#121
“…!”
Yoon Pa-ran reflexively read the contents of the status window.
*Those who do not pass the test cannot return.
As soon as he grasped the meaning, he tightly gripped his sword handle and looked around.
They had already passed through the gate. The space, cut off from the outside world, seemed like an ordinary indoor terrain gate.
If not for this strange warning in the status window.
“What is this? L-let’s just get out…!”
The hunters who saw the words “cannot return” shouted in great agitation. Some quickly tried to turn back towards the entrance they had come through.
“No!”
At that moment, the floor they were standing on cracked and heaved. As if it were a metal attribute gate, the floor that had appeared to be made of stone flipped over with a clear metallic sound.
“Aaaaah!”
“Argh! My arm…!”
The hunters who had approached the entrance fell screaming into the cracks in the floor. One hunter who had barely managed to reach for the entrance had his arm severed by the gate surface and tumbled to the floor.
In an instant, the ground, which had opened like a monster’s maw, continued to swallow the hunters.
“Ugh.”
From the moment he sensed something was wrong with the ground he was standing on, Yoon Pa-ran had launched himself into the air by kicking off the wall. However, he was startled to see a hunter collapsed with blood spurting from his arm.
It looked just as if the gate entrance had closed.
Still, Yoon Pa-ran didn’t give up and tried to move from wall to wall, somehow trying to reach the entrance. However, when he was just one step away, his vision suddenly turned upside down.
“Ah…!”
It wasn’t simply a matter of losing his balance. As if passing through the gate again, an uncontrollable dizziness of the soul overtook him.
As if this gate had fallen into a giant mixer.
“…!”
Finally, Yoon Pa-ran’s body also began to fall helplessly between the cracks in the floor.
[Warning!]
The gate is mixing.
Be careful of ■■…
The status window appeared again, but this time the content wasn’t proper.
“Ugh.”
Even in the midst of this, Yoon Pa-ran, who had managed to confirm a few words, tried his best to maintain his balance. The sensation of continuously falling downwards sent chills down his spine. He tried to grab onto a wall to hang on, but strangely, there was nothing to grasp.
What does it mean that the gate is mixing?
Where is Dan Joo-hyuk, who entered first?
At some point, gravity began to be clearly perceived. Instinctively thinking he was nearing the ground, Yoon Pa-ran tensed his legs. It would be extremely troublesome if he were to break a bone now, of all times.
“Urgh…!”
The moment he felt his legs touch the ground, he rolled his body forward. He intended to disperse the impact with a falling technique.
However, strangely, the impact wasn’t as great as he had expected.
“…?”
He hurriedly got up and looked around. Yoon Pa-ran soon became bewildered at the environment surrounding him.
The sound of hunters falling and hitting the ground continued from all directions. The ground, which had been shaking violently as if in an earthquake, began to gradually stabilize.
“Shit, what is this?”
Eventually, those who came to their senses one by one looked around like Yoon Pa-ran and uttered confused sounds.
What surrounded them was now a vast jungle.
“Did the gate… change?”
Someone muttered quietly with a dumbfounded expression.
It had clearly been an indoor terrain just moments ago. Yoon Pa-ran distinctly remembered moving by kicking off both walls, but now there were only towering trees all around.
“We definitely fell from above…?”
“The attribute is different. The gate has changed.”
One hunter dug at the ground frantically and then declared. As they had inferred from the sound of the ground collapsing earlier, the place they had entered was of the metal attribute. However, now only the energy of the wood attribute permeated the air.
While gate terrains could vary greatly, there had never been a case where the attribute changed after entry.
“……”
Everyone fell silent at this massive anomaly. Yoon Pa-ran also looked around with a confused expression, then soon discovered that something that should be here was missing.
The gate entrance that had been visible until just now was gone.
…And Dan Joo-hyuk was also missing.
“It seems there aren’t even ten of us…”
“Didn’t more people come in? What about Dan Joo-hyuk?”
“Damn it, what the hell is going on!”
Fortunately or unfortunately, no hunters had broken legs. However, most were of lower rank than Yoon Pa-ran. Considering that the original gate they were supposed to enter was A-rank, this was closer to misfortune.
Because of this, gazes gradually turned towards Yoon Pa-ran.
“Hunter Yoon Pa-ran, didn’t you survive the Gumun-dong Anomaly Gate?”
“Was it like this then too? Huh? Give us some information!”
