Chapter 8
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Mobile Strike Team
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“What did you do to my bow?”
“Think about it logically. Would I tell you to yank the arrow out of your ass? Maybe if it was in your chest.”
Punch!
Come to think of it, I'd been saying stuff like that to Nayeong since we were kids—words that fully deserved a beating.
“Change it back to normal, quick!”
“I don't even know what I did!”
“Grrrrr...”
Cerberork didn't give them time to bicker.
And it wasn't just one or two of them, either.
Nayeong pulled out five arrows.
She nocked one and drew the bowstring, then glanced my way.
“Why?”
“When should I shoot?”
After it happened twice, she was handing the timing over to me.
She must have figured I did something, even if she couldn't see it.
Just tell her to shoot. Her sense of touch is sensitive, but she's dull in other areas.
That's what it said.
“Just shoot. That bow isn't just changed in appearance.”
“How do you know?”
“If you don't trust me, why hand the timing over to me? Shoot already.”
She eyed me suspiciously but drew the string anyway.
The five arrows traced arcs through the air before slamming into the ones up front.
“See? They're fine...”
BOOM!!
They exploded cleanly, sweeping away the ones behind them too.
Nayeong looked more shocked than I did.
“N-No way. We got them—five of them at once!!”
I put on a face like I'd expected it, but honestly, I was stunned too.
To think a single infusion of Yin Energy could boost the destructive power that much.
'Whoa... if a kiss does that much...'
I hurriedly shook off the rising delusions.
What the hell was I thinking about that flat-chested girl?
As we headed for the spire, it spoke up.
I underestimated you humans. You're moving faster than I thought.
'What're you talking about?'
Someone's chasing you.
That meant a hunter had followed us into the gate.
No way a guild could mobilize this fast—it had to be the Hunter Agency.
'You said we wouldn't get caught.'
Variables happen in everything. Keep going. You'll meet them at the end anyway.
30 minutes earlier—
A tip came into the Hunter Agency's public support office.
“...I went up to the rooftop for a smoke... I saw it, okay? Two people went into a Blue Gate...”
The counselor reported it straight to her superiors—the content was too serious to ignore.
Hunter Agency Intelligence Bureau—
“What'd the forecast division say?”
Intelligence Bureau Chief Cha Yona asked with a scowl.
“No precursors at all. Waves were normal too.”
The gate forecast division—once mocked as worse than the weather service—had overhauled their systems and boosted accuracy over 90%.
Yet they'd missed a Blue Gate.
Heads would roll later, but that wasn't the priority now.
Two hunters had entered an uncharted gate.
A Blue Gate with zero records, no less.
“Different color for sure?”
“Yes. There are traces—someone definitely went in.”
“What kind of lunatic dives into a Blue Gate without Agency permission...? Unbelievable.”
No containment barrier had been set up yet.
Any Awakened hunter or Semi-Awakened could waltz right in.
Of course, anyone with a brain would take one look at the color and turn tail.
But the world was wide, and idiots were plentiful.
That's why they'd beefed up the forecast system—to prevent crap like this.
But it had been useless this time.
A Blue Gate meant neutralize it ASAP.
“How many can enter?”
“Six total. Two already inside, so four possible.”
“Get in touch with the strike team. See how many are available right now.”
For gates needing urgent, the Mobile Strike Team deployed.
Composed of elite hunters from each guild, their identities were kept top secret to avoid any whiff of favoritism.
Each op burned through insane amounts of high-end attack artifacts, but they were a last-resort measure to prevent contamination outbreaks.
A moment later—
“Three available.”
“Send them out now. I'll handle artifact checkout approval—just grab what you have and go.”
“Got it.”
Cha Yona headed straight for the director's office.
Mob farming had gone smoothly, and I'd racked up nearly 700 points.
Before I knew it, we were at the spire.
The sky had been clear earlier, but now it was choked with clouds.
Suspicious fog blanketed the ground, and the air felt heavier too.
“Boss room, right?”
Nayeong nodded silently, gripping her bow in full tension.
