Chapter 38
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Hidden Skill
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“They gathered up some people on the sly without telling Chairman Han.”
“Gyeol’s definitely lost his mind, no doubt about it. What about Chairman Han?”
“He’s recruiting the follow-up team, apparently.”
“Follow-up team, huh… What do you think, Professor?”
“Me? What’s there to ask? To me, it’s basically just suicide.”
“This is tricky. We’re about to head out ourselves…”
“Exactly. It’s not time yet, right?”
“But if one side’s already managed to enter… we can’t just sit around.”
“Seung-woo, you haven’t changed a bit since you were a kid. You’re not the type to listen when someone tries to talk you out of it… Ugh. Speaking of which, where’s Ru-ri?”
“She went to conquer a gate and hasn’t come back yet.”
“Even a high-rank one?”
Yang Jeong-hyun asked Han Seung-woo.
Han Seung-woo turned to answer since it was about Lee Ru-ri, but then an alert chimed on Choi Si-jin’s phone.
Ding.
“Director, the chairman’s calling you.”
“Let’s head to the conference room right away. Professor, if Ru-ri comes back while we’re in the meeting, could you keep an eye on her?”
“Seung-woo asking me to watch over Ru-ri doesn’t quite fit the picture, but sure, okay.”
Choi Si-jin chuckled mischievously behind them as the two talked.
Yang Jeong-hyun watched their backs for a moment as they headed to the conference room, then returned to her lab.
“Let’s see, when was the last gate Ru-ri entered?”
Yang Jeong-hyun checked Lee Ru-ri’s gate request form.
“Wow, she’s cleared a ton in such a short time. She’d be in for a real show if she got re-evaluated. The last one was… D-rank, huh. It’s been quite a while… This much time? Maybe something’s wrong? Should I go provide some backup?”
A sudden wave of worry made her hurriedly gather her scattered gear.
She rushed to the coordinates of the last gate Lee Ru-ri had entered.
Before entering the gate, Yang Jeong-hyun carefully inspected the surroundings.
“The gate entrance pattern looks no different from a normal one. So why’s it taking so long? That’s even more suspicious.”
The worry kept building.
To support Lee Ru-ri, Jeong-hyun swallowed hard and tried to step into the gate.
Whoosh.
“Huh?”
Recently, for conquest support, guild members could freely enter and exit gates without separate requests.
But just now, the gate entrance had repelled Jeong-hyun. This was exactly like the reaction from the Inex Gate.
Yang Jeong-hyun hurriedly re-examined the gate pattern.
“This is weird. The pattern’s nothing special, so why can’t I enter? Is something really going on?”
Yang Jeong-hyun urgently contacted headquarters.
A while later, she got a response from the gate handler.
The gate Lee Ru-ri entered was still mid-conquest, completely uncontrolled, so there was no reason entry should be impossible.
“This is making me really uneasy all of a sudden. Is Seung-woo still far?”
Yang Jeong-hyun frantically messaged Han Seung-woo and Choi Si-jin with the situation.
Ding.
[New Message]
[Han Seung-woo (A): Got it. Heading there as soon as this ends.]
Confirming the message, Yang Jeong-hyun kept watching the gate pattern to suppress her growing anxiety while waiting for Han Seung-woo.
—The black mana you were clumsily wielding will now fit you quite well.
Lee Ru-ri easily summoned the pitch-black, blazing Extinction and hurled it at Keres.
Keres caught it effortlessly in one hand and approached her.
“That was way too easy now.”
As Keres clenched her fist, Extinction vanished in an instant.
—That weapon… it looks familiar.
“It belonged to someone who had the exact same ability as me.”
Keres took hold of Lee Ru-ri’s weapon and poured the same black mana into it.
After a brief moment.
Shing.
The thread dagger Lee Ru-ri used transformed into a sharp longsword.
“Huh? What’s this?”
When Keres stopped injecting mana, the sharp longsword instantly reverted to the thread dagger.
—So that’s what it is.
“Hey, clue me in too.”
—The owner of this weapon was probably hiding from something as well.
“Hiding?”
—Yes. As far as I know, only the chosen 12 monarchs can use black mana. Yet the one who wielded this weapon seems to have used it too.
“Ah, so that’s why it worked properly when I touched it?”
—If I hadn’t stripped you of the eternal rest of death, you probably couldn’t have wielded it properly either.
“I still don’t get it. Should I thank you for killing and reviving me, or vow revenge?”
—My will is already in your hands. Kill me if you can.
“That pisses me off. You’re taunting me because you know I can’t, right?”
—Hahahahahahaha.
“But this black mana thing… if people outside find out, it’s gonna be a huge hassle…”
—If you don’t want the black mana, it’s not impossible to reverse it.
“Really? Tell me.”
—Die.
“Hey!”
Lee Ru-ri unleashed a shower of black petals toward Keres.
But the blackened petals crumbled to dust before even touching Keres’s body.
As Keres narrowed her glowing red eyes, Lee Ru-ri’s status window automatically popped open.
“My title changed. Why’s there an error in the attack power…”
—I keep trying to understand, but human speech is still so difficult.
“Hmm… How do you know what my abilities are?”
—I see them.
“You see them? How?”
—They’re just clear to me.
