Somewhere on the outskirts of Seoul
A gate opened up in front of a horde of monsters. They were a bit confused as they knew that they had just gotten out of one a couple hours ago... so why was another gate opening up?
"Oh... there's a bunch of monsters here. The HA needs to do a better job handling these guys."
Ahn said as he stepped through the gate he had just created between his office and the hunting grounds outside Seoul. This was the closest one to him, the others would need a bit more effort then he could afford to reach them.
"Oh well.. time to hunt"
Ahn was a bit excited as this was his first major step outside of getting Jin-Woo to come onto his team. The one thing he has been wanting to try out was his mastery of the several schools of magic he had under his belt.
"Fireball"
From his outstretched open palm came a burst of mana that quickly mixed with the oxygen in the air and ignited. Then following the will of its master, the magic rushed out of Ahn's hand towards a goblin that was right in front of the gate. Making contact with the goblin, the mana spread over the creature and into its own mana circuits igniting the creature both externally and internally. One thing Ahn had learned to do was manipulate his magic even once it had left its body, this came after trying to change the direction his fire would take mid flight, allowing him to progress his Mana Manipulation skills further.
The goblin had no chance in facing Ahn since its own magic circuit was working to its detriment, burning the creature from the inside out.
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Mana/HP Restored To 100%]
Although the goblin wasn't difficult to kill for Ahn, he was still level one. Early stages of leveling up was quick, so he needed to take advantage of this to push for as high of a level as he can, he couldn't afford to let Jin-Woo outdo him.
Skkkrreeee
A low level ant burst out of the bushes near Ahn, frantically trying to pierce his side with a sneak attack.
"Ice Shield"
Ahn tried to get an shield up as quick as possible, but the ant was already on him. With a fast swipe the ant smacked Ahn across the clearing made by his earlier fireball. It was lucky that Ahn was an A rank hunter or that would have been a one shot kill.
Before Ahn could get his bearings a wolf sprang from the under bushes of where he was to try and 'secure the kill,' so to speak.
"Fuuuuuuuu..."
Lucky for Ahn he was able to dodge by tilting his head to the side, but the wolf had already bitten into his shoulder.
[Bleeding Status Applied]
[3... 2... 1.... Bleeding Status Nullified]
[Pain Suppression upgraded to Pain Resistance]
"Oh I am so gonna murder the shmitz out of you"
Woooff...?
The wolf thought to itself. The wolf was very confused as it had delivered its ultimate move. Biting. Yet this person was just sitting there talking about killing him.
WOOF
The wolf was now angry at this hind walking individual that came into its territory and was trying to show off.
Wooof Wof Wooof
Rough translation was: "The huzz are watching... please die..."
"Hmmmm, Spatial Rend"
Although he was not top tier with spatial magic, Ahn could still do some basic attacks with it, though they consumed a lot of mana, the magic got the job done.
From his free hand he pushed mana into the space continuum around himself, tearing the very fabric of space in a line. This line cut the wolf into pieces and carried on towards the ant who was standing there spectating the ongoing struggle between wolf and man.
[Level Up]
[Mana/HP Restored To 100%]
With the wolf and ant taken care of, Ahn turned his attention inwards to sense his mana. Finding it now was a lot easier then when he started. Pushing his mana outward he imagined it as a type of signal that would go out and come back, giving him a type of echo location. Though this one was used to sense if there were any more monsters near by. Being jumped by two monsters without any warning would make anyone try and figure out a way to sense said monsters before they got the jump on him.
His mana bounced back from several different locations. There was a group of goblins in one direction that seemed to have set up a type of base of operation, a group of wolves were heading towards him (most likely due to one of their own dying), there was a small colony of ants in the opposite direction of the goblins, and there was a large lion that seemed to be moving in.. circles...
Good... all of these monsters are low level, so I should be able to kill them easily by myself
The first thing that Ahn did was turn to face the direction that the wolves were coming from. Like all basic npc level creatures, the wolves were moving in a close formation. This would usually be a detriment against other hunters since not a lot of them have AOE spell to take care of a group, so when they are busy handling one or two wolves, the rest surround them and kill them. It was an effective strategy, its just too bad they met him.
Gathering up his mana into the air Ahn started to manipulate the space a couple of feet in front of himself. The first thing he did was utilize mass to gather the particles into one cluster, then he worked to make them heavy, and finally he held them up while waiting for the wolves to show.
