Chapter 25

Still, seeing the coins piling up nicely eased my complaints somewhat.

The monsters were a real mixed bag.

Maybe because the environment was an island instead of a forest, everything from massive crab shells to fish-humans with legs came crawling out of the woodwork.

Of course, a giant clam big enough to swallow a person whole slinking toward us was just par for the course.

“It really feels like a proper gate.”

I jammed my sword into the slight gap where the clam shell had stealthily cracked open.

Skills? Didn’t bother.

If I had to name one,

“I want to eat butter-grilled scallops!”

The slogan for real?

“Yeah. Boss goes down, no more monsters—just like a real gate.”

So Yeri the hunter said as she froze the ocean ahead.

The fish-humans swarming in with the waves froze solid with a crackle.

Stabbing them dead with my sword was my job.

I couldn’t bring myself to shout the slogan.

Still, as a dedicated piercing skill, it dealt more damage than a plain thrust—which was nice.

“Once we take this down, the sea monsters are all cleared, right?”

“Yep! The one Shin Jae-heon Hunter and Jian Hunter helped with earlier was the boss~.”

So Yeri said while casting another spell.

The boss had popped out as an SS-rank, as expected, and Shin Jae-heon and Jian Hunter had rushed back to help.

Way easier than that wild boar, though.

For one, my increased magic power let the afterimage skill do its thing.

Stats shooting up feels great!

The problem was rank awakening.

These were high stats for an E-rank, but I still wasn’t awakening to D-rank?

I’d never awakened before, so I had no choice but to ask an expert about the process.

I’d heard rank-ups needed some kind of trigger. It varied by person, but there had to be rules.

Even if stats rose and EXP piled up, without meeting the conditions, you’d just keep accumulating EXP without ranking up.

Some criterion.

I’d ranked up before too, but I still didn’t know mine.

The one who knew best had to be Shin Jae-heon.

Thankfully, Shin Jae-heon wasn’t busy and replied right away.

But it was tough to answer, so he paused before typing again.

Had this jerk completely forgotten our no-informals rule in hunter chat?

I glanced at the chat window while spamming my scallop skill.

What I wanted most?

Escape and bash the heads of the Hunter Association idiots who shoved us in here?

—Crunch!

The fancy critical hit window that rarely popped up filled my vision.

Guess I put some extra oomph into the sword tip out of anger.

I recalled the time before entering this dungeon.

I clearly remembered the news headlines scrolling nonstop.

Those Hunter Association bastards hadn’t even contacted us before going straight to the media.

Korea’s first L-rank gate.

Normally, for an L-rank gate, they’d send a hunter team from a stable major guild.

Not people like us who skipped guilds to avoid the hassle.

We were basically a four-man guild anyway. The reason they sent us was obvious.

The big guilds had shelled out a ton of cash. They didn’t want to risk their lives on an L-rank gate, so they’d probably lined up at the Hunter Association president’s door.

‘An L-rank gate popped up in our country.’

We’d been napping when the breaking news hit about the L-rank gate.

‘What? Aren’t all the guild hunter teams out right now? Who else has a stable enough team to tackle the first L-rank clear?’

I’d blurted out a response to Shin Jae-heon’s words.

‘Why don’t we go?’

‘?’

‘?’

At that moment, not just me, but So Yeri Hunter—who was choking on a flood of curses—with her bottleneck in her throat, and even Jian Hunter, all wore stunned expressions.

Clear it here?

Then Korea would end up like the neighbor.

In Japan, once the first L-rank gate appeared in Hokkaido, starting with the top team Crimson Flower, teams up to No. 10 refused entry one after another.

Their excuses were all the same.

Lack my ass—they just valued their lives. No one knew the difficulty of a country’s first L-rank gate.

Just like the L-ranks in the US and China differed wildly, Japan’s could only be gauged after entering.

And Japan’s hunter teams had no interest in being the sacrificial guinea pigs.

The result?

The gate overflowed, Hokkaido turned into chaos, and they cleaned up the monsters that poured out.

Civilian casualties were beyond counting, naturally.

Our country’s portals had blown up back then. Article comments were pure fire.

The teams mentioned back then were, of course, our country’s major guild hunter teams.

They’d rushed around giving news interviews, faces burning with uncontainable patriotism.

And yet, when the actual L-rank gate appeared, they all went radio silent.

Yeah, there was a reason they yapped so enthusiastically.

In a country like ours where SS- and S-ranks popped often, L-ranks were thought not to appear.

And our country nearly followed the same path as the neighbors.

Once the internet heated up, the Hunter Association bastards tossed our names straight to the press.

If we’d refused then, our gate probably would’ve overflowed too.

But those Association jerks who threw us to the reporters without asking our opinion first? We’re gonna go bash their heads in.

Snapping out of the flashback, I chatted again.

What could be more direct than that? I raised an eyebrow.

I tilted my head slightly.

If Shin Jae-heon said it, it wasn’t nonsense, but beyond clearing the RP dungeon via rank-up, what clearer goal could there be?

“Hunter Shin Yuri, stop thinking and come on!”

So Yeri Hunter suddenly called out to me.

Snapping to, the crab-shells and clam-types ahead had long been bisected into EXP for me.

“Ah, got it.”

I sheathed my sword, still tilting my head.

A direct goal?

That thought didn’t stop until we reached the little cabin where So Yeri Hunter and I were staying.

I barely managed to halt my pondering because of the two bizarre items placed in front of the cabin.

“What are those?”

“Cheering gifts, maybe?”

So Yeri Hunter chimed in. Checking them out, it seemed right.

I picked up a thick red bundle, and a postcard fluttered out. Familiar handwriting.

Beside it sat a light purple pouch.

Only our four-person hunter team knew about this log cabin villa in this world.

So the ones who left these could only be those two.

“…With only two possible senders, why bother with initials?”

Shy about sending gifts? I let out a smirk.

The day of the swordsmanship tournament approached smoothly.

Meanwhile, Jian.

‘Ariensa Sian Demar’ rarely left the church’s office. Officially, anyway.

The reason: in the temple receiving the greatest divine power, one had to always attune to the voice of the gods.

But Jian was different.

‘If another SS-rank pops, you’ll help, right?’

He gladly went out to assist Shin Yuri when she said that.

And, not being busy, he’d already visited the cabin where she and So Yeri Hunter stayed several times.

Of course, he’d set protective barriers around the area each time.

So Yeri Hunter was a support hunter, so her barriers were impressive, but Jian’s served a slightly different purpose.

If the cabin was attacked, he would know immediately.

“I never imagined this world had monsters that powerful.”

Had he not seen that wild boar monster, he wouldn’t have endured the constant mana drain to set up those barriers.

That was when Jian’s gaze turned to the window.

“Your Holiness.”

A knock came from outside.

Two strong raps, one soft.

A code used by those in the church who needed to move discreetly.

“Come in.”

The moment his permission dropped, a figure slipped silently into the room—the one he’d dispatched.

To that very coastline.