Chapter 17

If he were an ordinary person, it would’ve made a hole in his body.

However, Do-jun’s body did not even have a single scratch.

 

It was because he has a legendary passive state called the ‘Adamant Body’ which when triggered, would not cause a single wound and hurt him even with the sharpest blades or in extreme heat or cold temperatures. He even activated his ‘Defense Barrier’ skill on himself before being hit.

He intentionally rolled over his body moreso, causing his clothes to become torn.

After the attack, his body was still in good shape. However, he decided to act as if he had lost consciousness.

“…Manager!”

Cha Yeji screamed and ran towards Do-jun.

She held him up in anguish.

Even though he was hit directly by that massive blow, she didn’t question why he didn’t have a single scratch on his body. For her, the very fact that Do-jun was lying down on the ground was more important in her eyes.

“…M-ma …Manager?”

He wasn’t breathing.

Cha Yeji’s hand trembled as she supported Do-jun.

Her lips were shaking that she couldn’t speak well.

“Ms. Cha Yeji! The enemy is coming!”

Choi Ho-jun looked back and shouted.

Stomp! Stomp!

This monster was different from all the other monsters they had fought earlier.

The party discerned its strength to be at least a Champion Monster.

Perhaps, it was the Boss Monster of this Rift.

‘We haven’t even traveled that far yet; how come we encounter this monster here right now?!’

Boom!

Choi Ho-jun thrust his steel shield on the ground and used <Shield Howling>.

Cha Yeji couldn’t hear the other members’ distressed yells because right now, Do-jun was lying down unconscious before her eyes.

And that was the only thing that concerned her at that moment.

– Come to think of it, we haven’t formally introduced ourselves. My name is Lee Do-jun.

Suddenly, she saw flashbacks of the moment when she first met Do-jun like rolls of films flashing on her.

From their awkward first encounter,

And their first Rift assignment.

– Don’t just space out in there. This is a real battle where your life might flash before your eyes at any time.

Watching him casually dodging the Goblin’s attacks,

She thought for sure he was a strong person.

– Manager… Are you hiding your strength?

In fact, he wasn’t hiding it.

Maybe those actions were just his natural instinct.

Because there’s no reason for him to hide his strength.

– But right now… you’re the only one I have.

Sob.

Tears poured out of Cha Yeji’s eyes.

Initially, the reason why she wanted to become a Hunter was simple.

She wanted to change herself, who was weak.

She wanted to be recognized and loved by someone.

For her, money and honor didn’t matter.

“I thought… I finally have found a place where I belong…”

[A new skill can be acquired as certain conditions are met.]

[Skill – You have acquired ‘Vow’.]

“Ms. Cha Yeji! What are you doing? Get yourself together!”

Choi Ho-jun shouted out loud.

Energy began to condense in the mouths of the Three-headed Troll.

Due to Choi Ho-jun’s skill, <Shield Howling>, the attack was directed at him.

Pang!

Then, with Park Seung-min’s skill, a target mark was placed on each of the Troll’s heads and shot the arrows at the center.

At the same time, the Troll also fired an energy beam from its mouth.

Boom!

Before it even reached the Troll’s heads, the arrows melted.

And the gathered energy hit Choi Ho-jun’s shield.

The shield exploded, causing Choi Ho-jun to bounce back in return.

“…This is?”

[Skill – Vow]

 – Rank: S

 – Classification: Passive

 – Effect: Designate a selected target as a Monarch and pledge allegiance. If the Monarch is within a 500-meter radius, ‘Blessing of the Vow’ will be invoked. However, if the Monarch is killed due to an enemy attack, the user will receive a harsh penalty.

(Blessing of the Vow: All stats will increase by 100%, Damage dealt from enemy attacks will be reduced by 50%, and gain Immunity to all status effects.)

(Penalty: Level and Skill reset)

 – Monarch: None

Cha Yeji reached out to Do-jun as if she had been possessed by something.

