Chapter 95: The Burden of a Rising Rank

A whole week had already passed since I spent the New Year bustling with family and friends.

It felt like just a month ago, but I had been diligently closing gates nonstop since then.

I had been active in guild activities, but on a personal level, I’d also been hunting down ownerless gates to kill boss monsters.

All thanks to the mask Half-Blood had given me.

So many people were digging into my true identity that I had to be cautious, but with the mask hiding my identity, I was able to operate alone much more freely than before.

Thud—

“This is the last one!”

The boss monster, which we had been attacking relentlessly as a guild, finally fell.

I silently cheered inside.

“Your condition must be perfect today. You were practically flying.”

“Isn’t it basically Dana who killed the boss monster?”

“Considering how nonstop the attacks were, it has to be.”

The guild members who had been watching me attack the boss with their mouths agape all chimed in.

My body did feel lighter than usual, but I hadn’t realized it was so obvious to others.

“Right? You’re really on today.”

I smiled and answered, then looked at the status window that appeared before my eyes.

As soon as the boss monster died, a quest completion window popped up.

[〈Quest〉
Kill Dungeon Boss! Lv. 7
10/10
Reward: One existing skill (random)]

I had already reached Level 7.

A strong feeling told me this would be the last quest.

There was only one skill left to unlock.

The time it took for the quest window to fade and the next status window to appear felt unbearably long. If there were a next button, I wanted to spam it.

[Congratulations! Quest Lv. 7 requirements achieved. A skill has been unlocked at random.]

[Unlocking…]

[Skill ‘Resurrection’ has been unlocked.]

“Done!”

Finally, the last skill had been unlocked.

Resurrection was exactly what it sounded like—a tremendous skill that allowed you to come back to life at the moment of death.

Since it could only be used once, I had been saving it even before possession.

It was an amazing skill that could also save others, but before possession, there was no need to save anyone else.

I hoped nothing bad would happen here either, but it was the last glimmer of hope to rely on if something unfortunate occurred.

With this skill unlocked, there were no more skills left to unlock.

I no longer needed to complete quests.

“Then maybe my rank has gone up?”

Since no more skills could be unlocked, the rank might have risen as well.

Excited, I checked my status window.

[Name: Lee Dana
Rank: S
Class: Necromancer
Position: No. 0
Titles: Possessor from Another Dimension, Hooded Hero, Villain Who Will Destroy Earth
Skills: Shackles of Darkness, Shadowform, Black Cloud Feather, Shield, Black Mist, Cursed Blade, Resurrection
Owned Spirits: Sahin, Vishap, Stone, Red, Thebeo, etc…]

I nearly screamed out of joy. I hurriedly covered my mouth.

The parentheses had disappeared.

Every time I checked my status window before, I hated seeing the phrase “Rank temporarily lowered due to skill lock” next to my rank.

I had wished for my rank to rise quickly so that phrase would disappear.

Finally, I had completely regained the power I had before possession.

I clenched my fist tightly and silently expressed my joy.

I’d thought this quest would be the last, and that my rank would rise, but seeing it on the status window made me twice as happy.

“If the boss was here today, we wouldn’t have seen Dana’s full potential.”

“Right? I wonder what the boss is doing right now.”

As the surroundings gradually returned to the normal streets before entering the gate, the guild members started talking about Yeon Ha-yeon.

Yeon Ha-yeon couldn’t join the dungeon raid today.

She usually wanted to come with me, but said she had business within the Yeonhwa organization and reluctantly let me go alone.

So today was the first time I had gone on a dungeon raid with the guild members without Yeon Ha-yeon.

Yet, I was so excited thinking this was the last quest that I didn’t feel awkward at all.

“You’re going to the dinner party again, right?”

One of the guild members put an arm around my shoulder and asked.

Since I had planned to attend, I was about to say yes.

[Dungeon difficulty has increased due to the rank rise of a dimensional outsider.]

A status window appeared before my eyes, making me doubt what I was seeing.

It seemed the guild members noticed it too, as their expressions hardened.

Just moments ago, the atmosphere had been lively with the joy of killing the boss monster, but it suddenly changed.

“Why is this popping up…?”

I rubbed my eyes and reread the message on the status window.

It was exactly the same as when I had risen to Grade A.

“When I ranked up to A+, there was no message like this?”

