An S-rank Hunter who has been active for more than seven years, Wang Jiwoo.
He was near the Dungeon Collapse, visiting his grandmother, when he suddenly felt the spike of mana. Immediately, he rushed in the direction of the source even though he didn't have his usual hunting gear.
"Be safe!" his grandma yelled behind him.
"I will!"
Running as fast as he could, he was faster than all the cars on the road and as he got closer, more and more chaos could be seen. Fire decorated buildings like graffiti, cars were flipped upside down, bodies were torn in half, and monsters were everywhere.
"How?! How could a Dungeon Collapse happen here?!"
There weren't any highly-ranked dungeons in this area. The Hunters who worked primarily here should've been more than enough to clear the dungeons before the time limit.
What was terrifying about Dungeon Collapse wasn't just the monsters that were freed from the prison that was the dungeons, but the fact that the number of monsters was increased compared to how many were in the dungeon.
For example, if there were five monsters in a dungeon, once the Dungeon Collapse occurs, those five could grow to ten, twenty, thirty, or even a hundred.
A bunch of large birds was flying in the air. They were spewing fire from their mouths and were able to shoot their feathers that were sharper than most blades.
He looked above their head and read their names.
[Emberhawk]
'Aw crap. These monsters are annoying to deal with.'
Not for him of course, but for lower-ranked Hunters. Their flight already made them a pain, but their seemingly endless number of feathers they could shoot made killing them a task and a half.
Pushing off the ground, he leaped high into the air and was immediately above two Emberhawks.
Gathering mana in his hands, he formed two lightning bolts, one in each hand. He threw both and struck both birds on their head, sending them crashing down.
As they hit the concrete, they didn't even twitch or move a single muscle. They were dead.
'I wish I could summon one of them to help me but I sent them all on a mission to raid that S-rank dungeon. I can't recall them until they're out.'
As the only S-rank Hunter nearby, at least from what he could tell, he had a duty to decrease the number of monsters as fast as possible so that the other Hunters would have an easier job saving people.
❖ ❖ ❖
"Everyone, please stay hidden," Kwon Moon said.
As the only Hunter who was on that bus, he had saved everyone who was still alive, taking them into a building.
Fifty passengers had been on that bus; only fifteen survived. Over half of them were in critical danger as well.
"Where are you going?" a terrified old lady asked. "Please stay here and protect us young man."
"I… I can't. I have an obligation to fight the monsters," he responded.
It was one of the laws that reigned over Hunters who had their license. Regardless of their ranks, unless an announcement was made that put a minimum rank requirement on aiding during a Dungeon Collapse, all Hunters nearby must go and help.
Kwon Moon addressed the distressed passengers.
"I'll try to kill as many monsters in the nearby area so there'll be no safer place than here. Please, please don't try to escape on your own. It's dangerous out there."
Deep down, he knew that he had no chance the moment he stepped out.
He was trying to reassure them that he was going to make it safer for them, but would he even be able to kill a single monster?
The answer was likely "No". But he had to go. Not just because of the law but because of the anger. A fire had lit once he pushed aside the fear that had crippled him a few moments ago.
Looking at each other, although they were scared, the passengers nodded. They were placing all their faith in this young man who was prepared to put his life on the line for them.
"Don't die out there, young man. You have a whole life ahead of you," the old lady said as she placed her hand over his. She made a quick prayer before letting him go.
"Thank you," Kwon Moon smiled as he stepped out.
❖ ❖ ❖
"Remember, although your task is to kill the monsters, your number one priority is to save lives. Don't be greedy for those monster cores. That's not why you're here. Work together to save as many lives as possible."
Wang Jiwoo was addressing a party of Hunters that he had come across. Their expressions hardened when they saw who it was that had approached them at first, but once he began speaking, they gathered their thoughts and were prepared to follow through with his words.
"I'll be heading deeper to deal with the Boss. Don't die. Save lives. Got it?"
"Yes!"
"Understood!"
One of them had a spare spear that he borrowed. It wasn't a spear befitting an S-rank Hunter, but it was better than being bare-handed.
The reason he gave them that quick lecture was that Wang Jiwoo understood human nature. He's been around Hunters long enough to know that they valued wealth and fame even more than celebrities. Some even became Hunter-celebrities [6] because of that.
He was hoping that with his words and presence, at the very least, they might be influenced to make the correct decision and think about others rather than themself.
Some Hunters might be in the middle of deciding between killing a monster for their core versus saving someone about to be crushed by a collapsing building. Then they recall his face, and a spike of fear of disobeying an S-rank Hunter makes their decision for them.
Once they answered, he left.
As he ran down the street, he kept seeing dead people, but he kept an empty thought. It wasn't that he wasn't saddened by it because he was. It's just that he needed to keep his mind focused on the task at hand so that he could save more people.
Then once everything was over, he could mourn the loss of lives.
"Focus. Focus," he told himself as he stabbed the spear into the eyes of a large six-legged lion that had a mane made of fire.
[Hellmane Lions]
Pulling the spear out, it went limp. Then Wang Jiwoo threw a lightning bolt across the street, striking another Hellmane Lion that was about to eat the arm off of a fellow Hunter.
The Hunter was shocked to see that he was alive and his limbs were intact.
Turning around, he saw Wang Jiwoo and thanked him.
Moving deeper, killing more monsters, saving more lives, lecturing more Hunters, Wang Jiwoo suddenly felt a pair of eyes staring at him.
"The Boss," he uttered.
They were quite far away from him, and yet, they had already noticed his presence.
