Chapter 2: The Black Gate
A gate opened in the middle of Seoul but this in itself is not a rare occurrence.
Since Jamsil Gate, Namyangju Gate, Songdo Gate, and others opened across the district 30 years ago, gates in the middle of the city have become commonplace.
The problem is the grade of the gate.
“Black…….”
An “out of specification” rating that is not even considered by the World Hunter Association’s official measurement scale.
Since it is measured by the amount of energy inside the gate, it boasts a 99.9% hit rate.
The Korean Hunter Association was prepared for this. They asked the World Hunter Association for support and asked the country’s leading hunter guilds to enter the gate.
“F*cking assholes… This is the only time they’re busy.”
“It’s not the first time the Hunter Guilds have done this.”
Hunter Han Ha-ri, a member of the Hunter Association, made an expression of disbelief at the words of Kim Jin-soo.
A Black Gate had appeared after 13 years but the big domestic guilds refused to enter and took a wait-and-see approach.
No wonder. The scarlet color of the A-ranked gate alone would cause countless casualties. But a black, non-standard gate that was beyond S-grade?
None of the major guilds wanted to consume their precious power on a gate with an unmeasurable risk.
In the end, the government-affiliated Hunter’s Association was forced to take matters into their own hands.
The vanguard would enter first, assess the danger, and return with as much information as possible to distribute to the larger guilds.
This was the standard method, as it gave players a huge advantage if they had the right information. The problem is the vanguard, which must enter without any prior information.
“Ha-ri…are you okay?”
Chief Kim looked worriedly at Ha-ri, who had followed him as the Hunter Association’s vanguard.
It was a dangerous reconnaissance mission and the association was so determined that they would only select applicants and leave them with a suicide note.
It was a shame that a promising new member of the Association, barely twenty years old, would be sent to such a place.
“It’s okay, I’m the only A-class hunter among the applicants, we should have at least one decent fighter.”
“Even so…….”
Class A Hunters are definitely a big deal. On top of that, the Hunter Association didn’t even have any Class A Hunters since hunters that talented would have joined the sinful guilds.
“For the safety of the citizens and the well-being of the country! Isn’t that the motto of our association?”
“……silly girl.”
She’s one of the Association’s few up-and-comers.
On modern Earth, where the big guilds have siphoned off talent, Hunters who want to become state employees are usually D-or C-class.
She was barely a B-class.
An A-class hunter prospect who applied to join such an association as soon as he graduated from the academy. If she was trained well, she could become the only S-class Hunter outside of the Association’s president.
Part of him wanted to tell her to go back for the sake of her future, but the strength of the vanguard is too low to send her back as it is.
This is the first Black Gate in 13 years. It was a selection mission that required S-class hunters, not A-class hunters, and yet there was only one A-class Hunter, Ha-ri.
“Huh… Let’s hope we make it back alive.”
-We’re going in, everyone, get ready!
* * * *
“Hmm… a field gate.”
The inside of the gate was a mess.
Some of the gates were ravaged, as if they had been destroyed, but the black gate the Association vanguard entered was beyond their imagination.
First, the sky turned crimson but the crimson color of the sky was not the color of the setting sun. It was an eerie red, as if the sky had been turned upside down.
There wasn’t a blade of grass on the ground. The ground is so barren and desolate that you wonder if this place ever really had life.
“My God, I’ve never seen a gate like this before. Where the hell are we?”
“Relax, Ha-ri. An Unmeasurable Gate hasn’t been opened in 13 years so we don’t know what we’ll find.”
“I know… but what is there in this world that can’t be measured?”
“I don’t know… Isn’t there some kind of high-level demon?”
“Don’t be so negative.”
It was then that a message flew to Ha-ri and the other Hunters from the Association.
[Gate Mission]
A mission system window that was created after Gates appeared in the world and Hunters awakened their magic.
It is a valuable system that informs Hunters who enter a Gate of the minimum information about the Gate and the goal of clearing it.
“Chief….”
“F*ck…….”
However, the Hunters who checked the system window had pale complexions and shivered.
