The Trap Closes
A wooded hill roughly two kilometers from the site of the red crack.
A woman concealed in the underbrush pressed a radio to her lips.
“Gate manifestation and target entry confirmed.”
Yang Qian.
An A-class Turang hunter specialized in assassination and infiltration.
Jin Xiao had tried to recruit Minho, failed, and borne every scrap of the blame. Wasting a valuable asset so carelessly had left his reputation in tatters even inside Turang.
They were people who endured brutal training for their country and stood ready to die if required. That did not mean they welcomed a meaningless, dog’s death.
Still, among the scraps of intelligence Jin Xiao had left behind, a few items proved useful.
Park Minho’s detection ability is extraordinary.
That was why she had activated stealth skills and items from such a long distance. The vantage point offered a clear line of sight, ideal for observing the target. The moment the operation order dropped, Yang Qian had selected the perfect location.
—Gate status?
“Still red.”
—No issues, then.
“Dimensional distortion wavelength is not elevated. It will take time for the Korean Rift Management Agency to notice anything unusual.”
That was not all. She had thoroughly analyzed Minho’s return patterns and chosen the spot least likely to see any foot traffic. Once Minho entered the gate, non-awakened agents moved in and took natural control of the surroundings. Some posed as drunks. Others staged deliberate fender-benders to block alleyways.
—How long can you stall them?
“Anywhere from one hour to a maximum of two.”
—Confirmation plus dispatch will take more than three hours, then.
Satisfaction colored the voice of Zhou Yongshu, the Director of Official Affairs and the overall commander of the operation. Three hours would be more than enough. Even an A-class hunter could not survive three hours in a slaughterhouse choked with corpses.
“Sir, one question, if I may.”
—Speak.
“What exactly is the organization called ‘the Society’?”
Chinese agents did not carry the heavy lifting in this operation. Their role had been limited to gathering advance intelligence, plotting the optimal route, fabricating information, and stirring up diversions. It was precision work most governments would struggle to pull off, yet Turang’s combat units had not been committed to the field.
In the end, the greatest share of the operation belonged to the external group known as “the Society.” The Society operative who had radiated an unsettling presence simply opened a gate at the appointed hour and vanished inside.
Creating a gate artificially…
An act that overturned every common assumption of the hunter industry. If Turang could harness that ability, it would prove invaluable for recruitment, abduction, sabotage, and any number of other operations.
—That information is premature for you.
A cold voice traveled through the handset.
“I apologize for speaking out of turn.”
Yang Qian apologized at once. In that instant she understood: dig too deeply into the true nature of the “Society” Zhou Yongshu had mentioned, and death was the only outcome.
—I will tell you only this. They are not allies of the motherland.
“Understood.”
—That should be enough to erase the doubts carved into your heart.
“It is sufficient.”
If the ability could not be used operationally, greed was pointless. Yang Qian answered with proper deference.
—In any case, three hours.
“We can hold a little longer if needed.”
—Unnecessary. The Society has asserted he will die within thirty minutes. We need only wait a short while.
“I will drag things out further depending on the situation.”
—I respect the judgment of the field.
“Thank you.”
She was not so naïve as to miss that “respect” was merely a transfer of responsibility. Even so, Yang Qian showed no resentment. Higher command was certain he would die inside thirty minutes, and she herself knew the gate was far from ordinary.
She did not know the exact structure, but one thing was clear: it was not a place a mere C-class hunter could casually walk out of.
Entry limit of one hundred. Once inside, you cannot leave.
A high entry limit equaled a vast number of monsters. Rated B-class difficulty, and the monster count was enormous on top of that. Her superior had said even an A-class hunter would struggle to survive the environment. A hunter who had been C-class for less than two months lasting in such a brutal place?
Impossible.
Yang Qian was certain of Minho’s death. Still, a mission was a mission. She pressed her eye to the telescope and calmly watched for any change in the gate.
—Operation proceeding. No problems.
—Traffic control is lagging.
—Stopped a couple trying to enter the alley.
—Dimensional distortion wavelength still unchanged.
The operation was proceeding smoothly. Until that ominous gate completely swallowed Minho, no one would notice anything amiss.
If only he had taken the motherland’s hand, none of this would have been necessary.
Foolish man. Yang Qian clicked her tongue.
Whoosh!
Flames roared up from a makeshift forge. Magical fire fed by mana stones as fuel.
“Bring me a corpse.”
“Grrrraaah.”
An Armed Zombie Strengthened Soldier of the knight order trudged over carrying a headless undead. Minho sliced open the chest with a carving knife, shhk, and easily extracted the mana stone lodged near the heart.
“Self-supplying energy sources. Not even an auto-hunt.”
He grumbled while stoking the forge’s flames higher. As expected, the sheer number of enemies was burning through weapons at a terrifying rate.
“Grrruuuh.”
The Tigris pack returned from recovery. Cracks spider-webbed across their bone armor. The armor itself had been forged solid from the start, so it was holding, but the bone spears had shattered in places from the heavy impacts. One or two more charges and they would be finished.
Corpse Processing
He rapidly separated flesh from bone. The spare corpses stored in the Death Space could not sustain a war of attrition. The subspace carriers were not exactly overflowing either. He had to procure materials on the battlefield itself.
Invisible Hand
Clang! Kaaang!
