Chapter 14

It was the next day, after Chaeho had returned from completing the upper-body strength training he had planned.

His thumb, which had been scrolling up the screen of his smartphone, suddenly stopped.

Chaeho stared quietly at the recruitment board displayed on the screen. Short-term mercenary recruitment posts for Hunters filled the dedicated network endlessly.

[Looking for a short-term assistant for a C-rank party. Departure date undecided. Preference given to those who can accommodate a standby schedule.]

He let out a short breath and placed his smartphone on the desk.

“Standby, huh.”

Working as a short-term mercenary had noticeably increased his income. Compared to the days when he had been called a pack mule at the back of a party and forced to handle all the dirty work, the amount deposited into his bank account was on an entirely different level.

The problem was the irregular lifestyle.

He always had to remain on standby, never knowing when the party would depart, and he had to change his movements frequently according to the party leader’s demands.

But there was something else that frustrated Chaeho more than anything.

As long as he moved together with others, he could never have complete control over the flow of battle. The party framework was too restrictive for him to fully test the results of his extreme training in actual combat—the split-second sensation of turning his skill on and off and forcing his body into position accordingly.

I can’t keep moving according to someone else’s rhythm forever.

Through his extreme reflex training, he had managed to increase his daily skill usage time to thirteen seconds.

Now, he needed to experience leading the flow of a battle entirely on his own terms, from beginning to end.

Chaeho immediately opened the laptop on his desk.

He wasn’t foolish enough to simply pick up a weapon and head for a Gate. Attempting a solo dungeon without proper preparation wasn’t courage. It was recklessness.

He moved the mouse and logged into the Hunter Association’s exclusive database.

The filtering conditions were clear.

A D-rank dungeon.

And a stable Gate where solo entry was permitted.

Dozens of listings filled the screen.

He ruthlessly eliminated places with overly complicated terrain or too many variables in monster appearances. If he wanted to hone his pure fundamentals without relying on his skill, he needed a place where an appropriate level of tension and a clearly defined battlefield could be maintained.

After scrolling through the list for quite some time, his eyes stopped on one entry.

[Dry Reef Cave. Danger Level: D. Party Limit: 1–4 people.]

The Gate’s location and the recent mana fluctuation readings measured by the Association were extremely stable.

Chaeho clicked on the dungeon’s detailed information.

Information on the main monster that appeared there, the ‘Rake Ratman,’ filled the screen, including its ecology and attack patterns. Its powerful hind legs allowed it to leap quickly in a straight line, while its sharp foreclaws could deliver consecutive attacks.

He opened his notebook and picked up a pen.

He carefully recorded the monsters’ jumping distance, the shift in their center of gravity upon landing, and their preferred attack angles.

But he didn’t stop there.

He opened the dungeon’s terrain map and committed every blind spot where the monsters might ambush him to memory.

Most importantly, he needed an emergency retreat route in case of the worst possible situation.

If too many of them gathered for him to handle or something went wrong with his body, he needed to be able to retreat at any time.

He repeatedly traced the shortest route from the third fork directly to the entrance, using the collapsed stalactite pillar as a landmark, memorizing the path after examining it dozens of times.

Only after cross-checking all the information did Chaeho finally put down the mouse.

This wasn’t a reckless gamble.

It was a thoroughly calculated field test.

He took the armor hanging in his closet and put it on, then firmly secured the sword sheath around his waist.

After packing some hemostatic medicine and emergency rations into a light backpack, he left the room without hesitation.

Dry, cold air brushed against the tip of his nose.

After passing through the Gate, Chaeho stopped and widened his field of vision.

Rough rock walls surrounded him on all sides, while sharp, pointed rocks jutted down from the ceiling.

Just as the Association’s information had indicated, the inside of the dungeon was quite spacious, but its overall structure was simple.

With one hand resting on the hilt of his sword, he silently began walking.

Every time the soles of his shoes touched the dry dirt floor, they produced a faint scraping sound.

Although almost no light entered the dark environment, his senses, honed through training, did not miss even the slightest movement of air around him.

He hadn’t walked far when a faint scratching sound came from behind a massive pile of rocks on his right.

Chaeho stopped.

Keeping his breathing shallow, he fixed his gaze on the gap between the rocks.

A single red eye flashed in the darkness.

Then a grotesque rat, roughly the height of a human thigh, emerged.

It was a Rake Ratman.

Drool dripped from its mouth as it scraped its sharp foreclaws against the ground.

Back when he had worked as a support member for a C-rank party, merely being watched by something like this from the rear would have made him tense up and tighten his grip around his dagger.

Those had been the days when he could do nothing more than wait for the shield bearer in front to block his view before looking for an opening to stab through.

But the Ratman reflected in Chaeho’s eyes now looked ridiculously clumsy.

Kiiik!

With an unpleasant screech, the monster kicked off with its hind legs and leaped straight at him.

Its speed as it shot forward in a straight line was fairly impressive.

But Chaeho didn’t activate his skill.

I can see it.

Even without slowing time, the monster’s trajectory was perfectly clear to him.

