Josh watched with bated breath as the swordswoman stirred.

  He’d been terrified that they might’ve been too late, that the never-ending nightmares of the curse had fractured her mind beyond repair.

  But when her eyelids fluttered open, the eyes that met his were clear, albeit confused.

  She blinked, groggily pushing herself up to a sitting position from the floor. The archer had laid her down on his jacket, making a makeshift bed.

  “You feeling ok?” Josh asked, crouching beside her.

  “Yeah... wait, Hunter Miller?”

  “I’m right here.”

  “...Did I fall asleep?”

  “Huh?”

  “Whoa, who’s that? Oh, why do I feel so dizzy?”

  He sucked in a breath as he grabbed her arm to help her sit upright. She didn’t seem to remember anything that had happened after she had accidentally stepped on the hidden rune.

  “Well,” he said. “You were hanging in the air for a while. And when Shane caught you—”

  “Shane? Oh, wait, you mean I was in those arms?”

  “What?”

  That’s when he followed her gaze. Where the King Golem lay in a ruined heap of granite and moss, Shane was looking down at the carnage like it was a piece of modern art he didn’t particularly care for.

  Josh watched the swordswoman’s expression shift to a distinct, starry-eyed awe. A flush creeped up her neck that seemed to have nothing to do with the lingering heat from Shane’s skill.

  He almost ground his teeth as he put on a fake smile.

  Kids these days...

  He was about to get her to snap out of it, reminding her that they were still in an S-rank dungeon, when she stiffened. Her hand flew to her hair, which was currently matted with sweat and grime.

  He was startled. Did she have a headache? Some sort of side effect?

  “What’s wrong? Is—”

  “Oh my god, my hair’s a mess. Please tell me I didn’t drool on his coat.”

  She aggressively ran her fingers through her bangs, checking her reflection in the polished metal of her gauntlet by turning her wrist this way and that.

  “Hunter Miller, situation report. Shoot it to me fast.”

  “I’m the leader here, you know.”

  “Please?”

  Josh sighed, defeated.

  Seriously, kids these days...

  But he relented and gave the swordswoman a brief summary of what had happened while she checked her teeth and wiped off a smudge on her face.

  Then she hopped onto her feet, wobbled, and caught her balance thanks to the archer before approaching Shane.

  “Okay, wow, that must’ve been intense! Though I missed all the action, haha.” Her voice pitched up an octave as she tilted her head, batting her eyelashes slightly.

  Knowing her since she was a child, Josh recognized that that was a practiced move, but noted that the flush on her cheeks was probably genuine.

  “I’m Elodie Watanabe, by the way! You really saved our butts back there. My father—he founded Mirai Dynamics—he’s big on ‘debts of honor’ and all that old-fashioned stuff.”

  Wait. Why was she mentioning the company?

  Josh narrowed his eyes. He was getting a bad feeling about this.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “So... I’d love to repay you somehow,” she continued. “Maybe a little thank-you gift, or dinner together? Is there a manager I should talk to? Or a guild address I could send it to?”

  She paused, scanning his coat for an emblem.

  Shoot. She was trying to scout him. Josh’s recruiter instincts immediately kicked back in.

  He quickly recalled that the Watanabes often hired freelance hunters as bodyguards. She was only at Wynn to build her own experience before returning to her family.

  Thankfully, Shane was listening with a bored expression.

  Elodie faltered under the silence but pressed on.

  “Um, you’re not with a guild yet, are you? I mean... Hunter Miller’s never seen you before, and everyone in this business practically knows everyone.”

  “No,” Shane finally said.

  Josh immediately jumped in, physically sidestepping the swordswoman to get back into Shane’s view.

  They’d recently lost two hunters to England. He couldn’t afford to lose this one.

  “Does that mean you’ve never been formally trained?” Josh asked quickly.

  “...No.”

  “Seriously?” Another hunter chimed in. “Not even the free government programs?”

  Shane’s brow furrowed, as if wondering how many times he would have to answer the same question.

  Josh still doubted the claim of having “no prior training”, but accepted the reply with a professional smile.

  “Well, it makes sense,” the swordswoman spoke up again, trying to steal the spotlight back. “Better to aim high than join just any guild. A lot of hunters these days build up experience at the Big 3 to go freelance later!”

  She must’ve noticed that Josh was also eyeing Shane.

  Having been tied to Wynn for years, he’d met his fair share of S-ranks. And every single one of them, without exception, had been a complete asshole.

