Chapter 10 – The Strongest Porter (3)

“Who are you?”

The Company Man asked, panting for breath.

He’d been beaten from head to toe, so he wouldn’t be moving properly for a while. Unless he was a regeneration type.

“Someone who’s about to collect your bounty. How much are you worth?”

My relaxed reply made the Company Man’s face twist slightly. He must’ve thought of himself as a big-shot murderer, so getting beaten senseless must have been quite a shock.

“I stopped counting after 300 million.”

Awesome. That meant at least 300 million.

“I don’t recall saying I’d let you catch me.”

The Company Man raised his hand, the corners of his mouth lifting into a smirk.

I’d expected him to try something. A guy who commits murder in a crowded place wouldn’t be moving around without at least one escape plan.

*Thwack!*

“Kuh!”

The stone I threw struck the Company Man’s right hand squarely.

My control is better than I thought. Maybe I could have been a successful baseball player instead of a hunter?

Hitting a person counts as a strike, right?

“Hunter Tae-yang. Are you alive?”

“I’m fine, but the others…”

The blonde was a regeneration type, so his wounds would heal quickly. As long as they weren’t fatal. But the others weren’t so lucky.

I could see he’d wounded them all over.

Those bleeding heavily were all pale, their lips pressed into a thin line.

Though in pain, they seemed relieved to see the murderer subdued, thinking the situation was over.

After all, once they got out of the dungeon, they could get proper treatment and survive.

But there was no way this was the end.

I approached the Company Man.

Exhausted, he couldn’t even run, just stared up at me.

Madmen are truly something else.

Normal people would at least show some instinctual fear after getting beaten up, but this guy stared right into my eyes.

As if promising to get his revenge on me someday.

Hah, unbelievable.

There are always guys like this. The kind who see themselves as some kind of dark hero.

They get lost in their own twisted sense of justice, sacrificing innocent people. And they act like they have some grand cause.

His eyes looked at me as if I were some clueless child ruining his noble plan.

If this were the other world, I’d have loved to teach him the meaning of the phrase “torture makes the man.”

“But I’m curious.”

There was something I really wanted to know.

“Do I get the bounty if you’re alive, or do I get it for your corpse too?”

I met his gaze and smiled. His expression turned bizarre.

Was my question that unexpected?

Our friend here, who tried to escape with something earlier, seems to have a bit too much energy left. I think I need to drain some of it.

*Thwack!*

I landed a straight punch on the bridge of his nose. With a crisp sound, the Company Man sprawled on the ground.

*Crack!*

I stomped on his neck. It sounded like something broke, but I hoped it wasn’t an instant kill.

I’d let a little emotion slip in without realizing.

I don’t like it.

Guys who act like predators just because they have a little more power, a little more strength than others.

“Kuh, keuk!”

He wasn’t dead, apparently.

As he convulsed in agony, I kicked him in the stomach as if to tell him to shut up.

After taking another hit, he curled up like a shrimp and started coughing up blood.

The people you sliced up probably felt more pain than this. Don’t tell me you can’t even handle this much.

“Kh, keuh. Y-You’ve killed a lot of people too, haven’t you.”

The Company Man asked, his eyes gleaming. Did he instinctively realize I was hitting him with the intent to kill?

It didn’t matter whether a guy like this lived or died. No, maybe it would be better if he died.

“What were you trying to do, using those people as sacrifices?”

“How did you…?”

Hearing my words, the Company Man looked momentarily baffled.

He was trying to use the energy of the people in the dungeon as a medium for something. The first thing that came to mind was stimulating the dungeon core.

Linking with a dormant dungeon core in some way and injecting it with life energy.

I’d seen acts like that back in the other world—awakening the dungeon’s master, summoning a boss.

But it was strange.

What would a simple murderer do by awakening a dungeon boss?

Usually, a boss awakens in a dungeon with many casualties. Then, a raid party is formed to take it down.

