It's My First Time in a Gate-5
It's My First Time in a Gate-5
Huff-! Huff-!
"Hy, Hyung-nim! Can't we take a break around here?"
Panting heavily, the younger brother spoke with difficulty, and only then did Kang Baek-ho stop.
Even so, Kang Baek-ho, who was still looking around with fearful eyes, only managed to relax his tension after realizing that the monster that had suddenly appeared, the Lich, was not chasing them.
"Damn it, what the hell kind of fucked-up situation is this?"
Kang Baek-ho, who had flopped down onto the floor, gritted his teeth—geudeuk—and said.
The Lich that had suddenly popped out of a mere C-rank Gate.
The undead that had swarmed in to eat them despite it clearly being a Safety Zone.
They were all phenomena that couldn't be understood.
However, there was another reason why Kang Baek-ho was most angry and annoyed.
"To think I lost the Chain of Obedience...."
In Kang Baek-ho's voice as he thought of Kang Yeo-ryeong, there was undisguised anger, annoyance, and a heavy sense of regret.
Kang Yeo-ryeong possessed exceptional healing and buff skills that Kang Baek-ho had never seen, heard of, or experienced before.
To the extent that he could understand why the Hunters active in the Hunter Gallery called her royalty.
On top of that, she had just become a Hunter, so she lacked experience.
To Kang Baek-ho, Kang Yeo-ryeong was nothing less than the biggest of big fish, incomparable to the porter he used to play with as a toy.
That was why he had used the Chain of Obedience without hesitation.
But because of that damn Lich, Kang Baek-ho had barely managed to save his own life, let alone Kang Yeo-ryeong or the Chain of Obedience.
The only fortunate thing was that Kang Yeo-ryeong and the porter he had abandoned and run away from might be dead.
No, they were definitely dead.
No matter how much of an A-rank Hunter she was, she was a greenhorn who had just become a Hunter. Plus, she didn't have a single combat skill.
She wouldn't be able to survive against a Lich, which was evaluated as at least A-rank or higher.
Yeah. So it was fine.
Although it was a shame to lose Kang Yeo-ryeong and the Chain of Obedience, he could just start over.
The fact that he had used the Chain of Obedience to treat the porter as a slave. The fact that he had tried to make a fellow Hunter a slave using the Chain of Obedience.
The truth, reeking of dark malice, would be buried inside the dungeon.
So, if he could just get out of the Mansion of the Dead like this, there would be no problem....
"Hyung-nim-!"
"Why the hell do you keep calling me!"
How could he make this situation advantageous for himself?
Kang Baek-ho, who had been deep in thought about that, shouted at the voices of his younger brothers calling him from afar.
He, the older brother, was desperately trying to somehow turn the current situation to his advantage.
Yet, the bastards he called brothers were just holed up in a corner, goofing off instead of helping their brother.
If it were up to his heart, he would have buried those guys in the Mansion of the Dead too, but he couldn't do that.
Even if they were a bit lacking in the brains department, they were B-rank Hunters, just like him.
He was only able to treat them like subordinates because he hadn't been picky about the means and methods since they first became Hunters.
Kang Baek-ho didn't think that the luck from back then would come to him again.
So.
"If you have time to goof off, try using your brain for once...!"
"Hy, Hyung-nim! That's not what's important right now!"
"Then what is important!"
Kang Baek-ho's expression twisted at his younger brother, who shouted back in rebuttal.
He had to get out of this damn dungeon as soon as possible and clean up the situation before the Hun-hyeop noticed.
What could be more important than that right now?
Although Kang Baek-ho shouted while thinking that, his two younger brothers couldn't answer his shout.
They were just showing terrified expressions, staring at one place with frantically trembling eyes.
It was a side of his brothers that he had never seen even once while being with them until now.
Kang Baek-ho, whose expression twisted again at that, shifted his gaze to the direction his brothers were looking.
In the direction his brothers were looking, there was a long, stretched-out corridor.
No, in the first place, the inside of the Mansion of the Dead was a maze of such corridors tangled up, so it was natural for a corridor to appear.
The problem was something beyond that corridor.