"S-rank? No… maybe higher."
The realization of how powerful the Boss was made him want to scratch his head. How was it possible that they were this strong when there wasn't a high-ranked dungeon here in the area?
"I need to kill the Boss before it wreaks any more havoc."
He leaped up onto the top of a building and began to leap from building to building. Now that he had a rough gauge of the Boss's power level, he couldn't waste any more time killing other monsters or even saving lives.
The Boss's death was the number one priority.
No other Hunters nearby could possibly stand a chance against it.
❖ ❖ ❖
"What if we went and killed the Boss before someone else does?"
A Hunter asked his party. They had heard about the Dungeon Collapse and since they all lived nearby, they quickly grouped up and were traveling towards it by car.
"What do you guys think? Should we?"
As the party leader, he had a lot of command, but since they weren't in a dungeon, his words didn't really hold any more weight than the others.
But they still all respected him even outside the environment of a dungeon, especially in an environment that was not that much different.
His party members thought about it.
"We don't have all our usual party members since some of us live further away, but I think we can handle it. We all know what kind of dungeons are in this area."
They were listed on the website where people could purchase and bid on dungeon rights.
"At the most, it's an A-rank Boss from a B-rank dungeon."
All dungeon Bosses were a rank higher than the dungeon from which they came, and B-rank was the highest rank he had seen of dungeons in the area.
"..."
The decision wasn't an easy one to make because focusing on the Boss would be not only dangerous, but it also required them to not expend energy saving lives.
"We can't handle an A-rank Boss with just us alone, but we should be able to survive and escape. If it's an A-rank, we redirect our attention elsewhere to save lives. If it's a lower-ranked Boss, then we can kill it, loot it, and… we'd be saving lives as well by getting rid of them as soon as possible."
"I think we should do it."
"Great! Anyone else agree?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Let's aim for the Boss."
With the party coming to an agreement, the car drove as far towards the source as they could before coming to an end where the roads were no longer ideal to drive in with the burning cars everywhere and blockage from debris.
The streets were getting worse and worse.
At the very front of the party was the Tank [7], behind him were three DPS [8], another layer behind were two long-ranged DPS, and at the very back were two Supports [9].
"Aren't we rather lucky? We haven't come across any monsters yet."
"Please don't jinx us."
They came across a non-Hunter who was bleeding on their arm. Seeing the party, he screamed for help, but they ignored him. There were no monsters nearby, so it wasn't even like his life was in immediate danger.
"How much further?"
The one most sensitive to mana in the party responded, "I think we should be there in five more minutes at this rate."
All of them were running at the fastest pace of the slowest member of the group, which was still faster than even the fastest non-Hunter in the world.
Their strongest members were B-rank. If even one of them was A-ranked, then they would've turned around from where they were because the pressure that the Boss was emitting was so heavy that they would've known it was a death sentence heading in that direction.
"To think that we can get the monster core from a Boss without having to pay for a dungeon. I might make enough to pay off the rest of my house."
"Let's hope it's a B-rank then. If it's C-rank… I mean, whatever. It's free money, I guess."
❖ ❖ ❖
Hiding behind a truck was Kwon Moon, who was injured.
He didn't know how he was alive, but he was. An Emberhawk had attacked him with its feather a few minutes ago, but it turned its attention to another Hunter.
'A B-rank monster? That means the Boss is either A-rank, S-rank… or even higher.'
Understanding that he was in extreme danger, he wanted to hide in a building and run away from the looming death. But no matter how much fear was stabbing his heart, his legs refused to get out of the streets.
Perhaps a part of him was prepared to die.
A Dungeon Collapse had killed his family, so it was only right that the way he left this world was through the same method.
"I'm sorry Mom, Dad, Big Brother, Sis… Baby Brother…"
He closed his eyes and he could see them a distance away in a room of complete whiteness. Their backs were facing him, but their heads were turned.
They reached out their arms towards him and gestured for him to join.
Kwon Moon opened his eyes and they disappeared.
"It won't be long. I'll see you all soon."
Clutching tightly onto his sword, he left his hiding spot.
At the very least before he died, he wanted to take one more monster down with him, even if it was more likely that the Sun froze before he succeeded.
Strangely, as he was in the middle of the road, it was quiet. Yes, the sound of fire, people screaming, and cries still echoed everywhere, but he couldn't hear any monsters.
Where had they gone?
He looked ahead and saw a group of Hunters running across a street from left to right.
'Where are they heading?'
They seemed to be moving with purpose.
"The Boss?"
If he was correct about where they were heading, then the correct decision to make there as an F-rank Hunter was to avoid the direction they were heading in. But as he stood there with the warm blood still dripping from the cut on his forehead, he began running.
Running in the direction where the Boss was.
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[6] Hunter-celebrities: Hunters who also work as celebrities. They are sponsored by companies, have their faces on billboards, and are frequently in ads.
[7] Tank: A Hunter whose primary role is to absorb damage and protect allies. Tanks draw the attention of enemies, control the pace of the battlefield, and prevent their party members from being harmed. Usually uses a shield.
[8] DPS: A Hunter focused on dealing the most damage possible in combat. DPS roles are responsible for eliminating enemies quickly. While powerful offensively, DPS Hunters typically rely on Tanks and Support to survive prolonged battles.
[9] Support: A Hunter who enhances the effectiveness of the party through healing, buffs, debuffs, or crowd control. Supports are responsible for keeping allies alive, weakening enemies, and providing strategic advantages. While they may not deal significant damage, their contributions often determine the success or failure of a raid.