Serena's Ice Palace (2)
The moment they stepped into the gate, a bone-chilling wind whipped across their skin, freezing it solid.
They'd gotten a rough idea from the gate's color beforehand—there were even specialized departments researching that sort of thing—but this dimension's backdrop was a vast snowfield.
"Welcome to Serena's Ice Palace, everyone."
The gate kindly announced the name of the place. Serena's Ice Palace, huh.
An ice palace sounded like a pretty decent matchup for Yuseonje, all things considered.
Ice or whatever, melt it down and it became water—and water was an excellent conductor for lightning.
Who or what Serena was could be figured out from here on out.
Yuseonje lifted his head, taking in the world spread before his eyes. Endless snow-covered mountains stretched out ahead.
Aside from jagged black rocks protruding here and there like forgotten brushstrokes on a canvas, everything was buried in serene white.
The raid party had entered midway up the mountain. Far off in the distance, the ice palace glittered invitingly—no chance of getting lost on the way there.
Suddenly, someone appeared at his side.
"Ugh, I hate the cold."
It was Kim Daegwon, the 7-star hunter Jin Yeonhwa had assigned to this op. A martial artist type who compressed and released mana from his own body, he towered over the 183cm Yuseonje, his massive frame a full head taller. Jin Yeonhwa had slotted him into the raid team precisely because his style ignored elemental matchups.
He was also tasked with supporting and protecting the glass-cannon Yuseonje.
"Ahh, when the hell are the others showing up?"
Space rippled beside him, and a slender figure emerged.
Kim Daegwon had lived his whole life as a fighter. He wasn't cut out for leading others.
Naturally, command fell to this woman.
"Team Leader Lee Hyewon."
Lee Hyewon, Jin Yeonhwa's most prized 6-star hunter. She had an exceptional eye for the battlefield.
I trailed behind the lead porters, matching their pace step for step to avoid standing out.
Whew.
I'd infiltrated the raid party disguised as a porter.
Porters were officially part of the raid team, so slipping my identity past security wasn't a walk in the park—but it was still way easier than hiding in the support crew or main assault group.
I'd considered waiting for the full raid to deploy before sneaking in via the gate later, but the defenses sounded insane.
Luckily, the porter captain—dug up courtesy of Han Seohyun's intel—had "gladly" welcomed me aboard.
—Kidnapping him and pounding mana into him until my lie stuck. And he calls that "gladly."
'All for the greater good.'
Thanks to that, Han Seohyun and I made it in as porters without a hitch. Oh, Kim Jaeho sat this one out. We only had two face-changing masks ready to go, so it made sense.
Truth be told, whipping up a third would've been no sweat with the right materials, but Kim Jaeho's zero social skills made him a liability for infiltration. I fed him some vague excuses and told him to stand guard outside.
Someone might try slipping in after the raid departed to sabotage things, after all.
With his sharp senses, Kim Jaeho could sniff out latecomers easy.
I'd told him to hop in right away if that happened.
Anyway, Han Seohyun and I were officially logged as Sirius raid porters.
Even swaying the captain, the whole process felt suspiciously smooth. No extra ID checks or anything.
I'd prepped a rock-solid lie for just that scenario, too.
—Feels like someone punched a hole in security.
'To make the whole pipeline that sloppy? You'd need at least a team leader pulling strings. You think someone's that high up turned traitor?'
—Stay sharp anyway. My gut's screaming.
Ray pegged the top brass as suspect, but I had my eyes on the porters. Their security was the loosest by far.
I scanned the porters' faces.
Ordinary-looking bunch, but no room for complacency. One of them could be here to botch the raid.
Nothing too fishy jumped out, though.
Made sense—hard to spot suspects when everyone's bundled head to toe in heavy cold-gear. Add the massive backpacks, and they all blurred together.
Hell, without Ray, even I'd struggle to pick Han Seohyun out of the crowd.
—Thanks for the vote of confidence.
'You're welcome.'
The porter team was hunkered down on a snowy cliffside now, awaiting the signal.
Hold position until the support team's scans wrapped. Even standing still, nobody wasted energy on chit-chat—perfect for us. Han Seohyun's boyish voice clashed hard with his gravelly adult mask, so we'd agreed on radio silence.
