The Otherworldly Magic Swordsman Who Disciplines the Hunter World Chapter 1

The monsters roared.

Julian tightened his grip on the sword in his hand. Judging by the sound alone, there were at least four or five packs of monsters lurking nearby.

‘Even if I deal with the Ogres immediately… is that a Hellhound? It sounds like a fire-attribute monster.’

He only had a single magic stone left. Even if he scraped together every bit of his mana, it was impossible to cast water-attribute or freezing magic—elements that didn’t align well with Julian anyway.

At most, Circle 2? Would that even be enough to handle a Hellhound?

There were only two choices. Die here, or grit his teeth and dance with his blade.

Whew. Taking a deep breath, he circulated mana across the surface of the sword’s blade. It was a good thing he had learned swordsmanship early on. While everyone else was training to become high-ranking mages—claiming it was the shortcut to a successful life—he had cultivated his swordsmanship alone, dreaming of a “two-job” lifestyle. It had been worth the effort.

Magic was consumptive, and no matter how high-ranking a mage was, they were no different from an ordinary person once their mana was exhausted.

No, in some ways, they were worse than ordinary people. Since they lacked physical strength, countless mages didn’t even have the power to run away, becoming monster fodder in that exact manner.

The reason Julian, a common Circle 5 mage, had survived until now was entirely thanks to the swordsmanship he had honed back then.

A mediocre Circle 5 mage, a mediocre sword user. However, knowing how to utilize both simultaneously made it possible to survive even through a third round of monster subjugation campaigns.

“But I guess this is the end of that, too.”

Julian scanned his surroundings with dry eyes.

The comrades he came with were already all dead. The stench of blood wafted from the corpses of monsters and humans strewn across the ground.

The 81st Monster Subjugation Campaign was a complete defeat for humanity. At the very least, the 1st Battalion, which he belonged to, was annihilated.

They shouldn’t have come here in the first place. Monitoring the Great Canyon would have been enough. There wouldn’t have been any problems if they had just managed the number of monster entities crossing over, but humans always end up ruined by their own greed.

What was the point of launching eighty-one subjugations and shouting for ‘extermination’ while crossing the canyon into the land of monsters? They just ended up dying like dogs like this.

Julian kicked aside the corpse of a comrade that was caught under his foot and frowned.

He had lived as an orphan since he was a child. From the moment he learned magic and swordsmanship in a mercenary group just to survive as a wandering mercenary, he didn’t actually have much of a lingering attachment to life.

If I die, I die. Surviving this far with that mindset was, in a way, a miracle.

A miracle where the main camp would send someone to rescue Julian from enemy territory was not going to happen.

Unless they were complete idiots, they wouldn’t risk dozens of lives to save a single, mediocre mercenary.

If so, this place was truly his grave. Right here, beneath the howling of flying monsters that covered the sky, with the corpses of his comrades piled at his feet.

Julian let out a smirk.

“This sucks.”

Leaning his body down, he charged forward and swung his sword. The head of an Ogre that had been hidden by the terrain flew off instantly.

Getting sprayed by the splattering green blood, Julian nimbly twisted his body.

A second Ogre on the opposite side roared and swung its club. Ducking to dodge the attack, he cut through the Ogre’s knee.

Crack! With the sound of breaking bone, the monster slumped to its knees.

Julian drove his sword straight into the back of the Ogre’s head. There was an Ogre next to it, and another next to that. Ten of them? No, there were fifteen.

He could hear the sound of Hellhounds gathering from afar after hearing the sounds of battle.

“This really sucks.”

It was endless. But what could he do? He had to fight until the moment he died. Even in a hopeless battle, if you have the strength to swing a sword, you fight.

He felt his mana draining away rapidly. Along with it, his stamina, strength, and will were being carved away.

So this is how I die. Soaked in filthy green blood.

Still, if I kill even one more monster here, wouldn’t that be a blessing for the remaining subjugation forces?

Within his fading consciousness, Julian bit his lip. As long as someone, anyone, could be happy, that would be enough.

Since his hands could still move, he stopped thinking and swung his sword.

At that moment, the space in the distance fluctuated and distorted. The monsters screamed in unison.

“Kuraaaaak!”

The Ogres attacking Julian and the Hellhounds rushing in all hesitated and looked toward that spot.

Wooooom. The ground shook violently. Between the monsters that were flinching before screaming and fleeing, Julian witnessed it clearly. A black hole was growing endlessly, swallowing the monsters whole.

“…What is that?”

Was it magic? But he couldn’t feel the movement of mana. A pitch-black hole simply continued to expand, casting a shadow.

The screams of the monsters sucked into the black space faded away.

Julian instinctively backed away.

