Chapter 1092 - 156 - 161

Chapter 156: Chapter 156

Creak, creak!

The stone statue began moving as weird creaking noises came out from its various joints. Jin-Woo glared at this 'creature'.

There were several differences between this guy and the other stone statues, but the biggest one had to be the wings attached to its back, which made it look somewhat like an angel.

Indeed, this guy was the only one among the statues designed to resemble an angel. Not just any angel either, but one with six wings on its back, too.

The angel statue slowly stood up from its sitting position and straightened its bent back. As it turned out, it was over three metres tall.

Paht!

Jin-Woo quickly retreated and summoned the second shortsword into his other hand, before lowering his stance to get ready.

When he made up his mind to fight against that thing, every single strand of sensory receptors on his body awakened in full; every part of himself, from his mind to all corners of his body, had become fully optimised for the upcoming battle.

'…..'

However, the angel statue showed no signs of wiping that smile off its face, even though it must've clearly sensed Jin-Woo's desire to fight. That smile was so disgusting and unnatural that it sent a shiver down his spine.

The angel statue took a look at the stone tablet damaged by the shortsword and simply tossed it away, as if it meant nothing to the 'creature'.

….As if, it was doing the most obvious thing in the world.

Crack!

The stone tablet clattered on the floor and shattered into countless pieces. The angel statue stiffly laughed as it took in the sight of the now-useless tablet.

"….Hahaha."

Jin-Woo narrowed his eyes.

'So, from the very beginning…..'

Just then, he realised that there was no meaning behind them from the very beginning. That stone tablet, and the so-called laws written on it, none of them meant anything.

'If not, there's no way that thing would've treated it so recklessly.'

In that case, just what exactly was this place? And what did this thing want from him?

'And….'

All those quests, levelling up, instant dungeon keys, etc. All those strange events that took place after he left this temple – what did they even signify?

Finally, an opportunity to get the answers for all of his burning questions had come. When he thought like that…

Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump!!

His heart began madly pounding away in his chest. Usually, it beat in a regular rhythmic pulse most of the time. But now, right at this moment, it shook and rumbled and revved harder than a race car's engine.

'This thing knows everything.'

Jin-Woo didn't lower his vigilance and threw out a question in a low voice.

"Were you the one calling me here?"

Jin-Woo was asking about what the statue's relationship with his System was through that question.

"That's correct."

The angel statue moved its individual fingers before carrying on.

"You have done well to get here."

Next up, its neck. The 'creature' rotated its head from side to side.

Creeeak.

Creak.

The d*mn thing was busy loosening itself. It didn't take a genius to tell why it was loosening up like that.

Now normally, Jin-Woo wouldn't hesitate to get the first strike in when finding himself in a situation like this one. However, he was making an exception this time.

He had far too many questions to ask this angel statue and didn't want to end the little conversation that he got going here.

Jin-Woo threw out another question.

"Are you a monster?"

The waves of magic energy being emitted from the angel statue were certainly different from the ones emitted by the regular monsters.

However, meaning behind the term 'monster' was simply created by humans for their own convenience. If that term was used to denote a true monster, then yes, that statue was without a doubt, a real 'monster'.

A stone statue that could speak and move around – where would anyone even hope to find a monster more monster-ish than that?

So, what Jin-Woo wanted to find out here was whether this thing was in cahoots with the regular monsters or not.

Craaack.

Creak.

The angel statue bent down to loosen up its back before standing straight up again.

"That's the wrong question to ask."

"…..?"

"Rather than asking what I am, you should be asking what you are, instead."

Jin-Woo was frozen for a brief moment there, but he couldn't stay flustered for long.

Clap!

The sound of the angel statue clapping its hands wiped all distracting thoughts out of his head.

"Well, then. This will be your final test."

The smile was long gone from the angel statue's face as it finally finished loosening up.

"If you still manage to stand on two feet by the end of the test, then everything you wished to know will be revealed to you. That…."

The angel statue snapped its fingers, and almost immediately, a red glow appeared within the eyes of the countless stone statues within the temple.

"….Will be my reward to you."

It was then.

Every single head of the stone statues densely packed into this chamber all snapped in Jin-Woo's direction.

Thud.

And they all uniformly stepped off their pedestals.

Clack!

All the statues raised the weapons in their grasp.

Jin-Woo swept his gaze around the stone statues. Even if they were puppets, they still seemed quite tough opponents to deal with. He actually almost died several times because of them in the past, too, didn't he?

Jin-Woo remained calm as he summoned out his Shadow Soldiers.

'Come out.'

But, then….

Tti-ring!

[For the duration of the final test, all of your Class-specific skills have been sealed.]

[Usage of various potions and the Store's functions have been prohibited, and status recovery effects from levelling up and quest completion bonuses will be inapplicable during the duration of the test.]

[You can not exist this chamber until the end of the final test.]

'What??'

Jin-Woo's forehead creased up as mechanical beeps continued to go 'Tti-ring, tti-ring' in his ears, but even those lasted for only a short while. Because the stone statues had begun sprinting towards him right then.

Their movements were eerily silent, yet also incredibly fast as well. This was on a whole new level compared to back when he faced down hundreds of 'knights' during the Class Advancement test.

'Oh, so you want to play it like this, is that it?'

All the hidden cards he had come prepared with, just in case – various potions, quest rewards, etc. – had become useless in one fell swoop. The System had been with Jin-Woo ever since the beginning, and knew how he operated the best.

'In that case, I shall overcome this with nothing but my own power!'

Jin-Woo firmed up his resolve and gripped his shortswords even tighter.

The easiest way to get out of this dangerous situation was to eliminate the main body enabling the stone statues to move. And that would be the angel statue. However, he'd not be able to get what he wanted if the angel statue was killed off. So, that would have to be consigned as the final resort for now.

For the time being, he decided to go along with this 'test' thing the statue talked about.

'And that is why, I….'

….That was why he never stopped getting stronger right up until now.

He never once stopped polishing his skill levels, just so he could achieve everything he aimed for regardless of what sort of situations tried to hinder him.

Fuu-whoop-!

Jin-Woo spat out white-hot air from his nostrils and mouth.

The things he initially couldn't see, the stuff he had missed when he first set foot in this place began entering his field of vision. His naked eyes could chase the movements of the stone statues that looked like instant teleportation to him back then.

'From my left.'

His shortsword blocked the spear of the stone statue stabbing forward from his left.

CLANG!!

'Left, again.'

Another stone statue launched itself in the air by stepping on the shoulders of the statue with the spear, and slammed down with a war axe.

It was inefficient to defend against an attack falling from above head-on, so Jin-Woo tilted his body halfway to the side and let the axe simply brush past him.

Kwa-boom!!

Broken bits of rock spat up from the floor, now shattered by the force of the axe. Meanwhile, Jin-Woo powerfully kicked the face of the axe-wielding stone statue.

Ka-boom!!

The moment its head came in contact with his foot, it got crushed into fine powder. However….

Swish-!

Jin-Woo bent backwards and dodged an arrow. It flew straight past him and got embedded in the wall on the far side.

He didn't even have time to feel happy about eliminating one enemy – the proper assault was only just beginning now.

'Right.'

This time, it was a sword.

Swish-!

Clang!

Jin-Woo used his physical strength to shove away the blocked sword of the statue and at the same time, drew a diagonal line in the air with the shortsword held in his other hand.

Tuk!

The stone statue, now missing an arm, fell away while writhing around as if it could feel crippling pain.

From his left, right, right, left, front, front, right, and left.

'I can do this.'

The more he concentrated on the battle, the slower the movements of the stone statues became. On the other hand, his own movements got progressively faster and faster.

It was then – he sensed a chill right behind his neck.

'Behind me!'

Jin-Woo jumped up above the head of the stone statue trying to ambush him from behind and while still in the air, easily sliced its head off.

Slice!

He let his Perception Stat cover him from the enemies that tried to attack him in his blindspots.

Ha-ah!

His exhaled breath exploded out.

His body, trained to the absolute limit, and every cell within his flesh, were reacting to the movements of these stone statues. Light burned fiercely within his eyes.

He began gradually thinning out the horde of the statues while blocking, slapping away or shaking off their persistent, annoying attacks.

'As if, for this very moment….'

It felt as if the 'Demon King's Shortswords' were solely created for this moment. He held them tightly in his hands and easily sliced up the limbs and body parts of the statues made out of solid stone.

Jin-Woo sensed his body, his mind, his cells and even his shortswords become a single entity. He endlessly moved, fleeted in and out, and continued to slither around without rest.

The angel statue, silently observing Jin-Woo's remarkable movements with a great deal of interest, began to shudder greatly.

'How could he move like that with the physique of a mere human…..?'

The smile that was gone momentarily on the angel statue's face was back in full force now. It knew it had made the right choice.

However – it was still far, far too early to end the test.

The angel statue looked behind itself. With that, the eyes of the humongous statue of the god sitting on the throne and silently waiting for its turn, began glowing an eerie crimson hue.

It gripped the armrests of the throne tightly and slowly lifted up its unimaginably huge frame.

Kuuuggguuuuuugung!!!!

Because it was so gigantic, simply seeing it stand up sent shivers down one's spine.

THUD.

The god statue took its first step, and the vast interior of the temple shook hard from the resulting noise.

THUD, THUD, THUD.

The god statue's strides were so enormous that it didn't need to walk for long before arriving where Jin-Woo was. The rubble of the fallen stone statues was forming small mountains all around him by then.

The god statue stopped walking in front of him and raised its right arm.

It was also around this time that Jin-Woo, in the midst of a maddened melee among the stone statues, felt something change around him.

He realised that the surroundings had become dark for some reason and raised his head.

'....?'

A giant descending palm was rapidly filling up his entire vision. The god statue slapped down on the ground as if it couldn't care any less about the well-being of the stone statues surrounding Jin-Woo.

RUMBLE-!!

He hurriedly flung himself away to get out of the range of that gigantic palm strike. He rolled on the ground several times, before shooting right back up on his two feet. His expression hardened as he glared at the god statue.

'Right, there was that guy, too.'

This was definitely the case of one headache after another.

Jin-Woo lowered his gaze to see around a hundred or so still-surviving stone statues busy sprinting towards him right this very moment. These tireless enemies arrived in front of his nose in no time at all.