Compared to the hundreds of rubber bullets that had rained down on him from every direction in the training room, the monotonous charge of a single creature was so predictable that it was almost enough to make him yawn.

The instant the Ratman was suspended in midair, Chaeho shifted his body just slightly to the right.

The Ratman’s claws sliced through the air and passed harmlessly beside Chaeho’s cheek.

The moment its attack missed and its waist was exposed—

Chaeho smoothly drew his sword.

The blade shot forward without hesitation, precisely toward the monster’s throat as it hung suspended in the air.

Slash!

With a chilling cutting sound, black blood sprayed through the air.

The Ratman crashed to the ground without even managing a proper scream. It convulsed twice before falling still.

Chaeho lightly flicked his sword, sending the blood flying from the blade.

There was no heavy breathing.

No trembling in his fingertips.

His heartbeat remained as calm as usual.

He had killed a D-rank monster using nothing but his physical abilities and reflexes, without relying on his skill.

It was entirely his own strength, without any luck or coincidence mixed into it.

“This should be enough.”

He was now on an entirely different level from the stiff and sluggish version of himself from the past.

Having confirmed that his fundamentals had firmly taken root, Chaeho’s steps felt considerably lighter.

He roughly collected the mana stone from the fallen Ratman’s corpse and continued deeper into the cave.

The one or two monsters that appeared along the way were also cut down without difficulty.

As he advanced, he could physically feel that his reaction speed was always at least half a beat faster than his enemies’ movements.

As he reached the middle of the cave, the narrow passage suddenly opened up into a wide, rounded cavern.

Fragments of animal bones were scattered messily across the floor, and a musty stench hit him all at once.

Chaeho had taken about three steps toward the center of the cavern when—

Red eyes simultaneously lit up in rows from within the darkness surrounding him.

Kiiik! Kyaaak!

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

A total of five Rake Ratmen crawled out from behind the rocks at once.

Rather than recklessly attacking, they began closing their circle around Chaeho.

It was the typical movement of hunters, with multiple creatures working together to block his escape routes while waiting for the right moment to attack.

No matter how much his fundamentals had improved, trying to fend off five simultaneous attacks using only his naked eyes and physical abilities carried considerable risk.

If his feet became tangled or he allowed an attack from a blind spot to connect, it could immediately result in a serious injury.

At that moment, all five Ratmen simultaneously flexed their hind-leg muscles as if they had rehearsed it together, then kicked off the ground.

Two from the front.

One from each side.

And one from behind.

The instant vicious claws came rushing at him from every direction—

Time Slow.

A familiar, quiet switch flipped inside Chaeho’s mind.

In that instant, all the air inside the dungeon seemed to transform into a sticky swamp.

Kiiiiii—

The unpleasant cries of the Ratmen flying through the air stretched out grotesquely, like a tape being played at a slower speed.

Within Chaeho’s vision, time itself seemed to be dragged down and forced to its knees.

He merely turned his head slightly and quickly observed the creatures frozen in midair.

The two in front were aiming for his jaw.

The one on the right was coming in low toward his legs.

The one on the left had an awkward jumping angle and posed little threat.

The one behind him was following the sharpest trajectory, cutting directly toward the back of his neck.

Five attack trajectories.

The flow of mana.

And the single opening he needed to exploit.

Everything was laid out before him as clearly as a three-dimensional diagram.

He had obtained all the information he needed.

Without delay, Chaeho deactivated his skill.

Click.

The frozen world returned to its normal speed like a spring snapping back into place.

Chaeho lowered his body and took half a step backward.

At the same time, he barely let the Ratman approaching low from the right pass by him, then kicked it away.

Thud!

The Ratman sent flying by Chaeho’s kick collided head-on with the two Ratmen charging in from the front.

As the three tangled together and crashed to the floor, Chaeho’s sword was already piercing through the head of the creature approaching from the left.

There wasn’t a single unnecessary movement in his actions.

After retrieving his sword, he smoothly twisted his body and drove the blade upward beneath the chin of the Ratman that had been targeting the back of his neck.

Stab!

Chaeho pulled out his sword and turned toward the three creatures struggling to get back up after becoming tangled together.

He gave them no time to regain their footing, stabbing their exposed necks and chests one after another.

Several short exchanges.

Blood began pooling on the floor, and all five Ratmen breathed their last at Chaeho’s feet.

“Hoo.”

Chaeho flicked his sword downward, scattering the blood.

A translucent system window appeared at the edge of his vision, allowing him to check his remaining time.

[Daily Available Time: 12.5 seconds / 13 seconds]

He had used only 0.5 seconds to break through that fierce encirclement just now.

With his fundamentals supporting him, there was no reason to keep his skill active unnecessarily.

If he only needed to check the trajectories during that brief instant, the rest could be handled entirely through the pure reactions of his body.

The roughly twelve seconds remaining were more than enough to search through the entire dungeon.

The days when he had followed behind the party like a pack mule while watching the party leader’s mood were completely over.

The flow of battle inside this dungeon was now turning entirely within the palm of his hand.

Chaeho lightly slid his sword back into its sheath and slowly walked toward the deeper darkness of the cave.

“Shall I head to the next area soon?”