Face to Face
The Gate gradually materialized in reality, and once again, protective barriers were erected here and there to block off civilian access and prepare for the worst.
It's a relief it was discovered so quickly this time as well. What if we had been late? This is a bustling downtown area; who knows how many people would have been sucked inside... The casualties would have been catastrophic.
Just what kind of Gate is this...? The last two Gates that appeared right where I was standing were both highly unusual. The chances are high that this one will be no different...
"Benefactor Nix, your senses seem to be incredibly sharp."
"Whatever."
When I contacted the guild, the hunter they sent of all people was Ddaengjung. His skills were undeniable, but... how should I put it? Our personalities just didn't quite click. He listened well enough, making him easy to order around, but there was a strange friction between us.
"Did you not detect the warning signs of the Gate with remarkable speed?"
Ah, that...
"I just saw it, that's all."
In truth, my senses were just highly sensitive, allowing me to feel it beforehand.
"Haha, thanks to you, many souls have been saved."
Saved, huh...
"Don't make a fuss."
At any rate, the Gate fully manifested. Fortunately, this one was also an outer-world type. The Gate Management Department asked us what we intended to do. Since we were the ones who discovered it and were the most likely to clear it, they wanted to hear our thoughts.
"I don't know."
"I have not received any specific instructions either," Ddaengjung said.
"Well, I guess we'll have to go inside and see."
We wouldn't know what lay within until we crossed the threshold... And for some reason, an ominous feeling washed over me. This Gate is dangerous. A revelation of sorts was whispering to me...
"Then I shall prepare the team."
Two A-ranks and four B-ranks... Honestly, it was a small support force, but with my buffs, it was a completely different story. Besides, I had the Hero by my side right now. He didn't have a Hunter license, but sneaking him in would give us an incredibly reassuring vanguard.
"Eugene? Do you see something?"
Even from this distance, the Hero's eyes would be able to perceive the Gate.
"Well... it's strangely dark."
Normally, one should be able to peer slightly inside, but it was completely blocked by a thick black mist. There was a high chance that the same mist filled the interior of the Gate...
"Eugene, this might sound strange, but I feel like that Gate is incredibly dangerous."
The Hero looked slightly taken aback.
"Saintess, you know that whenever you say things like that, something always goes wrong, right?"
Of course I knew...
"I know. Because this is a revelation..."
In the other world, a revelation was akin to the Goddess's foresight of the future. Here on Earth, without a Goddess to bestow them, the accuracy and power of these revelations had degraded significantly, but still...
"Which means..."
"I think you need to come inside this Gate with me."
"Will that be alright?"
The fact that he wasn't a registered hunter was a bit of an issue, but...
"We're going in with members of the Murim Alliance anyway, so I can just make up an excuse."
They might be suspicious, but they would ultimately yield to my demands. The real problem was the investigators who would follow us to survey the Gate's environment. Shaking them off would be difficult... Should I tell them that it looks too dangerous, so we're going in first to scout? Well, we'd figure something out.
I led the Hero toward the Murim Alliance vehicle. We scrounged up some spare gear from the trunk, and I handed some leftover pieces to him. When I stepped out first to scan the surroundings, Ddaengjung was waiting for us.
"Ahem! Benefactor Nix."
He looked as if he had something to say.
"What is it?"
"Who is that gentleman you brought with you?"
As expected, he's suspicious...
"Just a friend. He's quite capable, so I'm bringing him along."
"Yes, even to my eyes, he is clearly extraordinary. The well-tempered physique beneath his clothes, the rock-solid posture he maintains even while standing still... No matter how I look at him, he is no ordinary man."
Ha, why is this damn monk so quick-witted?
"That's exactly why I'm bringing him. I can personally guarantee that he's at least on par with your Alliance Leader."
At those words, Ddaengjung's eyes widened to the size of saucers. To be on par with the Alliance Leader, the Sword Saint Namgung Min, meant he was an S-class.
"Of course, he's not officially S-class. He's a hidden master living in seclusion."
"Ah, so he was a hidden master of the unorthodox path..."
It was a relief that he bought the excuse.
"Yeah. So, about this scouting mission."
I proposed that we enter with only the Hero and the Murim Alliance hunters.
"Are you suggesting we leave the environmental investigators behind?"
"It's just my intuition, but I have a feeling this Gate is incredibly dangerous... To clear it properly, we'll likely need the main raid force, including the Alliance Leader."
Ddaengjung stared at me, his expression asking if it was truly that severe.
"With me there, no one will die, but it will still be highly dangerous."
That was why I wanted to exclude anyone who would just get in the way.
"Understood. I shall speak with them regarding this matter."
"Sorry about that."
"Not at all."
I felt a slight pang of guilt for dumping the unpleasant chore on Ddaengjung.
A moment later, the Hero emerged wearing a mismatched assortment of spare gear. Instead of a clean, matching set, he looked like a total hobo...
"Pfft, what's with the rags?"
"Haha, it's my first time wearing something like this, so it's a bit uncomfortable."
The Hero shifted awkwardly, clearly ill at ease.
"What about a weapon?"
"They gave me a sword, but it wasn't very good."
Well, it was spare equipment, so that was to be expected. I rubbed my left wrist. I figured it would be better for the Hero to hold onto this rather than me.
"Here."
I tossed the divine artifact, All Master, to the Hero.
"This is... All Master..."
"Yeah. You can still use it, right?"
The Hero inspected it for a moment, then...
"I can."
All Master shifted fluidly into several different weapon forms.
"Use that if things get dicey."
"What about you, Nix...?"
