Ch.3614. A-Rank Dungeon Conquest (1)

I calmly brushed off the gazes of those hunters and sent Arin behind me first.

“Hooh. Playing the protective boyfriend, are we? Trying to look cool?”

“Cut the bullshit and get lost.”

After responding, I looked around at the hunters and recognized all their faces. Manseong, and interns from major corporations like Sigurd. Their hostility toward me had grown even stronger than before.

‘Must have gotten chewed out by their superiors.’

While Flame has a free-spirited atmosphere, most hunter guilds are strictly hierarchical. Having been utterly defeated by Flame three times…

Just as the major corporate guilds had pulled strings in this dungeon selection, those interns who tarnished their guilds’ honor couldn’t have received any praise from their superiors.

“Dating… and boyfriend, huh? Senior, it seems others think we look good together.”

And amid the threatening aura and killing intent of those aggressive hunters, Arin whispered in an extremely happy voice.

Of course, I was staring at the very sharp spear that had been simultaneously summoned behind those hunters.

‘Did Arin summon that?’

While nuns of the White Cross Society typically focus on support roles like healing or buffs…

Nuns or priests with high divine power like Arin were different. That divine power could manifest miracles beyond what mana could achieve.

“By the way, Senior, what are these pieces of trash saying about you?”

The spear Arin had summoned was aimed precisely at the backs of those hunters’ heads. As if ready to kill them instantly if they so much as touched me.

“Huh? Where are you looking? The one who should get lost is you…”

And I knew very well how pathetic these hunters were, not even noticing the threat of that divine spell.

‘This won’t do.’

I had no intention of tolerating their provocation, but the convenience store clerk looked terrified.

“Arin, let’s go outside.”

I ignored them and walked out with Arin. Outside was even more ridiculous.

Even among the interns on this assignment, factions had already formed. Corporate hunters on one side, and independent guild hunters like Flame on the other.

More corporate interns blocked my way. And the opposing faction naturally stood behind me.

‘What’s this now?’

Uncle Donghyuk was among the hunters standing on my side.

“Minsu, well…”

Uncle Donghyuk quietly explained the situation.

“It’s a common occurrence. This A-rank dungeon raid isn’t a solo operation but a cooperative one. Seems they want to establish dominance beforehand.”

I laughed inwardly. While there were young hunters like me, there were also quite a few older hunters like Uncle Donghyuk.

‘Hunters will be hunters, I guess.’

Just as their public image suggested, hunters were no different from thugs.

“But as you can see, Flame—our interns—have been consistently beating those corporate guilds. So…”

To summarize Uncle Donghyuk’s explanation:

Because we had overwhelmingly defeated interns from various major corporations, the smaller guild interns had come to see Flame as their representative.

And conversely, those corporate guild interns viewed Flame with intense resentment.

‘These guys have nothing better to do.’

It seemed ridiculous that grown adults were playing at being bullies, but clearly their hostility was directed at Flame.

‘Then I can’t just let it slide.’

Pyotr’s contract.

That contract included a condition to expand Flame’s influence and incorporate subsidiary guilds. And regarding the distribution rights for those subsidiary guilds, Pyotr and Solaris had agreed to provide separate incentives.

So this wasn’t just petty bullying to me. One of Manseong’s interns, unaware of my calculations, shouted at me.

“Seems like you’ve been acting all high and mighty just because you cleared a few B-rank dungeons. Heh. Getting lucky with a few successful raids and not knowing your place.”

“Is that why you lost to us three times? Seems like you’re the one who doesn’t know his place.”

“You bastard…”

“Instead of just talking big, try winning for once like a proper corporate guild. Right?”

My response made their eyes grow even more hostile. But honestly, I was bored.

Compared to the chilling gaze of someone truly insane like the Doubt Demon, their looks were like those of gentle puppies.

I kept countering the provocations of the guy who kept picking a fight. Finally, he got worked up and drew his mana sword.

“An operator like you! Someone who just hides at the back of raid parties!”

“That’s you, not me. Stop the nonsense.”

This ridiculous show was getting tiresome. When he drew his mana sword, I reflexively created Blue Flame.

Then I said to him:

“If you’re so upset, stop talking and come at me. A formal duel between hunters.”

***

Instantly, the atmosphere around us turned cold.

“Is, is that blue flame?”

“B-Blue Flame? Isn’t that the flame that only 5th-tier or higher fire mages can create?”

“Wasn’t he an operator? That intern? How can he use fire spells?”

My Blue Flame wasn’t just a lighter substitute like before. I had released the first seal of the Ruby.

So even if I couldn’t return to my third-year graduation level…

At least in terms of usable mana, I had the qualifications to contract with an S-rank Ancient Gear.

And the method of accelerating mana—the basic principle of forming mana circuits to cast spells—I remembered it all, both mentally and physically.

Thus, the Blue Flame I instinctively created was already larger than a big ball. That alone far exceeded the level of an ordinary Eins graduate.

“What’s wrong? You drew your sword.”

Manseong’s intern was hesitating. Of course, I knew why. While fire mages are common, those who can create Blue Flame are not.

Full of tension, he finally backed down first.

“Whatever. Beating an operator like you wouldn’t mean much to Manseong anyway. Not worth my time.”

“Sounds like you’re just scared of me.”

