The C-rank Dungeon, Resting Place of the Dead, was a graveyard that spanned a very wide area.
The Demon Soldiers there were a type of skeleton equipped with dark armor.
They possessed a level of strength far beyond that of ordinary skeletons.
Of course, even so, they weren’t much of a threat to Seong-jun’s party.
*Whoosh!*
*Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!*
Empowered by various buffs, Seong-jun’s party was sweeping through the monsters, literally achieving one-shot-one-kill.
“It seems like C-rank Dungeons have become too easy, likely because our class and skill levels have increased.”
They were individuals who had grown steadily by raising their class and skill levels through hunting.
Moreover, as class levels rose, new skills were sometimes generated depending on the situation, making them far more powerful compared to when they first re-awakened.
“That’s part of it, but the decisive factor is that your skills have become much stronger, Brother Seong-jun.”
As Yuseon said, the primary reason the C-rank Dungeon had become so manageable was that Seong-jun’s buff skills had grown significantly more potent.
“That’s true. But don’t you think it’s about time we move on to B-rank? To put it bluntly, if we use the Dungeon Creation Device, we can pick and choose the easier dungeons even among the dark attribute ones. No matter how I look at it, I think it’s time for us to graduate from C-rank.”
Gwang-taek asked if it wasn’t time to graduate from C-rank Dungeons and upgrade to B-rank.
In the case of C-rank Dungeons, although Seong-jun’s buffs played a major role, they were now at a point where they could one-shot normal monsters and take down elites or bosses without much trouble.
He judged that even if they moved to B-rank, they would be more than capable of sweeping through normal monsters.
Seong-jun shook his head and replied.
“It’s a bit vague to move up to B-rank right now. The problem is still the boss. With our current abilities, handling B-rank normal monsters shouldn’t be an issue. But the boss is a different story. Strictly speaking, we lack firepower. That’s why I think it’s time we recruit additional members.”
To aim for a B-rank Dungeon, there was a limit to what this small group could do.
It didn’t matter if they were only facing normal monsters, but to defeat the boss and clear the dungeon itself, they ultimately needed more people.
Specifically, a Dealer who could boost their firepower.
“True, the ratio of Dealers is usually high in a party. On the other hand, our party has one Tanker, one Dealer, and one Healer. Oh, wait. Since you also act as a Dealer when necessary, Brother Seong-jun, should I say we have two Dealers?”
Strictly speaking, Seong-jun was playing three roles: Healer, Buffer, and Dealer.
However, since there was no need to distinguish between Healer and Buffer, they considered him as playing two roles.
“Hmm, if possible, I’d like us to go all the way with just ourselves, but there’s definitely a limit to conquering higher-rank dungeons than this. So? Seong-jun, when do you think would be a good time to recruit new blood?”
Gwang-taek and Yuseon also felt the need for additional members.
They just hadn’t paid much attention to it because there was no rush.
However, as the time to switch to B-rank Dungeons approached, they decided they could no longer delay recruiting.
“The sooner, the better. Of course, we can’t just take anyone. Let’s set a few conditions first and see if there’s someone suitable.”
While recruiting was urgent, they couldn’t just accept anyone.
Once someone joined the party, they would share several secrets that were not disclosed to the public, so how could they just take anyone?
Naturally, they had to be more cautious regarding that aspect.
‘Tsk, Kim Chang-su, whose favorability is over 70, would be perfect, but it’s a shame he’s F-rank. If we plan to conquer B-rank and eventually A-rank dungeons, he needs to be at least C-rank.’
Aside from Gwang-taek and Yuseon, the person with the highest favorability was the F-rank Assassin, Kim Chang-su.
Thanks to Seong-jun using Cure, his mother was able to undergo surgery safely and her life was saved.
Therefore, his favorability was incredibly high, and since he viewed Seong-jun as his savior, it would clearly be much easier to increase his favorability further.
The only catch was his rank.
It might be fine for dungeons at or below C-rank, but for B-rank or higher, it would be difficult for him to show proper firepower even with Seong-jun’s buffs.
In reality, it was unreasonable to accept him as a party member.
