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manawari · 9 months

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INFINITE LEVELING IN THE TOMBS

If anyone thought that life couldn't get any better, think again. Because the world had entered a new era. . . Portals that connected the human world into a place, ominous and creatures that would pounce any living being to death. These were called 'Gates', and beyond these gates were 'Dungeons'. After these things had appeared all around the world, a handful amount of humans had undergone a process called 'awakening' where mana ignited within their bodies and gave them skills that no ordinary human possessed.

Then, these awakened humans became Hunters. People who were prepared to risk their lives and fight the monsters within the dungeons before it was too late. Hunters soon rose to popularity, as famous as celebrities, and were rewarded with money from the corpses they brought out.

Not only that. Within those gates were also Tombs. It was believed to be appeared alongside the gates, but due to the insufficient capabilities of the hunters to deal with the tombs as they were too busy fighting, the association had given an opportunity for ordinary humans to take on and raid the tombs.

If hunters brought out monster corpses, tomb raiders brought out relics — which were magical objects that also had powers if the relic had bonded itself with its master. Tomb raiders too rose to fame despite being humans with no powers, but courage and strength.

*roar!*

The serpents charged at the hunter. And the hunter, who stood in the dungeon alone, watched as the monstrous snakes headed toward him whilst he remained immobile and nary a single trace of fear was seen in his face.

"Arise." He said.

Shadows stretched from his feet and the front serpents had been slit apart after the shadow soldiers had emerged from the darkness on the ground. Warriors that belonged to none other than Sung Jin-woo, who made them as part of his arsenal until he had created an army composed of creatures he killed in his own. Once he became one of the strongest hunters and a renowned person, Jin-woo had been conquering gates without breaking a single sweat.

He summoned his daggers out of thin air and caught the glimpse of the dungeon boss. The monster was tall and enormous, with a frill behind its thick skull, and two upper fangs on its venomous mouth. While his soldiers were busy battling with the other serpents, Jin-woo finally dashed forward, moving like a shadow in the air, and leaped upward where he brought a rapid slash onto the skin. The boss caterwauled in pain and attacked the hunter with its fangs. Jin-woo moved to the other side and began to sprint across its back to reach the frill.

He tore through it.

So the frill was its main weakness. Now, Jin-woo was able to kill it in a single move. He rushed again and swerved past the dripping acidic blood and went up to the serpent's head to jump on its muzzle and dug his daggers into the eyes. The hunter got down as the monster squirmed in pain until it collapsed on the ground in a heap of smoke.

[SHADOW EXTRACTION MAY BE USED ON THIS TARGET.]

The hunter grinned. "Arise."

Black aura arose from the serpent's cadaver and whirled into the shadow form of its physical body. Jin-woo looked over and saw the rest of the bodies that were slaughtered by his shadows. All of them were available for extraction. So, he repeated the same process as he always did when gathering new shadows.

The monsters were done. Now, he only had one thing left to do.

He left the area and turned to a tunnel that led to another section of the gate — a tomb. They were probably done conquering the tomb at this point. Jin-woo had bought enough time with the monsters, so the raiders, along with Jin-ho, had to finish passing by whatever obstacle laid ahead of them in the tomb and retrieve a relic.

"Hunter Sung!"

Jin-woo looked up and saw Seo Joo-heon, one of the tomb raiders in his guild, waving his hand and had his signature crooked grin on his features.

"How was the tomb?" The hunter asked.

"Eh, not entirely difficult. We got a vase relic this time." Joo-heon pointed his thumb at the grey vase which had Rope, his personal relic, around it. Jae-ha and Jin-ho followed tow, but unlike their leader, they looked rather exhausted.

"What happened to them?" Jin-woo raised an eyebrow.

"The tomb had traps on the floor that released ashes if stepped on a wrong tile. Apparently, Jae-ha walked into it twice." Joo-heon explained, referring to his assistant, who was also another tomb raider besides him. "Luckily, Jin-ho was there, otherwise I wouldn't have retrieved the relic faster. That thing even fought me."

Ah, so that is why Rope is holding it. Jin-woo realized. "Well, in that case, we should leave before the whole dungeon collapses."

"What about the diamonds, hyung-nim?" Jin-ho piped up.

"The shadows already took care of it."

The group left the gate unharmed and headed to the van that was parked near the portal. Jin-ho turned on the engines and pulled away from the area, almost a minute before the gate disappeared out of the air. Inside of the vehicle was the whole Ahjin Guild, minus Ilya Volgof as he had matters to attend to outside of work, it didn't contain many members just like other guilds due to the sole reason of Jin-woo wanting to conquer the gates on his own.

And since it was a mandatory requirement to have at least three tomb raiders in one guild, the Hunters' Association had sent Seo Joo-heon, who was a tomb raider who hadn't had any contract with a guild since he had taken on the job. Fortunately, the two had managed to get along and Jin-woo helped the raider get settled in his guild, and lucky for him as well, Joo-heon brought along two of his comrades to complete the requirements of creating a guild.

Joo-heon used to only partake in available slots in a party if he got called. But now, he was raiding tombs for a year under the Ahjin Guild, led by Sung Jin-woo. He was also a raider who had a lot of relics in his arsenal, he was usually the one to decide whether he should keep the relic or send it away in an auction.

"What the hell did you do to this relic?!" Jae-ha yelled, staring at the vase who turned out to have several damages on its body.

"Like I said, it fought me. So, I showed who is the boss between the two of us." Joo-heon said as matter-of-factly and sipped on his coffee. "Stop complaining and just restore it."

Jae-ha grunted. "But I have plans this afternoon!"

"Then cancel it," shrugged Joo-heon.

Jae-ha slammed his forehead on his desk and let out incoherent complaints. Joo-heon just continued drinking his coffee. Even though Jae-ha always complained about the amount of work, he always got the task done within a day; he was a tomb raider who excelled in restoring relics into good as new, his personal relics were also tools to make the process faster and he was able to make an exact replica, ranging from relics to humans themselves.

Joo-heon stepped into the Guild Master's office and found Jin-woo on his chair with his feet on the desk. "Getting bored already, Sung?"

"Not exactly. My mom just texted me that I should come home early for dinner." said Jin-woo, looking at his phone. "What about you? Do you have plans for this evening?"

"Not at all. The guys and I will just be drinking once Julian is done with his raid." Joo-heon took a seat in front of the desk. He crossed his legs as he looked at his friend wryly. "So, family dinner, eh? Are you going to bring a certain someone home?"

"I don't know what you are talking about." Jin-woo stared at him blankly.

"Oh, you know~ aren't you going to bring home the woman you have been boggling on?" Joo-heon smirked. "I'm sure your mom will like her."

"No, I am not inviting Hae-in."

"I didn't speak of a name, but okay."

"She's the only one you keep teasing me about, so shut it. We're just friends and nothing else."

"Ha! Did you know that my hyung said the same thing and the next day he was now dating that said friend of his?"

"That doesn't have to do anything with me."

"Everything has something to do with you, dipshit."

Jin-woo groaned. "This is why you don't have a girlfriend."

"Careful with your words, Guild Master," Joo-heon huffed. "I'll have you know that I—"

Jin-woo's phone started to ring.

The hunter answered it and moved the screen to his ear. "Hunter Choi Jong-in?"

The speaker was turned on, so Joo-heon was able to hear the call.

"Hunter Sung? I hope you are available right now."

"What is it?"

"A large gate appeared in this compound. Would you like to join us? The tomb must be big, so we require your tomb raiders to join."

It took a few seconds for Jin-woo to respond. "Okay. I'll— I'll be there right away."

"Thank you, Jin-woo. I will send you the location after this call."

The line was cut off.

"So much for that family dinner, huh?" Joo-heon said.

Jin-woo sighed. "Let's get going."

The two headed out and barked out their orders in the workplace.

"Jin-ho! Inform my mother that I'm sorry and won't be able to come home early due to a gate emergency."

"On it, hyung-nim!"

"Jae-ha! Put that relic in the storage room. We are going to raid another tomb today!"

"Yes, boss. . . "

Jin-woo took the keys this time and drove the vehicle to the destination his fellow hunter had sent him. In the way, Jae-ha spotted Ilya, so they ushered him to get inside and Joo-heon explained the whole situation to Ilya, who still seemed to register what was going on.

Ilya Volgof had a relic that was similar to Jin-woo's powers, which was how he had taken a liking on the tomb raider, as he had a relic that possessed various demons. Other than raiding a tomb, he would sometimes participate in fighting monsters with Jin-woo.

They had arrived in the location a few moments later. The Hunters Guild was already there and had appeared to be waiting for the other guild to arrive. Among its tomb raiders were Julian Miller and Lee Seol-ah, who were also Joo-heon's friends before receiving permanent contracts, but Julian was the first one out of all of them to get involved with a hunter guild.

