Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Swish, swish.

Sharp cutting sounds struck the damp cave walls one after another.

Chaeho lightly tilted his head, letting the incoming arrow pass beside him, then immediately pushed off the ground.

His sword cleanly pierced beneath the chin of the charging Lizardman Warrior.

"Keuk!"

The monster let out a short cry, stiffened, and collapsed.

Chaeho pulled out his sword and quickly looked around.

"The right defensive line is collapsing! We need backup!"

A party member holding the frontline from another direction shouted urgently.

Chaeho kicked off the ground without hesitation.

Two Lizardmen had slipped through a gap between the shields and were swinging their crude swords wildly.

Chaeho didn't try to overpower their weapons with brute force.

The moment their shoulders moved, he read the direction their centers of gravity were shifting and casually hooked a foot around one of their legs.

The Lizardman lost its balance and staggered.

Chaeho's heavy kick slammed into the joint behind its knee.

"Kraaagh!"

The monster's stance completely collapsed.

An ice arrow from the mage immediately flew in and struck it.

Just like that, the danger on the right side was brought under control.

Over the past few days, Chaeho had gone through numerous C-rank dungeons as a short-term mercenary.

He had also politely rejected Choi Minseok's offer to permanently join the party from his first temporary C-rank dungeon.

If he stayed with one party for too long, their tactics would eventually become fixed, and so would his role within the team.

His goal wasn't immediate money or a stable record.

What he needed were unfamiliar and difficult environments.

Battlefields where unexpected variables could appear at any moment.

He avoided the crude swordsmanship of Lizardman Warriors and learned to read the trajectories of trap arrows flying through narrow passages.

Every time he joined a different party, he adjusted to unfamiliar teammates and repeatedly studied the flow of battle.

Even when combat began, he never blindly activated his skill and charged forward.

His first priority was observing the monster's center of gravity, the direction of its gaze, and even the smallest movements of its joints.

There's a difference between being able to see something and having your body react to it.

While Chaeho stood still and regulated his breathing, the temporary party leader approached him with a shield in hand.

"Hunter Lee Chaeho, good work. Thanks to you, we finished much earlier than I expected."

"You worked hard too. Is anyone injured?"

"No. With you covering our flank that perfectly, how could anyone get hurt? That trip you used earlier was seriously amazing. It almost makes me want to ask whether you're really a D-rank Hunter."

The party leader laughed heartily.

"I was lucky. Their legs just happened to get tangled together."

Chaeho casually brushed it off and gave a small nod.

Using weapon maintenance as an excuse, he turned around and moved toward the back of the formation.

There wasn't even the slightest trace of arrogance in his behavior.

The next day, the party Chaeho joined was heading toward a C-rank mutant insect dungeon located outside the city.

From the entrance itself, the pungent smell of acid stung his nose.

As someone who had spent years working as a porter, Chaeho skillfully inspected the filter of his gas mask and checked that all his equipment was properly secured.

This party had also been formed through a one-day temporary recruitment.

Two tanks.

Three damage dealers.

One healer.

The composition itself wasn't bad.

However, today was the first time any of them had fought together in actual combat.

"The biggest problem with giant insect-type monsters is their acidic poison needles. Frontliners, pay attention to the angle of your shields. Rear line, do not leave the formation under any circumstances."

The party leader gave his firm instructions.

Not long afterward, a scratching sound came from deep inside the cave.

The unpleasant scraping noise gradually grew louder.

Then monsters shaped like red beetles, each as large as an adult man, began pouring out from the darkness.

"They're here! Hold formation!"

The party leader shouted and slammed his massive shield into the ground.

Bang!

But there were far more monsters than expected.

Worse, instead of approaching for close combat, the creatures clung tightly to the cave walls and ceiling.

Their swollen red abdomens rose into the air.

Fsssssh!

With a horrifying noise like heavy rain pouring down, dozens of poison needles flew toward the party like a barrage of bullets.

"Aaagh!"

"Get behind the shields! Mages, cancel your spells and put up barriers!"

Attacks came from every direction.

The party members panicked, lost their formation, and began moving around in confusion.

The two warriors carrying shields hurriedly stepped forward to block the attacks.

However, there was no way they could stop every poison needle coming in curved trajectories from the ceiling and blind spots along the walls.

Whenever a poison needle struck the ground—

Sizzle!

The stone bubbled and melted.

Pungent smoke quickly filled the narrow cave.

The angles are bad.

Chaeho's gaze turned cold as he watched from the rear line.

At this rate, the formation will collapse.

They would never break through this barrage by focusing only on defense.

Someone had to move through the gaps between the projectiles and interrupt the monsters' attack pattern.

Chaeho tightened his grip around his sword and quietly inhaled.

Time Slow.

For an instant—

The world slowed down.

The red poison needles tearing through the air suddenly began moving as though they were swimming through thick water.

The Hunters' desperate shouting and the sounds of explosions stretched unnaturally in his ears.

But Chaeho didn't immediately charge forward.

Only 0.1 seconds.

During that incredibly short moment, he drew the trajectories and predicted impact points of dozens of poison needles within his field of vision.

He examined everything.

The direction of the monsters' gazes.

The tension in the legs clinging to the walls.

Even the slight angles of their swollen abdomens.

Three from the upper-left diagonal.

Five toward the blind spot directly ahead.

The moment he understood their pattern and weakness, Chaeho immediately deactivated his skill.

The world's speed returned to normal.

Amid the sharp explosions coming from every direction, Chaeho launched himself forward.

"Hunter Lee Chaeho! It's dangerous!"

The healer in the rear screamed in shock.

Running directly into a storm of poison needles without even carrying a shield looked like complete madness.

