Hengrabalibor.

3rd POV.

"So, did you ask her out?"

"Who do you take me for? Of course I invited her, haven't you seen her face, my friend?

"Not yet, but I've been told she's hot. What did she said? "

"She had stuff to do the whole week, work stuff, u' know."

"…"

"What?"

"Pfff HAHAHAHA!"

"HEY, damn, I'm telling you the truth. She didn't reject me."

"Ye', ye', believe what you want men."

"Yes, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose my friend."

"WHO-"

THUMP.

"WHA-"

THUMP.

"..."

"Mmmm, it was easier than I thought." The hooded man said as he approached the portal.

Roy's POV.

EEE UUU EEE UUU EEE UUU!

'Shit, how did they activate the alarm?' I made sure to knock out all the guards.

'You know what, it doesn't matter. I will try to complete this fast, and I don't think they can stop me when I get out. I hope so.'

This is my chance, a portal that nobody wants to use because of the small amount of magic crystals it produces, and because of the monsters that are difficult to kill even for veteran hunters.

'I don't have time to look for another one, the mission has little time left, each day that passes Jinwoo gets stronger and the final battle draws closer.'

I decided to enter the portal and worry about the consequences later.

…

'This…'

The interior of the portal was daunting, to be honest.

A giant swamp, surrounded by poisonous and carnivorous plants, trees straight out of a horror movie, a blood-colored sky and a smell of shit that could break even the strongest of men. That's what surrounded me.

Few moments passed before a gigantic crocodile and his friends raised their heads from the water.

With my spear in hand, my black training suit and my armguards, invisible thanks to the system, I prepared myself for what was coming.

[Spear-tongued crocodiles.] was the message that floated over the heads of the monsters, and they did not hesitate to show the reason for the name.

SSSSHH! SSSSHH! SSSSHH!

Shooting out their sharp and questionably large tongues, 4 of the crocodiles attacked me.

Due to my previous investigation, the attacks didn't take me too much by surprise, so before they got too close, I jumped over the tongues and cut some off with my spear.

GRWAAAR!

My movements were slowed down a bit by the mud, and as a result one of the tongues was able to reach one of my shoulders, although it only left a small cut.

"Damn, it hurts." Knowing that crocodile venom increases pain. even a small cut is enough to affect movement.

'But it is what I expected.' I know it was not going to be easy. I don't have a high level, experience, or poison resistance as strong as that of Jinwoo, and yet this portal was my best option to complete the quest on time.

Quickly getting out of the surrounding mud and taking advantage of the cries of pain of some crocodiles, I began my hunt.

SLASH! BOOM! BOOM!

Cutting crocodiles' skin was tricky work with my current strength, so I decided to punch them every chance I got while dodging attacks as much as I could.

BOOM!

"AGHhh!"

One of them hit me in the side with his tail.

I wasn't even able to wipe the blood from my mouth, they didn't give me a chance.

Some shot out their tongues like spears, others came out of the water on two legs and tried to slash me with their claws, others lashed out with their tails at high speeds.

It felt overwhelming.

[You have leveled up.]

But even with cuts and bruises all over my body, I couldn't stop thinking about how much fun it was.

[Skill: Quick race was activated.]

It felt like a challenge against myself. How many will I kill in a minute, how many hits will I take, how many mana and HP potions will I have to use.

"JAJAJA!" I couldn't help but laugh as another tongue connected with my forearm.

I use all the skills at my disposal.

At one point in the fight I got the abilities Spear Arts, Vital Strike and Javelin Throw, making my job a bit easier, even though the mana consumption increased.

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

Berserk bullfrogs and Giant mosquitoes also joined the game.

[You have leveled up.]

Mosquito stingers could pass through my body without any resistance, and their venom affected my movement even more, so they were my priority.

They died fast, but they move faster and there were large numbers.

[You have leveled up.]

BOOM! HISSS! SLASH!

The frogs charged with leaps, pointing with the horns that crowned their heads.

[You have leveled up.]

And the fight continued.

...

After 20 minutes of poisoning and confrontation, I managed to get rid of the monsters in the area.

My body was cut, stabbed, with 2 fingers missing, one leg atrophied, both arms badly injured and missing an eye.

My body trembled with pain, beggin for at least a little rest.

My vision was blurry, my throat felt dry, and my fingers had long since stopped working properly.

My spear was buried in my last enemy, and it would probably stay there for a while.

When I didn't notice anyone else stalking me, I walked slowly to a nearby tree and leaned against it.

The fight was intense, the most intense of my life.

I looked in my inventory to know how many potions I had left, and to my not-so-surprising surprise, I didn't have even one.

I thought about using the healing from daily rewards, but decided against it. That was my trump card against the boss, and I don't have the privilege of spending it before meeting him.

I know where it is, I feel the large amount of mana it gives off from a distance, but fighting the boss and the cannon fodder at the same time would only be an insta-kill.

…

3rd POV.

A few seconds after a mysterious hooded man entered the portal, something strange happened.

A tremor was felt on the ground as said portal released large amounts of magical power. It started to grow and become more chaotic, until it suddenly stopped, disappearing completely.

…

"Chairman, an incident has been reported outside of Tokyo. According to the report, at one of the [B] rank portals located around the base of Mount Fuji, the security alarm sounded and a surge of magical power was detected just before it's… disappearance."

"What do you mean by disappearance?"

"The portal completely disappeared, Sir."

"Hmmm... Do we have an antecedent of such an event?"

"No sir, this is the first time it has ever happened."

"And what do our investigators say about it?"

"They... don't know what happened either, Sir." The secretary said as she avoided her boss's gaze.