“Different from the mobs? You handled those easy.”
“Bosses are different. That's where most deaths and injuries happen. And in a Blue Gate? No clue what'll pop out.”
I recalled the first gate I'd entered.
Those bone things that threatened Chaewon—they were probably in here.
Chaewon was S-Rank. Right now, it was a C-Rank and a newbie facing the boss.
'But why am I not tense at all?'
Yin Energy overflowing naturally brings confidence. And it's not baseless, so don't worry.
'Sounds like we can take the boss.'
Find out for yourself. Door's right there.
What, does it hurt to just tell me?
Ten minutes since entering the gate.
Blue Gate was a first, but the strike team moved without hesitation.
“...”
No chatter.
No eye contact.
Full-body coverage made them look like assassins—you couldn't even tell who they were.
Their goal was singular:
the boss in record time and drag out the two who'd arrived first.
Five minutes later, the three reached the massive spire.
The door hung open—the first pair must have gone in.
A long corridor stretched ahead, flanked by pillars.
Flickering torches between them cast eerie shadows on the floor and walls.
Glinting knight armors stood like decorations between the pillars.
Murals adorned the far wall at the corridor's end, and the side walls too.
They depicted a six-armed figure wielding different weapons in each hand, smashing monsters.
Pillars split off on either side, creating an open space before the murals.
“...”
One woman frowned.
The eyes in the mural had locked onto hers—they were moving.
The three instantly dropped into attack stances and spread out.
“Kyaaaaah—!!”
The six-armed figures burst from the center and side murals.
The weapons in their hands gleamed viciously in the torchlight.
The first boss in a Blue Gate: 'Mural.'
The woman in front leaped forward with explosive power.
An invisible sword cleaved the air.
Slash!
She landed on the opposite side—four of the six arms hit the floor.
The invisible sword slashed once more, and the remaining arms and head tumbled down.
The woman beside her didn't sit idle.
Flames erupted above her head and shoulders, cracking space itself.
Liquid seeped through the rift, instantly clumping into projectiles.
She muttered something, and dozens of floating bullets hurtled toward the mural.
Pew-pew-pew!
BOOM!!
The embedded projectiles detonated in unison, shredding the mural to pieces.
It was over in a flash—the robed woman in back didn't even get a chance to step in.
We watched the strike team's fight from behind a pillar.
The guild's top elites lived up to the hype.
“Took out three bosses in under five minutes. And the one in back didn't even move.”
Nayeong stared, dumbfounded.
My face probably wasn't much different.
“Hey. They're gonna find us. We should ru—”
I didn't finish.
The corridor shook violently, and the scattered mural pieces flew back into place.
One, two, three...
When they reformed, the murals were flawless again.
They could reattach no matter how badly they were torn.
The two who'd attacked cleared a path.
The woman in back dropped to one knee and pressed her hand to the floor—light burst forth.
It split into hundreds, thousands of strands, forming a massive magic circle.
The circle descended, swallowing the ground.
The center glowed, and a huge hand of earth rose up.
Connected to an arm, then a shoulder, with a head between— a colossal earthen golem.
'A summoner, huh.'
The golem spread its hands wide, snatching all three murals at once.
It crushed them to its chest and twisted its arms like a blender.
In seconds, the murals were mangled beyond recognition.
Tearing wouldn't cut it—they were going for dust.
“Got 'em?”
“You idiot! What if they chant a revive spell?”
Nayeong clapped a hand over my mouth, then pulled away with a little squeak.
Does this girl never learn?
“Graaaaaah—!!”
Eh?
The thing being ground in the golem's hand roared and exploded.
A massive shockwave engulfed the golem and the three behind it.
The mural-shredding golem crumbled to dust itself.
The shock flung the three into the pillars, knocking them out cold.
Strike teams were supposed to tear return tickets the moment things got dicey.
Gates needed clearing, sure—but they were precious guild assets.
'Not like they can use tickets in that state.'
Where the magic circle had been, an 18-armed figure now snarled.
The three crushed murals had merged into one.
'Fuck... it really was a revive chant.'