Solo Leveling, Vol. 1, page 13
As he read over his contract, he sneaked a peek at the details of Jinho’s contract. As expected, unlike Jinwoo’s contract, Jinho was supposed to get a share of the rewards instead of 2,000,000 won.
Jinwoo turned to Dongsuk before signing the document. “So what do you need me to do?”
“Nothing special. You can just carry the gear and follow us.”
“Gear……?”
Dongsuk pointed at the huge backpack his colleagues were unloading from a pickup truck. “It has our lunches, extra clothes, weapons, first aid kit, etc.”
Wait, a first aid kit? That piqued Jinwoo’s curiosity.
“Are we going in without a healer?”
“You know how hard it is to have a healer in a strike squad! This is just how we roll.” Dongsuk smiled awkwardly.
A strike squad that barely met the association’s requirements, a temp who apparently thought a raid was a social gathering, and the lack of healer in a party made of tanks and damage dealers.
The temp’s expression hadn’t changed even after hearing there was no healer. That proved he was a complete newbie.
Jinwoo swallowed his derisive laugh.
They’re full of crap.
Nevertheless, he still signed the contract, not because he desperately needed 2,000,000 won but because he was confident he could protect himself.
“Here you go.”
“Mine too!”
Dongsuk took their signed agreements and, as if the papers had raised his spirits, energetically bellowed at the others.
“Well then, let’s go!”
6
THE LIZARDS
The squad made its way to where the gate had appeared. It was an abandoned construction site for an apartment building.
“They say the economy isn’t doing so well……” Dongsuk clicked his tongue in disapproval.
Unfinished apartment buildings stood scattered in the area like huge tombstones. If there was a cemetery for giants, it would’ve looked like this.
“Did you know?” Jinho leaned in closer to Jinwoo and whispered to him. “The president of the company embezzled nine hundred billion won and escaped abroad two months ago, leaving all the employees and investors in a tough spot.”
“……”
No matter how many hints Jinwoo had given him, Jinho wouldn’t leave him alone. It seemed like Jinho wasn’t able to quite fit in with the eight others, since they were all original members of the squad.
“Dude, you always this quiet?”
He’d started calling Jinwoo “dude” at some point. Jinwoo was growing weary of ignoring him.
“……Can’t you take a hint?”
“Hee-hee, I’m not very used to taking hints from other people.”
Was this guy an optimist or was he just clueless? Jinwoo raised an eyebrow at Jinho’s bright smile.
But I really……
Jinwoo tended to get more sensitive whenever he approached a gate. It wasn’t something he could control. For other hunters, raids were all about money, but for Jinwoo, it was about survival. It dredged up a ton of painful memories, so he couldn’t help but get twitchy.
“Here we are.” Dongsuk stopped.
Wow…… The hunters looked impressed.
“Are you sure this is a C-rank gate, bro? Seems a bit big.”
“You really think the association would bullshit us? They said the investigators checked it out twice.”
The portal floating in midair was reminiscent of a black hole. This was what they called a gate.
A gate’s rank was determined by a measure of the magic wavelengths emanating from within. The Hunter’s Association notified people of the rank after they evaluated the level. After that, strike squads or guilds would request permission to raid it. A- or B-rank gates were mostly taken by large guilds because they were too dangerous for freelance strike squads. Freelancers usually dealt with low-rank gates, with C rank being the highest they could safely tackle.
Dongsuk stepped in front of the gate and looked back. “All right, everyone, I’ll head in first. Please stick close.”
One by one, the other hunters followed as the tank led the way.
Just in case……
Jinwoo started to do some light stretching. Next to him, Jinho produced his weapons. His sword and shield seemed to sparkle. They were obviously very expensive, not the sort of thing a newbie could easily purchase on his own.
He said he’s not used to taking hints from others, so maybe his family’s rich?
He hadn’t struck Jinwoo as that type.
Jinho sensed Jinwoo’s stares and puffed out his chest. “You’re an E rank, right, dude? I’ll make sure to protect you, so please just stick with me!”
Jinwoo blinked. Who’d protect whom?
“……Well, thanks, I guess.”
“We should get going, too.”
Putting aside Jinwoo’s doubts, the two of them safely passed through the gate.
It was quiet inside the dungeon.
“……”
It was quiet and dark.
Dongsuk gave his first order. “Gyuhwan, light up.”
“Yes!” Gyuhwan Jo, a mage hunter, conjured a sphere of light. The place flooded with radiance.
Dongsuk lowered his shield and cocked his head. “What? Where’re all the beasts?”
“Yeah, and why were the lights off?”
Typically, glow stones lodged in the walls of the dungeon lit the way. This time, there were no such stones to be seen anywhere.
Jinho whispered in Jinwoo’s ear, “Are there really dungeons without any magic beasts?”
“Shhh.” Jinwoo pressed a finger to his lips.
His ear twitched. He could hear countless footsteps in the distance.
Jinwoo spoke. “There are magic beasts. They just aren’t here yet.”
Jinho swallowed nervously.
Skrrrt, skrrrt, skrrrt…
Soon, the others were able to hear what Jinwoo was hearing. Dongsuk realized just how serious the situation was.
