#169
“Hunter Yoon Pa-ran, are you going inside again?”
“Yeah. If there are more survivors, it would be best to check quickly.”
Yoon Pa-ran answered lightly while worrying about Dan Joo-hyuk’s whereabouts. The Gate Management Office official’s expression turned serious.
Was there a problem?
In truth, Yoon Pa-ran’s sudden appearance from inside was quite strange. It was the effect of a skill that couldn’t be physically explained.
Therefore, unable to explain how he got there, Yoon Pa-ran felt somewhat guilty. As he tensely thought of various excuses, the official merely expressed concern.
“It would be difficult to handle alone.”
“Ah. I’ll be fine. Tell the other hunters to be careful. And please take care of the information I mentioned earlier.”
He’d been told that hunters who had gathered urgently had already attempted several raids. However, as Yoon Pa-ran had feared, the monsters’ force was too strong for a proper response.
It seemed that potions weren’t working well in that corrupted land. The assault team, with increasingly accumulated injuries, had to urgently retreat just a short while ago.
In this situation, the Gate Management Office was thrown into chaos when Yoon Pa-ran appeared with survivors in tow.
Finding it difficult to pretend complete ignorance, Yoon Pa-ran had given some plausible explanation. That one of his skills somehow exerted great power under the Great Gate.
Just in case, he had roughly explained about the axis items too. The energy inside was now so strong that even civilians could detect the abnormal air. So hunters would easily notice something strange about the items.
Though his explanations were puzzling in many ways, the official listened attentively instead of questioning. Watching the officials’ trembling hands recording his every word, Yoon Pa-ran firmly decided he should go back in alone.
Most of the hunters who had entered earlier were deeply wounded, making it difficult to reorganize immediately. Due to gates appearing all over Seoul, even contacting hunters who had entered other gates about the Great Gate’s opening was challenging.
“Please be careful.”
“I will.”
In many ways, it seemed best that he hurry. Whether to purify that axis item or to save more survivors, he needed to move quickly.
…And find Dan Joo-hyuk too.
Though knowing Dan Joo-hyuk would survive well anywhere, he strangely couldn’t suppress his anxiety.
Dan Joo-hyuk had clearly taken that mark instead of him. He must have judged it dangerous to be marked. This fact worried him more as time passed.
Yoon Pa-ran left the temporary headquarters, carefully storing the potions and shield items the officials had put in his pockets. Though knowing their effectiveness would be halved, he accepted them gratefully as they wanted to help.
The blood-red ground welcomed him again.
“Hoo…”
A more suffocating energy than before approached his skin. According to the Gate Management Office officials, the corrupted area hadn’t been this wide before. The ground and tree roots seemed to be spreading in all directions.
At this rate, all of Seoul might be covered with these strange organisms. Imagining those creepy roots climbing over the orphanage walls made him feel even more urgent.
Yoon Pa-ran headed eagerly toward the center again.
Strangely, as the suffocating energy grew stronger, the power of his Sacred Energy skill also increased.
Of course, even so, it would be dangerous if monsters swarmed from all directions. The energy of appearing monsters exceeded at least A-class. Monsters that looked like S-class from a distance were also commonly seen.
It would be dangerous if surrounded from all sides.
Hiding his body here and there, he aimed for the Yongsan District Office where he had first fallen. At some point, Yoon Pa-ran felt something was wrong.
The number of appearing monsters seemed to be decreasing.
“…”
Fewer monsters was a good thing. However, in a situation where at least five gates had burst open, it was certainly not good news.
Where had all the monsters gone?
After urgently looking around, Yoon Pa-ran finally discovered traces of monsters. Ominously, footprints of various sizes showed they had fiercely gathered in one place.
Seeing this, he suddenly remembered. A memory of having seen a similar monster wave before.
Could it be Dan Joo-hyuk again?
“Damn it.”
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he ran with strength in his thighs. His gaze urgently scanned the surroundings, trying to catch the trail of the monsters.
Tree roots protruding everywhere vibrated smoothly, hindering his steps. It almost seemed like they were using skills like monsters. Without the shoe item Dan Joo-hyuk had given him, it would have been difficult to gain speed.
That ominous mark or whatever was clearly up to something. That must have put Dan Joo-hyuk in a predicament.
He probably had almost no stored skill left.
His heart beat wildly. It was as if this damned energy penetrating his skin from earlier was also tightening around his chest.
Finally, Yoon Pa-ran caught up with the rear of the monsters gathering in one place. It was in the opposite direction from both the center and the temporary headquarters created by the Gate Management Office.
It was as if someone had deliberately decided to draw all monsters away from the center.
“Kuk.”
