Requiem Of A Failed Hero

'There's really no need for a driver,' Raith thought to himself as he leaned his head on his hand, which rested on the open window of his black McLaren supercar.

'But I suppose it's good...he did say I could have the car, and this man will be my assistant as well.'

Raith glanced at the man behind the wheel, taking note of his slender build and well-defined, sharply angled features.

The man's stylish haircut had a glossy texture, and his eyes were an unusual shade of deep purple.

As the car sped down the road, the driver remained focused and showed utmost respect for Raith.

'With all that's going on with Min-ho, having an assistant might not be a bad idea,' Raith thought as they soon reached their destination.

...

Upon his arrival, the group was already gearing up and preparing to enter the gate. Some donned full armor like Hyon-U and Tae Joon-Ho, while others opted for lighter gear to enhance their mobility.

At the gate, association agents checked them in and inspected Raith's hunter card. Raith could sense their scrutinizing gaze as they examined his card, which still displayed his rank as F.

One of the agents left to retrieve hunter Joon-Ho, bowing respectfully before departing.

"I'm sorry, there seems to be a mistake. Even though the guild has raiding rights to the gate, the association cannot allow entry to a rank F," the agent explained.

Tae Joon-Ho furrowed his brow in confusion; he had no idea Raith was the lowest-ranked hunter. 'I thought he would be impressive because Hyungnim himself brought him...' Joon-Ho looked toward Raith, '...now that I look at him, his stature seems weak.'

Raith had a slender, tall physique with an impressive body stat of 100+. Perhaps it was the baggy black sweatshirt he wore that deceived hunter Joon-Ho's eyes.

While Raith waited, he nonchalantly pricked his nose with his index finger and blew off the dirt.

"It's fine... he might look like that, but he has his worth. In fact, we would be supervising the recruits together," Hunter Joon-Ho said to the agent, looking at Raith, who responded with a puzzled look but decided to let it pass and bowed before returning.

Raith was granted access and proceeded to meet them with his assistant, Na Chunho, by his side. Na Chunho wore a black suit with a breastplate, arm, ankle, and knee guards, as well as metal boots.

"Are you going to go into the gate like that?" Joon-Ho asked Raith as they lined up in front of the gate.

"Yes..." Raith replied, with an expression inquiring what was wrong with his dressing.

Hunter Joon-Ho swallowed his urge to lament to refrain from causing any trouble before entering the gate. He had to lay a good example before the new hunters.

'I will teach him a very good lesson in the gate. I don't know why hyungnim asked him to supervise with me... but a rank F going to a rank A gate. You will be met with the greatest disaster of your life.'

Finally, they stepped into the gate and in a split second, were met with a magnificent difference from where they came.

[You have entered a dungeon]

[You have entered a rank A dungeon]

Raith gazed down at the black holographic tab with white runewords.

This was the only information the abyss has decided to reveal to him about the dungeon.

'...how disappointing... vague. I wonder if the abyss is intentionally hiding the information or if it really doesn't know much.' Raith thought as he lifted his face to behold the landscape of the gate.

The vast expanse of the ice plain stretched out before the group, seemingly endless in its desolate wasteland of snow and ice.

The bitter cold immediately seeped into their bones, causing their fingers and toes to go numb.

"Shit... the cold... even though I'm wearing armor," Hunter Joon-Ho muttered, smacking his lips as he tried to control himself from shivering too much from the cold.

"As you were taught before, it is normal to feel a rush of the gate's weather when you first enter, however, what do you do?" Joon-Ho said to the recruits, who were already shivering and had frozen faces.

"We circulate our body with our magic energy in order to speed up the matching process where the magic energy of the gate synchronizes with that of our own!" One of the recruits responded. He had green hair and was donned in a robe, holding a wooden staff.

"That is right. However, this process will drastically reduce the cold, but it won't completely eliminate it. You will still feel the cold as we go down the dungeon. I hope we all have our thick overalls?"

"Yes, sir!" They chorused.

Joon-Ho sighed, 'Now, this fool who thinks it's okay to come with a sweatshirt alone. Let's hope he's not already frozen.'

He shifted his gaze from the recruits, who were now circulating their body with magic energy, to Raith, who was standing beside him with his hands in his pocket.

Perfectly fine. In fact, compared to their pale faces, Raith's complexion was so warm that his skin was shining brightly among the cold.

"What?!" Joon-Ho exclaimed, unbelievably.

"What?" Raith looked at him and inquired.

"N-nothing..." He stuttered and turned his attention back to the task at hand. "Ahem!" He cleared his throat and tried to find his cool back, but his mind wouldn't stop asking why Raith was so okay in the cold.

"Let's proceed..." He said and walked forward.

As they trudged through the snow, there were no sights of life at first, no trees, no plants, no animals, just an endless expanse of white. The silence was almost deafening, and broken only by the sound of their own footsteps and the occasional howl of the wind.

But then as they reached a certain distance– Raith squinted his eyes and pulled out his sword from his inventory, his move was so silently that nobody noticed.

The recruits were occasionally gisting with each other while they focused on searching the environment for danger. But their danger sense was not as impressive as that of Raith.

A few minutes later all of them suddenly could see it. A massive shape moving through the snow. Towering over them like a giant, as it drew closer, they all could see that it was covered in thick, shaggy fur, perfectly adapted to blend into its surroundings. It was a Yeti.