Evolution Theory of the Hunter

The ruin entrance was quite large.

There was space left over even with five people walking side by side with space between them. We took Jung Nam-bok’s team and moved forward.

The use of these guys is finding the road and luggage carriers.

I could carry the items and ores on my own so I left all the equipment for every day life to those guys.

They were things like dried food or blankets and flashlights that were prepared just in case.

Even if they were thinking about something else, there was a limited number of things they could do.

They already saw Soo-ah’s monstrous ability so they wouldn’t be able to gather the courage to rebel.

No, if they did so then I would be thankful instead.

I can take their items and chase them away without being mentally burdened after all.

Them dying after leaving has nothing to do with me at that point.

“Now then. Move according to the assigned path. Come back within 30 minutes. Move out!”

“Yes sir!”

At Soo-ah’s words, Jang Moon-bok’s team scattered quickly scattered into the ruins.

The inside was quite dark and wide. We sent them on recon in groups of 2 so they will contact me as soon as they find something.

If they unluckily activated a trap or something then I was thinking about using the Wound Cure potions since I had them.

But since they had experience as level 3 hunters they probably wouldn’t die that easily.

“It looks like people weren’t here for a long time.”

Han Joon-suk who was inspecting the interior said.

The shape of monsters were carved on the ceiling and walls.

The Black Tiger and Giant White Tiger we met were there and the giant monkeys and boar like monsters were there as well.

“But wouldn’t those guys take the thing they find and run away?”

Cho Young-gu said. The helmet he was wearing was lighting up the entire interior.

The peculiar part was that although the intensity of the light was strong it did not blind the eyes.

“They will come out once I pat them down.” (Kyle: ‘pat them down’ here can also mean ‘kick the crotch’. As it is the Soo-ah we all know and love both can work although terrifying.)

Soo-ah said as if saying don’t worry. Pat them down you say, what era is this from.

Our team sat down and took a rest. After 30 minutes or so had passed the guys that went to recon returned one or two at a time.

“We did not find anything.”

“Clear. No enemies.”

“It’s quiet.”

There was no particular gain. No monster or the common traps existed.

The long tunnels were connected and sometimes the recon groups met each other.

However, one group had still not returned. It was the team with Jang Moon-bok.

I was thinking that it was about time to go find them so I started getting up when.

Ahhhh!

Jang Moon-bok’s scream could be heard.

As I turned to the tunnel and saw Jang Moon-bok and the other guy running here in a craze. Did they fish out something?

“Hah. Huh!”

Jang Moon-bok who arrived at the entrance collapsed on the ground as if rolling.

After steadying his breathing he started talking with a desperate voice.

“Inside! There’s a living stone statue!”

“Stone statue?”

It wasn’t a new story. I had seen them in the Red Hole and stone statues were protecting this ruin as well after all.

Since the other paths didn’t lead to anything that meant that this was the right one.

I asked just in case.

“Did you activate something?”

“I just tried lightly touching it since there were two stone statues blocking the wide path. But those things started moving. I tried hitting it with my sword but I couldn’t win at all so I ran away. Thankfully, it was slow.”

“Looks like it’s just a gatekeeper.”

And the fact that such a thing exists means that this guy found the right path.

“All members carry the luggage and move out.”

“Us, us as well?”

At Jang Moon-bok’s words Soo-ah opened her mouth.

“Of course. Who else would carry our luggage?”

“Of course we should!”

He shot up and carried the luggage on the ground. He had been trained well.

Once we arrived at the path Jang Moon-bok told us about, two 3 meter tall stone statues were blocking the path.

They looked like the four heavenly guardians that stood at the gate. The figure of them holding spears was pretty intimidating.

I tried looking at them through the manual.

Guardian (?) : ???

I thought that there was an error at first. However, it was the same even after rebooting the manual.

It was the first time there was an existence that the manual couldn’t distinguish.

In the first place, the manual was a something that had the ability to extract information from a person or item that it saw for the first time.

But to say that it’s an existence of unknown level and ability.

I made our members retreat and took out the Dancing Sword.

Jang Moon-bok’s members were level 3 hunters. It meant that these were at least above that.

I coated Aura Blade on the Dancing Blade and sent it flying.

The stone statues felt the threat and started moving. It looked like slow movements but it was exactly enough to deflect it with the spear…….

Boom!

“What?”

The giant stone statue that was trying to deflect it blew up with incredible force as soon as it got hit by the sword.

The Dancing Sword that destroyed the first statue continued on and penetrated the second statue as well.

Boom!

“Hah. This was more of a let down than I expected.”

Soo-ah turned her head to look at Jang Moon-bok.

His head fell to the ground. They were eyes asking why he made them cautious about something that dies so easily.

“It was that strong. There’s no need to blame them.”

I grabbed the Dancing Sword that came back and put it into the manual.

As I went closer to the stone statue, I could see an ore like thing. It was smaller than a normal ore.

Strengthening Stone (5) : Strengthens an item.

