Chapter 44
"Seriously, learn to read the room. Can't you see everyone's busy?"
Someone's irritated voice echoed through the waiting room in front of the firmly closed gate.
This was the final stage of the B-rank promotion examination.
The practical dungeon evaluation.
The participants waiting for their turn looked both nervous and excited.
There was a reason for that.
This final examination wasn't only about passing.
Recruiters from major guilds were personally watching through the monitors.
If someone achieved an impressive record or demonstrated outstanding combat power here, they could immediately enter an elite career path involving contracts worth hundreds of millions of won.
Everyone gripped their weapons while thinking about how they could shorten their clear time by even a single second.
Chaeho sat quietly in the corner and tightened the Velcro on his gloves.
Unlike everyone around him, his expression remained as calm as a still lake.
He had absolutely no intention of joining some meaningless race for speed.
"Attention."
A staff member stepped onto the platform and activated the microphone.
The noisy room immediately became silent.
"The final practical evaluation will now begin."
"The location is a closed artificial dungeon whose environment is strictly controlled by the Hunter Association."
"The rules are simple. Enter your assigned zone, recover the target magic stone marked with your examinee number from deep inside the dungeon, and return to the extraction point before the time limit."
"The routes from each zone eventually connect inside, so you may encounter other candidates."
A large display behind him turned on.
A complicated map of the dungeon appeared.
"The dungeon contains monsters ranging from upper C-rank to lower B-rank."
"Your final B-rank promotion will be determined through the time required to recover the magic stone, your combat efficiency, and your response to unexpected situations."
The staff member emphasized the final point.
"I'll repeat this once more. This is not a speed competition. Prioritize your survival and safety above everything else."
A few participants yawned at the obvious warning.
Most were already memorizing the map and calculating the shortest possible route.
"Enter the gate corresponding to the zone assigned to you."
The heavy steel doors opened.
Around a dozen participants immediately launched themselves forward like predators finally released toward their prey.
Chaeho didn't rush.
He loosened his ankles, cracked his neck from side to side, and slowly walked toward the gate marked Zone Three.
Dark, damp air clung to his entire body.
The dungeon had been artificially created for safety purposes, but the thick smell of monsters and the moss underfoot made it feel almost identical to a real wild dungeon.
Rustle.
Gravel shifted beneath something in the darkness.
Three pairs of red eyes appeared.
C-rank monsters.
Black-Armored Boars.
Their bodies were covered in thick black bone armor that could easily deflect careless sword strikes.
GRRRR!
The largest one scraped the ground with its front hoof and charged.
Its acceleration was terrifying.
Its huge body filled the narrow tunnel.
An ordinary hunter might have frozen simply from the pressure.
Chaeho drew his sword.
But he didn't activate [Time Slow].
The world continued moving at its normal speed.
He stood completely still with both feet firmly planted on the ground until the boar's sharp horn nearly reached his chin.
He had spent years as a porter watching the attack patterns of low-level monsters from behind other hunters.
Once these creatures reached full speed in a straight-line charge, they couldn't easily change direction.
The moment its power reached its peak...
BANG!
The boar's horn pierced through Chaeho's afterimage and smashed directly into the dirt wall.
Chaeho had only needed one tiny diagonal step.
His wrist lightly turned.
Slice.
The cold edge of his sword slipped between the steel-like bone armor.
Straight into the narrow cartilage gap where the neck connected to the spine.
The monster didn't even manage a proper death cry.
Black blood sprayed from its body as it collapsed.
Turning his back on the first corpse, Chaeho lowered his body and rushed toward the remaining two.
Every flash of his blade was followed by another efficient movement.
The monsters' weak points were struck with pinpoint precision.
There was no unnecessary display of strength.
No flashy eruption of mana.
Only stabbing, cutting, and redirecting attacks.
Every motion worked together like parts of a perfectly built machine.
Chaeho flicked the blood from his blade, took one breath, and continued forward.
Not long afterward, he reached a three-way intersection.
He stopped.
Then crouched and carefully examined the ground.
Heavy footprints belonging to several people covered the paths straight ahead and to the left.
The left path, which was the shortcut, was especially messy.
The dirt had been deeply torn apart, and mud had splashed everywhere.
The distance between footprints was also abnormally wide.
Someone had clearly ignored the monsters and sprinted forward at tremendous speed.
Chaeho lightly brushed his fingers across the wall.
A thick residue of unpleasant mana clung to it.
He could also smell blood.
That meant there wasn't simply a small group of monsters farther inside.
There was probably a large cluster.
Or perhaps a dangerous trap.
It's definitely the shortest path, but with this much mana concentrated inside, the situation ahead is probably a complete mess.
