Chapter 72: Struggle for Supremacy (3)
Hyun Suho went on a party hunt with his guild members for the first time in a long while.
The location was an official dungeon that they had acquired the rights to, after paying the Hunter Guild.
It was discovered in a red zone between Wonsan and Hamheung, so the distance wasn’t too far.
Upon arrival, they found that a vast area, about 30 square kilometers, had turned into a swampy, muddy mess.
《Dungeon Quest Triggered》
◆Quest
Master of the Swamp
(Difficulty ★)
▷Objective: Defeat the Boss Monster
The field dungeon featured Level 4 Lizardmen, who were well-armed despite being monsters.
The area was filled with poisonous insects spewing venom, and if one misplaced a step, they could sink deep into the swamp and never come out.
Despite the daunting environment, the difficulty was rated at just one star.
The system displayed the lowest difficulty level.
This was because Hyun Suho, an undeniably powerful ranker who had even easily dealt with Butcher, was with them.
Although there were many criticisms online for various reasons, the system accurately assessed Hyun Suho's strength.
"Alright! Let’s take it slow!"
At Hyun Suho’s words, the 15 guild members began to advance through the dungeon, working together.
In this dungeon, Hyun Suho was only there to provide support.
He was simply observing the hunt, riding on Bipo, which resembled a magic carpet out of a fairy tale.
The actual leader was Jo Seung-joo.
A skilled swordsman hunter who had transferred from the Cheonrima Guild to the Ex Machina Guild.
Even though the number of party members had increased from 6 to 15, he led them with calm and efficient commands.
"Multiple Lizardmen appearing at 12 o’clock! We’ll engage them in B-formation!"
Under Jo Seung-joo’s direction, the other party members fought well.
The one who stood out the most was, of course, Jo Mina, who had obtained a Phoenix.
"Nix, Fire Breath!"
"Tweet!"
Under Jo Mina’s attentive care, the Phoenix had grown quickly.
Of course, it had only grown from chick-sized to about the size of a plump pigeon, but its combat power was considerable.
As the Phoenix spewed flames, the swamp bubbled and boiled, roasting the Lizardmen until they collapsed.
Hyun Suho was watching all the combat unfold.
"They’re all doing well."
He had considered providing support with gunfire if anything dangerous occurred, but he hadn’t had the chance.
The party was so tightly coordinated that there wasn’t a single opening.
To break through that formation, one would need overwhelming force.
But at least in this field dungeon, there were no monsters with that kind of destructive power.
At least, not so far.
After advancing through the dungeon for some time, they came across a large cave, and strange cries echoed from within.
[Kueeeeeck!!]
"Is this where it really begins?"
The goal of this dungeon was to defeat the boss monster.
As they approached the center of the field, the much-anticipated boss monster finally appeared.
Thanks to Doom Eye’s detection abilities, Hyun Suho could confirm the identity of the boss monster.
◆Monster
Basilisk
(Boss)
(LV 5)
Emerging from the cave was a large, serpent-like reptile.
What was unusual was the crown-like crest on its head. Moreover, it had legs, distinguishing it from a regular snake.
Hyun Suho frowned at the sight of the boss monster.
"This is... a lot more dangerous than I expected."
This was a field dungeon where many Lizardmen appeared.
At best, he had expected something like a Lizardman King, but a Basilisk had shown up.
It was a high-stat beast-type monster with incredibly tough scales that resisted most attacks.
There were even videos circulating online showing arrows bouncing off its hard scales.
Even more concerning than its defense was its attack power.
The Basilisk could use its petrifying breath, a deadly ability.
Exposure to the gray breath it emitted from its mouth would instantly turn the victim to stone.
Because it was a monster with a wide-range instant death attack, it was notoriously difficult to deal with.
Even hunters facing a Basilisk that was one or two levels lower than them would often panic and flee.
But Jo Seung-joo was different.
After assessing the type of monster, he calmly and precisely issued commands.
"Surround it! Tanks, use your taunt skills! Make sure the aggro doesn’t shift!"
"Trust me! War Cry!!"
Even though the petrifying breath was terrifying, Jo Seung-joo’s quick and accurate commands, combined with his leading actions, made the other party members move like clockwork and begin attacking the Basilisk.
Hyun Suho, watching, was impressed by the swift response.
"This really shows the importance of a good leader."
Hyun Suho was unmatched when it came to solo play, but when it came to party hunts, he was still somewhat of a novice.
Handling people is one of the hardest things in the world.
Instead of going solo and charging ahead recklessly, a leader needs the charisma to guide and move their subordinates as a cohesive unit.
Just like Jo Seung-joo was doing now.
As Hyun Suho had now decided to revitalize his guild, there was a lot he could learn from this scene.
"I still have a lot to learn."
[It’s the basics of leadership. I can assist you with the theoretical aspects.]
"Thank you."
