Before I could delve any deeper into those mana channels, I felt a strong poke at my side, pulling me out of my trance.
"Merlin! Stop staring at her, damn it!" I heard Hyun say, clearly embarrassed by the scene I was causing.
As soon as I heard his voice, I pulled back from my mana perception, reducing it to a passive level—just enough not to interfere with my vision.
"Hello, everyone. My name is Merlin Hermes, and I'm sorry… it's just that I've never seen an S-rank hunter in person before, haha."
I put on an embarrassed tone as, for the first time, everyone's faces fully entered my field of vision. I didn't want to make my first impression even worse.
As soon as I spoke, the group stopped looking at me strangely, and a hint of understanding passed through their eyes.
I guess they assumed I was some kind of fan. Not that I cared.
"Don't worry, I understand you! My name is Kim Jinsu, I'm the tank of the party. Nice to meet you!"
When he finished speaking, I glanced at him and… damn. It looked like this guy had steroids with his morning coffee.
He wore heavy armor and carried a massive shield on his back. None of that looked light. He had black eyes, was completely bald, and in contrast, his thick beard almost hid his mouth entirely.
Right after him, a short and cute-looking girl introduced herself. Her name was Min Jinah. I thought about asking her age, but decided against it.
"I-I hope we can get along. I-I'm the party's healer, so if you need help, j-just ask and I'll do my b-best."
At that, I gave her a gentle smile. She immediately grew even more embarrassed and hid behind the tank.
After her, the group's swordsman introduced himself. He looked pretty average: black hair, dark brown eyes, and a slightly irritated expression—probably because we were taking too long with these introductions.
"Nam Jun-ho. Swordsman."
After saying that, he already started walking toward the portal.
"Don't mind him too much, he's always like that. My name is Park Suho, I'm the archer and also the leader of this group."
He wore light leather armor and had a friendly smile as he approached to shake my hand.
"You've got a pretty unique name there. Foreigner?"
"You could say that, but my mother was Korean."
"Huh, I see. The one you were staring at is Miss Cha Hae-in. She's our guild's vice-master. The original supervisor had to leave for a last-minute mission, so she'll be supervising the raid."
As he spoke, he pointed with his thumb toward the mentioned person. She simply gave a slight nod while covering her nose with a handkerchief.
If you asked me my first impression of her, I'd say she was very beautiful… but seemed a bit stuck-up.
Not that I knew her well enough to form a real opinion. Sometimes people just have a strange personality.
Returning my focus to the party leader, I simply nodded after his last words.
"Alright then, Merlin. I believe Mr. Hyun already told you how things will work, but as the party leader, let me reinforce a few important points, okay?"
Seeing me nod, he continued:
"First, don't engage in combat unless your life is at risk—even though that's unlikely with Miss Cha here."
"We'll do our best to keep you safe, so don't get in our way. I know I might sound harsh, but we worked really hard for this opportunity. I don't want it wasted, alright?"
"Don't worry, I know my place as a porter. Just kill those monsters and I'll take care of the rest," I said in a light tone.
To be honest, I was much more interested in analyzing their abilities and the S-rank's mana channels than killing a few monsters.
I could do that later anyway, once I had real magical abilities.
"Alright then. We've taken long enough. Any minute now that guy's gonna drag us through the portal."
He pointed at the swordsman, who was already tapping his foot impatiently.
"This is where I leave you. Good hunting, all of you. I'll come pick you up later for that drink, Merlin."
Hyun waved at me, turned around, and walked away.
I returned the wave—and with that, it was time to enter my first dungeon.
I took a few steps forward and joined the group, forming the basic formation: me behind them, and Miss Cha several steps behind me. She was really silent.
When we reached the portal, I couldn't hide the excited smile forming on my face.
Even if I wasn't entering as a combatant, this was going to be quite the first experience.
With my heart pounding and nerves on edge, we stepped through the portal.
——
The moment I set foot on the other side, my mana perception exploded. I could only gasp for a moment, stunned by the absurd amount of mana in the dungeon's atmosphere.
It was more than ten times stronger than the ambient mana on Earth.
I could practically see the mana condensed in the walls.
Before I could lose myself in the environment, I heard a voice behind me.
"Are you alright?"
I turned around and saw the S-rank looking at me with doubt. And I understood why: I had barely stepped into the dungeon and was already reacting like this.
"It's nothing, Miss Cha. I just have a higher sensitivity to mana than most, and there's a lot of it here… but I'm fine now. Thank you for your concern."
I gave her a grateful smile.
A trace of compassion flashed across her expression, but disappeared so fast I would have thought I imagined it—if not for my enhanced mental acuity.
"Mm. If you're fine, let's proceed."
At her command, the group began moving through the dungeon.
Soon, our first enemies appeared.
"Goblins up ahead! Get ready!"
And after the first arrow, the goblins' screams of pain echoed through the cavern.
——
To be honest, it was way too easy. They were a very good team, and the coordination—at least from my point of view—was impeccable.
Over an hour had passed since we entered, and they had wiped out every monster we encountered.
So these are elite members from a famous guild, huh.
At least I managed to analyze their abilities and mana channels thoroughly. Three of them were B-rank, and the leader was A-rank.