But there wasn't a single unnecessary movement in Chaeho's actions.

He didn't make exaggerated evasive maneuvers.

Nor did he roll across the ground.

Instead, when a deadly cluster of poison needles came from his left—

He stepped half a pace toward them.

Then he slightly turned his shoulder.

Swish!

The needles passed beside him, almost brushing against his clothes.

Chaeho didn't stop.

He lightly leaned his head backward to avoid an attack falling from the ceiling.

Then he lowered his waist, letting the barrage coming from directly ahead pass above him.

He moved while stepping only through the blind spots he had already identified.

It almost looked like someone walking through heavy rain without getting wet.

Whenever the situation became dangerous, Chaeho activated and deactivated Time Slow in extremely short intervals of only 0.1 seconds.

Within his drastically slowed perception, he confirmed the newly updated trajectories.

Then he escaped the danger once again using only the smallest possible movement.

Every step was carefully calculated so that not a single movement was wasted.

By fighting this way, he could greatly conserve his daily eleven-second skill limit while dramatically increasing his combat efficiency.

Soon, Chaeho completely broke through the storm of projectiles.

The monsters hanging from the ceiling appeared directly before him.

There were no more obstacles between them.

Chaeho forcefully kicked off the ground.

He leaped upward.

The monsters hurriedly opened their jaws and prepared their next attacks.

But Chaeho's sword was faster.

Slash!

The blade avoided their thick exoskeletons.

Instead, it repeatedly tore through the lightly armored joints and the vulnerable areas beneath their jaws.

"Kieeeek!"

The monsters released bizarre screams.

Sticky bodily fluids sprayed everywhere as they fell from the ceiling one after another.

Chaeho had wiped out the group attacking from the most troublesome angle in a single move.

A massive opening immediately appeared in the previously overwhelming barrage.

The moment Chaeho landed, he shouted—

"Now! Push forward!"

The party members, who had been desperately protecting themselves until now, finally came back to their senses and tightened their grips on their weapons.

"F-Frontline, advance! Mages, use fire magic!"

The party leader shouted and drew the monsters' attention again.

Massive flames erupted from the mage's fingertips.

The warriors' spears shattered the insects' thin legs.

Once the pressure from the poison needles disappeared, the battle became completely one-sided.

Chaeho didn't stand at the front and recklessly cut down every enemy himself.

Instead, he created openings and paths that allowed his teammates to use their strength properly.

When a party member's shield was pushed backward, Chaeho kicked a monster's leg and destroyed its balance.

When a mage's casting was about to be interrupted, he knocked an incoming poison needle away with his sword.

Not once did he take an unnecessary risk.

Nor did he steal finishing blows simply to make himself stand out.

He only appeared where the other Hunters needed him most—

at exactly the moment they needed him most—

and filled every opening in the formation.

It wasn't long before the cave floor was covered with the burned corpses of insect monsters.

"Haa... Haa..."

When the battle finally ended, the Hunters dropped to the ground and gasped for breath.

The healer responsible for treatment gathered mana with trembling hands and checked the injured members' shallow wounds.

Chaeho wiped the bodily fluid from his blade against the monster's tough hide.

Then he quietly slid the sword into its sheath.

Click.

The soft metallic sound echoed through the now-silent cave.

As though they had planned it beforehand, every party member turned toward Chaeho at the same time.

What they had witnessed moments earlier inside that barrage didn't seem real.

They had watched it with their own eyes.

And yet, they still couldn't understand how Chaeho had passed through that storm of poison needles without taking even a single wound.

The party leader swallowed hard and carefully approached him.

"Hunter Lee Chaeho... How exactly did you dodge all of that just now?"

"I was lucky. The angles they were firing from were pretty obvious. I noticed a few openings."

Chaeho answered calmly while checking his equipment.

"Lucky? We couldn't even open our eyes. We were just hiding our heads."

One of the damage dealers joined the conversation with a dazed expression.

"That was seriously incredible. If you hadn't been here, all of us would've turned into pincushions and left this place in ambulances."

The party members stared at him with a mixture of admiration and disbelief.

Chaeho only gave a small shrug.

"There could still be monsters left. Check your weapons and reorganize the formation first."

There wasn't even a hint of excitement in his voice.

Seeing him calmly giving instructions for what came next, the Hunters could no longer argue.

They quickly nodded and started preparing.

And this wasn't happening only here.

Among the many short-term mercenary parties Chaeho had worked with, quiet rumors were already beginning to spread.

He never tried to show off.

He never acted arrogant.

He didn't blame his teammates when they made mistakes.

But whenever the party faced a truly dangerous moment, he somehow managed to completely reverse the flow of battle.

Positive stories were spreading one after another.

A highly skilled D-rank Hunter who could see straight through the flow of combat had appeared.

My mana consumption was reasonable, and the timing of the split activations wasn't bad either.

While the other Hunters gathered their equipment, Chaeho briefly reviewed the battle in his head.

Using his skill for only 0.1 seconds at a time.

Predicting projectile trajectories.

Performing only the minimum movements required to dodge.

He had practiced these motions countless times in the training room until they were carved into his mind and body.

Now, even in an unfamiliar real battle, they worked without any problems.

Chaeho released a satisfied breath.

Then he picked up the small mana stones scattered across the ground and placed them inside his pouch.

"Hunter Lee Chaeho. We're ready."

At the party leader's unusually respectful voice, Chaeho turned around.

"Let's go."

Without saying anything more, Chaeho stepped toward the dark passage leading to the boss room.

Behind him, the footsteps of the other Hunters followed closely.

Their movements carried a strange mixture of tension—

and firm trust.