Sang-woong could clearly feel their deep concern.
However, he wasn’t worried in the slightest.
Since meeting the Earth and engaging in endless battles, he had become strong beyond imagination. Even if he combined all the experiences from his past life, they would be nothing compared to what he had gained now.
The word “anxiety” regarding defeat no longer existed in his dictionary.
Only the conviction of victory heated his heart. If anything, this confrontation with the Rank 5 Hunter before him was merely an exciting opportunity.
He had long held a vague admiration for the power of Rank 5 Hunters. He had always wondered if he could surpass their level with his own strength. In his past life, where he had been a mere 8th-grade Hunter at best, there was no way to satisfy this curiosity.
But now, after meeting the Earth and gaining immense power, things were different.
While he had fought monsters in his past life, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he was now waging war every day against entities far more dangerous.
The scale itself was different, and what he felt and learned from those encounters was beyond imagination.
He was so thrilled by the situation that he felt like he might go crazy. It felt like a gift from the heavens for helping Ho Shin-woo today.
His heart raced with anticipation at the thought of finally experiencing the power of a Rank 5 Hunter.
Sang-woong paused his steps and slowly turned toward Kyung Taeyoung and Kyung Yoon-seul, who were watching him with worried eyes.
Surprisingly, instead of tension, a faint and relaxed smile—as if he had transcended everything—played on his face.
The smile seemed to say, ‘There is no need to worry at all.’
He spoke in a calm, low voice. While his tone was peaceful on the surface, a fierce fighting spirit and a strange anticipation for a duel with an unknown powerhouse were hidden beneath it.
“Guild Master, and Ms. Yoon-seul. Please don’t worry too much. Everything will be fine.”
Seeing Sang-woong’s confident appearance and the conviction in his eyes, Kyung Taeyoung could no longer stop him.
‘Right, the Sang-woong I know isn’t someone who acts out of childish impulses. If anything, he’s cautious to a fault.’
Kyung Taeyoung tried to calm his anxious heart by repeating those words to himself while recalling everything he had seen of Sang-woong so far.
Kyung Yoon-seul also confirmed the confidence in Sang-woong’s demeanor and quietly nodded.
The three people then resumed their walk toward the training center.
The underground training ground was vast and empty, surrounded by thick walls. Cold air, like a sheet of ice, flowed heavily over the solid floor of the place, which was reminiscent of a giant Colosseum.
Sang-woong and Nam Ki-seol stood facing each other in the center of the arena.
Nam Ki-seol snorted at Sang-woong, making no effort to hide his arrogance and mockery. Sang-woong, on the other hand, stared back at him with calm eyes, remaining perfectly still.
On one side, Kyung Taeyoung and Kyung Yoon-seul stood with bated breath, watching the two. Their faces were a mix of tension, expectation, and anxiety.
With a beast-like, ferocious, and arrogant expression, Nam Ki-seol strode forward as if he were dealing with a small child. The heavy sound of his footsteps ringing against the floor seemed to represent his hubris.
As if he didn’t even feel the need to wait, Nam Ki-seol swung his fist recklessly. A storm of power erupting from a Rank 5 Hunter’s fist threatened to overwhelm Sang-woong.
However, Sang-woong watched Nam Ki-seol—who was rushing in blindly like a runaway locomotive—with calm and cool eyes, without moving an inch.
‘Now that I’m facing him head-on, he’s not as threatening as I thought. He has the size, but he feels like a hollow shell.’
That was his cold and accurate judgment.
Sang-woong shifted aside gracefully, letting Nam Ki-seol’s clumsy and linear attack slide past him like a willow leaf fluttering in the wind. It didn’t even graze him.
Nam Ki-seol’s eyebrows twitched as his fist cut through empty air. He felt offended by Sang-woong’s unexpected movement.
“Oho, you’ve got some moves, haven’t you?”
Nam Ki-seol lunged with his fist again. This time, it wasn’t a reckless swing, but an attack that revealed his skill as a Rank 5 Hunter.
In that moment, a brief flash of fluster appeared on Sang-woong’s face.
“Wait, wait, wait…!”
Although he avoided the attack, he stumbled significantly. It was strange that he hadn’t fallen over.
Seeing this, the scowl on Nam Ki-seol’s face turned into a sneer. His expression said, ‘I knew it.’
‘I’ll praise you just for dodging the first attack. But you’ll have to pay the price for having the audacity to defy me. I won’t kill you. But you should be prepared to become a cripple.’
Nam Ki-seol strode toward Sang-woong and threw another punch, acting as if he didn’t even need to worry about defense.
However, Sang-woong narrowly avoided the attack again. Even with the following strikes, although his body twisted awkwardly or he stumbled, he managed to dodge every single one.
Nam Ki-seol’s expression gradually hardened.
‘What kind of guy is this?’ his face seemed to say.
The opponent clearly looked weak. However, strangely enough, the attacks that he never expected to fail were not landing at all.
It was in that moment.
*Smack!*
With a short impact sound, Nam Ki-seol’s jaw turned slightly.
Nam Ki-seol had raised his fist high again, ignoring defense as if he intended to kill his opponent in a single blow. It was then that Sang-woong had attacked first.
It wasn’t that Sang-woong’s attack was particularly sharp, which prevented Nam Ki-seol from dodging. He had allowed it because he hadn’t even considered the possibility of such a thing happening.
