The High Orc that was about to attack the healer was suddenly suspended and strangled in the air, his body ripped into two pieces. The female healer stared at the bloody scene in horror.

At one side, Ki-Hoon struck the High Orc in front of him with his sword smoothly. "What? Somehow, the fight... suddenly became easier."

The hunters could finally regain back control of the situation as their attacks brought down the monsters one after another. Their spirit came back to life.

'... Blood got on me.' Jin-Woo looked down at his hand, which was holding a dagger that he used to paralyse the enemies.

'The hunters here including Son Ki-Hoon are all elites selected by the Hunters guild as well as being considered the national's finest. It's not like I don't believe in them, but High Orcs aren't monsters that can be taken lightly.'

'The female healer almost died earlier.'

'I can't sit still and watch them die!'

[You leveled up!]

'I can raise my level by just supporting the party? I didn't know this. I probably could have raised another level if I had decided to kill them all on my own. But since the Hunters guild paid huge amounts of money for this dungeon's permit, I shouldn't interfere too much.'

'This is the best I can do for them.'

"Is it over?"

"D-did we win?"

"Is anyone hurt? As long as you're still breathing, our A-rank healers can treat you!"

"I can't believe there was a gang of High Orcs..."

"We're fortunate that none of us died."

Jin-Woo returned back to stand at the back of the group, carrying the luggage with a poker face.

One of the mage in the team narrowed her eyes at him. 'That porter... He must think that our attack force members are fools. There's no way skills like stealth will go unnoticed with magic casters around.'

"Hey, Ki-Hoon oppa... When we were fighting just now..." The female healer explained about the High Orc that was about to attack her earlier.

"A High Orc was suddenly ripped apart while being suspended in the air? You're saying that someone secretly used magic?" Ki-Hoon repeated the story in confusion.

"That's right!"

"Hey Gina, was it you?"

The blonde-haired woman, also a mage, crossed her arms and replied, "That's not possible with my skill set. I could barely stop their movements with my telekinesis magic. We also don't have anyone that can use curse magic here. Our force is focused on firepower so we don't have any assassins either."

"Unnie is right. If there was someone who could do that, it'd be an outsider." The mage that detected Jin-Woo's skill said.

"Thank goodness. If I had summoned another creature, I would've ran out of mana and passed out."

"You guys are right. The High Orcs were definitely... acting weird during the later half of the fight. Enough to finish them off without any problem." Ki-Hoon said.

"Leader, are we going to continue?"

"Won't it be too dangerous?"

"We aren't too far from the entrance and we already encountered a gang of High Orcs... there could be something dangerous more up ahead."

"Now that we know that there are High Orcs in this dungeon, it'd be too dangerous to continue without our master or vice master. Why don't we retreat for now? We'll need at least two more healers and three mages skilled in powerful AOE magic to continue."

"Hyung, I know that it's your first time leading the force and it's frustrating, but let's end it here."

Ki-Hoon stared at the ground blankly as he clenched his hands, a look of contemplating on his face.

"Then... Let's retreat for now."

"Whew... I was holding my breath cause I thought Son hyung would want to continue."

"I'm not that foolish." Ki-Hoon smiled awkwardly.

"I know. Look at my hands. Don't you see them shaking?"

"Stop being such a baby and starts moving."

They returned back to the gate with a light atmosphere in the air.

"S-Stop!"

"What happened here?"

"What the hell?"

The gate that they entered an hour ago changed colour from blue into a mixture of pink, purple and green, an abnormal gate.

"It's a barrier. Created with a spell of high level." The mage said.

"Why is the path blocked? It was fine on the way here."

"Can you get rid of it?"

"It's possible if you give me some time."

Before the mages could even begin, a heavy magical wavelength assaulted them, everyone in the team felt chills crawling up their spine.

"Oh my god...!"

"That's the boss of this dungeon?"

"N-no way!"

"Unnie, we must hurry!"

"I know!"

The mages rushed forward to break the spell blocking the gate connected to their world.

"It won't be easy to break!"

Jin-Woo's face also turned serious as he watched them quietly from behind. 'The magical wavelength is so heavy that even the hunters who couldn't sense magical energy felt it! It's on a different scale!'

The mages suddenly vomited out blood as they collapsed on the floor.

"It's targeting our mages!"

"Quickly use holy magic!"

"Ki-Hoon hyung..."

"Damn..."

They turned around in fear, a group of High Orcs, around of 50 of them, gathered around.

One of them approached Ki-Hoon, towering him as he glared down.

"Ki-Hoon hyung!"

"Stop. We'll just get killed if we fight them." Ki-Hoon tried to maintain his calm as he hid his trembling hands under his cape.

"Khrerahk tuu sheenah weegroo ahraknakah!" The High Orc spat out unintelligible words in fury before it suddenly craned his neck. "Human... Humans..."

Ki-Hoon looked up in shock.

"I am... Kargalgan... I wish to... meet with... you... humans..." The High Orc talked slowly, unused to the foreign language.

"An orc just spoke a human language! Is it magic?" A hunter piped up.

"That's just a puppet. Someone else is speaking through him." A mage replied.

"A monster wants to talk with us? Ki-Hoon hyung, you're not believing this, right?"

"Ki-Hoon hyung! This must be a trap! Dog's death or not, let's fight them here."

"Kargalgan, are you the one who set up that barrier?" Ki-Hoon asked.

"Yes... I am... the prideful... orc's... greater sorcerer... my magic... can't be... dis...pelled... by... you... humans..."

