Solo Leveling

Chapter 31

“Yes, all of the prisoners are C-rank, but the HSD Hunter is a B-rank, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

Kim Sangshik relented and nodded. It was a basic theory that you needed at least 10 C-rank Hunters to defeat a single B-ranker. If such a B-ranker was offering to not only watch the prisoners but also help with the Raid, there was nothing to complain about.

‘A single B-ranker and three C-rankers…’

Jinwoo stared at the HSD Hunter and the prisoners with confusion.

‘Something’s weird.’

There was a strange killing intent spilling forth from one of them. Was this an effect of the sense stat, or was he just imagining things out of worry? Whatever it was, Jinwoo could not help but feel uneasy.

He whispered to Juhee,

“Juhee-ssi, please don’t go on this Raid.”

She looked around then responded,

“What about you?”

He answered her question with a question,

“If I go?”

“Then I’m also going.”

Her face was determined to follow him.

‘I understand you’re worried about me, but…’

Having experienced her stubbornness in the past, Jinwoo relented.

‘I suppose everything should be alright if I’m there.’

After all, he had single handedly defeated Hwang Dongseok’s party, which included 5 C-rankers.

Jinwoo nodded,

“Alright. Alright.”

The HSD Hunter finished with the documents then appeared before all the Hunters.

“I’m Kang Taeshik of the Hunter Surveillance Department. I’m sure you’ve already heard the situation. I’ll be keeping a close eye on them, so don’t worry about those bastards.”

He gestured towards the prisoners, and they came to him and held out their cuffed hands. One by one, Kang Taeshik uncuffed them.

“Aw man, that was really uncomfortable.”

“You can’t drag us around like this. We’re not slaves, ya know?”

The freed prisoners rubbed their wrists and complained. Ignoring them, Kang Taeshik turned toward the Hunters.

“Who’ll be leading the Raid today?”

Having taken the responsibility normally, Song Chiyeol half-heartedly raised his hand.

Kang Taeshik nodded,

“Understood”

With Song Chiyeol in front, the Hunters started entering the Gate.

“Let’s go.”

Jinwoo and Juhee also stood before the Gate. Remembering her last trip into a Dungeon, Juhee lightly held on to Jinwoo’s sleeves as they entered.

The Dungeon this time was filled with goblins. Faced against the weakest humanoid type magic beasts, the Raid was a lot easier than expected.

screech!

scree-!

Even before he had powered up, Jinwoo could take on these bizarre looking things. He carefully defeated of them one by one. His combat prowess surprised Juhee and Song Chiyeol, who had not remembered him like this.

“Whoa~”

Jinwoo was using the bare minimum power required, as to not get noticed, but the difference between his old self was still noticeable.

Juhee approached him and asked,

“Have-have you been learning somewhere?”

“That’s er… I’ve been running every day.”

“Running?”

Juhee was confused, but it wasn’t exactly a lie.

‘But… I’m not getting any experience points…’

screech!

The enemy’s level was too low. You’ve gained no experience points.

screech!

The enemy’s level was too low. You’ve gained no experience points.

Jinwoo was disappointed. All he kept getting was the message that the goblins’ levels were too low.

‘At this rate…’

Even worse, the magic cores from the goblins were the lowest tier possible. Jinwoo looked around. Excited at the freedom of movement after a long time, the prisoners were going all out on the goblins.

screech!

screeee!

It was hard to tell who was the human and who was the beast.

‘Looks like I don’t have to do that much.’

Still, he wasn’t getting experience or good income. This concerned Jinwoo,

‘If it’s going to be like this all the time, should I just leave the Association?’

The Raids under the Association were mostly D-rank or E-rank Gates, and if he was not getting any experience points in those low-level Dungeons, there was no point to staying with the Association.

‘And at this point, I can easily take care of mother’s hospital bills…’

He could leave the Association whenever he wanted. This was why having money was good. It allowed Jinwoo more freedom in the paths that he could take.

While he was lost in thought, the party had ventured deep into the Dungeon.

“Huh?”

“Hmm…”

They came across three different paths. Kang Taeshik suggested to Song Chiyeol,

“The Dungeon’s difficulty is rather low. Shall we split up here?”

“Sounds good.”

Song Chiyeol agreed. Jinwoo closed his eyes and focused his senses.

‘Now which path leads to the boss?’

He had hoped at least the boss would give him some small amount of experience. Soon, the energy of the various lifeform in the Dungeon entered his senses. Opening his eyes, Jinwoo told Song Chiyeol,

“Ahjussi, let’s go to the left path.”

“Alright.”

Jinwoo, Juhee and Song Chiyeol chose the left path. Kang Taeshik and the prisoners chose the right path. The remaining two went down the middle path.

Jinwoo’s heartbeat increased slightly.

‘The boss is at the end of this path.’

It couldn’t be called strong, but it definitely gave off a tougher presence than the goblins. Jinwoo wanted to get to the boss quickly. But just after taking few steps into the left path, a group of goblins appeared and blocked their way.

“Kikik.”

“Kiriririk.”

“Kiiik.”

