82. Thank You for the Meal
"Kuhahaha!"
The owner of the laughter was Ghost.
I knew that he had the ability to locate my whereabouts, to think that it was this accurate.
He was waiting for me, not far from the entrance of the dungeon.
In a split second, a large group of people in black masks and covers formed up behind him.
There seemed to be a lot gathered.
At least 400 were present.
My guess was that he mobilized his lackeys with him.
My guard was down because I had just left the dungeon and was speaking with Jong Ho and Ho Jin.
However, to think that I wasn"t able to sense this many people moving in…
Even if I didn"t use Eye of Insight, I could still pick up the faintest of noise due to being an Awakened.
It appeared that those gathered here had quite the physical capability.
Jong Ho and Ho Jin were tense due to their appearance.
After a moment of hesitation, Ho Jin asked.
"….."
"Is it him? The man that roamed in front of the level 25 dungeon before?"
"Yes, that"s correct."
"Who is this, hyung-nim? Is it perhaps the person named Ghost? Ghast? Or something like that?"
"I have a feeling that it is…"
This situation didn"t look good.
I decided that it was wiser to avoid rather than fighting them.
If I used Ma.s.s Stealth Jutsu that none can detect…
Attack or receiving damage undoes the stealth.
I would be safe due to my Mana Shield, but it wouldn"t take long for Jong Ho and Ho Jin to be discovered.
They would be invisible, but with everyone firing off their skills, they were bound to be hit.
Casting Silent to block off sound, I turned towards the two of them to talk.
"Hyung-nim. Mister. Are you able to use Warp?"
"Yep."
"Yes. I am able to use it as well."
"Then escape first."
"What? What about you? What are you going to do?"
"….."
"I have a lot of time left before my Warp cooldown finishes."
"Then you"re saying that you"re going to die here?"
"I can escape by using stealth. The two of you should leave first."
"It"s true that the combat capabilities we two can provide isn"t of any use in this fight. However…"
"Yeah! If we wanna survive, we gotta survive together."
"Why are you two being like this? Who said I was going to die? I can buy enough time for you two to use Warp, so go escape first."
It was then.
"Kuhaha!"
Ghost was laughing once more.
It could only mean that he was listening to our conversation.
I didn"t stare at him with disbelief for long.
Ghost spoke.
"Isn"t it quite the wonderful friendship? Warp… Stealth isn"t bad either. But I think you"ll have to bring down your voice a notch."
Did he find out by reading our lips?
No. I turned around when I spoke, so it was impossible.
I was sure that he heard our conversation.
Dispelling Silent, I talked to him.
"Didn"t know you had a hobby of eavesdropping on conversations."
"Pfft. What a funny combination."
"What?"
"To think that I"d meet an old friend at a place like this."
"What are you saying?"
"Kim Ho Jin."
What? The name Ho Jin has never come up in our conversations until now.
But he wasn"t just mentioning the name Ho Jin. He was calling him a friend.
The golden helmet made it impossible to see Ghost"s face.
At his words, the flabbergasted Ho Jin asked.
"Who are you!"
Instead of answering, Ghost raised his hand and took off his helmet.
"Huh? Y.. You are!"
Ho Jin was frightened, enough to step back in fear.
It was almost like he saw a dead person coming back to life.
To his reaction, Jong Ho asked urgently.
"Hyung-nim, who is it? Who could it be that you"re that surprised?"
"Park… Park Joon Sik…"
"Huh? Who is that?"
It was definitely a name that I heard of before.
Words flowed out naturally from my mouth.
"Park Joon Sik? The commander who went into the level 25 Unknown Dungeon?"
"Yes… That"s correct."
"Whew. Look at this. We couldn"t tell if you were alive or not, but you were here playing commander?"
Park Joon Sik.
Fifteen years ago, when the level 25 portal exploded, he was the commander of the a.s.sociation hunters that was deployed to defend against the explosion.
Just as Ho Jin said before, he was the one who entered the new portal instead going through the exit after all the monsters were defeated.
Fifteen years later, the man who couldn"t even be confirmed dead or alive was appearing before us with his head held high as one of the leaders of the radical faction.
"It"s funny how fate works. To think that you"d be involved in this situation with the kiddo."
"H… How… How are you here?"
"Ah. I died that day. No. I thought I was dead."
"…."
"The moment I declined the exit and entered that place, I was already a dead man walking."
Ghost started to speak of what happened that day.
The exit opened up after all the monsters died.
A door to another dimension had appeared, but none had any interest towards it.
The fight took many hours and hundreds of their comrades perished.
No one had the strength or desire to press forward.
After he, the commander, had everyone evacuate, it happened.
His body moved towards the other portal without his will.
On top of that, he heard someone"s voice.
No matter how much he struggled and yelled, he couldn"t resist this strange pull.
Almost as if he was a doll on a string, he was dragged in.
Ghost had faced off with monsters that he could never hope to beat with his strength.
But despite his body being ripped parted and shredded, the flame of his life refused to be extinguished.