He lightly tipped away the iron mace flying his way at a frightening speed with the end of his shortsword; he then slid forward as if he was skating on ice and sliced off the head of the mace-wielding statue.

Thud.

As if the head of the statue crashing to the ground was the signal, the rest of the statues following right behind pounced on Jin-Woo like a pack of wild, but well-organised, animals. However, the truly dangerous opponent wasn't one of these statues.

It felt as if every hair on his body was standing up straight. Jin-Woo flinched in nasty shock and hurriedly raised his head.

'….!!'

Sure enough, the bone-chilling red light was coagulating in the two eyes of the god statue.

'Dodging it…. it's too late for that.'

His brain quickly calculated that his escape routes would be blocked off by the stone statues if he were to make a wrong move now. The odds of him getting melted down to nothing by that laser beam or whatever would be too high for his liking if that happened.

'In that case….'

Jin-Woo quickly put the shortsword down and immediately extended his now-empty left hand at the stone statues pouncing on him.

'Ruler's Reach!!'

Five of the stone statues got caught in the skill 'Ruler's Reach' and were stacked up together in the air.

Tti-ring!!

[Skill: 'Ruler's Reach' has been upgraded to its ultimate version, Skill: 'Ruler's Authority'.]

'Nice!'

Too bad, he still didn't have a single second of leeway to bask in the happiness of his skill getting an upgrade right now. Jin-Woo quickly moved the make-shift shield made from the stone statues into the trajectory of the god statue's glare.

Buzzzzing-!!

Just as he expected, red laser beams shot out from the eyes of the god statue.

Chiiiiii-jick!

It didn't even take one second for the shield made out of the stone statues to melt away, but Jin-Woo successfully used that brief respite to safely get out of the attack range of that beam.

He withdrew the skill 'Ruler's Authority', and the smouldering remnants of the statues dropped to the floor.

Tumble-!

Jin-Woo rapidly revised his battle plan as he confirmed the power of the god statue capable of completely evaporating these stone statues.

'As I thought, getting rid of the god statue should be my priority.'

His next goal had been set now. Before the god statue could fire the second laser beam attack, Jin-Woo kicked the ground hard and dashed forward.

'Quicksilver!'

Tadadadadadaht-!!!

Jin-Woo's movement was already fast, but with that skill activated, his speed immediately shot past what the god statue could actually follow with its perception.

Jin-Woo arrived at the foot of the god statue in the proverbial blink of an eye and tensed up his leg muscles to the extreme. An unbelievable amount of energy, reserved solely for jumping up, condensed within his crouched position.

He had only one shot.

Without a doubt, it'd become much harder to dodge the red laser beams flying in at a terrifying speed once he was airborne. It was impossible to move freely in the air, after all.

But then again, hadn't he learned that valuable lesson already?

If he weren't willing to take on some risks, then he'd not be able to find himself with any opportunities.

'That is why….'

Jin-Woo's lips shut tight in a straight line as he powerfully leapt up from the ground.

His entire frame flew up like a fired rocket.

'….Just get destroyed already!'

Chapter 157: Chapter 157

Jin-Woo arrived at the god statue's eye level instantly.

This was at the highest point of the jump before one's body would begin its descent due to gravity. It felt as if everything around him had come to a stand-still.

The drops of sweat flying off of his body as he jumped sparkled under the light. Although slow, they were definitely getting further away from him.

He was in the state of peak concentration right now. The undeniable threat of losing his life from the smallest mistake pushed all of Jin-Woo's abilities to their absolute limits.

'This is the true power of the Agility Stat….'

His heart pounded hard and fast as the realisation dawned on him that this was what the peak state of the Agility Stat could produce when pushed to the extreme. However, he obviously did not have the leeway to revel in the fruit of his labour.

Even now, the eyes of the god statue were moving towards him, albeit at a crawling speed. Seeing up close the crimson light coagulating within the d*m thing's eyes sent shivers all over his body.

Just getting brushed by that thing would mean his end.

Sensing the dizziness of the danger, his mind re-focused on the task at hand.

'Stay calm…..'

He reached out with his left hand, still not holding any weapon.

'Ruler's Authority!'

The upgraded skill based on 'Ruler's Reach' began pulling at the shoulder of the god statue. He was thinking of reeling himself in, rather than actually dragging the god statue and its incalculable body weight towards him.

Wuuoong-!!

However, his expectation was somewhat shaken up as the upper body of the god statue actually did creep forward just a little.

'…..!!!'

What an incredible force of attraction that was!

The power of the skill must have gone up several notches when it evolved from 'Ruler's Reach' to 'Ruler's Authority'.

And all thanks to that, Jin-Woo got to land on the god statue's shoulder far easier than he anticipated. He quickly raised his head to look behind him.

Buzzzzing-!

The scarlet-red laser beam exploding out accurately pierced past the location in the air he was floating in, only a moment ago.

'Nice.'

For the next few seconds, he was safe from the god statue's laser beam attacks.

Feeling unburdened now, Jin-Woo sprinted on top of the statue's shoulder with all his might and arrived near its neck. His right hand gripped the hilt of the 'Demon King's Shortsword' tightly.

'Violent Slash!!'

Several silver streaks of blade light rained down on the target like the shells of a shotgun.

Dududududududu-!!

Dozens upon dozens of slashes landed on the statue's neck. However, there was barely any visible damage.

Not one slash managed to inflict a heavy enough wound; they all stopped at simply causing negligible, superficial nicks on the skin.

'So, the shortsword doesn't work, is that it?'

It was that moment that the 'Demon King's Shortsword', previously capable of slicing up the steel-like scales of the boss-level Naga into ragged bits, came across as an insignificant and shabby toy.

It was then.

Jin-Woo discovered a giant hand busy flying in his general direction. Before it could grasp him, though, he ran on the back of the statue's neck and changed his position to the other shoulder.

He took a quick look down as he ran and saw how dizzyingly high he was right now.

He raised his head up and glared at the side of the god statue's face. This god statue wouldn't be the first enemy that his blades failed to inflict any damage. As a matter of fact, he had dealt with a countless number of them so far.

'If I can't stab it, then I'll just pummel it!'

He didn't invest all those Stat points in his Strength Stat just for fun. Jin-Woo's eyes gleamed brightly with determination. He lightly jumped up and thrust his left hand at the temple of the god statue's face.

Crack!!

All five fingers of his left hand dug deep under the surface.

'It's done!'

Jin-Woo clenched his left hand into a fist. With that, he was firmly secured onto the god statue's face like a rock climber hanging onto the surface of a cliff with one hand. All this was simply him getting ready.

The real thing was starting now.

Jin-Woo's right back, his right shoulder, and then his right arm all began to balloon up to an unnatural size. That was the result of an incredible amount of magic energy enveloping his right arm.

As a test, he threw a single punch first.

Ka-boom!!!

The god statue's head, that didn't even budge from the shortsword's attacks, suddenly and visibly trembled.

'…..!!'

The angel statue observing the unfolding situation was shocked beyond words from that.

The enormous amount of magic energy spreading out from high up above managed to shake the air within the entire underground temple. The angel statue continued to look up while not even bothering to hide its extremely excited state at all.

To think, that a human would deal with its masterpiece in such a manner.

An even greater level of anticipation bubbled up within the gleaming light of the angel statue's eyes.

Ka-bboooom!!

Jin-Woo's fist punched the god statue's face for the second time.

Stagger.

For a brief moment there, the god statue lost its balance. The attacks were definitely working.

However, the god statue wasn't planning to stand still and not do anything while getting punched to death by him.

Vuwoong-!!

As if it was trying to catch a mosquito, the god statue slapped its own face with that giant hand.

BOOM-!!

Jin-Woo dodged that giant palm strike and safely landed back on the god statue's shoulder, a mocking grin etched on his face now. That was no different from this thing busily slapping itself.

He didn't wait and sprinted back towards the god statue's face as soon as its hand went away. And then….

Boom!! Ka-boom!! Kwang! Kwang!! Kwa-boom!!!

Terrifying, deafening booms reverberated continuously throughout the large dome-shaped temple.

Crack, craaack….

Cracks formed on the face of the god statue and spread all over the surface like a spider's web. The tottering god statue tried its best to maintain its balance before it began running towards one of the walls in this massive, open space.

Thud, thud, thud!!

The 'creature's huge legs viciously stomped on the ground. It was trying to crush Jin-Woo still sticking to its face by ramming into the wall.

'But, before that happens….'

….He'd finish this fight!

Jin-Woo's fist began pounding faster, harder, and with even less mercy onto the face of the god statue.

Kwang!! Kwang!! Kwang!! Kwaaahng!!

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The god statue increased its running speed and the gap to the wall was reduced in seconds.

Sneak.

Jin-Woo confirmed the remaining distance with his eyes and, for the purpose of landing the final blow, sent all of his power to his right arm.

Thick veins bulged on his ballooning arm muscles as a horrifying amount of magic energy filled his limb up.

'….Very good.'

The physical strength of a level 103. Jin-Woo poured all of that into this single fist of his. Just before he was about to collide against the wall….

KWA-BOOM!!

CRACK!!!

Along with the loud noise of a ripened watermelon shattering into pieces, half of the god statue's face was blown away. It eventually faltered and fell down on its knees.

RUMBLE-!!

The entirety of the empty dome-shaped arena rumbled spectacularly. And then, the gigantic body of the god statue powerlessly tilted over to the ground.

RUUUMBLE-!!

A thick, choking cloud of dust kicked up into the air as the massive figure collapsed, hard, to the dry ground. Jin-Woo walked out from there while waving away the dust covering up the room like a thick fog.

"Fuu-woo."

Jin-Woo let out a soft sigh under his breath.

Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump….

Even now, the sound of his wildly beating heart noisily rang around in his ear canals. The god statue that nearly made him wet his pants the first time he stood before it, had fallen face down on the ground, unmoving.

No one else did that. He was responsible for this spectacle.

'I can definitely do this.'

….Regardless of what that was.

He recalled the Hunters who lost their lives inside here and a powerful emotion welled up from deep within his heart. Unfortunately, the remaining stone statues continued to move quickly, as if they didn't want him to have this quiet moment to himself.

They surrounded him in a circle and closed the distance. Just before they were about to pounce on him, though….

Jin-Woo stopped looking at his two hands… and raised his head.

