A Dazzling Debut

"Movement-suppression magic up front. Start harassing them at close range."

"Okay~!"

At the command, the male mage let his mana flare lightly, and a vast swath of marshland erupted beneath the feet of the skeleton soldiers.

"The trash mobs are yours."

"Leave 'em to me."

The ponytailed woman reversed her grip on a pair of daggers and slipped through the sea of bones like smoke. From the skeleton archers all the way up to the skeleton shamans, every monster with a means of ranged attack collapsed in a single sweep, utterly neutralized.

Rattle-rattle!

Then there was the boss monster pulling those skeletons' strings.

The robed skeleton spat violet flame from both hands.

"Guess that's a low-grade gate monster for you. Simple patterns."

Still, the man's spells never landed, doing nothing but shatter empty ground.

"All clear on my end, Boss!"

"Same here!"

In an instant, the field had been swept clean. The Lich's jawbone clattered in open confusion. It scrambled to compose the spell that would summon its next wave of soldiers—

"Too slow."

The man was already right in front of it.

Crunch!

His fist slammed into the Lich's skull with devastating force. The gem embedded in the center of its cranium burst apart, and the Lich's body crumbled bit by bit into powder.

Certain of the kill, the man cast a sidelong glance at the timer.

And beneath it, the reactions of the viewers scrolled past.

Praise they had more than anticipated. After all, they were the elite members of the Silla Guild itself—and to them, a mere D-rank gate was about as taxing as a stroll through the neighborhood park.

The event for this year's Guild War preliminaries was the D-Rank Gate Time Attack—a simple format where the team that cleared the gate fastest won.

Among the Group C guilds advancing to the main bracket was one of the favorites to win it all. Silla Guild had just detonated a monumental record—a three-hour clear.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Hello there, Team Leader Kim Jin! Your performance today was simply magnificent!"

The man who had erased the Lich with a single punch. Kim Jin's interview began the moment the gate was cleared.

"What are your thoughts on this year's Guild War?"

"Obviously, we will win. Anyone hoping to challenge Silla Guild had better come back after breaking that record first."

"As expected of the reigning champion—what audacity!"

Just as the exchange of questions was winding down and the reporter was about to wrap things up, she hurriedly tossed out one last question.

"Is there any particular hunter in this Guild War who has caught your eye?!"

"......"

Kim Jin's brow twitched almost imperceptibly.

"No."

And with that, the interview was over.

"Goddammit!"

The team leader of the Blue Rake Guild, reading the headlines that kept popping up one after another, scrunched his face into a knot.

"Didn't we get interviewed too? Huh? We definitely did!"

"We did."

"Then why the hell is there no article about us?!"

"Because the other guy is that Lee Tae-hyun."

It felt unbearably unfair. The Blue Rake Guild had posted steady growth year after year and built itself a reputation as more or less the poster child of the underdogs—only to get lumped into the same group as the guild founded by that untamed colt of a brat, and now every scrap of attention was funneling toward one side.

"Team Leader, come on—don't be too discouraged."

"What?"

"Honestly, this is an opportunity."

The teammate's mouth curved into a sour grin.

"We're ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the ones winning this preliminary, aren't we? Which means all that attention is going to come pouring our way instead."

"...You think so?"

"These articles mean nothing. Once we stomp that bastard Lee Tae-hyun into the dirt, we'll get ten times this coverage."

"Oooh..."

"Who knows, maybe we'll even get our own feature. The Blue Rake That Felled Lee Tae-hyun—Who Are They? Something like that."

"A f-feature!"

The team leader's eyes tripled in size on the spot.

"So let's just focus on winning."

"Heh heh... now you're talking."

Tae-hyun was certainly not an opponent they could afford to dismiss. But they had already prepared an 'insurance policy' that guaranteed victory in this preliminary.

"Here, here. Drink up before we enter the gate."

Illegal elixirs, airlifted straight from Japan. They came with some temporary side effects, but for a set window of time they inflated your stats to absurd heights. They were, in fact, the secret behind the Blue Rake's unbroken growth streak.

Gulp, gulp.

The elixir down their throats, the Blue Rake members lined up before the gate.

"Heh heh... with the power of this elixir..."

"First place might as well already be ours."

The two guild members snickered darkly. The team leader fished out a vial of his own and swallowed it, though his expression remained anything but settled.

'His opponent is that Lee Tae-hyun, though.'

Against a monster like that, would a single pill really be enough?

'Ah, screw it!'

The team leader chewed and swallowed two more elixirs from his emergency stash. The pills' effects scaled honestly with the number you took, after all.

'That should do it. Just you wait, feature article!'

"We will now begin the gate entry of Group F's Blue Rake Guild."

As the attendant started the timer, the three of them ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stepped through the gate.

"Die!"

