The all-knowing Player

Lizards (1)

"J... Jin-Woo, Hee-Jin, stand behind me. I'll-I'll do whatever I can do..."

Jin-Ho steps forward, wielding his sword and shield, but I can see his whole body shaking. I understand why. The boss has menacing red eyes, a mouth full of sharp fangs, a body as big as a house and far reaching legs. This boss is on another level as the other insects he fought in the dungeon before.

I lay a hand on Jin-Ho's arm, applying enough pressure on it for him to lower his arm and with it his sword. He stares at me, his fright written all over his face.

"Don't worry. We'll take care of it." I try to reassure him while looking calmly in his eyes.

"Jin-Ho, you stay put." Jin-Woo adds while joining me, his eyes focused on the monster. He summons his dagger, letting blue light spark around him and I let go of Jin-Ho's arm to do the same. "He's all ours."

"W-Wait! What are you going to do?"

"Defeat that guy."

"You're going to defeat it?" he repeats, probably thinking that we are crazy. "Only B-rank and higher can go up against a C-rank boss alone. Or at the very least, you would have to be two strong C-rank hunters! How do you plan on fighting that thing, just the two of you? We should be coming up with a plan to escape instead!"

Jin-Ho isn't wrong. Even though the both of us are now players, we aren't that strong. It should be a relief for me, but it isn't in those conditions. I have no idea which rank we are right now, but I know that we still have a long way to go if we want to reach S-rank. It doesn't matter to me. Jin-Woo managed to defeat it alone in the original story and we are stronger than he was since we defeated the salamander. There is no way that we would be losing against it.

"I'll take the left." I announce, not answering Jin-Ho.

Jin-Woo nods and we both rush over to the giant spider. We avoid its legs and jump up to slash its belly. Green blood drips off my blade as we land and immediately stand up. I glance at the dagger, appreciating the fact that I can finally use a good weapon. As we turn around and attack the monster again, I feel Jin-Ho staring at us, horrified by what he is seeing.

They're... They're E-rank hunters? he wonders, sweat running over his face.

The spider tries to stomp on us with its legs. We dodge them, forced to stay in movement. Unable to avoid a spike at the end of its leg, I block it with my dagger, creating an awful sound. Jin-Woo joins me and slashes a part of the leg immediately. I step back, thanking him with a nod.

The spider has eight legs capable of reaching everywhere in this room, making hiding impossible. Each of its blows destroys wherever it lands, even a small piece of the ground. A direct hit would be fatal. But if we approach it, it won't be able to reach us with its legs. So we jump over its back, inflicting as much damage as we can.

On his side, Jin-Ho can only stand back and watch.

"W- Who are they?" he stutters, realizing that we could not possibly be E-rank hunters. "I'm pretty sure their rankings in the association's registry are E-rank, but from the way they're moving, there's no way. Could they be... false rankers?"

The only thought of it lets him shake with all his body and he falls to the ground in despair. False rankers wouldn't be a problem... if the majority of them weren't psychopaths who kill for fun. Seeing us fight against the monster, Jin-Ho has to face the facts: coming here was definitely not a good idea.

"Why did I decide to come here... F-Father..." he calls, trembling.

But I know that he is lucky. He would already have been dead if it weren't for us. And I have no intention of killing anyone. I shiver at the thought. No. I will find a solution. I definitely will. But before that, I have to focus on defeating the boss.