Solo Leveling, Vol. 1, page 23
Ah, shit.
Jinwoo got up close and stabbed Taesik’s chest with Kasaka’s Venom Fang.
Shuuuk.
“Gak!” Taesik’s eyes bulged out.
At that moment, both of them knew that the winner and loser had been decided.
Taesik’s mouth filled with blood that had bubbled out from inside his chest. He sneered with blood in his mouth.
He’d run into a reawakened hunter in a D-rank dungeon on today of all days.
Seriously, what shitty luck.
The knife dropped from his hand. Panting, Taesik leaned his head toward Jinwoo and whispered something.
“……” Jinwoo listened quietly before eventually removing the dagger from Taesik’s chest.
Taesik fell lifeless to the ground like a shirt falling off a hanger.
Whump.
Ping!
[You have completed Urgent Quest: Defeat the Enemies!]
Despite the message, Jinwoo wasn’t particularly happy. He deplored killing anyone other than monsters, especially people, even if the opponent had started the fight.
[Rewards have been delivered.]
[Would you like to check your rewards?] (Y/N)
At least the rewards ensured that he wasn’t totally losing out.
Jinwoo tried to look on the bright side as he checked the rewards.
Ping!
[YOU HAVE THE FOLLOWING REWARDS.]
Reward 1. Ability Points +5
What?
Jinwoo looked bewildered. The reward was noticeably lower than when he’d defeated Dongsuk’s squad.
The level of difficulty was much higher today, too.
Was the number of enemies more important than their skill levels? Or was there another requirement Jinwoo didn’t know about?
He cocked his head in confusion.
Suddenly, an object on the floor caught his eye. Something shiny and about the size of a coin was emanating light from Taesik’s body.
Jinwoo’s eyes went wide.
Is that……?
He couldn’t believe it, but it was the same light that emanated from dead monsters. The shiny things he found in magic beasts were essence stones, and now the same illumination was coming from Taesik’s corpse.
What could it be?
Jinwoo tried to remain calm as he reached toward Taesik’s heart.
Ping!
It hadn’t been some hallucination.
[You have discovered Rune Stone: Stealth. Would you like to acquire it?]
Rune stone? An actual rune stone……!
His heart started racing.
The skill Taesik had used had transformed into a rune stone that was embedded in his body. Stealth was a very valuable skill that only a handful of hunters possessed. If this was the same kind of rune stone he’d heard so much about……
Acquire.
A small stone with runic writing on it appeared in Jinwoo’s hand.
[RUNE STONE: STEALTH]
You may obtain the skill by crushing the stone.
Obtain the skill by crushing the stone. It really was a rune stone. Jinwoo would be able to use the Stealth skill once he shattered it. He’d never heard of a rune stone with the Stealth skill ever being found where a hunter could learn it. For that reason, it was impossible to figure out the monetary value of this particular rune stone.
At that moment, he heard two voices.
“Sung, you okay?”
“Jinwoo!”
Jinwoo hid the rune stone in his pocket and turned around.
Chiyul and Joohee were staring at Jinwoo in disbelief. The E-rank hunter who’d previously had a hard time in a D-rank dungeon had defeated Taesik Kang, a B-rank hunter.
As a noncombat hunter, Joohee might not have fully grasped the scale of this feat, but as a C ranker, Chiyul very well knew just how impossible a task this was.
Jinwoo examined himself. “Yeah, I’m all right.”
He looked fine at first glance, and he didn’t feel any pain. However, blood trickled from under his chin when he turned his head. He inadvertently touched his cheek to find that the cut he’d received earlier was bleeding.
“Oh.”
“I’ll fix that.” A blue light appeared on the end of Joohee’s hand, and the cut was gone.
An E-rank hunter defeated a B-rank hunter without more than a scratch. Because they’d known the old Jinwoo, this shocked Chiyul and Joohee more than the fact that someone had just tried to kill them.
“How did you……?” Chiyul couldn’t finish his sentence.
Jinwoo knew what Chiyul and Joohee wanted to say, so he spoke first.
“I’m sorry. I’ll explain everything when the time is right, but for now, please don’t ask.”
His voice sounded serious, so Joohee nodded.
Chiyul soon did the same. “You must have a good reason. Understood.”
Jinwoo’s gaze shifted toward where the boss was. His plans to kill it hadn’t changed despite how messy things had gotten. He wanted to slay the boss by himself if possible. Not to mention, there was something he could do only if the other two weren’t around.
Jinwoo looked at Chiyul. “It’ll be hard to continue the raid after what happened. You two should go out and contact the association. I’ll stay behind and search for survivors.”
Chiyul knew instinctively what Jinwoo was up to.
Jinwoo is going to close the gate.
Chiyul thought that would be the best way to prevent any further complications.
“I think that’s a good idea. Miss Joohee, we should go.”
Joohee hesitated but eventually ran toward Jinwoo. “You haven’t forgotten that you promised to take me out for dinner, right?”
Jinwoo smiled. “I haven’t. I still need to get my change back from you.”
“Then keep your promise. I’ll wait for you outside.”