"Is there someone even more powerful than you in this cave?"

"Who... would... dare to... go... against me! Choose... die by... my men... or... follow... my men."

Ki-Hoon gritted his teeth as he reluctantly replied. "We'll follow you."

"Hoon hyung!"

"Ki-Hoon!"

"Follow us... humans."

Jin-Woo silently analysed the situation. 'Does he want to negotiate with the boss? For us to return in one piece?'

"Mr. Hunter." Ki-Hoon looked at Jin-Woo from the corner of his eyes. "We're... going to surprise attack the boss when we get there. Whether we succeed or not, the boss shouldn't be able to maintain their magic. When we get their attention, you should make a run for it and call the main attack force when you're outside."

"By the time the next force arrives, it'll be over for you guys. Do you all plan on dying along with the boss?"

"Our objective is to close the gate rather than making it out alive. That's why people pay us huge amounts of money."

"I would like to ask for a favor as well." The female healer passed a small notebook to Jin-Woo. "It's not much, but it's my will. Please deliver it to my family if you manage to escape. We're going to do as we have been taught up until now. But this isn't your fight. I hope that you can escape here alive."

The hunters were determined to fight the monsters.

Jin-Woo was silent for a moment as he watched the light in their eyes.

"I'll hold on to it for now, but there won't be a need for me to deliver it."

.....

The room behind the red curtains was still and quiet. Seung-Eun was holding a stylus in his hand, drawing on a tablet. Lanze sat on the chair across him as he pulled out a book from his own system's inventory.

The system given by Seung-Eun wasn't as good as the player, with an inventory and the shop, which was free for him to use.

Seung-Eun had briefed their task for today before they entered the gate and he had most of the things done. Now they just needed to supervise the event ongoing.

The power of an S-rank hunter, and the massacre of High Orcs.

Lanze flipped the page as he read the next passage.

There may be circumstances in which it is morally justifiable intentionally to kill a person who is morally innocent, threatens no one, rationally wishes not to die, and does not consent to be killed. Although the killing would wrong the victim, it might be justified by necessities of some disasters that would otherwise occur. In other instances of permissable killing, however, the justification appeals to more than consequences. -Jeff McMahan

Lanze thought back about the disastrous consequence that Seung-Eun didn't say to him. 'Morals huh...'

He shut the book, placed it back in the inventory and pulled out another one.

On that sunny day, he could feel the dampness in the air and the flies buzzing on the trashes nearby, and the smell of rotten meats and dried blood. It had been few days since he had awoken in the monster town, he wandered around, unable to find anything to eat, and then ended up in the alleyway. There was a natural instinct that told him to survive, but he couldn't find any logical reason to live or something to look forward to in the future beside an emptiness and an endless void.

So staring at the red sky that stretched too far for his eyes could see, he waited for darkness to arrive. But something bright suddenly came into his sight, with glittering eyes and a mischievous smile. The boy was clean and tidy, and dressed differently than the other monsters in the street.

"How could a human get stranded here?"

"Human?"

Suddenly, as if the boy triggered a switch inside him, he could feel his blood boiling.

"Humans... I'll skin them alive, rip apart their insides and cook their limbs-"

"Oh, I'm wrong. The system here says that you are a shape shifting monster. How nice. You'll be able to blend in with us easily."

He thought that the boy was very annoying and suddenly wanted death to come quickly.

"Hey hey don't play dead now. I have a proposal for you. I guarantee that it'll benefit both sides."

"What...?"

"You agreed? Great! Well then-"

"I didn't say that."

"-your job is to be my assistant for few weeks. The works I give are miscellaneous so you'll have to be ready anytime and anywhere. In return, I'll give you whatever you want. Doesn't sound so bad right?"

"No, I refuse. So please leave me alone-"

"Alright. Let's go to your new home!"

Thud.

Lanze snapped out from reminiscing the memories the first time he met with his sire and looked at the source of sound. A black box the size of a palm was on top of the long table, along with various other items, potions, pyjamas, heater...

'Seems like sire is updating the shop.'

It was at this time that he noticed something was off about the boy seated across him.

"Sire?"

The light blue screen in front of Seung-Eun glitched few times and then suddenly disappeared.

"What's wrong with this thing?"

"Is there something wrong, sire?"

"The screen suddenly disappeared. I can't open it either."

Seung-Eun tugged on his hair lightly as he sighed.

"This is another reason that I hired you. I still have many other things to do..."

Lanze watched as Seung-Eun look visibly distressed.

"The hunters are here."

"Okay. Make sure nothing happens to the player. If his life got threatened, save him and kill everyone else."

"Including the humans...?"

"Didn't I say it already? It doesn't matter whoever dies except the player. Beside, I can't brainwash them. If they witnessed that the player got defeated by high rank monsters, it won't be easy for him to be a national level hunter."

The shadow was covering half of his face, and he appeared mysterious and menacing. Lanze felt unsettled by the golden eyes boring into him, feeling as though the other person could hear his thoughts.

"I understand." Lanze still didn't move from his spot as he hesitated. "What were you thinking about, sire?"

"I was thinking about someone..."

"Is it Sung Jin-Woo?"

"No, it's not him."

"How do they look like?"

"Well... he is... nice."

Lanze raised his eyebrows.

"Will we meet him later?"

"No, we won't."

"Why?"

"He's a normal human so we'll only bring harm if we get close to him."

A normal human, Lanze finally left the room, feeling his heart lightened without knowing the reason.