Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 167

Chapter 167

Ji-Han activated his [Minute Repeater] skill, and six cogwheels instantly appeared around the mask. The cogwheels moved toward the mask, surrounding it, their teeth starting to crush the mask little by little like a grinder.

“You're boring, go away.”

[This… This is unbelievable! How can a mere mortal acquire the power of a God…!! ARGH!!]

Crunch. Crunch.

The mask was crushed, and its fragments were absorbed by the cogwheels. Eventually, only the spinning cogwheels remained, and they also disappeared a few moments later.

“So… What’s next.”

Ji-Han turned his gaze to the distance, where nothing could be seen.

* * *

Life was life.

Shin Ju-Ran was attending the auction wearing a mask. She had also heard the rumor that something great was going to appear this time in the auction. Rather than watching it on a monitor in a VIP room far away, she had come to the auction house personally and was now sitting at a table right at the very front.

‘Please let everyone here but me screw up their bidding.’

Thus piously praying, she sat down.

Not long after, the long-awaited Heirloom Seal of the Realm actually appeared. She exchanged the information with the team that she had on standby for this auction.

—Director. I have confirmed other companies are also moving funds for this item.

She could hear her secretary’s voice through her earphones.

“So, are there any higher bids than ours?”

—We cannot confirm that, Director. But [A/B] is also moving his funds.

Ju-Ran frowned.

‘What’s the deal with this [A/B] guy? What does he want from Korea?’

It seemed like he was watching this auction from far away in the land of America. It was even more irritating because he was everywhere trying to spend his abundance of money. These days, he was donating on Ji-Cheok’s GodTube channel, trying to be on his good side. No matter how big the Shinsung Group was in Korea, they could never compete with the Teddy Bear of Wall Street. There was also another annoying thing…

‘That bastard enjoys the thrill. If the average Hunter ended up that successful, they would just sit back and relax and enjoy the perks of being a guild master, but that asshole [A/B] is still going into dangerous dungeons.’

That was why he was a dangerous man. In any case, she hoped that this teddy bear of Wall Street was not all that serious about the Heirloom Seal of the Realm.

“Tsk. Try to get as much money as you—”

Boom!

An explosion that shook the entire hotel.

—Director! It’s a raid! There are two helicop—

Tsss.

As soon as communication with her secretary was cut off, Ju-Ran touched her wrist.

Flash!

A bracelet appeared around her wrist in a flash of light. More light then bloomed from it and covered her whole body, turning into heavy armor in mere seconds. With a solid helmet on, nobody could see who it was underneath the heavy armor. She quickly assessed the situation around her.

Moments later, windows on all sides were smashed and a group of people broke in.

“Help!! Oh my god!!”

People were screaming.

‘You fxxking bastards! Don’t even lay your finger on the Heirloom Seal of the Realm that I bid for!’

She felt so unlucky that this kind of thing happened when she came to the auction house. Fortunately, Ju-Ran was not alone in her attempt to protect the seal. Among the crowd, there were quite a few Hunters like Ju-Ran, who took out their weapons.

Tooot~ Tooot~ Tooot~ Tooot~

[Raid alert! Raid alert! Civilians are requested to evacuate to a safe place as fast as possible. This is not a drill! Civilians are requested to evacuate to a safe…]

A loud alarm went off, and the whole place was overrun with mayhem.

‘What kind of lunatics would attack a Daehun Group Hotel in the middle of Seoul? I mean, the auction items that were revealed today were all amazing, but…’

This seven-star Hotel named Yeshin was a top-notch location built and operated by Daehun Group, a leading conglomerate in Korea. It was often used to host super-high-end auctions, since it was recognized as the best in the country in terms of security. However, the fact that the enemies had just managed to break through all those barriers, shields, and protective spells meant that they were not just a couple of randos either.

Rumble!

There were some who used lightning spells, some who wielded flames, and some who fought by summoning weird tentacles. They were all fighting in different ways. The spacious banquet hall of about four hundred pyeong turned into a weird picture of hell as the Hunters participating in the auction and those that stood guard at the hotel started a fierce battle with the intruders.

“Director! You need to evacuate!”

“Shut up and prepare for battle! Come forth, my army!” Ju-Ran shouted.

Ju-Ran’s job was [Brilliant Commander]. It was a top-tier job that allowed her to lead soldiers like a legendary general and made her excel in group battles.

Following her command, ten soldiers appeared around her from thin air. The group included knights, healers, archers, and wizards—it was her Legendary skill called [Summoning the Army]! With this skill alone, she had the power to fight one hundred enemies.

“Kill the intruders!”

She counted the intruders. There were only eight of them, but each one was terrifying. Weird limbs like spider legs sprouted from their backs, thrusting at the Hunters around them. Their opponents’ shields were instantly pierced through and shattered, their skills were interrupted, and their lives were reaped like they were nothing. Within mere moments, tens of Hunters had lost their lives.

Ju-Ran saw someone approaching the Heirloom Seal of the Realm that was in the middle of the podium.

‘That bastard must be the boss!’

“Their boss is over there! Charge!”

She spearheaded the attack. Knights followed her from both sides, while the wizard cast spells from behind. Mana surged from her body, and she could feel her power increasing. Just as her Aura Blade made her greatsword extend to twice its normal length, the enemy boss’s gaze turned to Ju-Ran.

Woong~

“Argh!”

Ju-Ran and all the summoned entities that followed her stopped in place.

‘What is this?! How can someone produce such strong power with only Telekinesis?!’

Telekinesis was definitely classified as a high-level skill, but even Ju-Ran had never seen the skill used on this order of magnitude. She couldn’t even move one bit! She suddenly thought, ‘Wait, this is not Telekinesis! With this much power, they could just pick me up and throw me away… This probably has something to do with gravity… Huh?’