‘Well, if I keep looking around slowly, a suitable person will eventually turn up.’
What else could he do?
Since there was no one who met the conditions right now, there was no other way but to keep looking around a bit more.
“Let’s put that talk aside for now and finish the conquest. We’ll have to push ourselves if we want to finish within three days.”
Unless the monsters gathered in one place like last time, it was impossible to clear an entire dungeon in a single day.
They didn’t want to be too complacent, so they set a limit of three days and intended to clear the dungeon by any means necessary within that time.
***
After his mother’s full recovery, Kim Chang-su became much more active as a mercenary than before.
Perhaps because his worries about his mother had vanished, his expression had brightened significantly, and he became much more talkative.
And now, he was participating in a new party as a short-term mercenary to clear a dungeon.
The F-rank Dungeon, Goblin Supply Base.
“Come on! Let’s all work a little harder!”
Among the main E-rank Hunters, Kim Chang-su was doing his best in his own way.
However, perhaps due to the limitations of being F-rank, his Aura was bottoming out, and he was very exhausted.
Nevertheless, he didn’t show it on the outside.
For F-rank mercenaries living day-to-day, the only way to survive was to become a regular mercenary, and for that to happen, they couldn’t afford to show how tired they were.
Just as he was struggling to continue the hunt with a forced bright smile.
*Clang! Clang! Chang!*
*Thump! Thud! Thump!*
Someone ran toward them in a frantic state during the hunt.
“Huff! Huff! P-Please save me!”
A person who appeared to be a Healer was running with all their might, followed by five Goblins chasing with menacing intent.
Unfortunately, the place the Healer was fleeing toward was exactly where they were hunting.
“Th-This is crazy! Why are you coming here! Ch-Change direction!”
They were already in the middle of a battle against four Goblins here.
If five more joined, they would have to face a total of nine.
Even if they were F-rank monsters, that was a daunting number for five E-rank and three F-rank Hunters to handle.
“I-I’m sorry! Please take care of them!”
However, the Healer had no intention of stopping.
They ditched the monsters on the party and fled quickly.
“Kieeeeee!”
“Kyeeeeee!”
The Goblins also changed their target from the original one fleeing far away to the new humans already fighting their fellow Goblins.
“Urgh! Dammit! Bl-Block them!”
“Agh! That bastard! If I get out of here alive, I won’t let this go!”
They were furious at the Healer who had suddenly dumped the monsters on them, but surviving was the priority for now.
“I can’t block them all by myself! Close-range Dealers, buy some time somehow! Long-range Dealers, spam your skills and finish off the ones we were already fighting as fast as possible!”
It was practically impossible for a single Tanker to tank nine monsters.
While high-rank Tankers might be able to, low-rank Tankers lacked everything from skills to stats, meaning three or four was the maximum they could tank simultaneously.
Therefore, the Tanker asked the close-range Dealers to engage the newly arrived Goblins and buy as much time as they could.
“Are you crazy! How are we supposed to buy time!”
The problem was that two of the three close-range Dealers were F-rank mercenaries.
“Do you want us all to die here then! Use any means necessary and buy time somehow!”
It was already too late to escape, and if things went wrong, this place could become their grave.
Thus, regardless of whether it was possible, they had to do it.
“Dammit!”
The E-rank close-range Dealer rushed toward the Goblins first, and eventually, the two F-rank mercenaries had no choice but to follow.
“M-Mr. Chang-su! You take that one!”
“Yes!”
Since it had come to this, there was no turning back.
He had to do something to survive, so Kim Chang-su fought the Goblin with all his might.
‘Tsk! This won’t be easy.’
The opponent was an F-rank Goblin.
Even though it wasn’t E-rank, it was bound to be overwhelming for an F-rank Hunter—who was only slightly stronger than an ordinary person—to handle alone.
*Swish! Swish!*
*Slice! Slice!*
Since he was an Assassin, an agility-type class, he used his speed to attack the Goblin as much as possible.
However, because he was attacking while dodging the enemy’s strikes, it was hard to land a clean blow.
As a result, he couldn’t deal significant damage.