After parking the vehicle in a safe corner, the Ahjin Guild members headed out and joined the awaiting party. Jong-in and his guild's vice master, Cha Hae-in, went over to greet the group.

"I apologize if my call had become an inconvenience, Jin-woo," said Jong-in. "With a gate this big, I knew I had to seek for a more powerful hunter to raid with my guild."

"It's alright. Is everyone else ready?" Jin-woo said.

Jong-in nodded. "We are ready to head in now that you are here."

"Joo-heon! Jae-ha! Ilya!" Seol-ah called from the distance. She waved her hand at them.

Joo-heon just gave her a nod whilst Jae-ha waved his hand back and Ilya smiled. Seol-ah owned a couple of relics, but she primarily used only two, one of which was a bag that was able to swallow various objects and the other was a fire spirit called Gildal.

The A-Rank gate was indeed large, but Jin-woo noticed it looked rather bigger than usual. Jong-in had made the right decision to seek him. There were a couple of tomb raiders in the Hunters Guild as well, though he knew that Joo-heon would be able to lead the raiders well — unless he had gotten into an argument with Julian in the middle of work.

Could there be a double dungeon within that portal?

Jin-woo could only know if he see it for himself. . .

The two guilds went in and the aura changed into a thick mana in an instant. Hae-in had to cover her nose due to the strong smell. The tomb raiders had gone to their separate way while the hunters deeper into the dungeon, weapons hot for whatever creatures which were ready to ambush them.

The hunters had three S-Rank hunters. It wasn't the first time, but it always felt like they were about to raid an S-Rank gate. As wary they were in their surroundings, they knew they shouldn't have to worry about anything since they got a hunter whose powers were flames, a brilliant swordswoman, and a necromancer who summoned his shadow army. They were going to be fine.

. . . At least they thought they would.

The monsters appeared like a tidal wave. Orcs, goblins, skeletons, wolves, and lizards alike. The tanks marched forward after Jong-in had released his first batch of flames to burn the front monsters. The creatures managed to pounce over the tanks, so the mages blocked their attacks with their magic and Hae-in lunged forward to tear the monsters apart in one go. Jin-woo summoned his shadows and had them protect the hunters from getting killed, he had also sent some of the shadows to the raiding party just in case something might happen to them the gate.

A large gate meant a larger tomb.

Joo-heon had conquered various tombs before stepping into the guild. His raids before the guild recruitment had involved moments where he was in the brink of death, which was why he had chosen to get into the tomb before anyone else, and also to block for any opponents. He had quite a handful of people after him due to his status in the tomb raiding field.

The monsters kept coming like an endless flood. But there was no sight of the boss. Jin-woo had yelled out to Jong-in to give him way through the monsters so he could try and search for the boss monster. Nodding his head, Jong-in directed his hand to the monsters and a rapid explosion burst through the army.

"Tell us if you found the beast!" Jong-in shouted. "Are you sure you can go by yourself?!"

"I am!" Jin-woo replied as he raced through the clean pathway. "Just keep protecting the hunters!"

"I'll join you once I'm done with these guys!" Hae-in told him and thrusted her sword through the heads of two goblins.

"Okay, but just be careful!"

He was confident that he could take on the dungeon boss no matter what. He had Igris and Beru in his arsenal, Jin-woo would just summon them if he had a bit of struggle taking on the monster itself.

The hunter went deeper into the dungeon, more enemies lunged at him, but he successfully tore their bodies apart in a desperate hurry. He summoned the serpents, especially the largest one, and had left them deal with the incoming monsters.

Earlier, he had wondered if this gate would have another dungeon inside, he was correct. However, rather than a door, it was a portal.

A portal. . . What could possibly insinuate this? And most of all, what lurked inside?

Jin-woo paused for a brief moment and took out his phone to snap a picture of the light blue portal in front of him. Perhaps the association had known what it was. He had conquered countless of gates throughout his life as a hunter, even S-Rank ones, but none had showed a portal within a portal.

He had a strange inkling about this. . .

"Jin-woo!"

He turned around and saw Hae-in. "You came faster than I expected."

"Igris took cover for me," said Hae-in. She looked at the portal and widened her eyes. "Another gate?"

"It looks like the double dungeon, isn't it?"

"Hmm. . . It is, but I think it's the other way around. I've never seen this one before and the smell—" Hae-in sniffed the mana radiating from the portal. "It feels strange. Are you going to go in?"

"Yeah. At least, the boss could be there." Jin-woo said.

"Then let's go together." Hae-in spoke up and adjusted her grip around her sword.

The corner of his mouth curved into a grin. "Ms. Cha, are you that worried about me?"

"If I stay here, then that just means I wasted my time running through the monsters just to get to you, isn't that right, Jin-woo?" Hae-in said.

"I suppose you are." Jin-woo chuckled.

And so, the two of them head inside of the portal. Both Jin-woo and Hae-in were prepared to battle the dungeon boss, whether it would attack the second they set their foot in or wait for a few seconds, they would lunge without a second thought.

Jin-woo was about to see a ferocious beast when, to his surprise. . . It was a corpse. Dead and immobile. Dark purple blood was spilled throughout the ground, and—

There were humans?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Han Islat was welcomed by an unexpected enemy when he and his party had entered the 25th floor. A gigantic devilish beast with two horns on its head, a nasal horn on top of its mouth, and a wild slicked tail. It had an axe on its enormous hand. It attacked the moment its gaze landed upon them. He expected that there would be an army of monsters awaiting for them, but it was only one monster, and it was still powerful than ever.

Well, it was fortunate that it alone. It was enough for the five of them to deal altogether. How worse could it have been if there were other beasts lingering in the floor?

« FLOOR 25. Mission type - --- . Objective - fight and survive. »

Those were the words in the window that had appeared in front of him after defeating the tremendous monster. Fight and survive? Seemed like an easy mission for him.

As he sat on top of the carcass, Han read the rewards he received to recover his strength. The others were looking around to inspect the whole area. It was like they were in a cave. It was vast and he couldn't get a glimpse of what the ceiling looked like since it was a cluster of shadows the higher he stared. Once he recovered from the exhaustion, they must continue their venture into the floor until they completed the mission.

"Han! I think I saw something moving over there!" Jenna shouted. "They look like they're humans."

Han got down from the top and unsheathed his sword from his back. He squinted his eyes as he looked closely. Jenna was right, they were humans, walking and heading toward them. One was a man and the other was a woman. Both were carrying weapons, a sword and two daggers, which were coated in blood.

Blood? Han remembered that one floor he had conquered. An army of soldiers had their weapons pointed at his group, only then to reveal themselves as bloodthirsty monsters. They had been fooled by them, but Han would not let himself be fooled twice because of mere humans appearing to be normal.

So. . . He attacked.

The one with daggers lunged first and their weapons collided like a bright light. Han thrusted his sword forward, but the man avoided it as if he knew it would happen. He studied his opponent's movements and to his shock, it was swift and powerful, as though this man had gone through the same battles as him.

But no, there could be a possibility that the man had copied his moves. Even if the battle was two daggers against a sword and shield.

"Jenna!" Han yelled out.

Knowing what she must do, Jenna quickly inserted her arrow into the string and released the arrow flying in the air, aiming for the human her leader was fighting. Then, something blocked it and sent the arrow darting toward somewhere else. It was the swordswoman. Jenna began to fire more arrows, but the sword just kept blocking it and none had pierced her flesh.

She's too strong! She grunted, her arrows were now useless, Jenna then glanced to her companions. "Uhm, guys?"

"On it." Edis spoke up and took out her knives. "Eolka!"

Eolka followed Edis across the cave. The mage halted in a sufficient distance and waited for her opportunity to unleash her fire magic. On the other hand, Edis charged at the swordswoman and swerved swiftly past the sword, but it was no ordinary sword, it was as if it was enchanted with magic — the blade glowed in bright yellow and so did the woman's eyes to show ferocity.

Edis gritted her teeth and attacked once more, clashing her knives against the sword and hitting every open space she could find, but her opponent just kept avoiding and blocking her attacks. Almost the same as the guy Han was clashing with. She shot a quick look at Eolka and jerked away from the sword that was about to pierce her.

Eolka raised her hands as mana overflowed from her body. "Ignite."

Flames flushed through the cave. Edis managed to leap away, and to her dismay, the swordswoman avoided it as well. Jenna proceeded to fire arrows, trying to get a successful shot. Edis hadn't stopped attacking the woman no matter how frustrated she was becoming because not even Eolka's powers were enough to take her down.

