IOERG 09

Chapter 9

The strong stench of rotten beast blood mixed with feces violently pierced his nose.

The deeper he went into the cave, the stickier the air became, and the beast bone fragments scattered on the floor made an unpleasant noise as the soles of his combat boots stepped on them.

Chan-ho stopped in his tracks and stared straight ahead. At the end of the dark cavern, a massive silhouette was crouching amidst faintly glowing luminescent moss.

A giant frame whose head seemed like it would reach the ceiling. Hideous muscles packed solid like rocks. And thick forearms holding a log club as large as a human torso.

It was the Ogre, the boss monster standing at the apex of an F-rank dungeon’s ecosystem.

“Krr-ruruk…”

Noticing the intruder’s presence, the Ogre revealed its yellow teeth and raised its body. Every time the creature took a step, the floor of the cave shook faintly.

If it were the Chan-ho of the past, the moment he faced that brainlessly massive bulk, his heart would have frozen, and he would have plotted a way to escape first. With the body of an ordinary person possessing no mana, even a mere graze from the club the creature swung would shatter bones and burst internal organs.

However, Chan-ho’s heartbeat right now was nothing if not serene.

‘An Ogre.’

Back when he was rolling around as a porter, he had watched countless times from behind rocks as regular hunters hunted that beast.

Those bastards were stupidly strong and had tough endurance, but as big as they were, their heavy load made their direction-changing speed as slow as a slug. In particular, right after swinging their weapon widely, a gap where their posture broke down inevitably occurred.

Chan-ho did not bother raising the gauntlets’ output.

Just because he had obtained standard-defying equipment, there was no reason to engage in a brainless head-on power struggle with the creature. A minimal defensive shield capable of protecting his bones and joints. Wrapping only that thinly around himself, he lightly regulated his breathing.

KRAAAAAAAK!

The enraged Ogre let out an eardrum-tearing, ear-splitting scream and charged.

A heavy log club sliced through the air and rained down ruthlessly toward Chan-ho’s head. The fierce wind pressure generated by the club blew up the dirt dust on the floor with a rush.

Chan-ho did not dodge and opened his eyes wide.

Right before the club hit his crown, he tilted his upper body diagonally and raised his left arm. Rather than blocking it head-on, he lightly brought his arm to meet it as if deflecting the side of the flying weapon.

BOOM!

Sparks flew as the crude wooden pillar and black piece of iron rubbed together.

Due to the aftermath of the collision, Chan-ho’s body was pushed back half a step, but that was all.

Half of the stupidly destructive power struck down by the Ogre flowed out into empty air, while the other half of the impact was sucked into the surface of the gauntlets, safely accumulated as energy.

Even in an ultra-low output state, the equipment’s impact absorption function was operating perfectly. Only a slight stiffness remained in Chan-ho’s bones and muscles, with absolutely no damage that could be called an injury.

On the other hand, the Ogre, whose full-power strike missed, could not overcome its own weight and pitched forward heavily.

As the log club slammed onto the cave floor, dirt dust erupted like an explosion. The creature’s massive torso violently leaned to the right.

Chan-ho did not miss that fleeting gap.

He kicked off the floor and dug into the creature’s flank. The target was the Ogre’s right knee joint, which was tightly strained under a heavy load.

Rotating his waist, Chan-ho drove a sharp kick with the tip of his combat boot straight into the back of the creature’s knee, the popliteal space.

CRACK!

The sound of something hard breaking echoed inside the cave.

“KRAAAAAAAAK!”

Failing to support its own weight as its knee joint bent in the reverse direction, the Ogre let out a horrific scream.

Like a massive pillar collapsing, the creature’s bulk fell helplessly onto the floor. Its mobility was completely shattered.

While the creature thrashed and flailed in agony, Chan-ho’s gaze remained coldly settled.

He stepped onto the fallen Ogre’s thick forearm and looked down at its hideous crown. The impact energy he had gathered in the gauntlets earlier while colliding with the club was swirling around his left arm.

Chan-ho firmly condensed that energy into his left fist.

The moment the creature raised its head to make a desperate struggle, the black piece of iron fell like lightning.

BAM!

A dull bursting sound echoing like a watermelon exploding resounded.

A single strike.

The energy accumulated in the gauntlets discharged explosively, caving in the Ogre’s skull in an instant. Brain matter and blood splattered in all directions, and the creature’s voice, which had been spitting out rough screams, cut off abruptly like a lie.

The massive body twitched shortly a couple of times and soon stopped moving.

Chan-ho withdrew his fist that had been embedded in the creature’s head.

