LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 4: Betrayal
The ground trembled beneath his feet.
The entire dungeon space shook.
No, in fact, the space itself was distorting.
But he couldn't abandon the artifacts.
Each trinket was worth a fortune.
Jonghyun sensed something terrible was about to happen.
He ran towards the portal.
Let them scold him for lost artifacts.
Better to endure a lecture than to die.
The other team members were already at the portal.
— Hey! What are you waiting for?! Hurry up!
But they still didn't tell him to drop the artifacts.
They're only calling me because of the treasures in my hands.
— Try not to drop anything!
They weren't looking at him, but at the shield laden with treasures.
They could at least help me.
They only urged him on, offering no assistance.
— Tsk, hey! You dropped one! Do it properly! If you lose anything else, I'll deduct it from your pay.
Each artifact in Jonghyun's hands was worth tens of millions of won.
He was risking his life, and they were complaining. It was insulting.
He ran, hoping that at least some of the treasure would be his.
Rumble!
The tremors resumed.
He heard the shouts of his teammates as he dropped artifacts, but he ignored them.
If he tried to collect everything, he would die.
He had good stamina, but he wasn't sure he could make it before the dungeon collapsed.
— Jonghyun, watch out, behind you!
Song Harin warned him of the danger.
Crunch. Sharp fangs sank into his shoulder.
— Aaah!!!
He screamed in pain, but didn't stop.
He knew that if he stopped, he would die.
He turned his head to see who had bitten him.
[Shadow Hound (D)]
It was a Shadow Hound, a D-rank monster that hadn't been present at the beginning of the dungeon.
Fortunately, they had weak jaws, and the fangs hadn't penetrated deeply.
But Shadow Hounds were dangerous opponents.
Crunch! Another hound sank its teeth into his arm.
Crunch! And another one into his leg.
[Hunt in packs].
As stated in the description, they hunted in packs of 30 or more.
He lost his balance and fell, scattering the treasures.
He was so close to the portal.
Just 10 meters.
If they had helped him, he would have survived.
— Hey! Drop the artifacts!
Kim Gwangsu shouted at him.
They weren't going to save him.
They were probably planning to kill him and take all the treasures.
He was a fool to trust them.
Bastards, worse than monsters!
But even in this situation, there was a chance to survive.
— Jonghyun!
Five fireballs erupted from Harin's hands and struck the monsters behind Jonghyun.
— Yelp!
He didn't know how many there were, but he felt the presence of numerous monsters.
Seizing the moment, Jonghyun jumped up and ran towards the portal.
A little more, just a little bit!
With each step, his will to live grew stronger, sharpening his senses.
He almost reached the portal when…
— No!
The bastards he called teammates snatched the artifacts from Song Harin's hands and pushed her towards Jonghyun.
— Sorry, Harin! I'll tell everyone you sacrificed yourself!
— Why did you stand up for him?! Tsk.
The three hunters went through the portal, which began to close.
— No!!!
Jonghyun decided to save Harin, even if he had to break his legs.
He strained every muscle.
Pushing off the ground, he launched Harin forward like a bazooka.
She managed to get through the portal before it closed.
— Ha… thank goodness.
He was dying, but he was thinking about someone else's life.
She had been kind to him, and her age was the same as his sister Jia's.
She was twenty-three, wasn't she?
Thud!
Jonghyun collapsed, remembering her face.
What? Why can't I remember her face?
He had lost a lot of blood, and his consciousness was fading.
I think she said something before entering the portal…
The Shadow Hounds tore at his flesh.
The "Regeneration" label in the status window began to flicker, changing color from green to red.
Green meant the skill was active, and red meant it was deactivated.
[Consume energy].
A message appeared in the status window stating that the Regeneration skill required energy to function.
My sister…
Suddenly, he clearly saw Jia's face. And the faces of his deceased parents.
I should have given her the elixir. Asked her to take care of my sister.
The potion candies he had saved for her, and the priceless elixir — all of it was in vain.
— Growl…
He hadn't eaten since morning, and his stomach rumbled.
He only had water at home; he had left without breakfast.
"A well-fed corpse is a beautiful corpse," the saying went.
Jonghyun, despite the pain, took out the elixir and the potion candies Harin had given him.
[Strength: Enhancement effect still active].
He needed to eat them before Harin's spell wore off.
If he died, everything would go to these hounds.
I won't allow that.
He stuffed the candies into his mouth, then, swallowing with difficulty, drank the elixir.
The taste was disgusting.
He had never tasted anything like it. It was like a mixture of all the filth in the world.
— Fuck!!!
He cursed in disgust.
It was a cry of despair.
Was the elixir always this awful? He was drinking it for the first time, so he didn't know.
If he had known, he wouldn't have drunk it.
He thought it would be a tasty and beneficial potion, but it turned out to be revolting.
A message appeared in the status window:
[Passive skill "Regeneration" evolving].
["Regeneration" transforming into "Super Regeneration"].
— "Regeneration" evolved into "Super Regeneration"?
Passive skills, unlike active ones, couldn't evolve.
His Regeneration skill was C-rank. When he learned about it, he hoped to become a C-rank hunter, but due to the lack of active skills, he was assessed as E-rank.
— A-rank?!
He couldn't believe his eyes.
Hunters with A-rank passive skills, or any passive skills at all, were extremely rare.
Having a passive skill was one of the criteria for S-rank hunters.
Passive skills couldn't be bought or sold; they were a gift of fate, and most hunters below S-rank didn't have them.
He wiped the blood from his forehead.
— Huh? My arm…
His right arm, which had stubbornly refused to heal, was fully restored.
