Chapter 182 – Killing Intent?

Min Do-jun looked with a hardened expression in the direction where he had detected killing intent.

But as quickly as it had appeared, the killing intent vanished without a trace.

‘What’s this?’

In the direction he was looking, there were six party members who had been looking down on him for his low level.

‘The killing intent definitely came from over there.’

One of the six had directed killing intent toward him.

‘Who could it be?’

He scrutinized the suspects carefully, but he couldn’t identify the source of the now-vanished killing intent.

They were just looking back at him with puzzled expressions.

“What is it? Do you have something to say?”

At the party member’s question, Min Do-jun shook his head.

The party members turned away with dismissive looks and resumed their interrupted conversation.

“So we’ve entered it after all. This cursed dungeon.”

“They say one out of ten always dies, right?”

“Well, who’s going to die this time?”

Gilbert, who happened to be nearby and overheard their conversation, shouted in alarm.

“Don’t say such unlucky things!”

“But it’s true.”

“I don’t believe in such superstitions.”

“Superstition? The statistics speak for themselves.”

“Regardless, none of our party members will die. I’ll protect everyone.”

Gilbert raised his massive shield with determination.

Though his presence was reassuring, the party members’ expressions remained lukewarm.

They seemed to trust statistics more than a tanker they had just met.

‘If one person is going to die anyway…’

‘It should be that Asian with the lowest level…’

Glance, glance.

The party members looked at Min Do-jun.

Min Do-jun could vaguely guess the meaning behind those glances.

‘They all want me to be the one to die.’

But among them, one person had actually revealed killing intent.

‘No matter how much I might be an eyesore, to think someone would go so far as to reveal killing intent.’

Min Do-jun sighed in disbelief as he looked at the party members.

‘I can’t just let this slide.’

He had no intention of overlooking someone who had bared their fangs at him.

‘I’ll either pull out all their teeth or kill them.’

He planned to catch the culprit and teach them a lesson.

The price for showing hostility toward him was steep.

‘But first I need to identify who it is…’

Based on the direction of the killing intent, the culprit was one of the six.

He excluded Gilbert and the other three as they were in a different direction.

‘But how do I find someone who’s no longer showing killing intent?’

After pondering for a moment, Min Do-jun found a solution.

‘I’ll lure them to me.’

Just then, Gilbert gestured for the party members to gather around.

“Everyone, gather here. Before we start, I’ll briefly explain some precautions.”

As the party members were gathering, Min Do-jun called out to Gilbert.

“Gilbert.”

“Yes, Hunter. What is it?”

“May I make a suggestion?”

“Of course. What’s your suggestion?”

“I think it’s inefficient for the entire party to move together. What if we split into groups of two or three?”

“Split into groups?”

The other party members snickered at his suggestion to split the party.

“Well, well, someone’s showing their inexperience. Typical dungeon first-timer.”

“Right? This is why I hate inexperienced people, tsk!”

The mockery came immediately.

This time, even Gilbert didn’t defend Min Do-jun.

He just explained with a serious expression.

“Hunter Min Do-jun. The monsters that appear in Vampire’s Night are quite powerful. Each one is comparable to an S-rank hunter. If more than ten appear simultaneously? Even ten of us together would be insufficient. Though such occurrences are rare.”

“Are the monsters here that strong?”

“Yes. As you’ll soon experience, even one-on-one battles are challenging. These are absolutely not opponents you should face while separated.”

“…”

“Moreover, they’re quite intelligent for monsters and quite cunning. If they feel they’re losing, they’ll immediately flee, and if they think they can win, they’ll call companions to overwhelm you. If we split into groups and disperse our strength in this situation, we’ll be picked off one by one by the more numerous monsters. In other words, your suggestion is the worst possible approach.”

It was a valid point.

Min Do-jun acknowledged this internally, but he couldn’t nod in agreement now.

He had to play the role of an inexperienced first-timer.

“I don’t know. It seems to me that staying together like this is more inefficient.”

“…Was my explanation insufficient?”

“I understand what you’re saying, but sticking together like this is inefficient in terms of experience points. If we move in smaller elite groups, everyone could gain a satisfactory amount of experience, right?”

“Why do you think tankers exist? Isn’t it to hunt safely rather than prioritize experience points?”

“Hmm, I see it differently. For efficient hunting, I think it’s better to split up even if it’s a bit more dangerous.”

“Sigh…”

Gilbert’s forehead tensed with frustration at their irreconcilable viewpoints.

“Why do we even have a leader if this is how it’s going to be?”

“Am I not allowed to voice an opinion?”

Though he was deliberately provoking them, his target wasn’t just Gilbert.

“Hey, Asian. What do you know about dungeons when you’re a first-timer?”

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do!”

“If you don’t like the leader, just leave the party!”

The party members’ criticism continued, but Min Do-jun remained silent.

He was waiting.

Waiting for the words he wanted to hear.

Sure enough.

“If you’re so eager to die, why don’t you just hunt alone!”

When he heard the words he was waiting for, Min Do-jun immediately seized the opportunity.

“Ha! Fine. If that’s how it’s going to be, I’d rather hunt alone.”

With those words, he strode purposefully into the forest.

Behind him, he could hear someone clicking their tongue.