  Even the polite ones had been at the top for so long that they forgot what it was like to be weak.

  But Shane... Shane was different.

  Why else would he have deliberately walked into the curse circle? Josh knew it now. Shane had taken the full brunt of those curses to save Elodie.

  Any lingering suspicion he had about the S-rank hunter had completely vanished when he’d realized this.

  Yes, Shane had opened a dungeon that hadn’t fully spawned, but perhaps he had access to confidential information. There were rumors about a high-rank hunter in the government’s black ops unit. Or maybe he was a retired spy, living off the grid.

  Whatever his background, his heart was in the right place. That was what mattered to him—and why he was looking for an opportunity to recruit Shane, before other guilds even had the chance to find out about him.

  Poor Josh had no way of knowing that the only reason Shane nullified all the curses was because he had zero control over his [Curse Immunity] skill.

  “By the way,” Josh started, his voice lowered. “You’re… not an SS-rank, are you?”

  Shane lifted his eyebrows slightly. Interesting.

  After observing Josh for a while, he knew the Appraiser was intentionally guessing high.

  SS-rank was a level you only ever saw in a dungeon breach. Most guys would puff up their chests at a guess like that and offer a “humble” correction and spill their genuine rank. It was a perfect way to wring the truth out of someone while getting on their good side.

  Josh likely thought the ridiculously fast clear was just a fluke, a result of a lucky type matchup against the dungeon’s monsters. If he ever saw a System recording of him fighting for real in an actual raid, he’d probably pretend he never even knew him.

  Shane told the truth. “No.”

  “Ah. Well, if you were to accept the support of the Wynn Guild, I’m confident we could develop your talents to a level where people would mistake you for an SS-rank.”

  Shane was certain Josh would drop him in a heartbeat if he found out his real rank was F.

  Besides, he couldn’t join Wynn even if he wanted to. Those guild buffs would’ve been nice, if it weren’t for [Honor Mode].

  Before his [Behavior Lock] could act up again, Elodie piped in.

  “Oh, god, where are my manners? Thanks for saving me back there, um—” Just when she was going to ask for Shane’s full name, someone cut in.

  “Hunter Miller?”

  Henry Stone was struggling to sit up, one hand pressed against his broken ribs. He looked pale, and his voice was small, almost apologetic.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Henry wheezed, looking between Josh and Shane. “But... we should probably log that the dungeon was degraded. For the report.”

  Josh stepped back from Shane.

  “Degraded? What do you mean?”

  “The trap,” Henry said, gesturing weakly to the shattered remains of the tile the runes had been inscribed on. “It malfunctioned. We got really lucky.”

  Elodie tilted her head.

  “But wasn’t I caught in it?”

  “No, I mean...” Henry looked up at Shane with wide, innocent eyes. “Traps like these sometimes break when the target signature doesn’t match, right?”

  Josh frowned slightly.

  “Hunter Stone, that was a [Nightmare Shackle]. It triggers on anyone with mana.”

  Henry nodded.

  “Yes, it’s supposed to trigger on humans like it did with her.”

  He glanced at Elodie, who was still looking back at him with a puzzled expression.

  “But, Hunter...” Henry trailed off, waiting for a name, but when Shane stayed silent, he dropped his gaze and continued. “When he stepped on the runes, the curse circle itself broke. A normal [Curse Resistance] skill could never do that.”

  Henry let out a heavy breath.

  “So it must’ve been broken. Because if it wasn’t, it means it scanned him and decided he wasn’t a valid human target. And that would be crazy.”

  He tried to laugh meekly, only to clutch his side as if the action pained him.

  “I’m just glad, because if it had recognized him properly, we’d all be dead.”

  Shane stared down at the kid. What game was he playing at?

  The guy was clearly baiting everyone by subtly planting seeds of doubt about Shane’s abilities, and worse, his humanity.

  But he wouldn’t tell anyone about his [Curse Immunity] skill just because an NPC got suspicious. Actually, he wasn’t sure he could, even if he wanted to. Not with the [Behavior Lock] stopping him from exposing his secrets or weaknesses.

  Shane looked at the familiar face that was partially hidden by a knight helmet.

  There was no mistaking Henry Stone.

  An incredibly useful tank to have in a raid.

  Well, at least until the guy made a deal with the Seraphim and became an SS-rank monster.

  It was ironic that the traitor of humanity was looking at Shane like he was the threat.