๐๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐๐๐: ๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ 1
Hunter Choi Ji-eun couldn’t hide her bewilderment.
The gate had burst open, and at that moment, Germany’s most capable hunter visited South Korea.
It was information provided by the German Hunter Association through a hotline.
“Benedict Ackerman, the hunter, went to Korea alone.” So they said.
So they hurriedly checked the list of arriving passengers by plane and sent someone from the association.
They couldn’t let a world-class high-ranker, not just any hunter, wander around alone.
And the government secretly had high expectations for Germany.
So far, no gate incidents had occurred on other continents, so Southeast Asia had no choice but to request support from Europe or North America.
So how could they snub a high-ranker who had come on his own two feet?
“Gate. . . you didn’t come because of the problem, did you?”
“Yesใ ก What is that?”
“Currently, gates have appeared in the Asian region, but. . .”
“That must be difficult. Is there a cocoa shop nearby? I tried to get some at the airport, but there were too many people.”
“I’ll take you to Starbucks right now.”
Choi Ji-eun remained calm and nodded to the hunter sitting in the passenger seat.
While buying cocoa from the drive-thru, Choi Ji-eun finished a phone call with Choi Dae-soo through the chief secretary of the Blue House.
‘๐๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ธ๐ข๐บ, ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐-๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ.’
It was a win-win situation, both for Benedict Ackermann and the Korean government.
Choi Ji-eun calmly explained Siwoo’s current situation and asked him what he wanted to do.
“So, if Hunter Ackermann is okay with it, we’re about to leave for the S-rank gate that opened in Namwon, Jeollabuk-do. What do you think?”
“Wow, so the master went into the gate with just a few people? With only nine people?”
“That’s right.”
Benedict’s face held a mix of admiration and astonishment.
The person he revered as a teacher was a damn madman.
No one in the world would go into an S-rank gate like it was a walk in the park.
Unless they were transcendent beings like the ‘Misteltein.’
Benedict continued, smiling brightly.
“If I go, there will be exactly 10 people following. Let’s go.”
๐ท๐ท๐ท๐ท๐ท๐ท
30m tall trees filled the dense jungle.
As soon as he entered the gate, Siwoo opened his dantian to circulate mana and simultaneously grabbed the hilt of Balmung.
Thick magic power spread through the air, making his hair stand on end.
Siwoo immediately spread out his mana detection to check his surroundings and sense any other presence.
And he froze.
Hwang Jeong-gu entered the gate right after him.
“Ah, it’s a jungle? It’s hard to fight when there are a lot of trees. . . senior?”
Hwang Jeong-gu called out to Siwoo, who had disappeared for about a second, looking bewildered.
Could there be monsters in this short moment that could ambush or take the senior?
“Why are you spacing out?”
Siwoo said, tapping Hwang Jeong-gu on the back of the head.
“Huh? Where did you come from?”
“I just killed some monsters nearby.”
The moment he spread out his mana detection, he detected several monsters in the immediate vicinity.
He swung Balmung, shedding blood, and sheathed it.
“Go tell the kids to come in.”
There were several ominous presences a short distance away, but even if they charged at him, he would be able to respond adequately from this distance.
Hwang Jeong-gu went outside the gate and brought back the party.
“Red Ear and Ah-sul, keep using mana detection to watch the perimeter, Ha-min and Jeong-gu protect Han Tae-chi, and Lo-an and Volk protect Sion and Ah-ming.”
The party formed appropriate ranks at Siwoo’s instructions.
Everyone looked much more nervous than usual.
In fact, considering it was an S-rank gate, it was not an exaggeration to say that the difficulty level was two or more stages higher than their abilities, except for Lo-an, Hwang Jeong-gu, and Chu Ha-min.
However, they also needed to improve their skills and know their own level.
In order to grow one step further, they needed to go through hardships that would push them to their limits, not just fight against opponents or monsters that they could easily handle.