It was a Strengthening Stone that dropped in the Red Hole. It was only a moment that I wondered why this dropped here and found a second ore rolling around beside it.

Dummicyte (5) : Is a rare earth metal type ore. Able to obtain various rare elements by refining. Can be used as a material for combination.

This was a level 5 ore dummicyte. We destroyed two stone statues and both dropped ore type items.

100% drop rate. I wonder if we have good luck or if these stone statues are the special ones.

For now, I collected the ores while leaving my doubt.

After progressing a bit more we saw more stone statues blocking our way. This time, there were three giant wolf like stone statues.

Guardian (?) : ???

The outer appearance was different but the name was the same as expected.

The things slowly started moving. They got destroyed while they were still stone statues.

The dropped objects were level 4 Strengthening Stones and ores.

“What’s this? Does this place drop ores no matter what?”

Cho Young-gu said as he inspected the broken stone statue. Afterwards, we destroyed more stone statues that were on the path.

The Strengthening Stones that we got like that numbered five while the ores numbered ten.

“This is pretty profitable?”

The ores that we obtained until now were usually level 1 monazite and bastnacite.

They were good for upgrading the manual but they were too low leveled to be used for combination.

However, the high level ores were pouring out of the ruin.

After destroying stone statues like that and advancing quite a bit, a gigantic door appeared.

Getting closer, there was a hole that seemed to be a place to put a hand into.

There was a lion’s head carved there and it seemed like something that would be operated by putting a hand into it.

I called Edward.

“Hey, put a hand in here.”

“I don’t want to. Isn’t that a wrist amputator no matter how you look at it. This.”

“Don’t you have regeneration abilities?”

“I do have it.”

“Then there’s nothing bad about it. It will regrow after getting severed anyway.”

“To say that there’s nothing bad about getting my wrist severed. Are you really saying that? What do you think another person’s wrist is?”

“I will give you a bonus for the risk.”

“Do I just have to put it in here?”

Edward carefully inspected the lion figure and put his hand in. After groaning a bit his expression lit up.

“I can feel something.”

Once Edward pulled on something the door slowly started opening. There was no unfortunate incident of a wrist getting severed or something.

“What is that. That expression that seems to think something’s a shame.”

“No, it’s nothing.”

To think that it was really just a lever.

After waiting for the door to open, we slowly entered. The inside was dark but thanks to Cho Young-gu’s helmet there was no problem inspecting.

“Wow…….”

An exclamation escaped from Soo-ah’s mouth. The gentle light radiated in the room where hundreds of stone statues were.

If a archeologist or artist saw this then it wouldn’t be enough for them to merely talk of its history or beauty for an entire day.

However, to me it all just looked like money.

The statues all started moving at the same time. If it wasn’t us but a low level party then they would have felt like they had entered the door to hell.

However, to me who was using the Dancing Sword coated with Aura Blade this moment was the most enjoyable in my life.

The Dancing Sword destroyed the stone statues as if blowing up balloons, looking like it was slicing the light inside the ruin.

Wow. It was me doing it but this really was beyond my imagination.

The Dancing Sword just went around the place once and yet dozens of stone statues crumbled down. Soo-ah also held Thor’s Hammer and charged in. The ranged attackers also held their weapons to support.

I could hear the voice of Jang Moon-bok’s members from behind.

“What do we do……?”

“Just stay still and shut up. Do you really think you should do something while watching that?”

“True…… Big sis is amazing.”

In terms of firepower the Dancing Sword was overwhelming. But in terms of flashiness, nobody could compare to Soo-ah who was moving as fast as a bolt of lightning and creating lightning.

In the large stone room, the lightning and sound of thunder could be heard endlessly.

“Wow! There’s a Strengthening Stone here!”

Soo-ah held up an ore and shouted.

I had no idea why a person that worked as a porter had so little cautiousness.

The Strengthening Stone was relatively okay but the other ores radiated radioactivity at the level of eunuch creators.

“There’s one here too!”

“Here as well!”

“Here too!”

Every time a stone statue got destroyed a Strengthening Stone or ore dropped. I shouted at my team members.

“Radioactivity comes out so all of you back away!”

There was no way there would be a hunter that didn’t know this but stupid humans were bound to exist anywhere.

Even with modern medical science it was impossible to treat the bodies of people affected by radioactivity.

It was not without reason that the percentage of people with cancer was ten times higher for hunters compared to any other occupation.

That’s why one had to take care of themselves.

After destroying the several hundred stone statues, the ground was littered with broken debris and ores.

I looked through the area for ores and put them into the manual.

After sweeping them all in Soo-ah approached.

“How many were there?”

“Hm. Strengthening Stone, about 100. The rest are all ores. The types are different but there’s more than enough even after using them for what we need.”

For now, we had an entire ten level 7 Strengthening Stones. What was a shame was that there were only seven level 7 ores. We could still create two items that were level 7 with those according to the combination formula though.

Below that was well, we have enough to create as many as we wanted.

It was enough to replace all the items my party members had.