Meanwhile, Han could sense his teammates were struggling with the woman as well despite being outnumbered. What was this? He had never encountered someone who rivaled his prowess too much. If anything, this was harder than fighting that giant of a monster moments ago.

"Aaron!" Han called his last available teammate. "Give your shot!"

Aaron, despite being not as strong as the rest, went to his position and brought his spear forward, aiming to pierce the man, who was distracted with Han's attacks. Sadly, their opponent still managed to notice the incoming weapon and threw a solid kick on Han's abdomen even though his armor could not be affected by any attacks. It was powerful enough to send him backtracking. The man turned to Aaron and slammed his dagger against the sharp tip and yanked the spear to hit him with its bottom.

A sharp pain struck Aaron's chest and fell on his knees.

Han lunged again and his sword met the middle between the two daggers, he pushed more of his power to shove his weight into his hands. The man gritted his teeth and fought against the opposing force.

Just a little more. . . Han could slit his neck apart.

"Just who. . . Do you think you are?!" The man let out.

"I should be asking the same thing." Han growled. "Did you come here to attack us?"

"Attack? I came here to kill the dungeon boss!"

"Dungeon boss? Are you referring to that dead monster in this cave?"

Instead of answering, the man's eyes glowed purple and mustered some powers to shove Han away and used his dagger to smack the sword away. He placed the tip of his weapon at Han's neck, preventing him from making a further move.

"I'll ask again." He glared. "Who. Are. You?"

"Why do you think I should tell you? You're just a mere NPC." Han scowled.

The man blinked, yet maintained his cold expression. "NPC? What is this? A game? This is a real world in case you forgot!"

"Real world? What nonsense are you saying?"

"Han! I don't think he knows." Jenna spoke up. "He doesn't seem delusional either. We haven't seen an NPC talk like that."

"We can never trust too much, Jenna. How many times have we met people who are just a bunch of snakes? We never know when they will bite." Han said. He glanced at his opponent. "It's only a matter of time before this one reveals his true colors."

"So your name is Han," said the man. "What's your deal here?"

"Clear this floor." Han answered. "If you don't pose any harm, then step away and leave us alone."

"Like hell I will—"

"Wait!" The swordswoman chimed in. "How about we settle this properly? We cannot fight for too long until one of us dies. You people seem to have a different view. First, I'd like to introduce myself as Cha Hae-in, and I am a hunter." She turned to her companion. "And that is Sung Jin-woo, who is also a hunter."

Ah, so this bastard's name is Sung Jin-woo. Han let out a wry grin. "Seems like there is a rational one between the two of you. I thought you're just bloodthirsty assholes."

Jin-woo snarled and removed his dagger from his neck. "As Hae-in said, we will settle this properly. So follow us and if any of you make a wrong move, I'll slit your throats."

"Funny threat for an NPC." Han smirked.

Jin-woo glared at him once more and headed toward the portal. Hae-in joined her fellow hunter while the rest of his teammates gathered to his side; Edis had a small fresh cut on her cheekbone as the product of her fight earlier, Aaron was still in pain after that damage from his own weapon, Eolka looked exhausted, and Jenna was watching in concern for her companions.

Han picked up his sword and looked at Jin-woo. "Hey!"

The pair turned around and witnessed a rapid force toward them. Jin-woo got his weapons ready, but the tip of the sword pierced a few inches away from touching the unprotected skin.

"Please to meet you, Sung Jin-woo," Han snickered.

"Why you little—" Jin-woo scowled.

Han and his group followed the two hunters out of the portal and could not help but become surprised at the amount of cadavers littering the ground. Suddenly, Han had become quite wary of the two strangers. Could this floor's mission was to wipe out all of the monsters in the cave? But, Jin-woo and Hae-in weren't NPCs, even Jin-woo was aware of what that word meant.

So what was this floor exactly?

Hae-in wore a red armor and Jin-woo wore a black shirt with a pair of dark pants. Weird combination of hunters in the cave. Hae-in looked she could pass enough in her job, but Jin-woo? Han thought he was just some ragtag who had skills.

Nonetheless, they were powerful. If they were part of Pick Me Up, Han would've gladly take them into his party.

The hunters led them into another direction and from there, a large group of people were gathered in the midst of lifeless beastly bodies and some were burnt as well. Han could only widen his eyes in surprise as he stood in front of his team. Then, as the rest of the hunters noticed some unfamiliar presence in the area, they fell into chatters.

"Who are those people?"

"I don't think I've seen them around. I know each and every faces in our guild. And Ahjin doesn't have a lot of members!"

"Could they be the boss of this gate?"

"Who is that woman with a dress? Is she a princess or something?"

"Where did Ms. Cha and Mr. Sung find these people?"

"I thought something bad has happened to you both!"

"What in the world is going on. . . ?"

Jin-woo cleared his throat. "Everyone! These people. . . Came inside of this dungeon. It appeared they are the ones who killed the boss."

"Wait, what?"

"How?!"

"Are you sure these are humans?"

Han clenched his hands into fists. He glared at the hunters. He became more suspicious of them, questioning whether they were humans? He could no longer tell which one was normal or not.

"I know all of you are baffled, but let's settle this in the Ahjin Guild building," said Jin-woo. "Jong-in, you should come with us. What about the tomb raiders? Are they here yet?"

"Yep!" A voice exclaimed. "We just finished with the tomb moments before you guys show up."

Jin-woo nodded and turned to Han and his team. "Let's move along."

The group followed the hunters and tomb raiders out of the cave and passed through what seemed to be a portal, much similar to the doors. When they got out, as if there was something else to surprise Han, a bunch of people were gathered outside, all wearing construction attires. It was as though they got transported into a world that had a modern civilization.

A small part of him felt like he returned to his world before the game swallowed him. . .

Jin-woo led them to a vehicle and hauled the door open to gesture them inside. It took a few moments until Han let his teammates settle inside and followed them last. The rest of the empty seats continued to be filled by the other passengers and Jin-woo sat in front where he was in charge of driving the vehicle.

The engines rumbled beneath their feet and the car pulled from the driveway, leaving the workers behind. Han could even swore he saw some of them taking the corpses out of the portal. A modern world with monsters? He could no longer tell which was reality or fantasy.

His teammates were silent, their wariness were almost palpable. They were in a vehicle with a bunch of strangers. But Han knew Jin-woo was not jesting when he said he would slit their throats if any of them made a wrong move, he was not stupid enough to not listen when the objective of this mission was to fight and survive, and the latter was something they must do.

A few moments later, the car moved into a new direction and entered an open space under the building. The engines died and the driver made his way out of the door, one of the passengers pushed their door aside to get outside. As always, Han came last once all of his members left.

"This way please," spoke the man with red hair and a fancy brown suit.

What's with these people wearing different style of clothes? Han thought.

Things were becoming a bit more far-fetched to him. The rest looked like wearing casual clothes, including Jin-woo, while the swordswoman wore a red armor and the guy who spoke just now looked like a rich merchant or of royalty. Han couldn't grasp on the situation, yet still went on the flow, perhaps he would get the gist of everything.

They entered an elevator and Jin-woo pressed one of the numbers to close the doors and sent the lift to bring them up. It was quite amazing how all of them managed to fit into such a meager space. Jenna had given Aaron one of her healing potions to reduce the pain in his chest, Han hoped they had brought enough potions to last in the entire mission, which he had no idea when would it end.

He wondered if ANYTNG was witnessing all of this. However, it seemed the chances were nigh, considering these people were indeed humans and not NPCs.

Out of all floors, this was the weirdest out of them.

The doors parted once they reached in the designated floor and everyone walked out of the elevator. Jin-woo led them to a door and twisted the doorknob to step inside, leaving it open for the rest to enter. The door was then shut once Han had gotten inside, and before he could say anything, he saw more people were settled in what appeared to be the living room. And all of them were donned in suits.

What the hell is going on. . . ?

"Ah. Good thing everyone is here." The red-haired began.

"I have received the photo captured by Hunter Sung, so I immediately knew it was urgent. I hadn't seen any gate inside of a dungeon." The man with a pair of sunglasses and orangish brown hair with one strand dangling on his forehead. "And I've heard that you have encountered humans within the A-Rank gate?"

"We did," nodded Jin-woo. He glanced at his visitors. "And there they are."

"Hmm. . . " The man looked at them and took off his sunglasses, showing his dark eyes shrouded in astute. "Do you people perhaps understand what we are saying?"

"Yes." Han answered.

"My name is Woo Jin-chul. The leader of a surveillance team that is in charge of gates, as well as tombs." Jin-chul introduced himself. "And you are?"

"Han Islat. But call me Han instead."

He nodded. "Very well. Mr. Han, here is my first question— how did you end up inside of the gate?"

"We didn't end up there. We just entered through the door because it was our turn to conquer the floor."

