Chapter 94 – Crossroads

The reason for Kim Ji-hoon’s surprise was simple.

‘To think he’s this weak…’

Min Do-jun was much weaker than expected.

‘His sword thrust only left a small scratch on the carapace.’

Though he couldn’t see other party members’ contribution, he couldn’t tell exactly how much damage was dealt.

But he could roughly estimate from the monster’s wounds.

‘Though he couldn’t swing his sword many times since the monster died too quickly…’

The attacks he’d observed from Min Do-jun were utterly ordinary.

If this was his real ability, both the contract and incentive would be worthless.

‘No. Can’t judge skill from just one attack.’

But in subsequent battles too, Min Do-jun continued dealing only clumsy damage like before.

“Whew, everyone’s so strong.”

“It’s easy hunting with Leader here.”

“Yeah, having someone level 2,000 in our party is really sweet.”

Party members praised Kim Ji-hoon with smiles.

It was a ploy to curry favor and establish connections with Emperor Guild.

But Kim Ji-hoon was too preoccupied to care about the praise.

‘What’s going on? Why is he so weak!’

Though he watched several times during combat, Min Do-jun’s attacks were clumsy and weak.

Just simple slashes, nothing more, nothing less.

‘And the damage isn’t even high…’

Though his sword had a bluish buff, it didn’t change how weak it was.

‘Called himself a magic swordsman but can only swing a sword?’

Min Do-jun never used magic.

The buff on his weapon might count as magic, but he hadn’t seen any other skills used.

‘Did he only learn passive skills?’

An A-rank hunter should have learned 7 skills, but only one buff was visible.

‘Could he be hiding his strength?’

Kim Ji-hoon subtly shook his head.

Why hide strength when higher damage means more experience?

Especially when other party members were desperate to show off their strength.

Though their intentions were obvious.

‘Tch. Everyone’s so desperate around Emperor Guild.’

Kim Ji-hoon clicked his tongue at the party members flattering him before taking the lead again.

Unaware that Min Do-jun was watching his back.

‘Kim Ji-hoon…’

Min Do-jun had noticed his glances early on.

He knew why he kept looking.

‘To verify my skills.’

He knew Emperor Guild verified hunters before recruitment.

And that he would be on their recruitment list.

‘With my rapid growth rate, Emperor Guild must know.’

As long as the ranking system was visible, no guild would be unaware of Min Do-jun’s daily level increases.

‘I’m probably the top recruitment priority for Emperor Guild and all guilds.’

It wasn’t arrogance or confidence.

It was fact based on his growth data.

‘They’re probably just being cautious since I keep refusing.’

Min Do-jun had received countless membership offers.

From major guilds like Wanted and Blue Dragon down to unknown lower-tier guilds.

He seemed to have received calls from nearly 100 places.

‘But I refused them all immediately.’

Rumors must have spread because of this.

That this hunter had no intention of joining a guild.

It was clear since he showed no response even to billion-won bribes.

‘They probably gave up thinking ordinary bribes wouldn’t work.’

Lower-tier guilds lacking resources would have given up early.

But major guilds without such limitations would still be watching Min Do-jun closely.

Emperor Guild seemed to haven’t given up either.

‘They’re a guild with strong pride.’

Seeing Kim Ji-hoon’s constant glances during battle made it almost certain.

‘He must be looking because he saw my name.’

Usually guild members couldn’t see recruitment lists, but Emperor Guild was different since they recruited based on hunter verification.

‘No need to get involved in troublesome matters by showing my strength.’

Min Do-jun had no intention of joining a guild.

Especially not Emperor Guild.

That’s where S-rank Shin Kyung-min was.

Joining the same guild as someone he wanted to quarter was unthinkable.

That’s why he deliberately used simple attacks and avoided magic.

He removed all mana option items and accessories to appear weak.

He only wore the ghost sword, tiger armor, and magic control gauntlet.

He didn’t even summon Ghost Wolf lest the Bond trait increase his mana.

‘Yet the damage output is still quite high.’

So he deliberately targeted tough spots to minimize damage.

He didn’t forget to apply buffs to avoid looking strange using only basic attacks.

As a result.

*Slash!*

[Experience +1,600] (10% contribution)

Even killing centipedes gave little experience.

‘Still, the Avatar of the Battlefield buff is steadily stacking.’

[Current Kill Count: 12/50]

[All stats increased by 12%]

[Time remaining: 59 minutes 59 seconds]

The increasing damage was becoming an issue, but it didn’t matter now.