"Ruler's Authority.��

BOOM-!!

Every single stone statue slammed their heads down on the floor and stopped moving altogether. This was the power of the invisible hand, also known as the skill 'Ruler's Authority'.

Jin-Woo returned his gaze back to his hands.

'I've become even stronger through today's battle.'

He clenched his fists and unfurled them, before repeating his actions again.

An incredible power was overflowing out of his fists, no, from his entire body. He could clearly sense this flow of power now.

At the same time, his heart showed no signs of slowing down at all. It felt as if something sleeping deep within him had awakened through this life-or-death struggle.

It was then.

Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.

He heard slow handclaps. Jin-Woo raised his head in the direction of that clapping noise. The angel statue was clapping its hands in an exaggerated manner, that repulsive smile still etched on its face.

"Truly excellent."

Quite unlike the words leaving its mouth, though, the light oozing out of its eyes were of rather nefarious origins. Jin-Woo calmly spoke to the statue.

"Don't you have an agreement to uphold, first?"

The d*mn thing clearly announced that, as long as Jin-Woo managed to stand on his two feet after the end of this final test, all the answers he wanted to know would be provided to him.

So, he wanted to hear them right now.

Unfortunately, a stiff smile formed on the angel statue as if it had no intentions of letting him know that easily.

"Hah, hah."

It took a step closer to him.

"Your test isn't finished yet."

Then, another step closer.

"In here…."

Yet another step.

The angel statue closed the distance with several large strides and eventually stood before Jin-Woo's nose.

"….I'm still here, aren't I?"

Dududuk, dudududuk!!!

The lengthy wings on the back of the angel statue suddenly twisted and writhed around before transforming into arms. Two arms coming out of its shoulders, and six more sprouting from its back – eight hands in total began clenching into tight fists.

"I am your final test."

Jin-Woo frowned deeply. Before he could say anything, though – the angel statue cut him off.

"There is no need to worry about my 'life'."

Flinch.

Jin-Woo's eyes widened in surprise. This thing knew what he wanted to say in advance. He was about to raise his voice in irritation, telling the creature that its death would result in him not getting any answers in the end.

"Are you surprised?"

The angel statue raised one of its hands and pointed at its own head.

"All of your information is in here.'

'….Could it be?'

Cold sweat drops rapidly formed on Jin-Woo's forehead.

"As expected of a quick-witted human. Hah, hah."

The angel statue issued out more of that stiff, mechanical laughter. And then, carried on with what it wanted to say.

"If you try to control your power to prevent me from dying, that will make it difficult to properly measure your true strength. So, to prevent that…"

Right in that moment – the angel statue's lips moved at a quick pace.

However, the voice of the angel statue didn't come out from there. It came out from somewhere else.

[An 'Emergency Quest' has been issued.]

[If you fail to defeat the enemy within the designated time limit, your heart will stop operating altogether.]

[Remaining time: 10:00]

Just as the quest message finished saying its piece, one second ticked down from the remaining time.

Tick.

[Remaining time: 09:59]

Jin-Woo's eyes began trembling hard as he stared at the angel statue.

"That's right."

[That's right.]

Whenever the angel statue spoke, he also heard the System's voice at the same time as well.

Jin-Woo's heart that seemed to have recovered some calmness just now began madly pounding away again. His breathing quickened and his fingertips trembled.

The angel statue studied Jin-Woo's reaction before answering one of the very first questions he asked earlier – "What are you?"

"I am the architect of the System."

[I am the architect of the System.]

***

"Mister Kim, you're a reporter. There's a dungeon break happening in Japan right now, so is it okay for you to be camping out here like this?"

Woo Jin-Cheol threw that question out as if he was feeling greatly annoyed by something at the moment.

The reporter named Kim yawned grandly while scratching the area around his sideburns.

"That place is already packed full of other reporters. Nothing will change even if I show up there, wouldn't you agree? It'll be better for me to stick with the folks of the Monitoring Division and get myself a scoop or two."

"…"

Woo Jin-Cheol was tempted to advise this reporter that he should either stick to yawning or scratching his face, but gave up and sighed inwardly.

This was because Kim was one of a very few reporters that wrote favourable articles regarding the Association when everyone else seemed to be hell-bent on 'uncovering' wrongdoings of the organisation or coming up with provocative gossip pieces on the private lives of various Hunters.

'No need to turn an ally into an enemy, now is there….?'

That was why Woo Jin-Cheol was keeping this reporter named Kim company as the latter paid a visit to the Monitoring Division's offices.

Kim finally finished his lengthy yawn and threw a question back.

"Besides that, Chief Woo. Our whole country is going through a bit of upheaval right now, so is it fine for you to be sitting here and doing nothing in the office like this?"

Woo Jin-Cheol closed the cover on the file he was working on and spoke in a soft voice that sounded almost like a gentle sigh.

"Someone has to stay behind to guard his assigned station, you see."

"Ohhh."

Reporter Kim's eyes opened up wider in understanding and replied while quickly pulling out a palm-sized memo pad and a pen.

"You know, that's a cool soundbite. I want to make sure not to miss out on a single word, so can you repeat them for me, please?"

"Mister Kim, you really…."

Woo Jin-Cheol was about to raise his voice higher but with excellent timing, his smartphone went off.

'…Mm?'

It was a call coming from the report centre. If it was a call not coming through the hotline of the Monitoring Division but to his personal phone, then that could only mean the matter at hand wasn't simple in nature.

Woo Jin-Cheol quickly answered the call.

"This is Section Chief Woo Jin-Cheol speaking, Monitoring Division."

– "Chief, we just received a report, sir. Looks like your presence is required on this one."

Woo Jin-Cheol's eyes narrowed to a slit.

"What happened?"

– "Do you remember the high school where those Orcs came out?"

"Did something happen in that place again….?"

– "It doesn't seem like anything major had gone down there yet, but a Gate appearing in that school's athletic field a few days ago turned out to be a dual dungeon, sir."

'A dual dungeon?'

Woo Jin-Cheol's eyes grew wider.

– "But, the thing is…."

It seemed that the employee charged with receiving the reports still had something else to say. Woo Jin-Cheol's voice became more urgent.

"Okay, so what else is there?"

– ���I heard that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo has entered the Gate, sir."

Chapter 158: Chapter 158

He didn't even have enough time to get surprised.

The angel statue suddenly began its attack. A large, tightly-clenched fist came flying at him like a flash of light.

The attack was coming from too close a distance and its speed was also too fast to evade cleanly – that's what his brain, trained to near-perfection through countless battles, had told him.

Jin-Woo urgently raised his arms to block the attack. It was not an incorrect decision to make, but that didn't mean it was the correct one, either.

SLAM-!!

The power behind that punch was so incredulous that both his legs momentarily became airborne as he flew to the wall on the far side before ungainly crashing into it.

Crack-!!

The debris from the broken wall tumbled down to the floor.

'…Keu-heuk.'

Jin-Woo swallowed back the pained moan. From that unexpected attack, he ended up receiving an unexpectedly large amount of damage. Unfortunately, the angel statue had already arrived in front of Jin-Woo's nose, evidently not keen on giving him any time to reorganise himself.

Boom!!

Jin-Woo tilted his head to the side and evaded the fist of the angel statue. It left a massive hole on the wall behind him, instead.

That was just the beginning.

Jin-Woo's back was up against the wall. The angel statue blocked off his route of retreat and then, its eight fists ruthlessly rained down on him.

Attacks poured down without a single break in between, each punch powerful enough to kill a high-ranking Hunter in a single hit.

Tudududududududu-!!

As time wore on, though – the eyes of the angel statue were growing wider and wider, instead.

'He's… blocking my punches?'

The bombardment of attacks from eight separate arms was being blocked, deflected, or was redirected by just two arms. His movements were so fast that he simply looked like a collection of afterimages now.

The angel statue was inwardly impressed by this display.

From the very beginning, the end result of this battle was already set in stone. No, this was just one of the formalities to go through. And that would be the statue performing a once-over of Jin-Woo for the last time whether he agreed to it or not. Normally, this process itself should have been a rather boring one to go through. But now….

'Isn't this amusing.'

To think, it'd start enjoying a fight against a human like this. The angel statue had never once thought that a mere human could ever be an even match in its long, long life.

The moment its thoughts reached there, a light suddenly flashed in its vision. No, it wasn't actually light.

It was a punch the human threw at the statue.

Boom-!!

Jin-Woo jumped up and threw a punch. It hit the face of the angel statue, resulting in it being unceremoniously deposited on to the ground and rolling away in the dirt. It still stood right back up again, though.

There were minute cracks developing on its still-smiling face.

[Hahah.]

How long had it been since it felt this joyous?

The angel statue was so excited that it began to shudder in regret from the shortness of the remaining time.

"Fuu-woo…."

Jin-Woo managed to land a good-looking hit on the angel statue, but he didn't bother to celebrate his feat. He instead spat out heavy, laboured breaths.

'It's strong.'

Indeed, his opponent was way stronger than any enemy he had faced so far.

This 'thing' introduced itself as the architect of the System.

The questions of why it created the System, why he was chosen as a Player, and just what was going on with this world – the questions he wanted to ask so badly were already forming a small mountain in his head.

'If I want to ask them….'

He needed to prioritise bringing that thing down first. Jin-Woo clenched his fists tightly. It was then.

He felt a warm, sticky liquid sliding down his face. It was his blood.

It was trickling out from a tear on his forehead.

'I guess I didn't dodge everything, huh.'

He thought that he perfectly countered all those attacks, but it seemed that one or two did get through to him. What bad luck it was, his blood seeping into his eye and interfering with his vision.

On the other hand, the enemy was completely fine. It'd be very hard to describe this situation as a good one for him, even if he were to exaggerate somewhat.

'Fighting up close puts me in a disadvantage.'

That was a rather obvious assessment to make. The enemy's physique was several times larger than his, and it also enjoyed the benefit of having six more arms, too.

Realistically speaking, it was nigh impossible to evade or defend against speedy attacks coming in from all sorts of angles. The wound on his forehead attested to that fact.

'In that case.'

It was time to change the look of this battle just a tiny bit.

The moment he made up his mind as thus, the angel statue flew in like an arrow and swung its big fist at him.

Ka-ka-boom!!

