The Specter of the Skies
While I had been deep in low-rank sniper training for hours, the system window suddenly flashed across my vision.
【Mid-High-Rank】【Wave-Type】 Gargoyle Horde
📍 Location:Training Ground
🎁 Objective 1:Kill all Gargoyles [0/100]
🎁 Objective 2:Defeat the Boss ‘King Gargoyle’ [0/1]
Backpack! Backpack! I snatched the backpack I’d brought and slung it over my shoulder without a second thought. The system countdown had already begun.
Training ground closure imminent
10···
9···
“Damn it. Are they really going to kick me out without even letting me finish?”
I’d only just stepped into the Training Ground. If I got trapped here when it closed, I’d be stuck in this sealed pocket dimension until the gate vanished. That would be a disaster. I turned on my heel and bolted for the exit, heart hammering.
“My hands aren’t fully steady yet. Great.”
It was only natural. How much of a real sniper could a guy be after just a few hours of trigger practice? But like an infant absorbing knowledge, my basic sense of marksmanship was already sharpening. I’d even nailed my own personal zero point, and my windage and elevation were good enough to feel almost practiced.
“I really did practice well.”
Skills were skills. The more you drilled them, the better they became.
[Do you wish to exit the Training Ground?]
I stepped out, still gripping the familiar low-rank sniper rifle I’d grown attached to. The moment I did, chaos erupted outside.
“Baaaaang!”
Urgent evacuation vehicles were jammed bumper-to-bumper on the road. Horns blared. People screamed.
“Another Mid-High-Rank gate in Seoul?”
Two high-intensity gates in a single day. While not unheard of globally, these were the rarest, most dangerous events. Bad luck, or something truly wrong. It didn’t matter which. I didn’t have time to speculate.
“Gargoyles, huh? Flying bugs.”
Disgusting. But on the flip side, it might actually be perfect for me.
I made a firm decision right there. Stay hidden in my shelter, snipe from the rooftops, farm experience and gold like a demon, keep leveling up, keep upgrading the shelter, keep improving its functions, and grab every item from the Sniper Shop I’d bought with five million gold—items I was already looking forward to.
“Let’s see if I can die here.”
I chambered the rifle I’d attached the MMM tag to and loaded twenty Air Bullets into the magazine. One smooth pull of the trigger.
“Click.”
I’d done this hundreds of times inside the Training Ground already. Muscle memory took over. Even though it was a bolt-action and I couldn’t fire rapidly, I told myself, One by one. Take them all down. My EXP and gold belong to me.
Of course… stay out of range…
Because it was terrifying…
“Squeak—!”
Windows open, I watched the flying gargoyles above Seoul. Some were already tangled in Hunter battles, others just soaring aimlessly. Far higher up, a single crimson giant roared toward me—the King Gargoyle.
“That’s the boss.”
“Can’t hit him from this far.”
It was a pity, but the distance was too great. At this range, the shot would still be iffy. Better to hunt the smaller ones closer to my shelter instead.
Ten gargoyles were already circling near my room. Another twenty were within comfortable range.
I picked the one that had just landed on a nearby rooftop, roaring at the sky.
“Squeak—!”
“Finished…”
It was brave to get this close to our home. I was going to kill it.
“Sniper ready.”
I propped the pillow under the window, pressed my elbows deep into the frame for rock-solid stability. The entire shelter was wrapped in blankets; I just let the rifle barrel peek out just a fraction.
“Already chambered,”
I brought my eye to the newly purchased [Decent Zoom Scope] for five million gold—four times magnification.
▷ [4]
⋅
⋅
▶ [3] ······ Okay, this zoom is about right.
⋅
⋅
▷ [2]
⋅
⋅
▷ [1]
Even at three times, the King Gargoyle’s head filled my sight completely. It looked terrifying. I exhaled as hard as I could, emptying every last breath from my lungs. My finger hovered over the trigger—slowly, slowly, slowly—drawing it back until I couldn’t feel the difference between preparation and the moment it would fire.
“Huuuuhuuu…”
“Huuuuhuuu…”
“Shhh—!”
“Boom!”
“Hit!”
“Squeak—!”