“Kieeeeee!”
On the other hand, the Goblin’s attacks were very powerful and fierce.
If he were hit directly, he could become a ghost on the spot.
*Whoosh! Whoosh!*
Therefore, Kim Chang-su focused primarily on evasion while occasionally launching a counterattack.
‘Phew, phew, this is driving me crazy. My Aura is empty, and I’m reaching my physical limit.’
He was already exhausted long ago.
Consequently, his movement speed was gradually decreasing.
At this rate, it wouldn’t be strange if he was taken down by the Goblin at any moment.
*Whoosh!*
*Thwack!*
In the end, Kim Chang-su failed to properly dodge the Goblin’s club and was struck on the left arm.
“Urgh!”
Kim Chang-su tumbled across the ground.
At that moment.
*Zip!*
A Ranger, a fellow F-rank long-range Dealer, cast an attack skill toward the Goblin Kim Chang-su was fighting.
*Thwack!*
“Kieeeeee?”
“M-Mr. Chang-su! Are you okay?”
Perhaps because they had worked together as short-term mercenaries a few times before, she provided support fire after seeing him in danger.
However, with that one shot, the Goblin’s attention shifted from Kim Chang-su to her.
“Crazy! You should have attacked the Goblins the Tanker is holding! Why are you attacking over there! Are you out of your mind!”
Because the mercenary’s attack drew the Goblin’s gaze toward the long-range Dealers, they were naturally flustered.
It was obvious that the Goblin would now rush toward them.
But in that instant.
‘Now!’
Kim Chang-su, who had collapsed on the ground, scrambled up and gripped the dagger in his hand tightly.
Then, he quickly approached the rear of the Goblin, which was distracted by the long-range Dealers.
‘Deadly Strike!’
Deadly Strike was Kim Chang-su’s most powerful attack skill.
He squeezed out his remaining Aura to deliver a final blow.
*Thump!*
There was a chance of a critical hit, and fortunately, the Deadly Strike delivered from the rear landed as a critical hit, dealing massive damage.
“Kieeeee—”
Combined with the accumulated damage, that one blow was enough to take down the Goblin.
*Thud!*
The Goblin collapsed onto the ground.
Kim Chang-su held his dagger with trembling hands.
At that moment, an unbelievable notification sounded in his ears.
**[Re-awakening is in progress due to meeting specific conditions.]**
What on earth did that mean?
Re-awakening?
Re-awakening was divided into forced re-awakening using an Awakening Stone and natural re-awakening that occurred when specific conditions were met.
The problem was that the “specific conditions” were different for everyone, and no one knew what those conditions were.
Even those who had re-awakened naturally by fulfilling specific conditions did not know which conditions they had satisfied.
Therefore, cases of natural re-awakening were still extremely rare.
Yet, out of the blue, Kim Chang-su had re-awakened.
‘Re-re-awakening?’
While he was bewildered, the re-awakening proceeded rapidly.
*Flash!*
A bright light enveloped Kim Chang-su, and soon he felt a powerful strength incomparable to before.
“Th-This is!”
“Huh! Could that be natural re-awakening?”
“Heol! What! Is it really a re-awakening?”
Seeing someone re-awaken during a hunt was very rare.
No, it was a scene one might not even see once in a lifetime.
Thus, everyone watched Kim Chang-su’s re-awakening with shocked expressions.
*Whoosh!*
At some point, the light that enveloped his entire body subsided, completing the re-awakening.
**[Re-awakening complete.]**
Simultaneously with the notification that the re-awakening was finished, Kim Chang-su’s eyes flashed.
*Flash!*
Kim Chang-su suddenly vanished as if he had teleported.
*Slice! Slice! Stab! Slice!*
He moved between the monsters at an incredible speed that was hard to follow with the naked eye, appearing here and there like a ghost.
“Kieek!”
“Kyak!”
*Thud! Thud!*
The Goblins began to collapse one by one.
It was literally one hit for each.
Even if they were F-rank monsters, it wouldn’t be easy to send them away in one blow unless one was of a considerably high rank; it seemed clear that he was at least C-rank or higher.