Relieved, Joohee finally stepped away as Jinwoo nodded. She looked back at him several times until she was completely out of the dungeon.
Jinwoo let loose a sigh of relief when even their shadows had made their exit.
“Whew…”
He’d wanted to keep his secret for as long as possible, but they’d found out. He couldn’t deny it now that there were witnesses.
I don’t want to threaten Joohee or Mr. Song.
He could claim self-defense for attacking the B-rank hunter with no issues. He had two witnesses, after all.
The problem was explaining how an E-rank hunter had defeated a B ranker.
I guess a reawakening would be the best explanation.
Jinwoo decided to go with that. He’d tell the association that he was a reawakened hunter and get reevaluated. There was no reason to reveal anything about the system or leveling up, since no one would believe him anyway.
He had mixed feelings about getting reevaluated.
I didn’t want to get reevaluated until after I got even stronger……
But not everything goes according to plan. There was nothing he could do.
I wonder what my current rank is…
Would he be a high B rank, since his close fight with Taesik had ended in victory? He was quite confident he’d gotten stronger, but the B- to S-rank hunters were quite powerful.
Well, I’ll worry about that after I get out of here.
It was time to defeat the boss. There were only E-rank goblins in a D-rank dungeon. That meant it was highly likely that most of the magic power detected here had come from the boss. If the boss’s level was that high, Jinwoo could probably get enough experience to level up.
But first……
He had something he needed to check on.
Jinwoo maxed out his senses and inspected every energy signature inside the dungeon.
“Found him.”
Jinwoo headed in a certain direction.
He came across the bodies of Kim and the others along the way. This was the power of a high-rank hunter on display. They could kill several low-rank hunters in the blink of an eye if they wanted to. Jinwoo’s face hardened as he walked past the corpses.
And soon…
“Mmmf, mmmf, mmmmmf!”
He found a prisoner struggling nearby. His hands and feet were bound and his mouth gagged. He looked just as Taesik had described him before he died.
“I tied up the rapist not too far from here. I was going to kill him last because the victim’s father asked me to make it as slow and painful as possible.”
Taesik had died right after saying that.
The prisoner struggled harder when he saw Jinwoo. It seemed like he was asking him to hurry and untie him.
“Mmmf, mmmf, mmm!”
Upon closer inspection, it was the creep who had harassed Joohee earlier.
The prisoner breathed hard and opened his eyes wide as Jinwoo took the gag out of his mouth.
“Huff, huff, huff! That crazy bastard Taesik Kang! He killed everyone; I swear he did! Where? Where is he? You have blood on your clothes. Did he try to get you, too?”
Instead of responding, Jinwoo looked up and straight ahead. The boss was in that direction.
The prisoner spoke more urgently. “Get me out of this first. We need to run away before Taesik comes back. Fuck, I can’t break this rope ’cause it’s got magic! Do you have any tools? Why aren’t you talking? Can you hear me?”
Forgetting his predicament, the prisoner was getting angry at the bottom-tier hunter who kept ignoring him.
Jinwoo, expressionless, finally opened his mouth.
“The boss is right over there.”
“What?” The prisoner was confused.
“It seems stronger than other D-rank bosses, so I’m wondering what its patterns of attack are.”
The prisoner couldn’t stand it any longer and raged at Jinwoo. “What the hell are you on about? For fuck’s sake!”
Jinwoo calmly continued with what he wanted to say.
“Let me ask you something. Do you remember the girl you raped?”
“What? Who’re you talking about? Are you related to a victim?”
Jinwoo’s eyebrow twitched.
The prisoner asked Jinwoo who he was talking about instead of answering yes or no. This indicated that there were more than one or two victims.
A hunter can be a monster if they want to because they have the power. This piece of trash had used his power to violate women.
Jinwoo’s resolve hardened. He spoke coldly while looking down at the prisoner.
“I’ve heard enough.”
“What? Mmmf, mmm!”
Jinwoo gagged him before the man could say anything else. He gripped one of the prisoner’s ankles and started leisurely walking toward the boss’s lair.
“Mmmf! Mmmf! MMMF!”
The convict screamed bloody murder as he was dragged. His eyeballs bulged. His struggles had no effect on Jinwoo, who kept at it until they arrived at the lair.
“Mmmf! Mmmf!”
A group of hobgoblins, which were known for liking the entrails of living humans, was milling around the room.
“Mmmf! Mmmf! Mmmf!”
The prisoner realized what Jinwoo was planning. He shook his head and screamed after seeing the group of hobgoblins. His pants became stained with a yellow liquid.
“Hwwwooo.” Jinwoo drew a deep breath and then threw the convict toward the group of hobgoblins.
“Mmmmmfff!”
Keekeekeeee!
Keekee!
Keekeeee!
After smelling the fresh meat, all the hobgoblins pounced on their prey and started ripping at the leather clothes covering his midsection.
“Mmmmmmmf!” The eyes of the struggling prisoner turned red as the veins in them popped. “Mmmf…mmm…”
The hobgoblins kept feasting even after he lost consciousness. How did it feel to be eaten alive by those grotesque monsters?