The shot missed, striking the body instead. The head didn’t fly off, but the impact was devastating. The gargoyle’s entire torso had simply vanished.
“Good. No sound, no risk of being traced. Air Bullets are invisible.”
Confidence surging, I kept firing. The far-off crimson King Gargoyle kept closing in. It was worrying. Very worrying.
Energy flux too intense. Preemptive broadcast issued, but this density was never expected.
【Mid-High-Rank】【Wave-Type】 Gargoyle Horde
📍 Location:Seoul Urban District
🎁 Objective 1:Kill all Gargoyles [0/100]
🎁 Objective 2:Defeat the Boss ‘King Gargoyle’ [0/1]
……
The bald Director of the 1st Team, Kim Chungyu, had been waiting for Unregistered’s contract approval. He stood up now, clearing his mind.
“Disaster.”
The energy flux had been mild before, only slightly unstable. Statistically, there was over a 90% chance nothing would happen. Even if a gate opened, he’d expected a Low-Rank one.
But it was Mid-High-Rank.
“We should have deployed more Seoul power.”
They’d sent most of the High-Rankers to the Advanced Gate in Gangneung. A mistake, even if it had been the Commission’s collective decision.
Still, the guilt was eating him alive.
“They got the back of the head properly.”
It wasn’t a dungeon gate. It was a wave-type gate dumping monsters straight into the city. And among them, gargoyles—monsters that flew, were strong, solid, and regenerated. Average damage wasn’t enough; you had to kill them outright or they’d keep coming back.
Few Hunters could deliver the destructive power required. Even fewer in Seoul right now.
Director Kim Chungyu reported to the management office.
“We can clear it, but civilian casualties—”
He stopped mid-sentence. Chief Baek Moonseong already looked like he understood the weight of the words.
“The goal isn’t just to solve the gate. It’s to solve the gate and eliminate civilian damage.”
Perfect success was no longer guaranteed.
“This is a clear anomaly. Preemptive measures were insufficient, but we will mobilize every non-combatant.”
“Don’t.”
Analyzing why gates were opening so frequently would come later. Right now, they had to deal with the lava falling on their heads.
Kim Chungyu wiped sweat from his forehead and focused on damage control.
[Official Hunter Management Bureau – Emergency Situation Room]
In the Seoul urban district, ordinary C-Rank Hunter Paeng Changwon was battling gargoyles on a high-rise rooftop.
“Gargoyles can’t get below the average height of these buildings!”
“Yes!”
The first defense line ordered by the Hunter Management Bureau was exactly that—to block gargoyles from descending below the average rooftop height.
Certified Hunters on the rooftops poured every ounce of their power into the fight. Private guild Hunters had also joined to minimize civilian harm, swinging swords, smashing hammers, and expending far more mana than ever on long-range sniping.
Paeng Changwon, taking the debuff position, channeled every drop of ice magic into slowing the gargoyles’ flight speed.
“Squeak—!”
A flying gargoyle.
The real problem was it was diving straight at the ground.
“Cold!”
It took a huge mana cost to stop its momentum, but it finally halted. While he pinned it, his ally the Archer called out urgently.
“Dodge!”
An explosion arrow slammed into the gargoyle’s head.
“Pew pew pew!”
“Guh—”
Heat exploded outward, forcing him to turn away instinctively.
“Squeak—!”
The gargoyle’s head cracked deep, wobbling. But it instantly turned into a stone-like lump and began regenerating.
“Need another shot! Fall back!”
One more explosion arrow—
“Pew pew pew!”
The gargoyle disintegrated completely, pixelated, and vanished into the gate.
“Surprisingly durable. Extremely difficult to handle.”
Even multiple C-Rankers working together would struggle. The effort required was enormous.
“Civilian casualties are inevitable.”
Many Hunters were already wounded or dead. In the chaos, no one could guarantee their own safety.
Just then, another gargoyle swooped down from the side, furious, heading straight for Paeng Changwon’s blind spot.
“No—!”
He spun around at the Archer’s scream.
A massive claw was right in his face.
“Squeak—!”
“Damn it.”
Evasive magic came too late.