A dungeon without glow stones……?
“What moves as a group, lives in the dark, and heads toward the light?”
Oh no. Dongsuk’s and his colleagues’ faces turned grim.
“Bugs!”
“They’re bugs!”
“Why does it have to be fucking bugs?!”
Dongsuk barked, “Everyone, positions! Incoming! Forward!”
A bunch of creatures were rushing straight for them.
“This isn’t an ant colony, is it?”
“Don’t say that kind of shit!”
Among magic beasts, insect types were especially a pain in the neck. They came in swarms, and every single one of them was powerful and hard to kill.
Ants were the worst of them all. Many a hunter had lost their lives by unwittingly stumbling into an ant colony.
SKRRRT, SKRRRT, SKRRRT…
The sound of the bugs’ legs scraping against the ground made their skin crawl. That meant they were close.
Dongsuk raised his shield up to his chin. They still couldn’t see any insects, though. The squad members were causing a commotion behind him.
“What’s going on? I don’t see anything!”
“But they sound close!”
“Dongsuk, do you see anything?!”
Jinwoo yelled, “Up!”
What? Dongsuk instinctively looked up.
SKRRRT, SKRRRT, SKRRRT!
Huge bugs were coming at them from above. Seconds later, and those bastards would’ve dropped right on top of them. With beasts that attacked as a group like insect types often did, once the hunters’ formation broke, that’d be it.
If we hadn’t spotted them when we did……
Dongsuk felt a chill run down his spine. There were different kinds of insects, but fortunately, none of these was an ant.
He called out, “Shoot! Shoot them so they drop! Once they’re down, I’ll go aggro!”
Arrows and magic attacks flew at the insects.
Fwssshhhh, fwit!
BOOM!
SKKKRRREEEEE—
SKKKRRREEE—
Once the hunters knocked some of the bugs to the ground, the rest took to the ground themselves, ready to fight.
Tanks were important at this point in the battle. Dongsuk got the magic beasts to focus on him by using his aggravation skills. The beasts all turned to him at the same time, as if they’d planned a synchronized move.
“Over here, bugs!”
SKKKRRREEEEE!
Tens of insects all charged at Dongsuk.
CRASHHH!
CRNNN-CRASH!
KRSH!
His shield blocked all of the insects’ attacks. Their powerful jaws and claws couldn’t break through the shield. Dongsuk the tank kept the horde back with his steady stance.
“Wait for it…! Wait for it…!” He was priming for just the right moment.
He held steady, waiting for the ideal time for a counterattack even as the insects relentlessly assaulted him. He was looking for an opening when the bugs were in a position that would allow aggro to continue working on them even as the damage dealers launched their attacks.
This is it!
This was the start of the real battle. This was the reason people called them hunters!
Dongsuk yelled out a single word.
“Go!”
With that one command, the squad unleashed all their firepower on the bugs.
SKKKRRREEEEE!
SKRAWWW!
Magic beasts were screeching everywhere.
Jinwoo watched the battle from the back of the party. That had been the agreement. He imagined how he would handle the situation while watching the others fight.
This is frustrating.
He had to stop himself several times from joining them. He could see the beasts’ weak points. He could also see the hunters making frequent mistakes and missing those weak points. No wonder Jinwoo was frustrated being forced to stay back and watch.
Because of their group chemistry, though, Dongsuk’s squad wasn’t sustaining much damage. Dongsuk’s laid-back attitude before the battle hadn’t been all bluster.
“Jinsuk! Eleven o’clock!”
“Bro, they’re coming from the right, too!”
“Juntae, Sukmin, Gyuhwan! Take the right!”
“Got it!”
“Chuljin, your wrist is swollen. Fall back for now!”
“This is nothing, bro!”
“Do you think we’re done after this? We don’t know how long this’ll go on, so take it easy. Pace yourself.”
“All right.”
It might’ve been because they’d been a squad for a long while, but the communication among them was excellent. Good communication makes for good teamwork. They were completely different from the disorderly association hunters.
And that one isn’t so bad, either.
Jinwoo’s gaze shifted to Jinho.
When a magic beast bit off a part of his shield, Jinho immediately kicked both it and the beast away and swung his sword. The expensive blade beheaded the magic beast with a dull clang. He was doing well for a D-rank newbie.
He’s using good weapons to make up for his lack of skills and experience.
There was a reason hunters went out of their way to obtain expensive weapons.
Jinho made eye contact with Jinwoo and gave him a thumbs-up.
“……”
He looked almost puppylike, so Jinwoo felt he had no choice but to return the thumbs-up. Satisfied, Jinho turned back around.
SKREEEE!
The fierce battle was drawing to a close. Once the hunters had mostly cleared the field, Dongsuk ordered, “Grab all the essence stones! We’ll divide them by nine.”
“Will do.”
“This is my favorite part.”
“Same.”
After watching his exhilarated squad members, Dongsuk walked over to Jinwoo.
“Oh boy. We’re safe because of you.”
“Excuse me?”
“You were the first one to see the bugs coming from above, weren’t you? How’d you know they were there?”
