The portals that connect our world to the other dimension are called... "Gates." They started to appear in the human world around 10 years prior the start of the history, as a result of an intent of the Rulers to sature the human world with Mana in order for it to whistand their war against the Monarchs.
And beyond these gates are "Dungeons," where evil spirits lurk within, immune to conventional weaponry. Those who have awakened the abilities necessary to fight evil spirits in these dungeons are called "Hunters."
Based on the amount of magical power contained within their bodies, they are ranked, in descending order, as S,A,B,C,D or E-rank. However, once these powers have awakened, no amount of individual effort can ever result in greater strength....
"Another day has passed with a bloody, injured body and an old diary...." Yeong looked up at the long hallway with no end and sighed, she closed the diary and put it in her pocket. "I don't remember how long I've been in this dungeon. If I go by the diary, it's probably been over three years.... No, five years...? Anyway, I don't know if my parents and two younger siblings doing fine...?"
Before anything happened, she remembered that the gate she was entrusted with to defeat the dungeon suddenly turned red. Yeong's team was stuck in this maze-like dungeon for a long time. Their food and water gradually ran out, and they fought each other just to compete for water. Until finally, after everyone was exhausted, the magic beasts as they were called in this dungeon fought with each other to tear them apart and eat them. And thank you very much, some idiot got in the way and was then eaten by a monster, Yeong? Well, she managed to escape with a bloody body trying to walk in an unknown direction in this wretched maze.
Now she had to drag this injured body around the maze to avoid the monsters with their good sense of smell, in Yeong's mind there was that glimmer of hope that she might even be able to come back to her home—but no, reality hit her hard in the face. She heard footsteps coming towards her, there seemed to be a lot of them shaking in this tunnel.
Why did fate push her to this scene? Yeong just wants to return to her family peacefully, but when she doubts whether today will really get worse or not, she meets a dead end. Faced with monsters in large numbers or giant double gates that looked like they were from the medieval century, she chose the latter. Doesn't seem safe but better than exhausting yourself fighting monsters and dying trying.
This place looked like a church with colorful stained windows appearing on the ceiling and walls around Yeong. Unlike most other dungeons, this church-like dungeon contains no monsters, but a series of gigantic statues gave me the illusion that they were looking at her and that was even more unsettling when facing the monsters outside. They were trying to break down the door to get into this place, so she had to quickly find a way out or a door leading somewhere else.
Yeong tried to drag herself little by little to look around but her husband was telling her not to go near the statues. How the hell was she supposed to dodge them as they appeared around the room as if forcing her into the middle of the room. That place has a altar under the glass ceiling and is illuminated by moonlight, which looks romantic.... But wait, how the hell is there a altar in the church room? When did the statue behind the altar stand up? It held a in its hand, things made Yeong even more confused when statues holding musical instruments started playing them, followed by other guard statues approaching her.
They raised their giant weapons and attacked Yeong every time she couldn't back away into the moonlight, as if this was a children's folk game that Yeong used to play back then. The more she retreated towards the moonlight, until it shrank at a dizzying speed, causing her legs to be cut off by a statue. Yeong still desperately suppressed the pain and crawled forward. All because of her small hope of life, her desire to see her family again.
Before she could catch her breath, she saw the moonlight continue to shrink, making her eyes widen. She immediately raised her head, but then a statue holding a spear slashed across her eyes, mercilessly taking away her sight. Next she was subjected to deadly attacks but she tried to dodge at the last moment by feeling the force of the wind and the sound emitted, the attacks became more intense to the point that Yeong gave up. As one of the statues skewered Yeong with a spear and pinned her down on top of the altar.
The statues holding musical instruments once again made melodious music as Yeong knew she had no way out anymore. The continuous attacks rained down on Yeong's body both mercilessly and tortured her at the same time. At this moment, the little girl could only grit her teeth and endure the brutal attacks coming from those guards statues. Yeong could feel it laughing at her helplessness....
Is this despair?
Will she die in this place like all the other comrades she couldn't protect? Is this karma when she disobeys her mother and participates in this dangerous job? Why did she have to suffer torture before she died?
