Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Gate
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“Gate”
“Tch. A hero. A-rank. Retreat for now.”
“How did they know we were here?”
They pulled scrolls from their pockets and tore them right then and there.
The scrolls emitted a bright light.
Their bodies vanished like illusions.
‘Lady Laura. Why didn’t you use Dispel….’
In the sudden turn of events, we were all caught off guard.
“What, what is that?”
“What’s that hole? And why did those people just vanish?”
“Nyaat!”
Only Laura calmly scolded me.
[Dispel or no Dispel, what were you going to do? There are too many eyes watching.]
In that brief moment, I’d only thought about grabbing them, without considering further.
Now that I thought about it, I was with other people right now.
Even if I caught them, I’d have to hand them over to the police or heroes.
If I wanted information, I’d need to torture them or something, but doing that in front of everyone would be tricky.
Laura added in a slightly deflated voice.
[Besides… it wouldn’t have worked anyway. That was a proper scroll from a trained mage.]
‘Why not? You said activation-type spells are all Dispel-able, right?’
[That’s based on you Earthlings who eat power raw. In my world, even an A-rank mage’s Dispel wouldn’t work on it. It’s not some all-purpose technique to begin with.]
So Dispel was just for taking down civilians, useless against high-level foes.
I resolved to be more cautious with my ‘Dark Knight’ activities.
As Laura said, it might not work on S-rank heroes.
In that case, I’d have to beat them with my pure strength.
“That wasn’t just me, right? Those people in red robes vanished right in front of us….”
Park Ha-yeon turned to us, her face pale as if she’d seen a ghost.
“I-I saw it too.”
Lee Sang-hyeon trembled in fear.
The two of them began debating seriously about what that had been.
What caught my attention was something else.
‘Those guys earlier mentioned something about A-rank. Were they talking about me?’
Strictly speaking, thanks to Luck, my average was a bit low, but my stats were on par with A-rank.
Laura answered.
[A properly trained mage can roughly gauge an opponent’s strength. You didn’t hide it well enough, either.]
So that’s how they knew.
Come to think of it, their red robes looked familiar.
‘It was definitely the Salvation Gospel Church.’
Salvation Gospel Church.
They were a cult worshiping the Second Coming Christ that appeared in the latter half of the game.
Their Second Coming was actually a demon deceiving people, and the acts they called realizing ‘God’s Kingdom’ on Earth were rituals to summon the Demon King.
‘Is the Salvation Gospel Church behind this Gate incident?’
In the game, there was no case of coming here this early.
So I didn’t know much.
“But isn’t this a Gate?”
Lee Sang-hyeon, being a third-year, was the first to notice.
“A Gate?”
“Yaong.”
I pulled the ‘Mana Detector’ from my bag.
It was used to determine Gate ranks.
It looked like a radiation detector.
“Isn’t that a Mana Detector? You brought one of those?”
I’d brought it in case the kids got scared and refused to enter the dungeon.
“Let’s check it out.”
I held the detector near the Gate.
The gauge on the detector began to move, with numbers steadily climbing.
1171 ---
1462 ---
2147 ---
2235 ---
2236 D
“D-rank dungeon.”
“The force feels like an A-rank dungeon, but it’s lower than I thought.”
Lee Sang-hyeon let out a sigh of relief.
I felt relieved too.
I’d wondered if the Salvation Gospel Church mages had tampered with something, but it was nothing special.
Maybe the Gate appearing in the first place was their trick.
Now it was time to achieve the hidden purpose of this trip.
I boldly suggested it.
“Want to go in?”
“What?”
“Nyaat.”
Everyone freaked out in surprise.
To reassure them, I downplayed the dungeon.
“With our current strength, a D-rank dungeon is no problem. Some of you might not know, but I got re-evaluated as B-rank.”
“Oh. B-rank? When did you train that much?”
Park Ha-yeon looked shocked.
I felt a slight pang of conscience but lied calmly.
“Yeah. Whenever I had time.”
“So those late nights were for training?”
“That’s right. Can’t go into details, but yeah.”
“Uh-huh.”
Park Ha-yeon nodded with a lukewarm expression.