It wasn't an undead that appeared in a dungeon named Mansion of the Dead, but a living human.
And a human whom Kang Baek-ho knew all too well.
"Yo, you-! How can a nobody like you, with no unique traits or skills, escape from a Lich!"
A nobody with no unique traits or skills.
The target Kang Baek-ho called that was none other than Lee Mi-ryeo, the porter of the Samsung Party, where Kang Baek-ho had once been the party leader.
And that was the identity of the something approaching from afar.
However, the Lee Mi-ryeo approaching while emitting magic power full of ominous killing intent was different from the appearance he knew.
The Lee Mi-ryeo that Kang Baek-ho knew had black hair and black eyes.
However, the Lee Mi-ryeo approaching now, emitting magic power full of ominous killing intent, had beautiful red hair like blazing flames and red eyes.
What on earth had happened to her?
Had she perhaps newly awakened a unique trait and skill at a moment of crisis, like a protagonist in a novel?
However, even if she had awakened traits and skills late, the opponent was a Lich.
A monster that exceeded A-rank even at the lowest estimate.
A Lich was something that even an S-rank Hunter could barely handle.
Even if she had awakened traits and skills, she would never be able to escape from such a monster.
Meanwhile, Lee Mi-ryeo, walking toward the flustered Kang Baek-ho and his two younger brothers, smiled brightly and said.
"Found you."
"Found you."
Lee Mi-ryeo, reborn through the blessing bestowed by Mother, looked at Kang Baek-ho and his two younger brothers visible in the distance and grinned.
Ah, thank goodness.
You didn't run away. You couldn't get out of here.
I'm really glad.
Is this also Mother's grace?
No, this is also Mother's grace.
Ah, Mother. Mother, whose name I dare not call.
So, please wait just a little bit.
After I immediately burn those bugs, even their souls, leaving not even a handful of ash.
I will go find Mother and try to repay this grace.
So. For now.
"I'm going to burn you all."
At the same time, anger that swelled up like an explosion burst forth and swallowed everything.
The anger swallowed even her mind, but Lee Mi-ryeo thought, feeling more refreshed than ever.
Let's kill them. Let's kill them all.
They have no value in being alive.
So, let's kill them all.
No, no.
I can't just kill them like this.
Of course I will kill them. But let's not burn them in an instant.
Little by little. Slowly.
Let's burn them very, very slowly.
Yeah. First, let's burn those bug-like bodies.
Starting with the hair on their bodies. Skin. Nerves. Flesh. Muscles. Blood vessels. The blood flowing inside the blood vessels and internal organs. And even the bones.
Let's burn them very, very slowly.
Then it would be very painful, right?
Hihi-! Good! Very good!
Once I burn all their bodies, let's burn their souls now.
Very, very slowly. So that those pieces of trash can feel the maximum amount of pain.
While doing that, let's make them face their own burning, melting bodies.
I won't touch their minds.
No, let's protect their minds.
Until the very, very end.
So they can watch everything, beyond their bodies, even their souls, burning and melting.
Going crazy in the middle. Losing their grip on reality. Or having their minds collapse.
I have to carefully hold onto their minds so they can't do that.
Hihi, yeah. Very good.
Ah, just thinking about it is thrilling.
But, I have to endure it.
So I don't get swept up in this pleasure and burn them in an instant.
And, let's not burn their souls.
Let's brand their souls and make them into toys.
Just like I was once.
Yeah. Let's do that.
That's it.
"What Mother wants, right?"
The remaining distance was at most 30m.
Lee Mi-ryeo, who had stopped with only a short distance left that a Hunter could close in an instant, whispered while staring into the void with dazed, unfocused eyes.
Meanwhile, Lee Mi-ryeo, who had been approaching slowly and then stopped.
Kang Baek-ho's two eyes were dyed with hope for a moment at Lee Mi-ryeo, who was suddenly staring into the void with dazed, unfocused eyes and muttering words whose meaning he couldn't understand.
Yeah. That bitch hadn't gained powerful strength at a moment of crisis like the protagonists in novels.
That bitch was just a corpse moving alive by the Lich. She had just become an undead, a common type of monster.
