“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 . Remember 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 shitty 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?”

    Jinwoo summoned Casaka’s Poisoned Fang in his hand and answered .

    “Sung Jinwoo . E-rank . ”

    Sponsored Content

    I Alone Level-up: 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 . Remember 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 shitty 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?”.

    .

    Jinwoo summoned Casaka’s Poisoned Fang in his hand and answered . .

    .

    “Sung Jinwoo . E-rank . ”.

    .

    .