Chapter 20

Jinhyuk didn’t feel the need to question his opponent at all.

‘Why did he do this? Did he really intend to kill me?’

No matter what question he thinks of, there’s no way any answer would make him understand why the other person decided to do such a thing.

So instead of asking mundane questions, he decided to copy what the other tried to do.

Kang Jinhyuk’s bat hit Ahn Doyoon’s head with as much force as possible. It sounded like a watermelon bursting.

After seeing him collapse like a puppet with its string cut off, Jinhyuk turned his back on him.

It was none of his concern whether the man died this way.

“What the hell was this guy’s problem.”

He didn’t come to this place as an enemy, so he doesn’t know why he was suddenly attacked like this.

Just what did he do wrong for this guy to rush towards him as if nothing else mattered in the world?

He didn’t know what kind of bottled up emotions Ahn Doyoon had towards him, but Jinhyuk believed that he was the victim here.

The punishments that Ahn Doyoon suffered are all because of his actions. Nothing else.

There was no reason for Jinhyuk to take responsibility for it.

“He got hit properly this time, so I guess he’ll think about his actions more next time.”

Even beasts learn their lesson when they’re hit.

Now that he’s fallen in such a shameful way, maybe he’d think twice before coming at Jinhyuk again.

Jinhyuk moved on to a strong monster to shake off this unpleasant feeling.

Near the area was a Minotaurus which wielded an axe the size of a person. Jinhyuk rushed towards it.

Not one of the other Titans hunters stepped forward after witnessing what they just saw.

A colleague was beaten and unconscious, but no one is blaming Jinhyuk for it.

Just now, no matter how they looked at it, the situation was started by Ahn Doyoon and therefore he was at fault. 

Jinhyuk only took a proper reflex response to a dangerous man rushing towards him.

“He rushed toward that cleric first right? Is he knocked out?”

“Yeah. Even though he’s a shitty person, he’s still a human and an A-rank hunter from our guild.”

If they left his body here, he’d surely get trampled on and become minced meat.

Even though he’s a hateful human, it’s still wrong to leave him here to die. 

The largest of the Titans hunters nearby helped carry Ahn Doyoon’s body.

“I’ll take him and report to the guild leader.”

“What are you going to report?”

“Well, I’m going to say that he got attacked. I can’t say that he got beaten up by a hunter whose name I don’t even know.”

The other hunters didn’t argue against that.

It’s the best decision for both Ahn Doyoon and the guild.

“Sigh… I can’t believe this guy was once our deputy guild leader.”

The other hunters also agreed with that point.

For them, Ahn Doyoon has reached his lowest point.

* * *

The Minotaurus, who was running wild against the hunters, instinctively felt a threat around him.

Its sixth sense told him that two strong men are headed towards him.

In order to shake off its fear, the Minotaurus let out a large cry.

“Uwoohhhhhh!”

With its roar, the goblins and all the other smaller monsters plucked up their courage as well.

The hunters on the other hand were engulfed in fear, and their movements become dull without them realizing it.

The Minotaurus was satisfied at the atmosphere that its roar invoked.

It became confident that he can crush anything that comes at him.

However, battles aren’t won by momentum alone.

Skill is the number one factor.

“Umohhh!”

The Minotaurus swung its axe towards the faster of the two hunters rushing toward him.

There wasn’t a single material in this world that stood against the Minotaurus’ axe.

Which is why he never thought that the time would come when his axe would break into two.

When it actually happened, the minotaurus was stunned. It didn’t know what to do or how to react.

“That’s right. That’s the look I wanted to see.”

Seo Sangho, who broke the Minotaurus’ axe with his bare hands, was satisfied at his achievement. 

He effectively crushed that high confidence of the smug monster. He couldn’t get enough of that satisfaction.

“Move aside if you’re not gonna finish him off.”

“What?”

While Sangho was flustered at the sudden sight of Kang Jinhyuk, Jinhyuk swung his bat towards the Minotaurus’ temple.

The Minotaurus, who was hit in its vital point, fell to the floor with its eyes rolled back.

Kang Jinhyuk immediately checked the score on his counter.

“What the? The score didn’t change?”

When he looked back at the Minotaurus, he realized that the monster has just fainted. It wasn’t dead yet.

Realizing that fact, Jinhyuk clucked his tongue in disappointment.

“So I can’t kill a minotaurus in one hit just yet.”

Even with his improved abilities thanks to his passive skills, his fundamental skills were still insufficient for him to achieve such a feat.

However, it was only in Jinhyuk’s own standards that made him feel like he was lacking.

From Seo Sangho’s point of view, he had already exceeded what normal people could do.

‘A recently turned C-rank hunter killed a Minotaurus?”

Even if Seo Sangho blocked the monster’s attack, it was impossible for a C-rank hunter to knock out such a huge monster in one blow.

On top of that, Jinhyuk was a cleric.

Isn’t that a specialty that doesn’t have many combat-related skills?

The more he thought about it, the more things didn’t make sense.

Sang Sangho kind of liked that.

