Chapter 93

‘How... how did this happen?’

This was a B-Class Gate. The traps inside should have been powerful enough to injure Awakened of the same rank.

So how had I escaped completely unharmed?

‘Don’t tell me...’

There was only one possible explanation.

I instinctively glanced down at my right hand. A silver ring rested on my index finger, emitting a faint glow.

[(Enhanced) Intermediate Ring]

[Grade: General]

[Description: A ring imbued with protective magical power. Slightly reduces damage while worn.]

It was the very item Gu Seohyeong had enchanted for me.

‘H-heuk!’

Now that I had experienced its effects firsthand, I finally understood why everyone was so obsessed with an Enchanter’s abilities.

Who would have imagined that a single ring could protect me from such a vicious barrage?

‘If it weren’t for Gu Seohyeong, I don’t even want to imagine what state my body would be in right now...’

I carefully pushed myself upright, wiping the cold sweat from my brow.

‘I-I’ll never forget to bring my magical tools again!’

By the time I made that solemn vow, however, the monster had already been defeated.

“Krrriririk!”

Thud!

The moment the two A-Class Hunters finished destroying the final fragment of the creature, they hurried over to us.

Their guildmates were lying in a tangled heap on the ground. Of course they were alarmed.

“Ah, we’re terribly sorry! We failed to deal with the monster quickly enough, and even you, our appraiser, were caught up in the chaos...”

The A-Class Hunter carrying the crossbow bowed her head apologetically.

Still, the monster had died before it could seriously harm anyone. There was no need for her to apologize so profusely.

“It’s all right.”

At this point, however, I began to feel uneasy.

If a woman meeting me for the first time was apologizing this deeply, then the soft-hearted Ahn Yoonseung might very well drop to his knees and start banging his forehead against the floor.

‘Hmm?’

But strangely enough, the scene I feared never came to pass.

“Hyung-nim!”

The A-Class Hunter approached me with an attitude I had not expected at all.

Then he said something I could never have imagined.

“As expected, there’s no one else like you, Hyung-nim! I never thought you would throw yourself into danger to save the C-Class Hunters!”

Yoonseung gazed at me with undisguised admiration.

***

From the moment Ahn Yoonseung heard the news of the mutation, he had been plagued by a vague sense of unease.

Only two A-Class Hunters had been mobilized on such short notice. Worse still, in the midst of the emergency, an argument had broken out with the guild’s appraisers.

—You expect us to send D-Class Awakened into a B-Class Gate?

—I refuse!

—This is a violation of our basic rights!

‘This is a serious problem.’

Naturally, Neo Sisters did not back down easily.

However, the longer the negotiations dragged on, the lower the stranded Hunters’ chances of survival became.

That was when Ahn Yoonseung reluctantly took matters into his own hands.

After all, he did know at least one appraiser.

“H-hello? Kiryeo Hyung?”

Kim Kiryeo was perfectly suited to the task.

Was he not the most capable appraiser Yoonseung knew? And were his abilities as a Hunter not beyond reproach?

“Hyung-nim! I’m sorry, but could you do me a favor? Please help us!”

Even his character as an Awakened was impeccable.

—All right.

What kind of Hunter would willingly risk his life to rescue stranded members of another guild?

And yet, just as Yoonseung had expected, Kim Kiryeo accepted his request immediately, displaying the magnanimity of a true gentleman.

Up to that point, everything had gone exactly as expected.

However, there was one condition attached to his help.

“I’m telling you in advance. I will only use my actual appraisal ability.”

Kim Kiryeo had emphasized the same point from the moment they spoke on the phone.

He claimed that he would do nothing more than clear the way as safely as possible.

Of course, that had been the reason they summoned him in the first place, so there was no issue with the condition itself...

‘Ah!’

Only after hearing the conversation that followed did Yoonseung finally understand Kiryeo’s true intentions.

“You remember that I’m F-Class, don’t you?”

“Ah, yes.”

“So, if a monster happens to come after me... what do you suppose will happen?”

Someone like Kim Kiryeo could surely kill monsters in a gate like this as casually as swatting flies.

However, if he revealed such strength in front of the other Neo Sisters guild members, the consequences would be difficult to contain.

‘If they discover he falsified his rank...!’

In other words, Yoonseung interpreted Kiryeo’s warning like this:

—I am publicly registered as F-Class. I cannot use my power where others can see me.

That was why Kiryeo was warning him not to allow any monsters near him.

At that moment, Yoonseung made a firm promise to himself.

He would protect Kiryeo’s secret at all costs.

No matter what the others might think, they must never be allowed to discover the truth.

‘Don’t worry, Hyung!’

Their intentions may not have been perfectly aligned, but the outcome they desired was the same.

Kiryeo did not want a monster to attack him, and Yoonseung fully intended to prevent that from happening.

.

.

.

In the end, Yoonseung fulfilled his promise admirably.

Even when the grotesque centipede-like creature suddenly split into eight separate pieces, he remained calm and responded immediately.

[Shield of Protection]

Yoonseung activated his Awakening skill and spread a circular barrier through the dungeon.