The bandages unraveled, and Jonghyun, despite his wounds, began to clench and unclench his fingers.
And it seemed that the Shadow Hounds' bites had become less painful.
He thought he was losing consciousness, but he wasn't.
On the contrary, his senses sharpened.
He still felt pain, but it was bearable.
[All stats increased by one rank].
Jonghyun looked at his status window.
Name: Kim Jonghyun / Class: Berserker / Race: Human (Male) / Rank: D+
Stats:
Attack: D
Defense: C
Stamina: D
Strength: D
Agility: D
Mana: E
Seeing his stats, he jumped to his feet.
The Shadow Hounds biting him flew off like autumn leaves.
— D-rank?! One vial of elixir increased all my stats?!
His hands and feet trembled, his heart pounded.
Increasing stats was incredibly difficult, even after years of training. He had tried everything, but nothing worked.
Jonghyun felt a surge of hope.
His overall rank was D+. If he found a good skill, he could survive.
And he would definitely get revenge on those bastards.
He threw off the remaining Shadow Hounds.
Whimper.
A new portal began to open where the closed one had been.
A dungeon breakthrough.
He didn't understand why another portal appeared inside the dungeon.
Could it be that if he killed all the monsters, he could return home?
Jonghyun began quickly rummaging through the treasures, looking for something specific.
[Golden Dragon Armor (A)].
He tried to put on the armor, but…
[Unable to equip].
Usually, he could equip any artifact, regardless of rank.
The reason he couldn't equip the armor was because of his class.
Berserkers couldn't wear armor.
— Damn useless class!
When he tried to equip an artifact, it either broke or unequipped itself.
Crack!
[Artifact destroyed].
He ignored the hounds biting him and continued searching.
Found it!
The skill book he had noticed earlier.
[Fire Impulse (A)].
He tore open the book.
If he couldn't learn the skill, it would disappear forever.
Please, let me succeed!
He prayed to all the gods for good luck.
He felt like he was playing a deadly lottery.
[Learn "Fire Impulse"?]
— Learn!
He shouted, holding his breath.
With his mana level, he couldn't fully master an A-rank skill, but he could at least learn it.
[Due to low mana level, the rank of "Fire Impulse" has been reduced].
[Fire Impulse (C)].
— Enhances fire magic.
It was a buff that enhanced fire magic.
But he didn't have fire magic.
[Learn "Fireball"?]
The advantage of "Fire Impulse" was that it allowed him to learn an additional fire skill if the hunter didn't have one.
— Learn.
[Fireball (E)].
— Launches a fireball.
With an E-rank Fireball, he could only kill one or two monsters.
He ran towards the portal, letting the hounds bite him.
About fifty Shadow Hounds had gathered around him.
The weakness of Shadow Hounds was light and fire. The brighter the light, the more their shadows distorted and disappeared.
[Fireball + Impulse].
He immediately used both skills, gathering a fireball in his hand.
With his mana level, the ball should have been the size of a baseball, but thanks to "Impulse," it became five times larger than a soccer ball.
It seemed the elixir was still working.
Feeling the heat emanating from the ball, the Shadow Hounds tried to run.
— Too late, bastards!
He aimed the fireball downwards, and the flames, flaring twice, engulfed the hounds.
All the monsters around him burned; only those farthest away survived.
His body was covered in burns.
Wheeze.
He could barely breathe.
His body regenerated quickly, but he still felt pain.
Increasing rank didn't eliminate pain.
— Heals fast, but damn, it hurts.
He opened his eyes and looked around.
Almost all the monsters were dead; fewer than ten remained.
[Recovery].
He could only move his eyes, which he used to track the remaining hounds.
They were alive, but the fire had greatly weakened them.
An hour later, Jonghyun had fully recovered and headed towards the surviving Shadow Hounds.
He grabbed their paws and slammed them against the ground, killing them one by one.
— Ha… ha… Now I can go home.
Before the portal appeared, Jonghyun decided to look for more elixirs or valuable artifacts.
He didn't find any elixir, but he collected several other potions.
[Supreme Mana Potion], [Supreme Health Potion], [Spirit Dew].
— Was that the last vial?
What a pity. One more vial, and Jia would have woken up. Now he could only hope for these potions.
Maybe an S-rank potion will help, even if it's not the elixir.
His clothes had burned away, and he was naked.
But since he was alone, he didn't care.
He waited for the portal to appear.
— Why isn't the portal appearing?
Usually, a portal appeared after all the monsters were dead.
Could someone have survived?
Jonghyun gathered all the monster corpses and used the skill again.
He piled up about fifty Shadow Hound corpses.
— Will it work?
He was worried that he had used up all his mana on the previous attack.
[Fireball].
Fortunately, the skill worked.
This time, he didn't need to create a large fireball; it was enough to simply ignite the corpses.
Jonghyun's hands trembled.
It was no wonder he was afraid of fire after such burns.
His body had recovered, but his psyche hadn't.
He set fire to the tail of one of the hounds.
Fire — the weakness of Shadow Hounds.
The corpses burst into flames instantly.
Fire!
A finishing shot.
It was like a farewell bonfire at summer camp.
Who would have thought he would experience this feeling again.
If I get out of here, I'll never do this dirty work again.
He thought about revenge.
With his new stats, he could handle Kim Gwangsu, but the problem was his brother, Kim Gwanse.
He sighed and prepared to return.
Humming.
As he expected, a new portal opened where the Shadow Hounds had appeared.
— Huh?
He approached the portal and reached out, but…
Bang!
He was thrown back by a powerful force.