But from what I’d heard, the villain known as the Company Man hated hunters.

Why would a guy who moves to kill hunters go out of his way to awaken a boss?

It wasn’t like he suddenly wanted to join a raid party because he was greedy for items.

“Hunter Tae-yang, and everyone else who can move, get ready to leave.”

The gloomy yellow light was growing stronger. It gave off a rotten stench. The atmosphere felt like the phase was about to shift as the color changed.

“It’s already begun.”

An earthquake.

A faint tremor began to shake the dungeon.

The walls cracked, and a sticky fluid started pouring out from the fissures.

“The sacrifice can also be myself.”

A long shadow extended from his fingernails. He tore at his own chest.

A deep furrow formed, and blood immediately gushed out to fill it.

“I see what this is.”

Eyes gleaming with madness. A look that said he considered not only others’ lives but also his own to be insignificant.

His filthy eyes reflected my face.

“You’re the Hero, aren’t you?”

“What?”

An unexpected name came from the Company Man’s lips.

When I went for my interview, they just laughed at me for being a Hero, but now a madman I’ve never met before is calling me one.

He coughed up a mouthful of blood.

He burst out laughing as if he’d turned even pain into pleasure. As if his goal had been achieved.

“That’s your delusion.”

I rushed toward him. Even as he was dying, he swung his briefcase at me in a last act of resistance.

The bottom of the briefcase, now sprouting sharp blades, came at my face.

I batted it away lightly. Then I grabbed him by the neck.

“Store.”

“…?”

He seemed unable to comprehend what I was doing. And then his body, with only a sliver of health left, was forcibly pulled into my inventory.

Wow, so this is how Ash felt. Catching monsters and taking them around. Huh? Making them fight and stuff.

“H-He disappeared?”

“That’s not what’s important right now. Let’s get out of here.”

There was no time to explain everything.

The dungeon was already beginning to mutate due to the sacrifices that had been absorbed. I could hear the sounds of respawning from all over.

In the end, the Company Man had tried to offer his own life as a sacrifice. The more mana an entity possessed, the higher its value as a sacrifice.

If he’d been in a normal state, it might have failed, but I figured a dying man wouldn’t be able to resist being trapped in my inventory. It worked perfectly.

“O-Orcs!”

Why are my bad feelings never wrong?

They were monsters that couldn’t even be compared to lesser goblins.

Orcs were respawning now.

Creatures of human height, their entire bodies packed with muscles honed for battle.

A single orc could beat a dozen ordinary people to death.

Of course, it depended on the skill of the hunter, but for the rookie hunters here on the first floor, they were monsters impossible to face even one-on-one.

And there were many of them.

“Kroooar!”

A respawned orc roared to announce its presence.

The one that just roared was slightly larger than the others, so it was probably the leader.

An Orc Champion. Something like that.

The Orc Champion looked our way. And pointed a finger at us.

They just got summoned, so they should be disoriented. It would be nice if they took a moment to think.

“H-Heuk. O-Orcs…!”

“N-No way. This is the first floor!”

The people who wanted to deny reality were questioning the surreal situation before them rather than running.

Not that the orcs would apologize and turn back.

At best, these were just the prelude to something else.

I had just stopped the Company Man from sacrificing his life, but what would happen if the people here died now?

More sacrifices would be added. And some boss-level monster that could only be summoned through sacrifice would appear.

No matter how strong I was, I was still a level 1 hunter. Ah, wait, I’m level 2 now. I must have leveled up without noticing.

Anyway, if people died here now, the boss summoning I’d worked so hard to prevent would start all over again.

And the orcs were charging toward us.

“If you don’t want to die, run now!”

My shout seemed to snap them out of it, and the hunters who’d been on the verge of a breakdown started running.

I put all the severely injured people who couldn’t move into my inventory.

Without their permission, of course.

There was still some distance between us and the orcs. We had to get as far away from them as possible.