Sizzle!
◈ Perfectly repaired
◈ Perfectly repaired
Even though the weapons were part of the Tigris bodies, detaching them for repair made the system treat them as separate items.
“Hah.”
Stamina, mental power, and mana all drained away. At the front Sir Isra was dicing undead into neat chunks. Armed Zombie Strengthened Soldiers intermittently held the line against returning undead, and—
“Graaah!”
—while the Tigris pack carved chaos through the undead ranks, Minho spared the battlefield a single glance and then—
Kaaang!
—swung his hammer again.
“No one lays a finger on Master!”
KWAANG!
The explosion hammered his eardrums. Two Dracos moved with agile grace, shredding the undead that had broken through.
“Krrrr.”
It was not an environment that allowed full concentration on bone metallurgy. And yet his fingers itched. Extreme conditions had sharpened his senses even further.
“Perfect.”
Exhilaration set his heart ablaze.
Understanding of Bone Metallurgy has increased.
Dexterity stat has risen by 1.
He could no longer tell whether he was swinging the hammer or the hammer was swinging itself. He sank deeper into the work.
Not enough. I need to go faster.
“Ingrid. Flame control. Can you help?”
“Leave it to me, Master!”
Unique Formula — Solar Eclipse
Flame Beat × 3
Wind Bomb
Modified Formula — Defense
Some bones were heated before they ever entered the forge. Wind sealed the heat, creating an environment nearly identical to the forge interior. It could not fully replace the forge, but it cut working time dramatically.
Faster. More precise.
He separated undead bone from flesh and—
Kaaang!
—swung the hammer.
In the middle of total immersion he even snagged an unexpected windfall.
Analyzing Revenant structure…
Analyzing Revenant structure…
Revenant structure fully understood. Added to crafting recipes.
Revenants. They looked similar to zombies, yet their specs were far superior. The reason was that a living person’s “grudge” was an essential ingredient in their creation. That was why weapons had been jammed into every part of those bodies. The people had not simply been killed by the blades. They had died thrashing in agony with the steel still buried in them, nursing their hatred to the end.
“This is genuinely fucked up.”
The sharp jump in corpse-crafting understanding brought him no joy.
“Are you well, my lord?”
“I’m holding.”
Roughly an hour had passed since they entered the gate. His back had been soaked for a long time already. He wiped the sweat from his brow with a sleeve and—
Kaaang!
—swung the hammer again. All-nighters had become routine lately; a slight hitch in his breathing was the only cost.
Experience points were pouring in. Destroying thousands of Revenants had that effect.
“Take care, my lord. The enemy seems ready to move in earnest.”
An undead monster roughly twice the size of a normal Revenant shoved its way through the horde and climbed the hill—an Abyss Revenant.
“That one’s no joke.”
The mana visible through his Spirit Eye was anything but ordinary. A-class hunter level. Power that writhed just a shade beneath the big-nosed man who had stood behind Sophia.
Clank.
A pale aura coiled around the iron mace it dragged along the ground.
Aura.
“They said this was B-class.”
The complaint slipped out on its own. Sir Isra threw her head back and laughed.
“Worry not. That is an incomplete manifestation.”
Oh. That was incredibly reassuring.
“Do you recall? The moment I forced Aura into being.”
“Of course I do.”
Sir Isra, then only D+, had skipped two entire stages to unleash that attack. Too faint to truly call Aura, yet strong enough to split steel.
“That undead is the same. It wields power beyond its capacity, so the completeness suffers.”
“Stupid. If it had joined the attack from the start it would have worn us down.”
“Not so, Mage.”
“Why?”
“The intent is to exhaust our stamina with the lesser undead, then finish us cleanly.”
The explanation made sense. If the Abyss Revenant had appeared right after they entered, they would have dumped every scrap of firepower into destroying it first. They had minimized friendly losses, yet both of his contracted summons had burned some mana after an unbroken hour of combat.
Drain my stamina with the Revenant swarm, then open the real offensive?
“This really is a trap.”
The place reeked of malicious design. The mana distribution had been 99 percent the instant it appeared. The moment they entered it transformed into a closed-type gate that barred all exit. And they had deliberately held back their true force just to grind the hunters down.
The Abyss Revenant had nearly reached the ice wall.
“Ingrid. How long can the ice wall hold?”
“If Iron-Head’s analysis is correct, not long.”
No choice, then.
“We protect the Ice Wall.”
“Then I shall intercept.”
Mana Release
Sir Isra kicked off the ground and soared several meters into the air. The approaching Abyss Revenant swept its dragged mace upward.
Aura
Their auras collided in midair. The materialized mana around the mace split cleanly in half in less than a second, and—
Seogeogeok—
—the Abyss Revenant’s body, still mid-swing, was cleaved in two as well.
Gained a massive amount of experience.
“Enemy commander slain!”
Sir Isra shouted with confidence. Boss monster or not, Aura or not—the victor remained the same.
Whew. The boss had rushed in early and the clear had been easy. Time to head back, then.
The moment he exhaled in relief—
Thud— Thud—
Heavy footsteps rolled through his ears. At the rear of the Revenant host stood more than ten identical Abyss Revenants, the same as the one they had just felled.
Crackle-crackle-crackle!
The gate still spat sparks and showed no sign of opening.
“Fuck.”
They were truly screwed.