"Floor? Can you elaborate that further?"

Han sighed. "I guess there is no way for me to hide the fact that we came from another world. Like you, we came to fight monsters and earn something in return. The difference is that we came from a world where we are characters from a game that features floors that need to be conquered."

"A game, huh?" Another man, who had spiked orange hair, said.

"Long story short, we got sent here — known as Floor 25 — with a mission objective to fight and survive." Han concluded.

"How long is your so-called mission going to be?"

"Not sure. We just get a sign that we have completed the mission and a light will take us back."

Jin-chul nodded. "Alright. Since it's late, I'll let you fellas get some rest for tomorrow. I assume all of you can fight?"

"Yes." Han and his teammates nodded.

"Good. I will see you all tomorrow then."

After Jin-chul bid his farewell, he and his men walked out of the room, leaving them in the room. Oddly enough, Han was quite curious to know what would be in store for them the next day.

"You guys must be tired. Care for some water?" Jin-woo said. He looked at Aaron. "How's your friend, Han? I apologize for hitting him."

"None taken. He's actually fine now that he drank a potion." Han said. "And since I'm the only one whose name you know of, he's Aaron. A spearman. And next to him is Jenna."

"So you must be that archer?" Hae-in glanced at Jenna. "Not bad. You're good with the bow just like another archer I know."

Jenna flushed. "Th— thank you."

"Then there's Edis, the fastest among us, and Eolka, who is a fire mage."

Hae-in widened her eyes. "Jong-in, she's just like you!"

"That depends on how good she is," said the red-haired, who turned to be Jong-in. He nudged his glasses. "But let's see what tomorrow has in store for her."

"What's going to happen tomorrow exactly?" Eolka asked.

"Nothing to be nervous of. Just show your skills at full potential." Jong-in replied. "If the chairman is amazed, he might allow you guys to conquer gates."

"What? Is nobody allowed to enter those portals?"

"Yeah, only awakened hunters and legal tomb raiders are able to enter them. The gates are way too dangerous for ordinary humans since there are monsters who can tear you apart."

Han huffed. "Well, that should be easy."

"Have you fought monsters as well, Han?"

"Fought? Pfft— I've gone through worse."

It wasn't long until Jong-in and Hae-in decided to call it a day and bid farewell to everyone. Jae-ha, who was a tomb raider, escorted Han and his group to where they would be sleeping for the night.

Once Han arrived in his designated room, a clash of familiar feeling awashed him like waves hitting the shore. Just staring at the empty bed, he remembered laying on it after a long day of work and playing 'Pick Me Up' on his phone. It felt like he had returned to his world. Sure, it did seem he was transferred back to his small room in his apartment in South Korea, except that it had so-called 'gates' and monsters existing.

It was more like a mix of reality and fantasy.

He was Han Islat. But rather, he was Han Seo-jin and he was Loki.

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"Did our guests get settled in their rooms yet?" Joo-heon asked once Jae-ha returned to the office.

"They did, boss," Jae-ha said. Then, his shoulders slacked. "Although, some of them scare me a bit — especially Han and Edis."

"People can be scary whenever they want." Joo-heon huffed. "However, Han sure looks like he can pick a fight with someone and win."

"Sounds familiar, isn't it?" Ilya piped up.

Jin-woo rolled his eyes. "That bastard also looks way too confident. He initially thought it was funny to attack me again and make a joke about it."

Joo-heon smirked at him. "Again, sounds familiar, isn't it?"

"Guild Master Jin-woo, are you sure he isn't just like you?" Ilya humored. "For a second, I feel like I'm looking at two Jin-woos."

"Somebody can mistake you as brothers." Jae-ha added.

"Brothers my ass!" Jin-woo retorted. "I'll just head home. It's close to midnight."

"Oh, have you known it already?"

"What is it?"

"Jin-ho had dinner with your mom and sister."

" . . . "

"Good night, Guild Master!" Joo-heon smiled broadly.

Jin-woo flipped Joo-heon the bird before teleporting himself from the room by his shadow.

The next day, all of the Guild Masters, including Hae-in, were gathered in the gymnasium. Chairman Go Gun-hee stood in the second floor with Jin-chul, who held a timer, on his side. They were here to witness Han's group in their full potential and see if any of them were worthy to be recruited in the guilds, depending on how they amaze the Guild Masters.

Aaron was the first one to enter the arena. He looked quite jittery, but the grip he had on his weapon was firm. A batch of dummies appeared and began to move forward, Aaron crouched into his position and rushed at the dummies, thrusting his spear at each of them. In his first attack, the mannequins swerved past the spear by the rope that was attached on each of them.

Gritting his teeth, Aaron lunged again and held on his spear with both hands and focused on the nearest dummy to pierce the sharp tip on its head before it could move further.

One down.

As soon as Aaron understood the strategy, he began to impel the dummies and at some point, he did it without missing a move. Now, it looked like his attacks against the mannequins became a cakewalk. A determined glimmer lit up his features as he finished the rest.

Jin-chul clicked on the watch to stop the timer. "Four minutes for Aaron Delcut."

Not bad. Jin-woo thought.

Next was Jenna.

The surveillance team cleared the mess and the next set of mannequins had been brought down. They began their move, surrounding the archer in complex movements, then Jenna inserted her arrow into the string and fired at the first mannequin.

The arrow easily struck it.

The figurines moved faster. While he was fighting Han, Hae-in told him that Jenna was agile when it came to shooting. And here she was, firing arrows within a blink of an eye, and her speed was that of a wind. Jin-woo looked over and saw Tae-gyu with his eyes stretched wide as a full moon and his mouth open his teeth could've start to dry — he was an S-Rank hunter whose special skill was archery, so to discover someone who shared the same ability as him would leave him aghast.

Jenna even managed to shoot several dummies that led to them flying across the arena. No arrows were wasted. As the last figurine was raised higher, she took another arrow and pulled the string, she lifted her bow and inched her head closer to stare at the dummy through her arrow's eyes. Finally, she let go.

The arrow tore rapidly through the air and pierced the remaining dummy — powerful enough to remove it from the rope's grasp and it resonated an echo when it on the ground.

Jenna panted with a satisfied grin on her face.

"Two minutes for Jenna Cirai!" Jin-chul exclaimed.

Tae-gyu had a exhilarated look on his face. His hands were even shaking. Seemed like he already had his eyes on a new addition for his guild.

Now, it was Edis. She also fought Hae-in in the dungeon. Even with just knives, she managed to rival a sword's power and last the fight longer. Jin-woo also noticed she had a small bow and arrows clinging on the back of her pants, he wondered how good she would be at arrows, or if she would be as good as Jenna.

Tae-gyu would have two archers in his guild if that was the case.

The test began and Edis charged at the mannequins and already took down one by slitting through the neck, completely decapitating it. She was indeed the fastest. Instead of the dummies coming for her, it was her who was coming for them. She was as lethal as her knives. Unlike the previous two, the association brought in some extra mannequins after having most of them destroyed by the noirette's hands.

Edis tucked her knives back and brought out her arrows. If Jenna held her bow in the usual position in archery, Edis had hers a bit slanted. She released her first arrow across the air to let it strike one of the figurines. The remaining figures remained above her head and it gave her plenty of opening to fire her arrows in a similar speed as Jenna's.

She was swift and excelled in both knives and arrows. Jin-woo no longer thought that she would end up in the Fiend Guild. Edis had capabilities which were very useful for all guilds, but not his — Jin-woo just came to watch their skills.

"Two minutes and ten seconds for Edis Callen!" Jin-chul stopped his timer.

It was Eolka's turn to show her powers. Han said that she was a fire mage, very much like Jong-in, so there was a high chance that she might be recruited in the Hunters Guild.

Eolka was the only one who stood out amongst her whole group. When the rest were clad in dark and gave out the vibes of medieval hunters, knights, and assassins, hers was royalty — due to her dress — and of course, a mage. As the dummies surrounded her, Eolka closed her eyes and raised her arms to the front.

"Burn." Her voice became an echo as flames crawled out of her palms and surged at the mannequins in front of her. Eolka spread her arms to her sides and the fire spread throughout the rest of the dummies around her.

"Three seconds for Eolka Rivel Strashur."

Of course, her duration would be less than ten seconds. The real challenge would be when she conquered monsters. Since her powers were flames, it was expected that she would burn everything without a blink from her audience.

And finally. . . It was Han Islat.

Jin-woo felt his heart race in anticipation. Han Islat, the guy whom he clashed weapons with and rivaled his strength as an S-Rank hunter; he expected nothing from his former opponent.

The mannequins were on set. Han had a cold expression on his face and unsheathed his sword. He charged at the first dummy and slit it apart before the rope could even pull it. He moved to the next ones and managed to slaughter them while the others had been pulled up and got dragged in various directions.