Kim Chang-su, who had wiped out the Goblins in an instant, looked at the dagger in his hand and muttered.
“Is this… my strength? Ha, to think I’d re-awaken. I never thought such a day would come in my life. Maybe this too is thanks to Healer Seong-jun? Ever since I met him, things have started to go well.”
Seong-jun hadn’t specifically done anything regarding Kim Chang-su’s re-awakening, but for some reason, he felt as if even this re-awakening was thanks to Seong-jun.
This was because his mother had fully recovered after meeting Seong-jun, and he felt as if everything he did had been going smoothly since then.
And now that he had even re-awakened, it felt like everything was thanks to meeting him.
***
A Dungeon Portal opened in the middle of a secret space on the second basement floor.
*Flash!*
As it approached 8:00 PM, Seong-jun’s party emerged from the dungeon.
“Ha! I really burned myself out. By the way, how many did we catch?”
At Yuseon’s question, Seong-jun checked the Subspace information and replied.
“Exactly 823. You can assume we hunted about one-third of the total monsters.”
Generally, the number of monsters in a dungeon is around 2,500.
While there might be slight differences depending on the dungeon, it was usually around that number.
“Wow! That’s a lot. By the way, Seong-jun, do you have enough space in your Subspace?”
“Don’t worry. The Subspace level has also increased, so I can currently store up to 50 tons.”
When he first acquired the Subspace, it could only hold one ton.
But before he knew it, its level had risen, and he could now store 50 tons.
It was unlikely they would run out of space in the Subspace.
“Heh! Really? When did the level go up that much? Still, 50 tons. At that rate, we could swallow two or three dungeons whole without any problem.”
At Gwang-taek’s words, Seong-jun shook his head and said.
“Still, I can’t just leave them stuffed inside the Subspace indefinitely. I plan to clear it out every time we finish a dungeon. By the way, what did President Choe Gyu-taek say? Is he going to trade with us?”
No matter how much space the Subspace had, he couldn’t just keep stuffing things in.
Therefore, he intended to store them only until they cleared an entire dungeon and then sell them the moment it was finished.
“I talked to him over a drink the day before yesterday. To cut to the chase, Gyu-taek said he’d take charge of it. He also said he has a few clients lined up.”
In the end, Choe Gyu-taek decided to take charge of the black-market dealings for monster corpses and Mana Stones.
He would likely finalize the deal with the clients he had selected.
“That’s good. I feel more at ease knowing President Choe Gyu-taek is handling it.”
While they were talking.
*Ring—*
A cell phone rang. Seong-jun checked his phone.
“Oh? I wonder what’s going on with Mr. Chang-su?”
The person calling was none other than Kim Chang-su.
“Yes, Mr. Chang-su. What is it?”
When Seong-jun answered the phone, Kim Chang-su’s excited voice came from the other side.
—Healer Seong-jun! Do you have a moment right now?
At the sudden question, Seong-jun asked curiously.
“Why? Did something happen to your mother?”
—I re-awakened! And to B-rank, no less!
At Kim Chang-su’s unexpected news, Seong-jun’s eyes widened.
“What? Re-awakening?”
What on earth was going on?
Re-awakening.
—I was really surprised too.
Anyway, I’d like to see you about this, Healer Seong-jun.
Would that be okay?
“Of course. If you tell me where you are, I’ll go there.”
Seong-jun spoke with Kim Chang-su for a moment.
After setting a meeting place and ending the call, Seong-jun looked at his party members.
“Let’s go!”
At Seong-jun’s words, Gwang-taek and Yuseon asked with puzzled expressions.
“Eh? Where?”
Then, Seong-jun replied with a satisfied smile.
“Where else? We’re going to interview a new party member.”
In fact, in terms of favorability alone, there was no one like Kim Chang-su.
He had been excluded from the candidates only because his rank was too low, but didn’t he just re-awaken at the perfect time?
And to B-rank, at that.
At this point, Seong-jun had already made up his mind, but since it was a position for a new party member, he judged that he should listen to the opinions of the existing members, Gwang-taek and Yuseon.