[Hunt all demons]
Demons remaining: 117 / ????????
“Demons…….”
A race that occasionally appeared in high-grade gates among the countless gates.
Six years ago, a high-level demon, Kanbala, appeared at the Vermilion Grade Gate and killed a Korean S-class Hunter, Ko Jin-hyuk.
The appearance of the Great Demon Skazakari or a monarch-level demon in China 22 years ago always caused a terrible disaster.
“F*ck! F*ck! We have to get out now!”
“Chief!”
At the worst possible moment, even the stalwart Chief Kim was thrown into a panic.
This gate was a demon gate among many gates.
“Those bastards won’t die even if we kill them!”
Even if demons are killed they resurrect.
The Great Demon Skazakari, which emerged from the Shanghai Demon Gate in China 22 years ago, has been slain more than five times but Demon Gates don’t disappear, and every four years they resurface to cause a dungeon break.
“Calm down, Chief. It’s only 117 demons, and we might be able to finish it off surprisingly easily.”
“That’s the problem! It’s only 117 demons, and they’re rated black! That means there are at least some major demons!”
The rating of a dungeon is determined by the amount of energy in it.
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With only 117 demons, a black rating meant that every single one of them was terrifyingly powerful.
Worst of all, if it was a Great Demon Gate, the dungeon would never close, like the Shanghai Demon Gate.
That would be terrible. Right now, Shanghai alone has become a ghost town because of that Demon Gate.
“Let’s retreat! We have to let the association know that it’s a Demon Gate!”
There’s nothing they can do with a vanguard of less than 20 people so the party leader, Chief Kim, decided to retreat.
“Chief, look over there!”
A Hunter pointed in the direction. There, a large, masked demon stared down at the Hunters.
“Holy shit…Great Sword!”
Great Sword, a lesser demon and a minor race demon of about 1.5 meters with a sword larger than my own body. However, just because it’s a low-level demon doesn’t mean you should let your guard down. Even among demons, the Great Sword has a particularly powerful attack.
As its name suggests, the human body would bleed uncontrollably if it was struck by the Great Sword.
“Argh……”
And there wasn’t just one Great Sword.
One Great Sword after another, plus the other demons, their number already exceeding a hundred appeared.
“Damn, they’re already causing dungeon breaks?”
Every gate has a grace period until the mission is completed. But as soon as this gate opened, this happens?
-Gate! It’s a gate!
-We can live!
-Run, run, run!
The demons let out a grotesque cheer. The Hunters gasped and gripped their weapons as the demons rushed toward them.
“Hey, everybody, stay with me! We can’t let the demons get through the gate! They can hide as soon as they get to Earth!”
Demons can disguise themselves as humans or hide in their shadows.
All it took was one demon to slip through and something terrible would happen, which is why the Demon Gate must be closed at all costs.
“Form up, I’ll take the lead!”
“Ha-ri!”
Despite Chief Kim’s urging, Ha-ri drew her sword at the front of the line.
She wasn’t a tank, and it would be suicidal for her to take the lead, but she was needed now to encourage the panicked Hunters.
-Run! Run!
-I want to live! I don’t want to be annihilated!
The demons screamed in an unintelligible language as they charged. The first to come to the forefront were the hellhounds, a quadrupedal beast, the lowest of demons, but faster than an automobile. They rushed toward Ha-ri, gasping for breath.
-Kaaaaaaaaaah!
The hellhounds leapt. Ha-ri imbued her sword with magic and slashed at the hellhounds.
The enchanted sword sliced through their hides with ease, and the hellhounds writhed in agony.
“Good, good start!
She had killed four in one fell swoop and just as she was hoping her efforts would boost their morale, the gutted hellhounds began to act strangely.
“What?”
Hellhounds that were mortally wounded ran upright, dripping with blood, as if they were trying to enter the gate somehow.
“Stop them!”
But they were blocked by the Hunters.
The Hellhounds weren’t the only ones; the Great Swords bumped into the Hunters in front of them and crawled toward the gate, barely responding.
-Coming! He’s coming!