The punch sliced open the air and crashed into the wall. It collapsed into countless pieces of rubble. The angel statue tilted its head to the side.

Jin-Woo had taken some distance away from his enemy even before the statue had the chance to consciously realise it.

'I certainly am a match for it in terms of speed.'

So, if he maintained this distance and damaged it from afar….

Jin-Woo immediately activated 'Ruler's Authority' towards the angel statue as it turned around to face him.

Pow!!

The powerful attack pressing down from the sky to the ground!

The technique used to swat the king of the ants, Beru, off the air swooped down on the angel statue's head. However….

'….?'

Jin-Woo did a quick double take.

The skill that managed to tilt the torso of the massive god statue only managed to tilt the head of the angel ever so slightly. He couldn't be sure, but the opponent seemed to have activated a skill of its own to defend itself. There was no other explanation he could think of other than that one.

'What could it be?'

His confused state couldn't be maintained for long.

[How amusing. So very amusing.]

From some time ago, the angel statue's low voice and the System's mechanical female-like voice were overlapping in his ears. That unnatural combination was really getting on his nerves a bit.

[This is so very amusing.]

The angel extended all of its eight arms out, and the weapons previously held by the stone statues began vibrating on the ground.

'Isn't that….?'

Jin-Woo's eyes widened greatly.

The weapons of the stone statues soon rose up in the air and flew towards the angel. Eight different weapons were now tightly grasped in the angel's eight hands all at once.

'That's Ruler's Reach.'

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the angel statue also knew how to use the skill 'Ruler's Reach'. Its power seemed to be below Jin-Woo's own skill, but whatever the case may have been, he now knew what the angel used to counter the attack earlier on.

Indeed, this thing was not an ordinary opponent at all.

Tick.

Abruptly, Jin-Woo's gaze shifted up.

[Remaining time: 06:19]

And now, he only had roughly six minutes left.

'I need to finish this quickly.'

He learned that long distance attacks weren't going to work. Jin-Woo revised his plan once more and summoned the 'Demon King's Shortsword' again. The other one that he tossed away in a hurry was currently nowhere to be seen.

'Fighting against eight weapons with a single shortsword, is it?'

Ba-thump, ba-thump!!

The more he was pushed to the corner in a fight, the faster his heart beat.

Taht.

The angel statue jumped up high as if it wanted to touch the ceiling, before landing back down in front of Jin-Woo.

Craaack!!

The stone tiles on the floor couldn't endure against the falling statue's momentum and spat out bits of debris as it shattered into countless pieces.

Jin-Woo pointed forward with his shortsword as he felt the small pebbles pelting him on his ankles.

'I can do this.'

He definitely could do this. Jin-Woo stared into the angel statue's eyes and calmly drew his breaths in. Immediately, he felt a chill brush run down his back. Sure enough, eight disparate weapons, such as a sword, a spear, a blade, an axe, a war hammer, etc., flew at his way as if they all possessed individual wills.

Fuu….

Jin-Woo spat out heavy, white-hot breaths, his brows shooting up high.

Under the glare of the interior that was neither too bright nor too dark, the light in Jin-Woo's eyes left behind long shimmering trails that chased after his movements.

Kwagagwahk-!! Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-gwa-gwahk!!

Would blocking countless flying bullets with bullets fired from an opposing gun create a cacophony of noise similar to this?

The deafening roars continued on unabated as Jin-Woo and the angel statue exchanged innumerable attacks and counterattacks in an instant.

Within the world slowed down to a crawl, only these two writhed and struggled mightily as if to rebel against the flow of time itself.

There was no one superior or inferior; just an evenly-matched battle of blades where only one would emerge as the victor. Even then….

'I can feel it.'

Jin-Woo's shoulder moved ever so slightly. The sword wielded by the angel statue brushed past his shoulder with a gap that couldn't be detected by the naked eyes.

He stopped caring about his other eye that couldn't be used anymore. His sensory perception that had exceeded the extreme limits and stepped into a whole new realm helped him to read the trajectories of every weapon his enemy held.

He began dodging every attack the angel statue threw at him by truly paper-thin margins and accurately landed his counters one by one.

More and more wounds appeared on the statue. The angel's speed remained constant, yet Jin-Woo was getting faster and faster.

Naturally, the angel statue was deeply astonished by this.

"…..!!���

If it was only for the purpose of a test, there was no reason to go this far. However, this human had managed to draw out the angel's full power.

Indeed, just as the term implied – it had to fight with everything it had.

But then, a human was able to fight evenly against the angel statue going at full tilt?

The angel's puzzled, suspicious eyes began peering deeper into Jin-Woo now. And then, it realised the reason for this.

'It's only by a little, but… it's mixed in there.'

Flinch.

The shoulders of the angel statue trembled in shock. Was that the reason why he could freely wield the immense power so naturally like this?

However, that was also another thing this 'creature' wished for from the beginning, anyway.

Just as the look of elation formed on the angel statue's face, a cleanly sliced off arm flew up into the air. The statue's head was raised up to look at it.

The arm let go of a weapon as it flew away…. it was the angel's right arm.

[Kuuuwaaahhk!!]

Even if this statue was not its real body, the pain still got transmitted in full. The angel statue tottered unsteadily and retreated after losing its arm in the blink of an eye.

[How dare a measly human!]

The colour of the angel statue's eyes reddened in an instant. Its true nature woke up and it forgot its true purpose, its duty, for being here.

[You dare!!]

It cried out in anger, and the fallen, destroyed stone statues all stood right back up.

BOOM!

Even the god statue and its partially-destroyed head began pushing off the ground as well.

Jin-Woo could sense all the enemies being reanimated, but he didn't fall into a panic and simply pounced on the angel statue again.

Clang!!

The four arms of the angel were used to block a single shortsword, yet it was shoved far, far back from the impact force.

Agility, Perception, Strength, and even Stamina – all of Jin-Woo's Stats had far exceeded the expectation of the angel statue.

[Kuwahk!!]

The angel statue roared out like a wild beast, and the reanimated stone statues pounced on Jin-Woo. And so, the fight between every single thing within this temple and the lone human commenced.

Tick.

[03:02]

Even in the midst of all this chaos, the timer was still resolutely ticking down to zero.

Jin-Woo's shortsword sliced away yet another of the angel statue's arms. This time, it was one of the six created out of its wings.

[Kuwaaahhk!!]

Unfortunately, the resistance of the reanimated stone statues was nothing to scoff at.

There were far too many of them surrounding him now and it became too much of a task to dodge every single attack coming his way. He focused on attacking the angel statue and dodged only those attacks that might critically injure him while ignoring the rest.

His HP and Stamina were cut down in double time.

Stab!

A stone statue slammed down with its shield on his left shoulder.

'Keuk!'

Jin-Woo diverted his attention towards this particular statue.

It was preparing to strike for the second time with its shield. Jin-Woo's expression crumpled into something unsightly. He didn't really care about others, but he simply couldn't forgive this b*stard.

Only then did Jin-Woo move slightly away from the angel statue; using the elbow of his left arm not holding a weapon, he stomped the head of the offending statue.

CRACK!

The elbow drop containing magic energy ensured that the statue's head exploded into tiny bits and pieces.

In the meantime, other statues quickly surrounded him and tried to jump on top of him. However, Jin-Woo simply activated his skill and pushed them all away.

'Ruler's Authority!'

BOOM!!

A group of stone statues were flung away as if they were thrown off from the centre of an explosion.

"Pant, pant…."

Unfortunately, even before Jin-Woo had time to catch his breath, the god statue threw its massive fist down on his head. He lightly leapt to his side and avoided it.

Vuuwuong-!!

The gigantic fist only managed to sweep away dozens of stone statues from Jin-Woo's vicinity. He ran in a wide arc to lose the stone statues mindlessly trying to jump on him and approached the angel statue again.

And the angel greeted him with a deeply crumpled expression. That was the expression of pure rage.

For the second time today, Jin-Woo, the angel statue, and the stone statues all fell into a frenzied melee. His blood and sweat danced in the air and flew everywhere. But, all of that lasted only for a brief moment.

Soon, blood and sweat evaporated from the sheer heat generated and red mist rose up from Jin-Woo's shoulders.

The stone statues were forced back, the god statue slammed its fist down, and the arms of the angel statue busily moved about. And in the middle of it all stood Jin-Woo.

[Kuwaaahhk!!]

Another one of the angel's arms flew off, and Jin-Woo's shortsword found itself pressed tightly against the angel statue's neck. Way above both of them, the god statue was about to pound down with its two hands locked together.

Jin-Woo calmly strengthened the arm pressing the blade to the angel statue's neck to cut it off in one go.

At that moment, the angel statue announced its surrender.

[I lost.]

Simultaneously, the god statue and the rest of the stone statues all froze up and stopped moving.

[Your test has ended.]

Tick.

Like a lie, the timer ceaselessly ticking down also froze up along with the angel's words announcing the end of everything.

[Remaining time: 02:11]

Red hot steam was rising up in a fine mist from Jin-Woo's entire body.

Only after confirming that the timer had stopped for real, he lowered his head. His glare was locked onto the angel statue.

"I have a question."

[You can ask anything. I shall answer if it's within my knowledge.]

Rather unexpectedly, the now-expressionless angel statue agreed to his demand without offering any resistance.

'…..'

Jin-Woo didn't say anything and thought to himself.

When he asked the angel statue 'What are you', the thing mocked him for asking the wrong question.

However, his confusion got more confounded after he heard the identity of this 'thing' from its own mouth, and now, he had more questions than ever before burning a hole in his head.

That was why Jin-Woo decided to heed the advice the angel gave him earlier on and ask the right question.

"Who am I?"

Chapter 159: Chapter 159

The Hunters of the Monitoring Division arrived on site. There were a total of seven high-ranked Hunters. Woo Jin-Cheol had scrounged up the top elites of the Association that could be mobilised on such short notice.

However, he knew the truth. He knew that this little fighting power would not be of any help to Hunter Seong.

'Even still, for the worst case scenario….'

These Hunters from the Monitoring Division would buy enough time so Hunter Seong would be able to escape from the dangers. They came to this location with such a resolve in their hearts.

"Is that the one, Chief?"

"Looks that way."

Hunters from the Monitoring Division stepped out of the minivan and entered the school's athletics field.

