The Orc Lord watched the prey charging straight toward him, ignoring all the Orcs around him, and formed a broad smile.
It was a leisurely smile, as though he found amusement in watching a weaker being struggle desperately against him.
It irritated me.
He regarded me as prey with a little more fight than usual.
I did not enjoy being looked down upon.
Therefore, I returned a smile much like his and held the edge of my right hand upright.
“GROOOOOAR!”
THUD!
As I drew near, the Orc Lord struck the earth with tremendous force.
Fragments of the shattered ground erupted around him.
Fresh mana surrounded the four pieces of stone.
The Orc Lord lifted them high into the air before hurling them toward me.
The fragments shot forward, slicing through the wind.
What had initially been mere chunks of rock were carved down as they flew, transforming into sharp daggers.
They were dangerous.
A direct hit would undoubtedly pierce straight through me.
Yet I did not evade them.
Instead, I fixed my gaze on the dagger flying at the front.
The moment the earthen dagger came within reach, I swung my right hand and knocked it aside.
The dagger struck the Black Dragon’s durable scales.
After reducing the first projectile back into dust, I immediately rolled to the side.
The second dagger struck the spot where I had been running only moments earlier.
Having avoided two of them in an instant, I pushed against the ground with my left hand and sprang to my feet.
“Hup!”
WHOOSH—
The instant I rose, I swept my right hand in a wide horizontal arc.
My scale-covered palm and the black mist trailing behind it swallowed the remaining two daggers flying toward me.
After erasing every projectile, I landed and immediately kicked off the ground again.
I was not particularly fast.
Black Dragon affected only my right hand.
My two legs still belonged to the completely ordinary me.
But that was fine.
This was more than enough.
The corners of my mouth rose as I charged toward the Orc Lord.
Watching me approach, the Orc Lord struck the ground once again.
An unseen, mysterious force gathered as mana drew fragments of the earth upward.
He apparently intended to create more daggers.
However—
“Hup……!”
Before he could do so, I abruptly stopped myself and pulled my fist back.
Even if I punched now, there was no possibility of reaching him.
The distance between us was great enough to justify the word impossible.
Even knowing that, I planted my feet and clenched my fist tightly.
[The Master of the Twisted Netherworld is mildly satisfied by the way you are using Haze]
[The Haze application technique ‘Martial Shadow’ has been created]
[Martial Shadow]
[Extends the black mist like a shadow, allowing it to serve as an extension of the body]
My right hand could easily shatter something as trivial as the word impossible.
[Haze - Martial Shadow]
My fist shot forward.
The mist surged.
And then—
“Grrk…….”
The Orc Lord collapsed.
A massive hole had been punched through his abdomen, and he fell helplessly to the ground.
I had been preparing to follow up with another attack, but when I saw him fall, I released the breath I had been holding.
Then I lowered my head and stared at the black smoke lingering around my right hand like an afterimage.
Haze.
The term referred to the black mist flowing from my right arm.
At first, I had assumed it was merely smoke.
I thought it was only a visual effect that accompanied the strengthening of my arm.
But I had been wrong.
Haze possessed physical force.
That force was far more powerful than I had expected, and its potential depended entirely on how I used it.
That was why I had used it to block the earthen daggers.
This time, I had merely applied it in another way.
I had used it to reach an enemy beyond my grasp.
That was all.
“Setting that aside, why did this one die in a single blow too?”
He was an Orc Lord.
Should a B-rank monster not have endured at least two strikes?
The fight had been far more anticlimactic than I expected.
More importantly, my Synchronization Rate had not increased.
Smacking my lips quietly, I turned my head.
The surviving Orcs had lost all will to fight and were sitting helplessly on the ground.
I walked across the blood-soaked earth to finish them off.
***
After dealing with every Orc, I headed toward the Gate’s exit and muttered.
“How much money will all of this be worth?”
I chuckled as I looked inside my pocket.
It was filled with multicolored jewels.
They were all Mana Stones obtained from the Orcs.
As I recalled, Mana Stones began selling for considerable sums starting with those from C-rank monsters.
I even had the Mana Stone of a B-rank monster.
This should earn me a substantial amount of money.
I was extremely pleased.
However, a separate matter continued to trouble me.
“I never expected that even a B-rank monster would fail to increase my Synchronization Rate…….”
This was not a situation I had anticipated.
I had expected a B-rank monster to be enough.
