The F-Rank Gate (3)
In the mountain rest area a short distance from the test gate, the detector grumbled as he peeled back the lid of his cup ramen.
Most examiners would have just chuckled and let it slide with a friendly “Good work out there.” But this one had insisted on running a final inspection right before entry. The detector really didn’t like how picky the examiner was being.
Still…
Slurp.
“Tastes pretty good, though.”
The cup ramen was excellent. The Hunter Association staff had packed mountains of food and drinks to support the examinees. Maybe it was because he was eating it after hiking up a mountain, but the noodles tasted especially heavenly.
He lifted another huge mouthful of noodles when his chopsticks suddenly froze in midair.
A chill raced across his skin. A ripple of mana.
More precisely, he sensed a bizarre mana fluctuation coming from the direction of the gate. It was incredibly strong and disgustingly sticky. The very nature of the mana leaking from the gate had completely changed.
The cup ramen slipped from the detector’s hand. Hot broth and noodles spilled across the ground.
“W-what the…!”
The detector frantically grabbed his mana-measuring device and sprinted toward the gate, face pale as death.
“Hmm?”
Choi Jungwoo, who had been resting while seated, also noticed the subtle shift in mana. Just then, he spotted the detector running toward the gate and immediately chased after him.
“What’s going on?!”
“A mana surge has been detected from the gate!”
A mana surge. Choi Jungwoo clenched his jaw. So the strange mana wave he’d felt wasn’t just his imagination.
In front of the gate, the detector activated his measuring artifact. A soft glow shot toward the portal, and the needle on the artifact’s gauge twitched violently.
Choi Jungwoo stared down at the device with a hardened expression. The needle, which should have stayed comfortably in the F-rank safe zone, was shooting upward into the red section. Even a complete amateur could tell something was terribly wrong.
“F… E… D…”
The detector’s lips trembled as he glared at the scale. The needle showed no sign of stopping.
“C. It’s C-rank…”
The needle finally stopped at C-rank. But that wasn’t the end of it. The detector’s eyes shook.
Gate Rank Updated — C+ (Special Entity Confirmed)
“No, it’s a C+ rank gate…!”
“A special entity?” Choi Jungwoo’s brows drew together tightly.
This wasn’t a regular C-rank. The plus sign meant there were variant monsters with special abilities inside, not ordinary ones.
“Y-yes…! Of all places, a special entity had to appear here…!”
Choi Jungwoo’s gaze turned ice-cold.
“Didn’t we inspect it before entry?”
The chilly rebuke was justified. It had definitely registered as one of the weakest F-rank gates at the time.
Then why?
The detector desperately racked his brain. He had passed the nationally certified appraiser exam. That was on a completely different level from the hunter written test that even a dolphin could pass with a little effort. The theories he had memorized during his student days flashed through his mind at high speed. One possibility rose to the surface.
“S-someone must have deliberately cast a mana perception distortion spell!” the detector said quickly. “It’s a spell that forcibly suppresses the mana waves emitted by the gate, making its difficulty appear lower than it actually is.”
A spell that disguised a gate’s difficulty. In short, someone had set a trap. The spell was designed to automatically dispel once people entered the gate. There was no need to maintain the illusion after the victims had already fallen into the trap.
“Damn it.”
Even by pure difficulty, it was C-rank. And on top of that, it was a C+ dungeon harboring a special entity. Of course Choi Jungwoo could clear it if he went in himself, but the problem was that he couldn’t enter at all.
Once a dungeon had accepted a set number of people, no one else could go inside.
The examinees who went in…
Examinee number 31, Park Minsu. Choi Jungwoo shook his head. There was no way Park Minsu’s skills could handle a C-rank dungeon. The spear user and the mage were even weaker than him.
That left only one person.
Examinee number 32. Kim Cheon-a.
The image of the small girl holding a heavy wooden practice sword floated into Choi Jungwoo’s mind. The slash that had sliced the golem clean in two during the practical exam.
Maybe inside this gate as well…
No. It was just a fluke.