“What! I was going easy on you. You little…”

His face twisted at my continued provocation. But having backed down first, there wasn’t much more he could do.

‘Wait. I could use this.’

I casually withdrew my Blue Flame. Conveniently, we had a large crowd gathered here. And in front of me was a fool excited by his petty corporate intern pride.

I casually tossed out a suggestion.

“Fine, whatever. But if we bother you so much, how about a wager?”

“A wager?”

“Let’s bet on the evaluation results of this mission.”

His eyes changed at that.

Being from Manseong, he probably already knew the behind-the-scenes details of this mission. The dungeon zones had already been allocated to favor the corporate guilds.

He soon gave a sly smile.

“Alright. Let’s do it. Since it’s not just some boring B-rank but an A-rank dungeon. So what does the winner get?”

“The ranking rewards for this intern program. The winner takes it all.”

“Heh. Fine. Just don’t make excuses later.”

He wore a confident expression. He seemed certain of victory.

“Alright, everyone! Don’t gather here like this! Please return to your assigned locations!”

Finally, an Association employee came out to disperse the crowd. I noticed him exchanging a few more words with the corporate guild interns.

“Dirty bastards. Nobodies with nothing but big mouths. Anyway, Minsu, that was just like you. Satisfying to watch.”

Uncle Donghyuk patted my shoulder. He grinned.

“But your personality has mellowed a lot? With your Eins temperament, you would have already beaten that hunter to a pulp.”

“That’s… childish, isn’t it? We’re not academy students anymore.”

“Hunters are childish by nature.”

“But Senior, seeing you like your Eins days made my heart race!”

“Don’t say weird things. People will think I’m crazy.”

I pushed away Arin who was trying to link arms with me, and returned to where the rest of Flame’s people were.

“Sorry I’m late!”

I quickly distributed the drinks I bought to Father Stefano, Soso, and Team Leader Seo Duho. Team Leader Seo whispered to me.

“I hear you had another confrontation?”

True to his information team background, he had already figured out why I was late despite being here.

“Well… it just happened.”

“My goodness. I’d be scared of someone just holding a kitchen knife, but you confronted someone with a mana sword. What courage. Our intern is truly remarkable.”

His expression suggested he was praising me, not being sarcastic.

“And you even placed a bet. Did you deliberately wait for this situation, Minsu?”

“Of course not…”

While I did take advantage of the unexpected trouble, Team Leader Seo spoke with interest about the reward I had wagered.

“Besides, the reward for this assignment is Ancient Gear, right? Since it’s an A-rank dungeon raid, the Association will take a substantial portion of the spoils. You bet quite generously. It would be amazing if our interns got to take it all.”

Team Leader Seo was right. That was exactly why I had placed the bet.

“That’s only possible if we come in first. This dungeon won’t be easy.”

“True. You’re right. They assigned us the dirtiest zone. Well, let’s start the briefing now.”

Team Leader Seo Duho explained the precautions for this mission. After completing all preparations for entering the dungeon,

The interns began their A-rank dungeon raid.

***

“So this is an A-rank dungeon…”

Uncle Donghyuk’s voice was filled with tension. As an experienced new intern who had been through several dungeon missions during his internship,

This seemed to be his first time participating in a high-level dungeon like an A-rank.

‘That’s probably normal.’

While I had secretly participated in A-rank dungeon raids during my time at Eins, an A-rank dungeon is something even the experienced Uncle Donghyuk should be nervous about.

“Still, there’s no need to be too tense. This A-rank is a domain-type dungeon.”

“That’s true, but…”

A-rank evaluation criteria are diverse. The AA-rank dungeon Uiryeong Manteo that Flame had raided was a solo-type dungeon with high-level monsters concentrated in a very narrow space.

While the number of monsters was small, each one was extremely powerful, making it difficult to raid.

In contrast, a domain-type dungeon had multiple parallel gates in one terrain. With multiple dungeons bundled into one, it contained far more monsters than a solo-type.

‘But the monsters that appear are less dangerous than in solo-types.’

However, if dungeon collapse occurred and all those monsters escaped through the gates, the civilian damage would be much greater, justifying the A-rank evaluation.

“I can’t believe they’d send us to the most dangerous zone, even though our performance has been good. We’re not even a major corporation.”

Uncle Donghyuk was right. Even among dungeons in the same domain-type, parallel dungeons varied in difficulty.

The dungeon our group had entered was comparable to a BB-rank solo dungeon—not easy at all. The atmosphere was ominous from the entrance.

“And there are only three of us, but there are so many monsters…”

True to a domain-type dungeon, numerous monsters moved in groups between abandoned buildings. And they were undead monsters, the type hunters hate facing the most.

“Well, we have Arin, so you don’t need to worry too much.”

“Y-yeah. With a White Cross Society nun, even those disgusting undead…”

Arin blushed, taking my words as praise.

“Then let’s move quickly to the domain boss! I’m counting on your operating skills, Minsu!”

Uncle Donghyuk checked all his equipment and was about to charge in when I stopped him.

“Wait a moment.”

“Hm? What is it? Want me to help carry some operating equipment? Stuff for concealment?”

“No, that’s not it…”

Looking at Uncle Donghyuk’s puzzled expression, I said:

“For this raid, I’ll be moving with you.”