"Guild master! The association called!!"

A tall and brisk man shouted as he jammed into the office of Lee Se-Chul.

Lee Se-Chul, also tall and well-built man with a strong face gently. He collected the phone and leaned back, his long brown hair flowed down his back and glistened in the rays of sunlight that escaped from the glass window behind him.

"Hello."

"If it isn't president Nam Jin-Hwan. To what do I owe this unexpected call? Wait don't tell me you miss me or someth–

"One of the reasons why I don't like you is that you talk too much despite being an S rank."

The president cut his statement short with his brief and harsh explanation causing Lee Se-Chul to frown.

"You see, there's a disguise gate not too far from your guild headquarters, a local marketplace somewhere I don't know–

"You want to ask for my help and look at your big mouth insult me."

"I don't care. I can call other guild masters, I am just doing you a favor. It will only be minutes before the media gets wind of this disguise gate, I know you have always wanted your face out there as the guild master of the Gojo guild. This might be your time to shine, a disguise gate doesn't happen often."

As much as he wanted to cut the association president's tongue, he gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, then replied after exhaling.

"I will be there."

"Good. One of the reasons why I like you is that you can be reasoned with."

smash

CLATTER

Lee Se-chul smashed the phone on the table with his incredible strength, breaking the entire table, and nothing was left of it– just shattered glasses spread across his front.

"Guild master!!"

The brisk young man gasped and exclaimed– he could never get used to his guild master's anger tantrum.

'How many tables have I changed now? Sixty-seven or is it even sixty-nine, the guild's hotline...ah!'

He cried internally as he dragged himself slowly out of Lee Se-chul's office.

"Fuck you... Gu Won-shik"

Lee Se-chul groaned as he stood up and harshly grabbed his suit jacket that was sitting on the headrest of his chair.

***

Raith stood legs apart, standing with the black sword on the ground in between his legs, and as he looked into the dark woods, and could clearly see the creatures that hid.

He looked around once more, compared to the number of monsters he could see, there were the wooden houses were more.

'Did do go on a pilgrim journey or something'

He wondered as he gave them their last chance to come out themselves but they refused. They seem to be hiding from something.

The mistake Raith made was thinking they were hiding from him.

[You are using skill 'Instant Move']

[You are using skill 'Way Of The Sword']

Raith dashed into the darkness like a blur, his sword gleaming in the dim light as he unsheathed it within a flash.

As he sped past the first one he spun around, his sword flashing out in a wide arc and the blade slicing through the creature's neck as it leaped towards Raith from behind thinking that Raith didn't see it. Raith paused as the green head with protruded tusk from the mouth rolled away into the underbrush.

"Goddammit, I let you save yourself and you get cocky."

Raith said as he glanced back at the headless orc with a stocky body and impressive physique.

The other two he was originally dashing towards roared in anger and charged at him with their crude axes raised high.

Raith didn't flinch.

[You are using skill 'Instant Move']

With the substantial increase in his cosmic energy, he could now use any skill without having to worry about running out of energy, –at least having to worry for a while. In an elongated battle, we can't say the same.

Raith pierced forward like black lighting, darting out his sword to block the first orc's blow, and with a sharp spin around, the orc's arm fell on the ground.

The injured orc howled in pain, but Raith didn't give him a chance to recover. He lunged forward and drove his sword deep into the orc's chest.

The last orc was bigger and stronger than the other two but Raith did not seem fazed by that fact.

He looked at the last orc with slitted eyes and his heterochromia eyes for the first time glowed a common white color in the thick darkness.

The creature struck by the fear of the figure that stood as if the darkness was its clothing and with a white deadly gaze, began to slowly trace its steps backward.

[Skill 'Intimidation' has been activated]

[The orc monster has been stricken with the fear state]

[You are using skill 'Instant Move']

Before it could move any further, Raith with a sudden burst of speed, darted forward with his sword, piercing the orc's heart.