Choi Jungwoo refused to cling to false hope. Yes, she had cut the golem in half, but that golem had suffered a critical system error. The limiter had gone into overdrive, straining the frame and drastically lowering the armor’s defense. Even the old alchemist had reached the same conclusion.
Still, her swordsmanship itself was refined.
The perfectly clean cut on the cross-section proved that her technique was exceptional, even if the armor’s defense had been compromised. Her footwork had been perfectly steady, and her internal energy control had supported her body with minimal effort. Whatever else might be said, her talent was undeniably real.
The problem was the amount of internal energy she possessed.
Her internal energy was at the absolute bottom tier.
Talent alone couldn’t defeat a C-rank monster. Besides, a rampaging, malfunctioning golem and a living, breathing C-rank monster radiating murderous intent were on completely different levels. No matter how sharp her senses were, shallow internal energy would eventually hit its limit and she would be crushed.
To think such wonderful talent will be lost.
Choi Jungwoo bit his lip. If only she had been given a little more time. If only she had learned proper orthodox martial arts instead of that strange heretical style. The girl would have undoubtedly become an outstanding hunter.
But it was already too late.
“W-what should we do?” the detector asked, shifting anxiously from foot to foot.
A monster outbreak from the gate. The disaster known as a dungeon break. There were two main conditions that triggered it.
First, if the gate was left uncleared for a certain period of time.
Second, if the party that entered the dungeon was completely wiped out.
Choi Jungwoo opened his eyes.
“Code Black.”
The detector swallowed hard at his words.
Code Black. The highest-level alert signaling an imminent dungeon break. It meant he had judged that the examinees inside would soon be annihilated.
“Contact the Hunter Association immediately,” Choi Jungwoo continued. “Request hunter support for an imminent dungeon break. The objective is to establish a containment perimeter so the C-rank monster cannot escape the mountain.”
“Hold on. There seems to be a boss monster up ahead.”
Kim Cheon-a’s voice was calm as she sensed the killing intent.
Park Minsu, who had been walking in front, let out a snort of laughter.
“There’s nothing there, kid.”
What could a little brat possibly know? Park Minsu was about to ignore her and keep walking when—
Rustle.
The bushes ahead shook violently. Something staggered out from the undergrowth.
She has good senses.
Thinking that, Park Minsu looked toward the bushes. The creature that had appeared without any prior presence was…
“A goblin… right?”
Its appearance was definitely that of a goblin. But it looked completely different from the ones they had killed so far.
For one thing, it was much taller. It stood at eye level with an average adult male. In its hand it held a bizarre staff covered in skulls and sharp blades, like some kind of shamanic totem.
However, despite its height, its body was emaciated and twisted, and its skin was wrinkled like an old man’s. On that skeletal face, only its two eyes glowed with an eerie, unnatural light.
“So that’s the boss,” Park Minsu muttered, swallowing dryly.
Anyone could tell it was a boss monster just by looking at it. The grotesque appearance made even him tense up for a moment. But he quickly hardened his expression.
It’s still just an F-rank dungeon.
And one of the lowest difficulty ones at that. No matter how much of a boss it was, it couldn’t possibly be strong. It just looked unpleasant. It seemed so frail it might keel over and die of old age at any second.
“Still, it’s the last one.”
Park Minsu drew the sword from his back. It was the magic sword he had been saving. When he channeled power into it, the artifact’s characteristic light flashed along the blade.
Something as pathetic as this bag-of-bones goblin could be cut down in a single strike. He had briefly considered having the others help since it was a boss monster, but—
This is my chance to leave a strong impression on the headhunters.
He would finish the final boss himself.
Park Minsu kicked off the ground and charged forward with all his might.
“Take my sword strike, you who killed my comrades!”
“Krrrk!”
The goblin shaman let out a bizarre cackle. Just before the furiously charging Park Minsu could reach it, the shaman’s bony fingers moved.
A single, light flick.
Thud!
“Guhk!”
With a dull impact, Park Minsu’s body was sent flying through the air. Covered in blood, he tumbled across the ground.
“Ughhh…”
The spear user and mage watching from behind widened their eyes in shock. The goblin had merely flicked a finger. Yet Park Minsu had been sent flying without being able to do anything.