When he regained consciousness, all his wounds were treated and his mana had recovered fully.
However, the pain equivalent to the injury he sustained was still there.
Every day, the pain built up and stayed until the day he escaped the dungeon.
It was a place where he couldn"t even decide his own death.
His mind was being consumed by the pain he couldn"t even describe.
He didn"t feel hunger or thirst.
He was alive in that place for 5 years, yet there was no difference from being dead.
Ghost finished speaking and gave a pained smirk.
"Guess I babbled on too long. Ho Jin. Has the world changed?"
"Don"t you feel any shame! You were the commander! Now you"re a leader of the radical faction."
"Ahaha! That"s all in the past. I"ll give my strength to him so that can change the world. To do that, we need that kid"s ability."
"…."
Without a single word, I was listening in on the conversation between Ho Jin and Ghost.
Looking at me, Ghost spoke.
"Warp, Ma.s.s Stealth Jutsu. Now, just try escaping here."
"….."
"But before you do, do you have time to look at a funny photo?"
"What are you…."
Ghost tossed a smartphone towards me.
Catching that, I stared at him.
Ghost had a villainous look as he raised his chin, giving a gesture for me to check the phone.
Turning my view from Ghost, I looked towards the home screen on the smartphone.
Looking at that, killing intent surrounded me as I poured out swears.
"You.. piece of s.h.i.t!"
"Kyahaha! I didn"t expect this much of a reaction. Kyahaha!"
The picture that I confirmed was of my house.
The house that my mother would be at.
He had sent someone there.
I wasn"t sure how much of a combat capability the person he sent had.
However, my Proof of Oath was protecting her, so most attacks wouldn"t work in the slightest.
It was as if my defensive ability was copied onto her.
On top of that, she was wearing the ring of revival.
Calming down, I stared at him as I spoke.
"Don"t even lay a finger on her."
"Oho. How scary."
"It"s too late to regret. How dare sc.u.ms such as yourselves dare…."
"Ma.s.s Stealth Jutsu? Not using it?"
"The thing you want is my power, right? You"re telling me to join you?"
"Ding. You got one part wrong."
"…."
"We do need your power. But do you know… we don"t need you on our side to get it?"
"What?"
It was then.
One of the people standing behind him hurriedly came forward.
He then put the phone on Ghost"s ear.
With a smirk, Ghost answered the call.
"Ho Geun. Listen well. This is a command I"m giving you as the leader."
"Yes!"
"One hour. Exactly one hour from now, if I do not call you, commit suicide."
"…. Yes. Understood."
The person holding the phone to his ear backed off, and Ghost continued to speak.
"I dislike fights where people hold back. You heard what I said, right? If you kill everyone and survive… Your mother will be safe."
"You crazy piece of s.h.i.t."
"Kuha! Glad you have the urge to fight now."
I quietly turned my body towards the level 34 dungeon.
Since I had cleared it first, the dungeon wasn"t different from a hunting ground.
No IDs were needed, as I just needed to move my feet to enter.
"You"re not gonna fight here, right?"
As if Ghost and his subordinates understood, they hastily moved towards the dungeon.
My eyes met with Jong Ho and Ho Jin.
Trying not to put on an awkward smile, I spoke.
"Don"t touch them. If I lose, their lives will be taken anyways."
"Of course. Doesn"t matter to me. Let us hurry to the dungeon."
After entering the dungeon, hundreds of his subordinates followed Ghost"s orders to take down the monsters.
These monsters were from the level 34 dungeon.
However, these subordinates executed perfect attack and defensive capabilities.
Quickly understanding that they reflected attacks, all the monsters were taken down in a flash.
"4 minutes and 55 seconds. It"s been exactly 5 minutes since I ended the call. There"s still a lot of time."
"It looked like your subordinates had a lot of potential. I feel sorry for them, suffering so much from having a leader like you."
"Kyaha! Show me! I"ll witness your strength!"
Ghost immediately moved far back.
Then he raised his hand, pointing straight at me.
As soon as the motion was made, the 8 squadrons of the radical faction spread out and gathered in formation.
Jong Ho and Ho Jin are probably guarding the dungeon from the outside.
I told them to return home using Warp, but they"re not the type of people to listen to me.
Since I had no information regarding Ghost, this was a huge risk for me.
However, this might be a favorable situation for me.
If everyone had come at me at once, it would have been a difficult battle.
But If I took care of his underlings first?
All the stats they have…
The stats of hundreds of powerful Awakened would be prey to fill up the belly of the beast, my Butcher"s Sword.
Keeping me at the center, they had completely surrounded me.
In the front were tankers. The backline had magician cla.s.ses.
On top of that, a.s.sa.s.sins and warrior cla.s.ses left the formation, looking for a blind spot.
In a blink of an eye, they came in close.
"ORAAAA!"
All of them were busy stabbing away at me with their weapons.
Such weak pathetic attacks.
Giving a halfhearted laughter, I calmly spoke.
"Haha. Thank you for the meal."
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