The creature collapsed to the ground, dead.

Raith stood there for a moment catching his breath as the blood on his sword slowly sank into the black blade of the sword, unnoticed.

[You can absorb the monster's tune crystal]

[Because of certain reasons you cannot gain any skill when you absorb a monster's rune crystal]

[But your cosmic energy will increase]

"Ah shit."

Raith suddenly remembered something and groaned in frustration.

'I wanted to die before actually starting, how can I get ahead of myself and kill the monsters.'

Raith blamed himself but stopped and turned back to look at the frozen Min-ho.

'I was wrong. I was wrong. This guy is beyond amazing. Orcs! Ors!! Orcs may be rank C monsters but because of their physique and intelligence, they are considered almost a B rank. Yet he dealt with three of them so easily?'

Min-ho's eyeballs shook with a squirmy smile on his face.

"Hey... Momo."

"Sir!"historical

He jacked out of his thoughts immediately after he heard Raith's voice.

"Pick the crystals."

Raith said as he turned back pretending to not care about the super shocked expression on Min-ho's face.

'Hehehehe... did you see that. I feel like an actual big shot commanding him like that.'

He twitched his eyebrows with a smug expression as he walked forward.

"Hyungnim, hyung. Wait for me!"

Min-ho shouted as he followed Raith, whose steady steps were so fast he had trouble catching up.

After walking deeper into the forest, Raith was met by a long and tall wooden wall with a gate standing in the middle, this space was already out of the forest and was a clearing.

'The forest was meant to hide their location or something?'

Even Raith could tell that much seeing how they built houses within the forest.

'Or they were some orcs leaving outside'

Raith wondered both ways but shifted his attention to what was in front of him.

The walls were made from thick logs, hewn, and stacked to form a rough barrier. The gate was made from the same materials, but had a more intricate design, with sharp wooden spikes and metal reinforcements.

"How spectacular. They are more like humans in the stone age..."

He muttered.

"Orcs are known for their intelligence. Even though they are monsters they can community with each other."

Min-ho helped with some information, which was very helpful and thoughtful of him since the abyss has decided to not feed Raith with the dungeon information.

'Not even one piece of information, it also isn't asking me to complete the trial.'

"Hyungnim, how are we going to get inside? Wait are we even going to go inside? Maybe we should just go back and tell the association, the orcs live in a colony. We could get killed if we go there alone."

Raith shook his head slowly– confusing Min-ho further.

"What?"

The young doctor sought clarification with a shaky voice.

"We can't go back."

"Hyungnim, what do you mean we can't go back?"

Min-ho asked, his voice getting more unstable and shaky, his forehead was pale and sweat ran down his face.

"You'll be fine Min-ho. I told you, I'm the only one that will be fighting. Stay outside."

Raith commanded as he looked up.

He looked at Min-ho one more time and brought out the Fenrir dagger.

"If there's any need to protect yourself, don't hesitate to slay anyone, even if its human"

With shaking hands, Min-ho collected the dagger.

'Air leap'

thwack!

Raith lunged into the air and over the tall wall, landing right into the middle of the circled orcs– with two orcs wrestling with each other.

Everything went silent as a loud thud was heard and dust fill the entire place.

As the dust cleared, the orcs with anticipative and curious gazes leaning forward, waited to see who it was that had made a dramatic entrance into a strength challenge.

Within the clearing dust that was showered with the subtle illumination of the crescent moon under the dark skies was a figure that stood on two thin legs, one hand in its pocket and a sword connected to the other hand.

"Kheeughkkuu!! (Human!!)"

The orc that was seated on a special seat amidst the encircling shouted, slamming its hands on the arms of his chair with– it wasn't a friendly welcome.

The raging growls of the orc that surrounded Raith confirmed that he wasn't welcome and this fight was going to get very very messy.

But Raith stood there with a puzzled expression.

'Why the fuck can I understand a monster?!!'