[Are you sure you want to designate ‘Lee Do-jun’ as your Monarch? Once selected, you cannot change it.]

Seconds later.

Light shined on Cha Yeji and Do-jun’s wrists and then instantly disappeared.

And a small sword was etched on their wrists.

[The Monarch has been designated.]

[The Monarch is within a 500-meter radius]

[The ‘Blessing of the Vow’ has been activated.]

Suddenly, her body felt light as Mana flowed and energized her whole body.

But that didn’t matter to Cha Yeji at the moment.

“…So he’s still alive.”

If the description of the skill was true,

Then Do-jun isn’t dead yet.

Cha Yeji laid down Do-jun’s body carefully on the ground and stood up.

She picked up the sword she had dropped earlier and held it tightly in her hands.

Then she walked and looked at the Three-headed Troll that attacked Do-jun menacingly.

＊ ＊ ＊

‘What was that just now?’

– Cha Yeji has designated you, Lee Do-jun, as her Monarch.

As soon as the status message appeared, Cha Yeji’s Mana rose drastically.

To be exact, it had doubled.

Do-jun slightly opened his eyes to check on the current situation.

“Kuuuoooh!”

The Three-headed Troll was in a fierce battle with Cha Yeji.

Choi Ho-jun’s shield was terribly broken as fragments of it were lying around. Currently, he’s being healed by Kang Tae-seung.

Only Park Seung-min was supporting Cha Yeji by shooting his arrows.

However, even though there’s only two of them, the battle was in their favor.

The Troll couldn’t keep up with Cha Yeji’s movements as she unleashed several sword attacks, leaving the Troll with both big and small wounds.

Swoosh.

Do-jun stood up quietly so they wouldn’t notice as he didn’t want to interfere with the battle.

Seeing that the suit he was wearing was torn all over the place, he decided to buy a new one at the department store before going back home.

‘If I wear this as it is, it’ll be bothersome.’

Seol Yoon-hee will definitely question his tattered suit.

Wham!

After a while,

Do-jun could hear the troll falling down.

Green blood was dripping from Cha Yeji’s sword.

As she looked back, her eyes widened in shock.

Clang.

She threw her sword on the floor and ran.

Crash!

“…Ms. Yeji?”

Cha Yeji sobbed as she hugged Do-jun tightly.

Do-jun felt that Choi Ho-jun and his party were staring at him from a distance.

Well, that’s understandable.

Of course, they thought that he was definitely dead, now he suddenly comes back alive.

Do-jun was thinking about how to explain himself when Cha Yeji opened her mouth.

“Manager.”

“Yes?”

“Manager.”

“Yes, Ms. Yeji?”

Cha Yeji dug into his arms and rubbed her face against Do-jun’s chest.

Her tears, runny nose, and makeup got smeared on his white shirt.

‘…Well, it doesn’t matter.’

He was going to buy a new one anyway.

Do-jun stroked Cha Yeji’s hair.

Choi Ho-jun and his party, who were watching the scene, walked towards them carefully.

“Uhh, how are you fine?”

Choi Ho-jun looked astounded.

Do-jun decided to just gloss over it and pretend to be ignorant.

“I also don’t know myself.”

“Oh…”

Kang Tae-seung sat down on the spot and sighed in relief.

“Damn, I really thought I was going to die at that time… Sigh, I feel like that shorten my lifespan for about a hundred years.”

“But sir, are you really okay? The impact was so loud earlier. Tae-seung, can you please heal the officer just to be sure?”

Kang Tae-seung then immediately got up and faced Do-jun.

“…Huh?”

Strange.

Why won’t the healing skill work?

Kang Tae-seung tried casting with his staff again.

“That’s strange.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t use the healing skill on you.”

There was only one such case for this to happen.

Full Health. If the receiver doesn’t have any wounds, then the skill won’t work.

“Sir, do you not feel pain anywhere on your body?”

