The Otherworldly Magic Swordsman Who Disciplines the Hunter World Chapter 14

When they first entered the dungeon, the attribute of this place was fire. Gong Siyoung frowned as he recalled the sky where ash used to fly.

A dry space with no trace of moisture, let alone ice, could not suddenly become a land of ice.

“Either the gate information is wrong. The system window is glitchy. Or the dungeon itself has gone haywire.”

Nothing matched the information mentioned during the briefing. The dungeon that was said to be A-rank was confirmed to be B-rank upon entry. The attribute had changed, and the overflow information was different as well.

“But there is no way the Bureau made a mistake.”

Does that ever happen? Gong Siyoung shook his head at Woo Yujin’s question. Such a thing had never happened before.

The reason this dungeon became an issue was that the dungeon’s own cooldown was short. No such problems were reported even when Hunters belonging to the Bureau entered for the post-clear report immediately after the initial clear.

No matter how much he racked his brain, he could not understand it. Unless the dungeon was determined to screw them over, was this even possible?

“Let’s move for now.”

Strange things were strange, but as long as they had entered the dungeon, their only goal was to kill the Boss Monster.

And Siyoung had one more purpose.

‘It should be around here somewhere…’

Even if the environment changed, the entire terrain did not change. Judging by the location and direction of the gate, he had met Julian roughly around here.

Which meant that he had left the sword somewhere around here…

Of all things, the surroundings were a snowfield, so nothing could be seen. Since he had frozen the sword, it would be buried underneath this.

It wasn’t quite a needle in a haystack, but how could finding a block of ice in a snowfield be easy?

How could he have such bad luck? He stepped firmly on the ground in frustration. He tried digging through the snow with his feet here and there, but it was in vain.

“Why? Is there something there?”

“It’s nothing.”

Woo Yujin, who had rushed over instantly, hovered around. He stepped along Gong Siyoung’s footprints and poked at the ground with his feet.

Just as he was about to turn his head because it was distracting, Woo Yujin looked down at his feet and exclaimed, “Oh?!”

“Is there something here? Is it an item?”

After scooping out the accumulated snow, he pulled out a rock-hard frozen lump. Gu Jayoung quickly approached at the commotion.

“A sword stuck in ice?”

Flinch. Gong Siyoung’s eyes twitched. As if he had never been leading the way, he turned around just like that and approached Woo Yujin.

Inside Woo Yujin’s arms, a lump frozen solid and snapped in two could be seen. If his memory was correct, it was definitely the sword Julian had.

The two, feeling interested, began to chatter away with the sword between them. Opinions were divided over whether it was an item or not, and whether they could take it or not.

At that moment, Gong Siyoung slid his hand between the two.

The moment his hand touched it, the ice cracked with a grinding sound. Startled, Woo Yujin took a step back to avoid the fragments.

“Whoa, damn, you scared me!”

Sharp ice fragments were scattered in all directions. If he had been just a little later, he would have been pierced right then and there.

Looking at the ice shards driven into the ground, Woo Yujin clutched his chest.

“You should have said something…! I was seriously startled! No, and when did she get over there…”

Gu Jayoung could be seen backed away behind Gong Siyoung, having retreated God knows when. Woo Yujin trembled with a sense of betrayal.

“Hunter Jayoung, you are seriously so sneaky. You’re running away alone?”

“It’s not like I can run away for you. You run away on your own.”

“That… I guess that’s true.”

Tsk, he smacked his lips and pouted. Whether Woo Yujin was sulking or not, Gong Siyoung retrieved the sword.

The two looked at Gong Siyoung in silence. A momentary hush fell over them.

“… It’s something I dropped when I entered last time.”

“But Hunter Siyoung, you don’t use swords.”

Gong Siyoung’s main weapon was a spear made of ice, and he primarily used freezing skills rather than that. Considering his position was practically closer to a long-range dealer, he was by no means associated with swords.

Gong Siyoung knew that, and Woo Yujin and Gu Jayoung knew it too. The sword that appeared out of the blue was strange, but Gong Siyoung claiming ownership of that sword was also quite suspicious.

“It’s mine.”

It belonged to Julian, but there was no need to explain such things in detail. Gong Siyoung quickly tucked the sword under his arm. Woo Yujin and Gu Jayoung locked eyes at his retreating back.

“… Something is suspicious, isn’t it?”

“Seconded.”

Just because an item appeared, Gong Siyoung was not the type to jump in and lose his dignity, and if one were to judge objectively whether it was an item worth coveting, it wasn’t that either.

