The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood Chapter 397. Time Attack (4)

'I can't exactly reveal the truth to the test subjects I'm about to exploit, can I...'

I didn't bother answering them and let the conversation move on.

To create pain, tearing living flesh without anesthesia—sothing no one in their right mind could do. The hunters in front of also decided to concentrate on the assault quickly before anything went wrong. More precisely, the two S-rank hunters who understood my declaration took the lead and began taking down the monsters.

'Everyone's checked the PDF file distributed by the agency, right?'

'I checked it every ti.'

'I morized it.'

For reference, the reason there had been a string of failures in the Rage Gates was simple: hunters had gone in without any prior information. What was dangerous, what was safe, where to advance, and what to ignore—without the ability to distinguish any of these, they wandered through a blank world and inevitably overstayed their welco.

As a result, none of the hunters had been able to avoid the creeping status effect. They would go berserk, lashing out at those around them. Yet even then, they didn't lose all reason or morality. It took a long ti before people discovered that the pain of a stab wound could actually serve as a counterasure.

But thanks to the advance party before us, we had already learned every critical detail about this gate.

'Ignore everything else and just head straight for the top floor of that castle.'

It really is possible—the speedrun strategy. And while Jung Haseong and Esther were preoccupied with the hunt, I achieved another goal. After all, why would a Grand Mage go so far as to spoil lies just to conserve mana?

'Not joining the fight because I'm busy controlling the entrance—that's obviously a lie. But in the end, it's all for your sake, so bear with .'

Srrk.

There were still no gazes felt in this gate ether. So I was able to safely implant a certain spell into the bodies of the accompanying Spies. Of course, I applied this new magic to myself as well. After all, an insecticide made to kill sothing is better in surplus than lacking.

'This is a thod we haven't tried on the Alphauri, but I put a lot of care into developing it, so please listen closely.'

That's why this body went out of its way to propose the rare approach of a speedrun in the first place. Originally, I did want to drag in all the many staff from the Korean Magic Tower and Garion's other auxiliary collaborators, but—

'After all, the more diums there are to soak in the magic, the better.'

[Sin Classification] is a unique kind of hell, even where without a monster's attack, the weak are placed in danger. The instant you step inside, you're struck by the curse emanating from the castle—making it impossible to recklessly bring along lower-ranked hunters.

So in the end, I gathered only those S-ranks—the ones for whom safety could be guaranteed. They, on the other hand, ended up making the absurd mistake of believing I had predicted the dungeon's dinsional anomaly.

'Does misperception happen to be one of the seven deadly sins of this planet?'

If we're short on manpower, then the answer is simple—just increase the number of spell activations. After pulling strings here and there, I noticed the scenery around us had already changed. Truly, it was a pace worthy of humanity that had surpassed even the A-rank. The Korean Magic Tower's guild master and Garion's guild master tore forward with rciless speed, cutting down monsters in their path. Back when I was a worthless F-rank scrub, no matter how hard I tried, I could never have dread of keeping up with such superhuman strides. And to make it worse, from the side it looked like they were rely waving their hands lightly—yet the primitive mages' power swept through [Sin Classification]'s enemies like dead leaves in the wind.

And then...

'Hmm?'

The "castle" of this gate looked perfectly fine from the outside. But once we charged in, an unexpected anomaly revealed itself. Put simply, the stairs were a ss. Crooked, uneven, and twisted—sothing only a many-legged insect might climb with ease. And yet here they were, installed as though human beings were ant to use them.

'What on earth are the Gisimche actually good at? Eating?'

Alright. For now, I'll just focus on doing what I need to do. Preparations against the Gisimche don't end with a single strike, so I cast the spells I had devised over and over as I moved along the path.

Kkrrk kkrrk kkrrk.

However, once we entered the black castle itself, it was clear that encounters with enemies were far from ordinary.

'That monster again.'

A feature of the sixth castle: creatures wrapped in wooden structures resembling wagon wheels, rolling around the area while making oddly gentle sounds.

'I can't just ignore them given the way we've encountered them.'

Ah, by the way, the gate we entered is the Sin Classification of Pride. Humans casually shorten it to "Pride Castle." Arrogance—arguably one of the greatest sins according to human nature.

Based on my intuition, the awakener nad Seo Esther appeared to have a slight sense of superiority. Of course, for a mage of the curse attribute, being only that mildly "twisted" already makes her a person of great character in the top 1% of that field. This is because anyone with a misguided sense of superiority has no choice but to face a heinous trial if afflicted by a "Pride" status ailnt.

'Hmm.'

Originally, soone like Esther shouldn't have set foot in this gate. Yet, fully aware of all the dangers, we chose to accompany her anyway.

Crash! Bang! Boom!

Well, that's because everyone there is just ridiculously strong.

'That's right. This is what a normal A-rank gate difficulty looks like.'

Up until now, it had all just been a process of trial and error. There was no longer any enemy capable of stopping the Koreans, who had absorbed the precedents set by other nations. Their very bodies were S-rank, granting them strong magic resistance. Garion's leader had sohow acquired rare items that block mind control and plastered them all over his body. And right next to him was Earth's only S-rank curse sorcerer—aning they already possessed the relevant ntal defenses as a specialist in psychic attacks.

