Zero Point

#118

The air inside the gate felt heavy. Eunseok briefly looked up at the sky. Against the blue backdrop, two suns of different sizes hung in the sky. Next to them, large planets were clearly visible. It felt like a completely different world, or as if they had landed on a distant alien planet.

Eunseok lowered his gaze to take in the incredible landscape before him. The group was standing on a cliff at the top of a mountain enveloped in green. Below, a vast jungle stretched out, and beyond it, the top of a stone pyramid jutted out.

“Shall we start?” James asked, swinging his enormous hammer in the air as if warming up. Without waiting for a response, he threw himself off the cliff.

James’s massive body disappeared down the sheer cliff. Damon, Anna, and Natasha followed suit, leaping off one after another. A series of thuds echoed from below as they landed. Choi Hanseo wrapped his arm around Eunseok’s waist and jumped last. Their bodies fell continuously, reminiscent of airborne training.

Boom-!

They finally landed on the ground. Hanseo released Eunseok’s waist.

After confirming that the two had landed, James plunged into the dense jungle. Eunseok nodded towards Hanseo. Receiving the signal, Hanseo dashed forward as if springing ahead.

The speed of the three S-class hunters was considerable. They were probably maintaining an appropriate pace out of consideration for the two A-class hunters and Eunseok, the guide, but it was still fast. Eunseok focused on matching the team members’ speed rather than conserving energy. There would be brief rest periods during battles anyway, so it was more important not to slow down the team.

It was literally a jungle. Dense trees and all kinds of plants obstructed their view. Fortunately, Eunseok was positioned at the very back of the single-file line. Sticking close behind Natasha, the healing hunter running directly in front of him, there was little interference from the plants.

“Here they come!”

A warning shout came from the front. Almost immediately, the battle began.

Whoosh- whoosh-. The sound of the hammer swinging echoed, followed by thud, smack, and booming explosions. By the time Eunseok and Natasha pushed through plants taller than themselves, the battle was already in full swing. As expected of S-class, the monsters they encountered from the start were enormous. Giant snakes, at least equivalent to B-class bosses, were baring their venomous fangs and swinging tails with sharp poisonous spines.

James blocked the poisonous tails with his shield and smashed the snakes’ heads with his hammer. Damon, the melee damage dealer, wielded a longsword with a unique black blade, while Hanseo fought the giant snakes bare-handed. Anna, the ranged attacker, moved her hand in the air as if shooting arrows. As she pulled an invisible bowstring, flaming arrows materialized. Each time she released, the fire arrows embedded themselves in the snakes’ bodies or heads. The smell of burning protein permeated the air.

Each individual was an incredible force. The tank and three damage dealers were easily pulverizing boss-level giant snakes with just a few attacks. Snakes kept swarming through the jungle, but the team was so powerful that there was hardly any sense of crisis.

Natasha, the healer, casually watched the battle scene while repeatedly throwing and catching a dagger in one hand. Eunseok, gripping a dagger and a short sword instead of a gun, maintained vigilance of the surroundings while spreading area-of-effect guiding over the team members.

“Oh, area guiding!”

“Area guiding during combat, that’s impressive! As expected of an S-class guide!”

The team members each expressed their admiration. Eunseok noticed the slight upturn of Hanseo’s lips.

“This is endless. Let’s keep pushing forward like this!”

The tank, James, shouted. Without waiting for a response, he began advancing, swinging his shield and hammer. Hanseo and Damon, the melee damage dealers, naturally took positions on either side of James, striking down snakes as they moved. Anna, the ranged attacker, slowly advanced behind them, firing arrows.

Eunseok, who had thought they had completely abandoned teamwork, wore a surprised expression. As expected of experienced hunters, once the real battle began, they naturally found their positions.

As they moved while taking down giant snakes, the pace was such that Eunseok only needed to walk slightly faster than normal. Thanks to this, he could maintain the area guiding without physical strain while moving.

The snake attacks continued endlessly. It seemed like every snake living in the vast jungle they had seen from the cliff was converging on them. After advancing for just over an hour like this, other monsters began to mix in.

Woo-! Woo-!

A loud sound, as if alerting comrades, rang out. Looking up, they saw monsters that looked generally like monkeys, but far more vicious and threatening, sitting on tree branches. Soon, they all jumped towards the team members simultaneously.

Whack-! Thud!

Eunseok lightly dodged a monkey falling towards him and precisely stabbed his white dagger into its spinal cord. The creature whose spinal cord was instantly severed convulsed briefly before going limp. He quickly looked up to check on Natasha, but his worry seemed unnecessary. She was slicing up a monkey with daggers in both hands.

“Guide to the center!”

As the monkey swarms increased, James shouted. Eunseok swiftly moved to the center of the group. Without anyone saying anything, the team members formed a circle around Eunseok. They advanced slowly, literally massacring the snakes and monkeys.

James, the tank, occasionally used skills to draw aggro, and those surrounding Eunseok covered all the monsters. Naturally, Eunseok found himself with nothing to do. But he didn’t feel embarrassed or have his pride hurt by being idle. This was an S-class gate, and Eunseok’s important task was to guide them and regulate their numbers.

As he stood maintaining the area guiding, his gaze naturally often went to Hanseo. Despite having no weapons, he was killing monsters very quickly and efficiently. Judging by his lack of weapons, he seemed to be a type that excelled in close combat. It’s just that previously, there hadn’t been opponents worth engaging directly.

Each time Hanseo relentlessly crushed, tore apart, and burst monsters, Eunseok felt increasingly hot inside. Hanseo’s overwhelming strength, perfect bodily movements, and the composure and ease overflowing from his face even amidst this heated Eunseok’s heart.

“Isn’t that gaze a bit too hot?”

Natasha, the healing hunter, teased Eunseok with a whistle. Hearing this, Hanseo flashed a brief knowing smile at Eunseok.

Moving through the dense jungle was no easy task. Although the hunters in front cleared the way with their bodies, areas without protective clothing accumulated cuts from grass and leaves. This was true not just for Eunseok but for the hunters as well, who had light wounds dangling on their faces, arms, and hands. Of course, no one paid attention to such minor injuries.

In A-class gates, after dealing with one group, they could focus solely on moving until encountering the next group. But this jungle was different. Every time they tried to catch their breath, all sorts of creatures that might live in a jungle attacked. As a result, the hunters had no time to rest. And Eunseok had to maintain the area guiding continuously.

Eunseok checked the time. It had been a little over nine hours since they entered the gate around 9 AM. Although it was now afternoon, the two suns in the sky still maintained their positions. Naturally, their bodies were sticky with sweat due to the heat. The weather was unpleasant.

If they ignored the monsters and charged ahead at full speed, they could probably reach the stone pyramid much faster. But the hunters didn’t do that. In Eunseok’s opinion, this was the right decision. Although the hunters were so powerful that dealing with the monsters wasn’t much of a problem, if the creatures they left behind were to suddenly attack en masse from behind, it would turn into utter chaos. While not eliminating everything, it was correct to advance while taking out as many basic enemies as possible.

“Looks like we’re almost there?” James said, crushing a scorpion the size of a washbasin with his hammer. Eunseok craned his neck to look ahead. On the ground where there had been no path at all, flat stones that looked like traces of stone floors or paths appeared sporadically.