I was Mistaken for a Noble Hunter Chapter 116

Demon (8)

 

Gremlins were monsters that specialized in assassination.

They would lurk in the darkness, agitating and tormenting their prey, gradually wearing them down before finally moving in to hunt when the time was just right.

However, that kind of hunting didn’t work on Kang Ian.

The moment they made even the slightest noise, a bolt of lightning would come flying at them instead… so instead, the gremlins found themselves scrambling to hide.

So, they changed their strategy.

“Kyahahak!”

“They’re finally coming.”

The corridor of the labyrinth wasn’t very wide, yet the gremlins filled it, charging forward in tight ranks.

The sight of them rushing in, packed wall to wall, was enough to make anyone flinch.

An ordinary hunter would have been intimidated by the gremlins filling the path ahead and would have taken at least a step back.

But Kang Ian’s eyes gleamed, and he stepped forward instead.

‘I thought I’d have to wander around for a while longer to find them. Good thing that’s not the case.’

If they came in a swarm, it was actually welcome.

Gremlins were intelligent monsters, so after seeing Kang Ian use magic, they must have decided to swarm him and switch to close combat… but it was a completely wrong judgment.

This was actually Kang Ian’s main stage.

Whooom

With the <Floating Shield> skill, he controlled his shield and sent it forward.

The shield tilted sideways, and blades sprang out. In that state, it spun rapidly as it flew forward.

“Kiik!?”

The gremlins were startled and tried to dodge, but they were already surrounded by their own kind.

Kwagagagak!

They had thought the narrow space would be their advantage, but this time it worked against them.

With no room to properly evade, they were swallowed whole by the shield grinder!

The shield cut down a considerable number of gremlins as it pushed forward relentlessly.

However, after advancing a certain distance, its rotational force ran out, and it came to a stop.

Several gremlins pulled out daggers and, working together, managed to block the shield.

‘Tch.’

Kang Ian clicked his tongue at the sight.

‘It’d be even better if I strengthened Floating Shield.’

Gremlins were C–B grade monsters, so their skin and bones were tough.

As he kept cutting through them, the power imbued in the shield began to fade.

At first, they had taken heavy losses, but later on, they started pulling out weapons to block it.

The shield being high-grade, and the blade having a low-level Sharpness enchantment, was the only reason it had performed this well. Otherwise, it would have been stopped much earlier.

If the power of the Floating Shield skill had been just a little stronger, he could have spun it harder and sliced through them, whether they blocked or not.

The thought left him feeling a bit regretful.

Kang Ian smacked his lips.

‘They said loans are possible. Should I take out an additional loan and buy the advanced enhancement for Floating Shield while I’m at it?’

Having taken on debt once, it didn’t feel so bad anymore. The first time was hard… what was difficult about a second?

If he borrowed 10,000 Nobility Points from Tezeros and upgraded the Floating Shield to an advanced level…

“Ah, no!”

Kang Ian lightly struck his own neck, snapping himself back to his senses.

They say bad habits picked up late are the scariest. He shouldn’t be thinking so lightly about taking on debt.

Whooom

Since the shield didn’t seem like it would yield much more, he called it back.

Having been burned once, the gremlins hesitated and watched cautiously instead of rushing in.

Thanks to that, Kang Ian was able to prepare perfectly.

He floated the shield in front of him, holding a longsword in his right hand and a staff in his left.

For a while, a silent standoff unfolded between Kang Ian and the gremlins.

Neither side made a move.

“Not coming? Then I’ll make it so you have no choice.”

Muttering that, Kang Ian swung his staff.

Pajik!

Pajijik!

The no-chant <Quick Lightning> shot forward.

The casting speed was so fast that it looked like bolts were firing continuously.

Since there were so many gremlins filling the corridor, it would hit no matter where he aimed.

“Ki-eeek!”

“Kkiik!”

Kang Ian didn’t have many skills that consumed large amounts of mana.

Buffs and sword aura required some mana, but against mere gremlins, those weren’t necessary.

So he could pour all his overflowing mana into magic.

If he didn’t hit their heads, he couldn’t kill them in one blow, but due to the nature of lightning magic, just hitting them inflicted shock and burns, leaving them half-disabled.

Only then did they realize that standing still would only make them prey to magic.

The gremlins charged in, eyes rolling.

Bang! Bang!

They pounded against the shield and tried to squeeze through the slight gaps at the sides.

They attempted to break through and reach Kang Ian, but a shield was one of the primary weapons of a Knight of Valhalla.

Even if it was being controlled from a distance, in such a narrow corridor, there was no way these dwarfish creatures could break through it.

The shield even spun in place, preventing them from approaching easily.

Crunch!

Through that gap, Kang Ian’s longsword shot out like a beam of light, piercing the gremlins in front.

His swordsmanship had evolved to an advanced level using borrowed funds.

Thanks to that, he could wield far more powerful techniques.

While the shield spun like a fan with its blades extended, he thrust his sword through the gaps, killing gremlins and retrieving it again, displaying a remarkable feat.

And the process wasn’t difficult at all.

Thud! Thud!

Every time Kang Ian moved his hand, a gremlin fell.

It looked like mechanical butchery.

After a while, even the gremlins… despite their numbers, lost their nerve and retreated.

Pajijik!

Whenever distance opened up, Kang Ian’s <Quick Lightning> flew at them again.