There was about ten of them. Holding wooden clubs, wooden swords and wooden staves, the goblins gave absolutely no sense of danger to Jinwoo.

‘Aren’t they tired of this?’

Jinwoo scrunched his face in annoyance. These worthless things that ran at him with no experience points or money were just a thorn at his sides.

“There are ten of them…”

“What should we do? Should we group with the others and come back?”

However, the other two with him were taking it much more seriously.

“Well, since they’re just goblins, we should just give it a go.”

“Hmm… Okay.”

A fireball appeared in Song Chiyeol’s hand and Juhee began preparing her healing magic. Jinwoo scratched the back of his head.

‘Now that I think about it, I’ve never been this relaxed in a Dungeon before…’

Was it because he had become incomparably stronger? Applied to a familiar situation from his old life, Jinwoo finally began to feel the changes that he was undergoing.

Song Chiyeol interrupted his thoughts,

“Sung-ssi, are you ready?”

“Yes.”

Jinwoo matched the pace of his teammates and slowly stepped up towards the goblins. Suddenly, a scream rang forth from somewhere.

“Uwaaaak!”

“Ahhhh!”

It wasn’t goblin. It was a human scream. Jinwoo and co. looked at each other. Just as they thought the screams had died out, another one rang forth.

“Ahhhhhh!”

Song Chiyeol’s face hardened,

“Let’s go check it out.”

The three Hunters quickly ran towards the direction of the scream. Jinwoo could’ve easily went ahead of the two but decided to match their speed for their safety. After running for some time, they came across the source.

Juhee discovered someone and shouted,

“Over there! Someone is…”

The HSD Hunter Kang Taeshik was kneeling on the ground, covered in blood. He shouted at the approaching party,

“B-be careful! Those bastards are still around somewhere!”

Appearing to have shouted with the last bit of his strength, Kang Taeshik collapsed face-down onto the ground. Unable to ignore him, Juhee quickly ran toward his body.

“I’ll heal him!”

Even after everything she had gone through, Juhee still held pride as a B-rank Healer. Even if there were enemies around, her healing would be quick. She concluded that it would be best to heal Kang Taeshik before they could attack.

“Please just wait.”

She held out her hands in front of Kang Taeshik, and a light gathered in her hands.

It was in that moment, Kang Taeshik shot up from the ground and stretched a hand filled with magic power toward Juhee’s throat.

woosh!

Before his hand could reach Juhee’s throat, someone grabbed his wrist in the nick of time.

grab!

“Ah…!”

Taking few steps backwards in surprise, Juhee fell onto the ground.

Kang Taeshik was surprised.

‘Someone stopped my attack at this distance?’

It was easy for a higher-ranking Hunter to dispose of a lower-ranking one. That’s why his first target was the female Hunter, who was a B-ranker like him. Fortunately for him, she was a noncombat-class Hunter, so he had expected to take care of her easily through a surprise attack.

But his attack… was stopped.

The efforts he put toward acting disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Kang Taeshik’s eyes followed the hand holding his wrist to Jinwoo’s face. Jinwoo’s eyes were filled with murderous intent. Kang Taeshik frowned,

“Just a sh*tty Association-affiliated Hunter?!”

woosh!

Kang Taeshik’s other fist flew towards Jinwoo’s face, but the man easily turned his head and dodged the attack.

‘What?’

Kang Taeshik threw aside Jinwoo’s grip with strength.

“What?”

Jinwoo was also surprised. It was a strength worthy of a high-ranking Hunter.

Having freed himself from Jinwoo’s hands, Kang Taeshik rained his fists upon him mercilessly. Not losing to his speed, Jinwoo dodged and counterattacked.

Hit! Strike! Woosh! Bam! Pow!

The two men ceaselessly traded and evaded each other’s blows. Neither of them backed off.

While they were fighting, Song Chiyeol grabbed Juhee and pulled her away from the danger.

“A-ahjussi…”

Juhee could not speak, stunned. Song Chiyeol was even more surprised than her.

‘How is this possible…?’

Their offense and defense were happening at an unbelievable speed. It was too fast even to track with his own eyes. The high-ranking Hunter’s movements made sense, but Sung Jinwoo was not the man he had remembered. The young man was keeping up with the B-ranker.

‘His speed is too fast even for this C-ranker’s eyes!’

He was correct on his feelings earlier. The Jinwoo that was fighting before him was not the same weak E-ranker from before.

Having traded dozens of exchanges in a blink of an eye, the two fighters backed away from each other to catch their breath.

Jinwoo looked at Kang Taeshik with narrowed eyes,

“The blood on your clothes… It’s not yours, is it?”

Kang Taeshik rubbed his wrists replied,

“That’s right. It’s those fuckers’ blood. Putting that aside, to think that I’d meet a Hunter like you here.”

He was truly awed. He had no idea that there was an Association-affiliated Hunter that was a high-ranker.

‘This is not good.’

He had thought that today was the best opportunity to act, but Jinwoo’s appearance had thrown a wrench in his plans.

Kang Taeshik asked out of curiosity,

“Who are you? What’s your ranking?”