“Just…? Hmm, we can’t see what you see, Keres. That’s why we made it visible like this.”
—If I’ve understood correctly, that ‘error’ you mentioned is because my will has properly reached you.
“What do you mean?”
—I’ll grant you my lingering shadow. Until you reach our goal, my shadow will aid you. My master, I hope it’s not too late.
Ding.
[Acquired the Gift of the Shadow of Ruin, Keres. Would you like to check it? Y/N]
Keres vanished in an instant, leaving only the gift behind.
“Ugh, she just says her piece and dips again.”
Lee Ru-ri grumbled as she checked Keres’s gift.
[Gift of the Shadow of Ruin, Keres]
[Acquired new skill <Keres’s Lingering Shadow>.]
“Well, it’s a skill, so I’ll gratefully accept it, but next time I see her, she’s done for.”
She checked the skill details.
[S ― Keres’s Lingering Shadow]
[Attack Power: 70,000]
[Mana Cost: 4,000]
[Summons Keres’s lingering shadow upon use. (Can set command phrase for summon/release)]
“High-rank skills have grades attached. Wait, what? Why’s the attack power like this?”
While checking the skill info, Lee Ru-ri jolted in surprise and noticed another new skill had activated.
“Right, I fulfilled the hidden skill unlock conditions earlier by accepting Keres’s will.”
She hurriedly checked its details.
[S ― Voice of Authority]
[Attack Power: 0]
[Mana Cost: 0]
[After setting a command phrase, form summon contracts with special-grade monsters via the command. (Contract Limit: Favor 10,000,000)]
“Summon contracts, huh. Feels like I got something huge, but… that limit is brutal. Favor at 10 million…”
She checked the other new skill too.
[Authority’s Ruler]
[Attack Power: 0]
[Mana Cost: 3,000]
[Summons contracted special-grade monsters to deal damage to the target.]
“Hmm, so basically… summon contracted monsters to fight? It doesn’t feel real at all. If I call the lingering shadow and ask… would she answer? And only special-grade monsters can be contracted. Guess I’ll have to test it myself eventually.”
Lee Ru-ri muttered as she sorted her thoughts, then looked around. She was already back in the hidden gate waiting room.
Out of habit, she opened the storage.
Sure enough, trophies from Kalikan and Keres were there.
“Oh right, there was a random box too.”
The random box yielded a mana-boosting potion.
Her mana shot up to nearly 5,000.
“It’s been a while. Everyone’s probably worried. Han Seung-woo’s nagging… I’m already tired thinking about it. Gotta join the Inex Gate conquest before it’s too late. That’s it for today.”
As she exited the hidden gate waiting room, an emergency alert chimed that the gate conquest was complete.
She quickened her pace toward the entrance, then suddenly—
“Ah, the H!”
Lee Ru-ri remembered the monsters marked with H from the hidden boss gate.
“Special monsters must be the ones with H marks. Does that mean I can contract with the Drayger and Basila too?”
The thought made her heart race.
She’d have to meet the hidden gate entry conditions again to check. She hurried to the entrance.
Unexpectedly, Han Seung-woo, Yang Jeong-hyun, and Choi Si-jin were waiting there.
“Huh? What are you all doing here?”
“Ru-ri! Do you have any idea how worried I was?”
“Uh… It was just a D-rank gate, no need to worry…”
“It took way too long, so we tried to back you up, but it wouldn’t let us in, just like with Inex!”
“Really?”
“You’re safe, that’s what matters. We can talk about the rest later.”
While Lee Ru-ri signed the gate clear form, the three scanned her up and down.
“But Ru-ri, you look pretty beat up.”
Oh no.
From her fight with Keres, cuts from his sword had reopened slightly all over her body.
The pain was ongoing, but she’d forgotten about it while focused on the hidden skills, leaving her scrambling for an excuse.
“W-Well, I ran into a monster that uses a sword.”
“It’s getting worse and worse. If it’s swinging a sword, it must have some intelligence, right?”
“Si-jin, call the hospital. Those wounds look deep.”
“I’m fine!”
“I’m not. We’ll do the Inex Gate after treatment.”
“Good call. It’s not time yet.”
“Not just because of me…”
“No. While you were conquering, a guild from the US successfully entered an Inex Gate.”
“Whoa! Really? What’s it like inside?”
“No idea.”
“N-No idea…?”
“Some went in, but none came out.”
“So they all…”
“We’re assuming they’re all dead.”
“No way…”
Lee Ru-ri’s face turned ashen instantly.
Sensing something off with her state, Han Seung-woo quickly supported her and headed to the hospital.
After arranging various checks, Han Seung-woo cautiously said to Yang Jeong-hyun,
“Professor, Ru-ri’s extremely sensitive to anyone getting seriously hurt or dying. It’s worse if she knows them, so for now, keep Han Gyeol’s status unclear a secret.”
“Really? Her face dropped so suddenly, I was worried. Trauma, huh. Got it.”
Choi Si-jin came rushing over in a panic.
“Director!”
Yang Jeong-hyun scolded him.
“Si-jin, slow down. Why the fuss in a hospital?”
After catching his breath from her brief lecture, Choi Si-jin continued.
“Huff, huff. Listen up, you two.”
“What?”
“Chairman Han succeeded in entering an Inex Gate too.”