“Guh!”
A sword came flying out of nowhere.
It pierced straight through the neck of the man standing beside him.
“…….”
Because it had happened so suddenly, at first, no one could react.
They merely stood there in silence.
But a moment later, when the man whose throat had been pierced began coughing blood and died in agony, everyone screamed.
“H-Hiiik!”
The man at the front, Jeong Chansik, was no exception.
He could not believe that the subordinate who had been calling him boss just moments ago was dead.
‘What the hell just happened?’
He had clearly been told that the Hunter who entered this place was an F-rank Hunter.
They had even checked his Hunter license, so it couldn’t have been a lie.
And yet one of his men had been killed by the Hunter they had thought was F-rank.
‘Did he fake his rank?’
It was a fairly plausible thought.
Come to think of it, something had been strange.
An F-rank Hunter entering a dungeon decked out in gold and all sorts of jewels?
No one in their right mind would do something that insane.
“…So you meant to lure us in from the very beginning.”
Food placed in the middle of a battlefield, looking delicious to anyone who saw it, was bound to be poisoned.
“Hah!”
Having roughly grasped the situation, Jeong Chansik laughed as if he found it absurd.
“To think I’d fall for a trap like this.”
He muttered, blaming himself.
He had failed to read even such a simple situation and had lost one of his men for it.
“You’re on that side too, then.”
“…….”
He asked in a meaningful voice, but the other party gave no answer.
However, Jeong Chansik had already guessed the other party’s identity.
If anything, that silence gave him certainty that his guess was correct.
There were cases like that from time to time.
People who falsified their Hunter rank.
It was a strategy often used by those commonly called “villains,” and it was quite effective.
Because it could make the opponent lower their guard first.
Villains.
Villains were different from ordinary Hunters.
They entered dungeons and hunted Hunters instead of monsters.
Jeong Chansik was the same.
Jeong Chansik had always lived by hunting other Hunters.
He had always been in the position of a predator.
This time, too, he had only entered to hunt another Hunter, so he had never imagined that he himself would become the prey.
But the result?
He, who had thought himself the predator, had been caught in a trap.
Of course, being caught in a trap did not mean the situation was over, so Jeong Chansik remained composed.
He had seen through the opponent’s scheme, albeit belatedly.
Though one of his subordinates had died, the numerical advantage still belonged to him.
With a broad smile on his face, Jeong Chansik stared at the beings in front of him.
‘Two of them, huh.’
One was clearly a young man still wet behind the ears.
He looked inexperienced, yet he wore a gold necklace around his neck, making him look like someone anyone would want to rob.
In all likelihood, that guy was not much of a threat.
That must have been why he served as the bait.
Of course, since the other party was a Hunter too, he couldn’t afford to be careless.
‘The real one must be beside him.’
Thinking that, Jeong Chansik looked at the being next to him.
A being wrapped head to toe in a black robe.
With even a mask and gloves on, they had completely concealed their appearance.
More than anything, the sight of them throwing a sword just moments ago and killing his subordinate was still deeply engraved in his mind.
But even now, he did not think they could do anything.
“Now, how about we stop here? If you hand over everything you have, I’ll at least spare your lives. You don’t even have a weapon anymore, do you?”
Jeong Chansik said with a vile expression.
No matter how skilled the opponent was, there were only two of them.
He did not believe that just two people could deal with him and all his subordinates.
On top of that, hadn’t they stupidly thrown away their weapon?
In the end, it was safe to say the only weapons the other party had left were their bare fists.
However, even in response to his consideration, the other party answered with silence.
‘Why are they just standing there?’
No matter how anyone looked at it, the side with the advantage was him.
Yet compared to that, the other party was far too relaxed.
Seeing how composed they were instead made Jeong Chansik anxious.
Was it a bluff? Or were they truly confident in their strength?
Otherwise, they couldn’t possibly remain so calm.
Jeong Chansik’s mind moved busily.
If the opponent’s strength was real, then perhaps it would be right to withdraw from this place.
But it was far too regrettable to give up the prey before his eyes.
If it were only the gold and jewels hanging from that one guy’s body, he would not have taken the risk.
No matter how much of a villain he was, his own life was precious.
