Si-woo and Hae-in scouted the immediate area ahead to ensure no more stray magic beasts lurked nearby.
They managed to locate two remaining monsters, making short work of them before carrying the carcasses back to the main area where the party waited.
“Let’s get the collection team in here.
We won’t be needing the mining team for now,” Hae-in instructed her party before everyone filed out of the gate.
The particular gate they were clearing led to a world-type dungeon, meaning there were no mana crystal veins available to mine at the moment.
‘I could have just hauled those corpses outside myself in about fifteen minutes,’ Si-woo thought, a slight frown crossing his features, though he chose to keep the though to himself.
“Did something happen?” Hae-in asked, noticing his sudden frown.
“Oh, it’s nothing.
How long will the collection team take to finish up?” Si-woo deflected, answering her question with one of his own.
After assessing the situation, he noticed the rest of their party members looked exhausted.
While the collection team went about their work, the raid team would at least have some time to rest and recuperate.
“We have about three hours.
The collection team has to process the corpses before transporting them out,” Hae-in explained.
Si-woo nodded and pulled out his phone the moment they stepped completely clear of the portal perimeter.
“I’ll be back by then,” he assured his team leader, walking away before she could even reply, his focus already entirely captured by his screen.
He was busy looking up the nearest active dungeon in the local database.
He found a C-rank gate and run at his top speed, arriving there in about ten minutes.
Pocketing his phone, Si-woo offered a brief nod to the Association personnel guarding the gate.
“Hunter Kang,” the two men greeted him, bowing respectfully as they recognized their new S-rank colleague.
“Good day, guys.
Is there a team currently inside that gate?” Si-woo asked, pointing toward the nearby rift where a small group of support miners was currently hauling a cart full of mana crystals out of the portal.
“They are currently taking a mining break, Hunter-nim,” the guard explained, straightening his posture instantly and answering as if he were a soldier reporting to a high-ranking official.
“Well, that was the last of them,” Si-woo overheard one of the mining team members mutter, wiping sweat from his forehead with a ragged cloth as he wheeled out the final load.
“I guess their break is just about over,” Si-woo murmured to himself.
“Where are the hunters assigned to this gate?” he asked the guard, who pointed toward a modular trailer parked nearby.
At that moment, a party of local hunters stepped out of the trailer.
“Thanks, guys,” Si-woo waved to the guards before making his way over to the group.
He offered a leisurely wave in greeting, which left most of them looking confused, though one member instantly recognized his face.
“Hunter Kang.
To what do we owe the pleasure?” a robed man wearing glasses asked, straightening up immediately.
“Hello, everyone.
I wanted to ask a quick favor of you all.
I’m new to hunting and I want to get a feel for clearing some low-rank gates.
Would you mind if I tagged along with your party for this raid?” Si-woo requested, choosing his terminology carefully so as not to bruise the ego of any potentially hot-headed member in the group.
“Why would—” a redhead standing at the front of the party began, crossing his arms defensively, but he was sharply cut off by the man who had spoken first.
“Sir, it would be an honor to run a raid with an S-rank hunter,” the man with glasses intervened, effectively silencing his team leader and the rest of the squad.
Flashes of shocked recognition and silent communication rippled through the ten party members before they all snapped to attention, facing Si-woo with rigid postures.
“Please take care of me, then,” Si-woo said politely, naturally falling into step at the front of the vanguard as they entered the gate.
“I guess having a nerd like you in the party finally paid off, huh?” the redhead whispered to his bespectacled comrade, thinking Si-woo could’nt hear them.
While the words sounded a bit blunt, the two clearly shared a friendship, making it nothing more than harmless teasing.
The rest of the squad gave the smart analyst appreciative glances as well.
“I’m certain you were about to say something stupid back there.
Don’t be rude to him, he may have just saved your ass from an awkward situation,” a female hunter standing next to the redhead team leader whispered, digging an elbow sharply into his ribs.
The remaining members exchanged muffled snickers at their leader’s expense, entirely failing to notice the small, amused smile tugging at the corner of Si-woo’s mouth.
“Straighten up,” Si-woo commanded smoothly the moment they crossed into the uncleared sector of the dungeon, where they were immediately confronted by a dense cluster of green orcs brandishing crude, heavy weaponry.