The experience of writhing in pain and being drenched in the blood of their enemies.
In Siwoo’s judgment, this S-rank gate was the optimal place in that respect.
The people he was most worried about were naturally Ah-ming and Sion, but. . .
‘๐๐ฉ-๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ’๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฐ, ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ’๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ.’
Above all, those two weren’t that weak.
Ah-ming was a martial artist assassin who used to be the Ghost Corps No. 2. And Momo had potential that even Siwoo could not fathom.
‘๐’๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ’๐ต ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ. . . ๐๐ง ๐ช๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ต, ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง.’
And he wasn’t going to tell them to kill every monster that came out of the S-rank gate.
Hwang Jeong-gu, Chu Ha-min, and Lo-an would protect them first, and the rest was Siwoo’s business.
‘๐๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต, ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต’๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ.’
ใ๐๐ญ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ฆ, ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ ๐’๐ฏ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ก๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐จ๐ฐ๐ง.ใ
“Really? I never want to go to your hometown.”
ใ๐๐๐ฒ! ๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐ง’๐ญ ๐ญ๐๐ค๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ฏ๐๐ง ๐ข๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐! ๐๐ฒ ๐ก๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐ซ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ๐๐๐ญ๐ฌ, ๐จ๐ง ๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐๐ข๐ง ๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ฌ. . . .ใ
“Stop it. You’re making me nauseous.”
Siwoo shut Pre’s mouth and headed forward.
“Clear the path, ahead of me.”
Sion, who was following behind, said, puffing out her cheeks.
The grass and trees were not just lush but so dense that it wasn’t easy to advance even 1m.
Siwoo raised Balmung and cut down the grass that reached up to his waist.
“If it’s too hard to walk, ask Big Brother Lo-an to carry you.”
“. . .master?”
“No, heโs dirty, eyesore.”
“. . . . . . . .!”
“It’s okay. Only his eyes are dirty, his heart isn’t that dirty.”
“No, I hate it. Sion, I like Big Brother Siwoo better.”
“. . . . . . . .!!!”
Lo-an made a flustered expression.
“This grass is annoying to cut. Jeong-gu, can’t you go ahead and cut it with your knife?”
“Senior, I’m not a lawnmower, you know.”
“Then shall I just burn it all with fire?”
“That doesn’t sound like a joke when you say it, senior. . .”
Coo coo coo coo.
Coo coo coo.
Ah-sul closed his eyes and pricked up his ears.
He had spent so much time being blind that his hearing was several times sharper than others.
The laughter coming from high up in the sky.
He looked up and saw voluptuous women sitting on high branches.
They were looking at Siwoo’s party, drawing lines with their eyes.
“M-Master! On the tree. . .!”
Ah-sul spoke quietly but quickly, so as not to provoke the enemy.
Siwoo narrowed his eyes and glared in the direction he was pointing.
โCoo coo coo coo.
โHee hee hee.
“Harpies.”
Siwoo said, observing their bodies, which were not clearly visible because of the branches and leaves.
“Big Brother, pervert.”
“. . . . . . . .”
“Look closely, at their chests.”
ใ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ก๐๐๐ฉ ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐๐ฅ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ง ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐ ๐จใ ก ๐๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐จ๐ฉ!!ใ
Siwoo crumpled Pre and stuffed it into his pocket.
โKyaaahhhhhhhhhh!!
โKyahahahahahahaha!
โHee hee hee, kyaaaah!
Dozens of trees shook, and a horrible cry echoed through the jungle.
A bizarre cry that sent shivers down their spines just from hearing it.
Ah-sul and some of the party members, who had sensitive hearing, covered their ears and crouched down.
The harpy’s cry was a powerful weapon that could momentarily paralyze or inflict status ailments on its opponents.
“Jeong-gu.”
“Yes.”
Hwang Jeong-gu scattered dozens of marbles from his arms.