With a scowl on his face, Jinwoo searched for the boss.
There it is.
A huge hobgoblin that was most likely the boss was sitting arrogantly in one corner. With all its minions preoccupied with the bait, it was an opportune time to engage.
Dash!
In a flash, Jinwoo zipped past the lackeys and appeared in front of the boss.
Keek!
Startled, the boss hobgoblin tried to get up quickly, but its head tumbled to the ground before it could lift its body.
Whud.
It rolled away slowly.
Ping!
[You have defeated the master of the dungeon.]
[You have leveled up!]
Oh, right.
He belatedly remembered the rune stone after severing the boss’s head.
I could’ve learned and used the Stealth skill to approach it instead of using that guy as bait.
Jinwoo clicked his tongue as he surveyed the prisoner’s remnants, which he could no longer tell was a human body. But he felt no remorse.
Ah well……
The operation had been a success.
After losing their master, the hobgoblins didn’t know what to do with themselves, which made it easier to deal with them.
Keekee!
Keekeeee!
Keekeeeee!
The beasts ran away from Jinwoo, but he made quick work of them.
Keekee!
After he killed the last one, he received the message that was always welcome.
[You have leveled up!]
It went up again?
This surprise brightened Jinwoo’s mood.
He cleaned the blood from Kasaka’s Venom Fang and collected all the essence stones from the hobgoblins’ cadavers. After putting the dagger and the essence stones in his inventory, he called up the stat screen.
Ping!
[Name: Jinwoo Sung]
[Job: None]
[HP: 5,114]
[Fatigue: 0]
[Level: 27]
[Title: Wolf Assassin]
[MP: 548]
[Stats]
Strength: 72
Stamina: 43
Agility: 82
Intelligence: 39
Perception: 69
(Available ability points: 5)
Physical damage reduced by: 20 percent
[Skills]
Passive skill: (Unknown) Lv.Max, Willpower Lv.1
Active skill: Dash Lv.1, Murderous Intent Lv.1
[Item Equipped]
Warden’s Collar (A)
Jinwoo was already close to level 30. He hadn’t expected much after dealing with the goblins near the dungeon entrance, but he’d leveled up twice, once from killing the boss hobgoblin and the other from slaughtering the rest of the hobgoblins. Fortunately for him, the strongest ones had been in the boss’s lair.
Although I can’t call that luck, can I?
He’d known which of the three paths to take as well as the difficulty level of the boss’s lair. If low-level hunters had entered the boss’s lair overconfident after easily defeating the goblins, that wouldn’t have ended well.
Unlike goblins, hobgoblins weren’t as easy to deal with.
Hunters sometimes run into hobgoblins in a dungeon where goblins are, but……
It was rare to see so many hobgoblins in one group.
Dungeons were unpredictable that way. Situations that appeared fortunate for one person could be desperate for someone else. The only shield that could truly protect hunters in any dangerous situation was strength.
That was why Jinwoo wanted to be strong. Surviving a dungeon was one thing, but what if there was a dungeon break near the hospital where his mother was? What if he happened to run into a magic beast while on a walk and was attacked?
And magic beasts weren’t the only problem. Hunters could be just as dangerous. Organizations meant to regulate hunters could only do so much.
Jinwoo had to have the strength to protect himself.
There is a limit to how strong hunters can be.
But there was no limit for Jinwoo. Theoretically, he could keep getting stronger as long as he kept leveling up and obtaining items. Jinwoo had even found a new way to get stronger today. Rune stones!
He took the stone out of his pocket. The information about it appeared in a hologram as it did with other items.
[RUNE STONE: STEALTH]
You may obtain the skill by crushing the stone.
To ordinary people, it looked like a little pebble with weird writing on it, but hunters of all levels would kill to get their hands on one. A high-rank hunter could use it for themselves, and a low-rank hunter could sell it for an exorbitant price to a high-rank hunter.
A rune stone with a rare skill like Stealth could yield a huge payday. It would easily fetch a minimum of several 1,000,000,000 won in an official auction and even more on the black market.
There was one simple reason it was worth more on the black market. There would be no official record of who bought it or for how much. Possessing a special skill no one knew about was equivalent to having a powerful secret weapon.
Like Taesik had hidden his Stealth skill…
Jinwoo would’ve basically been offering Taesik his back if his perception stat hadn’t been so high. Jinwoo got chills just thinking about it.
Selling is out of the question. I can make money anytime.
Jinwoo shouldn’t be tempted by the possibility of getting rich quick. Right now, the important thing was getting stronger.
Of course, it went without saying how important a rare and useful skill like Stealth was.
“I can’t believe this pebble is worth the same as a few houses—or no, a few buildings.”
Jinwoo did something he’d never dreamed in the past that he’d do. The rune stone was easy to crush when he channeled some power into his grip.
Krrrk.
The red light emanating from the cracks of the broken rune stone began surrounding him. It felt like he was receiving recovery magic. The only difference was that the color of the light was red instead of blue.
Whatever the case, it didn’t feel bad in any way. As the red glow swirled around him and then entered his lungs through his nose, it felt like there was an energy he couldn’t describe filling him.