Si-woo launched himself forward with blinding speed, cleaving them clean in half with a single, sweeping arc of his sword.
Following the orcs, a pack of giant wolves lunged from the shadows, meeting the exact same fate the next moment.
Within a mere fifteen minutes, the entire party found themselves standing inside the boss chamber.
By now, the original party were just following Si-woo numbly.
An orc magician stood at the center of the room, holding a tome as it chanted a destructive spell at rapid speed.
Before the beast could finish its incantation, its concentration was shattered when Si-woo casually plucked a loose stone from the cavern floor and hurled it directly at the orc’s head.
He began to brandish his sword to finish the job, but he was suddenly interrupted by the frantic voice of the redhead team leader.
“Please don’t kill the boss beast just yet, sir!” the man pleaded.
Si-woo looked confused for a split second before a wave of realization dawned on him.
“Ah.
I take it the mining and collection teams will need more than an hour to finish up outside?” he asked, receiving a sheepish nod from the leader.
Gates close an hour after the boss is killed after all.
Si-woo shrugged casually and placed his palm flat against the cold stone floor.
Massive stone chains suddenly erupted from the earth, tightly binding and imprisoning the orc magician, with one thick link clamping firmly over its jaws to halt any further spell casting.
“Just, don’t make him suffer needlessly once the support teams are finished,” Si-woo requested, and the hunters nodded in rapid agreement.
Suddenly, Si-woo’s eyes narrowed sharply as they locked onto an unnaturally dark, shadowed corner of the room.
He blurred out of existence, reappearing instantly in the darkness.
A sharp arc of his blade cut through the air, followed by a violent spray of blood as the massive body of an orc marked with intricate red tribal patterns collapsed onto the stone floor.
“An Orc Brawler?” the man with glasses muttered, his voice trembling slightly.
By this point, the entire party of mid-rank hunters looked at Si-woo with eyes full of admiration, which quickly gave way to gratitude.
The monsters they had encountered up to the boss room were well within their capabilities to clear, and with solid teamwork, the orc magician would have pushed them to their limit but remained technically killable.
However, the unannounced addition of a hidden Orc Brawler completely altered the equation.
Even by their most optimistic estimates, they knew with certainty that at least one of them would have perished in that room.
Realistically, half the squad would have been wiped out.
Si-woo exited the gate well ahead of the stunned party, glancing down at the face of his wristwatch.
“I still have enough time to clear a B-rank before I need to head back.” he muttered to himself.
He gave the Association workers a brief nod before vanishing in a silent blur of speed.
Cha Hae-in sat quietly on a spread blanket beneath the shade of a large tree, her mind swirling with a barrage of anxious thoughts.
‘Did I say or do something to upset him?’ she asked herself, looking up to see that the primary collection team was already nearing completion.
‘Will he even come back?’ Another pressing question crossed her mind, though this one was answered the literal exact second she thought it.
“Hae-in,” Si-woo’s calm voice cut through the quiet air from directly behind her position.
“Did something happen while I was away?” he asked, tilting his head curiously as she jumped slightly.
“N-nothing at all.
The collection team has finished their work.
Are you ready to head back in?” she asked him, giving her head a quick shake to clear away her lingering distractions.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Si-woo shrugged, extending a hand down to assist her to her feet.
She grasped his hand with a small smile and pulled herself up, but her nose wrinkled slightly the moment she stood close to him.
Stepping a fraction closer, she lightly sniffed near his chest.
His pleasant scent filled her nose, but it was also accompanied by the distinct, metallic tang of monster blood.
“Have you been out fighting monsters?” she questioned, looking up at him knowingly.
Si-woo merely offered a casual shrug and a small nod.
Since her hand remained resting within his grasp, he simply pulled her smoothly along toward the gate, effectively cutting off any further inquiries.
He finally released his grip once they stood directly in front of the swirling vortex, just as the rest of the raid party arrived as well.
They conducted a gear check to ensure everyone was fully prepared, offering Hae-in a collective nod once everything was in order.
Hae-in glanced at Si-woo with a touch of lingering reluctance.
She wanted to ask if he required some time to rest after whatever he had been doing, but his calm, reassuring smile provided her with an answer before she could even form the words.
“Let’s move,” she commanded the team, leading the way as they stepped back through the massive gate.