I was Mistaken for a Noble Hunter Chapter 79

Fame (16)

 

After hunting for several hours, the number of monsters on the sandy beach had noticeably decreased.

It had originally been a vast area, and the monsters had been swarming everywhere, yet just a handful of hunters had managed to cover a place of this size.

Once they started seeing results, they temporarily withdrew to the Behemoth Guild to take a break.

“Wow… just how many did we kill in a single day?”

“We’ve done purification missions in the Land of the Dead several times before, but I don’t think it’s ever been this fast.”

The Delta team members gathered in the meeting room, and each chimed in.

Just one day.

Not even a full half-day, and they had already achieved meaningful results.

Their efficiency had more than doubled compared to when the original Delta team worked alone.

And that was all thanks to a single person… Kang Ian is joining them.

Someone who displayed performance surpassing even their team leader, Jonathan, while simultaneously applying buffs to strengthen the entire team.

‘Honestly, if he had leadership skills, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he’s better than the team leader.’

‘And it feels like he hunted almost as many monsters as the team leader, too.’

Their gazes subtly shifted toward Kang Ian, who was sitting off to one side of the meeting room.

Since they had divided the hunting zones among themselves, it was possible to roughly estimate each person’s performance just by looking at what was left behind.

Thanks to the Gloves of Saint Burta, the undead around Kang Ian had been weakened, allowing him to compete for first or second place in performance.

It was something that astonished the entire team.

However, Kang Ian himself wasn’t paying attention to their gazes at all.

He was currently looking at the quest reward that had appeared in his inventory.

A quest that had suddenly been completed for unknown reasons, along with its reward.

It was a single ticket.

 

[Gate Forced Entry Ticket]

[Allows forced entry into a gate that is already being cleared.]

[Cannot be transferred to others.]

 

‘Hmm… forced entry…’

He had never heard of such an item before.

Normally, once a team enters a gate, no one else can go in.

When the raid is completed, the gate disappears. If it fails, only after everyone inside dies can the gate be accessed again.

This ticket ignored that rule and allowed entry into the gate.

It was interesting, but would he ever have a reason to use it?

‘And I still haven’t found the source of the evil…’

The wave detector was pointing toward the sea.

He had occasionally stepped into the water while hunting, but even after wading in up to his waist, the detector continued to indicate somewhere farther out.

To find it, he would probably have to take a boat out.

“Kang Ian Hunter, it was truly worth assigning you this request. Today’s battle was fantastic.”

Clap clap clap clap

At that moment, Team Leader Jonathan smiled and applauded.

The other team members followed suit.

Some even cheered.

Even Ezra, who had lost the bet, joined in.

There was no longer any trace of bitterness on his face.

Instead, his teammates had scolded him for acting cocky without even recognizing Kang Ian’s abilities, and he had admitted it.

“We plan to reduce the monsters on the sandy beach for about another week. Honestly, the original plan was a week, but judging from today, it might only take three or four days.”

The undead monsters periodically surged, and they needed to reduce their numbers so they wouldn’t reach the city.

Usually, only the ones on the sandy beach were dealt with.

Of course, the monsters came from the sea.

However, even if the beach was cleared, it would take time for the sea monsters to refill it.

That was why they typically handled just the beach regularly.

Naturally, Kang Ian couldn’t accept that.

“Why don’t you go out to the sea and deal with them there?”

“The sea is too dangerous. There are large and powerful creatures.”

The Land of the Dead was classified as a B-rank danger zone, but the sandy beach alone was closer to C-rank.

The reason for its higher classification was that going into the sea was extremely dangerous.

Within about 5 kilometers of the beach, powerful underwater undead monsters lurked.

“There are even monsters above B-rank. And we have to use boats, which makes combat far more dangerous than on land. That’s why we avoid going out to sea.”

In the early days, there had been large-scale subjugation operations, but not anymore.

That was Jonathan’s explanation.

‘This won’t do…’

Kang Ian couldn’t agree.

If he hadn’t known, it would be one thing… but now that he knew the source of evil was nearby, leaving it alone would weigh on his mind.

“The request I received from the Behemoth Guild was to clear the Land of the Dead as much as possible. But if you only deal with the sandy beach and never go out to sea, can that really be called clearing it?”

“…Kang Ian Hunter?”

Shim Junseok hesitated, unable to translate immediately.

He couldn’t understand why Kang Ian was suddenly acting like this.

Wouldn’t it be easier to just make money comfortably and go back…?

However, when Kang Ian gestured for him to translate, he sighed and continued.

Jonathan’s eyes widened as he heard the message.

“Ha… Then what is it that you want?”

“I want to go out to sea and hunt. At the very least, I want to do enough work to not feel ashamed of the fee I received.”

“!”

Jonathan and Shim Junseok were both shocked.

Shim Junseok looked somewhat resigned.

Having experienced Kang Ian a few times, he had gotten used to him.

‘That attitude of acting responsibly, even if it means taking a loss himself. And he’s showing that not just in Korea, but even to Americans…’

Unlike Shim Junseok, Jonathan looked like he could hardly believe it.