“Asians are so stubborn!”

Ignoring all the criticism, Min Do-jun quickened his pace and eventually started running through the forest.

‘This should be far enough.’

After running for a while, he stopped.

Looking around, he found himself alone in the dark forest.

He had completely separated from the group.

‘Successfully escaped as planned.’

He had anticipated that showing some rebelliousness would allow him to operate alone, and his plan had worked perfectly.

Of course, there was a reason for all the criticism he endured to break away from the group.

‘This is the only way to filter out the person who wants to kill me.’

By now, the would-be assassin must be panicking.

They had just lost sight of their target.

‘Or maybe they’re actually pleased? Since I’ve perfectly laid out the red carpet for them.’

From an assassin’s perspective, this was the perfect opportunity to kill their target.

‘They can kill me and then conveniently blame it on monsters.’

In other words, it was an ideal situation for an assassination.

The assassin would surely not miss this opportunity.

‘Whoever comes looking for me is the assassin.’

It was a kind of bait to lure out the assassin.

‘Now I just need to stand still and see who comes.’

However, another problem arose during this process.

Growl-

Wolf monsters appeared.

Three of them.

‘I guess I went too far.’

Min Do-jun smirked as he observed the three black wolves surrounding him.

‘Normally, their black fur would serve as camouflage in the night, but…’

Min Do-jun’s eyes briefly glowed with a cat-like luminescence.

‘With the Tiger with Cat’s Eyes characteristic, darkness is no obstacle for me.’

He could see as clearly as daylight even in pitch-black darkness, so the dungeon offered him no disadvantage.

‘Wolves appearing in Vampire’s Night…’

Min Do-jun glanced up at the sky.

A full moon hung brightly.

‘They’ll transform now.’

No sooner had he thought this than:

Awoooooo-!

The wolves surrounding him transformed into human form in the blink of an eye.

They were actually werewolves.

Though they were merely wolves standing on two legs.

‘Monsters imitating humans. Tsk.’

Growl-

The three werewolves raised their claws.

Their strength, capable of tearing through steel plates, was comparable to that of an S-rank hunter.

‘S-rank hunters? These things?’

That was only in terms of raw strength.

Ta-at!

The three werewolves simultaneously pushed off the ground.

Though they closed the distance instantly, Min Do-jun remained unfazed.

‘Slow.’

The Dynamic Vision characteristic he had obtained from killing Xu Zhiping showed him the werewolves’ movements as if in slow motion.

Whoosh-

With a single movement, Min Do-jun evaded all three attacks and swung his ghost sword.

Slash-!

A long cut appeared across a werewolf’s chest.

‘I aimed for the neck, but it dodged even while I was doing that?’

Growl!

Enraged, the werewolf charged like a cannonball, swinging both arms.

Whoosh- Whoosh-

It intended to tear him to shreds, but no wolf could touch Min Do-jun, whose base agility exceeded 3,000.

Slash- Slash-!

The ghost sword cut through the werewolves’ skin, but they somehow managed to avoid fatal wounds.

They were dodging with their animal instincts.

‘These things…!’

Irritated, Min Do-jun used Gust Blade.

Swoosh!

Unable to avoid the wind blades, one werewolf lost its head.

Slash- Slash!

Once Min Do-jun started fighting seriously, the remaining werewolves quickly fell to the ground.

[Experience +162,000]

[Experience +162,000]

[Experience +162,000]

[Current kill count: 3/50]

[All stats increase by 3%.]

[Time remaining: 59 minutes 59 seconds]

[You have stored a soul.]

[Number of stored souls: 7/10]

He had killed monsters, stored their souls, and stacked the Battle Avatar buff.

‘The werewolves are indeed strong in terms of strength, health, agility, and everything else. Even with my Weapon Enhancement characteristic increasing the ghost sword’s attack power by 1.5 times, they don’t die easily.’

Just then, more monsters registered on Min Do-jun’s presence detection.

More werewolves.

‘At least I won’t be bored while waiting for the assassin.’

Min Do-jun stealthily concealed himself as the werewolves approached.

While they were confused by his disappearance, Min Do-jun appeared right in front of them and slashed vertically.

Slash-

The werewolf’s head split vertically.

‘So it’s true that using invisibility before attacking increases physical damage by 30%.’

Min Do-jun immediately turned invisible again and hunted the next werewolf.

[Experience +162,000]

[Experience +162,000]

[Experience +162,000]

[Current kill count: 15/50]

[All stats increase by 15%.]

[Time remaining: 59 minutes 59 seconds]

[Number of stored souls: 10/10]

Using invisibility made hunting werewolves even easier.

Since they couldn’t see him, they couldn’t properly respond before dying.

‘I’ve already killed 15, but there’s still no sign of the assassin.’

Despite not changing his location, all that appeared were werewolves.

‘Hm?’

Just then, his presence detection registered a human for the first time.

‘They’re here.’

Min Do-jun concealed himself in the darkness.

Rustle rustle-

Sure enough, a person emerged from the bushes.

“I can see traces, but where did they go?”

The assassin looked around, searching for someone.

Watching invisibly, Min Do-jun was inwardly surprised.

‘That person was the one who wanted to kill me?’