The man wasn’t alone. He had three armored knights with him and the three anxiously glanced at him.
Sung Joon calmly assessed the situation.
‘If this is from my previous life, it’ll definitely be of help to me,’ Sung Joon thought, his eyes glittering.
One of the armored knights stepped forward.
“Sir Roukel, the vampire Duke, Arkells, massacred the punitive force of 1,500 knights and 20,000 soldier that we had sent to the Great Plains. Please wait until the infantry brigade is ready!” the armored knight said.
Sung Joon learned the man’s name, no, his past life’s name, from the knight.
“Arkells destroyed my domain. I can’t just let that go unpunished. There’s no use stopping me, so don’t follow me,” Roukel said.
Roukel turned around and walked away from the three armored knights.
Then, the background changed. It was a dark night. In a giant, old castle, Roukel crossed swords with a pale, handsome man.
“Sword Saint Roukel? I didn’t invite you, but I welcome you to my castle nonetheless. Did you come for revenge, for your domain perhaps?”
“So you know. Arkells, I won’t give you a swift death.”
“How exciting! I’m looking forward to… ugh!” Arkells couldn’t finish speaking. Roukel immediately closed the gap between them and sliced off his left arm.
‘He-He’s fast!’ Sung Joon thought.
He was so fast that Sung Joon couldn’t keep track of him. However, he had a general idea of what happened. Roukel’s swordsmanship would forever be engraved in his memory.
Although it was difficult to perceive, it was enough to engrave the technique into his memory. Though it was only seemed like single flash-like strike.
‘The problem is whether I can use this technique or not,’ he thought, and furrowed his eyebrows.
He came to the conclusion that this technique was too much for body.
‘For now, focus.’
He cleared his mind of all distractions and focused entirely on Roukel. Although Roukel’s swordsmanship wasn’t particularly showy, it was fatal. With it, Roukel was able to overwhelm Arkells.
The victor was decided in a few seconds. Arkells’ body was split into pieces and he died.
“Even a vampire Duke shouldn’t be able to resurrect in this condition,” Roukel said, smiling.
Sung Joon followed suit and laughed.
‘I’ll remember this.’
A portion of Sung Joon’s memories remained intact.
* * *
A new bulletin board message appeared on Hunter.com the morning that Sung Joon was scheduled for his dungeon solo run.
That bulletin board was flooded with likes, such that in only 10 minutes, it became the best bulletin board message.
Sung Joon couldn’t even imagine that happening and took a shower. He travelled to the Hunter Mart and bought all the bare necessities he would need for his solo run. When he arrived at the entrance to the dungeon, dozens of Hunters were gathered there.
“The Legend’s arrived.”
“You wanna make a bet? Whether the Legend gives up or dies…”
“Even if what happened yesterday is true, I don’t think there’s any way that the Legend could clear a D-rank dungeon by himself.”
Sung Joon could hear their whispers.
‘Did I not warn them enough yesterday?’ Sung Joon shook his head.
‘Will they still be able to call me the Legend when I come out of the dungeon?’ Sung Joon smiled icily. His goal had changed. Rather than just solo clearing the D-rank dungeon…
‘My dungeon clear time will be in the top ten.’
He intended to completely surprise everyone. He calmly controlled his facial expression and went towards the entrance of the dungeon. A Dungeon Bureau worker was on standby there.
“Are you the C-rank Healer, Mr. Kang Sung Joon?” the worker asked.
“Yes, I’m Kang Sung Joon.”
“Please let me check your license.”
Sung Joon took out his Hunter’s License. When the worker was finished, he gave Sung Joon his license back.
“You can back out now.”
“No. I’m good,” Sung Joon said resolutely, and felt his pride flare up.
The Dungeon Bureau worker nodded curtly.
“I’ll open the entrance for you. Good luck.”
“Thank you.”
Sung Joon furtively smiled and walked in front of the closed door.
‘It’s time to put an end to my hateful past. From now on, I’ll live for myself without worrying about others,’ Sung Joon thought.
Eventually, the doors opened. Sung Joon resolved himself and entered the dungeon. Most dungeons tended to be extremely dark inside but Sung Joon didn’t let it get to him.
He withdrew the ‘Light Drone’ from his bag and threw it into the air. The Drone activated and brightened up the entire room.
‘It was a good buy.’ Sung Joon smiled.
He liked the Drone’s performance. The handheld Magic Lamp gave off a limited amount of light and simultaneously limited combat. Therefore, an autonomous Light Drone was superior, especially to a solo player. Thus, solo players used the specialized gadget, the Light Drone.