Could it be that the difficulty only adjusts when the letter changes, and that the “+” symbol wasn’t considered a rank increase, so the difficulty wasn’t raised then?

The joy of regaining my original power lasted only briefly.

The dungeon raid difficulty had risen again because of me.

I slowly glanced sideways at the guild members’ expressions.

Still frozen, they stared blankly into space and exchanged glances.

I awkwardly joined in, exchanging looks with them.

“They say the difficulty is rising again?”

“What does rank rise of a dimensional outsider even mean? Nada is a dimensional outsider, right? Then she’s already S-rank. How can she rise any further?”

I couldn’t say anything in response to the guild member’s pointed question.

It wasn’t the time to agree or argue, so I stayed silent.

The guild members were frustrated, saying the dungeon raid had already become quite difficult after the last difficulty increase, so what were we supposed to do if it went up again?

My heart felt heavy.

Even though it was unintentional, it seemed the dungeon difficulty had risen faster because I had been so eager to quickly regain my original rank.

“We need to have a countermeasure meeting.”

“By now, they should have seen the boss. They’ll probably contact us soon.”

The guild members exchanged serious words before turning their gazes to me.

The sudden attention made cold sweat break out on my forehead.

One guild member pointed to the phone in my hand with his chin and asked,

“Any contact from the boss?”

At that moment, a call from Yeon Ha-yeon came at a perfect time.

I answered the phone with a trembling heart.

“Hello…”

[There’s an emergency meeting at the Hunter Association right now. I’ll come to the guild as soon as it’s over. Let’s have a meeting then.]

Yeon Ha-yeon’s voice was low and heavy, and she hung up as soon as I responded.

My heart felt like it was shrinking.

[Lumoseu (Lumos..★)(10): What’s going on here…?
Σ((주)으뜸(8): Are they trying to kill us all? What do they want with constant difficulty increases OTL..
Beolso (7): The guild members are freaking out -0
Ocean (5): Is everyone heading to the Hunter Association?
Sashimi (1): On the way]

Scrolling through the chat, it looked serious, but not as bad as I’d thought.

Still, the difficulty rising in the dungeon was a big deal, so it seemed everyone agreed to gather at the association.

“Let’s head back to the guild and wait there.”

I walked back to the guild with the other members, our steps heavy.

***

The dungeon raid difficulty had risen yet again.

The awakened ranked within the top 10 who gathered at the Hunter Association all sat with tightly pressed lips.

No one dared to speak first.

“That status window… it appeared before when the Gwanaksan gate was causing trouble, right?”

James cautiously brought up the subject first.

Cha Hyeonseo, who had been radiating cold energy and staring at the table, answered.

“They said there was a risk of a dungeon break, so we went there, but someone had already closed the gate and disappeared.”

The expressions of the awakened in the meeting darkened further at those words.

Although they hadn’t known then, now they strongly suspected the one who closed the gate was Nada.

Do Ihyeon, guessing what the others were thinking, bit his lip and lowered his eyes.

He didn’t want to actively join this conversation.

He couldn’t understand why Dana’s rank rising would cause the dungeon raid difficulty to increase.

“Doesn’t seem like she’s really S-rank…?”

Having watched Dana closely for some time, Do Ihyeon thought Dana was definitely Nada, but she didn’t seem to be hiding her strength intentionally.

Her power seemed ambiguous for someone ranked No. 0 S-rank—as if that was just her normal strength.

It had been the same when he first saw Dana at a gate.

She had ruthlessly slaughtered goblins, but her power didn’t seem like that of the No. 0 ranked.

“But if the dimensional outsider is Nada, doesn’t this make no sense?”

“If she’s ranked No. 0, she’s obviously S-rank, but having her rank rise twice… that’s definitely weird.”

Do Ihyeon glanced at the other awakened who seemed to share his speculation, then looked away, sinking deep into his own thoughts.

“The last time the dungeon difficulty rose, many guild members got hurt badly.”

“This time, let’s prepare properly and minimize the damage.”

“Let’s add more people than usual to the raid. Treat it like we’re clearing a dungeon at least one rank higher. Last time, we went in blindly without gauging the difficulty and suffered huge losses.”

“Right. We didn’t add anyone extra and just pushed through recklessly. We mustn’t do that this time.”

As the awakened discussed the past mistakes seriously and planned ahead, only two remained silent.