The ultimate F-Rank Dungeon, The Witch’s Hut.
With its terrifying atmosphere and the boss’s distinctive Mental Manipulation skill, it was a dungeon regarded as the most difficult among F-Ranks.
It was also the dungeon that had produced the greatest number of mid-run forfeits in history.
It was only natural that even the prospects of each country could not produce results in this dungeon.
At least, until Yoo Seonghyeon appeared.
[Dungeon F-0008/The Witch’s Hut has been cleared.]
[With 100% contribution, first place is awarded to Hunter ‘I Am Meteor’.]
[As the first-place reward, a 10% Mental Manipulation Resistance buff is applied to the affiliated country (Korea).]
The internet had clearly said this was the most difficult dungeon.
After entering it, I could tell that it was indeed a terrifying dungeon.
As for whether my mental strength could endure it, that was difficult to judge.
I had merely seen the dungeon’s name and prepared myself with full tension.
‘It was not as bad as I expected.’
Then I thought, Whatever, and used my skill.
The only thing needed to clear it was a single shot.
Before the Meteor skill, all dungeons were equal.
The “ultimate F-Rank” dungeon, The Witch’s Hut, was no exception. It was not particularly different.
‘Then just how powerful is Meteor?’
The overwhelming results in the other dungeons were one thing.
But this dungeon was said to be one where even S-Rank Hunters could not easily set records.
At this point, I remembered the contents of a novel I had seen on the internet.
***
“KABOOOOM.”
Among all skills, the strongest Meteor roared.
Meteor was insanely powerful, so it was the strongest among all skills.
It beat gods and demons too. It beat them even when they all charged together. Meteor was the only one in the world. Anyway, it roared.
“Aaagh, damn it, let us run away.”
The Balrogs ran away. Meteor was the best.
That was why the Balrogs ran away.
Continued.
***
If the Meteor skill was this powerful, then not only E-Rank, but even overwhelming records in D-Rank or higher should not be a problem.
The only problem was that I, the owner of the skill, was not that strong.
Even during the Association’s measurement, they said my physical ability was not outstanding.
Then that meant I was lacking even among F-Rank Hunters.
‘The world is wide, and there are many strange people.’
If I continued working as a Hunter, there was no guarantee that I could remain anonymous forever.
If my identity was exposed, some people would approach me with impure intentions.
To prepare for that, I would have to develop my physical abilities.
[As the first-place reward, your skill will be strengthened.]
『Meteor (EX)』
Level: 4 (1▲)
Details: ……
[Meteor (EX), please select a Level 4 trait.]
Add Trait: Long-Range Sniping
Add Trait: Blank Round
Add Effect: Tail of Light
???
I doubted my eyes.
‘Is this not already a long-range skill?’
Even without encountering monsters in the dungeon, Meteor had activated perfectly.
F-Rank Dungeons were said to be the smallest in size,
but even that was not exactly a short distance.
And yet, “Long-Range Sniping.”
How much farther than now could it be used?
There was nothing I could predict.
However, in the current situation, it was the most appropriate option.
『Meteor (EX)』
Level: 4
Details: ……
Skill Mechanism:
……
Material – Iron Meteorite
Diameter – 20 cm
Speed – 10 km/s
Trait – Precision.
Long-Range Sniping (New!): Sets Meteor’s target designation range to within the country of your current location.
……
The explanation was simple.
But this time, too, it did not truly feel real.
The way to check the skill was, once again,
‘I will know if I use it myself.’
Seonghyeon finished selecting his reward and returned from the dungeon.
***
When he returned from the dungeon, before he knew it…….
No, only ten seconds had passed.
It was such a short time that it felt embarrassing to say he had gone somewhere.
But that was not the important part.
『Meteor (EX)』
[Objective Setting]
Yang Su-cheol ◀
……
Jeremy Schiller
……
Arirang
……
Other Location (Set Viewpoint)
Saved Target (None)
His eyes felt as if they would fall out.
It seemed that within Korea, not only ordinary people, but also foreigners and Hunters were all being detected.
At this rate, merely setting the skill’s target would take ages.
There was something else surprising too.
……
121. Yoo Jung-wan
122. Kim Gyeong-ae
……
‘Damn it. Why are these names here?’
Seonghyeon instantly snapped to attention.
The familiar names at numbers 121 and 122.
They were his parents.
This was not just anything else. It was the Meteor skill, and his parents’ names were in the Objective Setting Window.
No matter how little the system understood the concept of family, this was not right.
‘Can I restrict the objective setting?’
[Meteor (EX), would you like to configure detailed objective settings?]
The system had no sense, but fortunately, it had tact.
He had to hurry and set his parents as excluded targets.
If he happened to talk in his sleep, his house might collapse.
『Meteor (EX)』
[Detailed Objective Settings]
【Highlight】
【Priority Target】 Number 1
【Sort Order】 By Distance
【Exclude】
‘Oh, so I can highlight things too.’
【Exclude】 Yoo Jung-wan, Kim Gyeong-ae
After registering his parents as excluded targets first, he thought for a moment.
Where would be safe from damage caused by sleep-talking……?
It seemed he would have to exclude all Non-Awakened people.
And if possible, he would have to save money and move to a detached house.
【Exclude】 Non-Awakened
【Highlight】 Eraser
After confirming the excluded targets, he registered the Villain Eraser as a highlighted target.
He was an S-Rank, dangerous Villain, and someone recently connected to him.
And most of all,
he was simply curious. He wanted to know how highlighting worked.