Tens of thousands of questions arose in Yeong's mind as she remembered the happy moments with her family before these scary things began. She felt that the efforts of many years of living in the dungeon with the hope of escaping were not worth it at all, she desperately raised her hand towards the flickering moonlight. It was all fake and being controlled by these statues. A vision appeared in Yeong's mind when she saw her younger brother suffering the same situation as herself made Yeong hate them, she used all her strength and her last breath to let out a blood-curdling scream.
Yeong herself didn't know what she was screaming, she was so desperate that she swore to "End" all of this when she had another chance. She couldn't do anything for her family but now she's dying on the altar and reflecting on her life, just another chance....
"Mother.... Father..... Jinwoo.... Jinah.... I'm sorry...."
TING!
『❕NOTICE: You have met all of the requirements to complete the secret quest "Deadly Finality, Surmounted"』
"Huh? Pardon me, I'm dying right now. Is it a joke for you?" Yeong thought her head had fallen off, but when she opened her eyes, Yeong could still see even though the scene was like a game screen that was jammed and frozen. Before her eyes was a blue game notice board with words identical to the assigned tasks in the game. Then that game screen continued to switch to other messages as if a single-network game operated on its own. This time the message was saying Yeong had become a "Player" and asked if she wanted to agree. It also especially highlights the last line as if it wants her to agree with this announcement.
『You now qualify to become a player. Do you accept?』
『If you decline, your heart will stop beating in 0.02 seconds. Do you accept?』
Isn't this forcing people too much? Ah.... But if Yeong agrees, will she be able to escape from here and see her family again.... She pondered for a long time before looking at the words "Accept" and becoming some kind of player. As long as Yeong can see her family again, she is willing to sacrifice everything.
『Congratulations! You have now become a Player.』
Meanwhile inside an A-rank Red Gate, in a faraway dungeon shrouded in darkness, an entirely different scene unfolds as some hunters being cornered by a group of high-ranking Orcs. The air is thick with tension, the only light coming from torches held by those orcs, their breath is ragged due to fatigue after having to flee and panic when seeing their comrades being massacred by the orcs, their hands trembling as they steps backward, pressing themselves against the cold stone walls.
A pair of surviving twin female Hunters thought this would be their last time alive and hugged each other tremblingly, as the remaining hunter desperately waved his sword to try and scare away the orcs. Unfortunately for them, these are High Orcs so they have quite high intelligence and are ranked A, so there's no point in threatening them.
Suddenly they all turned their heads to look in the direction of the intense Mana explosion that made the Hunters shiver, with a loud noise coming from the end of the dungeon. A beam of light filled half the corridor before like a bolt of lightning, that beam of light hit through each High Orcs and turns them to dust in just one blow. The sound of the Orcs' bodies simultaneously falling like balls made them tremble even more. From the darkness, there was a figure with white halo surround their body walking closer to the Hunters....
Now, that a very woman figure stood before them, her clothes ragged, her silver hair unkempt, floating in the air and her eyes filled with bright light, had a haunting emptiness, the halos of light seemed to form a translucent armor on the woman's body. On the woman's face was a stern and serious expression but then her gaze softened when she saw the other three hunters were seriously injured. Each step the stranger takes is slow yet deliberate, her bare feet seem to glide lightly against the rocky ground as if she were floating rather than walking. The Hunters want to run, to escape, but their bodies refuses to move. The woman finally stops in front of them, kneeling before the most seriously injured person and place her hands on his wound, her voice soft and light as she utters words that send chills down their spines....
"Sit still"
When Yeong woke up, she immediately sat up and gasped. When Yeong calmed down, she started to pay attention to her surroundings, she was lying in a certain corner in a new dungeon. Different from that hellish labyrinth dungeon, based on the amount of mana emitted from this place, Yeong guessed it was a Red Gate and probably around A-rank.
"A dream....? Was it all a dream?" No, everything was too real for her to think this was just some random evil. Her eyes were still able to see everything, her arms and legs were still intact, her body had no scratches or broken bones, even her clothes were still the same as before she entered that church-like dungeon. She heard familiar roars and footsteps nearby outside with Mana's presences mixed together creating an uneasy feeling. Yeong stood up and tried to walk towards that direction but another presence was still there and immediately her body reflexively dodged the attack. Just narrowly avoiding a fatal attack, but then her whole body seemed to freeze and tremble in fear.