“You crazy bastard…”
The impact on his jaw was minimal. However, he felt a stinging pain in his pride for allowing such a pathetic guy to land a hit.
“Aaaaagh!”
Nam Ki-seol rushed at Sang-woong recklessly like a bulldozer. Blinded by rage, there was no sign of technique.
*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*
Nam Ki-seol’s heavy fists poured down like a waterfall. The power loaded into each strike felt capable of crushing a giant boulder. It was truly the destructive power of a Rank 5 Hunter.
However, it didn’t matter as long as they didn’t hit.
Sang-woong not only dodged all these attacks by a hair’s breadth, but he also dug into the opponent’s openings while dodging to deliver light counters.
Like the first hit, attacks with little power continued to strike Nam Ki-seol’s body, making him even more irritated. His pride suffered a greater wound than any physical pain.
“How dare this brat touch me!”
He swung his fists with even more strength, determined to finish it in one blow.
‘It really seems like he’s almost never been in a real fight.’
Sang-woong thought as he dodged Nam Ki-seol’s attacks.
Fights between Rank 5 Hunters rarely occurred. People with pride as high as theirs tended to avoid fights where they might be humiliated.
Most of their experience came from battling monsters. One had to assume that his experience in life-or-death battles against Hunters of his own rank was almost nonexistent.
In short, he felt like a hollow shell, just as Sang-woong had first sensed.
As if there were no longer any reason to continue this fight, Sang-woong began to change the way he moved. His fists began to carry weight.
*Thump! Crack! Thud!*
The power of the counters landing in succession gradually grew stronger. Finally, a counter hit Nam Ki-seol squarely in his poorly defended ribs.
Nam Ki-seol’s face crumpled instantly. This attack was painful enough to distort his expression. But more than the unexpected impact, it wounded his pride.
The arrogance of thinking he could suppress Sang-woong in an instant had turned back into a mockery of himself.
“To think I’d let a guy like this… just because he’s learned some petty tricks…”
Trying to hide the rising shock and anger, he charged even more wildly and ferociously like a beast. He acted as though he wouldn’t stop until he won.
Kyung Taeyoung and Kyung Yoon-seul held their breath at the sight before them. Kyung Taeyoung, in particular, was focusing on the fight without even blinking.
When Sang-woong had first struggled to dodge Nam Ki-seol’s attacks, his heart had sunk.
He had harbored a sliver of hope due to Sang-woong’s confident behavior, but he had begun to think that fighting a Rank 5 Hunter was indeed impossible.
However, it didn’t take long for his heart to return to its place. Sang-woong was dodging every single one of Nam Ki-seol’s wild and heavy attacks.
Nam Ki-seol, who was directly involved in the fight, was too agitated to grasp the situation correctly.
But Kyung Taeyoung, watching the fight from a third-party perspective, realized that Sang-woong was leading the duel exactly as he intended.
“What kind of monster is he…?”
Before he knew it, Kyung Taeyoung couldn’t close his gaping mouth. Sang-woong was toying with a Rank 5 Hunter.
And he was clearly an Alchemist. It was hard to believe, even while seeing it with his own eyes, that such a powerful and combat-capable Alchemist existed.
Nam Ki-seol wasn’t a fool either; he vaguely noticed that Sang-woong was playing with him.
Setting aside the power of the attacks, he hated to admit that while his own strikes hadn’t landed once, he had already been hit dozens of times.
At that moment, despite being in an advantageous position, Sang-woong backed away and increased the distance from Nam Ki-seol.
Then, one corner of his mouth curved up. Sang-woong was going beyond mockery and moving into insulting Nam Ki-seol.
“You—you piece of shit…”
Nam Ki-seol ground his teeth.
From the start, a bare-handed fight was disadvantageous for him. He had never honed techniques for unarmed combat.
Therefore, if his opponent had learned something like boxing, he was bound to be at a disadvantage. Furthermore, being large in stature, his speed was naturally inferior.
However, on the contrary, he was more confident in his strength than anyone. He just needed to compensate for his speed.
The method was simple. By using a weapon, he could produce much more threatening and faster speed than with his fists. And using a weapon was what he was most accustomed to.
He drew a real sword that was displayed on one side of the training center. The blade, freed from its sheath, flashed with a cold light.
Seeing Nam Ki-seol draw his sword, Sang-woong’s face instantly hardened. He issued his first warning toward Nam Ki-seol.
“Think carefully. If you go any further, you might die.”
“What are you talking about, you bastard? You’re dead now!”
Nam Ki-seol shouted, ramping up his momentum even more. His voice was loud enough to shake the training ground. His eyes flickered with murderous intent.
Sang-woong also pulled a suitable sword from a nearby weapon rack. The moment he gripped the sword, the atmosphere changed instantly.
His sharp eyes seemed to say that the games were now over. The light aura that had surrounded his body transformed into a sharp and cold killing intent, like a freezing blade.
As if an ancient power that had been asleep for a long time had awakened, an indescribable pressure weighed down on the entire training ground.
It was an aura of absolute power, on a completely different level from the momentum of a typical Rank 5 Hunter, feeling as though it could cut through anything.
*Gulp!*
Nam Ki-seol, witnessing Sang-woong’s true worth, was momentarily stunned.
Could u decide whether that s rank guy rank 5 or rank 9. I’m confuse. At the beginning, mc could only get to rank 8. Means, the higher the number, the stronger hunter are. But now, u write it like the less number, the more powerful hunter is. Could you not mix up their rank please?