"Heh, so much money spent and they only respond with disappointments. Tell them to keep working on the case, I want an acceptable answer on that by tomorrow."

"Yes Sir."

"Gojo didn't say anything, did he?"

"No Sir."

"I imagined that. You can go."

"Yes Sir." She said as the young lady bowed slightly and left the office.

'Should I invite her to my villa? She wouldn't reject me, and that body deserves a real man. Mmmm, tomorrow will be a good day. I should play golf with the officials today, maybe I can get something out of those idiots... 'Thought the Chairman of the Japanese Hunters Association as he looked at his secretary's ass.

…

Roy's POV.

I don't know how long I've been here. The timer for all the missions I had was frozen, and it was only recently that I realized it.

There is no night or day here, just a reddish sky without a single cloud. The sun is nowhere to be seen, but from the light it always seems that it is afternoon.

Since I was able to get some strength back, I started collecting magic stones from the beasts I killed and selling them. I managed to buy some potions, and now I'm at 70% capacity, maybe 80%.

There were also a few groups of monsters, but I only killed the small groups that didn't cost me much and ran from the most troublesome ones.

I like to fight, I know that, but I prefer to fight without so many disadvantages.

Going up 2 levels has been the only positive thing among all this shit.

"Damn."

'So he decided to come to me...' I could feel that large presence in the surroundings rapidly approaching me.

'I won't be able to escape from this...' I really want shadow soldiers in these situations.

Fuuu~ 'I have to fully concentrate if I don't want to die.'

Jumping over several trees and landing, the monster created a large crater with its fall, causing the ground to shake heavily.

Yellow eyes could be seen staring at me as the dust dispersed.

GRRRRRAR GRRRR

…

Grayish skin, large claws and fangs like swords, dozens of horns all over its back and part of its extremities, and its most distinctive factor, a coat, surrounded by two large horns, that began on its back and ended in a long red tail of thorns, with movements so fluid that it seemed to have a will of its own.

[Red abomination of the swamp, Hengrabalibor]

'In red.' I thought as I looked into his eyes.

But this beast wasn't the biggest threat, no.

The most terrifying were the monsters that followed him, his personal guard, the strongest of each species present in the swamp.

This is the problem no hunter wanted to deal with, the reason this portal is so evaded, and perhaps the cause of my death.

A team of monsters that, although don't know how to cooperate with each other, fight to protect the boss together, while the boss also participates in the battle.

'I have to be quick.'

Take in my surroundings slowly and prepare my mind for what lay ahead.

'Very fast.'

Spear-tongued crocodile, Berserk bullfrog, and Giant mosquito, all bigger and more intimidating than anything I've seen before.

The crocodile prepared to launch his spear tongue, and that determined the beginning of the fight.

[Skill: Quick race was activated.]

I lowered my body a bit and lunged at the crocodile, narrowly avoiding the mosquito that was aiming for my jugular.

At one point I saw him open his mouth, and the next he already had his sharp tongue in front of my face.

My reflexes helped me enough that I only received a cut on the cheek, and taking advantage of how exposed the tongue was, I squeezed it and let it pull me.

"AGHhh!" The poison took effect, and my cheek burned like hell.

The crocodile, seeing me coming towards him, turned his head sharply, expecting to crash me into a nearby tree.

Since I noticed his intentions, I released my grip and drew my spear from inventory in mid-air, traveling with good speed towards the crocodile.

The abomination, with what I could imagine was an evil smile, decided to interfere with my move.

With a speed that no one should have in a swamp, he appeared in my path and swung one of his claws at me.

I crossed my arms as a last resort, and even with the extra protection of my gear, I felt my bones break and my flesh mutilated.

"AHHHH!"

It hurt a lot, so much that it was hard to breathe.

BOOM!

I crashed into two trees, and on the third one I finally concluded my journey.

Cough! Cough!

'...Heh heh'

The mosquito seized the opportunity and sped towards me.

Feeling that he was an instant away from me, I jumped out of the tree and squeezing with all the strength I could muster, I threw my spear in his path.

[Skill: Javelin throw was activated.]

The mosquito was unable to react to the power of the attack, succumbing shortly after a stab wound in it's torso.

[You have leveled up.]

'Heh Heh'

[Alarm. As your health has dropped below 30%, [Skill: Willpower] will activate. Damage taken will be reduced by 50%.]

The next instant, the frog charged me from the side, burying one of its horns.

COUGH!

I clench my fists and slammed with my everything into the monster's skull.

BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!...BOOM!...Boom!...boom.

[You have leveled up.]

"...Heh heh heh"

I pulled the horn out of my torso as I trembled and felt my vision blur.

I felt the sharp tongue of the crocodile approach, but I couldn't avoid it completely.

He stabbed my shoulder so hard it tore it off, but I didn't take it into account.

Using my fingers from my remaining arm, I stabbed the tongue that snatched away my left limb.

The wound was deep, but not enough to cut it completely.

"Heh... Heh heh heh" Everything turned black, but it couldn't end like this.

"Accept… status COUGH!... recovery."

My body regenerated and filled with energy, while looking into the eyes of the abomination.

The scream of pain of the crocodile was the only thing that could be heard, but we paid no attention to it.

We just looked into each other's eyes as we slowly circled each other.

"You know, I would have loved a pet like you. It's a shame."

GRRRRR!

I don't know if he understood me, I just know that now the real fight would start. I know he was sizing me up throughout the battle, and that my recovery only put him more on guard, so now he's going all out.

'Subarashi.'

I think I now understand Kenpachi's excitement before a good battle.