“…You really want to go out to sea for that reason?”

“Yes.”

“My God…”

Jonathan held his head.

The other Delta team members reacted similarly.

All of them looked as if they were thinking, ‘What did I just hear?’

Among hunters who took on requests like this, no one willingly chose to do more work, no matter how good their personality was.

There was no additional bonus promised, and hunting monsters meant risking one’s life.

Even guild hunters didn’t speak like this.

And yet, someone from outside had said exactly that.

‘Korea Hero… I saw some media call him that. Now I understand why.’

‘If he were American, he’d have become famous a long time ago…’

“…I suddenly feel ashamed of myself. Very well. We’ll try hunting toward the sea as well, as long as it’s not too dangerous. I’ll speak to the higher-ups.”

Jonathan said that and looked at his team.

They too seemed to feel something, nodding firmly.

 

***

 

Vrrrrr…

Kang Ian, Shim Junseok, and the Delta team boarded a boat and headed out to sea.

After requesting permission, they were allowed to proceed on the condition that they prioritize safety.

Strike while the iron is hot… they rested briefly and decided to go out only until before sunset.

“It’s a small boat, but it’s made from special materials found inside gates, so it’s sturdy. Even if it gets attacked, you don’t have to worry too much about falling into the sea.”

Since there were marine monsters, there were also boats designed for hunting them.

Jonathan tapped the boat confidently as he spoke.

However, Shim Junseok tilted his head.

“What do you mean by ‘don’t have to worry too much’?”

“It means it can withstand one or two attacks, but anything beyond that and the boat will break.”

“….”

Shim Junseok’s face turned slightly pale.

“K-Kang Ian Hunter… I can’t swim.”

“Don’t worry, sir. What could go wrong?”

“…Usually, when people say that, something definitely goes wrong.”

After lightly patting Shim Junseok’s arm, Kang Ian turned his gaze.

From the moment they moved a bit out to sea, all the Delta team members were staring at the water tensely.

And the moment shadows flickered beneath the surface…

“Fire!”

“Kill them all!”

“Just shoot anywhere… they’ll all hit!”

They began unleashing their skills.

Flaming arrows, condensed mana bullets, blades of wind…

All kinds of attacks rained down.

‘As expected of the Behemoth Guild, they all have decent ranged skills too.’

Back on the sandy beach, most of them had fought using melee weapons.

They probably had multiple skills or acquired new ones through skill stones.

Skill stones were extremely expensive due to their rarity, but for Behemoth Guild members, they could afford them.

Kang Ian didn’t stay idle either.

Whirrrrr

The shield he threw spun as it plunged into the water.

A vortex formed, visible even from the surface.

An underwater blender!

Ding!

 

[You have slain evil.]

[Evil Soul +49]

[Evil Soul +38]

…

 

Seeing the notifications, Kang Ian smiled faintly.

In just one day of hunting, he had gained an enormous amount of Evil Souls.

It was probably one of the largest single-day gains.

‘Picking what items to buy later is going to be fun… hehe.’

Just thinking about it made him grin.

As the boat continued moving between spots, Kang Ian kept throwing his shield while focusing on the wave detector in his pocket.

‘Where is it? It should start reacting any time now.’

The detector clearly showed they were nearby, but not precisely.

Then…

Beep beep beep

‘Here!’

Kang Ian’s eyes lit up.

“Wait! Stop! Please stop the boat!”

“?”

Kang Ian shouted.

Jonathan, who was steering the boat, stopped it in confusion.

“Kang Ian Hunter? What’s wrong?”

“Uh…”

But now that they had stopped, Kang Ian hesitated about what to say.

Should he tell them the source of evil was below?

How could he possibly explain that?

BOOM!

“!”

As Kang Ian hesitated, a massive splash erupted beside the boat, sending up a towering column of water.

“A crab?”

“Oh no… It’s an Undead Giant Crab!”

From within the water column, a massive claw emerged.

Half-rotted, yet so enormous it could easily split the boat in two.

A B-rank large monster… the Undead Giant Crab.

This was exactly why hunters avoided going out to sea.

It was already strong, and fighting it on a boat made things far more difficult.

“Everyone, positions! If we get caught by that thing, we’ll be swimming home!”

“If we kill it, it’s crab party tonight!”

“Can you even eat undead crab if you cook the intact parts?”

Even in this frightening situation, the team members shouted to boost morale.

But Jonathan was staring at Kang Ian in shock.

‘Did he sense it approaching? That’s why he stopped the boat before we got ambushed?’

Being attacked while moving versus fighting while prepared after stopping…

The difference of one or two seconds could decide victory or defeat.

He couldn’t understand how Kang Ian had known.

Kang Ian, meanwhile, let out a quiet sigh of relief.

‘Perfect timing. The heavens are helping me.’

He had been unsure how to explain things, but this worked out better.

He pulled out his mace and approached the creature.

A B-rank monster?

Unlike the others, he wasn’t worried.

Instead, his eyes gleamed.

After all, it was just an undead.

With the Gloves of Saint Burta, to him…

It was nothing more than a large punching bag.