“Coach, there are orcs in front of us too!”

Hearing the blonde’s shout, I frowned.

Right now, the only one in decent shape was the blonde. The rest were five injured hunters.

“Blondie, keep the ones behind us in check!”

“Huh?”

Whoops, in my haste, I’d called him what I was thinking.

“Hunter Kim Tae-yang, you keep the pursuing orcs in check. Those of you in good enough condition. You, mister, and you with the beard. You two are okay, right?”

They looked like they could fight. If getting a few cuts from the Company Man was enough to make them sit down and give up, they should just quit being hunters.

These people had no idea what I was planning. No, their minds were about to break from the thought of orcs in front and behind them.

“I’ll take the front. The two I just called will provide combat support. The remaining three, watch our surroundings. Let’s go!”

I didn’t think about how effective this makeshift team would be.

I had trained the blonde, and I considered him decent enough. Among the rookies, that is.

The only one here truly capable of combat was me.

I shot forward without another word.

I could feel the others flinch in surprise behind me as I charged the three orcs blocking our path.

Actions speak louder than words. First, I’d show them what I could do and earn their trust.

*Whoosh!*

The orc in the lead swung a wide blade in a huge arc.

It was a powerful swing, sure, but you’re supposed to swing with the intent to hit your opponent. That was just showing off your strength.

This must be an occupational hazard. Whenever I see someone in action, I can’t help but analyze them and offer advice.

But I wonder if these guys would even understand me.

*Crack!*

I easily dodged the attack and shattered its shin with a low kick.

Still, its build must have been pretty solid; its leg didn’t break in one hit.

No, wait, seeing it stumble, I guess it did break. Its walk became unnatural.

Mr. Lee Chang-wook. Let me borrow your skill for a moment. You’re listening, right?

I used Lee Chang-wook’s skill, Taunt, which I had stored in my inventory.

The three orcs charged at me as if they’d fallen in love at first sight, ignoring everything else around them.

Is this what it feels like to be a popular girl getting hit on by guys?

It might be nice if they were handsome and pretty, but being surrounded by a mob of ugly ones wasn’t exactly pleasant.

*Swoosh!*

I dodged the axe swing of one orc and gave it a little push. Thanks to that, it ended up cleaving its companion’s shoulder.

Tsk, tsk. Friends shouldn’t fight with each other.

I snatched the wrist of the orc that had attacked its friend and took its axe. It looked more surprised by that than when it had cut its own ally. I followed up with an elbow blow to its face.

I could picture it flying backward. Without needing to confirm, I threw the axe at another orc.

*Crack!*

I might have been a lumberjack in a past life. It split perfectly.

I kicked the orc in the stomach and prepared to have a chat with the one who was upset about being attacked by its friend.

The charging orc roared and thrust its spear at me.

Right, you should pay back what you get. I respected the orc’s manly opinion and took a half-step to the side.

I watched as its spear pierced the chest of the friend who had just swung an axe at it.

Wow, really. I told you guys not to fight. Stop it, don’t do that.

To prevent this fratricide, I moved like a blur and drew the dagger from its hip.

Then I grabbed its head from behind and slit its throat.

The three orcs lay side by side. There was no time to mourn.

A message saying I’d leveled up appeared in my vision, but I had no time to check it. The orcs were still chasing us from behind.

“Let’s go.”

I took the orc’s spear and led the way. I could see the wide eyes of the two melee fighters who had been about to help.

“Are you… really a trainer?”

“Of course.”

These people didn’t know I had awakened yet. Oh, they’d probably believe me even less if I told them my awakened class was Porter.

The experience I gained from fighting to the death in the other world hadn’t gone anywhere.

– Close Quarters Combat LV MAX

I could now read one of the lines on the blue status window.

Just as I expected.

The things on the blue status window seemed to be the skills and achievements I used to have.

That skill, Close Quarters Combat, was one I had maxed out back when I was a Hero.