Of course, that would have been the case if he hadn’t known about the purple gem held by the kobold in the back.
‘It’s definitely a magic crystal.’
When he saw the purple-tinged magic crystal, Jeong Chansik erased the option of retreating from his mind.
And perhaps the other party was also waging psychological warfare because of that magic crystal.
‘Yes, that must be it.’
Jeong Chansik forcefully shook off his unease.
Then he looked at the sword lying on the ground.
The black sword the opponent had thrown.
At a glance, it looked luxurious.
“Hah… You don’t even know that this might be your last chance.”
He muttered softly and slowly reached toward the sword.
But at that moment.
Tap—
A figure had approached before he knew it.
It was the one wearing the black robe.
“H-How—”
There had clearly been distance between them, but the figure had come right up to him in an instant. And they struck away his wrist as he was about to pick up the sword.
That was not all.
The figure picked up the sword that had fallen to the ground and swung it into the air.
“Ha….”
It happened in an instant.
In that brief span of time, the opponent had approached this place, picked up the sword, and swung it.
It was a simple action, but the result was anything but simple.
Jeong Chansik was the first to sense the subtle change.
‘Huh…?’
The presence of his subordinates behind him suddenly vanished.
He heard the sound of something dropping with a thud, but he did not want to turn around.
Jeong Chansik’s body began to tremble.
He could not tell what had happened.
No, he did not even want to know.
The fishy scent of blood wafted into his nose.
Dark red liquid began to soak the ground beneath his feet.
He wanted to deny what had happened.
Even so, he would rather die than turn around and confirm it.
He felt that if he looked back now, he would regret it, so he simply kept his mouth shut.
At this moment, there was exactly one action Jeong Chansik could take.
“P-Please….”
He swiftly dropped to his knees.
The floor was soaked with red liquid, but he paid it no mind.
He knelt and slammed his forehead to the ground.
“Please spare me…!”
The Hunter he had thought was F-rank turned out to be a powerful being with overwhelming strength.
If there had been only a slight difference in their abilities, it might have been one thing, but this was not an existence Jeong Chansik could do anything about.
All he could do was beg for his life, hoping the other party would show mercy.
“Clack.”
At that moment, he heard some kind of sound.
‘The sound of bones?’
He was curious what that sound was, but Jeong Chansik continued to keep his head lowered and held his breath.
He simply closed his eyes and quietly observed the situation.
Clap, clap, clap—
“As expected. You truly are Lord Maru.”
Another voice rang out.
They were even applauding, in an atmosphere of praising the other party.
‘Maru…?’
Jeong Chansik listened carefully, not missing the other party’s words.
The name Maru was unusual.
Perhaps he was a foreigner.
As he thought this, he continued to watch the current situation.
He did so while holding onto the hope that perhaps a way to escape this moment might appear.
Except for Jeong Chansik, who lay prostrate on the ground, Beter and Maru began talking about the current matter.
“Clack, clack.”
“You are correct, Lord Maru. It seems these people were after the dungeon. More precisely, they were after that purple stone.”
When Beter said that, the kobold, the dungeon’s master standing behind them, was horrified.
“Th-That can’t be…!”
An intruder had appeared in the dungeon, but the incident was quickly settled.
The problem, however, lay elsewhere.
“It seems it would not be good for this purple stone to remain here any longer. Lord of the Dungeon.”
At Beter’s words, the kobold nodded furiously.
“What do we do! Then! I don’t want to die!”
Even if he had signed a contract for the trading company to protect the dungeon, it would not be good if intruders kept appearing.
For that reason, the kobold asked Beter again if there was a good solution.
But perhaps because he was indeed from a trading company, Beter quickly presented a solution.
“It is simple, Lord of the Dungeon. Let us change the condition in the contract regarding the transfer of ninety percent of the yellow stones and purple stones to one hundred percent. We will take away all of these dangerous objects.”
With a pleasant smile, Beter presented a new contract to the kobold.
“G-Good! Our dungeon! Please protect it! I will give stones! All of them!”
The kobold, moved by Beter’s consideration, signed the contract once again.
Beter watched that sight with satisfaction, then spoke to Maru.
“With this, the matter is settled.”
They had secured their first client and repelled the intruders.