They found the Hunters from the Bravery Guild who had made the report earlier waiting for their arrival. Their expressions brightened once they saw the members of the Monitoring Division.

"Over here, mister agents!"

The Master of the Guild came running and greeted the Hunters of the Monitoring Division. However, Woo Jin-Cheol's gaze remained fixed on that Gate in question.

He could pick up on an ominous aura coming out of it already. Woo Jin-Cheol looked at his subordinates and issued an order.

"Let's hurry."

"Yes, sir."

Their steps became hurried and they crossed the field to arrive before the Gate in a proverbial heartbeat.

But then, Woo Jin-Cheol's steps came to an abrupt halt.

"Chief?"

"Senior?"

The subordinates behind him naturally came to a stop, as well. Woo Jin-Cheol cautiously took off his sunglasses. His hand holding the accessory was trembling imperceptibly.

'This… what the hell is this….?'

He picked up on the utterly horrifying maelstrom of magical energy all around the Gate. As a matter of fact, the magical energy leaking out was so savage and brutal that the space around the portal looked as if it was being distorted to his naked eyes.

He was startled by what he saw and quickly took a step back.

Was this simply an optical illusion, or the sign of an impending ill omen?

He thought that, all of a sudden, a dark veil seemed to be enveloping this Gate from above. He had seen this somewhere before. It was the looming shadow of death.

All the hair on the back of his neck stood up.

Woo Jin-Cheol instinctively knew it.

He knew that the fight taking place inside was not something he or his boys could possibly butt in on.

The subordinates saw his complexion getting paler and gasped out in surprise. They hurriedly asked him.

"Section Chief?? Are you alright?"

"…."

Rather than an answer, Woo Jin-Cheol threw out a question, instead.

"Is there a… major Guild with a team ready for a raid nearby?"

One of his subordinates checked the Association's database and quickly made his reply.

"Yes, sir. The Hunters Guild is getting ready for a raid at the moment."

"What about their two rank S Hunters?"

"According to the data, both Choi Jong-In and Cha Hae-In Hunter-nims are scheduled to partake in the raid, sir."

Choi Jong-In and Cha Hae-In. If it were those two, then they might be able to do something.

Woo Jin-Cheol shifted his gaze back to the Gate. That imperceptible trembling that started from his hand had slowly but steadily spread out to the rest of his body.

Gulp.

Dry saliva slid down his throat all on its own.

Woo Jin-Cheol barely managed to rein his trembling voice and spoke to his subordinate.

"Send… the emergency cooperation request to the Hunters Guild."

***

He finally asked it.

Just as the angel statue had recommended it, he changed his question from "What are you?" to "Who am I?"

In that short moment, Jin-Woo's heavy and laboured panting relaxed to his usual rhythmic breathing. The sound of his breaths was so measured and calm that it was hard to believe he was involved in a fierce life-or-death battle just now.

Even his panting shoulders had stopped quivering completely.

[….]

The answer from the angel statue seemed to be getting delayed for some reason, and Jin-Woo pressed the shortsword deeper against its skin as a reminder. The blade dug into the neck of the stone statue.

If this thing was a human, its skin would've been cut open and began bleeding by now. Since it was seemingly made out of stone, it didn't bleed, but he knew there was no problem with cutting its head off like this.

Perhaps the angel statue also knew this truth? It belatedly opened its mouth.

[Finally.]

Hearing it from such close proximity, this thing's voice sounded even more freakish than before.

[You have asked a proper question.]

It then formed a smile next. There was not one hint of fear on its face even though several of its arms were sliced off and there was a blade pressed just below its chin.

'Maybe, its real body is somewhere else?'

Jin-Woo's exceptional sensory perception scanned his surroundings but he couldn't pick up any other aura. If the real body was indeed somewhere else, then the current him couldn't even begin to imagine just how incredible the technique being employed here was to conceal the connection this perfectly.

The angel statue carried on with what it wanted to say while that smile remained etched on its stony face.

[The answer is within you.]

'…In me?'

Jin-Woo had been glaring at his query until now, worried that this thing would try another petty trick on him. But when he heard that, his eyes became even sharper than ever before.

He spent four years of his life as a lowest-ranked Hunter and had to fight against countless enemies that were stronger than himself and could have killed him instantly.

Even though he was classified as a rank E Hunter, and not only that, as the lowest even among the rank Es, Jin-Woo still managed to survive in those four years as he bravely roamed around in various dungeons. That was no mean feat, indeed.

It was only possible because of his sixth sense, honed through experiencing several life-or-death moments, helped him to pick the best possible option available during the worst of all the worst situations.

And his ultra-sharp sixth sense was warning him of a certain shift in the atmosphere. Sure enough…

Tti-ring!

The mechanical beep abruptly rang out in his head, accompanied by the usual voice of the System. It was definitely not the angel statue's voice – he only heard that of a mechanical-sounding female.

[Recalling the stored data in the System's memory.]

[Will you consent to its playback?] (Y/N)

It wasn't just the voice this time, but even the actual message window also popped up, as well. It was asking him 'Yes' or 'No'.

The alphabets 'Y' and 'N' lazily blinked in front of his eyes as if they were patiently waiting for his answer.

'Just what on earth is this….?'

Just what was this d*mn thing trying to pull this time?

Jin-Woo's gaze shifted away from the message and landed on the angel statue. The smile was long gone from the statue's face. It spoke to him with a completely emotionless face.

"The decision is up to you."

Unlike before, its voice was now separated from the System. The machine-like, stiff male voice grated against his eardrums. Jin-Woo shut his mouth tight after seeing that face.

'Data saved in the System's memory, is it….'

Just like how it was with various video games, did the System also possess a save file or something similar to that? And, he could view what that save file contained, right now?

'…..'

In this short span of time, all kinds of thoughts raced in and out of his brain. Of course, his answer had already been decided.

He finally earned what could be his one and only chance to confirm the truth for himself, so why should he back out of it now?

If the System wanted to trick him into a trap, then well, it didn't have to go through such an elaborate process, either. After all, the System possessed the power to decide when his heart would stop beating, didn't it?

'Just as the angel said, if all these were just the processes of a test, then…. Then, I have earned the right to view this data.'

He suddenly recalled what the angel statue told him before the battle commenced.

["If you still manage to stand on two feet by the end of the test, then everything you wished to know will be revealed to you. That will be my reward to you."]

Most likely, the reward the angel talked about meant his right to view the data. He finally arrived at this conclusion.

Jin-Woo made his decision and slowly opened his mouth.

"….Yes."

When he did, darkness immediately enveloped him.

Tti-ring.

The familiar mechanical beep hit him in the eardrums, and the voice of the System followed right after.

[The saved data has been successfully uploaded.]

***

It felt like he crossed an endless tunnel at a speed very close to that of infinity.

He flew past the space filled with nothing but darkness; the light seeping into this space from such a long distance away slammed into him in an instant.

After the blinding by the light dissipated away….

Jin-Woo was greeted by the immense spectacle laid out before his eyes – no, below him – and spat out a shocked gasp in his mind.

'Oh, my god….'

An army consisting solely of innumerable monsters stretched far beyond the scope of vision below him.

From where he was, all the way to beyond the horizon. Countless monsters completely covered up the ground until there was no uncovered patch left.

In all honesty, that was one hell of a terrifying sight to behold. If this many monsters jumped out of a Gate all at once, humanity wouldn't have a chance in hell at winning against them.

Just from seeing this, he felt his innards tighten as if he was having indigestion.

'Hold on… Where is this place, anyway?'

It couldn't have been Earth. He could see thin, tall, and bizarre looking rocky outcroppings jutting out from here and there on this reddish-brown, dried up plains where not even a single blade of grass grew.

This was a completely foreign landscape that he had never seen before.

His eyes could catch the sight of the reddish-brown ground, those strange rock formations, and then, the great army of monsters standing on top of said ground.

Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to these monsters.

He spotted weaklings commonly seen in low ranked dungeons, all the way to the powerful monsters that could only be seen in much higher-ranked dungeons, such as High Orcs, White Phantoms, and even Giants.

This disparate gathering of monsters that ignored their ranks and species were busy looking up and waiting for something to happen.

'What are they all looking at?'

Jin-Woo followed after their gazes and raised his head to the sky above. And then… he discovered it.

'…..!!'

He saw a jet-black lake, quietly floating high up in the sky.

No, it was actually not a lake. He mistook it for a lake because of its sheer size. But, it was a Gate so big that he couldn't even begin to guess its size. And it was silently looking down on the ground.

This black 'hole' was blocking up the purple sky beyond it.

'Purple sky, is it…..?'

Seeing the colour of the sky that should not exist, he became doubly sure that this was not Earth anymore.

In a world that was clearly not Earth, something major was about to happen between the monsters and that Gate.

He unconsciously swallowed his saliva. Trapped within this eerie silence, his nervousness also increased as the time wore on.

Gowooooh….

Just what would come out from that Gate?

Jin-Woo began wondering if he'd get to see the weapons of humanity or the armies of humans stepping out of that huge Gate, just like how monsters would step onto Earth through those portals.

However….

CRACK!

What came out of the cracked-open Gate's mouth was soldiers decked out in silver armour, with wings attached to their backs.

These silver-armoured soldiers poured out of the Gate like agitated bees rushing out of the disturbed beehive.

While monsters covered up the entirety of the ground, these soldiers in turn utterly blotted out the sky.

It was truly a spectacular sight. Jin-Woo couldn't stop admiring this incredible view.

However, the monsters must've thought rather differently. They began howling at the top of their lungs upon seeing the silver-armoured soldiers covering the sky and began bucking around in agitation.

He didn't even have to be a genius to figure out what would happen next.

It was war.

Swahhh-!!

The flying soldiers became silver drops of light and descended to the ground below. As it turned out, there was more than one Gate in the sky. There were several of them, and silver soldiers poured out of them one after the other.

Monsters on the ground versus the soldiers of the sky!!

Two groups, clearly burning with hostile intentions against each other, soon collided just above the ground. And a battle of an indescribable scale and proportion unfolded next.

ROOOAAAR-!!

The beastly roars of the monsters shook the land below, and….

Vuuoooo–!!

….And, horns being blown by the silver-armoured soldiers thunderously resounded out.

Weapons collided with other weapons; the sounds of armours shattering noisily rang out. The beastly roars soon morphed into screams and pained groans. The ground below was steadily being dyed the colour of blood.