Then, the fact that the color of her hair and eyes had changed.
And the fact that she was emitting magic power full of such ominous killing intent could be understood.
No, it wasn't.
To be honest, he couldn't understand it.
Lee Mi-ryeo. The porter of the party he had created. In reality, the toy he had made into a slave through the Chain of Obedience.
That she had come to find him in such a form.
That she was emitting immense magic power that far exceeded his own.
That she was emitting such ominous killing intent that it made his skin tingle just by facing her.
Kang Baek-ho couldn't understand it.
Even so, Kang Baek-ho understood.
After forcibly dragging something he couldn't understand down to a range he could understand himself.
Furthermore, by deceiving his own mind, Kang Baek-ho steadied himself, saying... he understood the current situation that he couldn't understand.
So.
"What are you doing! Kill her right now!"
Kang Baek-ho, who pointed at Lee Mi-ryeo with the sword clutched in his hand, shouted angrily.
At that, his two younger brothers, who had been stopped, unable to accept the situation, moved.
The younger brother holding a spear kicked off the floor, jumped out, and thrust the spear toward Lee Mi-ryeo's heart.
The younger brother holding a staff urgently moved his magic power to use magic.
However—unlike his two younger brothers who attacked to kill Lee Mi-ryeo according to his order, Kang Baek-ho turned his back and ran away.
Even throwing away his sword and shield.
A little further away.
He ran to escape a little faster and a little further from Lee Mi-ryeo, who was emitting magic power full of that ominous killing intent.
Kang Baek-ho had abandoned his two younger brothers.
Just like when the Lich appeared and he had abandoned Kang Yeo-ryeong and Lee Mi-ryeo to run away, this time it was Kang Baek-ho running away, abandoning his own two younger brothers.
The fleeing Kang Baek-ho felt no guilt.
In the first place, to him, the two younger brothers were also nothing more than tools.
Similar to Lee Mi-ryeo, who was once a porter.
The difference between the two was that Lee Mi-ryeo had been forcibly made into Kang Baek-ho's toy through an artifact called the Chain of Obedience.
And the two younger brothers had just been swept up in Kang Baek-ho's gaslighting and had fallen into becoming Kang Baek-ho's tools on their own.
It was a waste, but it couldn't be helped.
Kang Baek-ho valued his own life more than anything else.
Therefore, even if it was a waste, he had no choice but to use his two younger brothers as meat shields.
Meanwhile, Lee Mi-ryeo didn't even give a shred of interest to the two younger brothers attacking her.
She just opened her mouth while looking only at Kang Baek-ho with eyes filled with blazing flames fueled by anger.
"Where do you think you're running to?"
Puwhak-!
The moment a terrifying flame that burns everything, melts everything, and swallows everything to return it to nothingness burst out from under the feet of the whispering Lee Mi-ryeo.
"Huh?"
Kang Yeo-ryeong, who had arrived at the room where the child who had invited her—adorning themselves with various flashy modifiers—was, through the door made by the Lich, glanced back.
Kang Yeo-ryeong, who looked back, stared at the Gate made by weaving together the corpses of various creatures.
No, she wasn't looking at the Gate. She was looking at the Mansion of the Dead beyond it.
Perhaps because of Kang Yeo-ryeong, who suddenly stopped walking and looked back.
[Is. there. a. pro. blem?]
When the Lich, who had carefully approached her side, asked, Kang Yeo-ryeong shook her head and said.
"It's nothing. It's just that I'm proud to see a pitiful child. An unlucky child. A child who longed for revenge until right before they died, finally succeed in their revenge."
[I. see.]
The Lich bowed its head and replied to Kang Yeo-ryeong's words.
It didn't understand the meaning of the words.
The Lich didn't understand a single thing about what Kang Yeo-ryeong was saying.
The Lich was just showing the appearance of a subordinate catering to a superior.
Toward such a Lich, Kang Yeo-ryeong asked.
"More than that. Where is the child who invited me?"
[I. will. guide. you. to. the. Mas. ter.]
The Lich, who had been bowing its head deeply, said that and walked ahead again.