The Black Gate Opens
Whoooooosh.
Thud.
Struck by a single flash of light, Heracles' eyes rolled back into his head. Smoke poured from his mouth as he crumpled forward. Do-ha had offset the force as much as possible so the body wouldn't go flying into the distance, but Heracles had still failed to block even a fraction of that energy.
"I knew it'd turn out like that."
Canteas shook his head as he watched from the sidelines. Why go and interrupt right when the man was talking to Henry and get yourself smashed for it? If you absolutely had to pick a fight, you should have waited until after the match with Henry. Then Do-ha would have at least thrown him a bone and let him save a little face. But now? Pride, dignity—none of it mattered. The defeat had been utterly humiliating. And Do-ha had even healed him once beforehand. Even if Heracles came to his senses, he wouldn't have a single excuse left to offer.
Do-ha brushed the dirt from his clothes and approached Henry with an eager look.
"Henry. The nuisance is gone… shall we pick up where we left off?"
Now he could finally fight Henry!
But contrary to his hopes, Do-ha never managed to get close.
A crowd surged in.
"Mr. A! I'm active in Russia—"
"Mr. A!! I'm the CEO of a company in London. Just a moment of your time—"
"Please talk with me as well!"
"What was that technique just now?! Was it magic?"
"W-wait a second! Move aside!"
Do-ha's expression turned awkward. Have these people lost their minds?!
"Puhahaha."
As the throng forced the two of them farther apart, Henry stood in place and burst out laughing. The very action meant to secure a fight with him had instead shoved the man away.
"We'll definitely meet again, Mr. A."
Henry murmured the words quietly and turned his back, walking off. People were shouting all around, but A had surely heard him.
I wonder… could I have properly blocked that attack just now?
A smile of pure enjoyment curved Henry's lips as he walked away. The sight of the man a moment ago—he had looked exactly like a bolt of lightning made flesh.
Henry glanced at the sweat on his palm and nodded to himself.
We'll meet again soon.
Just watching from nearby had left him this tense.
"Argh, all of you get out of the way!!"
In the end, Do-ha roared at the swarming crowd.
"Ugh, you idiot. You tell me to go find followers and then go and make a spectacle of yourself alone?"
"…Shut up."
Having finally clawed his way free of the throng, Do-ha let out a long sigh. With person after person piling on, he had ultimately been forced to leave the banquet hall. Thank goodness he had worn a mask to hide his face—otherwise his features would have been sold across the entire world.
Not yet.
Until he had wiped out a few more Demon God Cult cells, it was better to stay hidden.
Rapid footsteps approached.
"Mr. A!"
While Do-ha sat on a bench, the Association President hurried over from a distance. When had the man even left the banquet hall? The moment he realized Do-ha had vanished, he had come straight out.
"Ah, Mr. President."
"I've been looking everywhere for you."
"Haa… I had to run for a bit because of the crowd."
"Haha…"
The Association President found it amusing that the same man who had utterly overwhelmed Heracles had fled over something as trivial as a crowd. Still, he was curious. How on earth did someone grow this strong in such a short time? Do-ha had said with his own mouth that he still lacked power befitting an SSS-rank. Yet after today, he looked more than strong enough to be called SSS-rank.
"Where are the other two?"
Do-ha glanced behind the Association President. From the moment they stepped off the plane the three of them had stuck together—where had the other two gone? Watching them chatter, they had seemed like old acquaintances.
"They're quietly drinking in the banquet hall."
The Association President forced a smile and scratched his head. After watching Do-ha and Heracles fight, the shock must have hit them hard—they were already on their second bottle of vodka.
"You came all this way. Why not network a little instead of just drinking?"
"…"
The Association President clamped his mouth shut. For a second he had almost blurted, "It's because of you, Mr. Do-ha." Kang Ji-hwan and Han Se-ah still ranked fairly high among the Divine 200. Kang Ji-hwan sat at 54th, Han Se-ah at 62nd. And Heracles was someone the two of them might have beaten if they ganged up on him once.
Yet he overwhelmed even that Heracles…
The two of them still hadn't recovered from the shock. No—it wasn't just the two of them. Aside from the other Cheonwaecheon, most of the hunters present felt the same way. Heracles had been known as someone close to Cheonwaecheon level, yet when the lid was lifted he hadn't even managed to leave a scratch on one. That made everyone conclude that an unbridgeable gulf existed between the Divine 200 and the Cheonwaecheon.
Ugh. Do-ha just crushed every rookie's spirit in one go.
Having roughly grasped the situation, Canteas shook his head. Back in the world of Belhart he too had despaired after seeing Do-ha. He had been someone who casually handled dragons, yet after experiencing the existence called Baek Do-ha, how pitiful he had felt. The remaining hunters in the banquet hall were probably feeling exactly as he once had.
I want to tell them.
Don't despair. Baek Do-ha is the weird one. All of you are roughly on the same level as the Cheonwaecheon.
"Ah, right—and the representatives of each country said they wanted to meet you…"
Once word spread that Baek Do-ha had disappeared, most of them had flocked to the Association President and poured out their requests. Chairmen of major foreign conglomerates. Officials from the World Hunter Association. Members of the Divine 200. People whose names alone were enough to recognize were all hunting for Do-ha.