'Perhaps this is the true strategy for tackling a Sin Classification. Rather than sending in weaker individuals, you gather the strongest possible and send them all in at once.'

The round, wheel-like monster that had appeared before us collapsed to the ground in an instant.

Rumble!

Then, there's no enemy worth blocking us anyway. I cast the spell—a sort of bait for the Gisimche...

'I guess it's okay to check the developed magic chanism after we leave the dungeon?'

Since the other S-ranks were focused on clearing the path, before long we arrived at the designated area.

Swish... Swish... Swish...

The room, echoing with the sound of chains being dragged across the floor, was none other than the lair of the dungeon boss.

'...Does anyone need any preparations?'

'I'm fine.'

'You don't need to ask for my opinion since I'm sitting out of the fight, Esther. The low-level grunts we ignored are swarming in—let's get started.'

To think we'd enter the final stage of the trial so smoothly. Yet no one knew how long this fragile peace, with everyone still holding onto their wits, would last.

'No matter how top-tier a Hunter you are, the mont you step into the dungeon, you're exposed to [Brainwashing].'

Therefore, we entered the room of the A-rank boss we had encountered without hesitation.

[Drrrrrrrr...]

A sharp tal edge that gnawed at human flesh. And a massive cartwheel, covered with such weapons, rolling relentlessly.

By the way, I'm only just now getting around to revealing this information. In fact, we have a rough idea of how that monster will act in the future, as we know it through hearsay.

'Thanks, Mongolia!'

The [Sin Classification] had a sort of information-preview chanism: completing the dungeon would automatically reveal the next castle.

'Foreigners seem to call it a 'spoiler,' like it's revealing the plot ahead of ti.'

Of course, at this point, with most of the related castles already revealed, this chanism no longer offered much advantage. However, South Korea, unusually, happened to receive the forecast at the right ti and in the right order, making it surprisingly useful.

The sixth castle to appear punishes arrogance. Those who usually carry themselves with pride should refrain from setting foot inside.

Additionally, the otherworldly monsters residing there are naturally humble—they do not flaunt their abilities carelessly, nor do they look down on their foes. When matched against opponents of equal rank, you'll get the sense that their defenses are extrely solid. However, if provoked beyond a certain threshold, even these humble creatures can eventually go into a frenzy, setting their wheels ablaze, and so on.

'Gisimche may be a mostly trash-tier species in many aspects, but their willingness to learn is comndable. At this point, they've grasped the concept of the Seven Deadly Origins fairly convincingly.'

As I ntioned before, the key to a speedrun-style strategy was information. Since we were assigned a relatively later stage, we could gain confidence thanks to the countless tips and guidance left by those who went before us. So, to make sure Mongolia's sacrifice—no one actually died, but the Lustful Castle that appeared in that area created a level of hell far beyond imagination—wasn't in vain, taking such asures was necessary.

Swoosh!

The goal was to eliminate that boss from the world and ensure humanity's safety.

[Kkrrk kkrrk kkrrk.]

Using the blue explosion triggered by Jung Haseong as a signal flare, the battle in the boss room began. As expected, the boss encounter didn't pose any major crisis.

'The opponent is an A-rank, my top one. But we just entered the room as an S-rank trio.'

Just for a mont, try putting yourself in that monster's shoes. Hunters have cursed the gate plenty before, but in this battle, the monster itself would have every reason to grumble about how unfair the world is.

'Even if it's A-rank, its rolling speed seems pretty slow.'

'It's because it's classified as a living creature. That black, sponge-like thing stuck in the middle responded to my curse.'

'Aha?'

But who would listen to grumbling like that?

'Watching nearly the strongest hunters of humanity corner a single monster and beat it up... I have to admit, there's hardly anything more absurd than this.'

Boom!

The otherworld beast, whose motif is humility, was once again hit by a powerful attack. Seeing it now rush in without holding back its power, you could tell with the naked eye that the monster's stamina was nearly depleted. This is a positive sign in many ways.

'It's over. The magic I prepared for the Gisimche has been safely cast, and the dungeon is officially cleared.'

But at that mont, leaning against one side of the dungeon and watching the progress, a small worry popped into my mind.

Co to think of it, it was rather strange. The [Sin Classification] nest inflicted one of the seven deadly sins as a status effect on anyone who entered, yet inside the dungeon, the monsters were, conversely, thed around kindness, purity, and similar traits.

Moreover, all the monsters in each [Sin Classification] seed to despise the particular sin assigned to their castle. For example, eating in the Castle of Gluttony would increase the monsters' hostility. By the way, whenever I tried to explain the chanics of [Sin Classification] like this, the logic inevitably hit a wall at that point.

'Hmm.'

The more I thought about it, the more my attention kept getting drawn to a particular contradiction. If that's the case, why hasn't the Castle of Sloth—the place that should embody the utmost diligence—revealed itself to the world yet...?

Author's Thoughts Hi, from now on, I will update this novel 3 chapters/week. Thank you for all your support so far:)