The team leader caved in the boss monster's skull.

"Haaahh... hahh..."

Right on cue, the elixir's effects ran dry and every ounce of strength drained from his body. His skull throbbed like he was about to throw up on the spot, and the world spun before his eyes—

"T... the time...!"

He clawed his way back to consciousness and checked the clear time.

Five and a half hours. That was a full two hours shaved off the D-rank average clear time of seven. Considering that the other group leaders had managed times in the six-hour range at best, it was a record that wouldn't have been strange to call a victory then and there.

"Good work, everyone!"

"Uuugh..."

"Huurrk!"

After offering the customary words of encouragement to his teammates, who were still writhing under the elixir's side effects, he stepped out of the gate dreaming a rosy future.

"Oh? You're out already."

The attendant waiting outside spoke with a hint of surprise.

"Five and a half hours... that's quite fast."

"Hahahaha! It was nothing!"

His shoulders swelled with unearned pride.

"At this rate, you might even have a shot at the overall championship, no?"

"Ah..."

The attendant trailed off, letting the words hang, and smiled awkwardly.

"Is something wrong?"

"Well... would you like to watch this video?"

The attendant pulled a tablet from their coat and played a clip.

"What... is this?"

The screen played nothing but a wash of crimson. Then the image gradually sharpened, and it became clear what that red was.

KEEEAGH!

It was blood and fire. Countless monsters were being butchered, blood and gore scattering in sheets, while the forest that served as their nest blazed up in a brilliant inferno and charred into soot.

But what stunned him most of all was this:

Three figures slaughtering monsters at a speed that defied belief.

"These people are supposed to be F-rank?!"

Baek Seo-ha's swordsmanship and the skill synergy of a kid called Shin Min-woo were both extraordinary in their own right—but Lee Tae-hyun's spear was nothing short of divine artistry. It was beautiful enough that the word felt almost appropriate.

Baek Seo-ha laughed softly and swept her blade. Each swing cleaved several of the dark-scaled lizardmen apart at once.

"The White Dragon...!"

Why was that woman with Lee Tae-hyun, of all people? Everyone had naturally assumed she would be competing under the Sword Sect's banner.

Tae-hyun collected his spear and abruptly tilted his face toward the sky. At that instant, a creature roughly three times the size of the other lizardmen came crashing down from above—

Tae-hyun ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠explained, calm as ever.

'Even I didn't know that...?'

And he was hardly alone—most hunters in the world wouldn't know it either. In the time it took to study a gate monster's ecology and social behavior, you'd gain far more from training your body or learning a new skill.

He knew the lizardmen's instincts, deliberately set the fire to seal off their ambushes, and lured the boss right into his hands. It was, quite literally, the seasoned cunning of a true Hunter.

'B-but the boss won't be so easy!'

Fighting a boss while enemies swarmed in from every direction, as it was now, would surely hit a wall. They would obviously have to fall back first and take their time, whittling it down carefully...

At that moment, a scarlet flame flickered to life above Tae-hyun's palm. A fire identical to the one swallowing the forest—blood-red, dense, and searing.

The burning spear launched at a terrifying velocity and struck the boss lizardman squarely in the head.

KWAAAANG!

With the explosion, the viscous Karma Flame devoured the creature's body whole. The head that had taken the direct hit had long since ceased to exist.

Reducing a D-rank gate boss to ash had taken exactly one attack.

The moment the time was recorded, the backlog in the chat window shot violently upward.

"Two hours?! I... is this actually real?!"

"We can hardly believe it ourselves, but... it's true. Shinseong Guild cleared the gate in 2 hours and 5 minutes."

Not just within Group F—they now stood alone at the very top of every single team competing in the Guild War.

At this point, a man couldn't help but feel envy creeping in.

"Ha... haha..."

The Blue Rake's team leader could only emit a broken doll's laugh. He'd stood there boasting that he would come back with a guaranteed victory.

'If this was how it would end, I'd have rather been grouped with Silla Guild!'

His face burning crimson, he turned away, abandoning his teammates where they stood.

"That goddamn bastard Lee Tae-hyun...!"

He was grinding his lips between his teeth, savoring his fury, when—

THUD.

His heart suddenly plummeted.

"Kghh—?! Wh... what is this, all of a sudden...?"

An excruciating ache blooming in his chest spread, little by little, through his entire body.

"GRAAAGH! AAAAARGH! Wh-what the hell is happening to me!"

Crack! Crunch!

The blood vessels in his eyes ruptured. Teeth erupted from his gums at grotesque angles, and tentacles burst from his spine.

"S... save me..."

That final, broken syllable was his last.

The team leader—once a man—shed his humanity entirely and emerged in the shape of a monster.

"Grrrrr...!"

It was the moment the first monster outside a gate was ever born.