Chapter 86: Power Struggle
Am I trapped?
“Anyway, I’ll hang up now. Oh, Ms. Seonwoo-yeon, make sure to eat something.”
I ended the call carelessly. I didn’t want my food to get cold.
*
How many days has it been since then?
“Whoa.”
The crisp autumn weather.
The sky outside is filled with a clear blue, but I still couldn’t bring myself to go out.
I was preoccupied with something important.
“Will this be enough?”
Shake, shake.
I observed the blue liquid inside the bottle I was holding. This is the result of the past few days.
It’s Magic Power Booster ver.2.
I’m good at casting spells and handling magic tools, and now I’m into potion crafting.
What can’t I do?
Heh-heh.
As expected, I could use the Blueshell without any trouble.
I overcame the side effects of this fruit effortlessly.
‘It just has some kind of nephrotoxic substance; it’s no big deal, right?’
Kidneys? If they fail, I can just fix them again.
Addiction? The Greatest Mage who controls every nerve in the body wouldn’t hand over control to something like that.
All the problems were solved.
So, what reason do I have not to use this excellent Awakened drug?
“Indeed, sneaking in was a great idea.”
I had finally achieved the result I longed for.
I mixed low-concentration Blueshell with the existing Magic Power Booster and enhanced my body by a level.
[1.3.31 Change Log]
● Awakening Level +10 increased
My maximum mana has increased.
In other words, from now on, I can use basic magic without having to swallow a booster.
‘I did it!’
But in the end, my overall rank is still F, so there won’t be a big change in the power of my magic…
‘But progress is progress!’
I decided to think positively.
If I keep moving forward step by step, the day will come when I can cure my ailment—I imagined.
-♩♪~ ♬~
I snapped out of my daydream about three minutes later.
My phone, plugged into the charger, began to ring.
“Geez, Kim Gi-ryeo doesn’t even have any saved contacts, yet why do I get so many calls?”
Another illegal ad from a loan company, maybe.
I was already annoyed even before answering the call.
But then the name displayed on the screen.
[Kang Chang-ho☎]
I paused for a moment after checking my phone, then pressed the accept button.
“Yes, this is Kim Gi-ryeo.”
A voice came back through the speaker.
*
Earthlings have all sorts of different calling styles.
Some, like Seonwoo-yeon, get straight to the point. Of course, the opposite case exists too.
-So, Hunter Kim Gi-ryeo, how was last week?
S-Class Awakened Kang Chang-ho.
Our conversation surprisingly went long. So let me quickly summarize the key points.
‘Huh?’
Kang Chang-ho said he wanted to ‘apologize.’
‘Apologize?’
Specifically, he said he was sorry for suddenly blocking the Red Gate strategy.
He declared that he’d been inconsiderate and suggested we maintain a better contractual relationship by coordinating with each other in the future.
“Wow.”
Moreover, astonishingly, this wasn’t the end.
Kang Chang-ho mentioned he would provide me with some compensation for unilaterally restricting my hunter activities.
“You found a Gate?”
But who would have thought he’d suggest going to the gate together first?
‘Does he think I love being a hunter like crazy…?’
I recalled what that S-Class had said again.
He had already claimed a high item drop rate gate. So, let’s go together.
He mentioned he could handle the strategy alone, but I’d need to bring my own backpack if I wanted to recover any items…….
It was a proposal that appeared to have no downsides.
After a moment’s thought, I decided to accept his apology.
‘It’s suspicious, but…’
I couldn’t continue avoiding that S-Class.
*
[Dimension’s Treasure Vault]
[Grade: B]
[Description: High probability of artifacts appearing from treasure chests that show up along the way. Beware of frequently occurring traps.]
We soon arrived at the Gate in Gyeonggi Province.
Upon further digging, I found out that this [Dimension’s Treasure Vault] is famous for its great rewards.
Medium-sized guilds reportedly engage in fierce rank competition just to enter.
“Then, let’s go in.”
“Ah, yes.”
I tuned into the buzzing noise of the gate and finally took a step forward.
What appeared before my eyes was…
‘Oh ho.’
A grand labyrinth that seemed to leap right out of a myth.
‘The ceiling is wide open, but the walls are so high I can’t even think about climbing them.’
Thus, we began our first joint strategy of the Blue Gate.
However, the subsequent schedule was a series of activities I couldn’t even call hunter work…
Smack!
Suddenly, there was a sound like a ripe watermelon splitting apart.
And the visual wasn’t too different either.
A monster had just been smashed into pieces, splattering red liquid as it met the S-Class punch.
‘Man, being a hunter requires a good stomach to handle it!’
I thought as I approached the monster that had met its demise.
Then Kang Chang-ho pulled out magic stones from the corpse for easy handling.
Just like always.
‘Oh wow!’
Watching the hunt and stuffing magic stones into my bag.
It may seem like a dull and repetitive task, but why does it feel so thrilling?
‘This time, the magic stone is as big as my forearm!’
I grinned as I filled my bag with the magic stone.
This is how I could understand why the [Dimension’s Treasure Vault] was so popular.
