F-Rank Secretly Becomes Stronger - Chapter 17

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

17

This D-rank Gate was a maze-type dungeon.

As soon as the Leader entered the Gate, she moved according to the manual she had prepared in advance.

“We might get lost if we’re not careful, so let’s advance while being careful not to fall behind the person in front.”

Saying this, the Leader tapped the floor with her shoes and added.

“There will be quite a few traps in places like this, so only move along the path the person in front has taken.”

“Understood.”

“Then we’ll proceed inside.”

After passing through the Gate and opening the Lion-Faced Door ahead, a path appeared.

True to a maze-type dungeon, crossroads appeared quickly after just a little movement.

Each time, the Leader would pause at the crossroads, place her hand on the ground, and close her eyes.

“…This way.”

The Leader made her decision after a few seconds of careful detection.

‘Is she exploring the path using Mana Detection?’

This was his first time entering a dungeon-type Gate, but he had already learned about it to the point of boredom at the Academy.

Usually, the way to find paths in maze-type dungeons was to use Detection-Type Skills like this to find the Exit Gate.

The right-hand rule of placing your hand on one wall and following it straight to escape was too dangerous in places like Gates that were crawling with monsters and traps, and moreover, if the Exit Gate was in the center rather than on the outside of the maze, it would be impossible to get out.

Therefore, maze-type dungeon Gates required at least two or more supporter-type Hunters who could use Detection Skills as their main ability.

‘Since this is definitely a Gate being tackled for the first time, it seems they selected only veterans.’

Just looking at the Leader, you could clearly feel her gravitas.

All the other Hunters were also C-rank or above, or D-rank Hunters with over 10 years of experience.

‘Usually they wouldn’t send an F-rank Hunter to a place like this unless absolutely necessary.’

This was probably only possible because Mir Guild had pulled some strings.

Otherwise, even if he was a Hunter who had handled a Mutant Orc alone, they wouldn’t have included an F-rank in a new D-rank Gate.

[You’ll be able to clear it without any problems if you just listen well to what the Party Members say.]

These were the words Yena had left as advice before he departed.

Since he wasn’t the type to step forward and cause problems, she probably wasn’t worried, but still, since he was entering a D-rank Gate, she seemed to have left advice to ease his tension.

‘Right, maze-types hardly have any monsters anyway.’

Unless a mutant appeared like last time, there shouldn’t be any problems.

Jung Juhyeok quietly followed the person in front of him.

Walking endlessly, stopping briefly when they encountered maze sections, then following in the direction the Leader indicated.

Even in his first maze-type dungeon experience, the tension was gradually easing.

Even so, he didn’t let his guard down against monsters that might suddenly appear.

“Shall we take a short break here?”

After walking for several hours, not a single monster had appeared.

While continuing their much smoother than expected conquest, break time arrived.

“This feels like the place with the thinnest mana in the dungeon, so there’s also less chance of monsters appearing. Let’s take turns keeping watch while we rest.”

Following the Leader’s words, the party decided on turns and began their break.

As he sat down and was maintaining his sword alone, Jihoon plopped down next to him.

“How is it? Even though it’s D-rank, it’s actually nothing much, right?”

“That’s true. It’s almost disappointing that not even one monster has appeared.”

“Haha… Even if they did appear, it’s obvious we wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

Jihoon laughed awkwardly.

Soon he asked with a voice full of curiosity.

“You said you caught a Mutant Orc last time. How was it?”

“How was it? If this isn’t your first Gate either, you’d know from catching them yourself.”

Since he was someone who got a C-rank Hunter License by scoring around 10th place, he must have experience catching monsters.

He naturally thought so, but Jihoon shook his head in denial.

“How can a rookie fight monsters one-on-one? No matter how much it’s an F-rank monster, you absolutely have to enter combat together with a senior.”

“…Wasn’t that just something they say?”

He had definitely been left to move alone continuously in the previous Gate.

Seeing Mir Guild’s behavior, he naturally thought they just said they’d enter combat together but actually just watched from the side.

“Of course not. Who would let a Rookie Hunter fight alone? At minimum, someone has to hold up a shield next to you.”

Looking at Jihoon’s reaction, it seemed like that wasn’t an ordinary scene.

“That’s why you’re getting attention everywhere. Does it make sense for a rookie hunter to send away his party members and catch a mutant orc alone?”

“Did I do something too conspicuous?”

“It’s amazing that you’re just realizing that now.”

He opened his mouth as if dumbfounded, then burst into laughter he couldn’t contain.

Jihoon laughed for a while, then gradually stopped and spoke in a somewhat serious tone.

“But you were someone who was going to get attention eventually.”

“Well. Looking at my grades, you wouldn’t have thought that.”

“It’s an obvious thing to say, but grades aren’t everything.”

A statement that would have looked a bit pathetic if I, who was ranked 200th, had said it.

But when a guy who had been playing around in the top 10 of the school said it, it somehow felt convincing.

“And you proved those words during the tournament.”

The underachiever’s rebellion.

Anyone who saw that match that shocked everyone who had been predicting victories based solely on grades couldn’t argue against it.