TING!
"Huh?"
『MISSIONS: Defeat the boss of the dungeon and leave here alive. If you don't do it, your heart will stop beating』
"What?- You stupid legs, stop shaking!" Yeong grumbled as she felt her legs tremble under the pressure of this dungeon boss. Above the Boss's head was written its name in orange monster language and somehow Yeong's brain could understand it but this was not important! Why did this strange game system appear at the wrong time? Could it be because her calf muscle memory was still afraid of the monsters in the dungeon? She didn't think she had any lingering trauma or did she? She also couldn't concentrate on the boss's actions as it brought down its club to attack Yeong.
Her body instinctively dodged the attack again and the mace just grazed her shoulder slightly, it fell straight to the ground next to her causing the ground to crack. Just a second later, she lost the entire right half of her body and continued, what she didn't expect was a direct stream of light to appear surrounding her body like a halo. It was something of a miracle that buffed Yeong, her entire body felt incredibly light and she could feel a seemingly endless source of Mana flowing into her body. Without thinking much, she threw all her strength into one punch like some hairless hero from a manga she once read and try as hard as she can to defeat the boss in one move.
POOOOOOW!!
TING!
『ALARM: You have slain Dungeon's Ruler, High Orcs』
Yeong closed her eyes while attacking the boss because the attack was so bright and fancy that she unexpectedly also destroyed the High Orcs surrounding the hunters. Additionally, after Yeong has defeated the dungeon boss, there are some items that appear after the boss's body disappears. A pair of gauntlets appeared in her hands and then disappeared, along with a bag of gold coins and a few other insignificant items.
『Title: Orcs Slayer
A title give to a Hunter Proficient in fights against High Orcs.
True Damage is increased by 50% against Humanoid-Type Monsters』
『Item: Guðr
Item class: A
Type: Gauntlets
Attack: +100
As its name suggests, this pair of gauntlets has high True Damage, increased HP, and is durable in battle. Can be equipped, stored or sold.
-Buff 20% ATK. Attacked enemies have the ability to take additional True Damage based on a percentage of their health.
-HP buff effect, when the player carries this weapon, it will increase by 5%-10%, potentially reducing Burst Damage suffered by up to 10%.』
After reading through the information about the weapon, Yeong decided to put the bag of gold in her book bag, and kept the weapon temporarily until she searched for it later. She felt several pairs of eyes staring in her direction, they were the three hunters she had saved earlier. They trembled and looked towards Yeong, why don't they run outside or perhaps they were overwhelmed by the amount of Mana in Yeong's body, so the three of them were trembling and didn't dare to run anywhere, or rather couldn't run.
TING!
『ALARM: The Boss has been slain. The Gate will disappear soon, please leave soon.』
The message finally popped up informing Yeong that the mission was over along with congratulatory music as if she was glad she didn't die.
Yeong thought about a way to approach them in the friendliest way possible and she decided to put on an impassive cool expression, walking closer to them. She watched them tremble while she was also shaking more than them but still had to keep a cold expression, she knelt down in front of the most seriously injured boy and placed her hand on his wound.
"Sit still, please...."
Her "please" was so shaky that she spoke very softly but luckily they still understood. Yeong started reciting healing spells for that hunter. Before she looked like this, she was a healing-type Mage but not at a high rank, so when it came to healing spells, she could be said to be quite proficient. When they saw that boy's wound heal at breakneck speed and restore their fighting strength, all four of them exclaimed because it was no different from Yeong being an S rank healer. Even Yeong was so surprised that she froze. She can do that now???
" Th-Thank you, miss..... Can we do something for you...? You can get all the Essence Stones here and we don't mind."
The boy looked at the two remaining hunters, they all nodded in agreement because Yeong had saved them so they wanted to repay her. Yeong's brain was still loading what had happened, making her reflexes slow. It took a while for her to regain her composure and answer them, but they refused. One, Yeong took all the Essence Stones, two, they gave her half rather than letting her go home empty-handed, so she reluctantly agreed to take half.
