Chapter 168 – Time to Collect a Debt

Min Do-jun began the process of merging elementals using the ghost wolf.

[AWOOOOOO!]

With the enhanced Howling, he gathered all the elementals within a 500-meter radius.

Dozens of elementals chased after the ghost wolf, leaving their territories.

‘As expected, Howling’s aggro is incredible.’

There’s no other provocation skill with a 500-meter range. At best, most only reach 30 meters.

[Woof woof!]

Awoo, like a sheepdog herding sheep, lured the elementals.

[AWOOOOOO!]

He used Howling again to gather elementals from other territories and continued the merging process.

Water, wind, earth, and fire elementals, in that order.

He traveled through all four territories, merging them, until only the fire elementals with deepened color remained.

‘Good.’

Watching the merging process while invisible, Min Do-jun revealed himself.

And then—

KWAANG—!

He finished off the completed fire elementals with Magnum Burst, causing them to be reborn as bizarre tree elementals.

‘How many is that?’

Looking at nearly 50 tree elementals, Min Do-jun grinned.

Just thinking about the experience he’d gain made him smile.

[Experience +165,000]

[Experience +165,000]

[Experience +165,000]

……

…

[You have stored a soul.]

[Number of stored souls: 10/10]

[You have reached the maximum number of souls you can store.]

[Souls obtained beyond this will be automatically destroyed.]

[To store a new soul, please destroy one from your list to make space.]

‘So, just like Parasite, I have to erase existing souls to make room for new ones.’

Reading the messages while fighting the tree elementals, Min Do-jun nodded.

‘Let’s see what this skill can do.’

He pointed his sword at the gathered tree elementals.

‘Soul Extraction.’

As soon as he spoke the skill name, a message appeared.

[Call out the number of the soul you wish to use, then say the activation word “Soul Explosion.”]

[Note: If you kill with Soul Explosion, you cannot store a soul from that target.]

‘Souls 1 through 10, Soul Explosion.’

Black energy gathered at the tip of his sword and then shot out like a beam toward the tree elementals.

KWA-KWA-KWA-KWAANG—!

[Your level has increased!]

‘Oh.’

Twenty tree elementals clustered together instantly turned to smoke.

No wonder—he had used 10 souls to unleash damage equal to 3,000% of his magic power in one blow.

‘The damage is insane, but the area of effect is also huge.’

He knew it was an area attack, but it was even wider than he expected.

‘It looks even wider than Magnum Burst.’

It’s ranged, has a wide area, and delivers massive damage in one shot.

‘This is totally a broken skill.’

No wonder it’s called the best skill among dark mages.

‘The only downside is that after using Soul Explosion, I have to collect souls again.’

But even with that, the damage is so overpowered that it’s worth it.

[You have stored a soul.]

[Number of stored souls: 1/10]

……

…

[Number of stored souls: 9/10]

[Number of stored souls: 10/10]

While hunting tree elementals, he quickly filled up his soul slots again.

‘It’d be a waste to use all the souls at once, so maybe I’ll use just half?’

He pointed the ghost sword at the remaining 10 tree elementals.

‘Souls 1 through 5, Soul Explosion.’

The black energy shot out again, but this time Min Do-jun intervened.

He tried controlling the magic.

‘Oh, since it’s magic, I can stop it?’

Not only could he stop it, but he could also control it freely.

The dark beam spun through the air under Min Do-jun’s command and then dropped.

KWA-KWA-KWA-KWAANG—!

All 10 tree elementals were caught in the area, but none died.

‘Using only five souls wasn’t enough to kill them.’

Bizarre tree elementals are high-HP monsters, so killing them in one shot is impressive.

After waiting for a short cooldown, he used the skill again.

Only then did the tree elementals disappear, leaving behind experience.

‘The experience is great, but I wish they’d drop the Life Water Tree Stem.’

It’s already a rare material, so he didn’t expect it to drop easily.

‘Well, I still have plenty of chances.’

He had just killed 50 tree elementals.

And that was the result of only 30 minutes of work.

‘When I was doing it on foot, it was one every 10 minutes.’

Herding them like this drastically reduced the time.

‘If I keep this up, I won’t have to worry about the penalty.’

If he could kill 100 per hour, reaching the goal of 1,000 in 24 hours would be easy.

Min Do-jun picked up the pace.

He cleared the Spirit Forest dungeon in just 12 hours.

It was a very fast pace, but Min Do-jun didn’t look satisfied.

The reason was simple: he hadn’t gotten the Life Elixir ingredient he wanted.

‘I killed 1,000 bizarre tree elementals and still didn’t get it.’

Instead of the desired material, he got four A-grade magic stones and some equipment and skill books he didn’t need.

‘Still, thanks to soloing, I gained a ton of levels.’

Each bizarre tree elemental gave 165,000 experience.

Killing 1,000 of them netted him 165 million experience.

‘That’s even more than I got from the Tower of Infinity.’

As a result, Min Do-jun gained 50 levels in a single day.

The triple experience bonus and the trick of creating bizarre tree elementals made it possible.