Do-jun nodded at Kang Tae-seung’s question.

At that moment, Cha Yeji removed herself from Do-jun and raised her head to look up at him.

“You’re really okay… right?”

“Yes. I don’t know what happened and how I survived, but it doesn’t matter now.”

“That’s a relief. I’m so glad to hear that.”

Cha Yeji burst into tears once again.

Choi Ho-jun, who was watching the scene, wiped his nose and smiled awkwardly.

“What’s this? It’s like we’re in a family reunion.”

“By the way, Ho-jun. What are we going to do next? Do we still keep hunting?”

Everyone felt physically and mentally exhausted as they had just passed the crisis of death.

Furthermore, Choi Ho-jun’s steel shield broke, so tanking was impossible.

It was unreasonable for them to continue hunting further now.

“I think it’s better to stop here for now. What do you think, sir?”

“Yes, I think that’s a good idea.”

Cha Yeji also seemed to be not in good shape either.

This is also her first time hunting in a B-class Rift.

In addition, she also encountered and defeated the Champion Monster (Three-headed Troll).

“So, how do we divide the loot?”

“Since there are four of you Hunters, just split it evenly by four.”

At Do-jun’s words, Choi Ho-jun’s expression showed concern.

He wasn’t directly involved in fighting the monsters, but he was still with them for hours.

He also greatly helped them by warning them about the location of the monsters.

“It’s illegal for me to get money from here.”

“Oh, I see. By the way, I think that that application on your tablet is really good. Is it only for civil servants?”

Choi Ho-jun believed that the application from his tablet that Do-jun was using was pinpointing the location of the enemies.

There was no way that Do-jun, an “ordinary” person, could locate Trolls when he hasn’t even encountered one before.

“Yes, that’s how it is. Oh, I’d also like to ask you guys for a favor instead of receiving something.”

“What kind of favor…?”

Do-jun pointed near the Troll’s body, where a sword was flashing brightly.

It was the <Additional Reward> given to challengers who defeated the Boss or Champion Monsters.

“I want you to give the ‘additional reward’ that came out from hunting that Troll to Ms. Yeji.”

“That’s…”

Choi Ho-jun’s party looked at each other and laughed.

“Hahaha, take it.”

Contrary to his expectations, Do-jun was flustered that Choi Ho-jun and his party easily passed over the reward to them casually.

Of course, it is in the human mind to be greedy for wealth.

But are they really just gonna give up a B-class or higher weapon?

“We wouldn’t have stood a chance on it anyway if it weren’t for Cha Yeji.”

“Besides, the Troll’s carcass and Mana Stone is already enough, so don’t worry.”

“Oh, how nice of you. Guys, be honest. You just want to be favored by them.”

Do-jun smiled.

“Thank you.”

Do-jun walked towards the Troll’s body and pulled out the sword.

It was a B-class sword, as the condition stated.

This would be a much better weapon than the Skeleton Soldier’s Sword that Cha Yeji is using right now.

“Take it, Ms. Yeji.”

“…Thank you, Manager.”

Cha Yeji wiped her tears and sniffled.

Seeing her at that state reminded him that she was still just a 21-year old girl.

At that moment, Do-jun sensed two strong auras approaching them at high speed.

‘It’s not a monster.’

Hunters.

And they’re high-ranking ones at that.

Tak.

As Do-jun expected,

Two Hunters approached them and stopped.

Both were familiar faces to Do-jun.

“Oh?”

Kang Min-hyuk and Han Min-ji.

The Top 7 and 10 in the Hunter Ranking, respectively.

Choi Ho-jun and his party were surprised to see those two big names in the industry in front of them.

Kang Min-hyuk seemed surprised to see Cha Yeji.

His eyes widened, and his lips curled to a smile as if he had just realized something.

Swoosh.

Then, he turned his head and looked at Do-jun.

“Long time no see, Mr. Lee Do-jun.”