Among all five, Han was the only one who made Gun-hee part his mouth in shock.

With great speed and powerful strikes, the dummies littered the ground. Han hadn't broken a sweat. The association brought in all of the remaining dummies they had prepared and the technician exceeded the power. But those were nothing on Han. A glimpse of his smirk was seen and sprinted at them to slice the parts into pieces.

The S-Rank hunters were speechless.

Including Jin-woo, whose mind was not passed by a single thought. He remembered first seeing him on top of the monster's corpse. Even when Han had skillful teammates, there was no doubt that he had taken the most job in defeating the dungeon's monster with just his sword.

Jin-chul, who was just as shock as the rest of the hunters, managed to grasp on the time and stopped his timer. "O— one minute for Han Islat!"

Gun-hee started clapping his hands. Eolka, Edis, Jenna, and Aaron walked over to Han while the S-Rank hunters left their spot to join the group in the arena. They waited for the next words the chairman got to say.

"Impressive! All of you have exceeded my expectations. It was as if I am witnessing high-ranked hunters." Gun-hee said. "Whatever place or world you came from, I shall gladly welcome you to this world of hunters. Since you got capabilities that must not be rusted, each of you will be selected into the five guilds where your strength shall be in great use."

"Jenna Cirai for the Fiend Guild! I mean—" Tae-gyu cleared his throat. "I shall recruit Jenna Cirai for my guild, Chairman Go. I will make sure she gets the best treatment!"

Jenna let out a laugh.

"I will choose Mr. Delcut for my guild!" Ma Dong-wook spoke first. He smiled at Aaron. "You got skills for a spearman, and I can see there are plenty of room for you to improve, I will do what I can to not let your potential go to waste."

Aaron was shock, yet he looked as if he was about to tear up. "Thank you— thank you, Guild Master sir! I shall do my best to improve and not fail you as well!"

Jong-in opened his mouth when Yoon-ho spoke first.

"Hmm. . . I guess I will choose Ms. Edis Callen for White Tiger Guild." Yoon-ho piped up. "She reminds me of that black cat I once saw in the streets. Her speed will be useful for killing beasts in less than a minute."

Edis dipped her head. "Thank you, Guild Master."

"Bastard, I was going to be the one to recruit her," Jong-in grumbled. Yoon-ho smirked at him. The Hunters Guild Master nudged his glasses on his temple. "I guess I won't be having two new hunters in my guild, so— Ms. Eolka, I hope you will trust me enough to treat you well and get your powers stronger."

"Beware, Ms. Eolka! He can be competitive since you have the same powers as him." Hae-in chuckled.

"Is that so? Then I will be in your care, Guild Master," smiled Eolka.

All that remained was none other than Han.

Jin-woo could feel everyone's eyes on him. Yet, he elected to evade them. Even the chairman and the surveillance team leader had their gazes on him. Eventually, he sighed in defeat and spoke;

"Fine! I'll take Han."

Jong-in scoffed. "Cut the act, Sung! We know that you are amazed at him earlier. Don't tell me you are still bitter about yesterday."

"I— what?"

"Had to spill the whole thing, you know?" Hae-in grinned and nudged his arm. "Come on! Stop being childish, Jin-woo. I didn't hold a grudge against Jenna, Edis, and Eolka because of that encounter."

"Yeah, what she said!"

Jin-woo groaned.

Han snickered. "I'm still waiting, Jin-woo. If you don't want to recruit me, I'll just select a guild by myself—"

"Didn't I already say it?"

"Properly. I can't believe I wasted my energy when my teammates got selected nicely while I got recruited like I'm some trash."

I wanna tear him apart! A voice in his head screamed. Jin-woo shook it away and cleared his throat. "Han Islat, I wish to recruit you into Ahjin Guild and conquer the gate, or tomb if you'd like. Either way, my guild shall benefit thoroughly from you."

"That's more like it." Han crossed his arms in pride. "I think I'll do just fine here. My team and I don't ask for anything much, only shelter and decent food will be adequate for us."

"Thank you for informing us, Mr. Han," Gun-hee nodded.

Everything was settled. Jenna was part of Fiend Guild, whose master immediately immersed her into a conversation about archery, and Aaron was an official member in Fame Guild, Edis was in White Tiger Guild, Eolka in Hunters Guild, and Han in Ahjin Guild.

This was a first time in history where unawakened humans had become hunters. Although the chairman had given them the liability to join the tomb raiders if they wanted to. They had fit right in despite originating from a different dimension, but that was something all of them agreed to keep as a secret from public, which was what Han was deeply thankful for.

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Joo-heon sipped on his iced tea as he sat on a chair next to the clear glass wall. He wondered what was happening in the gymnasium, knowing that the humans from the A-Rank dungeon were proving their skills to the chairman and be recruited into guilds. Amidst of his dismay, he was spending lunch in a Japanese restaurant with his friends.

Julian and Seol-ah, who belonged to Hunters Guild, were available just like him, Jae-ha, and Ilya — their guild superiors were out, thus receiving a day off. Chloe had happened to not have an early shift, so she tagged along quickly. And Irene was there too — she had just gotten back from America a day ago after finishing important matters in her family's company. Everyone was complete once again.

His thoughts drifted to his other friend. Joo-heon snickered. Jin-woo was not entirely cordial toward people who were bad news to him. Hell, if all of his buttons got pushed, Jin-woo could easily break that person's bones or the worst thing imaginable — well, the latter option only belonged to high-leveled hunters.

Han was very lucky that he was still alive.

"What are you laughing about?" Julian grumbled.

"Oh, you know— what our pals have been doing? I'm curious if Ahjin Guild is going to have a new member." Joo-heon grinned.

"This is the first time I'm seeing you get excited over having a new member." Seol-ah remarked.

"They are interesting people! All of them seem capable enough, except for that Aaron guy — he's the softest one out of them," said Joo-heon.

"I think he's great." Jae-ha piped up. He placed another sushi on his mouth. "But Han is the deadliest of them all!"

"You're talking about Han like he's your nightmare." Ilya scoffed.

"Can't you see him in my perspective? He's the kind of person who can smell someone's deepest fears!"

"I don't know who that person is, but judging by your words, it seems he's on par with Jin-woo." Chloe said. "Please tell me those two won't turn out like Joo-heon and Julian. . . "

"Nah! Death just doesn't want to forgive Han for attacking him in the A-Rank dungeon. Leave him be, he'll come along." Joo-heon waved his hand in dismissal. "Anywho— I wonder what the geezer is going right now. I kind of miss messing with him."

"My brother said that Kwon Tae-joon keeps trying to make deals with other companies, but none are successful," replied Irene. "I'm guessing Edward is behind all of that."

"Remind me to treat Edward for a meal once he comes in Korea. He must be tired from taking three steps ahead of that old man's plans." Joo-heon grinned.

Julian rolled his eyes. "Can't you just end him already? You look like a kid still playing on his broken toy."

"Well, where's the fun on that?"

Julian grumbled something about Joo-heon being an idiot. Kwon Tae-joon ran a company called TKBM that handled relic business and was one of the biggest companies in the world, though Tae-joon was aiming for his empire to become the most powerful. Joo-heon and his friends used to work under him until Joo-heon realized he was being treated as a pawn and almost got killed in a task Tae-joon had sent him to do, which resulted to Joo-heon having to hide from the old man and seek revenge.

TKBM even once fought the Hunters' Association over the relics found in the gates. At first, Joo-heon was worried that Tae-joon might take over everything and that included the gates, but fortunately, Go Gun-hee was not stupid to be fooled and instantly saw the red flags.

But that wasn't enough. Joo-heon still wanted Tae-joon to pay for every second he had inflicted on his old and long-time workers.

"That was delicious! Next time, one of us should pay for the whole table." Seol-ah said.

"Is that a bet I hear, Ms. Lee?"

"Bad idea! Joo-heon will not be fair!"

"Fine. I'll think of something else. . . "

"What are you going to do after this, Joo-heon?" Irene turned to him, choosing not to mind the rest who were discussing on how the bet should go.

"Hmm, let's see how long will I get every information out of Jin-woo," Joo-heon replied. "What about you?"

"I'm free for the whole day." Irene smiled.

"Great! We should—"

"Irene! Let's check out the new store near this block!" Seol-ah tugged Irene's arm, then her red eyes morphed into realization. "Uh, am I interrupting you and Joo-heon?"

"Nevermind! Just go ahead and do what you ladies want." Joo-heon nodded at them.

Irene raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? Just say it, Joo-heon. It's not like Seol-ah will give a reaction."

