Chapter 119: Raising Shadow Knights

A week had passed since completing the warehouse keeper promotion exam.

[Hunter Association Profile]

– Name: Cha Hasang

– Rank: E-rank 2nd Place

– Recent Mission Status: Achieved 19 E-rank missions, Achieved 59 F-rank missions

During that time, I’d been taking on every E-rank and F-rank mission the association posted.

“Honestly, after doing this much, shouldn’t the association at least give me some bonus pay or something?”

There was no bonus pay, but my hunter rank had risen sharply.

E-rank 2nd place.

Just a few more missions, and I’d be promoted to D-rank hunter.

Raising association rank is no big deal.

And now.

Step step step—

I was climbing Sokri Mountain, which spans Chungcheongbuk-do and Gyeongsangbuk-do.

On a mountain path far from the hiking trails, at that.

Even though it was 11 AM, the dense leaves made it as dark as night.

Every time I stepped on the old fallen leaves covering the ground, damp moisture seeped out.

The destination for this mission was near the summit of Sokri Mountain.

With my current physical specs, I could sprint to the top in an instant.

But I was deliberately taking my time walking up.

At that moment.

[Ho ho ho—! This is the kind of scenery people should see. How wonderful. It really opens up the lungs!]

Yi Seonggye’s hearty laughter came from behind.

Then, the other shadow knights began chiming in one by one.

[Wise words indeed! A hundred, a thousand times better than the gray, barren city!]

[Indeed! Good air and hunting too! My blood is boiling!]

[Even after hundreds of years, the scenery here hasn’t changed much.]

[Warehouse keeper sir, how about living here altogether?]

The employees(?) were reacting enthusiastically.

Was it because of the nice place with good water and air?

The shadow knights seemed in much better moods than usual.

Feels like taking the elders on a sightseeing trip.

While at it, I was checking the summon time limit for the shadow knights.

Shadow knights summoned at the cost of mental strength.

When summoned at maximum numbers, mental strength would be completely depleted in 15 minutes.

But.

Now I have this.

I looked at the golden brooch pinned to my collar.

—Flutter!

<Hero King’s Brooch>

– Storage Number: MRG-3142

– Storage Grade: Observation

An S-rank artifact awarded by Featherback as a promotion exam perk reward.

Just equipping the Hero King’s Brooch drastically reduces mental strength consumption by 50%.

Thanks to that, even summoning all 15 shadow knights, I could easily last 30 minutes.

At that moment, the navigation voice came from my smartwatch.

<You will arrive at your destination shortly.>

Pushing aside the thick bushes revealed a sunken area.

The ground pitted sparsely like it had been bombed.

Thick trees snapped like chopsticks, rolling around everywhere.

At the center of the crater lay a massive boulder over 10 meters in diameter.

“This is where the dungeon break happened, right.”

The traces of the dungeon break that occurred in Sokri Mountain, Chungbuk, two weeks ago.

Dungeons left unconquered for long periods have their internal mana expand, fully opening the gate.

At the same time, the surrounding environment is devastated, and monsters from inside the dungeon spill out.

But the probability of a dungeon break occurring is extremely low.

Not only does the hunter association conquer dungeons before that happens, but gates are quickly discovered through civilian reports.

However, if a dungeon gate spawns in a remote area, it’s a different story.

This Sokri Mountain dungeon break was the same.

……The gate just had to spawn far from the hiking trails, so it’s no wonder it wasn’t discovered.

Fortunately, Mrs. Luddite’s combat robots were quickly deployed to the scene.

Thanks to that, zero civilian casualties.

With Mrs. Luddite and the hunter association’s efforts, the Sokri Mountain dungeon break was resolved in a few hours.

The problem was that the mana leaked from the dungeon had contaminated the Sokri Mountain area.

Not only that, but boulders, fallen trees, and so on—the place was a mess everywhere.

Being at the mountain summit, deploying heavy equipment was cumbersome, and even if brought in, destroying and hauling away the giant rocks would cost astronomical amounts of money and time.

……But what if hunters are dispatched?

They can freely traverse mountain paths, with destructive power rivaling heavy equipment.

Moreover, hunters are basically resistant to mana contamination.

Manpower perfectly suited for the task.

For this dispatch mission, a total of 10 hunters including me were assigned.

1 A-rank hunter, 3 B-rank hunters, 4 C-rank hunters, 1 E-rank hunter, 1 F-rank hunter.

The massive boulder that created the crater midway up the mountain was for the A-rank and B-rank hunters.

C-rank hunters for the fallen trees around, and me and the F-rank hunter for cleaning up the miscellaneous debris.

Anyway.

“No one’s here. I arrived right at 11 o’clock sharp.”

I checked my smartwatch.

<Sokri Mountain Debris Cleanup Group Chat—10 People>

No messages in the association group chat.

I left a message.

<E-rank 2nd: Where is everyone?>

In the association app’s chat room, names are displayed as rank and position instead.

The number next to the message disappeared, indicating someone had read it.

Soon, replies came in the group chat.

<A-rank 23rd: I have an urgent support request and am heading to Gangwon-do. I think I can join tomorrow evening.>

The leader-like A-rank hunter declared absence.

Then, other hunters started sending messages.

<B-rank 15th: My grandfather is unwell, so it’s hard to leave. Sorry.>

<C-rank 43rd: I’m hospitalized with a broken leg from a mission.>

<F-rank 177th: The stag beetle I was raising died at dawn……>

In summary, everyone had some excuse and couldn’t come.