It didn’t even seem to have a particularly good compatibility with him, so what was the reason he was stubbornly taking it?

Woo Yujin brushed off the snow accumulating on his shoulders. Following behind with Gu Jayoung, he whispered softly.

“Could it be some incredible item we don’t know about? Like an S-rank rare item…”

“I don’t know. For something like that, it looks pretty shabby.”

Gu Jayoung shrugged her shoulders. At a glance, it was a sword at a level just slightly better than trash; it didn’t look particularly special.

At her indifferent reaction, Woo Yujin shook his head.

“They say the better the item, the lamer it looks. Hunter Jayoung, don’t you have a skill? You know, the one for identifying item ranks. The one you showed me last time.”

“I do, but…”

If she used a skill, Gong Siyoung would know too. Since it was a B-rank skill, Gong Siyoung would perceive it in some way.

It wasn’t as if she was advertising that she was being very suspicious right now, so was there a need to spy to that extent?

Even if that sword was an S-rank rare item as Woo Yujin claimed, it was the same.

Rather than getting into a fight with Gong Siyoung over it, it seemed better to just cleanly yield.

“I’m not trying to fight, I just want to see what it is. Look at that. Hunter Siyoung is acting strange right now. I’m telling you, he’s definitely hiding something.”

Since Woo Yujin was a close-range dealer, he knew how to use almost any weapon, including his main weapon, the chainsaw. In his eyes, Gong Siyoung’s attitude while holding the sword was nothing but clumsy.

“No matter if it’s snapped in two, who carries a sword upside down like that? I’ll bet a finger that he’s touching a sword for the first time.”

At the words that tempted her without a break, Gu Jayoung also felt a slight bit of interest. Stopping at a distance from Gong Siyoung, she flicked her hand.

[ Using skill ‘Observer’s Scales’. Appraising the rank and attribute of the item. ]

— Item Name: (Unknown User)’s Cherished Sword

— Rank: F ~ SS

— Characteristics: Currently in a very bad mood (F)

As soon as she used the skill, Gong Siyoung looked back. Woo Yujin, who was more startled than Gu Jayoung, flinched and his shoulders trembled.

“Oh, no, the weather is really nice, isn’t it?! Hahaha!”

At that moment, the blizzard grew stronger. Woo Yujin, who spat out the snowflakes that entered his mouth, waved his hand frantically.

“I just did it because I wanted to take a look, there’s no special meaning. Truly!”

“… Stop doing useless things and let’s go quickly.”

Gong Siyoung snapped his head away. Watching the sword peeking out from under his arm, Woo Yujin nudged Gu Jayoung’s side.

“What did it say? What’s the rank? How did it come out?”

Gu Jayoung let out a sigh. Her gaze remained fixed on Gong Siyoung’s back for quite a while.

“It says it’s currently in a bad mood.”

“Huh? What does that mean?”

She shrugged her shoulders.

“It’s my first time seeing it too. An item that shows up as being from F to SS.”

Whatever it was, it didn’t look ordinary. She was going to explain, but suddenly feeling bothered, she kept her mouth shut.

“I told you to come quickly!”

Gong Siyoung shouted sharply from the front. Woo Yujin, who missed his timing to ask a question, ran over with short steps.

“We’re coming! We’re coming right now!”

Eyes full of annoyance were directed at the two. No matter how much they whispered, he could hear everything they were talking about in the back.

‘Does anyone think I’m keeping this sword because I like it.’

Even if this was an SS-rank item, he had no intention of coveting someone else’s property.

Besides, rather than barbarically swinging around a worn-out sword like this, it was better to just go and die.

He wanted to quickly finish off the monsters and go back. Once he returned the sword to Julian, he didn’t have to feel guilty from then on.

At the thought of acting like he didn’t know him, his motivation flared up even more for some reason.

[ Approaching the Core Zone. The monsters in the area are awakening. ]

The status window appeared right in front of the snowy mountain. The ground vibrated and the floor cracked. With a rumbling sound, a massive shadow appeared from the ground.

[ 「Boss Monster (A)」 appears. This area is set as the monster’s domain. ]

A crouching giant raised its body. Blocks of ice fell off with a clatter.

In a world where the sun did not exist, a bright blue mask shone vividly even amidst the snow.

A massive body reaching 10 meters moved slowly as if waking up from sleep.

Toward the three people who had taken a combat stance, the giant opened its mouth.

〈I am the Sentinel of Niflheim. This is the domain of the chosen one.〉