The Ogre’s blood dripped down onto the worn cloth disguised as cheap protective gear.

Exhaling a long breath, he gripped and ungripped his left arm. Joints, ligaments, and muscles were all completely fine.

An extremely restricted low-output state. Without recklessly pulling out force, deflecting the enemy’s attack to secure impact alone, and then driving it precisely into weak points.

With this combat style, no matter how rough the places he roamed were, his body would not collapse.

Chan-ho pulled out a butchering dagger from his backpack and skillfully sliced open the Ogre’s chest. It was work he had done more than a thousand times during his porter days.

From inside the lump of blood, a murky mana stone the size of an adult male’s fist revealed itself. It was boss-grade loot so heavy that ordinary low-grade monsters couldn’t even be compared to it.

Stuffing the mana stone into his backpack, Chan-ho roughly brushed off the dust on his clothes and turned his steps.

Gate external control zone.

Under the temporary tent, the Association field management office was in utter turmoil.

The employees sitting in front of the monitors leapt out of their seats and stared intently at the screen. The female clerk who had strongly advised Chan-ho against entering at the registration counter was also pale-faced, unable to close her mouth.

In the center of the screen, vivid red text was blinking.

[Shelter No. 3 F-Rank Gate – Raid Completed]

That in itself was not surprising news. F-rank dungeons were lower-tier hunting grounds cleared several times a day.

The problem was the raid list and the time taken.

Entry count: strictly 1 person. Hunter Rank: FFF-rank. And the time taken from entry to killing the boss was an abnormal figure that far surpassed even the average record of a regular 5-person F-rank party.

“Th-Is this a machine error? Isn’t the sensor broken?”

When one clerk asked in a stammer, the management supervisor wiped his dry face and shook his head.

“The mana field scanner is normal. All internal monster signals have vanished. It means he really wiped them all out and finished it.”

“No, does that make sense logically? An FFF-rank alone wiping out all the monsters inside…”

It was right then.

The surface of the gate, shimmering with blue light, fluctuated, and a familiar shadow walked outside.

Work clothes covered in dirt dust, a worn backpack slung over his shoulder. It was Lim Chan-ho, completely fine and looking no different from when he entered.

On his body, not even a trace of fatal injury or wound was visible. At most, a few splatters of monster blood were splashed on the hem of his clothes.

Other daily laborers, porters, and low-rank hunters waiting around the gate cleared a path as if they had seen a ghost.

Holding a document folder, the counter clerk hurriedly ran out of the tent.

“H-Hunter-nim!”

Chan-ho stopped his steps and looked at the clerk running toward him.

“You’re safe! No, it’s not that… A raid completion notification just popped up on the system. Did you really clear all the way to the boss by yourself?”

Astonishment that could not be hidden was embedded in the clerk’s voice.

Chan-ho unzipped his backpack with a nonchalant face. Then, he pulled out the Ogre’s mana stone he had mined moments ago and showed it.

Confirming the massive mana stone emitting a murky light, the clerk’s pupils shook as if an earthquake had struck. It was evidence of a boss monster beyond a shadow of a doubt.

“How could such a thing… Did you perhaps join up with another party inside? Or was there some anomaly inside the gate…”

“I didn’t do anything that violates regulations.”

Chan-ho answered shortly, putting the mana stone back in.

The clerk swallowed hard, scanning Chan-ho’s worn outfit and the crude protector wrapped around his arm.

How could a man of the lowest rank, who couldn’t even handle mana, produce such absurd results?

“Um, excuse me, Hunter-nim. Could you briefly report to the Association regarding the weapons or equipment you used in this raid? Clearing solo in such a short time…”

“I decline.”

Chan-ho cut her off firmly.

“Nowhere in the Association’s terms and conditions is there an obligation for me to report what equipment I use or how I hunt.”

“Ah, no, it’s not an obligation, but this is such an unprecedented situation! We also need to leave a record…”

“It’s thanks to high-grade equipment I luckily obtained personally. That’s all.”

Chan-ho turned his body as if he had no intention of continuing the conversation any longer.

“Good work. I’ll come to apply on this side next time as well.”

Without looking back, he parted through the crowd and left the scene.

Looking at Chan-ho’s receding back, the clerk stood frozen in place, unable to say anything.

On the monitor inside the tent, the raid completion window was still displayed.

An overwhelming solo clear record by an FFF-rank hunter, recorded for the first time in history.

Looking at that abnormal official record clearly engraved next to the name of the man who used to be called an eternal porter and treated with contempt, the eyes of the Association staff became stained with deep doubt and embarrassment.