“Let’s hear everyone’s opinions. What do you think? I say camping inside a D-rank dungeon isn’t a bad idea.”
“This seems doable.”
Park Ha-yeon backed me up.
As expected, she had a personality that didn’t shy away from danger, just like in the original story.
Lee Sang-hyeon and Isia still looked hesitant.
“S-still, is it okay? We’re just students…. Fine, us aside, what about your little cousin?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
Worried about Laura, of all things.
‘Fair enough.’
She looked like a small child on the outside, so it made sense.
She took care of it herself.
“No need to worry. No one here is stronger than me except Shin Noda.”
“What? Haha. She must not know much yet. We’re academy students, you know.”
Laura lit a flame on her fingertip.
The flame soon took the shape of a sphere larger than a person’s head.
“How about now?”
“Just some fire from your finger….”
The fireball evolved into a fiery tornado that looked ready to engulf the mountain.
Scorching heat dominated the surroundings.
“How about now?”
“Uh…….”
Lee Sang-hyeon’s jaw dropped.
Park Ha-yeon said with a worried look.
“But… you didn’t start a forest fire, did you?”
“No worries.”
The fiery tornado vanished.
The flames scattered across the mountain returned to her finger as if time had reversed.
Everyone just stared at the scene in a daze.
“You’re really amazing.”
I scanned their faces and asked.
“What do you think? Good enough to go? We’ve got camping gear too. Even if it takes time, we can sleep inside. As you all know, properly clearing a dungeon like this can boost your stats big time.”
Their eyes lit up at the mention of boosting stats.
It was a dream for any Awakener.
Truth be told, even without knowing anything about this dungeon, our group had more than enough power to conquer it.
Not to mention I knew all the hidden mechanics.
Our group ultimately agreed to enter the dungeon.
There was a chance those red-robed weirdos who vanished might pull something, but since I strongly pushed for it, the mood shifted toward going in.
They were all Awakeners, so less crisis-aware than normals, and teenage bravado made convincing them easy.
Lee Sang-hyeon seemed oddly willing to follow my lead, and Isia was scared but went along since everyone else was.
“Alright. I’ll take point. Follow me.”
I entered the Gate.
***
A week had passed since Dark Knight stopped his hunts.
Now everyone had noticed he’d ceased activities.
The news blared related stories nonstop.
[Dark Knight Vanishes! Association Says, “Time to End the Hero Play. Good call.”]
[Ability Crimes Up 20% Since Dark Knight Stopped… Coincidence?]
[End of Vigilante Justice… Experts: “Positive Long-Term Effects”]
[Dark Knight Fan Cafe ‘Knight Order’ Claims Hiatus Due to Reckless Online Criticism…]
TV aired special programs.
Panels with crime psychologists and former heroes.
The anchor introduced today’s topic.
“Dark Knight has stopped activities and gone into hiding lately. What do you think the reason is?”
Former B-rank hero Oh Jun-cheol smiled and replied.
“Probably the Association’s relentless pursuit forced him out. Don’t know internals now that I’m retired, but they must’ve made a move. The Association seems soft, but it’s a scary place.”
“Ah, I see. Have you seen similar cases in the past…?”
“Can’t say due to confidentiality clauses.”
The anchor passed the floor to crime psychologist Kim Mun-cheol.
Kim Mun-cheol began sharing his analysis.
“I see it differently. Less the Association landing a blow, more him getting deeply disappointed by the backlash when the fake Dark Knight, ‘Darkness Jumper,’ appeared.”
“Ah… So the fan cafe’s claim has merit, is that it?”
“The context aligns. What he does threatens rule of law with vigilante justice, but he believes he’s upholding justice with a sense of mission or conviction. The reckless online hate hit him hard. Even if triggered by the fake, the attacks targeted Dark Knight.”
“Ah, I see.”
He caught his breath and continued.
“He might think Koreans don’t deserve a ‘Dark Knight.’ With activities halted like this, his psyche is highly unstable. He’s a walking bomb now. Pull the fuse, and you get the worst A-rank Villain. He’s classified as one already, but…”
Kim Mun-cheol laid out his concerns in detail.