“I had a……hunch,” Jinwoo said vaguely. He couldn’t exactly say it was due to his high perception stat.
“Oh, really? A hunch…… We got lucky, then. I don’t know what would’ve happened if we hadn’t seen them in time. Phew…”
Dongsuk put his hand on his chest and exhaled. Just then…one of the hunters who was searching the bugs waved at Dongsuk.
“You need to see this!”
The squad had gathered together. Dongsuk headed over to them.
“What?”
“These look weird.”
The other hunters parted to let Dongsuk get by. He squatted down and studied their surroundings. He didn’t see anything strange. There were just dead bugs scattered everywhere.
He raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by ‘weird’?”
One of the hunters pointed at the leg of a nearby bug. “That wound doesn’t look like it’s from us.”
“……” Dongsuk frowned. After inspecting it closely, he said, “It looks like……something bit it?”
“Right? That’s not the only one. Look over there, and that other one, too. That one’s completely missing a wing. These things were already beaten up before they fought us, huh?”
Dongsuk’s face hardened. That’s why the battle hadn’t been particularly challenging despite the sheer number of them.
“What did these things fight before us……?”
At that moment, Jinwoo felt like Dongsuk and some of his crew were staring in his direction. When Jinwoo glanced over at them, they all turned away.
Jinwoo’s suspicions were confirmed.
I knew it……
What he’d thought at the beginning had been right.
The squad really had good chemistry because they’d been working together for a long time. Plus, no members had ever been killed in action. But how was that possible without a healer? Everyone, even great hunters, made mistakes because they were only human. Even this squad’s formation had almost broken moments ago.
Jinwoo had a rough idea what was going on. He couldn’t help giving a small smile.
Maybe……I can use these guys.
If they did what Jinwoo expected, it might be possible.
Dongsuk stood up with a smile on his face. “Okay, we’ll go deeper. If the rest of the dungeon is like this, we should be able to clear it soon.”
He’d spoken loudly on purpose. It likely wasn’t for his regular squad, since they were already clustered around him.
Meanwhile, Jinho approached Jinwoo with a big grin on his face. “Dude, did you see me? You saw me, right? I destroyed those beasts with a…” He lightly slashed the air.
Jinwoo asked, “Aren’t that sword and shield expensive?”
“Hmm? Oh, my father wanted me to have something special for my first raid.”
“Then you should be careful, too.” Jinwoo patted Jinho on the shoulder before following the other hunters who were moving deeper inside the dungeon.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jinho scratched his head, bewildered, but chased after everyone.
The cave stretched on, but they didn’t see any magic beasts. This dungeon had been a straight path so far, so they couldn’t have missed anything.
“Is that all? Whatever we saw at the entrance?”
“Nah, no way.”
“This is all very strange.”
“Still, there should be a boss, right?”
“If there wasn’t, the gate wouldn’t be open.”
The hunters quarreled over why the spacious dungeon was so empty.
“Wait.” Dongsuk stopped walking.
There were some little collisions because he’d stopped so suddenly. One hunter bumped his nose into the back of another’s head and got all whiny.
“F—Bro! What the heck?”
“Gyuhwan, give me some light.”
Gyuhwan moved the sphere of light that was floating above the middle of the group to where Dongsuk was pointing.
“Oh my God……”
“Are those all…?”
The hunters gasped quietly.
Insect wings, legs, bodies, and even heads: The remains of bugs were strewn everywhere. The number of carcasses increased the deeper they went.
At the end of the corridor was a huge chamber.
“It’s the boss’s lair,” someone muttered.
Dongsuk nodded in agreement. “Everyone, ready your weapons.”
The hunters immediately armed themselves. Everyone looked tense. They tiptoed their way to the entrance of the room.
Dongsuk led the way, and they all cautiously entered the boss’s lair. But the silence didn’t last long.
“J-jackpot!” the hunter with a red nose exclaimed. He was the one who’d bumped into someone’s back earlier.
It was normally taboo to yell like that in a dungeon. The noise could attract the attention of a beast that could’ve otherwise been avoided. But no one told him off.
“Whoa…”
“How much do you think that’s worth?”
“This is sick!”
Everyone was too preoccupied with excitement.
“Hold on.” As Gyuhwan moved the ball of light high in the air, more of the chamber was revealed.
“Those are mana stones!”
“This entire wall is covered in mana stones!”
The hunters’ eyes twinkled brighter than the stones were sparkling in the light.
Mana stones were one of the treasures that could be found in dungeons. They had weaker magic than the essence stones harvested from magic beasts but were usually found in large clumps, so hunters could make a lot of money from them.
This time, they’d found an incredible trove. The stones covered an entire section of the rounded wall of the cave.
“At a rough calculation…” A hunter who was good at math counted quickly on his fingers. “If we harvest all of them, it should come out to more than one hundred million won? If we divide it by nine, each of us will get over ten million won!”
“““Whoa…””” Grins spread across all the hunters’ faces.
At the back of the group, Jinho elbowed Jinwoo in the side after hearing that. “Dude, give me your contract.”
“What for?”
“Trust me and give it here. I know the law like the back of my hand.”
