Anomalies
When we burned the World Tree in the Other World, nothing like this had happened. Back then... the World Tree hadn't reacted at all. Eina had shared a brief conversation with her father, but that was it. Even her exchange with the High Elf hadn't contained anything of real importance—just a formal, ritualistic farewell.
Why had the World Tree conveyed its will this time? And even calling it a "will" was generous; it was so faint and fragmented that it was hard to make out. The Demon King isn't the real enemy? It was shocking, but... right now, I didn't have the luxury of time to process and understand it. A horde of Dark Elves, having noticed the anomaly, was already rushing toward us, and battle had broken out.
The soldiers were trying to hold a defensive line, but... they stood no chance against the Dark Elves on their own. By the time I returned after finishing the boss battle, a significant number of people were already severely injured. No matter how vast my Holy Power was, casting large-scale Divine Arts was a massive burden, and the back-to-back battles had drained me heavily. But... this was no time to worry about that. I immediately rushed toward the wounded and began healing them.
"Ugh..." Groaning in pain, the wounded couldn't move easily even after being healed. Fortunately, the number of returning Elves wasn't that high. Once the Murim Alliance raid team stepped in after finishing their own battles, the soldiers were able to reorganize. With their gunfire resuming, the tide of the battle quickly turned in our favor. Most importantly, we weren't too late, so there were no casualties. There were some critical injuries, but because the treatment wasn't delayed, everyone survived.
I tried to stand up after finishing the treatment, but my body swayed. "Are you alright?" Man, my Holy Power is running dangerously low... Some of the soldiers looked at me with concern. They were Awakened too, so they knew that even the most incredible abilities had their limits. That was why they were worried...
"Worry about yourselves," I muttered. I had healed their wounds, but... there was no telling when they might get hurt again. Still, to think I'd experience Holy Power exhaustion here—something I only faced in dire situations, like when I fell into the Succubus Queen's trap or fought the Demon King... It seemed my abilities had indeed weakened after my connection with the Goddess was severed. Or maybe I had been too careless and wasted it? Honestly, this wasn't even a proper fierce battle...
Perhaps I overexerted myself because I was alone. On the battlefields of the Other World, I always had people I could rely on. The priests of the Goddess Church, the knights charging through the front lines... and many other trustworthy allies. Above all, the presence of the Hero and my comrades in the Hero's party was immense. Lacking such dependable companions here... maybe I had pushed myself a bit too hard.
More Dark Elves kept appearing, and the battle dragged on... They rushed at us while shouting in a language we couldn't understand. Translated, it was a desperate struggle to protect the World Tree. I suppose I had to respect their determination to defend it. The hunters, already exhausted to their limits, did their absolute best. I, too, squeezed out every drop of my remaining strength to heal the wounded.
But then... the battle ended in an incredibly anticlimactic way. The surging tide of Dark Elves suddenly collapsed, like puppets with their strings cut. Everyone stood there, dumbfounded, not knowing what had happened. At the exact moment the Dark Elves fell, the blazing World Tree crumbled into ashes. And in the plaza, an exit appeared, signaling the successful raid of the Gate.
It seemed that once the Gate was registered as cleared, the remaining Dark Elves simply ceased functioning. We could have just left, but the commander, thinking the motionless Dark Elves might still have Mana Stones, mobilized the soldiers to search the bodies. Well, considering the ammunition spent and the damaged equipment, they needed to harvest whatever Mana Stones they could to offset the losses, so I understood. Anyway... after completing the grueling raid, I was about to collapse and rest, when...
"You did great, Sis," Gyuri said, supporting me.
"Haha... I pushed myself to make sure nobody died, and now I'm exhausted."
"Yeah, it's all thanks to you, Sis. If it weren't for you, dozens of people would have died."
I let out a weak chuckle. Yeah, it was definitely worth the effort.
Several soldiers with torn clothes and damaged gear approached to express their gratitude. Looking at them... they seemed to be the ones who had been in critical condition but survived thanks to my healing. I gave them a lazy wave of my hand in response. Not long after, the pocket dimension began to tremble.
"It looks like the Gate is about to collapse."
Since we had defeated the boss, the core of the Gate...
"Yeah."
Honestly, I was so tired I just wanted to go to sleep.
"Sis."
"What?" I wondered why my sister was being so persistent.
"Um, starting tomorrow, it's probably going to be hard for you to move around freely."
I blinked at her, not understanding what she meant.
"You showed off that much power. Do you really think they'll just let it slide?"
Uh...
"Hmm..."
"I'm not entirely sure, but your Hunter rank will probably go up tomorrow."
Ah, that was unavoidable. I had saved so many people. They couldn't just pretend it never happened...
"And, well, you might even become an S-Class."
I stared at her. "S?"
"Yeah. I mean, the power you showed was just too unprecedented."