As long as they avoided the petrifying breath, the Basilisk was a manageable opponent, given their numbers and levels.
The fortunate thing was that their weapons were strong enough to penetrate the Basilisk’s tough scales.
There had been many raids where they had to give up because their weapons couldn’t get through, but this time was different, thanks to Hyun Suho.
He had upgraded all their gear, including weapons and armor, using his upgrade skill.
And when combined with the aura of the Machine God, even the Basilisk’s tough hide started to slice like butter.
In the end, it took less than 20 minutes from the start of the battle for the Basilisk to fall with a wail.
[Kuohohoho!!]
Thud!
“Huff, huff!”
It had been an intense battle, one that left everyone out of breath.
Even as the Basilisk lay dead with its tongue hanging out, Jo Seung-joo and the other party members remained on high alert.
It wasn’t so much caution as disbelief that they had actually managed to slay the Basilisk.
Clap!
It was only when Hyun Suho clapped his hands loudly that they snapped out of it, startled.
“That was an excellent hunt! Great job, everyone!”
At Hyun Suho’s words, they finally exhaled deeply and collapsed onto the ground, their tension finally released.
“Take a moment to rest. I’ll take care of the cleanup.”
Snap!
With a snap of his fingers, something began to slither out of the shadows and approached the Basilisk’s corpse.
It was a nano machine composed of tiny particles.
It transformed into a massive slime and attached itself to the Basilisk’s body, beginning to butcher it.
Scritch, scritch!
It looked like countless ants dismantling their prey.
The flesh, bones, tendons, mana stone, and all the organs were meticulously disassembled, maintaining their original form.
It was an incredible butchering skill, something beyond the capabilities of human hands.
Using Doom Eye’s ability, Hyun Suho thoroughly assessed the usefulness of the dissected parts.
“Doesn’t seem like there’s anything I can use…”
[It’s just a Level 5 monster. It's far too weak for the Master now.]
A Level 5 boss monster was no longer impressive to Hyun Suho.
In fact, aside from the instant death ability of its petrification, it didn’t have any particularly outstanding abilities.
“What about the petrification ability?”
[If you want, I can modify your body to use the petrifying breath. However, it would just be cumbersome for you at this point. It would take up unnecessary modification slots.]
Even though it’s an instant death ability, petrification isn’t an all-powerful skill.
Especially against Death Star, it would have no effect at all.
Nova pointed that out.
“Eh, nothing I can do about it.”
Once the butchering was complete, Hyun Suho called the people over and had them line up.
“Alright, warriors to the left, mages to the right.”
When they were in position, Hyun Suho used a skill.
“Body Modification!”
Zzzz!
A bright light enveloped the party members.
It was a mysterious hunter skill that could replace parts of the body with other components. Hyun Suho had used it on himself to achieve massive stat boosts.
It was already an incredibly useful skill, but it could even be used on others.
However, the modification capacity of others was significantly lower, so they couldn’t replace most of their body with monster materials like Hyun Suho could.
Therefore, the warriors had their bones and muscles enhanced, while the mages had their mana circuits modified using mana stones.
Even this was an incredible upgrade.
Because this skill was so sensitive, it was kept highly confidential, and only a few selected guild members were allowed to undergo the modification.
Only trusted individuals, like those from the Cheonrima Guild, were chosen.
Zap!
Once the skill was finished, the party members examined their bodies and cheered.
“Wow! I can feel so much power. I think I could even split a mountain now.”
They had used this body modification skill on them before, but it was only with a Level 2 monster, so the effect had been minimal.
Now that they had the power and mana of a Level 5 Basilisk, they would become much stronger.
Jo Seung-joo, who had been disheartened after witnessing the fight between Hyun Suho and Gula, regained his confidence with his newfound strength.
“Thank you, Guild Master. I will serve you faithfully until my dying breath.”
“Oh, don’t be so formal, hyung.”
Jo Seung-joo was older than him.
Hyun Suho had told him multiple times to drop the formalities, but Jo Seung-joo insisted on being respectful to the end.
He was so adamant about it that Hyun Suho eventually gave up.
Just then, Jo Mina came hopping over like a rabbit.
“Oppa! How did I do?”
Her eyes sparkled, clearly expecting praise.
She looked so cute that Hyun Suho couldn’t help but pat her on the head as he replied.
“Mina, you did great too.”
“Hehe!”
Jo Mina’s eyes curved into crescent moons as she smiled. The Phoenix, Nix, was perched calmly on her shoulder.
“Nix seems to have grown a lot recently.”
“Yeah! He’s been eating really well and growing quickly.”
As if to respond, Nix, sitting on Jo Mina’s shoulder, flapped its wings.
“Tweet!”
For its size, Nix was already capable of breathing terrifying flames.
If it kept growing at this rate, it could become the main force of the party.
Of course, Nix was already a main force.
As Hyun Suho watched Nix, another thought occurred to him. He looked around and shouted,
“Does anyone want to use the petrifying breath?”
