‘Hostile Hunter’

‘Moving’

’11 o’clock direction’

These were the meanings of the Hand Signals.

Oh Songhui was facing forward, so fortunately, 11 o’clock meant they were moving away.

Moon Gijeong carefully approached the ridge. Kim Songcheol and Seo Gangjin followed behind him.

Kim Songcheol almost crawled, watching only Moon Gijeong’s back.

Upon reaching the ridge, they sat in a line, leaning against it.

Moon Gijeong peeked his eyes out over the ridge.

Next was Kim Songcheol.

A Valley deepening below the ridge.

Four Hunters were walking below in the Valley.

They looked like South Americans, but their attire and weapons were unlike anything found on Earth.

A sword with teeth like saw blades.

Strangely shaped throwing weapons.

Even a large greatsword.

Their messy hair and dirty skin hinted at their way of life.

‘It’s the Quesha, tsk.’

Kim Songcheol clicked his tongue inwardly and hid himself behind the ridge again.

These Hunters call themselves Quesha. Translated, it would mean something similar to ‘Hunter’.

Unlike Earth’s Hunters who mainly hunt Monsters, Quesha have no restrictions on their prey.

Their aggressive nature combined with low moral standards made them Hunters treated like human butchers in Dungeons.

“They’re gone.”

Seo Gangjin, who was watching the Quesha for the last time, said in a low voice.

He pictured them walking along the straight Valley, turning a corner, and disappearing.

“Have you encountered Quesha before?”

Only then did Kim Songcheol speak, asking Moon Gijeong a question.

“This is my second time seeing them.”

“And no fighting?”

“No.”

According to combat guidelines, avoiding engagement with Hunters rather than Monsters is the priority.

However, it’s hard to avoid if they deliberately seek a fight, and the Quesha would probably attack Earth’s Hunters on sight.

The reason, of course, is Points.

The fact that killing Hunters yields more Points than killing Monsters inevitably provoked the Quesha and other hostile Hunters.

“Since we discovered them first, it’s the lesser of two evils.”

Kim Songcheol said.

“That’s right. If they had discovered us first, it would already be… a disaster.”

“We should aim to escape this Dungeon.”

Moon Gijeong nodded at Oh Songhui’s words.

“There’s no need to needlessly risk our lives.”

The Quesha are strong.

They are a warrior race, so their combat experience goes without saying, and their bodies are also somewhat different from ordinary humans.

Speed and strength emanating from powerful muscles and tendons.

Animalistic combat senses.

Added to that, their culture doesn’t fear death, making them the opponent many Hunters prioritize avoiding.

“Since the Foe went north, let’s go south first.”

The average size of an F-rank Dungeon is about 25 square kilometers.

It varies, but it’s roughly structured as a square about 5 kilometers by 5 kilometers.

While vast, the probability of encountering them wasn’t entirely zero.

For now, moving in the opposite direction as much as possible was the best option.

Team 25A moved south.

They pushed through the bushes and climbed up and down ridges.

The Swordsmen had plenty of stamina left, but the Mages were getting a little tired.

Sweat beaded on Kim Songcheol’s forehead and soon streamed down his cheeks. He had been training his stamina constantly at the Training Institute, but it seemed it wasn’t enough yet.

Screech!

Just then, Monsters burst through the bushes.

It was a pack of similar types of Monsters.

They had four arm-like spikes and were almost as large as calves.

There were three of them.

The Monsters swung their arms, striking at the Hunters’ sides.

Seo Gangjin and Oh Songhui quickly stepped forward, blocking the path to the Mages.

Clang!

Seo Gangjin’s sword clashed with a spiky arm, sending sparks flying.

Seo Gangjin’s weapon was heavier, so he wasn’t pushed back. Instead, the Giant Beetle’s arm bounced off and bent at an odd angle.

There were still three arms left.

Seo Gangjin swung his sword with a confident expression.

Meanwhile, Kim Songcheol cast a Magic Missile spell.

Magic Missile has quick casting and decent power.

It could be called the ‘basic attack’ of a 1st Circle Mage.

Whoosh!

Thwack!

The Monster hit by the Magic Missile stumbled, and fortunately, fell sideways. It had lost its balance and misstepped.

Magic attacks from Kim Songcheol and Moon Gijeong rained down on it.

The monster was helpless against the barrage of magic.

After dealing with one Giant Beetle, Kim Songcheol quickly scanned the battlefield to help the Swordsmen.

The magic circle, which had been glowing as if a Magic Missile was about to fire, simply dispersed.

Kim Songcheol had canceled his casting.

‘They’re doing well. I don’t need to interfere.’

Oh Songhui, who used concise swordsmanship, broke through the arm’s defense and took off its head, while Seo Gangjin rendered all its arms useless before slicing open its head and chest.

Being gross doesn’t make you stronger in combat.

It was an F-rank monster after all.

In one-on-one combat, most Hunters had the upper hand.

“Whew, let’s take a break.”

After the battle, Moon Gijeong made the decision.

Not only their stamina, but it was also time to replenish their calories.

Team 25A set up camp a little distance from the monsters’ corpses.

It was a spot with good visibility and high ground, advantageous for combat.

The Hunters sat with their backs to the trees, munching on high-calorie energy bars.

“I want to eat Yeop-tteok.”

Oh Songhui suddenly mumbled. At her words, the team members chuckled.

Yeop-tteok?

It’s possible to bring it in. Firearms are filtered out during transmission, but food usually passes through.

The problem is the smell.

Spreading a strong food smell in a dungeon is like committing suicide.

Because monsters have a much more sensitive sense of smell than humans.