He formed an enormous shield around himself, then reversed its function and trapped the monster inside it.

‘This way, I can use it as a temporary cage.’

Turning the inside and outside of a protective barrier against each other and using a defensive skill offensively in battle.

It was an application Kim Kiryeo himself had taught him.

Even now, every time Yoonseung used that single technique, he was astonished all over again by the brilliance of the supposedly F-Class Hunter.

“Oh! Yoonseung-ah, well done!”

“Sunbae-nim! Please deal with the ones on the right!”

Still, Yoonseung could not afford to lose himself in admiration.

He quickly began eliminating the fragments of the creature trapped within his skill.

Thud!

He smashed through the monster’s tough shell.

Again.

Again.

And again.

“Huh?”

But then Yoonseung hesitated, his attention drawn to something happening outside the barrier.

‘Why is Kiryeo Hyung running?’

Tap, tap, tap.

The other C-Class Hunters might have fled because they were terrified of the monster.

But he had never expected Kim Kiryeo to sprint away like that.

That composed Hunter was rarely shaken by anything. More importantly, there was no reason for a noble and overwhelmingly powerful person like him to flee from a mere B-Class boss.

‘Why?’

Then why was Kiryeo moving with such urgency?

Yoonseung soon discovered the answer.

“Wait!”

“Ugh!”

“Keugh!”

A moment later, the C-Class Hunters running at the front suddenly collapsed.

‘Huh?’

From inside the shield, Yoonseung could not understand why the guild members outside had abruptly fallen.

Then something poured down from the ceiling.

A trap had been activated when one of them stepped on a hidden switch, releasing a rain of blades from above.

‘Heuk!’

Even an A-Class Hunter could not react easily to such a sudden attack.

Yoonseung hurriedly tried to cast an enhancement skill, but the preparation time was too long.

He would not make it.

Click!

But there was no need to worry.

Someone outside the barrier had already predicted the entire chain of events.

“Aaargh!”

As the guild members screamed on the floor, Kim Kiryeo deliberately threw himself down with them.

Then he used his own body as a shield, taking the full force of the falling blades.

Click! Click!

Had Kim Kiryeo not intentionally fallen over them at the last possible moment, what would have happened to the C-Class Hunters beneath him?

‘Such judgment in the middle of all that chaos...?’

Yoonseung stared in awe.

At last, everything became clear.

The moment the C-Class Hunters panicked and lost control of themselves, Kim Kiryeo had predicted that they would trigger a trap.

That was why he had run after them.

‘He intended to protect them if anything happened!’

It was deeply moving.

He had not so much as flinched before a trap inside a B-Class Gate. Instead, he had willingly placed himself between danger and those weaker than him.

Such behavior could inspire nothing but admiration and respect.

‘Wow... Kiryeo Hyung really is incredible. How can someone like him even exist?’

He was the very embodiment of selflessness.

Yoonseung’s reverence for the Hunter grew greater with each passing day.

Before he realized it, the thought in his heart had already escaped his lips.

“As expected, there’s no one else like you, Hyung-nim! I never thought you would throw yourself into danger to save the C-Class Hunters!”

His praise overflowed with sincerity.

“Uh... ah... Is that so?”

Yoonseung spoke with such absolute confidence that even the other A-Class Hunter began to be persuaded.

“Oh... It seems I misunderstood what happened. You were protecting our guild members, weren’t you?”

Despite her normally sullen expression, the crossbow-wielding Hunter offered him a belated word of gratitude.

She, too, had come to believe that Kiryeo had deliberately shielded her guildmates.

“Thank you.”

“We truly survived because of you, Hyung-nim!”

It was an ironic sight.

Two A-Class Hunters were bowing their heads to an Awakened officially ranked at the very bottom.

Yet the man receiving their gratitude remained utterly unmoved.

Without offering a response, he simply brushed the dust from his clothes.

‘He really is extraordinary.’

His detached manner made it seem as though what he had done was nothing worth mentioning.

Seeing Kiryeo’s reaction, Yoonseung became even more certain of his judgment.

He was a powerhouse on an entirely different level, a man whose expression did not change even when A-Class Hunters bowed before him.

‘What nonsense are these Earthlings babbling about?’

Of course, Kiryeo’s silence had an entirely different cause.

‘I barely escaped with my life. I’m still too shaken to understand what’s happening...’

But what could anyone do?

One might measure the depth of ten roads, yet still fail to fathom the heart of a single person.

***

And so, they successfully rescued the stranded Hunters and safely escaped the gate.

More precisely, after defeating the boss, they officially opened the exit.

“Ah!”

“We’re outside!”

“You have no idea how relieved I was when Hunter Ahn Yoonseung appeared inside...!”

The stranded C-Class Hunters burst into tears the moment they returned to the safe zone.

They had only just escaped death. Their relief was entirely understandable.

Kiryeo nodded, sympathizing with them completely.

But then, just as the soaked C-Class Hunters began wrapping themselves in blankets, someone quietly approached the corner where he was standing.