Jihoon smiled refreshingly as he recalled the past that hadn’t even been a full year ago.

“As expected, my eye wasn’t wrong. I told you every day, didn’t I? That someday your efforts would be rewarded.”

An expression as joyful as if he himself had won.

Usually, when a classmate who had lower grades suddenly rises up and builds a career faster, one might feel jealous.

But this guy, showing just how good his personality was, praised me with pure goodwill without a single sarcastic word.

Sometimes at the Academy, seeing his upright conduct, people would curse him saying he was wearing a mask.

But at least the guy in front of me now didn’t seem to be just pretending to be happy on the surface.

“You said that less often after we became third years though.”

“…I didn’t know you remembered every little thing like that.”

His shoulders fidgeted awkwardly as he was attacked from an unexpected angle.

Seeing that, the corners of my mouth went up for no reason too.

As we were excitedly chattering about things that happened at the Academy, one of the party members walked over.

“Hunter Jung Juhyeok, let’s go change guard shifts.”

“Yes, understood.”

Jung Juhyeok stood up first as his turn to stand guard approached.

Together with the hunter who would stand guard with him, he approached the person who had been waiting for the shift change.

“There were no particular problems. Good work.”

“You worked hard.”

The hunter who was going to rest let out a yawn, perhaps bored from just standing around continuously.

Then suddenly he stumbled on his own and bumped into the wall.

“Ugh!”

An embarrassing voice that echoed through the maze.

‘Isn’t that the person who fell earlier?’

They had joked about whether he would fall even inside the gate.

Their prediction was right as he really fell by himself on a floor with nothing on it.

The hunter standing guard with Jung Juhyeok seemed to have seen this often and showed no particular reaction.

“That guy’s starting again. He’s got a sturdy body, so you don’t need to worry about him.”

Just as his senior said, the man quickly got up, perhaps embarrassed.

As most of the party members giggled and laughed, his face turned bright red and he quietly sat down.

“…It seems that way.”

The stone wall was dented so much that it would be more fitting to say the wall got hurt instead.

I could roughly understand how he could be so clumsy yet not have a single scratch on his face.

“He’s practically announcing to the monsters that we’re here… Sigh.”

His brow furrowed as he looked at his displeasing teammate.

Then he turned his gaze to the opposite side and said.

“Monsters might come looking because of the noise, so let’s keep our wits about us and watch carefully.”

“Yes.”

As he said, monsters might appear because of the loud noise that echoed through the maze.

I tightened the tension I had briefly relaxed back to my throat and watched the dark passage.

Fortunately, even after watching for more than 10 minutes since the noise occurred, nothing appeared, so it seemed monsters didn’t hear it and come looking.

‘Is this a Gate where monsters don’t exist at all?’

I had heard that very occasionally there were Gates made up only of traps, so maybe it was that kind.

Normally, an F-rank Hunter might be happy about the possibility of clearing a D-rank Gate without any danger, but for Juhyeok who needed magic stones, it wasn’t something to be purely happy about.

‘I hope at least some come out.’

The end of the corridor I was watching with a small hope.

Even after continuing to watch, not even a monster’s claw was visible, when suddenly.

“It looks like something’s coming.”

“What?”

“A monster.”

The senior Hunter pointing toward the end of the corridor with his finger.

Juhyeok strained his eyes to look, but no monster came into view.

“Where is it?”

“Tsk, what are you going to do if you can’t even see this.”

He clicked his tongue and turned his head toward the resting party members.

He spoke clearly so it could be conveyed to the party members without stimulating the monster.

“Emergency. Monster appearance.”

“Ugh, again.”

The party members got up as if this wasn’t the first or second time, looking at the Hunter who had just fallen.

The Hunter who had fallen with a loud noise seemed to have nothing to say and quietly got up from his spot to prepare for battle.

“…There’s a monster?”

But something was strange.

No matter how much I looked at the end of the corridor, I couldn’t see the monster’s form.

“Everyone stop fidgeting and move quickly!”

Despite drawing my sword at his urging, nothing was visible.

Even in this absurd situation, the Hunter who was standing guard with me casually gestured toward Juhyeok and said.

“There are more than expected, so be careful.”

“….”

Let me think.

What’s the probability that monsters capable of invisibility would appear in this Gate?

‘Monsters that can use invisibility don’t usually appear in D-rank Gates.’

Among the monsters identified so far, is there one that can completely hide its body within a 200-meter radius?

Among the monsters I heard about in Academy lectures, all those kinds were B-rank or higher monsters.

‘More than anything else, if there were monsters, the leader would have noticed already.’

The leader who kept her detection skill active to not let her guard down even during rest.

There’s no way such a leader wouldn’t notice monsters that had come right up to our noses.

Here, Juhyeok could immediately identify the cause of his mysterious behavior.

Juhyeok turned his head and ran to the leader to speak.

“Leader.”

“What’s wrong? No monsters are currently detected?”

An expression of puzzlement, as if she had the same thought.

As expected, no monsters existed.

Then there was only one conclusion to draw.

“It’s a hallucination.”

A trap within the dungeon had been activated.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————