He didn't have to wait long as the first of the group came out of the bushes howling like a mad wolf, which it was, and charged towards the object of its fury. Following close behind was the rest of the pack, the all ran towards him in a straight charge, trying to use their numbers advantage to surround and kill him.
"God's Hand"
With a jerk, Ahn pushed his hands downward. The wolves looking at this hind walker were confused as there was no indication that a spell was used. That was when they felt it deep in their bones.
Death
Looking up to see nothing but the stars in the air, the wolves were flabbergasted as to why they felt like that. But like a vacuum, the night turned quiet very quickly, all sound was not reaching their ears. Then a sense that gravity checked into work came over the group, quickly then area they were in, which included themselves, caved in.
Whooom
Just like that the entire sky seemed to have fallen on the wolves. Where they were originally standing, all that was left was blood and some fur while their mana cores left a dust of sparkling light behind.
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Mana/HP Restored To 100%]
Killing the pack of wolves, which consisted of about 8 of let Ahn level up two more times. When he started just one goblin was enough for two levels, but now eight were needed for the level up. It seems like it will only get higher than this now.
[Line Break][Line Break][Line Break][Line Break][Line Break][Line Break][Line Break][Line Break]
Following his absolute genocide of a small pack of wolves, Ahn went on to kill the other two encampments of monsters giving him another four levels. All that was left was the lion, that for some reason was still walking in a circle.
Slowly Ahn moved into position where he could see the lion but the lion couldn't see him. Making sure that he crept in downwind also allowed him to not be detected by scent, though the amount of blood on him by now would be enough to give him away.
In a stroke of luck, the lion hadn't noticed him and was focused on the thing that it had been circling for a while now. It seemed that the lion didn't know what a skunk was and currently was in a life or death face off. The skunk was doing its best to stick its butt towards the lion that was moving in circles, sometimes back and forth. The lion not being from this world hadn't encountered a creature as curious as this stripped rat, but for some reason a deep impression of needing to kill the creature kept its attention.
While it would be bad to be caught unaware, there was no one in the forest area that would try and attack him. He had set himself up as the king of the area while waiting on his master to show up, whenever the king of beasts would show up to give him more direction that is. In the meantime, he now had to entertain himself with the lower life form of this planet.
Crunch...
Ahn stopped moving forward, praying that the lion did not hear the very slight noise. He hoped that the sound was only loud to him and that the lion would continue staring and trying to figure out what that skunk was. Slowly Ahn looked up to see that the skunk had stopped frantically shoving its butt into the lions face and was now staring directly at Ahn.
Fuuuuu.... he's behind me isn't he... should I look back or is that too cli...
BOOOM
Ahn's whole body was tossed aside like a rag doll. Flying through the air with no sense of up or down.
That hurt..
[WARNING: HP BELOW 50%]
I can't let him get the jump on me again
Was the only thought running through the head of Ahn as he thought of a way out of this situation. One wrong move and its his life that is taken. While the lion was not the strongest monster to come out of a gate, that didn't mean that he wasn't growing. There was a reason that he became the strongest in the area. These types of monsters were usually taken care of by the HA, but some that hid themselves could grow to be monstrous in strength.
While most dungeon breaks that happened in the wilderness luckily were of A rank or lower, that didn't always mean that the monster that came out would stay at that level. Ahn knew this from the memories that he had inherited, but being an A rank right off the bat had led him to be a bit conceited about his power level, especially once he had mastered some of his mage abilities.
I shouldn't have tried to fight this monster just yet...
But seeing as he was already face to face with the lion, he couldn't just back down. It wasn't in his blood and he wasn't about to catch b**** syndrome now.
Ahn's mother didn't raise no b..
"Ice Lance"
All of this happened in a few seconds, but the lion sensing the lesser magical potency in Ahn didn't take him as much of threat, so he used that to his advantage and gathered his magic to create a bit of a distance for his larger hits.
While Ahn was quick, the lion was a true born hunter, with instincts honed from various battles and inborn talent, the lion dodged and charged towards Ahn's location. Quicker than Ahn could react to, the lion was right on top of him. Claws outstretched and ready to take the head of his prize, the king wouldn't be denied his meal.
"Gotcha"