The Otherworldly Magic Swordsman Who Disciplines the Hunter World Chapter 13

“Oh! Hunter Gong Sijin!”

As soon as he stepped out of the car, Gong Sijin’s name was called from all directions. Waving his hand with a bright laugh, Gong Sijin approached the spot where people had gathered.

“It’s been a while, Administrator. Has entry already concluded?”

The gate rippled with a black light. At Gong Sijin’s question, the administrator tucked a tablet under his arm.

“It ended 30 minutes ago.”

“Ah, what should we do about this? We have one additional person… would entry be difficult right now?”

He pointed behind him. The administrator glanced briefly behind Gong Sijin.

The man standing there like a shadow had the hood of a sweatshirt emblazoned with the Yeollak guild logo pulled low over his head. Only the tip of his nose and his lips were barely visible beneath the hood.

The administrator pulled out his tablet.

“It is possible. What is the Hunter’s name?”

“It’s Julian. He just registered today, so he probably won’t show up on the network yet.”

Gong Sijin naturally tilted his head to check the information on the tablet. The administrator scratched his head at the data that displayed ‘No Match Found’ even after entering the name.

“If I can’t verify this, entry isn’t allowed…”

“I know. That’s why I accompanied him to the Bureau just a moment ago. It would be great to wait until the data transfers over, but I really want this friend to join the team. As you know, Administrator, an opportunity for a rookie to go on a raid with Hunter Siyoung doesn’t come often.”

The administrator empathized with that point. It was a well-known story among Bureau employees that Gong Siyoung almost always traveled alone.

The only times he reluctantly entered as a team were usually when the dungeon rank was high. Naturally, it was a bit much for a rookie to enter such a place.

“Even if it’s A-rank, this is a place Hunter Siyoung has cleared once before. I thought it would be fine, so I’m sending him in.”

“Well… understood. Hunter Julian, please come this way.”

Closing the tablet, the administrator beckoned Julian forward. He didn’t seem to doubt for a second that the Guild Master of Yeollak might be lying.

Gong Sijin winked at Julian.

“Have a safe trip.”

Fearing that fumbling around might arouse suspicion, Julian quickly headed toward the gate entrance.

“April 7th, 14:07, proceeding with entry into the A-rank dungeon. Hunter Julian of the Yeollak guild, please enter.”

He moved inside the gate as the man instructed. A gust of wind blew, flipping his hood back. A thick, bizarre sensation swept over his entire body.

When he closed and opened his eyes, a foreign landscape filled his vision. He felt a flow of mana so abundant it was incomparable to just a moment ago. He took a deep breath, swallowing an exclamation of awe.

“It’s cold.”

Other than the mana overflowing just like last time, there was not a single thing in common. Nothing was the same as the dungeon where he had defeated his fellow countryman, the Hellhound.

Is this the right place? Surely Gong Sijin didn’t bring him to the wrong location?

The sky that had been raining ash was now filled with pure white snowflakes. Julian reached his hand toward the air. The snowflake that fell on his palm melted without a trace.

He shivered at the cold wind brushing past his cheeks. He curled his fingers.

Even if he wanted to ask, there was no suitable person around. There was nothing but ice before his eyes. After surveying his surroundings for a while, Julian reached his own conclusion.

“I guess all dungeons are like that.”

The environment must change every time one enters.

Julian, having reached a conclusion that would have made Gong Sijin faint had he heard it, trudged forward. Thanks to Gong Sijin lying through his teeth, there had been no problem with entry. Julian recalled what Gong Sijin had said before they entered the dungeon.

“The structure of a dungeon is divided into three stages. The Exploration Zone, the Deep Zone, and the Core Zone.”

In the Exploration Zone, which could be called the entrance, only lower-level monsters occasionally exist.

If one moves deeper past the Exploration Zone, it becomes the Deep Zone, where the difficulty increases significantly.

The structure of the Deep Zone and the types of monsters varied by dungeon. Movement was possible without slaying the monsters, but if one considered a path of retreat, it was necessary to clear them before passing.

Past the Deep Zone and further into the depths, the Core Zone appeared. That was exactly where the Boss Monster resided.

Only by killing the Boss Monster would the dungeon be cleared and the gate leading outside be activated.

Only after hearing the explanation could he understand the things Gong Siyoung had said.

He had wondered why he was looking for a Boss Monster so desperately, but it seemed there was a reason for all of it.

The pack of Hellhounds Julian had slain must have been the Boss Monsters. That was why the gate back had been reactivated.