‘Fifty levels in a day. At this rate, I’ll hit S-rank in under two weeks.’

He had expected it to take two months, but he hadn’t accounted for the experience boost and the high value of the tree elementals.

‘I’d better use the S-rank dungeon ticket soon.’

He had an S-rank dungeon entry ticket from killing the black king centipede.

It was an item that allowed entry to an S-rank dungeon regardless of level, so it was best to use it while his level was still low.

After reaching level 3,000, he could enter any S-rank dungeon, so the ticket would become useless.

‘So I was planning to pick a suitable S-rank dungeon before hitting 3,000…’

But now, he’d have to use it sooner than expected.

‘Since my schedule moved up, I need to enter an S-rank dungeon as soon as possible.’

And that wasn’t the only thing that had moved up.

‘Lee Min-ji. It’s time to kill her.’

She was the only woman among his revenge targets.

Min Do-jun planned to use the S-rank dungeon ticket to kill her.

‘For that, I’ll need the help of the Baekryeon Guild.’

It was finally time to collect the debt from a year ago.

Among Korea’s major guilds, the most unique is undoubtedly the Baekryeon Guild.

It’s a guild that only allows female hunters to join.

Knock knock—

“Guild master, it’s Ahn Soo-yeon.”

“Come in.”

Baekryeon Guild’s master, Hong Se-yeon, looked up from her phone.

“What are you looking at?”

At her manager Ahn Soo-yeon’s question, Hong Se-yeon replied nonchalantly.

“Just reading an article. The one titled ‘The Hero Who Saved Hongdae.’”

“Oh, you mean Hunter Min Do-jun.”

There was hardly anyone in the hunter world who didn’t know Min Do-jun.

He used to be known only to insiders, but after his recent exploits and TV appearances, his fame had skyrocketed.

Of course, both women had recognized his talent even before the Hongdae break.

“I checked his level out of curiosity, and he’s already over 2,500.”

“Yeah. That’s an incredible pace.”

“He might even become the twentieth S-rank hunter, overtaking Kim Pil-young.”

“Kim Pil-young? Who’s that?”

Seven months ago, after Shin Kyung-min, S-rank hunters started appearing one after another in Korea.

Now there were 19 S-ranks.

Kim Pil-young, at level 2,960, was the highest-level A-rank and the most likely to become the next S-rank.

“You know, the one everyone says will be the twentieth S-rank. Didn’t you see the article?”

“I don’t care about that stuff.”

“So you’re only interested in Hunter Min Do-jun?”

“Hey, you’re saying some wild things!”

Ahn Soo-yeon giggled at her flustered guild master.

With a sly smile, she continued.

“Seriously, all you talk about lately is Hunter Min Do-jun—how he soloed an S-rank boss, how his Hongdae break video hit 100 million views, how the Emperor Guild offered him 200 billion won, and so on. It’s all about him.”

“T-that’s just because he keeps making the news!”

“So you’re not interested in him?”

“Are you going to keep teasing me?”

“Pfft.”

Ahn Soo-yeon laughed at Hong Se-yeon’s blushing face.

Though Hong Se-yeon glared, she wasn’t truly angry.

They were close like sisters, so they could joke like this.

“I’m just curious since he hasn’t contacted us since then. Not as a man, just as a person.”

“Oh, you mean when he saved Hye-ji and Hee-young?”

Guild members Kim Hye-ji and Jung Hee-young had been saved by Min Do-jun a year ago.

They’d nearly died to a boss in the Tarantula Dungeon, but he rescued them.

“They used to have a trauma about men.”

Ahn Soo-yeon recalled those days.

“They used to say men were dangerous, but after that, they started partying with male hunters. I was so surprised.”

“Yeah, that’s all thanks to Hunter Min Do-jun breaking their prejudice.”

“Right. Our guild’s reputation improved a lot thanks to him. Not completely, but still…”

Hong Se-yeon nodded.

Changing an image isn’t easy.

“Has he contacted you since then?”

“No. He said to let him know if we ever needed help, but he hasn’t reached out.”

“Maybe he forgot?”

“Who knows…”

Hong Se-yeon felt frustrated.

She wanted to repay him for saving her guild members, but she hadn’t had the chance.

“Why not contact him first? You could at least thank him for helping improve our image.”

“I’ve thought about it…”

But she lacked confidence.

‘What if he rejects me?’

She worried that if she reached out to repay the debt, he’d just say he didn’t need anything.

‘He’s already made so much money, he probably doesn’t need anything from us.’

No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t think of anything suitable to offer.

She was afraid he’d just cut her off and say not to contact him again.

But soon, her worries proved unfounded.

She got a call from Min Do-jun himself.

-Hello, this is Min Do-jun. Is this the Baekryeon Guild master?

“Oh, yes, Hunter Min Do-jun!”

-You might not remember, but a year ago you said to let you know if I ever needed help.

“Yes, yes, I remember.”

-I need your help now. May I ask a favor?

“Of course! Anything you need, just say the word.”

After hearing Min Do-jun’s request, Hong Se-yeon was left speechless with surprise.