However, the moment he tried to turn and run, the black hole expanded its size in an instant.

Without even being able to scream properly, Julian’s body was sucked straight into the black curtain.

∞ ∞ ∞

There were many words to describe ‘that phenomenon.’

The period of the first Dungeon Outbreak was called a freak phenomenon, the end, the apocalypse, Armageddon, and so on. Monsters poured out endlessly from black holes that suddenly appeared.

In the process of taking down the monsters, the world faced a great cataclysm. With the appearance of dungeons, awakened Hunters emerged, and the need for a system to manage them systematically arose. Accordingly, the Hunter Management Bureau was established, and research on dungeons and gates began.

Humans were creatures of adaptation. It took less than ten years to become accustomed to the new world of monsters and dungeons.

The entire world united to manage Hunters and Gates, and information regarding dungeons was made public for everyone to see.

In the beginning, the purpose of information disclosure was to prepare for danger, but ten years later, things were different. People reposed blind faith in Hunters and loved the peace achieved through their sacrifices.

The fact that Dungeon Breaks no longer occurred thanks to the systematic management system also played a part.

Amidst moderate safety and familiarity, the system’s information became a source of entertainment for people.

People went wild over which guild cleared which rank of dungeon in how much time, or what rank a new dungeon was and what items existed inside. Not only that, but Hunters who made it onto the rankings enjoyed global popularity.

In the global guild rankings released by the Hunter Management Bureau, a total of three Korean guilds were ranked.

‘Myeongja Circle,’ which featured a large number of so-called first-generation Hunters; ‘Moran,’ where all affiliated Hunters were A-rank or higher; and ‘Yeollak,’ to which the S-rank Hunter brothers, Gong Sijin and Gong Siyoung, belonged.

Among them, ‘Yeollak,’ which held the highest rank, enjoyed as much popularity as it carried responsibilities.

The areas managed by Yeollak reached across all of Seoul, Gyeonggi-Incheon, and the Chungcheong Province. They had to respond to dozens of small-scale dungeons occurring daily, and it was essential to verify dungeons of B-rank or higher.

Today was no different. A sudden call rang out at 4:00 AM. To check an A-rank dungeon that appeared in Incheon, S-rank Hunter Gong Siyoung, who could be called the backbone of Yeollak, was the first to be summoned.

“Forget it, don’t call anyone else. I’ll go in alone.”

─ Siyoung-ah! Still, at least one partner…

“I said I’m fine. They’ll just get in the way anyway.”

As the worried nagging was about to continue, Siyoung hung up the phone without hesitation. With time being so tight, he was supposed to wait for someone else? It was better to enter alone than to deal with such a bothersome task.

As he walked forward without lingering regret, he saw a man standing at the entrance of the gate. A man dressed in the uniform of the Hunter Management Bureau was rubbing his eyes with a tired face.

Discovering the approaching Gong Siyoung, he was startled and waved his hand.

“Over here, over here! Hunter Gong Siyoung!”

Gong Siyoung gave a slight nod to the man who came scurrying over. He checked the entry time and number of people on the tablet the man was holding.

“April 6th, 4:21 AM, entry into a newly appeared A-rank dungeon, Hunter Gong Siyoung of Yeollak Guild, and…”

The man trailed off, glancing behind Siyoung.

“And…?”

“It’s just me. Can I enter?”

“Pardon?”

“I asked if I can enter.”

The flustered man hesitated. No matter how much of an S-rank Hunter he was, entering a dungeon alone?

Before he could even suggest waiting for more people, Gong Siyoung took the lead.

“Uh, uh! Excuse me, Hunter! Hunter Gong Siyoung!!”

Before he could be stopped, Gong Siyoung headed into the pitch-black gate entrance. Along with a bizarre sensation like entering water, he felt his sense of gravity invert.

When he closed and opened his eyes, he saw the now-familiar status window message.

[System Notification]

▶ You have entered an 『A-rank Dungeon』.

▶ Attribute: Fire / Sensory Degradation

▶ 11 hours until Overflow

▶ Current Personnel: 2

“2 people…?”

He was definitely the only one who entered the dungeon. Was it an error?

While Gong Siyoung was staring at the pop-up window for the entry count, a red notification window appeared before his eyes.

[ Warning! ※ There are traces that some areas have already been cleared. ]

[ (Unknown User) has used the skill ‘Unknown’. ]

[ The Boss Monster has died. ]

[System Notification]

▶ 『A-rank Dungeon』 Cleared

Time Elapsed: 10 minutes 21 seconds

Reward: (Unknown User) has acquired the title <The Chosen One>. Increases allies’ attack power by 10% and health regeneration by 5%. This reward lasts for 30 minutes after entry.