"Fine, I guess...." Yeong received the bag of Essence Stones that one of the three hunters gave her. Is this half? It was more than half the weight so maybe they secretly added a few more. She sighed but then she thought about what would happen after she walked out. If this were a Red Gate, there would definitely be many members from these Hunters' Guilds anxiously waiting for reinforcements. So having a strange person going out will attract attention, not to mention, Yeong's appearance and silver hair will make her the center of attention of the crowd.
Seeing that Yeong was confused because she looked like a sore-thumb right now for the media to report on, one of the other two hunter sisters took the cloak and put it on Yeong's body. The girl then pulled Yeong's hair back and finally placed the hood neatly to cover Yeong's face and silver hair. Although the three hunters still doubted whether Yeong was a humanoid monster or not, after hearing her speak fluently in Korean, they put aside their doubts and responded to Yeong's kindness, even if it was unintentional....
They quickly left the Gate before it was sealed off. It's strange that there aren't any Guild members here, it's a blessing for Yeong, if there were then things would be very troublesome. Yeong looked around the city she grew up in. It had become much more modern with many high-rise buildings and it seemed like it was now around 6 pm. After a seemingly endless amount of time, the feeling of being outside was priceless for Yeong.
"Fresh air, bustling streets....and yes a "Dungeon Break," great more work to do...." Not long after the fun, Yeong could feel and detect the monster that escaped from Dungeon Break and it was quite close. So she decided to go there and it seemed like something familiar caught her attention too. On the way she saw that many monsters had been defeated so perhaps this was the final boss and one more thing she really wanted to test her new power in a simpler way. The massive blue Stone Golem is being fought by a group of hastily assembled E and D rank hunters, struggling to even breach its defenses. Behind a military barricade, civilians, including Yeong, watch the scene unfold and take pictures. The onlookers appear almost to taunt the hunters, displaying a mix of annoyance and disdain towards the unfolding dungeon break. "If you guys have enough free time to film, why don't you go in there and fight?"
"Huh....?" Yeong muttered as she heard the people who had gathered here to film the scenes appear with frowning faces, causing her to sigh and mutter. If it were her, she would have let them.... Wait, why did she have thoughts like this? Yeong found herself thinking a bit like a villain with a twisted mentality, so she quickly dismissed that thought from her mind and decided to intervene. But how?
Her sixth sense continued to tell her when she felt someone was watching her. Yeong tilted her head to look to the right and immediately met eyes with a person with black hair, wearing a bit ragged sports clothes and looking a bit familiar. Yeong was afraid of being discovered by a stranger, so she pulled down her hood and bowed her head low to hide her face.
"These hunters are all low rank.... About 8 E-Ranks and 1 D-Rank Tanker.... Two D-Rank Healers and one B-Rank Healer" Yeong continued to analyze the situation based on the amount of Mana of the Hunters present and assessed the boss, then she continued to look around to see if there was anything she could use. If she used the same power as she did in the dungeon just now, it would be too obvious. Yeong saw that a certain Hunter had an extra bow in case the main weapon failed. She quickly took it and stealthily retreated away from the crowd.
One blow weakens it... Just one please don't knock it down completely... Yeong muttered under her breath as she picked up the bow, there was no bow and arrow so she used her own Mana to create an arrow. She quickly climbed up an escape staircase to get the best shot angle and aimed at where she thought it was weakest. Its lower body!
She concentrated with all her might and when she released the bowstring, an arrow of light rushed towards it like a shooting star, lighting up the path, piercing the golem's feet and making it unable to stand. Immediately after, an extremely powerful attack of pure raw power pierced the monster's eyes and defenses, turning the tide and enabling the hunters to vanquish the monster. The bow she used was also broken because Yeong put too much Mana into it and maybe she needs to practice more in this area. But the most remarkable thing was the attack behind her, definitely from the boy Yeong had looked at earlier. His mana is different from other Hunters and... somewhat similar to hers. "I'll quickly retreat.... And temporarily rent a hotel room and buy a new set of clothes..."
"Dang I hate adult life...."