The rest read but didn’t even reply.

“Looks like no one else is coming but me.”

Hunter association missions have rewards that vary wildly by danger level.

The rewards for the lowest difficulty F-rank missions are naturally pitiful.

In contrast, the tasks are often annoying, dirty, or both.

Moreover, for F-rank cooperative missions, that meager reward has to be split N-ways based on participants.

In the worst case, you might get paid equivalent to a convenience store part-time daily wage.

So, they accept first, but if a better mission comes up midway, it gets pushed way back in priority like now.

Especially for semi-mandatory public support missions like this one.

“Well, not my problem.”

Whether E-rank or F-rank, completing missions counts as achievements.

Moreover, handling a mission meant for multiple hunters alone should positively affect performance evaluations.

And monopolizing the mission reward is a given.

The immediate goal is becoming a B-rank hunter.

Once that happens, no need to worry about filling mission quotas.

…Well, anyway.

“Well, elders. Time to work.”

I started cleaning up the debris with the shadow knights.

At that moment.

Rustle— rustle—

Something wriggled under a completely uprooted paulownia tree.

Lifting the paulownia tree revealed a bloated rat corpse.

“What is this now?”

A coin-sized hole in the side, and the belly swollen like a balloon.

While closely examining the rat corpse.

Griiind~!!

The rat corpse’s belly skin tore, and sharp spines flew toward my face.

—Thwack!

I grabbed it in one go.

Transparent venom dripped from the sharp stinger.

What popped out from the rat corpse was a scorpion covered in red exoskeleton.

—Flutter—

<Parasite Scorpion>

– Danger Rank: D

– Discovery Location: Republic of Korea, Sokri Mountain ‘Forgotten Scorpion Empire’

A scorpion that lays eggs in living creatures’ bodies to create parasites.

It paralyzes prey with neurotoxin from its tail, then injects eggs into the body to parasitize.

The hatched larvae devour the host’s body to grow, and after becoming adults, they burst out of the host’s body.

A total of five scorpions crawled out from the rat corpse.

It seemed a monster that escaped during the dungeon break had laid eggs in a wild animal.

Anyway.

“The hunter association’s work is still sloppy as ever.”

Parasite Scorpion is a D-rank monster.

If the other hunters scheduled to join were here, it could have been a major incident.

Not surprising to me, though.

Not like it’s the first time.

But now, it’s actually good.

……Because experience points for the shadow knights have shown up on their own.

And then.

Swoosh— pa-ba-ba-ba-bak!

Black arrows rained down on the Parasite Scorpions.

[Keeeet—]

[Kigik—kiiik!]

[Kieeeek! Keeek—!]

The scorpions let out death cries and collapsed.

Soon after, notification windows appeared one after another.

—Ding-dong!

<Shadow Knight Yi Seonggye: Gained 1 experience> <Shadow Knight Yi Seonggye: Gained 1 experience> <Shadow Knight Yi Seonggye: Gained 1 experience>

<Shadow Knight Yi Seonggye: Gained 1 experience>

<Shadow Knight Yi Seonggye: Gained 1 experience>

“Oh? Experience rising well? This is jackpot?”

Making a fuss over just 1 experience?

Because shadow knights’ experience barely rises.

Slimes, goblins, silk worms, giant rats, and so on.

Over the past week, I’d been defeating all sorts of low-level monsters in various missions.

For E-rank monsters, killing 100 might give 1 experience at best, and F-rank monsters often gave no experience at all.

After going through that, 1 experience per kill feels precious.

Ding-dong!

Shadow Knight Yi Seonggye: Experience (74/2,970,000,000)

Experience needed to S-rank, 2.97 billion.

The required amount itself is vomit-inducingly huge.

Even for Yi Seonggye, specialized in ranged multi-monster sniping, the experience is like that.

Moreover, only the shadow knight who lands the killing blow…… the one who ‘last hits’ the monster gains experience.

……Making S-rank is tough, really tough.

Slow but steady growth.

Gotta go with the feeling of watering a bonsai tree, step by step.

At that moment.

Grind— griiind— grind~!

Hundreds of Parasite Scorpions burst out from the debris piles.

“Oh.”

A mouth-watering sight.

Who knew I’d be grateful for the hunter association’s lax handling.

And then, the shadow knights began hunting the Parasite Scorpions all at once.

Slash! Clang! Crunch! Pa-ba-ba-bak!

—Ding-dong!

<Shadow Knight Yi Seonggye: Gained 1 experience> <Shadow Knight Cheok Jungyeong: Gained 1 experience> <Shadow Knight Lee Uimin: Gained 1 experience>

<Shadow Knight So Gipa: Gained 1 experience>

<Shadow Knight Yi Seonggye: Gained 1 experience>

An experience party unfolding at the summit of Sokri Mountain.

While the shadow knights were grinding experience, I checked my smartwatch.

[Hunter Association Mission Acceptance List]

1. E-rank Mission: Dispose of the debris caused by the Sokri Mountain dungeon break.

2. F-rank Mission: Support the disaster victims in Boeun-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do.

Only one F-rank mission left.

……In the end, this is also related to the Sokri Mountain dungeon break.

The last mission content was helping the disaster victims caused by the dungeon break.

Simply put, volunteer work.

Checking the navigation, the mission location was an elementary school 15 km from here.

“While the shadow knights clean the crater, I can go handle it.”