“Then he should have just said so.”

They said they were brothers, but while one explained things so clearly that they were easy to understand, he didn’t know why the other was like that. Though, that was cute in its own way.

Come to think of it, did he say Gong Siyoung was somewhere in here too? Julian peeked his head up and scanned the area. After a moment of thought, he soon activated his magic.

As he kicked off the ground, his body floated up as light as a feather. Because of the fluttering snow, everything was gray in all directions.

In a world of white and gray, he looked around, searching for a jet-black head of hair.

Even as he spun around in place, he couldn’t see anything that could be called a path.

“I wonder whereabouts my sword is.”

Finding both Gong Siyoung and his cherished sword in here was an urgent matter. Just then, catching sight of a swarm of spiders approaching from the front, he scratched his chin.

“Is that a Coldweb?”

Judging by a rough glance, there looked to be more than ten of them. Before landing on the ground, Julian created a fireball above his hand.

The moment the Coldweb swarm came within range, he flicked the fireball. The flame, which landed precisely in the center, flared up and swallowed the spiders in an instant.

The Coldwebs, which shot icy webs, were not particularly difficult entities to deal with. It might get a bit tiring if they swarmed and trapped one in ice, but if handled before then, it was no problem.

He kicked the ones that strayed from the pack, pushing them into the fireball. Screeech! The scream of the monster and the crackling sound of the rising flames rang out simultaneously.

Once the last remaining Coldweb was sentenced to death by fire, the blazing flames dwindled down to a small size.

Avoiding the charred spider corpses, he crouched down next to the flame. Settling down according to his stream of consciousness, Julian basked in the warmth of the bonfire, using the spiders as kindling. Perhaps he had been cold, as his frozen fingertips began to thaw and tingle.

Before entering the dungeon, Gong Sijin hadn’t said anything in particular about having to do something inside. He said something about how the Boss Monster would be handled by Gong Siyoung, so there was no need to worry.

The expression he wore while telling him to use his skills to his heart’s content, find his sword, and have a good time since he was going in anyway, was infinitely kind.

At the same time, he held out a small, square machine. Julian had accepted the machine without much thought after being told he just had to attach the palm-sized device to his chest area and look around inside the dungeon.

Even now, that square machine was installed on his chest. Since the blinking red dot was interesting, he tapped and stroked the corner.

“What should I do.”

With mana overflowing, his brain, which hadn’t been working well lately, was spinning rapidly. First, he had to find the sword, but what after that? Even if he didn’t want to be conscious of it, one thing weighed on his mind.

Since he came through somewhere here, then perhaps there might also be a way back somewhere here?

It was nothing more than a guess, but it didn’t seem like a wrong thought. As long as there was a path, returning home from here would be no problem at all.

Heave-ho. Standing up from his spot, Julian brushed off his pants.

“First, I’ll look for the sword…”

If he were asked if he wanted to go back out there even if a path existed… the words didn’t come easily.

It wasn’t as if this place was purely happy and comfortable. Even if he endured eating the bread of someone else’s kindness, there were too many things he didn’t know.

It would be a lie to say it wasn’t grueling to live in a state where he knew nothing from start to finish.

Setting that aside, it was a paradise where his back was warm, and it was comfortable and even safe, but anyway.

He brooded over his thoughts while looking back at the footprints stamped onto the white world. He would have to start with finding the path, but if a path existed, should he return to his hometown? Before that, do I really want to go to my original world?

“I don’t know. Even if I go there, it’s not like…”

The moment he was muttering to himself, the ground shook violently. Reflexively lowering his posture, he deployed a shield spell.

Rumble—!!

A thundering sound was heard along with a massive explosion. He waited a moment, then looked around for the source of the noise.

Not far away, mana was swirling and tangling together. If this was the Exploration Zone, would that area be the Core Zone?

His vision blurred as the snow fell increasingly thick. If they were fighting over a Boss Monster, then Gong Siyoung would likely be somewhere over there.

Having grasped that much, he moved his body without hesitation. Riding the wind, Julian headed toward the place where the commotion was occurring.

Curiosity was greater than a sense of crisis.

He was curious about exactly how Gong Siyoung, who was said to be an S-rank Hunter, would fight. Would fighting inside a dungeon feel different somehow?

He was also curious whether he would fight with a sword, fight with a knife, or use magic. There were no monsters here that were particularly dangerous.

“I’ll take a peek from behind and then go look for my sword.”

With a fluttering heart, Julian quickly cut through the air.