“Go out and eat until you burst.”

Seo Gangjin gave him a mild rebuke. He was already pulling out his second energy bar.

Perhaps because of his large size, he ate quickly.

“Do you find that delicious?”

“It is delicious.”

“Eat a lot.”

Useless chatter went back and forth.

Kim Songcheol wiped his sweat and chewed his energy bar with a blank expression.

He didn’t really have an appetite, but he was forcing it down because he felt like he would collapse if he didn’t eat.

‘The mountainous terrain is more of a problem than the monsters, it seems.’

The repeated ascents and descents were extremely draining on their stamina.

As the dungeon’s rank increases, even more rugged terrain appears, and there are cases where they have to constantly fight monsters without rest.

Even if a Mage, who is just an ordinary human, trains their stamina, they cannot have steel-like physical strength.

The solution for Mages is, of course, magic.

There were quite a few magic spells that minimized stamina consumption for simple movement.

‘If only I were 3rd Circle, it would be manageable.’

Especially Mana Stride, which is classified as 3rd Circle Magic.

It’s a magic that assists the Mage’s movement, consuming mana instead of stamina.

It can’t replace all stamina with mana, but it has a pretty good exchange rate.

Especially for someone like Kim Songcheol, who has more mana than other Mages, it would be very useful.

“Shall we get going?”

Moon Gijeong, who had been almost lying down, got up. It seemed like they had rested for about 30 minutes.

It was thanks to the Swordsmen who kept watch. Even though they kept chatting.

“Let’s go. We need to find the portal.”

Kim Songcheol also stood up. He had rested quite a bit, so his stamina had recovered significantly.

Team 25A began to move. It was the leader Moon Gijeong’s job to set the direction.

Looking around and finding the direction was the task.

“Let’s go this way.”

Setting a direction in this forest terrain was quite important.

After all, the primary goal was to find the portal.

Not searching terrain that had already been searched, and not getting lost.

Most things were decided along with the search direction.

‘He has a good sense of direction, doesn’t he?’

Whenever Moon Gijeong set the direction, Kim Songcheol would also estimate the direction in his head.

Each time, Moon Gijeong gave the same answer as Kim Songcheol.

He felt he could trust him completely.

“Not that way. This way.”

Moon Gijeong explored the dungeon, correcting Oh Songhui’s direction as she walked ahead.

They experienced several monster raids and crossed ridges without difficulty.

By the time Kim Songcheol, who was new to dungeons, had gotten somewhat used to it.

“Ugh…”

A groan was heard from somewhere.

It would have been better if it had been a monster’s roar.

Team 25A members looked at each other with confused expressions.

Moon Gijeong gave a hand signal.

It was an instruction for Seo Gangjin to check.

Seo Gangjin began to move cautiously, sword in hand.

He pushed through the bushes, passed the trees, and slowly advanced.

The members of Team 25A quietly followed behind him.

They didn’t know what might be there or what the situation was. They had to maintain as much cover as possible.

Seo Gangjin stopped after walking about 20 meters.

He stared down into the ravine.

The groaning was coming from there.

Seo Gangjin looked around, then gestured to his teammates.

It meant for them to come.

Kim Songcheol approached the ravine with his teammates. Looking down, they saw a male staff member lying there, covered in blood.

The depth was about 3 meters.

It was a ravine shaped like an antlion’s trap.

“Ugh…”

The male staff member’s consciousness was fading. He was just groaning meaninglessly, feeling pain with his eyes closed.

He had large wounds on his leg and abdomen. It seemed the bleeding had mostly stopped, but a significant amount of blood had already been lost.

“He’s German?”

Oh Songhui said. A clear German flag was on his chest, just as Team 25A wore the Korean flag on their right arms.

“Since there’s an agreement, we should save him, right?”

As Seo Gangjin was about to jump down as if it were obvious, Kim Songcheol quickly grabbed his arm.

[Listen to me carefully from now on. It’s an ambush.]

Kim Songcheol’s voice echoed in the team members’ minds.

It was a Magic Message spell.

The team members froze for a moment, waiting for Kim Songcheol’s next words.

[I only sensed one person with my ability. There are probably three more nearby. It’s likely Quesha.]

Just now, Kim Songcheol had sensed an artificial flow of mana.

On a tree about ten paces away.

There was definitely a Hunter there.

The German was bait.

The only foes who would use a Hunter as bait for an ambush were Quesha.

The team members’ expressions changed instantly as they realized the situation.

[W-what should we do?]

Moon Gijeong’s Magic Message flew in immediately.

Kim Songcheol glanced at him. Extreme tension was in his eyes.

‘Ugh.’

It seemed it wasn’t the time to trust Moon Gijeong.

Kim Songcheol cast the Magic Message spell again.

[They don’t know we’ve noticed the ambush yet. Everyone knows the engagement protocol for hostile Hunters, right?]

The other team members nodded in affirmation.

Chapter 1 of the Engagement Protocol recommends avoiding combat.

However, if engagement becomes unavoidable, the rules of Chapter 2 are followed.

That rule is to prioritize threat elimination above all else.

In other words, it means to kill the Nothingness no matter what it takes.

Everyone was thoroughly educated on that part. There would be no hesitation.

[Don’t be nervous. Even if they ambushed us, it’s an advantageous situation for us because we noticed it beforehand. First, we’ll induce their carelessness. Oh Songhui, go down. Get ready to jump up immediately.]

Kim Songcheol’s Magic Message flew in quickly.

Time was still ticking in this very moment.

If they delayed too long, the opponent might notice that something was amiss.