“But my Synchronization Rate rose even from Goblins inside the Tutorial Tower. Why did the requirements suddenly become so much harsher?”
[The Master of the Twisted Netherworld replies that it could never be satisfied by a mere Orc like that]
What an unreasonable bastard.
It should lower its standards and be satisfied.
I released a long sigh and shook my head.
A single B-rank monster was not enough to increase my Synchronization Rate.
The meaning was clear.
I needed at least an A-rank monster to satisfy Black Dragon.
The Hunter Promotion Exam was held only once a month, which meant I would need to wait at least six months before becoming an A-rank Hunter.
[The Master of the Twisted Netherworld stares at you]
Flinch!
My body trembled instinctively.
The weight of the air pressing against my shoulders changed.
The atmosphere shifted.
It felt as though time itself had begun to slow.
My body stiffened as I moved only my eyes and read the system messages that had appeared.
[The Master of the Twisted Netherworld yawns from boredom]
[The Master of the Twisted Netherworld declares that it will take your body unless you raise your Synchronization Rate to at least 1.5% within one week]
How remarkably considerate.
It had even informed me exactly when it intended to take my body.
‘I take back what I said about it being reasonable because we could communicate.’
It was not reasonable.
It was simply insane.
I graciously presented the impatient Black Dragon with my middle finger and muttered.
“One problem after another.”
Narrowing my eyes, I clicked my tongue and racked my brain.
How was I supposed to increase a Synchronization Rate that refused to move?
At that moment—
[Additional reward generation complete!]
A system window different from those used for Black Dragon’s messages appeared before me.
When I checked the skill I had received as a reward—
[Unique Skill ‘Verdant Tower’ has been generated]
[Verdant Tower]
[The Verdant Tower, accessible only to you, who have earned the Guardian’s acknowledgment. Activating the skill allows you to enter the Verdant Tower]
[※The monsters inhabiting the Verdant Tower are significantly stronger than those in the Tutorial Tower. Extreme caution is advised]
—I released a low, deeply satisfied laugh.
How could I possibly resist this?
A perfect skill had appeared at precisely the right moment.
For a moment, I had even considered secretly entering a higher-ranked Gate while avoiding the officials.
As Han Mir, an exemplary, tax-paying citizen of the twenty-first century, the thought of committing a crime bothered me slightly.
Only very slightly.
After all, I had to remain alive if I was going to continue paying taxes.
I had gone so far as to consider breaking the law, but now there was no need.
“The monsters are significantly stronger than those in the Tutorial Tower. That means my Synchronization Rate should increase, does it not?”
The fact that the system had issued a warning suggested that they were genuinely powerful.
It seemed to be telling me to prepare carefully before attempting the tower.
“I do not have time for that.”
Had I possessed that kind of time, I would have simply raised my Hunter rank gradually.
I returned my hand to normal, lightly loosened my wrist, and turned toward the Gate’s exit.
“I should go home first.”
Even if I intended to enter the Verdant Tower, doing so here seemed unwise.
I should at least enter it from home rather than from an isolated place like this.
With much lighter steps, I returned home.
***
“The treatment is complete, young lady.”
“Thank you, Uncle.”
The injuries that had covered her body had disappeared without a trace.
After bowing to the man who had treated her, the woman walked alone through the silent corridor.
“Black Dragon…….”
The man who had appeared suddenly and saved her.
Everything had happened so quickly that she had failed to ask his name or Hunter rank.
The only information she possessed was the phrase Black Dragon.
Even that was merely a fragment she had happened to overhear when the man quietly muttered it.
As she walked down the corridor, she silently raised her phone and opened the gallery.
“I have never seen him before, but he was incredible.”
Her phone contained a photograph of blood-soaked ground, scattered pieces of green flesh, and an enormous Orc lying motionless with a massive hole through its abdomen.
She should have fled, but she had secretly followed him out of fear that she might encounter another Orc on her way back.
She had also been curious.
She wanted to know just how powerful a Hunter he was.
As a result, she had clearly witnessed him kill the Orc Lord with a single blow.
She knew little about the Hunter profession.
Therefore, she could not fully understand what she had witnessed, but she knew with certainty that it was anything but normal.
She stared at the photograph on her phone and slowly clenched her fist.
“……I thought I would finally be able to prove my worth this time.”
She had Awakened by chance.
She believed that her family would acknowledge her if she became a famous Hunter.
That was why she had visited a nearby F-rank Gate, only for everything to end in disaster.