“Ki-eek!”

“Kiik…”

They couldn’t advance, yet they couldn’t retreat either… a complete dilemma.

This was exactly why the Knights of Valhalla were called overpowered the moment they could use magic.

They could deal with both close and long-range.

In the end, it didn’t even take 30 minutes for all the gremlins to be wiped out.

Ding!

 

[You have slain evil]

[Soul of Evil +95]

[Soul of Evil +97]

…

 

Messages that had been appearing earlier were now piled up in one corner of his vision.

 

***

 

Kang Ian soon reached the end of the labyrinth… the 3rd underground floor.

The number of gremlins he had slain along the way was considerable.

[Souls of Evil Held: 32,465]

Over 30,000 Souls of Evil had been newly accumulated.

‘Looks like I killed around 300 gremlins in here.’

A pretty decent labyrinth.

If nothing else, being able to monopolize this many monsters alone was a great advantage.

Having cleared this much, the gremlins likely wouldn’t be able to leave the labyrinth for a while… so the request from Gungchon-ri was practically complete.

However, Kang Ian didn’t turn back.

He intended to see the very bottom of the labyrinth.

One slightly disappointing thing was that upon reaching the 3rd basement floor, the frequency of gremlins dropped sharply.

Instead, after passing through a corridor and arriving at a wide space…

“Gwoooaaaar!”

A massive beast’s head rose from the darkness.

Far larger than the gremlins, its overwhelming body filled the center of a vast cavern.

“So that’s the boss of the labyrinth… the Jet-Black Rhino.”

Kang Ian tilted his head back to look up at it.

It was a bipedal rhinoceros-like monster, with black skin and standing over 4 meters tall.

According to past government investigations, it was a mid-to-high-tier B-rank creature.

Even for a B-rank hunter, it wasn’t an easy opponent.

But Kang Ian wasn’t afraid.

He had seen far larger and more terrifying creatures during the Black Gate incident.

Compared to the demon that appeared at the end, this one was almost cute.

Pajijik!

He launched a surprise <Quick Lightning>, but it was blocked by the creature’s arm.

Only slight scorch marks appeared on its thick, muscular limb.

Magic didn’t seem very effective, so Kang Ian put his staff away.

Then he gripped his longsword with both hands.

‘I thought I wouldn’t get to practice Heavy Rock Sword… this works out well.’

He had come to this labyrinth to repay debt, but also to practice new techniques in real combat.

He had already used Quick Lightning plenty, but hadn’t had the right chance to train Heavy Rock Sword.

Now, a good opportunity had come.

The moment Kang Ian took a step forward, the Jet-Black Rhino pulled out an axe from its back.

The handle alone was nearly as long as Kang Ian’s height.

“Kwaaaaaaah!”

With pitch-black eyes glaring, the rhino let out a roar that shook the ground and swung its axe.

KWAANG!

With an explosion-like sound, sword and axe collided.

Given the size difference, it looked like Kang Ian should have been split in half along with his sword.

But surprisingly, he didn’t budge even an inch.

Rather, as he exerted force, veins bulged on the rhino’s arm, which began to tremble.

The crushing weight unique to the Heavy Rock Sword overcame the size difference and instead pushed the creature back.

The Jet-Black Rhino seemed unable to believe it was being overpowered.

Jjeong!

Kang Ian swung his sword wide, knocking the creature away.

Then he leapt and brought his sword down from above.

Once again, the essence of Heavy Rock Sword was fully infused into the strike.

The strength Kang Ian had built up, combined with the crushing force of the technique…

KWAANG!

The rhino’s axe flew out of its grasp.

Indeed, the swordsmanship of Sword King Cheon Hajin was on another level.

Tap!

Kang Ian quickly closed in and slashed the creature’s exposed neck.

After all the combat experience he had accumulated, he wasn’t someone who would miss such a lethal opportunity.

Clutching its neck, the Jet-Black Rhino collapsed.

Ding!

 

[You have slain evil]

[Soul of Evil +226]

 

Without even disturbing his breathing, Kang Ian calmly sheathed his sword and turned to leave.

Having dealt with even the boss of the labyrinth, this place would remain quiet for quite some time.

In the meantime, the villagers of Gungchon-ri could begin relocating the graves.

With everything finished, he turned his steps to leave the labyrinth.

“Hmm?”

But at that moment, a subtle sensation stopped him.

It felt as though something thick with malice was pricking at him.

Kang Ian headed toward a corner wall.

At a glance, it looked like an ordinary labyrinth wall.

Even when he tapped it, it was just solid stone.

“……”

But Kang Ian didn’t ignore his instincts.

After a brief moment of thought, he raised his shield and smashed it down.

KWAANG!

The shield, now a fine blunt weapon, shattered the wall.

Beyond it, there was nothing but black smoke.

Labyrinths within dangerous zones were usually like this.

Step outside the defined area, and there would only be black mist forming the hazardous zone.

“…As expected, there’s something here.”

Kang Ian became certain of his suspicion.

Because once the wall was broken, the malice grew even stronger.

And this wasn’t just imagination.

< Knight! Destroy that accursed trace of a demon at once! >

< Such filthy and vile malice must not be allowed to exist in this world! >

The Knights of Valhalla, in his mind, were shouting at him in sharp voices.

“Yes. Leave it to me.”

Nodding, Kang Ian stepped into the black mist.