The marbles that should have fallen to the ground absorbed mana and shot up into the air like bullets.
Pabababababang!!
โKyaaaaaaaaaak!!
The harpies that were hit by the marbles let out hysterical cries.
“Everyone, prepare for battle. Han Tae-chi, take out the item right away.”
“Yes, I understand!”
At Siwoo’s command, everyone gathered their mana.
The harpies flew between the trees and suddenly began to descend rapidly to the ground.
A strange sight with wings instead of arms and raptor feet instead of legs on the upper half of their bodies.
One of the gruesome-looking harpies flapped its wings at Sion, who seemed the most vulnerable.
Sion, without a hint of panic, reached out her hand towards the harpy that was rushing at her.
“Please, Momo.”
Kuuguguguguใ ก!
A fierce and eerie aura emanated from her body as a tall ghost appeared.
โKweeeeeeee?!
Before the harpy, which sensed something strange, could change its course, Momo wrapped its limbs around it and twisted its neck.
‘๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด ๐ข ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด.’
Siwoo analyzed Momo’s attack in his own way.
“P-President, please look at the results of my research!”
At that moment, Han Tae-chi took something out of his item bag and threw it hard into the air.
โKweeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!
One of the harpies that was flying let out a shriek as it looked at the item.
Thud.
The item hit the harpy’s head and fell to the ground.
“. . . . . . . .”
“. . . . . . . .?”
โ??
ใ??ใ
The harpy’s face turned red, and it flew towards Han Tae-chi, filled with rage.
โKyaaaaaaaaaak!!
“Ack, I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
Han Tae-chi bowed deeply, and the harpy flew back into the air, grazing his head.
“Han Tae-chi.”
“Yes? Yes, sir!”
“Support funds reduced by 10%.”
“Hueeeeeek?!”
ใ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ .ใ
Siwoo glared at him with a ridiculous look in his eyes.
Han Tae-chi felt like the sky was falling at the word ‘reduction’ and collapsed to the floor.
He shed tears looking at the item box, and then suddenly smiled broadly and shouted.
“J-Just a moment! I threw the wrong one!!”
Then he took out another item and handed it to Siwoo.
“I was so scared I would make a mistake, so sir, if you could do it instead. . . ! It’s unfinished, so you should be careful!”
Siwoo clicked his tongue and infused his own mana to throw the item into the most densely populated area of the harpy swarm.
“If this doesn’t work this time, you’re dead. . .”
Siwoo stopped talking and looked up into the sky.
Crackle. . . Kwahahahahahaha!!!
Blue electricity spread out in all directions, incinerating the harpies without a trace.
The lightning, which was energized by reacting to magic, swept through the surroundings like a wave.
The only one who wasn’t surprised by the violent explosion was Siwoo.
The others were in a fierce battle with the harpies, but when the loud noise erupted, their faces were filled with terror.
Even Han Tae-chi was gaping, as if he had never seen such power before.
“You, that’s pretty good?”
Siwoo twisted one corner of his mouth up.
He said it was incomplete, but the power exceeded expectations.
The harpy swarm, which seemed to number over thirty, was reduced to less than ten in an instant.
โKyaaaaaaaaaak!!
One of the harpies flew towards Siwoo.
It seemed to be enraged by the deaths of its comrades.
Swish.
Siwoo swung Balmung and cut the harpy’s body in half.
“Han Tae-chi.”
“Yes? Yes, sir. . .”
He flinched at Siwoo’s gaze and replied in a subdued voice.
Siwoo lifted him up in a flash and hit his back.
“???”
“What, you can do it if you try.”
“T-Thank you?”
“I’ll cancel the 10% reduction from earlier.”
“T-Thank youuuuu!! Sir!!”
ใ๐๐จ๐ฎ’๐ฏ๐ ๐๐๐๐ง ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ๐จ๐ญ๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ง๐จ-๐๐จ๐ .ใ
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