Powerful buffs, healing... and even a barrier that could protect dozens of people at once. Apparently, I had displayed abilities that far surpassed any existing healer. Since I had no point of comparison, I had no idea how extraordinary my powers actually were.
"Plus, even though you look tired, it doesn't seem like you've exhausted all your strength..."
She said that a normal, average A-Class healer wouldn't have been able to survive this continuous, fierce battlefield. Especially during that magic bombardment midway through the raid—the entire team would have likely been wiped out...
"If you had only come with us, we could have hidden it somehow..."
The Murim Alliance wasn't the only group participating in this Gate raid. I had performed my feats in front of numerous soldiers and government officials.
"So probably..."
The government would likely try to approach me to tie me down.
"Um, do you want to join our guild right away?"
She said that if I joined the guild, they would handle most of the annoying administrative stuff for me, if not all of it.
"Uh, yeah... I'll do it."
Hearing that, how could I refuse? At any rate, the incredibly grueling Gate raid was finally over.
Afterward, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep immediately. My sister brought me home... and I slept like a log for nearly twenty hours. When I woke up, my sister called me over, saying she would explain what had happened while I was asleep. It had only been twenty hours—well, after eating and washing up, it was practically a full day. Either way, only a single day had passed, but so much had changed.
"First of all, you're officially part of the Murim Alliance now, Sis. The same goes for the two people you brought along."
It seemed my sister had handled everything perfectly without me even having to ask.
"Really?"
"Yeah. You did great."
After a full day of rest, my depleted energy was almost fully restored.
"And... Sis, um..." My sister hesitated, glancing at me warily. What on earth was she trying to say?
"Well, congratulations. You're officially South Korea's eighth S-Class hunter, and the very first female one."
"Uh..."
Huh?
"That's how it turned out."
Since I had made such a grand, flashy scene...
"The Alliance Leader declared that the Gate we cleared, the Dark Elf Forest, was actually an A-Class or higher... and the people who survived because of your healing kept talking about you. The government moved so fast that we couldn't stop it..."
"S-Class...?"
I couldn't believe it. No, to be precise, I didn't want to believe it.
"Yeah."
"Me?" I pointed a finger at myself to double-check.
"Yeah..." My sister nodded reluctantly.
"Didn't you say they look at track records and achievements?"
"Your abilities are so far out of the norm that they bypass those conditions entirely."
Ah! I hadn't hidden my strength well enough! In my eagerness to quickly clear that Gate, I had completely forgotten that I was supposed to lay low. Well, I also wanted to make sure nobody died, but that was secondary. I let out a long sigh. Me... an S-Class? Just like that?
"Sigh..."
This wasn't what I wanted at all. It was definitely annoying and troublesome, but becoming an S-Class was actually a minor issue. Right now, I had other things to worry about.
"Well, thanks anyway."
"No, I should be the one thanking you." My sister shrugged. She already held a fairly important position in the guild, but by scouting me—an S-Class powerhouse—her performance record had apparently pierced through the heavens.
I told her I wanted to organize my thoughts and asked to be left alone. My sister withdrew with a slightly dazed expression.
"I talked too much, didn't I? Sorry."
"No, it was all necessary information."
Right now, my mind was in utter chaos. Becoming an S-Class was one thing, but this Gate raid had given me so much more to think about. Once I was alone, a heavy sigh escaped my lips.
"Gates..."
Were they not just simple anomalies? For the Other World to manifest inside a Gate... Could all Gates be connected to the Other World? I had only been to two Gates so far—three, if I counted the grassy plains with the Orcs where I first fell. I didn't know where two of them were, but this Great Forest was unmistakable. A connection between Gates and the Other World? To prove that, I would have to visit more... and a wider variety of Gates. No, even if I did, there was no guarantee I would know for sure.
My time active as the Saintess hadn't been that long, so I hadn't traveled to many places. Unless it was a location deeply engraved in my memory like the Great Forest, I probably wouldn't recognize it even if it was the same place. That made verification difficult.
Another thing to consider was... the will the World Tree left behind at the very end. A will that only I could hear. The apology wasn't the important part; it was the message conveyed afterward. The true enemy is not the Demon King? What on earth did that mean? Literally that the Demon King wasn't the enemy? That was impossible. Humanity had nearly been wiped out by the Demon King's invasion. I couldn't comprehend the meaning. Did it mean there was something else? If so, it should have given me more details...
Furthermore, the very existence of the World Tree's will was suspicious. I had already burned the World Tree in the Other World, and nothing happened back then. It hadn't sent any such will. Was there a reason? Even recalling the situation back then didn't give me any clues. What could it be... It was likely connected to the Gate phenomenon, but the information I had was far too scarce. Should I start by exploring various Gates and looking for connections to the Other World?
"This is hard..."
With my simple mind, even organizing the situation was a struggle. Still, at least I had wrapped up this incident.