"Take this guy instead of me. Tell them he's my spokesman and they'll talk to him well enough."
Do-ha pointed at Canteas. Deep down he wanted to go straight home, but he still needed to find Demon God Cult members. That was why he had attended this party in the first place. Hunters almost never gathered except at events like this, so he had to use the chance to root them out.
"Understood."
The Association President bowed his head and returned to the banquet hall with Canteas.
Machasan, near Soyosan Station.
Crackle-crackle-crackle!
KRA-KOOM!
"Th-the mana readings keep climbing!"
"Report to the Association President immediately!"
The faces of the hunters holding mana measurement devices turned pale. A few days earlier, reports of strange noises coming from the mountain had led the Association to dispatch an investigation team. Upon arrival they found sparks continuously leaping through empty air, mana readings rising and falling in waves. Then, starting several hours ago, the fluctuating readings stopped dropping and began soaring without end.
"Has the Association President returned?"
"Yes. The dinner party ended earlier than expected, so he came back last night."
"Then issue an emergency call right n—"
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep…
Bang!
"…Team Leader."
When the meter exploded, an Association staff member stared at the team leader with a frozen face. Current meters could handle readings up to SSS-rank Gates without issue.
And that equipment just blew up while measuring mana…
The only time meters exploded like this was with Unknown-rank Gates that contained dragons. No—to be precise, technology had advanced over the years; even Gates with dragons now simply registered as Unknown without destroying the meters. Yet right now the meter had detonated.
Crackle.
Whoosh.
"Huh? It settled."
The flashing sparks vanished and the mana calmed. The team members looked around. Until a moment ago the world had seemed ready to collapse under the roaring noise; now everything was suddenly silent.
"…Fall back."
The team leader's face went white.
"What?"
"Everyone fall back right now!!!"
At that exact moment—
SHWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!
Rumble-rumble-rumble.
A Black Gate of a kind no one had ever seen began forming at an enormous scale.
"Th-that's black… Team Leader, what kind of Gate is this?!"
"…"
No one had ever seen a color like this. SSS-rank Gates were gold. Unknown Gates were a grayish hue. Yet the Gate before their eyes was black—so pitch-dark it almost looked as if a hole had simply been punched through empty air.
The team leader bit his lip hard.
"I'll go in and check."
He began gathering his gear.
"Team Leader!"
The team members jumped in alarm. The color was unprecedented, and the Gate itself towered high enough to touch the sky. And he wanted to enter it?
"You can't! What if you die—"
"We're an investigation team. Figuring out what kind of Gate this is is our job…!"
Even if he died, he had to determine the nature of the Gate. If it was the kind that spewed monsters, they would have to hold the line from inside first. Otherwise civilians would start dying.
"If things get dangerous inside I'll signal right away—seal the entrance."
He placed something round and flat from his pocket into a team member's hand. It looked like an oversized steamed bun. In truth it was a Barrier Stone—an item jointly crafted by dwarves and mages. When used from within, a thin membrane would seal the Gate entrance. It wasn't permanent, lasting only about an hour, but it could buy time against a flood of monsters in an emergency. Hunters would have to assemble in that window. The problem was that using it meant he himself would be trapped and die. Still, it didn't matter. If sacrificing one person could prevent a horrific disaster—
No… even if I can't stop everything, if the time I buy lets even one more civilian survive, that's enough.
The team leader clenched his trembling lips.
"I'm going in."
He took a deep breath and stepped forward.
Then—
Gloop.
"S-something's coming out!"
Just as the team leader was about to move, the Gate began thrashing violently. Normally a Gate only convulsed like that when something was about to burst out from inside.
"Prepare to throw the Barrier Stone!"
At the team leader's order the surrounding members moved in perfect unison.
And then—
Sssssss.
Footsteps.
Someone walked out of the Gate—not a monster.
"A… person?"
The team leader kept his tension high as he stared at the figure emerging from the Gate. It looked like a woman, but whether it was human or monster remained unknown.
"ᛞᛯᚻᚢ?"
"What…? Does anyone understand that?"
No one answered the team leader's question.
"……ᛪᛜᛰ ᚹᛤ."
Zaaaaang!
"She's attacking!"
The moment a magic circle formed, the team members gripped their weapons.
"Wait!"
Just as they were about to strike as one, the team leader barked a halt. She wasn't casting with hostile intent—she was applying magic to herself.
"Ahh… can you understand me now?"
"…"
Familiar Korean spilled from the mouth of the unidentified woman, leaving everyone with blank, stunned faces.
"Uh… is this not the right language either?"
"Ah—no! We can hear you fine."
The team leader snapped back to himself and hurriedly answered her.
"Oh! So this was the one. That guy used to mutter it sometimes, so I figured I'd give it a try…"
"Are you a monster, or are you human?"
"I'm Emilton Deyrot, from Belhart. Nice to meet all of you."
Through the colossal Black Gate that reached toward the sky—through a dimensional door connected to the world of Belhart—she had crossed over.