After entering the elevator, she turned on her phone as it descended to the first floor.
“At times like this…… I should look at Hunternet.”
Hunternet was Korea’s most active online community dedicated to Hunters.
Before Awakening, she had never given it any attention.
After visiting it for the first time as an Awakened, however, she found it far more entertaining than expected.
Ever since then, she had checked Hunternet whenever she had free time.
She was about to browse through the latest posts when—
“What is all this?”
The site was filled with posts she could not simply ignore.
[Did anyone see the Orcs inside the F-rank Gate?]
[I heard Jeong Chanu from the Awakened Association went to deal with it]
[The post above is nonsense. Kim Taeseong went there]
[Kim Taeseong vs. Seong Yumi]
Every post repeatedly mentioned people who had never even been at the scene.
She could not tolerate it.
For the first time in her life, she decided to write a post on Hunternet.
[I was involved in the F-rank Gate incident everyone is discussing]
I just returned home, and Orcs really did appear there today.
They were enormous.
One chased me while smashing through trees, and I nearly died.
(Photo of hands scraped raw and covered in blood)
I will answer questions before applying disinfectant.
If I stop replying, it means I am treating the wounds.
-Are you serious? Why would Orcs appear there?
⨽(Author)I do not know. I suddenly encountered one and ran for my life.
-Did Orcs truly appear?
⨽(Author)Yes. I also saw one that was at least twice the size of an ordinary Orc.
⨽The only superior form of an Orc is an Orc Lord. That is insane.
-You encountered an Orc Lord and survived? Stop lying.
⨽(Author)It is true. A man who said something about Black Dragon appeared and saved me.
⨽Black Dragon? Who is that?
⨽(Author)I do not know either.
⨽(Author)He killed an Orc with one strike, then went alone toward the place where the enormous Orc was.
-Someone called Black Dragon went alone to fight an Orc Lord?
⨽(Author)I was worried, so I went to check. By then, even the enormous Orc was already dead, and the man had disappeared.
⨽Stop fabricating stories. If no one has ever heard of Black Dragon, he must be a mere F-rank Hunter. How could he kill an Orc Lord? This sounds like an adolescent fantasy.
⨽(Author)It is true. I even have a photograph.
⨽Post it. I will send you a fried chicken gift voucher if it is real.
⨽(Author)All right. Give me a moment.
Was this how people wrote posts?
The response was far more enthusiastic than she expected.
Finding the attention strangely enjoyable, she smiled without realizing it and quickly created another post.
[Proof that I was not lying]
(Photo of blood-soaked ground, mutilated Orc corpses, and an Orc Lord lying motionless with a massive hole through its abdomen)
I told you I was not lying.
The man called Black Dragon did all of this.
I will enjoy the chicken.
-How is this actually real?
⨽(Author)Send the voucher.
-Lord Black Dragon is incredible.
-Who is Lord Black Dragon?
-A new S-rank Hunter has appeared.
-No matter how often I look at this, it is extraordinary.
-An F-rank Hunter killed an Orc Lord?
⨽I work in the industry. This was not a fight but a massacre. Every one of them was killed in a single blow.
⨽Prove that you work in the industry.
-Did the Black Dragon roar?
⨽That would make him absurdly powerful.
-Does this mean everyone inside the F-rank Gate survived because of that Black Dragon?
⨽Without question. Had Black Dragon not intervened, the Orc Lord would have led the Orcs forward, and more than half the people inside would have died.
⨽He is a hero.
⨽He truly is.
-Then who is this Black Dragon?
⨽No one knows.
⨽The Awakened Association will probably reveal it.
Dozens of comments appeared less than a minute after she uploaded the post.
Unaccustomed to receiving so much attention, she stared in confusion as she read them.
“But I never said that Black Dragon was an F-rank Hunter…….”
At some point, everyone had begun treating it as an established fact.
What if the man became angry?
Her enjoyment vanished, replaced by anxiety and fear.
Five minutes after uploading the posts, she deleted them.
“Th-This should be all right…… should it not?”
Her eyes shifted restlessly.
However, exhaustion soon overwhelmed her, leaving her unable to think about the matter any further.
She turned off her phone.
The elevator had reached the first floor some time ago.
“……I should hurry home and sleep.”
She was mentally exhausted.
Releasing a long sigh, she walked out of the building.
A sign bearing the words Hwiseong Group hung from the thirty-story building she had just left.