Starting with one person speaking up, the hunters clamored towards him. Some even sent desperate looks.
As if believing Yoon Pa-ran had the answer.
After confirming once again those who remained, Yoon Pa-ran let out a sigh. Then he answered firmly.
“It wasn’t like this then. Hunters did fall into the gate with time differences, but the place and attribute changing like this is a first for me too.”
“Damn it…”
Realizing that he didn’t have the answer either, the hunters lowered their heads in frustration. Their reactions were even more intense as they were lower-ranked hunters who should have been in charge of the rear even in an A-rank gate.
Among them, Yoon Pa-ran quietly took a deep breath. After composing himself, he gripped his sword and said in a low voice.
“For now, let’s move forward.”
“What do you expect to find?”
“Yeah! We can’t go back outside. We, we should wait for rescue…”
“No.”
Yoon Pa-ran cut off their words. If this situation was similar to that hellish anomaly gate, they couldn’t even dream of a rescue team.
They didn’t even know how much time had passed since they entered.
Moreover, there was an error in what they were saying.
“It’s not that we absolutely can’t go back. It means we can return if we pass the test.”
“……”
“Whatever it is, it’s probably ahead of us.”
There must be a way. There had to be.
“Damn it.”
“Tch…!”
The hunters didn’t respond to Yoon Pa-ran’s words. They just gravely checked their equipment.
Amidst this, Yoon Pa-ran quietly tensed up. Although he spoke clearly, he was actually in a very anxious state.
The situation was very different from the previous anomaly gate. First of all, they didn’t know what rank this gate was, and the ranks of the hunters with him were too low.
Above all, Dan Joo-hyuk wasn’t here. The one who would have been at the forefront, slaying monsters.
“……”
Can’t be helped. It won’t be solved by just sitting still.
After taking another short, deep breath, Yoon Pa-ran stepped to the very front. The hunters naturally lined up behind him.
They took their steps forward like that.
For a while, a brief peace continued. Running along a wide path uncharacteristic of jungle terrain, they even harbored hope that there might be a way out ahead.
“Block it…!”
“S…hit…!”
But soon, monsters began to appear one by one.
“Shoot! Fire attribute users to the front!”
“Aaaargh! You monster bastards!”
The hunters reflexively joined forces to counter the monsters. Although it was a fight filled with screams, Yoon Pa-ran inwardly thought it was somewhat fortunate.
The rank of the monsters they encountered wasn’t that high. Even though he had steeled himself for an anomaly occurring in an A-rank gate, the level of the monsters felt around B-rank.
This might be manageable.
Just as he was inwardly harboring a faint hope, Yoon Pa-ran suddenly sensed a strange energy.
Something peculiar, whether human presence or monster, was bothering him from up ahead.
“Everyone be careful…!”
It was an extremely ominous premonition.
Yoon Pa-ran immediately warned those around him, but the anomaly struck faster.
“Ugh!”
The ground flipped over again. As tree roots firmly embedded in the ground scattered in all directions, the smell of grass pierced his mind.
Yoon Pa-ran alone maintained his balance and held his ground. Maximizing the function of his shoes, he surveyed the surroundings to find an even more dangerous situation unfolding.
It seemed that tentacle-type monsters had been mixed in among the trees filling the area. As the ground flipped, they were forced to reveal their main bodies and showed hostility towards the nearby humans.
“Aaaagh…!”
The hunters were exposed helplessly to those attacks as they were suspended in mid-air. Yoon Pa-ran, the only one maintaining his balance, single-handedly blocked the attacks of tree roots lunging towards them.
“Ugh!”
“H-help me!”
However, he alone couldn’t save everyone. Some hunters had already fallen silent after screaming their death throes.
Even in the midst of this terrible sense of powerlessness, Yoon Pa-ran continued swinging his sword. The gate shook incessantly as if it had entered a mixing machine again.
“Th-thank you!”
Even in this situation, Yoon Pa-ran somehow managed to save one person and throw them towards stable ground.
“Quickly, run in the opposite direction!”
Yoon Pa-ran, who had shouted quickly, prepared to leap forward again. He was about to jump in reflexively upon seeing a hunter hanging upside down, caught by tree roots above his head.
Suddenly, he felt an impact from behind.
“…!”
The hunter he had just saved had lunged at him the moment Yoon Pa-ran turned his back.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
