“Do you kids know what level that guy was?”

Yang Len jerked his chin toward the wall.

There, buried under the rubble, lay the mangled body of the man he’d kicked away.

“Level 53. Aptitudes ABB. And yet he couldn’t land a single clean hit on any of you. Worse—he ended up flat on his back.”

Yang Len sneered, then swept his gaze over his subordinates.

The hounds’ faces had all gone stiff.

“You. You. And you. Step forward.”

He pointed to three of them.

The chosen men stepped out, weapons in hand, their earlier cockiness gone. Their expressions were tense now.

Damn.

I wanted to click my tongue.

This wasn’t the situation I wanted.

I hadn’t expected Yang Len to kill his own man.

I quickly activated Lens of Lavzahi.

Level 53, 55, and 57.

All melee types…

From their builds and gear, I judged one tank and two damage dealers.

“Lumina, Meiling.”

At the sound of their names, Lumina flinched and drew her dagger. Meiling lifted her wand.

“Don’t hold back,” Yang Len ordered as he stepped back.

I’d prefer if they did.

Every person here was level 50 or higher. At least half wore rare-grade gear.

This was nothing like HAUT, where most were just around level 30.

The spear-user from earlier had been beaten because Seo Yui caught him off guard—but in a real fight, we were badly outnumbered.

Crack!

The three lunged forward.

No time left to hesitate.

I hurled a level 55 electric grenade from my sling at the shield-bearer.

As expected, he blocked instead of dodging.

Sparks crackled, light bursting across the basement.

In that moment, Meiling began casting. Seo Yui and Lumina engaged the damage dealers.

Seo Yui was no concern—though her opponent was level 57, her gear and stamina aptitude gave her the edge.

The tank, meanwhile, would be pinned down by Meiling’s spells and my items.

The real problem was Lumina.

Clang!

Her dagger clashed against the enemy’s clawed gauntlet, ringing sharply.

Her opponent, a short adult hunter, wielded a three-bladed claw. He was level 55—same as Lumina.

But his aptitudes were A/C/B. Higher than hers.

Lumina had once been D/B/B, only upgraded to B/C/C thanks to the unique ring she’d earned at HAUT, Reversed Potential.

Aptitudes affected everything—attack, defense, evasion.

On the surface, they looked even. But in a drawn-out fight, Lumina was at a disadvantage.

The only saving grace: her gear level was higher.

Stealth is her trump card—the last resort. She knows it, which is why she’s holding it back. With this many enemies, at best it’d only buy time.

Two minutes passed in stalemate.

“Enough.”

Yang Len’s deep voice boomed.

At once, the three hounds froze, terror etched on their faces.

Again?

I kept my grip on the sling and looked at him.

“C-Captain…”

The one fighting Lumina stammered, cold sweat dripping down his brow.

“You idiots. I didn’t say I’d kill you. I said stand down.”

The three scrambled back, relief flooding their faces.

“Hm.”

Yang Len folded his arms and swept his gaze over us.

“It seems the heir misjudged.”

He smirked.

“You’re not just HAUT champions. You’re something new—anomalies that have never existed before. Very useful anomalies.”

Meiling twitched, her face screaming she wanted to shout Who are you calling an anomaly?!

“I’ll make you an offer.”

“…What kind of offer?”

An opening in conversation—that was my chance.

“Swear loyalty to Black Hound now. If you do, then in front of the heir, all you’ll need to do is kneel for four hours with your forehead on the ground. That’ll be the end of it.”

All three of my teammates glanced at me at once.

“Call it an offer, but you know as well as I do you don’t have a choice. Keh-hah!”

“…True. Surrounded like this, we don’t have much of a choice.”

“Exactly. Now it’s time to answer.”

I lowered my sling and stood straight.

My teammates stared at me in alarm.

“I only have one question first.”

“What is it?”

“I’ve heard Black Hound’s work is not something you could openly boast of to the world. Is that true?”

The moment the words left my mouth, every hound except Yang Len scowled.

“Of course. Sure, sometimes we hunt monsters in dungeons. But our real prey… is people.”

Yang Len grinned wickedly.

“But why ask? Are you one of those fools who values other people’s lives more than your own? If so, I’ll have to fix that stupid way of thinking. That kind of crap won’t help you survive.”

Suddenly—

A freezing chill wrapped around me, locking up my body.

It wasn’t just me. My teammates shivered, even the hounds behind Yang Len recoiled.

“Go on.”

Yang Len’s grin widened.

“Show me. Do I need to personally educate you, or will you prove you’ve got the brains to give the right answer?”

“And by ‘right answer,’ you mean pledging to Black Hound, correct?”

My voice came out steady.

Yang Len’s grin vanished.

“One more wordplay stunt, and you die.”

“Ugh…”

A groan slipped out of me.

The chill thickened, rattling my bones.