Just as she was thinking, the enemy turned around and looked in the other direction. There stood a man with a sword in each hand, a man whose face was rather familiar to Ju-Ran.

“The person in charge is not here, so I’m asking you. Is it okay if I live stream this? If that doesn’t work, I’ll just record a video I guess.”

It was a madman who was crazy about getting Likes.

* * *

The entire hotel was shaken up by the explosion. The alarm sounded, and at the same time, the glass windows were smashed and intruders poured in.

“Wh…What?!”

The people screamed, but that did nothing to prevent the terrorists from drawing their weapons and starting to kill everyone around them.

“AHHH!!! Please! Please help us!!”

A woman tripped on the table in front of him and fell while trying to escape. A terrorist ran over and swung his knife at her. Instinctively, Ji-Cheok threw himself between them at lightning speed. It only took him a blink of an eye to approach her and pull out his swords from the [Shadow Pouch].

Clang!

The terrorist’s knife was deflected by his Mono Blade, saving the woman.

‘Terrorist fuckers… Do you think I’ll let you live??’

Black steam rose from the terrorist, and the knife aimed at Ji-Cheok’s throat suddenly picked up speed. Fortunately, Ji-Cheok was no longer an amateur of the sword arts!

Clang! Cling!

Ji-Cheok parried the knife and stepped forward. As the terrorist had attacked Ji-Cheok in a rush, he now showed plenty of openings, and it was a piece of cake for Ji-Cheok to take advantage of them. He thrust his sword right at one of the gaps in the terrorist’s defense.

‘One dow—’

Cling!

Suddenly, something black appeared between the tip of his sword and its target. It was a long limb, like a spider leg, and the black chitin-like armor covering it shimmered like metal under the hall lights.

‘The heck? Did he just squeeze out a spider leg from his back? Is it a transformation skill? Or a summoning skill?’

It was only a single limb, but it was as thick as a human forearm and seemed to have unusual power.

Clang!

However, the terrorist failed to notice that the fennec wrapped around Ji-Cheok’s neck like a scarf was a summoned beast. This kind of momentary miscalculation could mean the difference between life and death, and in this particular instance, the latter prevailed. During the brief lapse in the terrorist’s focus, Cheok-Liang jumped up and bit the guy’s throat while transforming into his gigantic form.

Crack.

The enemy collapsed with the nauseating sound of shattered bones. It was not the time to care about details like that, though. People were dying!

“Hyung, we should hurry up and evacu—huh? What are you doing? Not planning on getting out of here?”

Mu-Cheok approached him from the back.

“Nope. This is all solid streaming content. A true professional should always be ready~”

Ji-Cheok extended his shadow. He took out equipment for Mu-Cheok, and he also took out the Guardian of Hope.

‘It’s a shame that I’m wearing an expensive suit. I’m glad that I brought weapons with me, at least.’

Ji-Cheok also activated his telepathic magic. It took time and effort to transmit memories, so that was not quite feasible under the circumstances, but the main benefit of this skill was actually that he could have conversations with his teammates from a distance. In a chaotic melee like this, it was pure gold.

‘Reable.’

Even though it was chaos everywhere, Reable was quietly sipping wine, with a smirk clearly visible on his face. He seemed to enjoy the whole mess. It was understandable—blood, violence, and madness were all sacraments to a Demon like him.

Perhaps he perceived Ji-Cheok's feelings, so a moment later, he replied languidly.

‘Yes~ Did you say something?’

‘Please help me defend against these intruders.’

‘They are attacking my Master. Can I kill them? I can’t defend properly while suppressing my power.’

‘...’

Instead of answering, Ji-Cheok nodded.

‘Oh~ It looks like you’ve made up your mind. It’s a good look. As your temporary friend, I will do as you command.’

Now Ji-Cheok knew the reason why Ji-Han had sent him here. His boss did not want him to buy useful items, nor to broaden his knowledge. There was only one reason for Ji-Han to send him to this auction house full of things they couldn’t buy: Ji-Cheok was here to stop whatever it was that was happening now.

‘I guess this is one of the good things about being a prophet. That’s why large guilds always try to recruit Hunters with divination abilities.’

The most interesting part, however, was that all those big prophets of large guilds had failed to see this situation coming.

?This means that only Ji-Han knew about this, Master.?

‘Well, I don’t know how confident he was about this information.’

?You are right, Master. If he had been sure, he would have advised you to be heavily armed.?

‘I don’t know the extent of his divination skill. He also made it clear that he was not a prophet. Either way, I think he sent me this invitation with confidence that I’ll be able to fix the situation.

?Is that what your Minor Intuition is telling you, Master??

‘No, It’s the gut feeling of an employee who has experienced many kinds of obnoxious employers. Do you think that only employers have an eye for selecting good employees? Employees like me also learn this kind of thing with experience! Anyway, I can’t just sit here and watch these people mess this place up.’

At that moment, Mu-Cheok cocked his gun.

Ka-chick!

“Go, hyung. I’ll cover you.”

Ji-Cheok could see his brother radiating mana—Mu-Cheok looked like he was burning and producing sparks. A fraction of a second later, bullets rained down on the enemies.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Holy shit! There’s a mechanic-type Hunter with heavy weapons! Run away!”

Usually, Hunters whose weapon was a pistol specialized in killing small and fast enemies rather than large monsters. In other words, they were, without exception, proficient at killing humans.

Under his brother’s cover, Ji-Cheok charged at his enemies.

1. Around 1,300 m2 or 14,000 sqft.