Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Into Boldorium
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Even as the lowest of the top ten guilds, Celestial moved with lightning speed.
Thanks to Yun Seung-ah's call, Celestial swarmed around the Black Gate like a tidal wave, allowing the Association to focus even more on rescuing civilians.
"...What the hell is going on?"
One of the Third Raid Party members said this to the raid leader, Kim In-ho.
The raid member's eyes flicked toward Go Yohan, who was glaring at the Black Gate, and Yun Seung-ah.
"...I don't know either."
It was the honest truth.
Even Kim In-ho, who prided himself on being close to the guild master Choi Cheonsang, hadn't anticipated things unfolding like this.
"Probably..."
He had one guess.
"You know about the investment we got two years ago, right?"
"Of course. Thanks to that, we jumped from the 50s straight into the top ten guilds."
"Yeah."
The investment that poured into Celestial two years ago was anything but ordinary.
Not only had it provided massive funding to a guild drowning in deficits.
"...They gave us... that too, didn't they?"
It had also instantly elevated the skill levels of their sorely lacking guild members.
They weren't mere investors—their influence far exceeded the norm.
Awed by the artifacts and technology they displayed, Celestial's top executives referred to these anonymous investors as "those lords."
"That's why. It's insane. Something that boosts base stats... No, this isn't the place to talk about it."
Nod.
"It's connected to those lords somehow."
"What? You saying those lords are divine beings?"
"...I don't know."
Kim In-ho stole a glance at Go Yohan standing behind them.
Only Kim In-ho and a few early-arriving raid members, along with some Association staff, had verified Go Yahon's identity amid the layers of security.
"Whatever it is, if they say jump, we jump."
That was when it happened.
Woooong!
The colossal Black Gate, unlike any they'd ever seen, let out a sudden, howling roar.
Shhhhaaa!
The energy pouring from it.
"Urk!"
"Gah!"
The Players controlling the perimeter groaned and began collapsing to their knees.
"W-What...!"
It was common knowledge that Black Gates emitted mana when they fully opened.
That the backlash and power were immensely dangerous, delivering a huge shock to ordinary people.
But for ranker-level Players who had cleared countless gates, it should have been a mere trifle.
Thud!
Now it was forcing them all to their knees.
"...Insane!"
Something like this existed?
And they had planned to enter it?
That was when it happened.
"Kim In-ho."
The moment the elegant woman approached and addressed him.
"Huh!"
Kim In-ho caught his breath, regaining the air that had been stuck in his throat.
"......"
"You said you wanted to go in, right?"
Kim In-ho tried to shake his head, but his body wouldn't obey.
"The Captain has approved it. You're going in with us."
Exactly what Kim In-ho had wanted—yet now, something he desperately wished to refuse.
"...Damn it."
There was no way to say no.
He was the one who had pushed the justification in the first place, and just moments ago, he'd felt the woman's power.
'Not human capability.'
She was a powerhouse he could never hope to challenge.
"...Understood."
And shortly after.
"Yun Seung-ah, you lead Celestial and save the people."
"Got it."
Go Yohan—the Celestial problem child—plunged first into what looked like the maw of hell.
*
*
*
[You have entered the Black Gate.]
Go Yohan opened his eyes at the Goddess's voice.
[Demon Realm Territory, Boldorium. You have entered.]
With a burst of static, the Goddess's voice changed.
[Current location: Boldorium outskirts, Taran Hill Barony.]
[All stats for non-Demon species are reduced.]
[Some skills are sealed.]
Warning messages rang out.
[Your Karma Points are overwhelming.]
[All stats slightly increase.]
[All skills are slightly enhanced.]
But the Goddess bestowed blessings instead.
"Yun Seung-ah."
Go Yohan spoke to Yun Seung-ah, who had followed him in.
"I'm leaving it to you."
"Don't worry about it, Captain."
He caught a glimpse of Celestial entering behind her, faces twisted like they'd bitten into shit.
Crunch.
Go Yohan stomped the ground.
He lacked the ability to leap through space like Yun Seung-ah.
But he had something similar.
KABOOM!
Stomping and propelling himself forward.
The shockwave was so immense that it went unnoticed in vast Travanian plains.
It was a movement technique Go Yohan couldn't use in Seoul.
Rumble rumble!
Where Go Yohan kicked off the ground shook like an earthquake and cratered like a meteor strike.