Soon, a section completely blocked by monsters appeared, making further approach impossible. Yoon Pa-ran secretly climbed a collapsed building, trying to secure visibility.
It was even more ominous because it resembled the incident at the Linked Anomaly Gate. He worried that even Dan Joo-hyuk would struggle because the monsters were stronger than back then.
And there was no safety zone in this reality.
Eventually, after climbing the ruins of a building with only two floors left, Yoon Pa-ran saw monsters gathered in black.
“Ah.”
In a moment when his heart felt like it would jump out through his ears, he finally discovered him.
Dan Joo-hyuk fighting with countless monsters surrounding him from all directions.
“That bastard, really!”
All that supported his back was a single safety zone statue. It was the largest statue with the most original form remaining among those seen so far, but now it was merely a rock that helped prevent him from being completely surrounded by monsters.
How could he help him?
Though he desperately looked around just in case, there was no lucky sighting of an axis item like before. Moreover, this time there was no guarantee that purifying one axis would simultaneously stop so many monsters. There were clearly at least two remaining axes, and as a Great Gate, the energy was much stronger.
Dan Joo-hyuk’s body was covered in wounds. His head might have been injured too, as red blood was flowing down his face.
In that state, he suddenly looked at the air and smiled brightly. Just like when he told Yoon Pa-ran to keep his promise.
Why are you smiling like that, in such a state?
Anger surged again. He felt he wouldn’t be satisfied until he gave him a piece of his mind face to face. But having no immediate solution made his chest tight with impatience.
At that moment, a wolf-type monster that had been watching for Dan Joo-hyuk’s opening bit his shoulder.
“No!”
Seeming to have run out of strength, Dan Joo-hyuk suffered the attack helplessly without even making a proper counterattack. The house-sized monster obscured Dan Joo-hyuk almost completely.
Yoon Pa-ran’s heart began to beat violently, painfully. His vision flowed slowly as all kinds of thoughts quickly crossed his mind.
If only a safety zone would work, at least.
“Huh…?”
At this sudden thought, Yoon Pa-ran’s gaze moved urgently to the massive structure Dan Joo-hyuk was leaning against.
The safety zone statue was originally half-destroyed. Now it couldn’t even stand straight and was half-buried in a pile of dirt, looking even more pitiful.
Nevertheless, Yoon Pa-ran kept his gaze on it. Like a stone dropping into a calm water surface, realization splashed up.
[Sacred Zone S]
Declare a safety zone.
*You can create a safety zone in the desired location.
*Find a medium to form the safety zone.
So that’s the medium I’ve been looking for.
The safety zone statue that had shown no reaction when tested inside the gate. But seeing this ’empty’ statue that couldn’t form any safety zone, he understood.
That he could activate the skill using that statue that had come out of the gate.
His heart beat strongly again, but differently, with expectation. It was a heartbeat that half contained foreboding. Though he had found a method, he couldn’t break through to get there with his own power.
As his expression clouded with frustration at this predicament, a status window he had forgotten suddenly appeared.
[Stealthy Extorter S—Lover’s Call]
: Each time the absorption rate exceeds 90%, one use is accumulated.
—Bidirectional use possible.
Current accumulated uses: 1/1
“Ah.”
It was still a skill whose identity was unknown. But he felt as if a warm hand was pushing his back.
Without time to think further, Yoon Pa-ran activated the skill. Though Dan Joo-hyuk barely managed to counterattack, the strength was clearly gone from the tip of his sword.
Yoon Pa-ran jumped down from the ruins.
A defensive barrier like a fierce whirlpool of water surrounded him. Even the monsters that had gathered like a tsunami around him dared not approach as he was wrapped in sacred light.
Wrapped in this strong power, Yoon Pa-ran ran toward Dan Joo-hyuk.
❖ ❖ ❖
“Don’t forget your promise.”
Pushing Yoon Pa-ran away to drop him, Dan Joo-hyuk smiled faintly.
“No…!”
Yoon Pa-ran’s face turned quite indignant as he reached out his arms, but Dan Joo-hyuk didn’t grab them. Soon, a force like an eddy separated the two.
A familiar yet still unpleasant sensation wrapped around Dan Joo-hyuk. After keeping his eyes closed for a while, he immediately drew his sword as soon as he recognized the change in airflow.
As expected, his body now moved properly. What he hadn’t expected, however, was the horde of monsters filling his view.
Grrrr.
Kiaaak!
“Ha.”
The black mark floating above his head glimmered grimly, as if mocking him.
KRAAAAK!
As soon as his feet touched the ground, the monsters rushed at him all at once. While dealing with them as smoothly as flowing water, Dan Joo-hyuk confirmed that his judgment had been correct.
If it had been Yoon Pa-ran, it would have been a trial difficult to endure easily.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
