章 31: Gradually moving forward

I watched the flash of lightning disappear on the horizon and went around the arena to look for the hunting squad members. Some were knocked out cold but they all had only minor injuries. With the strength of a rank B hunter, wounds like that would heal after a long night sleep or a few healing spells

The crowd was calming down as the defeated hunters got up and left the arena. I said my goodbyes to the hunters that were already up and moving and left, all my attention on getting stronger by farming dungeons until the strength of rank A wasn't far away from me

I passed by the overcrowded exit with people rushing about and walked out of the coliseum, making my way back to the military complex. After passing through all the checkpoints, I didn't go back to the living quarters and went straight toward the [Mangrove Swamp]

Strength was respected in this city, I didn't plan on hiding in the shadows for too long. I'll show them a glimpse of what I can do while still hiding a major part of my strength to account for any unknowns. Because of the incoming threats of beasts though, there would be no use hiding my strength as it would gradually be shown in time

I thought about turning on [Stealth] and disappearing from everyone's eyes when I first entered the dungeon alone, but decided otherwise. Unless a peak rank B hunters similar to the ones I found in the coliseum coincidentally happened to pass by when I activated the skill, I should be able to control the information of how frequently I enter this dungeon by choosing when to turn [Stealth] on and off to be purposefully seen

I will go in the first time without hiding, and turn on [Stealth] when I inevitably beat the dungeon in record time. I'll keep myself hidden during these times so that my impossible clear time will be kept under wraps

I showed my ID to the confused guards patrolling around the dungeon as they watched me with increasingly shocked expressions go towards the dungeon and disappear from their sight

---

"What?! He went in by himself?"

Magnar abruptly stood up while listening to the report that just came in. The gears in his mind were turning as he asked himself if he had struck gold with this hunter while seeing this show of confidence, or if he had miscalculated entirely and wasted some resources. His impassive look came back to his face as he thought, "Only time will tell"

---

At another location in one of the luxurious hotels in Star City.

A man was fuming from a phone call he just received. He was a veteran rank B hunter that was halfway through becoming rank A. He was already holding two rank A skills, and needed just one more to fully be considered a legitimate A ranker that could dive into the highest dungeons known

A book that had dropped recently and was in the possession of Lightning Hand was supposed to go to the next rank B hunter on a list. His name was at the top of that list. Yet Lightning Hand had played around with the book and gifted it to some random rank B by making up a competition in the middle of the day

He couldn't even look at the direction of the rank A hunter that recklessly gave the skill away, but he could definitely go after that rank B hunter who received it. He thought of this as he pulled out his phone to dial another number.

In the unfortunate event that the hunter dies...He will still get his hands on that rank A skill

---

I appeared on that same patch of land surrounded by murky green waters all around me. The rushing of alligators could already be felt the moment I entered. This time around, there would not be any games of keeping one alive to rest or relax.

I let out a cheeky smile as I prepared to get started. This will be a constant and relentless fight all the way through without a second wasted.

The first order of business...was checking out [Flight]

My body slowly began lifting off the ground when the skill was activated, following my thoughts while slowly rising. If I thought about moving up, I moved up. Any direction I wanted and I could do it in a heartbeat.

I hovered a few meters in the air and enjoyed the feeling when the alligators reached the small patch of land and jumped up with their wide jaws open

I looked at these fumbling alligators below me and decided to get started. This time around, I won't be stopping. I'll bulldoze through everything with as much power as I can without worrying too much

I didn't even start off like usual by casting the skills gradually while watching these monsters die. A [Miniature Tornado] appeared at the center of the alligators, and then another two appeared to their left and right, and they kept on increasing

The rotating forces of the [Miniature Tornado] shredded the hard scales of the alligators as if they were paper and turned them to mincemeat, very quickly turning the scene below into a mixture of blood and gore

The first barrier was released and more alligators were rushing where I was, but I would not wait for them. I commanded my body to fly forward, testing the speed of the skill for the first time. The result? Fast. How fast I didn't know as I didn't even know how to measure myself, but I was able to get to the point where the first barrier disappeared in a few seconds just as the new alligators were rushing in. If I could put it into words then just as fast as a car speeding down a highway, if not faster

[Miniature Tornado] was cast once again, as multiple swirling vortexes appeared and shredded everything on site. The next minutes passed like this, with me flying around the [Mangrove Swamp] casting [Miniature Tornado] on every beast that I saw.

It wasn't long before the last barrier was broken and the huge slumbering TITAN rose up. What met it were constantly replenishing [Miniature Tornado], where a new one would appear the moment one disappeared

ROAR!!!

The large rank B beast that required multiple rank B hunters to hunt it could put up no defenses or cast any skills on the face of multiple and never-ending disastrous tornadoes, quickly letting out a roar before dying.

...I breathed out loudly as I controlled my breathing to calm down. This was how I would start to do things from now on. I won't care too much about the thoughts of others and their reactions, not if I continue with such rapid progress. This whole dungeon took me what, 30 minutes or slightly more? I wouldn't let it go this time around

I had already been collecting the rank B [Core]s as the monsters fell, and I did the same when the huge TITAN was shredded and dropped more of them and a rank B skill book. I recalled how [Solael's Castle] had a chance to drop a higher rank skill even though it was a rank C dungeon, and wondered how many times I had to repeat the rank B dungeon [Mangrove Swamp] before a rank A skill book dropped

My eyes shined with excitement as I looked forward to this while I stayed in the air and absorbed the rank B cores right away.

The skill book dropped this time around was [Curse of Slowness], a curse type skill I haven't come across before that majorly slowed down the speed of the enemy it hit. I didn't know when I would use this but I absorbed it anyway. I would take in all that I can and think later.

As soon as the [Core]s dropped in the dungeon were absorbed, I reached out to the green crystal that had risen and was transferred outside the monolith with [Stealth] still active. The [Core]s from one dungeon run were nowhere enough to have me reach the peak of rank B [Vitality] and [Strength] attribute without diving a few times even if I was doing it solo

The higher you rose, the more cores of equivalent rank you needed to raise your attributes. The [Focus] cores that weren't useful to me would all be sold later

I went towards one of the square doors of the monolith as I disappeared inside once again. This time, I will continue to dive into this dungeon even after the sun sets