So this is it.

It was getting impossible to keep dragging this on.

“…Very well. Then here’s my answer to your offer.”

I drew a lungful of air so cold it felt like knives in my chest.

“Go eat shit.”

The air froze—this time for a different reason.

“…What?”

Yang Len looked blank, as if he hadn’t heard me right.

“I said, go eat shit.”

I curled my lips into a smile.

“Do you really think people try to live without harming others because they’re stupid? No. It’s because this world forces us to live together. So we follow rules. You think just because you’re stronger than others you can do whatever you want. But don’t most people realize when they’re younger that that’s just a delusion?”

The more I spoke, the more the veins bulged across Yang Len’s face.

Behind him, the Black Hound thugs all turned pale.

As if they had rehearsed it, they all took several steps back at once.

“…You finished?”

Yang Len’s cold gaze locked on me, sharp as the chill filling the air.

“Not really. I’ve got plenty more to say. But I doubt you’ve got the brains to understand.”

“I take back what I said earlier.”

With that, Yang Len pulled a massive greatsword from his inventory, holding it in one hand.

“You’re pissing me off. Just die.”

Blue mana flared around him.

The moment it did, I triggered a movement skill and darted backward.

Shaaang!

The sound of shattering frost ripped through the air. Dozens of icy blades erupted where I’d been standing.

“!?”

Yang Len’s eyes widened in shock.

Already knew your ability.

[Frozen Sword Prison].

An ice-element skill that conjured swords of frost to attack everyone within range.

I used the moment of his surprise to lob a level-55 Spike Bomb at the ceiling.

“Both of you! Under here!”

Seo Yui called Lumina and Meiling over, raising her shield high.

The Black Hounds caught on too—shields and magic barriers sprang up all around.

KWAANG!

The bomb exploded midair, spraying a storm of thick spikes.

They rained down, only to bounce harmlessly off raised shields.

Yang Len swept his greatsword once, batting away every spike near him.

I immediately threw another item upward—this time, a level-55 Blast Charge crafted by combining Firestone and Lightning Ore.

“!!”

Yang Len’s eyes widened.

He noticed.

I looked up.

The ceiling, already cracked from the spikes, was webbed with fractures.

KWAANG!!

A thunderous crash shook the entire basement as the ceiling began to collapse.

“Senior!”

“Right!”

Seo Yui grabbed Lumina and Meiling by the wrists and sprinted toward the stairs we’d entered from.

I followed—

“!!”

A chill stabbed into my back.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

A voice, then the hiss of air splitting under a blade.

----------------------------------------

Yang Len stared blankly at the greatsword in his hand.

What just happened?

He was sure. He’d swung. The brat’s head should have flown off clean.

But the boy was sitting ten meters away, his neck very much attached.

No blood on the blade. No splatter on the floor.

Some kind of ability? Impossible. I’ve never heard of a skill that saves your life outright.

He shifted his gaze.

The boy was still sitting there, and the three girls had already regrouped at his side.

“…I’ll know if I kill him again.”

Muttering, Yang Len raised his sword.

Above, the building continued to crumble. People on the first floor were staring down through the widening gaps.

They were all Forward men—he hadn’t cared.

Until—

Vrrrm!

His smartwatch buzzed.

He scowled at the number on the screen. One of his own, stationed upstairs.

He took the call, eyes never leaving the kids.

“What is it.”

[Captain. Emergency. Dozens of hunters are approaching the building.]

“What? Who the hell are they?”

[They’re wearing All-Round armbands.]

“All-Round? What the hell would they be doing he—”

He froze, mouth hanging open.

The kids’ faces flickered with relief.

“…Hah.”

A hollow laugh slipped from his lips.

“So this is what gave you the balls to mouth off? That’s it?”

Yang Len glared at the boy.

“What the hell are you?”

The boy didn’t answer. He just pulled a potion from his inventory and drank.

Then, chaos above.

Through the gaping ceiling, dozens of hunters dropped into the basement.

Yang Len saw the armbands with his own eyes. All-Round.

A man stepped forward from behind them.

“Click.”

Yang Len clicked his tongue.

Zeke Richard, guildmaster of All-Round, glared down at him, his expression like stone.

“Yang Len. What exactly do you think you’re doing here?”

“What else? Giving some snot-nosed rookies advice that’ll help them in life.”

“Advice? Surrounded by over a dozen grown hunters? Don’t insult me.”

Veins bulged on Yang Len’s face again.

“You barge into my building and pick a fight? Should I take this as a declaration of war?”

“You already declared war.”

Zeke spread a hand toward us.

“These kids are All-Round members. Anyone who dares attack our people will never be forgiven.”

The moment he said it, the All-Round hunters drew their weapons.

The Black Hounds followed suit.

A hair-trigger tension filled the ruined basement.

(End of Chapter)