『Meteor (EX)』
[Objective Setting] (Seoul)
Eraser ◀
……
Lee Ju-gyeong
……
Arirang
…….
Other Location (Set Viewpoint)
Saved Target (None)
Once he set the target area, the number had indeed decreased significantly.
However, that was not what mattered right now.
‘What? Damn it. Eraser really was in Korea?’
Until now, the Hunter Association incident had been my doing, so I assumed Eraser was somewhere far away.
That was why I thought there was no need to worry about retaliation, but he was actually in Korea.
A chill swept over Seonghyeon.
‘Then does he know about the current situation too?’
That thought suddenly occurred to him.
What if an extremely vicious S-Rank Villain had learned that he had been framed?
And what if, in extreme fury, he was now looking for the culprit who had framed him?
It was a plausible reason for the sudden appearance of a Villain.
“I am screwed…….”
『Meteor (EX)』
[Objective Setting] (Seoul)
Eraser ◀
……
It was possible that the Villain set as the objective here might harm him.
‘Should I hit him once?’
The idea that Eraser was looking for him was still only circumstantial.
But he was conflicted between the thought, ‘Since he is a Villain, is it not fine to use a skill on him?’,
and another thought, ‘If he was framed, it is natural for him to feel wronged. Perhaps he only came here to talk.’
And just then.
BANG!
“Gah!”
The door suddenly opened, and someone appeared.
“Son! Have you not been speaking too harshly lately?”
Fortunately, the one who opened the door and entered was his mother, Kim Gyeong-ae.
Perhaps she had heard him muttering to himself from the living room.
After warning him about his language, she left again.
For a moment, he had thought Eraser had appeared, and his heart had nearly dropped…….
“Yes…… I am sorry. Good night.”
There was nothing he could do about it.
He would have to hide in his room for a while again.
“…….”
By the way,
the System Window had disappeared.
Because he had been so startled, he could not remember the situation clearly.
Surely the skill had not been used, right?
Considering that the outside was too quiet for anything to have happened,
it seemed there was no major problem.
***
Somewhere on an artificial island in the Han River in Seoul.
A sound came from one of the trees there.
As it happened, two guards were patrolling nearby.
“Mm? What was that?”
“Why? Is something there?”
“Sir, did you not hear something?”
“I did not hear anything.”
The junior guard shone his flashlight here and there as if searching for something.
Eventually, he shone it on the tree where the sound had come from.
“Do you see anything?”
“No, sir. I must have heard wrong.”
The guard found nothing and continued his patrol.
‘Keukeuk, they would never imagine it. Stupid fools.’
The inside of the tree the guards had passed by flashed once, and the silhouette of a person appeared.
The one who had hidden there was Eraser, whose entire body was covered in dark clothing.
Generally speaking, Villains were beings who resisted the system.
Because of that, information about Villains was not easily revealed to the world.
If their activities were rare, even their names remained unknown.
Therefore, a Villain whose name was widely known to the world had to be regarded as someone who carried out extreme acts.
And all of this was equally true of Eraser.
‘Tsk, work with no payment does not appeal to me.’
After finishing his last assassination contract in Japan, he had laundered his identity three times.
He had cleaned everything up perfectly and entered Korea.
No, he had thought he had.
Then the incident occurred one week before the concert of his favorite idol group, the Chili Girls.
‘How could they identify me with facilities this pathetic?’
Eraser had been framed by Korea’s Hunter Association.
Although there were bounties on him in most countries, Korea should not have applied.
He had not been active in Korea so that nothing would interfere with seeing his favorite idols.
When he infiltrated the place because of their outrageous treatment, the Hunter Association’s facilities turned out to be considerably poor.
So poor that through the window of the visible building, he could immediately eliminate the Association President.
‘Would the Association President’s head be enough of a warning……?’
To the world, Eraser was known as someone who sprayed his Destructive Ray skill around and caused aggressive terrorist attacks.
Strictly speaking, however, that was the finishing stage of Eraser’s attacks.
In reality, he was an assassin-type Awakened who manipulated his rays to confuse vision and infiltrate.
In truth, his terrorist attacks served as a cover to hide contract killings.
Thanks to that, Eraser had never once been caught during a contract killing.
And today would have been the same.
If not for the pebble someone had thrown by mistake…….
Eraser launched himself toward the Hunter Association building.
With rays wrapped around him in Stealth Mode.
SWOOSH—
Then he heard a sound above his head.
‘Ah…… What is this?’
At the very moment Meteor was about to form,
just before the skill activated, Eraser turned his head toward the sky.
It was a truly monstrous reaction speed, impossible for an ordinary Hunter.
And Meteor fell.
RUMBLE—
‘What the hell is this!’
Surviving came first, and whether he was discovered or not was a problem for later.
He fired his Destructive Ray at the Meteor that had appeared before his eyes.
The Destructive Ray struck Meteor and did create resistance, but in the end, it could not break Meteor apart.
Then,
KABOOM!
“Guuuuuh!!!”
Meteor struck Eraser in a single blow.
Eraser, too, was equal before Meteor.
Eraser crashed into the Hunter Association’s open ground and collapsed.
***
Seonghyeon was still thinking.
‘Should I try using the skill? Or not?’
『Meteor (EX)』
[Objective Setting] (Seoul)
Eraser ◀
……
He was so curious.
Had the skill been used earlier, or not?
Where was Eraser, and could he find out if he used the skill?
Then, in the end,
‘No, there is nothing good about revealing my skill.’
He dismissed the Skill Window.
All while unaware that Eraser, who was embedded in the ground, was twitching.