—To chat with the kid, use Transmission.
Ray tossed out the tip, probably tired of my fidgeting.
The 2-stroke Transmission talent did exactly what it sounded like: relayed spoken words. Short-range only, one-way street—you could send, but not receive replies—but great for dodging eavesdroppers.
'Not planning to use talents here if I can help it.'
—Why not?
'Hunters might miss it, but some supports can sense even tiny mana flickers.'
Detection or sensing talents made those supports hyper-tuned to mana flow. Bad call to risk it.
Still, sitting idle itched. I prodded Ray instead.
'You said before—gates form because other dimensions invade ours.'
—Yup.
'Why bother making gates at all?'
Honestly, pre-Doom gates racked up casualties, sure—but they bootstrapped humanity too. The resources they spat out fueled a second Renaissance.
Ray answered.
—To balance atmospheric mana levels. Terraforming, basically. Can't do much on mana-less dirt. Your world's human greed's accelerating the mana erosion way faster than other dimensions.
'Greed?'
—Keeping gates open to mine the guts? Insane.
'Ah.'
Clicked now. Think mana as a pollutant. Hit a threshold, and Doom Sequence kicks off. Instead of scrubbing it, we're hauling it straight from the source.
'Can't we proactively cross over?'
If gates were dimensional doors, why not two-way traffic?
—Nah. Gates link to replica worlds—copies of ones already devoured and trashed by overlords. That's why they're degraded and weak. Even Evrika you bagged? Not originally that easy.
'Really?'
—Yeah. Lost her world, got booted from the knockoff too. Pathetic state.
Gate break monsters emerge weakened? News to me. I'd figured breaks were pure bad news. Maybe let high-rank gates blow on purpose?
Ray read my mind.
—World-scale? Total disaster. Shattered gates flood mana from their pocket worlds everywhere.
'Ah, so worse than just killing monsters—ramps up pollution.'
—Bingo. Stack enough, Doom starts.
Less than a year since my return. Survive this winter, hit year one—nine left.
Per Ray, our dimension's "gate stabilizers" for resource grabs sped the rot.
—Mana-rich worlds fall faster, no defenses. Yours got lucky—mana-poor as hell. Still took ten years with all that mining.
Hm. Ban mana stone mining outright?
But for unawakened or sub-D-rankers who couldn't hunt, gate mining was their only gig. Porters needed C-grade minimum.
Me? I could shut it all down tomorrow—no skin off my back; I'd outgrown that poverty ages ago. Blocking it now for some "greater good," though...
Too selfish.
'We'll keep mining going. Too many livelihoods on the line.'
—Hah, fussing over that? World's ending, dude.
'Block mining, and their worlds end that day.'
Years till Doom anyway. Plenty of time to sort something out.
Support scans must've wrapped—the porter captain was slapping backs, passing the word.
"Scans clear. Follow the vanguard, nice and slow."
No clue what monsters lurked here, so silence was golden. Hence the shoulder-taps relay.
No need to reach the tail-ender like me, but the captain trudged over anyway.
"Hey, bro-in-law. Hanging in there?"
The lie I'd fed him? Make me sound like someone worth looping in on this job.
Issue was, the guy was his brother-in-law.
"Please put in a good word with my wife, yeah?"
Whipped husband vibes.
"Sure."
"Attaboy! Nail this, bro-in-law, and you're golden on the team. Let's do this!"
His guileless eyes crinkled above the mask.
Bit much pressure.
Captain vanished up front. As I sighed watching him go, a middle-aged guy approached.
Han Seohyun. Couldn't spot him earlier—now I got it.
I shot him a "shut it" glare. He clammed up and fell in behind.
A black shadow dispersed behind Han Seohyun at the rear.
Rat-boy, who'd dragged himself back from death.
These undead minions would handle this brutal cold no sweat.
We'd hang at the tail, fake an "accident" at the right moment to peel off.
Bonus if we ID'd a saboteur first—but they'd lay low till the critical beat too.
I eyed the raid party with a steely gaze.
Dozens creeping down the steep snowy path.
One among them hid the power to wipe the whole team.