Jinhyuk is clearly different from other hunters.

That specialness caught Sangho’s attention.

Seo Sangho now realizes why he was got so greedy and passionate to recruit Jinhyuk.

‘As expected. My instincts never fail me.’

Seo Sangho held back from trying to recruit Jinhyuk right away again.

Jinhyuk’s reception towards the offer so far tells him that he would only feel burdened again.

“I see you’ve come here as a mercenary.”

Jinhyuk affirmed Sangho’s question with a nod.

“I heard that they’re going to pay me as much as I catch. I’m allowed to just run around and do this, right?”

“Do as you please.”

As soon as he heard Sangho’s answer, Jinhyuk swung his bat toward the Minotaurus again.

No matter how hard the monster’s skull was, it couldn’t stand against continuous strikes of the bat shrouded with aura.

In the end, after seven hits, the Minotaurus lost its breath as blood spilled from its head.

Jinhyuk saw his level rise rapidly after the monster died.

“It won’t take too long to reach 150 now.”

Level 150 was the standard for B-rank hunters, and it’s the stage where secondary advancement becomes possible.

Jinhyuk was looking forward to getting his secondary specialty, as it was randomly decided depending on the activities he does as a hunter.

It may open up an opportunity for him to go for a large-scale hunt.

“Alright then, I’ll leave this place to you.”

Jinhyuk thought he had no time to hesitate and tried to leave towards a different monster right away.

Regarding the monster corpses, the Titans will collect them later.

‘The score is indicated right here on the counter so I shouldn’t get too much problem.’

The truth was, he was suspicious of the system that the secretary gave him. But he doesn’t want to think about it too deeply at the moment.

He’s been exhausted for the past week, mainly because of the training with Lucia.

“The situation is almost settled down. You don’t need to rush out like that.”

As Sangho said, the monster invasion was slowly settling down.

It was thanks to the many hunters aside from Jinhyuk who participated and helped.

As such, the benefits that the Titans could take for their own has decreased, but the damage and injuries on their people had certainly been contained to a minimum.

Seo Sangho was very satisfied with how things turned out.

On the other hand, Jinhyuk didn’t feel the same way.

“I think it’s going to end soon, so I’ll have to work a bit harder.”

It was too early to rest up and retreat yet.

Jinhyuk took another potion.

“Well then, come with me.”

“Eh?”

Jinhyuk made an obvious face that told Sangho that he was unwilling to do whatever it was.

Aside from the burden, Jinhyuk didn’t seem confident in winning against monsters that only S-rank hunters can take on.

Seo Sangho fully understood what the other felt.

“Don’t worry. I’ll come forward when I think that you’re in danger.”

“Then why do you want me to come with you?”

“I think it’ll be fun to watch.”

Seo Sangho gave a ridiculous answer.

“I regularly get calls about strong monsters somewhere. If you come with me, you won’t have to wander around and search for them anymore.”

Seo Sangho appealed for his usefulness. Just in time, he gestured towards his earpiece, saying that he had just been contacted.

As soon as the communication connected, the urgent voice of a guild member came up.

“Alright, alright. Where are you and what’s going on?”

“The sky?”

Sangho raised his head and looked up.

When both Sangho and Jinhyuk raised their heads, dark clouds came into view.

The surroundings were all clear skies, but the place where the fight was going on had strange dark clouds hovering over it.

“What’s the big deal about this?”

How many are there? How big is it?

At the same time as the guild member’s report, a flashing light was seen from the center of the dark clouds.

The lightning already hit the middle of the battlefield before anyone realized it.

“Ahhhk!”

The sudden flood of lightning struck several hunters as they screamed and collapsed.

The lightning just poured down on the area.

Whether it was a monster or a hunter, everything hit by it was mercilessly destroyed.

Seo Sangho, who witnessed the disaster, went silenced for a while.

It’s absurd to suddenly see lightning pouring out.

It was the first time in his life that he saw seven or eight times as many monsters than normal.

With that size, even if there was no lightning, the falling monsters alone could devastate the area.

“Why are you reporting that just now!”

“Fxxk…! What did the government say?!”

“How in the hell is a helicopter going to help…”

None of the conventional weapons work against monsters.

Only hunters can fight against monsters, so they have no choice but to go directly into the sky to catch the monsters hidden among the clouds.

But it’s too much to go against it.

Even if they get close, a single lightning will burn any helicopter to a crisp.

“Why is this happening now?!”

Seo Sangho sounded visibly annoyed. Jinhyuk tried to reason it out with him.

“Looking at the lightning falling, I think it can’t recognize between monster and hunters. Maybe that’s why it waited for the number of monsters to decrease first.”

“…Can monsters think of such a tactic?”

“There’s no way that it can’t.”

That made sense for Sangho. There was no way that not one smart and thinking monster existed.

“For now, we have no choice but to rely on hunters specializing in long-distance attack skills.”

“…sigh.”

Seo Sangho held his forehead and sighed, but he soon regained his composure and gave out instructions to the guild members.

“Call all the hunters with magician specialties, right now!”