However, it cost $800. On the other hand, a solo player’s income was quite high, so they didn’t need to worry about the cost too much.
Sung Joon thought of the purchase as an investment. The dungeons were dangerous, so if he was too frugal with his money, he would die.
He had awakened and retained a portion of his memories. This gave him a few new abilities. One of the abilities was Presence Detection.
‘There’s a small group ahead . . . there are five of them.’ His sharp eyes scanned ahead.
He saw something move in the darkness and his body shot forward like a bullet, and he closed the distance.
‘It’s a Goblin!’
He nimbly aimed for their weak spots.
The five Goblins died helplessly. Goblins first appeared in the F-rank dungeons and were the weakest monster. But to a newly awakened Hunter, they were objects of terror.
‘So far so good.’
He hadn’t manifested his aura and he hadn’t approached his limit, since he didn’t feel any pain.
Sung Joon proudly strode ahead.
After he took care of around twenty Goblins, an Orc appeared.
‘There are three of them.’
The Orc was a frightening D-rank monster that killed countless Hunters. In general, a single D-rank Combat Hunter could take on two Orcs.
The Orcs moved first. Sung Joon firmly gripped his sword. His memories urgently came back to him.
Roukel stood. He fought tens of thousands of troops alone. With a single blow, the defense line crumbled, and hundreds of soldiers died.
Sung Joon didn’t know why he saw this particular memory but the memories made him forget his momentary fear.
“Taking an Orc’s head is easier than breathing,” he said, and swung his sword at the closest Orc.
It might’ve looked like a simple horizontal slash. It also wasn’t flashy but it was a lethal attack aimed at a vital point.
He cut deeply into a vital point. Then he aimed for a different Orc. The two remaining Orcs grouped up.
‘Mere monsters!’
He repressed it but his past life’s personality began to emerge. However, the memories that would help him turn the battle in his favor remained intact.
‘They’re completely protecting their vital points.’
They had witnessed their fellow Orc die in vain. They had taken a tough, defensive posture, and attacked.
‘I’ll just cut off their arms and legs!’
His swift sword cut off the front Orc’s arm, halting its attack. The other Orc that had aimed for his left side and he cut off its left foot.
The one footed Orc collapsed. Sung Joon seized the opportunity and cut off its head.
Blood spurted out like a fountain. The one-armed Orc quickly picked up its dropped weapon but Sung Joon was too fast.
His sword pierced the Orc’s heart.
A spectator might’ve mistaken Sung Joon as a skilled Combat Hunter. He’d felled three Orcs without any wasteful movements.
“Ugh!” he groaned.
He walked a few steps and was struck by a weak pain across his body.
‘In my current condition, moving like that is too much for my body.’
Sung Joon grasped his limitations by using his past life’s battle experience as a foundation. The pain wasn’t severe. Once he used Heal, the pain quickly subsided.
After that, he took care of a few more groups of Orcs and arrived at the Boss Room. He also didn’t forget to pack the magic stones.
He activated the machine and the iron gate opened, letting him see inside.
He heard a shout filled with killing intent draw closer.
‘I-it’s fast!’
Sung Joon saw and dodged an object flying towards him. A javelin brushed past his shoulder and he bled.
It was a deep wound. Sung Joon lightly bit his lip and reproached himself. He had been careless.
‘Is it a javelin?’ he wondered.
He knew how to throw a javelin because a part of his memories had remained intact. Sung Joon plucked the spear from the ground.
He focused his eyes. He could faintly see the figure of the Orc in the darkness.
‘It’s an Orc Berserker.’
He remembered seeing it in a picture book. Sung Joon threw the spear with all his might.
‘Why is it so fast?’ he asked, astonished.
The javelin cut through the air like a missile. Sung Joon couldn’t hide his shock. He hadn’t controlled his strength. The spear pierced through the Orc Berserker’s chest and was lodged deeply into the stone wall.
The measuring tool in his pocket verified his clear. He walked towards the Orc Berserker’s corpse.
-Verifying the existence of a new item.
As he approached the Orc, the measuring tool reacted. He took out the measuring tool and scanned the corpse. Nothing. However, he got a reaction from the spear.
Sung Joon used the device’s appraisal feature.
D-rank.
Verifying Acceleration effect.
Verifying Piercing effect.
The stats were pretty good.
‘I never did appraise Roel, now did I?’ he thought.
He could never find the right time, so he hadn’t appraised Roel in the past. He had forgotten but he decided to appraise it now. He activated the Appraisal feature on Roel.
‘What is this?’
Upon seeing the stats, Sung Joon became speechless.