His field of vision flipped dozens of times.
Fwoosh.
He halted once in midair.
"......"
This was different from any Black Gate that had opened before.
It was as if the Demon Realm itself.
No.
"A manifestation of part of the Demon Realm."
Likely a new dimension manifested in the exact form of Demon Realm land.
Within it.
Shhhhaaa.
Go Yahon's divine eyes ignited.
The complexly intertwined threads were unfamiliar even to him, and thick black strands that pierced through everything obscured much, but they couldn't fully block his gaze.
Whoooosh!
As Go Yohan began to plummet, he gazed in one direction while channeling divinity from his thighs to his toes.
No ground to step on, yet divinity gathered like pouring sword aura.
The moment a vortex formed at his toes.
KAAA!
Go Yohan soared once more.
Even in Travanian, there were those with special abilities.
Bloodline inheritors of lineage powers.
Esper mages wielding unique abilities.
Beings like dragons, complete in their race alone.
Yet Michael, hailed as the great holy knight, possessed only the Goddess's intangible favor and his own flesh.
KABOOM!
At seven years old, leaving home to take to the road, all Michael had was ragged cloth and a few coppers.
But with his sole resolve to find the Goddess and become Her knight.
Clang!
Michael had felled wild boars barehanded.
A faint metallic clang reached Go Yahon's sensitive ears from afar.
And then.
Squeeeeal!
Amid the flipping vision, the scene finally came into view.
A group fighting to protect people, standing as shields.
The battle had raged for some time—corpses littered the ground, and the opposing Players were covered in wounds.
As that thought crossed his mind and he blinked.
"......!"
Go Yohan was already there.
Crunch!
He absorbed the full impact of his landing into his body.
Crack crack!
Muscles tore, skin split, but he ignored it.
To Michael of Travanian, these were mere daily occurrences.
"...Who...?"
Slowly, the now-familiar Korean language reached him.
*
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*
It was said that Players' senses far surpassed those of humans.
Stats, that superpower, turned them from humans into superhumans, their physical prowess beyond world records.
And when they pushed past those limits, Players naturally experienced sensory confusion.
Moving too fast for their brains to compute, lacking reflexes and vision to match their bodies.
Yet some broke through that wall.
'Rankers.'
They were the ones called rankers.
Even they, with repeated growth, would eventually hit another wall.
Without skills—abilities activating like instincts—rankers wouldn't even realize they were using a fraction of their power.
Just like that.
"...Who... are... you...?"
To Go Yohan, who had shattered that wall countless times, time around him already flowed sluggishly.
Swish.
He was confirming the enemies' identities.
'Hell Wolves.'
Demon beasts akin to Hell Hounds, but their size and ferocity dwarfed them.
Swish.
Then Go Yohan examined the fallen.
Most seemed Association members, with some Players swept up in the Black Gate.
Next, he surveyed those still standing.
Mostly civilians and Association members.
'Kim Dayeon.'
Investigation Team Leader Kim Dayeon.
She looked to have fought the fiercest—one arm mangled from a Hell Wolf bite, one eye bloodshot red.
'No Go Minji here.'
Go Minji was nowhere in sight.
Go Yohan looked up at the sky next.
'Goddess.'
He no longer prayed to Her.
He was no longer worthy of prayer.
He merely called Her name.
Swish.
As Go Yohan finally turned to the Hell Wolves.
"Who...?"
Time snapped back, the drawn-out voice now crisp and clear.
"...Go Yohan?"
With his albinism-like appearance, the voice of Kim Dayeon—who was closest to his best friend's cherished little sister and the youngest son of the nation's top guild—couldn't mistake him.
Spluuurt!
In that instant, the Hell Wolves tormenting them exploded head-first, red rain pouring down.
"......"
Faced with the unbelievable sight, they fell silent.
The Association Players—national assets and guild-external forces—were all elite.
Unranked, but with sky-high minimum requirements and constant gate-clearing experience for levels.
So renowned that when the World Association flexed, every guild worldwide dropped a rank.
Yet they had only managed to kill two Hell Wolves.
Over six Players died in the process, the rest all wounded.
And yet.
Step.
He had simply appeared—no one even knew what he'd done.
Every Hell Wolf neck was torn clean off.
"Where is she...?"
"Where's my sister-in-law?"
Go Yohan asked in a sunken voice.