The discovery rate of magic stones is nearly 100% or so. The first treasure chest spat out items worth more than my entire fortune.
In any case, the profits were far beyond an ordinary dungeon.
‘If I sell this, I could easily make millions, huh?’
Even before we had finished packing up the monster’s body, we encountered another treasure chest.
There was no time to catch a breath.
“The claws will be handled alone, so go ahead and open the chest.”
I nodded at Kang Chang-ho’s words and headed toward the corner.
By the way, I heard dungeon treasure chests have a low chance of being mimics…
Heh, that’s nothing that would be a problem for an excellent appraiser like me.
‘I can tell if it’s alive or not at a glance.’
Thud, clang.
I assured myself the treasure chest was safe and inserted my finger into the crack.
That was when it happened.
“Hmm?”
Click.
A small noise that barely registered began, and the dungeon suddenly shook violently.
Rumble! Boom!
The following sound was ear-splitting.
I was momentarily startled but didn’t move rashly.
What I heard was the sound of the whole floor around me collapsing.
Ugh!
Below the collapsed floor, a bottomless darkness lay open. But I couldn’t conclude that just because I couldn’t see it, there was nothing there.
Creeeep, creep.
In that darkness, eight red, gleaming eyes flashed by.
‘Oh no.’
There were spider webs stretching around the treasure chest. And a massive monster lurking below.
This was a trap. And the reason it triggered suddenly was…
“Kang Chang-ho Hunter?”
I turned to look in the direction of Kang Chang-ho.
He shrugged his shoulders with a nonchalant expression, pressing his hand against the labyrinth wall.
‘Was that the trap activation switch?’
I carefully raised myself from the less than meter-high platform.
Creeep!
The underground monster immediately reacted.
It seemed to be a creature sensitive to vibrations.
“What are you doing?”
I casually asked, and Kang Chang-ho immediately started explaining.
“Not overly startled, huh?”
“I kind of figured it might happen.”
“You figured?”
“How could I believe you when you suddenly apologize? Obviously, I thought you must be up to something.”
Thus, we continued our conversation across the collapsed floor.
“So, you followed me knowing it would be dangerous?”
Sure, I thought an incident would occur at this Gate sooner or later. You punk.
But I pretended to know nothing as I stepped into the Gate.
If that S-Class had any ill intentions, an ambush would be inevitable anyway…
‘Hmm.’
I’m still not used to Earth yet.
In other words, I’m not aware of what kind of means an alien could deploy.
So, I thought it would be better to get attacked at a predictable time and place; that’s why I accepted this invitation.
But…
“Still, this is way different from what I imagined.”
I looked down at the collapsed platform, tilting my head.
“You really set off a trap, not to mention there’s a monster as a bonus.”
Absolutely, I never anticipated this.
If Kang Chang-ho was going to attack, I would have thought he’d do it himself or use a highly threatening trap.
Creeep.
Thanks to that, I found myself unable to evade and was trapped helplessly.
“If I get eaten by that spider… wouldn’t that cause trouble for you too?”
I asked with a puzzled voice, and a reply came from across.
“It’s fine. It’s gentler than it looks; it only paralyzes people and won’t cause any harm.”
What a nonchalant voice.
“In any case, this wasn’t what I wanted to do at all.”
Kang Chang-ho then provided a brief explanation.
“But our Hunter Kim Gi-ryeo keeps provoking people…”
“Me?”
“You stirred up the gangsters while I was banned from the Red Gate. And it turned out to be a den of armed druggies.”
“Ah.”
“Really…”
Several expressions crossed his face—disbelief, doubt, and a smirk.
“You didn’t think I’d respond when you keep pulling dangerous tricks, huh?”
But that chuckle didn’t last long.
He soon revealed a displeased and ominous magic power.
Snap.
At that moment, the sinister footsteps of the spider monster echoed through the air.
I cautiously asked in a small voice.
“So, what? Are you going to kill me here because of that?”
To which Kang Chang-ho replied.
“I can if I want to. The monster’s paralyzing poison could reveal your rank and potentially weaken your strength.”
It seemed that Kang Chang-ho was rather irked that I got involved in the Nachalsawon investigation.
So, that’s how he responded.
From his perspective, it might feel safer to just kill a sacrifice here rather than risking losing his skills.
‘The warehouse search was merely a spur-of-the-moment thing, and I forgot to call…’
I rubbed my nose and thought for a moment.
‘It’s impressive that you managed to hear about the incident in that mountain valley…’
Since being marked by an absolute power like an S-Class hunter, it was a situation that could have happened anytime.
But that’s fine.
Now I have means to counter.
“Hmm.”
I closed my eyes in a blank expression for a moment, and then quietly unbuttoned one of my shirt buttons.
Click.
What emerged was a thin golden necklace glowing in a clear hue.
[Pyromancer Necklace (Rare)]
Just as Kang Chang-ho was about to express his puzzlement at the sight.
I grasped the necklace and silently activated its ability.
“Hmm? What’s with the sudden necklace…?”
The spell I’d prepared was none other than a small explosive flame.
“…!?”
Along with that, the coordinates were in my skull.