‘Kim Ji-hoon’s glances have decreased.’

As Min Do-jun intended, he’d managed to escape Emperor Guild’s attention.

Though he achieved his goal, avoiding Emperor Guild wasn’t the only reason he hid his strength.

‘Ghost Wolf, Berserk, Magic Control… too many skills I can’t show. Plus the recently acquired Reflection trait.’

For Min Do-jun, who still had to take revenge on 8 more people, hiding his trump cards was better.

The more unknown cards he had, the easier it would be to kill them.

‘No need to show my true power here just for some experience.’

If rumors spread from showing his skills, it would only be a matter of time before his revenge targets heard.

‘I’m in a position where I can’t show my strength anyway.’

Hiding his power meant getting little experience.

Almost making the dungeon entry pointless.

But there was no need to worry.

‘I can just enter the centipede nest alone.’

Hunters had a misconception – this large cave they were walking through wasn’t the centipede nest.

This was just a cave, and the actual nest where centipedes gathered was elsewhere.

With an enormous number of centipedes.

‘At least over 100 gathered there.’

If he monopolized those centipedes, the experience loss from hiding his strength wouldn’t matter.

‘People think shells are hard to obtain but…’

Raiding a nest with 100 centipedes would get them instantly.

‘It should appear soon…’

The party members hunting centipedes suddenly stopped.

They’d reached a six-way split in the path.

“First fork in the road.”

“Usually takes an hour to get here, but we made it 10 minutes early.”

“Maybe our hunting speed is faster with all DPS?”

“All thanks to our leader, of course.”

The party members showed no confusion at the split paths.

It was a familiar sight they encountered every dungeon run.

“Well, let’s each take one path.”

They split up naturally, familiar with the procedure.

They knew they had to separate.

With six people and six paths, it worked out perfectly.

One person per path was just right.

Min Do-jun chose the rightmost path before anyone else could claim it.

‘The centipede nest can only be accessed through the sixth path.’

Just then, Kim Ji-hoon belatedly tried to choose the same path as Min Do-jun.

A message appeared.

[Warning! Fork paths are for solo entry only.]

[Penalties will be immediately applied to late entrants if more than one person enters.]

Min Do-jun looked at Kim Ji-hoon, the late entrant.

His eyes saying ‘aren’t you going somewhere else?’

“Leader! What are you doing?”

“More than one person can’t enter the same path.”

“Hurry over here. This path is empty.”

At his party members’ calls, Kim Ji-hoon scratched his cheek awkwardly.

“Ah, I was just testing to see, but there really is a penalty.”

Though he backed off readily, there was slight disappointment on his face.

‘Still trying to verify my skills?’

Despite deliberately acting weak, he still hadn’t given up hope.

‘At least he’s not willing to take the penalty to follow me.’

If he had followed despite the penalty, Min Do-jun would have been the one in trouble.

‘Then monopolizing the centipede nest would have been impossible.’

These fork paths existed specifically to split up party members.

‘It’s designed to prevent multiple intruders from entering the centipede nest.’

But hunters just thought of it as a trial ground for fighting centipedes alone.

Since centipedes did appear occasionally while walking alone.

‘Those are just random encounters.’

The true purpose of the fork was preventing two or more people from entering the nest.

But six people could enter if they were willing to take the penalty.

‘They don’t know this information now, but if it became known, penalized hunters would probably form parties and farm the nest.’

For already penalized hunters, getting penalized again would only reset the timer.

That’s why in his previous life, it was common for such hunters to form parties and quickly farm the nest.

‘No need for that if I can kill 100 alone.’

Walking alone down the path, Min Do-jun stopped.

It was because of the centipede that always appeared once when passing through the fork.

‘Other party members might find this challenging enough to feel like a trial but…’

*Whoosh*

Min Do-jun, fully equipped, leaped out while launching Fire Blast.

*BOOM!*

‘For me, it’s not even a post-meal workout.’

*Slash! Slash!*

The centipede’s tough body was cut like tofu.

[Experience +16,000] (100% contribution)

Min Do-jun lightly shook off the fluids on his sword and continued walking.

Then suddenly stopped.

‘Here it is.’

A small crack in the wall, easy to miss at first glance.

When he wedged his sword in and pried it open, the wall tore open revealing a new path.

At the end of the path he entered without hesitation was an enormous cavern.

A massive space like ten athletic fields combined.

Giant centipedes crawled around in disgustingly large numbers.

‘Now this is more like a workout.’

Min Do-jun grinned as he prepared for battle.

Time to gain experience.