Oh, she does! And that is enough to make a humiliation out of me in the entire restaurant. If Joo-heon revealed his plan where Seol-ah could hear, she would either squeal or God knows what. He would prefer asking Irene out on a date in private. Both of them had made their feelings clear — just not in the part where they would be official.

"It's nothing important, so go. I'm still waiting for someone to come here." Joo-heon answered, half-lied.

"Okay." Irene smiled. She got up and walked with Seol-ah out of the restaurant, followed by Chloe, but she was just going to accompany her two friends out before going to a separate way.

Ilya, Julian, and Jae-ha eventually left. Joo-heon remained sitting on the now clean table after the waiter had cleared the used utensils up and offered if he wished to have another order. Joo-heon shook his hand and said that he would just call if he wanted anything.

[ S. Joo-heon: hey! Are you guys done now? ] He sent a message to Jin-woo.

[ S. Jin-woo: what do you want to know? ]

[ S. Joo-heon: do you have to ask me that? Come on! I thought we share the same braincells here? ]

It took a couple of seconds for Jin-woo to reply. [ S. Jin-woo: we got a new guild member. Want me to tell you who it is? ]

Joo-heon grinned broadly.

[ S. Joo-heon: nope! I'm good! Bring him along with you. I'm here in the Japanese restaurant. ]

[ S. Jin-woo: okay. ]

Several moments had passed, Jin-woo did arrive in the location. And of course, Han was with him. The pair took the two empty seats across Joo-heon, who intertwined his hands under his chin.

"Welcome to the Ahjin Guild, Han Islat!" He greeted the new member.

"He's always like this when he either needs something or has taken a liking on someone." Jin-woo said to Han. "But it could be both sometimes."

Joo-heon gaped at him. "I'm just welcoming him, is it wrong to do that? I can't believe you are willing to put down your friend—"

"I am not."

"These two." Han rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "So, tell me. How does everything go here? And, do I have to follow some rules?"

"Just try not to do sinful crimes inside and outside of dungeons. In Ahjin Guild, Jin-woo usually gets rid of the monsters while I raid the tomb with Jae-ha, Ilya, and Jin-ho." Joo-heon explained. "As you can see, our Guild Master is one of the most powerful hunters in the country — if not, the whole world — because he has powers that can never be possessed by others. He can summon the dead in the form of shadows."

"What about you?"

"Me? Simply put, I have these things called relics. They are magical artifacts only found in tombs." He said. "I always have one with me, mostly because it doesn't want to leave me alone—"

"Master! Master! I'm here! I'm here!" A new voice chimed in.

"—like this one." Joo-heon finished his sentence. "Rope, meet our new friend!"

"A friend? Yay! A friend! Friend! Friend!" A golden rope slid out of his jacket and rushed toward Han, who failed to assess the next scene when the talking object wrapped itself around him.

The new hunter widened his eyes. "What in the—"

"Hello! Hello! Hello! Please to meet you! Meet you!" said the playful voice that belonged to the rope.

Jin-woo chuckled. "I know the feeling, Han. That thing had literally wrapped me up like a mummy!"

"How do you do? How do you do?" Rope asked Han, who was fighting against its tight grip.

"Alright, get back in here, Rope!" Joo-heon commanded his relic.

Rope swept back into his jacket.

Han began to catch up on his breath. "Is that— is it always like that?"

"Not entirely. Rope is the only one I tolerate, given it had been useful to me plenty of times." Joo-heon said. "But once she gets used to you, she'll stop ambushing you and follow your orders if she can."

"I only follow master! Master! Master!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, Rope."

"How long does your missions usually last, Han?" Jin-woo asked this time.

"Perhaps a few minutes or even hours," said Han. "And since I've spent a night here, it feels strange and new. See, if we don't finish a mission, we'll all die, especially if there is a given timer."

"Yikes! That sounds bad. Reminds me of that one tomb I conquered and it almost collapsed on top of me." Joo-heon said.

"I had to put my life on the line just to defeat everything on my path." Jin-woo added.

"You didn't had to put your life on the line. You did it on purpose."

Jin-woo glowered at Joo-heon.

Han let out a chuckle. "Well, seems like the three of us aren't so different after all—"

*BOOM!*

A loud impact created an enormous crack on the glass wall next to them. The trio looked over and saw a large gate that appeared in the middle of the road. The vehicles shambled in disarray, causing the pedestrians to scram for their lives and the drivers trying to get a control over their wheels.

Jin-woo, Han, and Joo-heon rushed out of their seats.

They stormed out of the restaurant and pushed through the cacophonous crowd. They stood in front of the blue gate. Jin-woo sensed a different aura behind the portal, enough for his veins to rouse to get a hold of his daggers.

"Halt!" It was one of the association's agents. She squeezed through the crowd and faced them. "You must not enter this gate!"

Han widened his eyes. "What—"

"We are from the Ahjin Guild. I am its Guild Master." Jin-woo answered.

"Oh! S— S-Rank Hunter Sung! With all due respect, it is better to wait for the association to send another guild if you wish to conquer this gate." The agent explained.

"Are you kidding? That thing appeared right in the middle of the road and you expect us to stay put?" Joo-heon crossed his arms in defiance.

"Are you even sure you guys can handle it even if it's just the three of you?"

"Yes." Jin-woo, Joo-heon, and Han answered in unison.

The agent sighed and dipped her head. "Very well."

The three made their way inside of the gate. Two of them were familiar to the agent, except for the last one, who had a sword and shield tucked on his back. She didn't know who he was or if she had seen him before. Was he a new hunter? It was unusual for Hunter Sung Jin-woo to recruit another member. . .

Suddenly, the blue gate turned grey.

Her eyes stretched wide and took out her device. The numbers frenzied. Then, the sensor burst and shattered. "Ah!" She yelped and looked at the now grey gate. "This is bad. . . "

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"Does this always happen?" Han asked once they entered the dungeon.

"Not all the time. Nobody can tell when a gate will show up, so what matters is that all hunters and tomb raiders are prepared." Joo-heon said.

"And, did that woman just called Jin-woo S-Rank hunter?"

"That's just my rank based on how powerful I am." Jin-woo piped up. He glanced at his new member. "If you're an awakened hunter, I'd say you'll be an S-Rank."

Han huffed. "I'm just two-stars and level 15."

Jin-woo and Joo-heon were dumbfounded.

" . . . What?"

"What do you mean you are only two stars and level fifteen?!"

"Son of a bitch! Are you lying to us?!"

"I'm an S-Rank and I fought you, who is at level fifteen?!"

"I don't believe it!"

"When I was in your level, I wasn't even that strong!"

"Hey! Did you know at this guy—" Joo-heon pointed at Jin-woo, "is past level 100?! What is the power status do you have in your world exactly?!"

Ah. They are surprised at the difference between Jin-woo and I in terms of leveling. Han shook his head. "Well, I—"

A window popped up in front of him.

« FLOOR 25.1 • Mission type - subjugation. Objective - annihilate your enemies. »

"What is it, Han?"

"Nothing. It's just—" Han sighed. "Something came up in front of me. It says this is Floor 25.1 and the objective is to annihilate your enemies."

"That's what we came for." Joo-heon shrugged.

All of the sudden, the ground rumbled beneath their feet. The trio looked up and saw an enormous boulder racing toward them. Rope leaped out of her master's pocket and swiftly gathered the three men in one sweep and hauled them in the air.

The boulder rolled below them.

Rope set them down and floated next to her master. Jin-woo and Han sighed in relief, thankful that the tomb raider had a relic that was very useful and knew what to do.

And it wasn't long until the next wave showed up. Monsters.

Joo-heon took out another relic, the Van Gogh painting, from his pocket and grabbed his sword. Han unsheathed his and pulled out his shield for battle.

"Arise." Shadows emerged from the darkness that scattered around them. From dark pupils, Jin-woo's eyes turned into a purple glow. "Attack!"

Shadow monsters? Han thought in amusement.

Knights, ants, lizards, orcs, anything beyond the unimaginable. It was no wonder that Jin-woo was an S-Rank — he could summon an army of his own. Nonetheless, Han lunged for the monsters, spilling their blood everywhere as he struck their flesh.

Even as a tomb raider, Joo-heon was skillful in his weapon. He knew when to swerve and slaughter the monsters without earning a scratch. He was just as agile and lethal with a weapon like the other two. Meanwhile, Jin-woo was doing his own thing, slashing his daggers to wipe the bloodthirsty beasts on his path, whilst his shadows were ruthlessly ripping them apart. The ants were even devouring them.

Han blocked the incoming monsters with his shield and thrusted his sword to keep their filthy jaws from him. Fortunately, a knight came to decrease the amount, this giving him a freeway to exceed his strength and easily decapitate the monsters in one tear.