The superiority in this battle was established very quickly.

The silver-armoured soldiers were very powerful. These guys easily sliced off the necks of the monsters that were strong enough to rip high-ranked Hunters apart with their bare hands.

Such powerful beings had formed a massive invading group, so perhaps it was only inevitable that the monsters were being swept away.

The balance was tilting noticeably now to their favour. Even then, silver-armoured soldiers continued to pour out from the Gates non-stop.

The waves upon waves of the silver soldiers crashing forward like the incoming tide erased all traces of living monsters off the dried plains in no time at all.

Kuwaaahk!

Kiiiehhk!

The war began as a fierce clash between two forces, but now, it descended into a blood-soaked massacre, instead.

Just like how Jin-Woo was with his foes, the swords and spears of the silver soldiers knew no mercy. Because of that, the number of monsters decreased quite rapidly.

Jin-Woo watched this scene of the horrifying monsters being killed off with little to no resistance and was overcome with a puzzling mixture of emotions.

'Am I mourning all those people who lost their lives to these b*stards, or am I feeling rueful for humans not being able to possess powers like that….?'

Such trivial thoughts remained in his head for only a short while. The truly extraordinary event only happened afterwards, that was why.

With the complete annihilation of the monsters mere moments away…

The silver soldiers of the sky that violently pushed their enemies back suddenly stopped moving one at the time.

'What's going on?'

Could they possibly have developed a sense of pity for these things now, of all times? But, there was just no way. If they did, then they shouldn't be gripping their weapons even tighter like that.

They were gripping their weapons so hard, in fact, their hands were beginning to tremble noticeably, too. On top of that, the emotions filling up the faces of these silver soldiers were as far from the ones of compassion as you could get. No, they were definitely filled with terror.

Their collective gazes were focused in a certain direction. And that was somewhere behind him.

Jin-Woo suddenly had a hunch. He felt that something extraordinary was about to happen behind him, one amazing enough to overturn this situation on its head.

However, his gaze didn't immediately look behind him, but instead, to the ground below.

On top of this reddish-brown land, a black shadow was spreading out. This shadow rapidly spread beyond the blood dyeing the land red, as well as the mountains of corpses. And when this darkness sped past underneath these corpses, mysterious screams could be heard.

Screams that no one could tell where they were coming from.

Jin-Woo knew of a skill that was eerily similar to this – no, make that pretty much identical.

'Sovereign's Territory….'

A powerful chill ran down his spine immediately.

He slowly, agonisingly slowly, turned his head around to take a look.

And there he found an impressive knight covered in jet-black armour from his head right down to his toes. From this knight, and the horse he was riding on, black aura-like strands of energy continuously rose up.

Why did this happen? No one told him, yet Jin-Woo could think of only one title when looking at that black knight.

'….The Shadow Sovereign.'

Just by being in front of this being subjected him to an incredible pressure that was heavy enough to strangle him.

Whether it was the silver-armoured soldiers from the sky, monsters with intelligence, or even those without it, they all forgot to breathe and simply stared at this Shadow Sovereign.

Every single gaze within this battlefield was now looking at only this black knight.

[…..]

The Sovereign glared at the soldiers of the sky, before extending his hand out as if he wanted to grasp something.

Flinch.

Jin-Woo now could see the sight of the silver-armoured soldiers flinch and start to back away in fear. The intolerable stillness that stifled one's breaths pressed down on the shoulders of every single being under the heavens.

And soon….

The Sovereign's solemn voice shattered that stillness.

[Rise up.]

Chapter 160: Chapter 160

Ba-thump.

His heart beat louder just then.

'Rise up.'

The ripple generated from those two words spread out at a frightening speed and roused up the shadows. The battlefield dyed in the colours of monsters' blood roiled and tumbled in black waves.

Uwaaaahhh-!!

The Shadow Soldiers leaping out of the ground roared out in what could have been either loud cheers or screams of horror. They then shifted their blackened eyes towards their enemies.

Those eyes carried not one trace of fear towards their enemies now.

For the silver soldiers of the skies supposed to deal with this new army, the scene before them was worthy of sending cold shivers down their spines. Too bad for them, the Sovereign's powers didn't stop there.

[Wuoooohhhhh-!!]

The Sovereign bellowed heavily towards the skies. That powerful roar didn't attack the eardrums of the listeners, but directly shook their hearts, instead.

Hearts, legs, and even the ground shook from his roar.

The land began crying as its response.

Jin-Woo didn't need a lot of time to figure out what that roar was meant for. Because… the Shadow Soldiers raised their weapons up high and roared alongside as well.

WUUUOOOOHHH-!!

Just that single roar alone, and the Shadow Soldiers all transformed into completely different beings in an instant.

From this corner of the land, all the way to the other side – the dead monsters were instantly reorganised into Shadow Soldiers.

Jin-Woo had been quietly observing this process while holding his breath. A powerful shudder ran through his entire body from the combined roars of the Shadow Soldiers.

Ba-thump!!

His heart loudly beat again.

If this scene was supposed to demonstrate the true pinnacle of the Shadow Sovereign Class, then it certainly succeeded in letting him know just how much further he still had to walk to get there.

Eventually, the soldiers of the sky stopped hesitating and began moving again. They gathered into one large mass, and like a gigantic swarm of bees, descended on the black soldiers below.

However, the monsters that were reborn as Shadow Soldiers didn't fall as easily as before.

Weapons clashed against weapons.

Soldiers collided against soldiers.

The silver army and the black army got tangled up on top of this expansive land.

Explosions rang out constantly, and the ground quaked over and over again. The battle that should have ended as a one-sided massacre reverted back to full-on warfare.

Just the entrance of a single individual had changed everything. Now that was the display of truly shocking power. Jin-Woo didn't know why this scene was being shown to him, but nevertheless, he found himself unable to tear his eyes away from it.

The violent, fierce clash continued on.

A desperate and bloody engagement, incomparably fiercer and more violent than the first battle that took place, unfolded before his eyes.

Monsters were unable to contend with a single soldier of the sky while they were still alive, but after becoming Shadow Soldiers, they were now able to stand their ground and not get pushed back.

But, well, the truly terrifying thing about these Shadow Soldiers weren't their fighting spirit or their combat potentials.

The soldiers of the sky drove the Shadow Soldiers back with their powerful attacks and excellent martial prowess. The ferocity of the Shadow Soldiers that rebelled against death itself wasn't enough to bridge the gap of strength.

The balance of the battle seemed to tilt in favour of the soldiers of the sky once more. However, the Shadow Soldiers regained their original appearances almost right after they were destroyed.

Kuwaaahhk!

A Shadow Soldier writhed and screamed out as a spear belonging to a soldier of the sky pierced through it.

The silver soldier sensed that its victory was near. It let go of its spear and unsheathed the sword on its hips to slice off the head of its enemy, the Shadow Soldier.

Slice!

However, right after the head flew off….

'….!!'

The head of the Shadow Soldier falling to the ground and the headless body all transformed into black smoke, before combining back to one form a couple of steps away.

As the soldier of the sky flinched, the Shadow Soldier used the sword it held to stab the chest of its silver-clad enemy.

Crack!!

The blade broke through the chest armour, dug into the internals, broke through the back skin and emerged out in the open again.

The silver soldier of the sky powerlessly fell to the ground.

Plop.

As the light of life within the fallen silver soldier's eyes faded away, someone's dignified voice entered its ears and woke it back up.

[Rise up.]

In an unknown instant….

The soldier of the sky discovered the black spear being held by its hands. What came to visit this soldier wasn't death, but a new beginning.

Its now-blackened eyes shifted towards other soldiers of the sky who used to be its comrades only a few breaths ago.

Flinch.

When their gazes met, it saw the trembling shoulders of its former comrades. Even then, the reborn soldier knew what it had to do.

"Wuuoooouhhh!!"

It joyously accepted the brand new fate bestowed upon it.

Jin-Woo tore his eyes away from these soldiers and took an overview of the entire battlefield and its situation.

The battle taking place between the soldiers of the sky endlessly pouring out from the Gates in the air, and the Shadow Soldiers reborn through the orders of the Shadow Sovereign, was incredibly even.

Many poured out of the Gate to match the number of the dead, and just as many stood up from the shadows to match the dead, too.

If war broke out in hell, would it resemble something like this?

Horrifying warfare that a human's intuition couldn't even properly tell what would happen next breathlessly continued on in this vast land.

However, the balance between these two opposing sides broke in a single instant.

The flow of the war shifted very quickly when the Shadow Sovereign stopped issuing commands to his troops from far back and personally stepped forward to enter the fray.

The black horse carrying the Sovereign dashed into the battlefield.

Whenever he swung his sword, thousands of enemy troops fell to create a pathway. And the dead enemies, without an exception, became Shadow Soldiers and stood back up.

Just one flick of the Sovereign's hand and all those enemy soldiers flying away to safety had their wings broken and they all crashed back down to earth.

'Ruler's Authority…..'

The areas the Sovereign dashed through got utterly swept away as if a storm rampaged past there. For the first time ever since the two opposing camps started clashing their weapons – the soldiers of the sky were being forced back.

Hundreds of thousands, no, millions of silver-clad soldiers couldn't deal with a single enemy and were constantly pushed back.

Jin-Woo could only gasp out in admiration at this sheer marvellous spectacle. He thought that the war would come to an end like this.

However…

Just as the Shadow Soldiers began pushing back the tides of the silver soldiers of the sky, an ominous, eerie wind that was hard to describe in words blew in from somewhere behind him.

Auras powerful enough to send a shudder down his spine rushed in.

The Sovereign temporarily disregarded the enemies to his front and looked behind him. Two ginormous Gates had been generated in some place far behind the Shadow army. Their sizes didn't lose out to the ones floating up in the air.

And from these two Gates, two disparate groups of monsters poured out in droves. On one side, beast-type creatures being led by a wolf the size of a mountain.

And from the other one, knights and soldiers rushed out with countless banners proudly announcing their clans being waved about in their midst.

Jin-Woo's eyes grew wider and wider.

'Huh….??'

The clan crests embroidered on those banners were all familiar to him. From Ricardo's, Faestos's, Rokan's, Ingreyace's, and even Radiru's.

'….Esil.'