The dungeon had been dirtied by the intruders’ corpses, but the solution was simple.
Maru took off his robe and revealed the cloak on his back.
It was the “Cloak of the Corpse Reaper.”
A cloak bestowed upon Maru by the great master.
The cloak, made of black and white hues and unknown patterns, stirred and moved on its own when it caught the thick scent of blood.
Then it began greedily devouring the corpses strewn across the floor.
Strangely, the corpses continued to enter into the cloak without end.
It took less than a minute to dispose of every corpse on the floor.
Once the cloak had swallowed all the corpses, Maru put his robe back on.
“Clack, clack?”
(What do we do with that one?)
“I am also pondering how to deal with him, Lord Maru.”
Now, all that remained was to deal with the man pressing his head to the floor.
Beter thought for a moment, then asked the man lying prostrate on the ground.
“What is your name?”
“I-I’m Jeong Chansik…. Please… Please, just spare my life…!”
The other party answered Beter’s question in a frightened voice.
Seeing someone who had been full of confidence moments ago reduced to groveling and begging for his life gave him a somewhat peculiar feeling.
But Beter had no emotion such as sympathy.
He was simply considering how to deal with this human.
This was someone who had dared to obstruct the master’s will.
Simply killing him would be far too merciful.
Then a thought suddenly occurred to Beter.
“Ah, how about that? A dieting method.”
“Clack?”
(Dieting?)
Maru expressed doubt at the word he was hearing for the first time.
Maru had also spent a fair amount of time on Earth, but he could not compare to Beter, who had spent many long years in the laboratory learning about the human world.
As if being considerate of Maru, Beter explained in detail.
“Dieting is a word that some of the researchers often used. They said it is a process carried out for the purpose of reducing the weight of the body.”
At Beter’s explanation, Maru nodded.
“Now, what do you suppose reducing the weight of the body means? Does it not mean removing part of the body? That is dieting.”
Beter’s explanation continued.
“And they say this dieting must be carried out very slowly. In other words, it is no different from slowly cutting away parts of the body while inflicting torture. If my understanding is correct, peeling off the skin little by little or removing the organs from inside the body would also be good methods.”
“Clack!”
At Beter’s detailed explanation, Maru wore an expression of realization.
Today, Maru had learned new knowledge once again.
Even if it was a small piece of knowledge, a day would surely come when it would be useful in assisting the great master.
Of course, Jeong Chansik, who had heard Beter’s words, had a different thought.
‘They’re insane…. Completely insane!’
Who in the world described dieting like that?
Thinking he had clearly fallen into the hands of lunatics, Jeong Chansik shouted with a tearful face.
“Spare me…! Please!!”
But to Beter and Maru, a human life was worth less than an insect’s.
No matter what Jeong Chansik shouted, Beter only said what he had to say.
“Lord Maru, then let us finish this matter quickly and look for the Black Sun Guild.”
In truth, they were busy.
They had opened their first business connection with the kobold dungeon, but this was no more than taking their very first step.
They were still far from the form of the trading company desired by the great being.
More than anything, there were too many restrictions.
Even now, if Beter wanted to leave the dungeon, did he not have to transform into the form of a human Hunter?
Maru, who was a skeleton, also wore a large robe and mask to hide his appearance.
There was no choice but for their activities to be restricted.
That was why Beter decided to make use of humans.
The first of those was the Black Sun Guild, to which the Hunter Ji Seongmin, whom he had transformed into, belonged.
However, from what he had learned, the Black Sun Guild was not an official guild, but rather closer to an organization made up of separate cells.
Because of that, Beter had been wondering how to find the Black Sun Guild’s location.
But perhaps he was lucky.
“I know! I know someone who belongs to the Black Sun Guild!”
Jeong Chansik, who had been lying prostrate on the ground, shouted.
“I’ll tell you everything, so please, just spare my life!”
At last, an opportunity had come to Jeong Chansik.
An opportunity to survive these lunatics who arbitrarily defined dieting and were obsessed only with killing.
Beter, not wanting to miss the opportunity either, bent at the waist.
Perhaps because his main body was a slime, Beter’s waist bent in a grotesque manner.
Then he quietly whispered to Jeong Chansik.
“If it is a lie, know that you will be put through a painful diet.”