Soon, corpses piled up on the ground and ichor oozed from the bodies. The shadow beasts disappeared back into their master's shadow. Han looked over and his teammates were still standing, he let out a grin in pride and whipped his sword to splat the blood off the blade.

« STAGE CLEAR! You leveled up! »

His grin grew even more.

"You truly enjoy slaughtering monsters, huh?" Joo-heon remarked.

"And I leveled up!" Han said. "So, what's next?"

"We'll search for the tunnel that leads to the tomb and go there." Jin-woo declared.

"Uhm— we are in the tomb."

"Huh?"

"This dungeon is the tomb." Joo-heon said. He pointed at the wall were it was engraved with strange ancient scribbles. "See? Looks like we're in the grey gate. Dungeon and tomb mixed into one."

Jin-woo nodded. "Lead the way."

He and Han followed Joo-heon into the tomb. The walls stood tall and thick between them. While the tomb raider was looking ahead, the other two scrutinized their surroundings, checking if another monster was lurking behind their peripheral and waiting to pounce.

« FLOOR 25.1 • Mission type - conqueror. Objective - succeed the tomb and retrieve the relic. »

A new window appeared. This time, Han must succeed in conquering the tomb and retrieve whatever relic was hidden in the depths of the dungeon. And since the floor was still the same, it must've meant that he would level up for the second time.

The system wasn't like this before. Unlike in his old world, he had to earn points to fill the gap in order for him to raise his level.

His teammates would experience the same once they conquer a gate. Especially Aaron, who still had to improve his skills to keep up with the rest, but since a powerful hunter had taken him in, Han would like to witness the results.

Joo-heon continued his gait and he reached his hand out to the wall, touching the rough texture on his palm as though to see if the wall had any areas that would lead to the relic. He sent an order to Rope to search around. His relic obliged and its playful, repetitive voice echoed throughout the walls.

While Rope searched for the relic's location, they proceeded to walk into the tomb. Unfortunately, the path brought them to a dead end — an endless pit. When Joo-heon walked closer, he saw nothing but an endless pit of darkness, he turned to his teammates and said;

"Hey, Jin-woo! Do you have any—"

A caterwaul soon broke the deafening silence and creatures came flying from the top. The trio got their weapons hot and began to attack the medium-sized, bat-like creatures, Joo-heon gritted his teeth as he brought a different defensive relic to fend the beasts off, even having that compliant shield to block their attacks. This kind of situation was something he deeply disliked about the grey gate, having to fight monsters while also focusing on the relic.

"Master! Master! Master!" Rope finally returned.

"About damn time!" Joo-heon exclaimed and stabbed the bat. "Where is the relic?!"

"In there!"

The pit.

So he was right. Joo-heon glanced at Jin-woo amidst the battle. "Jin-woo!"

"Alright!" Jin-woo shouted back and shoved the bat away with his foot. He summoned his shadow. "Come out."

A wyvern was formed out of the shadow. It was Kaisel, who managed to snap the bats with its sharp jaws. Jin-woo immediately made his way on top of the wyvern and summoned two ants to deal with the flock, thus clearing a path for Joo-heon to race toward Kaisel and climbed behind the hunter.

"Han!" Jin-woo called out. "Let's go!"

Han turned around and—

Both Jin-woo and Joo-heon widened their eyes. He looked different. Han's black hair was long and wild, his eyes were red and his pupils were narrowed in slits, his left sclera was engulfed in black, and his left cheek had sharp black markings. His teeth even grew sharp like a beast's. Joo-heon didn't know he had another skill that could turn himself into a devilish monster.

In spite of their reactions, Han rushed toward them and hopped on Kaisel's back. Jin-woo ushered his wyvern to fly and Kaisel surged upward, plunging into the pit and the darkness swallowed them.

It was deep and Joo-heon barely saw a speck.

Eventually, Kaisel got to the bottom of the pit. He disappeared into shadows to descend its riders on the ground without having them to dismount. Meanwhile, Han had returned to his normal state. Joo-heon cleared his throat and grabbed his fellow guild member by the collar to shake him vehemently.

"What was that?! Did you have a dark power or something?! Why did you tell us?!"

Han began answering, but his words only fell into an unintelligible flow as he was continued to be shaken by Joo-heon. He finally grabbed the tomb raider's collar and yelled. "Hands off!"

"Guys!" Jin-woo exclaimed. He pointed at the lock of the gate in front of him. "Look at this. We've arrived in the relic's location."

Han and Joo-heon let go of each other and joined their guild's master in the gate. Joo-heon cupped his chin and stared on the padlock. It had a rough surface and was made out of stone, and no keyhole was punctured on it either, but it was obvious that they might have to find a key to open it if there was indeed a keyhole — another hassle.

He took out his sword from the Van Gogh painting and took a few steps back before clashing the padlock with his weapon. It did not budge. Joo-heon grabbed a normal axe and smashed it, only to end up in the same result.

What the hell?! That axe was from Thomas Andre! Joo-heon glared furiously.

Han patted his shoulder and walked past him to stand in front of the gate. Red and black aura whirled around him until he was in his beast form. He raised his sword and crushed the lock in one strike. The gates parted as the impact of the damage's power and Han morphed back to his usual state, glancing at the other two wryly.

"Show off. . . "

"Jerk. . . "

"A simple 'thank you' should've been nice," Han snickered. "You idiots just witnessed my berserk skill. I use it when it's my last resort to win a fight. Wanna have a match against me after this, Sung?"

Jin-woo grumbled something under his breath.

Han made his way through the gate and a stentorian laugh roared throughout the air. Enough to make the trio wince at the deafening volume. Before them was a gigantic spirit of a woman whose body was half black, half white; her long hair was also the same color as her body and was donned in a dress that carried her floating figure. She also had a black crown on her head that was made out of thorns. Once her laughter died down, she stared at her lair's visitors with malice.

"Oh! What do we have here?" She spoke while drawing the back of her hand under her jaw.

"I thought you said that this is where the relic hides, Joo-heon?" Han asked. "I don't see a magical artifacts here."

"We are! It's just that the relic is SS-tier, which is why it can take in a form of a human." Joo-heon told him. "All we have to do is defeat it until it becomes its relic form."

The relic laughed again. "Such brave individuals to come here and meet me! Do you know who I am?"

Of course Joo-heon knew her. It was the relic of the Greek Goddess of nightmares and ghosts. But he was not here for introductions, he was here to defeat and get the relic as part of his possessions, Joo-heon felt he was going to have a good use of the item in the future.

"Do I give a crap?" The tomb raider smirked. "I don't beat around the bush."

The cave rumbled due to the relic's fury. Melinoe snarled. "How dare you?!"

"Do you have to get relics mad at you all the time?" Han questioned him.

"The angrier, the easier to defeat it, my friend."

" . . . "

Melinoe screamed. It was like a wailing woman in the brink of death. Ghosts then flew out of her mouth and dashed at the small group of humans. One managed to shove Jin-woo, who growled and summoned his daggers to tear through the soul, but the blades just swiftly went through the ghost. Another shrieked at his face and it caused Jin-woo to turn his head away at the irritating effect; hunters could be also affected by a relic depending on how high they ranked. And since it was a SS-tier, Jin-woo would experience its powers.

"Joo-heon! What do we do now?!" The hunter shouted.

Joo-heon didn't reply. He avoided the ghosts and used The Aegis Shield to block them, and even the relic itself was affected by the ghosts' attacks. While he hadn't figured out the solution, he must prevent himself from being attacked by Melinoe's ghosts. But when he glanced at his third companion, the light bulb in his mind lit up.

The ghosts were decreasing when Han fought them in his berserker form and even though his sword was futile, his deadly appearance made the raging souls shrink in fear. Joo-heon looked at Melinoe and noticed she was flinching when her the ghosts of her army were slowly disappearing.

I know now! Joo-heon widened his eyes in realization. Melinoe was a goddess who wandered the night with her ghosts to strike fear among the hearts of mortals and was the bringer of nightmares in those who were in their slumbers. So, all they had to do was assert dominance, or fear, onto the ghosts to 'kill' them.

"Hey, Jin-woo! You don't have to use weapons! Just scare them away!" Joo-heon said to Jin-woo from his spot in the cave. After the hunter nodded, he turned to Han. "Han! Keep going berserk on them!"

"Okay!" Han shouted back.

Now that there was a way to win against the relic, Jin-woo summoned his shadows and still used his daggers to drive the ghosts out of existence faster. He lifted himself in the air using his shadowy powers and shrouded the ghosts beneath his darkness. Melinoe continued to unleash more of her army amidst the paralyzing sensation throughout her celestial body. The other ghosts swarmed Han, but the berserker roared at them out of the air.