Those crests belonged to the aristocratic clans of demons he ran into as he was climbing up to the top floor of the Demon's Castle.

His confusion regarding why those demons appeared here could only last for a short while. The beasts and the demons began attacking the shadow soldiers together as if they had a prior agreement.

The back line of the Shadow Soldiers was immediately torn up into shreds from the combined assault of the two monster armies.

That wasn't the end, however.

Their front was occupied by the soldiers of the sky, still alive and ready to battle. These silver-clad beings changed their strategy and began striking back once more.

The soldiers of the sky to the front and the armies of monsters at the back surrounded the Shadow Soldiers in a pincer attack and closed in on them. The flow of the battle had changed once more.

Ba-thump.

Jin-Woo grasped his chest tightly.

His heart was aching now.

His gaze slowly shifted towards the Sovereign standing next to him.

Why was this? Why could he sense the Sovereign's emotions so clearly like this?

Just like when he was reading the thoughts of his Shadow Soldiers, the Sovereign's emotions were vividly transmitted to him. The emotion welling up thickly from the deepest depths of his heart was none other than indignation.

No, it had already exceeded past the level of indignation and into the territory of pure wrath.

Now that they were surrounded by enemies from all sides, the Shadow Soldiers had to endlessly repeat the cycle of destruction and regeneration. Although they seemed to have possessed a never-ending power of recovery, Jin-Woo too possessed the same ability and he knew its fatal weakness very well.

'It can hold up as long as there's MP….'

When MP ran out, the Soldiers would not be revived again. Meaning, the Sovereign wouldn't be able to use his army again. He sensed the Sovereign's magical energy that felt bottomless and vast in the beginning, slowly reaching its limit.

The Sovereign changed the direction of his mount away from the army of the sky and towards his rear. His black horse kicked the ground and rushed forward.

The ensuing battle was truly intense.

Corpses formed mountains. Blood formed oceans.

This conflagration called 'war' created by countless soldiers swallowed up every single lifeform still standing on this land and continued on its horrific path of destruction.

But, even then – this stubbornly persistent battle that didn't seem to end was slowly marching towards its inevitable conclusion.

Not too many remained standing on the battlefield now.

The Sovereign lost his mount during the battle. He wasn't hindered in the least, however. He cut down two demon knights blocking his path and stood before a certain demon breathlessly panting away as it leaned against a bizarre rock formation.

The demon's face was hidden behind its helm, but the Sovereign seemed to know its identity as he glared down at his feeble prey.

[We could have ended the war with them today.]

"…"

[But, why did you betray me?]

The demon weakly faltered its head, but it forced himself to look up. It had already suffered grievous wounds and it seemed unlikely it'd be able to survive its injuries.

The voice coming out from beneath the helm sounded precariously close to being cut off.

"So…. regrettable. We could have ended you for good today, but…."

The Sovereign's voice became even icier as he asked again.

[I said, why did you betray me?]

"Keuk, keuk.��

The demon's shoulders trembled as it painfully cackled, before it raised its head up again. And then, it replied.

"#$%#^#%#%@$."

For some reason, Jin-Woo couldn't properly hear that answer. Did he lose his concentration and miss it somehow?

No, that wasn't it.

"@$^$##."

The demon said something else, but he still couldn't understand a single word of it.

However, it must've sounded different to the Sovereign's ears, because as soon as he heard the reply, he extended his hand out and sucked the demon in. The creature spat out a pained moan as its neck was tightly grasped by the Shadow Sovereign.

"Keo-heok."

Crumble!

The piece of armour protecting the neck crumpled up. Even in the middle of this, the demon continued to say the things it wanted to say.

"….%^&*$@%^&."

Stab.

The Sovereign's thumb plunged into the throat of the demon.

Cough!

The demon spat out a mouthful of blood. And that was precisely the moment when his gaze met with the demon's eyes staring back from within that helm.

But, how could this be?!

Jin-Woo freaked out and let go of the dying demon's neck.

Plop.

Its life had ended by then and its body limply crumpled to the ground.

'But, that doesn't make any sense.'

Those eyes in hidden in the helm – he had seen those eyes before. But, such a thing could not have happened.

Ba-thump!

His heart began pounding madly now.

Jin-Woo shook his head hard and cautiously approached the dead demon to take its helm off. Even in death, the creature was maintaining the same glare it shot him back when it was still alive.

How could he ever forget that glare?

The removed helm fell out of Jin-Woo's hands and clattered to the ground.

Clang.

The wide-open eyes of the demon were still filled with the light of pure rage. It was the exact same light he saw back on the top floor of the Demon's Castle.

'The Demon King… Baran?!'

The moment he realised this fact, he also discovered one more strange thing.

He saw his hands decked out in black armour. He then saw his feet, his legs, and his own chest. From a certain point in time, he had been using the Shadow Sovereign's body as his own.

Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump!!

The pounding beats of his heart grew even heavier and louder, assaulting his eardrums. Jin-Woo placed his hand where his heart was.

Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump!

His eyes grew wider and wider.

'How… How come I haven't noticed it until now?!'

He had grown more conscious of his own heartbeat after surviving the events of the underground temple. Even then, he had failed to notice it until now.

Jin-Woo's trembling hand moved to the right side of his chest. He sensed the tremor there. One coming from the left, and then another coming from his right.

Ba-thump!

Two hearts were issuing exact same sounds.

His shock-filled eyes were lowered immediately, but then, he discovered four shadows on the ground, slowly growing larger. Some things were approaching him from above. His head hurriedly rose up to the skies.

And, right above his head…

Four angels with six wings each were slowly descending towards him.

The 'memory' lasted only up until then.

Tti-ring.

Along with that mechanical beep, darkness blinded him again.

He heard the clear, concise voice of the System as his consciousness grew further away.

[Playback of the saved data has concluded.]

Chapter 161: Chapter 161

Telling the Master of a Guild that best represented the Republic of Korea to show up before a rank C Gate?

When he got the call from Section Chief Woo Jin-Cheol, Choi Jong-In initially wasn't feeling too pleased by its contents. He even thought about not bothering to go there personally and simply send out an assault team consisting of just a handful of higher ranked Hunters.

However, he heard the detailed explanation next, and he had no choice but to personally make the move.

'Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had entered the dual dungeon by himself?'

The dual dungeon alone was enough to draw his attention, but now, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was in there, too? How many Guild Masters, no, Hunters out there would remain aloof and unimpressed after hearing those revelations?

At Chief Woo Jin-Cheol's urgent request that emphasized time was of the essence, Choi Jong-In immediately delayed the raid they were preparing to go on and summoned the elite Hunters.

"We received a request for assistance from the Association. Looks like we will have to get involved on this one."

Hunters began whispering to each other because these people knew very well through experience, that this sort of summons only happened in extraordinary circumstances.

And the fact that the Hunters Guild had to be summoned, who were just about to raid a rank A Gate – was there a need to even mention the seriousness of the occasion?

On top of this, these Hunters also had to hear about the breaking news coming out from Japan not too long ago, so the commotion within them could only grow larger.

"Did something happen?"

The woman who possessed the second highest authority behind Choi Jong-In as the Vice-Chair of the Guild, asked her boss for clarification. He looked back at Cha Hae-In and replied.

"A dual dungeon was found within a rank C Gate."

'A dual dungeon?'

Cha Hae-In tilted her head in confusion.

Of course, it was not everyday one gets to hear about a dual dungeon. A dungeon found within another one – there was no way such a thing could happen all the time.

However, the Hunters Guild was being summoned because there was another dungeon attached to a measly rank C Gate? It was hard to understand from a common-sense point of view.

Choi Jong-In still got ready to move out regardless of her puzzled stare but still spoke to her to dispel her confusion.

"It sounds like Hunter Seong Jin-Woo is fighting something inside all by himself. Since it's none other than that Chief Woo Jin-Cheol from the Association requesting us for assistance, and he sounded rather frightened out of his wits too, so… Hunter Cha? What's the matter?"

Choi Jong-In asked her after spotting the abrupt change within her eyes.

"No, it's nothing."

"…..Well, yeah. It's Hunter Seong we're talking about, so nothing serious would happen to him, but still, let's go take a look anyway."

Nod.

Cha Hae-In nodded her head, and other Hunters listening in on their conversation also quickly packed their gear and got ready. Their gear consisted entirely of weapons they were to use within the raid, but that didn't mean they could be lackadaisical with their preparations.

"Uh? Why is there one person mis…"

A Hunter was taking the headcount, but someone lightly tapped on his shoulder. He looked behind to see who it was, and his colleague was pointing at a certain corner with his chin. A man with a devastated face was on his knees there.

"…Suzuki?"

"Leave him be."

"Ah….."

That Hunter immediately understood it.

Suzuki was a Hunter who got scouted recently and left Japan for a life here in South Korea. It was only obvious that he couldn't tear his eyes away from his smartphone that kept issuing breaking news one after the other regarding the dungeon break taking place in his home country.

"We gotta do what we gotta do. Let's get going."

"Ah, yes."

Two Hunters let Suzuki be and climbed aboard the Hunters Guild's private van.

And so, vehicles carrying the elites of the Hunters Guild quickly travelled towards their new destinations.

***

"Argh, hot, hot!!"

A reporter named Kim freaked out and hurriedly discarded the cigarette butt. The ground beneath was sand, but still, his foot stomping on the butt to kill it carried all of his bared emotions.

That lasted only for a little while, though. This was no time to waste his attention on some stupid cigarette butt.

Reporter Kim's gaze returned to the parked vans again. He thought that every single person climbing out of those vehicles looked familiar, but when he took a second look, weren't they the top elites from the Hunters Guild??

He didn't even notice that his fingers were getting burnt off while he was searching for all the famous aces in that Guild.

'Choi Jong-In and Cha Hae-In? Yun Jeong-Ho too? Uh, uh?? Even Sohn Ki-Hoon's here?'

With these folks here, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the top faces of the Hunters had all shown up. He chased after Woo Jin-Cheol without a plan to speak of, but to think, he'd stumble into a location filled with such bigshots like this?

And, the Gate in question was only a rank C.

Reporter Kim swallowed his nervous saliva. He couldn't even begin to imagine just what was going on inside there right now.

Section Chief Woo Jin-Cheol would normally let the cat out of the bag pretty easily, but even he shut his mouth tightly while saying that it was top secret. So, Kim didn't have much of a choice but to suck on one cigarette after another to soothe his anxious mind.