"I'm in the rear anyway."
I would step in if necessary, but I had no intention of running wild on Earth the way I did back in the other world.
At any rate, with our preparations complete, we stood before the Gate. It was still shrouded in black mist, completely obscuring the view inside.
"I worry about what kind of place could be so dark."
"Don't worry. I'll keep you alive."
"That reassurance only makes me more anxious..."
Perhaps because they were veterans, all the hunters seemed to sense the ominous aura radiating from the Gate.
"What did the Management Department say?"
"They also realized something was amiss, so they agreed to our terms."
Seeing Ddaengjung's rather sly smile, it seemed he hadn't persuaded them with mere words alone.
"I'll cast the buffs before we go in."
Unlike my usual casual self, I cast my buffs with utmost seriousness. After everyone checked their status, we stepped into the Gate together.
Passing through the pitch-black veil of darkness, what unfolded before our eyes was...
"A castle?"
A massive castle loomed before us. The problem was that this fortress was incredibly familiar to both the Hero and me. Why is that here...?
The Hero had a similar reaction.
"What on earth is that castle?"
"It feels incredibly ominous..."
Everyone's impressions were spot on. That fortress was the Castle of Succubi and Nightmares. It was the trap of one of the Four Heavenly Kings that had once brought the Hero's party to the brink of total annihilation.
Tsk...
My revelation was spot on. If we had entered this place unprepared, we would have been wiped out. No, we wouldn't have just died; we would have been turned into permanent essence-draining shuttles for the succubi and incubi.
For now, we waited near the entrance, keeping a close eye on our surroundings.
"Ugh..."
Just then, one of the hunters beside us began acting strangely.
"Hey?"
Tsk... Is it a succubus's charm?
"Wake up."
I smacked the back of the man's head with a hand infused with divinity. The holy power instantly shattered the charm clouding his mind, and he quickly snapped out of it.
"Ugh..."
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah... What on earth was that?"
There didn't seem to be any succubi or nightmares nearby... The problem was that the castle itself was a massive trap. A trap that we had no choice but to walk into knowingly.
The succubi and nightmares had no reason to venture outside. The charm from earlier wasn't cast directly by a monster; it was simply the passive activation of the castle's trap.
"Let's move forward slowly for now."
I tried to recall our past raid, but it wasn't of much help. Back then, we had relied on the Hero's brute force to break through, only to fall into a trap and have the entire party swallowed by dreams.
"Eugene."
"I know..."
Still, as long as the Hero didn't get swallowed by the dream... I had managed to hold out for a long time on my own back then. This time, we were together, not alone. We might actually win.
Every time we drew closer to the castle, someone would succumb to the charm or fall asleep, swallowed by a dream.
"Sigh, what kind of Gate torments people like this without a single monster in sight?"
"Seriously. If Miss Nix hadn't been waking us up, we would have been wiped out by now."
Every hunter except Ddaengjung had succumbed to the charm or been swallowed by a dream at least once. Perhaps because he was an enlightened ascetic, Ddaengjung was resisting remarkably well.
"Are you holding up okay, monk?"
"To be honest, it is quite unpleasant..."
So he was forcing himself to endure it after all...
"If not for Benefactor Nix's purification, we would have been forced to retreat long ago."
"It's a good thing we didn't bring the investigators."
"Honestly, I would like to retreat."
Everyone seemed to silently agree with Ddaengjung.
"Sigh... Shall we head back, then?"
"At the very least, we have ascertained the danger of this environment. I believe it is only right to report this first and devise a proper countermeasure."
A sound argument... Personally, I wanted to tear down this monstrosity right away. The Hero remained silent.
"Eugene, what do you think?"
"Honestly, pushing forward with this group is suicide. No one can endure this besides you and me."
Tsk... If we ventured deeper, that bitch of a Heavenly King's trap would be waiting for us. Even if we had been caught off guard back then, it was a damnable trap that had ensnared the entire Hero's party... Even with preparation, it was a cause for concern.
"Alright, let's retreat."
An hour after entering the Gate, we retreated without having encountered a single monster. As soon as the raid team emerged, the Management Department rushed over. We gave them a brief summary of the situation inside. Just entering the Gate subjected individuals to charms or forced them into deep slumber.
"Unless one can resist those effects, clearing it is impossible," Ddaengjung explained.
"Which means..."
"We may need to assemble the S-classes again, just like last time."
At those words, their expressions turned grave.
"The only saving grace is that Benefactor Nix was able to awaken the charmed and sleeping hunters."
But the problem was that even that had its limits... and we hadn't even faced a single monster yet.
"Just what kind of monsters are in there..."
"They're likely succubi and nightmares."
I subtly dropped a hint—no, the exact answer.
"Succubi? Nightmares?"
They probably had records of such monsters... The Management Department staff searched through their database and asked if this was correct.
"It most likely is. Succubi that seduce and charm their targets, and nightmares that drag them into dreams—their influence is permeating the entire area."
"Then how on earth are we supposed to clear it?"
Ddaengjung clasped his hands together and began chanting a Buddhist prayer.
"Those with strong mental fortitude can resist, so we must break through with individuals capable of withstanding it."
"But as we approach the center—meaning the castle—the power will only grow stronger."
"Why is that?"
"If you think of that power as magic, isn't it only natural?"
It was obvious that the potency of magic would be strongest at its source. Hearing this, Ddaengjung's expression grew even more solemn.
"Sigh, we should have at least reached the castle gates."
"Well, what's done is done."
For now, we decided to wait for the Murim Alliance's main raid force to assemble.