While the skill was cumbersome for Hyun Suho, it wasn’t for others.
Everyone turned their heads in surprise at his words.
The idea of being able to unleash that terrifying petrifying breath was tempting.
Hunters were naturally driven to seize any opportunity to grow stronger, no matter the risks.
You could see the determination burning in their eyes.
“Me! Me!”
“That’s mine! Everyone else, put your hands down!”
After a few discussions, they decided that the tank, Park Cheol-min, would get it.
Petrifying breath was a dangerous skill that could affect allies, so it made sense for the tank, who stood at the front, to use it.
Since Park Cheol-min’s level was high, he barely had enough modification capacity left.
“Alright, load everything else up.”
The Basilisk’s body was so massive that, even after using some materials for body modifications, a mountain of it remained.
They planned to carefully stack it up and take it back to the base.
Once they had everything sorted out, Hyun Suho looked around at everyone and called out,
“Have you all rested enough?”
“Yes!”
“Then let’s move on to the second round.”
Everyone took a deep breath and grabbed their gear at Hyun Suho’s words.
The second round was the battle with the Blood Guild.
When they were recruiting new guild members, more people than expected had failed the Trial of Flame.
Finding this odd, Hyun Suho had Nova investigate the situation.
The conspiracy was easy to uncover.
Nova’s abilities had already detected the Japanese government’s assassination plot against Silver Knight.
No matter how cautious they were, there was no way they could miss the coordination of mere gangsters.
“How did the other locations go?”
[They’ve all been dealt with.]
“No injuries?”
[There’s no way those punks could even scratch us.]
“Great job, everyone.”
Although they could have crushed them in advance, Hyun Suho wanted a cleaner approach.
The fact that they attacked in the Red Zone meant they were trying to avoid leaving evidence.
Hyun Suho had the same idea.
Whirrr!
Near the exit portal, the Blood Guild was hiding, just as expected.
They probably thought they’d catch the group exhausted and off guard after the dungeon quest.
But with their plan exposed, the ambush was meaningless.
They would only end up being countered.
Hyun Suho casually asked Jo Seung-joo,
“How should we handle this battle? Would you like me to assist?”
Humans could be trickier than monsters.
It was a concern, but Jo Seung-joo shook his head confidently and said,
“Please leave this to us. We want to prove that we won’t be a burden to you, Guild Master.”
“If you insist…”
Jo Seung-joo bowed politely to Hyun Suho, then drew his sword and shouted to the party,
“Let’s go again! The Guild Master is watching, so I won’t tolerate any mistakes!”
“Yeah!!”
It took less than 10 minutes for all 300 members of the Blood Guild to be defeated.
The Ex Machina Guild was growing stronger every day.
* * *
Wonsan’s three major criminal organizations disappeared overnight.
Although everyone kept it quiet, it was easy to guess that it was related to the Ex Machina Guild.
While some thought that Wonsan would be much cleaner now that the criminal organizations were gone, it wasn’t entirely a good thing.
Wonsan wasn’t only home to those three major organizations.
The stakes were so complex and entangled that many other small and large organizations still existed.
Among them were those who had been eyeing the positions of the three major organizations.
They were lying low for now, but they would soon make their move to seize control now that the three major organizations were gone.
[So, what do you think about us making the first move?]
“…Are you suggesting we run a criminal organization?”
[Not at all. We would simply charge a fair security fee and protect the merchants.]
“Aren’t gangsters the ones who extort protection money under that guise?”
[We would only need to operate until the public authorities take proper action. We could negotiate with the next mayor when they take office.]
“Hmm!”
It wasn’t an appealing proposal, but it seemed like the best option for the current situation.
If they did nothing to keep their hands clean, Wonsan could fall into chaos.
“Alright. Make sure to handle it smoothly, without any issues.”
[Of course.]
In truth, the attack by the three major organizations was just a minor incident.
With Hyun Suho’s current strength, he could have easily taken them all down alone.
It was more like they conveniently attacked first, allowing him to clean up the trash.
However, this might only be the beginning.
As Hyun Suho’s business grows, it may not be the criminal organizations but the large guilds that start eyeing him.
Moreover, many guilds would love to monopolize a skill like his upgrade ability, even if it wasn’t for money.
Although the Wonsan branch manager was on their side, it would be wise to stay prepared.
“Running a guild is much harder than I thought.”
Without Nova, he couldn’t imagine how things would have turned out.
He might not have been able to go on hunts, being swamped with paperwork.
As he was thinking this, his phone suddenly rang.
Riiing!
When he checked the caller ID, it was an unexpected person.
“Hunter Na Yeon-sil? What’s going on?”
It was Na Yeon-sil, the Ranker also known as the Demoness and the mentor of Silver Knight.
She suddenly said something unexpected over the phone.
[Light Bringer, I’d like to hire you.]