I felt like I had enough data to start working on my own mana channels—especially after observing the S-rank's channels.
Every now and then, I glanced over my shoulder at her. Cha followed us silently, still covering her nose with the handkerchief.
When she noticed my gaze, she tilted her head slightly. I just smiled and turned back around.
With another month of effort, I think I'll have mana channels equivalent to an A-rank adventurer. And with the inspiration I got from analyzing an S-rank's channels… maybe I can achieve something even better.
After days spent analyzing mana channels and abilities nonstop, I finally had a solid foundation to begin building my own system.
That also applied to skills. I just needed to finalize the proper branches to put everything into practice.
After another hour of slaughtering other types of monsters, we finally reached the boss room.
My bag was overflowing with materials at that point. Of course I didn't pick up everything—a cleanup team would handle that later—but I took the main items we found along the way.
"Everyone, let's take a five-minute break, then we'll finish off this boss!"
"Hahaha! That's what I like to hear, Captain!" the tank shouted.
"Could you be quieter, big guy? I'm trying to focus," the swordsman grumbled.
"Huh?? Am I bothering you, you wimp?"
"G-guys, p-please… don't argue. Remember there's an S-rank hunter watching us."
At Jinah's plea, the two calmed down almost immediately.
The leader's neck veins bulged, but he took a deep breath and decided to pretend his teammates weren't behaving like two children in front of one of the country's strongest hunters.
——
When we entered the boss room, the gate behind us slammed shut.
Looking ahead, I saw dozens of hobgoblins surrounding a throne made of bones. And sitting on it was a hobgoblin that looked more like an orc, in my opinion.
Before the monsters could prepare, the leader shot an arrow at the boss's chest—but it dodged at the last second, and the arrow hit its shoulder instead.
"UWAAAAAAAAK!"
The creature roared in rage and pain, and as soon as it finished, all the hobgoblins charged at once.
"NOW! ATTACK!"
At the command, everyone moved. I retreated to a far corner of the room to avoid getting caught in the fight.
I watched as the swordsman efficiently cut down every monster hitting the tank, who had taken aggro earlier.
But soon the swordsman became surrounded and began fighting desperately to break free.
When a strike landed on his free arm, the leader fired several arrows the moment he saw his teammate in danger—and it worked.
The arrows bought them enough time to regroup into their original formation.
Soon after, the healer cast an area healing spell that restored their vitality. Their wounds closed fast enough to be visible to the naked eye.
Just as things seemed to stabilize, the hobgoblin champion made his move.
He leapt at the group with a massive club, which crashed against the tank's shield with a thunderous sound.
Dust burst in all directions, forcing me to shield my eyes with my arm.
The impact was so strong that the last two hobgoblins were thrown across the room—one landing near the S-rank, and the other only a few meters from me.
Probably dead, since they no longer moved. The pool of blood around their bodies helped confirm that.
After a few more exchanges of blows, I noticed things weren't going well for the group. Despite their initial advantage, they were struggling against the boss.
And in a fight like this, a single mistake is enough to ruin everything. And that's exactly what happened.
Failing to dodge, the swordsman paid the price: a club the size of my torso smashed directly into his ribs.
The impact sent him flying across the floor until he stopped, unconscious.
"YOU BASTARD!! AAAHHHH!"
Seeing that, the tank charged recklessly to shield-bash the boss. But he was far too hasty.
With a simple dodge, the monster struck his leg with a downward blow, right below the knee.
CRUNCH—
"AAAARRGGGHH"
Hearing that sound made every hair on my body stand on end.
Without magical healing, he'd be bedridden for months after a hit like that.
"You idiot…"
The leader, teeth clenched, didn't know what to do as the boss focused on the most annoying target so far: the healer.
It wasn't hard to guess who the creature would go for.
Jinah shut her eyes, and the archer sprinted to protect her—
And then a sonic boom echoed.
In an instant, the hobgoblin's head rolled across the ground. Standing beside the headless body
was the S-rank—sword in hand, expression cold—looking over the group scattered on the floor.
"You were doing well, but this ending was disappointing. You'll need more training once we return."
The archer heard that, his lips trembling, but he only nodded in resignation.
"And you—go heal your fallen teammates before their condition gets worse."
"Y-yes! I'm going!"
Then the archer looked toward me, his eyes widening as he shouted:
"WATCH OUT!!!"
My body reacted instantly. The mana cycling I always kept active intensified. Time seemed to slow slightly—just enough for me to glance back and see one of the smaller hobgoblins, which I had assumed dead, lunging at me with its fist aimed at my face.
I acted purely on instinct.
With mana surging beneath my skin, I narrowly dodged the punch and counterattacked.
I focused mana into my legs, sending a concentrated pulse through my abdomen, back, and into my fist, which glowed faintly.
Then I punched the monster's face with all my strength.
BOOM—
———
Hello, dear readers!
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I know I still have a lot to improve, but I really enjoyed writing this one.
What did you think??
See you in the next chapter, where we'll see some reactions to our dear Merlin's little feat—and the consequences that come with it.
See you soon.
Bye-bye.
⸻