Indeed, butts he discarded since a while ago formed a small mound near his feet.

Woo Jin-Cheol paid no heed to Reporter Kim's longing expression and hurriedly approached Choi Jong-In. The latter couldn't tear his eyes away from that Gate, just like how the former had reacted earlier.

"What the f*ck…?! D*mn it…! What the hell is that thing??"

Cusses jumped out all on their own from Choi Jong-In's mouth. That was how ominous the aura emitted from the Gate was.

Unlike Woo Jin-Cheol, who possessed exceptionally good senses for a melee-type Hunter, Choi Jong-In was South Korea's most powerful Mage.

After Baek Yun-Ho and his 'Eyes of the Beast', as well as Seong Jin-Woo and his otherworldly level of sensory perception, one could confidently say that Choi Jong-In was the best in the country when it came to sensing the flow of magical energy.

"Can you do it?"

That's how Woo Jin-Cheol framed his question. Choi Jong-In didn't miss the subtext of 'It was impossible with just us' in that question.

He replied with a bitter expression.

"You said that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo is inside, yes?"

"Yes, that's been confirmed."

Nod, nod.

Choi Jong-In nodded his head gravely.

But, of course. If it wasn't him, who'd be capable enough to participate in a fight of this scale? No, who else besides him was capable of defending against an opponent that emitted this much magical energy?

"Is he trying to save this planet all by himself or something?"

He meant to say that in his head but his words still came out of his mouth in the end.

Rather than asking for the clarification, though, Woo Jin-Cheol simply nodded his head with a heavy expression. To him, that sounded quite plausible.

"Whether we can do it or not, we still need to go inside anyway. We owe a debt to Hunter Seong, after all."

If the monsters inside were something that couldn't be stopped by the combined might of Hunter Seong and the Hunters Guild, then no one else in South Korea could stop them. Meaning, there would be no second opportunity if they couldn't kill the monsters by aiding Hunter Seong today.

'What was that? Hunter Seong??'

Reporter Kim was standing a little further away and was doing his best to eavesdrop, but after hearing something incredible, his eyes rapidly transformed into a pair of round dots resembling those of a rabbit's.

'Hunter Seong is inside that Gate??'

Kim's shocked gaze quickly shifted towards the Gate, before scanning the vicinity around it.

There were two rank S Hunters here, and as for the number of rank As, he had already lost count. But then, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter was inside that Gate, too??

'My, my…. my memo. Where's my d*mn memo pad?!'

Reporter Kim's nose picked up on the trail of a huge scoop and hurriedly sought out his memo pad.

From this point onwards, he could not afford to miss a single word muttered nor a single event happening before him. He found himself with a god-sent opportunity to report on a massive scoop involving three rank S Hunters as well as the Association itself when everyone else was too busy with the events taking place in Japan.

'That's why Chief Woo kept his mouth shut, wasn't it?'

Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's private information was a closely-guarded secret, not to mention he was a super VIP under the special supervision of the Hunter's Association.

Kim now could understand the reason why Woo Jin-Cheol was not willing to talk about what was going on here.

While Woo Jin-Cheol and Choi Jong-In were sharing a brief conversation, the elite assault team had finished getting ready. The Tankers picked up their defensive armaments, damage dealers picked up their weapons, and Healers held on to magic tools filled with magical energy.

As befitting the top Guild in the country, their preparation was quite fast.

Choi Jong-In briefly exchanged glances with Cha Hae-In and nodded his head. Cha Hae-In swept her gaze over the rest of the team once and nodded her head as well. That meant that the preparation and inspection were finished now.

The elites of the Monitoring Division had already finished their preparations a while ago. Woo Jin-Cheol received confirmation from his subordinate and turned around to face the others with a heavy expression.

"Let's get going."

***

The passage before them was incredibly long.

They moved at the fastest speed they could afford, but they didn't break into a full-bore running. Even if they were all nominally high-ranked Hunters, their individual running speeds were vastly different, that was why. Among them, Cha Hae-In was especially fast.

She was about to run ahead, but Choi Jong-In next to her grasped her wrist in a hurry.

"Hunter Cha. What do you think you'll achieve by going there alone?"

"…"

He understood that she wanted to go and save Seong Jin-Woo from danger, but if she went ahead, the whole team might end up falling into grave danger, instead.

"If we try to keep up with your speed, there's a good chance that the entire team might become disorganised, instead."

Cha Hae-In's expression hardened as she stood still, but eventually, she returned to the rear of the team. Woo Jin-Cheol watched her make her way back and whispered softly to himself.

"I guess the rumour was true."

"Pardon?"

Woo Jin-Cheol mumbled some excuses out when Choi Jong-In questioned him.

"Ah… No, it's nothing important."

Choi Jong-In tilted his head slightly but shifted his gaze back to his front anyway. The ominous magic energy that caused goosebumps to break out on his skin was still flooding out from the deepest part of this dungeon.

He had to keep his wits about him here.

He also thought that it'd be the same story for Hunter Seong Jin-Woo who had entered in here ahead of everyone else.

'I pray we aren't too late….'

For the time being, there was nothing he could do to help other than pray for Hunter Seong's safety – while moving as quickly as they could without lowering their vigilance, of course.

However, it was also true that too much tension would in turn dull one's body, as well. In order to dispel some of this tension, he engaged Woo Jin-Cheol in a conversation.

"How did Hunter Seong come across this place, anyway?"

"I also don't know the details. But, by piecing together what the people making the reports said, it seems that Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim knew that this Gate was a dual dungeon even before entering it."

"H-mm."

Choi Jong-In's expression became circumspect. This time, it was Woo Jin-Cheol who asked the question.

"By any chance, can you think of something suspicious?"

"No, it's not that, but….. Just that, this feels quite strange, doesn't it?"

"Strange as in how?"

"I did some research on Seong Hunter-nim in the past, you see."

Choi Jong-In was a Master of a huge Guild. It was his duty to build a Guild with highly capable individuals, so it was only obvious that he'd hold an extreme amount of interest towards Jin-Woo.

"There was an event similar to this, wasn't there?"

Woo Jin-Cheol did personally investigate the event Choi Jong-In was talking about so, he indeed knew a lot about that incident. He quickly figured out what the Master of Hunters Guild was trying to say here.

Less than half a year ago, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo experienced going into a dual dungeon. And now, after all this time, he sought after another one and entered it.

Those who knew this truth would not see today's event as a mere coincidence. Just like how Woo Jin-Cheol had predicted, Choi Jong-In's next words were about that.

"Experiencing dual dungeons twice by himself, when it'd be near impossible for anyone to see it once in their lifetime… Not just that, he willingly walked into the second one on his own volition? Don't you find that strange?"

Woo Jin-Cheol didn't immediately make his reply.

Just as Choi Jong-In had alluded to, many things about Hunter Seong were shrouded in a veil of mystery. The dual dungeon. The Re-Awakened. And possessing a unique ability.

However, there was one indisputable fact, and that would be Seong Jin-Woo being utterly indispensable to the Association, no, the entire nation of South Korea.

And that was why Woo Jin-Cheol requested the Hunters Guild for their assistance without waiting for the clearance from the higher-ups when he found out that Hunter Seong had walked right into this Gate.

No matter what, they had to secure Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's safety. It'd not be too late to ask him the necessary questions afterwards.

Woo Jin-Cheol swam inside his thoughts, before raising his head.

'So, over there…..'

The distance that would have taken nearly one hour for regular Hunters to cross was bridged in less than ten minutes by the rapid marching of these high-ranked Hunters. They could finally see the end of this cave in the far off distance.

"Looks like we're here."

"Yes, I can sense it."

Indeed, they could sense something horrifyingly massive in there. Choi Jong-In's face stiffened hard as he replied. The colour of blood was slowing draining out of his complexion right now.

The only consolation he could think of right now was the fact that he could also sense Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's presence.

'As long as Hunter Seong is fine, it's okay.'

Combining his abilities with the support from these elite Hunters, they'd win regardless of what the monsters within this dungeon were like. Choi Jong-In assured himself with that line of thought and called out to the rest of the team.

"Let's hurry!"

The elite Hunters from the Hunters Guild and the Association rushed past the massive doorway reminiscent of an ancient castle.

And then….

The sight waiting for them beyond was a spectacle none of them had ever seen before during their lengthy and illustrious careers as Hunters.

"This… What on earth is this….?"

"What the hell is this place?!"

First, they found innumerable destroyed stone statues strewn about the floor. Their debris was piling up into small hills all over the place.

"Look, look!!!"

One of the Hunters raised his finger high up.

And in the direction his finger was pointing at, everyone could see a truly gigantic statue of an unknown god standing frozen still, its hands interlocked in the gesture of slamming down. Its head, with half of its face blown away, especially caught their attention.

Woo Jin-Cheol's heart began racing like crazy as he remembered the testimonies of the survivors from the previous dual dungeon incident.

'It was all real… the god statue and the stone statues were all real…!!'

The survivors all said the same thing – that this place was filled with a monstrous god statue that could melt down a rank C Hunter with nothing but a glare from its eyes, as well as countless stone statues whose movements couldn't be picked up by the naked eye.

This whole open area was pockmarked with clear signs of desperate battle having taken place recently.

'Wait a minute. Where is Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?'

It looked as if all the enemies had been eliminated already. Their priority was to confirm the status of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.

Choi Jong-In shifted his head this way and that to locate Jin-Woo's presence, and eventually found him.

"He's over there."

Jin-Woo was quietly lying on his back just below the god statue as if he was asleep.

"Seong Hunter-nim!!"

Hunters were about to run to his side, but this time, it was Cha Hae-In's turn to raise both of her arms to stop them in their treks. Feeling urgent now, Woo Jin-Cheol turned to look at her.

Her rather shapely facial features were soaked completely from cold sweat right now.

"Cha….. Hunter-nim??"

She bit her lower lip and spoke up.

"Over there… there's something over there."

It was then. A certain stone statue kneeling next to Jin-Woo slowly stood up. The wings on its back were all torn up, and it only had one remaining arm.

"I don't remember inviting you humans in here."

The angel statue stood up completely and swept its gaze over at the Hunters intruding into the temple. The corner of its lips suddenly arched up.