“Pew pew pew!”
A strange explosion noise filled his ears. The gargoyle’s attack never reached him.
“Kuuung.”
Instead, the weighty body of the gargoyle plummeted.
“What?”
In front of him stood a gargoyle whose lower half had been blasted away, upper body twitching on the rooftop.
“Squeak, squeak.”
Instinctively it tried to petrify and heal the wounds, but blood sprayed like madness.
“Dead.”
The lifeless body pixelated instantly and was sucked back into the gate.
One gargoyle gone.
“W-what?”
How to explain the sudden disappearance of the lower body in mid-air? The Hunter who had opened fire was nowhere to be seen.
“Paeng Changwon Hunter, are you okay?!”
The Archer rushed over and grabbed his shoulder, shaking him.
“Y-yes… yes.”
Confused, he just nodded like an idiot.
“Squeak—!”
“No!”
Another gargoyle dove, targeting the Archer’s spine.
“Damn it!”
The Archer tried to dodge too late while carrying Paeng Changwon.
“Cold!”
Paeng Changwon poured every last drop of mana into minimizing the damage, but—
“Pew pew pew pew!”
“!!!”
The gargoyle’s entire upper body was torn away.
“Swoosh!”
Blood rained down on him and his ally.
“……”
“What…?”
Paeng Changwon looked around.
“Pew pew pew pew!”
“Squeak!”
Another gargoyle vanished in mid-air.
“Pew pew pew pew!”
Another.
“Pew pew pew pew pew!”
Two at once.
Without any warning, their bodies simply exploded in the sky. No visible attack. No trace. Just gargoyles dying helplessly in mid-air.
“……”
All that remained was blood raining down like rain from the sky.
One by one, the gargoyles were wiped from existence without ever touching the ground.
“What… what is this?”
An unbelievable phenomenon.
“Pew pew pew pew!”
“……”
The Hunters fighting together in the Seoul urban district stood frozen, eyes glued to the impossible scene.
“Pew pew pew pew!”
“Pew pew pew pew!”
Gargoyles being crushed without a single scream.
“Who… who is this?”
Death too sudden to understand. Not like they just vanished—something else was at work.
“Pew pew pew pew!”
Massacre.
The emotion that washed over the watching Hunters wasn’t relief at the gargoyles dying.
“It’s…”
“Fear.”
“We can’t understand this power, and even if we could, we couldn’t resist it.”
The gargoyles were dying, yet the same feeling of being hunted swept over them.
“The only reason I’m still alive is because that unknown force hasn’t decided to kill me yet.”
A prey animal standing in front of a well-fed predator.
“……”
Our lives and our choices held no meaning at all.
Only after every single gargoyle—twenty or thirty monsters—had been mercilessly erased did the Hunters begin to pant.
“We’re untouchable.”
The only feeling left was relief.
One Hunter who had been the first to regain his composure quickly checked his status window. The others tried to stop him.
“Don’t move. Who knows what will happen.”
“Just one. Just one check.”
He pulled up the Gate Contribution Status.
Gate Contribution Status
◈ Top Attacker = Unregistered
“No way.”
Was it really that Overlord who had soloed the Minotaurus? The rookie Hunter who hid behind a veil, never accepted the Hunter Management Bureau’s contract, and never revealed his face?
“Did he… do this?”
Checking the detailed damage of Unregistered’s attacks, he saw numbers that didn’t make sense.
“This is impossible. This is impossible.”
Never before had he seen such numbers.
“Is it really possible to deal this kind of damage?”
But now he understood. The true terror wasn’t raw power—it was the method of destruction. No one here had the slightest clue how or why this was happening.
“Unregistered… even the Minotaurus fight didn’t show everything.”
A sudden thought struck him.
“What if he turned against us?”
Not just picking off monsters, but turning those knives toward the villains hiding across the nation? An instant chill ran down his spine.
“This person… must never… be touched.”
This person—above all others—must never be angered.
“We can’t expect him to officially join our side and fight with us, but at least we must avoid the situation where he becomes an enemy.”
“Everyone needs to know this!”
The Hunters gathered on the rooftop were all thinking the exact same thing.