get revenge for the humiliation he had suffered.

“Damn it!”

The moment he thought, ‘Could it be a difference in talent?’, a surge of emotions welled up inside him.

He didn’t want to lose to such a guy.

Every time he saw the Hunters admiring Kang Jin-hyuk’s performance, he felt so frustrated that he wanted to go crazy.

“Who’s the reason I was kicked out of the Vice Guild Master position?”

Ahn Do-yoon couldn’t stand seeing Kang Jin-hyuk doing so well.

Just as he had fallen, he too had to crawl back to the bottom.

This was the only chance to make that happen.

Thinking that, Ahn Do-yoon let go of the reins of reason.

By the time a nearby colleague noticed Ahn Do-yoon’s change, it was already too late.

Ahn Do-yoon made up his mind and charged with his sword gripped in both hands.

All he could see was the back of Kang Jin-hyuk’s head.

The moment he was most vulnerable, right after catching a monster.

Ahn Do-yoon was planning to take advantage of that moment.

The fact that he had such a reckless thought despite the presence of so many onlookers was proof of how mentally cornered he was.

He couldn’t bear his situation, abandoned by the executives who had supported him and treated like a burden by the Guild Leader.

Ahn Do-yoon blamed everything on Kang Jin-hyuk and swung his sword as if to vent his frustration.

And when he saw his sword broken in two, all that frustration turned into regret.