"You guys focus on the ghosts. I focus on the main target." Joo-heon smirked and pulled out his mask. Heavenly Emperor Chi You's Helmet. He attached the relic to his face and let the relic's powers scatter throughout his body, engulfing himself with a sleek and fashionable armor in red and black with white markings and horns on the mask.

Joo-heon rose in the air and used the 'Fog of Annihilation' to wipe the ghosts in a single sweep. He headed toward Melinoe, who floated higher, and the goddess' expression was about to explode in indignation. She screeched once again, but it gave no affect to the masked tomb raider. The thick fog of darkness soon enveloped around her to trap the relic within the whirlpool of fog.

. . . At last, Melinoe began to shrink.

The ghosts coming out of her mouth grew less, and less, until her voice had gone hoarse. Joo-heon watched her through his mask and reached out his hand to send another wave of fog to crawl around her head. As the smaller she became, her body dispersed into an explosion of smoke, and the remaining ghosts had completely disappeared.

All that left was Melinoe's relic, which was a skull that was colored in black on the left side and a white aura surrounded the artifact. Joo-heon got down from the top and retracted his mask off his face to return to his original appearance then made his way to the relic.

"What is this?! How dare you defeat the Goddess of Nightmares!" The skull fumed. "I shall make sure you pay with your life and I will feed your soul to my ghosts! You presumptuous mortal!"

"Ha! Let's see about that once you start serving me." Joo-heon smirked and took his Van Gogh relic to swallow the relic inside. He tucked it back in his jacket and clasped his hands. "Well done, team! We've cleared the dungeon and raided the tomb!"

« STAGE CLEAR! You leveled up! »

"Yeah, we did," Han concurred as he read the window. He turned to Joo-heon and sent him a glare. "You bastard. You shook me like a ragdoll earlier because I didn't tell you about my power when you didn't tell me about that powerful relic you have!"

"I have tons of relics. Want me to introduce you to each of them? Nah, way too time consuming. It's better if you witness them yourself." Joo-heon huffed. "Damn, the three of us unleashed the prime of our powers back there!"

Jin-woo nodded his head. "Suddenly, the battle turned easier for me."

"Say, how about the three of us have some drinks later? This gate is Han's debut as an Ahjin Guild member, so I believe we should celebrate it!"

"I don't know if you are sincere about Han's 'debut' or you just used that as an excuse to drink," Jin-woo rolled his eyes, but his mouth twitched. "But I'm in!"

Debris trickled down from the ceiling. A handful amount of rocks crashed on the spot near them. Another thing— when the relic had been raided, its power that kept its lair intact would die as well and the last obstacle was escaping the tomb before it was too late.

"Seems like tombs collapse when the relic is retrieved!" Han exclaimed.

"Let's get out of here!"

The trio raced out of the cave and Jin-woo shouted 'come out' to summon his wyvern and quickly mounted on Kaisel's back. Joo-heon and Han followed after and settled on the winged shadow before it flew up through the tunnel, allowing the crumbling tomb to resonate behind them as it tumbled down. The monstrous bats were still flocking in the surface, but Kaisel killed them while surging across the dungeon.

The news reporters had been probably gathered outside of the gate by now. And that meant an onslaught of flashing cameras and clamorous questions from the crowd as the scene would be documented on the media live. Joo-heon had gone through it and it was one of the worst experiences in his life, the snapping lights could even blind his vision, so that was the downside of raiding gates as a permanent member of a guild.

Jin-woo, who had inevitably rose to fame because of his powers, had endured it as well and his first photo in the media— well, was not certainly the best. He and Joo-heon both knew what was it like to encounter interviewers who saw them as celebrities and were trying to get them exposed to fame. But they never enter gates just to gain popularity, it was out of utter passion. And they knew Han was not prepared for the intense exposure as well, given to where he had come from, and he might get overwhelmed with the amount of people outside.

So, Kaisel accelerated its wingspan and pierced through the gate, causing the whole crowd to gasp. The wyvern soared to the sky and when Joo-heon shot a glance over his shoulder, he grinned at the sight of the people in the road becoming tiny dots in his view as the shadow wyvern proceeded to bring its riders to the distance.

They arrived on top of the Ahjin Guild Building and Jin-woo scratched Kaisel's chin before allowing his stead to return in the realm he had created for his army. He moved his gaze to his fellow guild members, one of which had his attention to the city below him. He joined him and stood next to Joo-heon, who had rested his arms on the railing.

"The raid was fun, wasn't it?" The hunter began.

"Yeah," Joo-heon said.

"It was." Han agreed. Instead of paying attention to his companions, he was too immersed with the view in front of him, the buildings that towered over him when he was on the ground had now become small from the height he stood upon. He didn't realize how much he missed the modern city so much, perhaps if he hadn't been too focused on Pick Me Up and trying to survive each floor.

He had forgotten about the life he had before.

But he liked to think that he did, ignoring the gates, dungeon, tomb, and the existence of powers and inhumane strength.

"What are you smiling about, Han?"

He looked at Joo-heon, who was eyeing him curiously with Jin-woo. Did he really had a smile on his face? Han chuckled. "Nothing special. The view just looks great from here."

"Why? What kind of view do you usually see in your world?"

"Trees, villages, and nature at its finest. But, I don't do sight-seeing as leisure since I needed to focus on my missions and complete the floors. Because to me, priorities should be one's survival and increasing one's strength." Han explained.

"Sounds like you're an overworked person, buddy," Joo-heon teased. "Do you ever take a rest or spend some quality time with your group? One that doesn't include training and all that."

"We eat the food that is served to us and that's just it," Han said. "Then I sleep in my accommodation and wake up the next day where I will watch the whole day unfold and see if there are things I can get in my way. Repeat."

"You can take the rest you need while you're here. You may not be from this world, treat it like your own. Many unimaginable things might happen, but what matters in the end is that you live and can get through another day." Jin-woo said. "My mother had said those words to me once."

"Your mother sounds very nice." Han remarked.

"Wait until you meet her. Jin-woo got the best mother out of everyone!" Joo-heon exclaimed.

"What about yours?"

"Me? Pfft! I've been living alone for a long time." Joo-heon turned around and leaned his weight against the barrier. "I mean, not necessarily, since I have a sister who lives a few countries away— but you get the point!"

Han hummed. "I understand."

"You have a sibling who's far away from you?"

"No," Han shook his head and averted his eyes once again to the distance. "I was alone for a long time, until I became a character in a game and my life changed forever."

Deep inside, Han couldn't believe he was spilling such words to people whom he had known only less than a week. He never told anyone in his party about his secluded sentiments in the depths of his psyche due to the belief that they were no longer useful for clearing floors. But upon meeting Jin-woo and Joo-heon, Han realized how similar they were to him and him to theirs — his berserker form had quite a semblance to Joo-heon when he wore that mask, Jin-woo had strength that could mirror his, and his determination was scorching just like theirs when wanting to accomplish something in their paths.

Well, he could say that he 'found' these guys.

Yep. As long as the system wasn't informing him that the floor was done, Han could treat this world like his own.

"Hey, are we still going to have those drinks later?" Han turned to his companions.

Jin-woo grinned. "Only if Joo-heon is paying."

"What?! You're the Guild Master here!" Joo-heon protested. "Shouldn't the boss be the one doing that? I'm just an employee here and Han has no single cent with him!"

"You're the one who said it first in the tomb!"

"I didn't mention that I will spend money!"

Han laughed.

For the first time ever, he laughed. Overwhelmed with joy and the problems in his mind were flushed away like a wind clearing the dried leaves on the ground. Even in just a short time, he had grown fond of the bickering Joo-heon and Jin-woo in front of him, and the thought of entering the gates once again with them gave a thrilling sensation.

Jin-woo, who was formerly annoyed with Han, now accepted him wholeheartedly and was looking forward for those sparring sessions between them. For someone whose level was lesser than his, he'd like to see how far Han could go when facing an S-Rank like him who had made his enemies cower in fear. He also had Joo-heon, whose wits and arrogance could be the bane of everyone's existence, yet managed to keep up with him as a hunter.

And Joo-heon, a man who had a knack for facing challenges in unmatched confidence, had met one — but two — who could not say no to the face of battle when necessary. He did not care if he was surrounded by powerful people, he knew his capabilities like the back of his hand and he must use those skills to his endeavors. Jin-woo and Han were exactly the people who would not dare to pull him back, rather they were on par with him.

Could the trio handle the upcoming gates? Say no more!

#the crossover nobody asked for but the crossover i NEED #this trio is *chef kiss*#putting a tag for this bc this WON'T be the only work i have for this crossover #infinite leveling in the tombs #solo leveling #tomb raider king #pick me up infinite gacha #sung jin woo #seo joo heon #han islat #sl fics by rei

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