-He’s coming! He’s coming!
-No! Run! Over the gate!
“What, what?”
“Have these guys been drugged…….?”
The demons were defeated with ease, but Ha-ri and the other Hunters couldn’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu.
Even though they know they’ll be resurrected after a while, why are they so reckless? As if they were ‘running away’.
“Ha-ri, dodge!”
That’s when something hit the ground with a bang. Something overwhelming that swept across the terrain with only the aftermath of a shockwave, sweeping everyone away, including Ha-ri.
“What…?”
Ha-ri scrambles to the ground, her mind racing as she realizes what has happened.
“What the hell…….”
Something had fallen, and Ha-ri recognized it instantly.
“Ah…….”
Something huge came into view as a torn wing, an axe far beyond human size with rotten skin and a gaze that she didn’t want to see, even in her dreams appeared.
“Ahhh…….”
An Archdemon, the nightmare of the Demon Gate that tore even S-class Hunters alive.
“Move aside, lesser ones, before I kill you all!”
The demon overwhelmed the Hunters with a creepy sonic boom and the Hunters dared not move, stifled by the aura he emitted.
“Off, it’s over.”
Unmoving legs and rushing breaths, despair and fear overwhelmed them all.
“Oh, no. If he crosses over to Earth…….”
It has to be stopped. If a monster like that causes a dungeon break in the middle of Seoul… ten million citizens will be in danger!
“No.”
Ha-ri raised her sword. She dragged her unmoving legs forcibly and stood in the face of irresistible despair.
“A lowly human being…!”
The Archdemon clicked his tongue at the sight of Ha-ri before him, but strangely enough, the only emotion she felt was urgency.
“Move, bug!”
He throws a light blow, literally shooing the bug away but Ha-ri focused all of her magic to block the blow and…….
“Huh?!”
With a single blow, she bounced all the way to the gate.
“Black…!”
The ground, which had become a weapon in itself, slashed at Ha-ri’s body, and she realized with a single blow that she stood no chance against the Archdemon.
“Hmph…….”
As the dying embers flickered precariously, a figure stopped in front of her. At first, she thought it was Chief Kim, but then she realized it was the Association’s Hunters, immobilized by the power of the Archdemon.
Director Kim, a veteran, was also frozen in place as the Archdemon’s head rolled on the ground.
“Huh?”
Rolling in front of her right now…is that the head of the Archdemon that had just destroyed her?
“No, Lionheart King! No! No!”
The Archdemon screams in agony as his body burns from the cut but he wasn’t the only one, the demons around him were also shivering in fear.
“Huh?”
The Archdemon’s appearance was strange. In the recorded footage, the Archdemon was spitting out curses against humanity, heralding its resurrection, as it always did.
But what about the one in front of her?
“No! No! The holy law…! My soul… is… extinguished!”
It screams and struggles desperately, as if it’s actually facing death.
“Ah…….”
I get it.
The demons aren’t here to cause a dungeon break. They were rushing the gate in a desperate attempt to survive… to get away from someone.
Who? Who could make those brutal demons, those infinitely resurrecting demons, tremble?
“This is the last of you.”
It was a naked man.
Am I seeing things?
A man who wore nothing but his bare body and the hilt of a worn longsword. And yet, the light from his halo is graciously holy and brilliant.
“Rise, brave one.”
The words are archaic, almost dignified, coming from the mouth of a madman.
The tone, the demeanor, the posture…everything overrode the man’s attire.
Just hearing the voice rekindled the dying embers.
“Ha, ha, ha…….”
What the hell is this? What the hell is the man in front of me…….?
“Now is not the time to go down… stand up and fight back.”
Just hearing his voice made me feel empowered as a surge of energy and vitality lifted my injured body.
“You… who are you?”
In response to Ha-ri’s question, the brilliant blonde man spoke with a stern expression.
“I am the Lionheart King, King of the Holy Knights and agent of the Will of the Pantheon. I am Leon Dragonia Lionheart.”
The man raised his sword.
[All the demons were slain]
Demons remaining: 0 / ????????