The two exchanged urgent glances.
“Haaap!”
The woman with the spear charged first. She was slower than Park Minsu, but still fast. The goblin waved its hand again. A black orb flew from thin air—the same attack that had smashed Park Minsu.
The woman instinctively raised her spear shaft.
Kwaaaang!
A massive shock. The steel spear snapped in two. The force that pierced through it struck her body directly.
“Kyaaaak!”
The female spear-wielding examinee was sent flying backward and collapsed.
“Haaap! Ice Bolt!”
Taking advantage of the opening, the mage who had finished his incantation swung his staff. A sharp arrow of cold. This wasn’t some weak spell. It was his strongest attack, squeezing out every last drop of mana in his body. In terms of raw firepower, it was even stronger than Park Minsu’s strike.
Paaaang!
The magic exploded right in front of the goblin’s nose. Sharp cold energy scattered in all directions like shrapnel.
“Hoo!”
The mage exhaled harshly and glared at the goblin. An F-rank monster should have died from that blow.
But—
“Krrrk!”
The goblin walked out from the frost completely unharmed. A protective barrier surrounding its body had dissipated the cold before it could even touch.
“Eat this, you bastard!”
Park Minsu, who had regained his senses in the meantime, was aiming the firearm slung across his back at the goblin. It was the large-caliber special gun they had been issued. Using a firearm was practically an automatic point deduction, but this was no time to worry about scores.
That thing was definitely not an F-rank monster. But with these special anti-materiel armor-piercing rounds—specially modified by the alchemist—they should be able to pierce that goblin’s barrier.
He pulled the trigger while shouting.
Bang! Bang! Bang—!
A few shots flew into the air from the recoil, but he forced his stance steady by channeling mana. The aimed muzzle spat out every remaining bullet.
I got it!
It wasn’t far. His aim had been perfect. Park Minsu was certain the goblin’s torso would burst open like a watermelon.
“H-huh…?”
But in the next moment, Park Minsu’s mouth fell open.
The bullets that had been flying fiercely stopped dead in front of the goblin’s nose as if by magic. They floated motionless in the air as if embedded in an invisible wall.
“Krik?”
The goblin shaman curiously examined the bullets floating in the air. Soon losing interest, it relaxed its fingers.
Clatter.
The deformed bullets rolled pathetically to the ground.
“Kieek!”
That wasn’t the end. The goblin slammed its staff into the ground with a heavy thud.
Crack. Crunch.
The dirt beneath the grass began to split open. Skeletal figures crawled out from the cracks. Goblins made entirely of bone. A group of skull goblins rose, holding bone swords.
“G-goblin necromancer…!” the pale-faced male mage shouted.
Park Minsu screamed, veins bulging on his neck.
“What the hell is that thing?!”
“It’s a C-rank boss monster! Why would something like that be in a dungeon like this…!”
C-rank. The mage’s words froze the entire party’s minds. A C-rank monster meant that even among active hunters, you needed to be at least C-rank to have a chance. To examinees, it was basically a grim reaper. There was no way they could win.
Why on earth would a C-rank boss monster appear in the lowest-grade dungeon?
Fear spread like a plague.
“I-I don’t want to die…!”
The female examinee holding her broken spear backed away in tears.
“F-fuuuck…”
Even Park Minsu, who had been acting so tough, lost strength in his legs and collapsed to the ground. The male mage tried to cast another spell, but—
“Uweeegh!”
Having already run out of mana and pushed himself too far, he vomited onto the ground.
“Krrrlk!”
The goblin necromancer laughed as if their despair was amusing. With a rattle of bones, it waved its hand, and the skull goblins began closing their encirclement. They wanted to taste fresh flesh.
I-I’m going to die.
Death had crept right up to his chin. A warm liquid flowed down Park Minsu’s legs. Even as his pants grew wet, he felt no shame. The bravado he had desperately forced out until now scattered like dust before overwhelming despair.
As he sat there, tears and snot running down his face, waiting for death to claim him—
Step.
A strangely calm and quiet footstep. Through tear-blurred vision, Park Minsu saw a small girl step forward.