Returning to the Past (2)
3.
When the Mystic Gate first appeared in the world, someone said:
"The Mystic Gate is full of conveniences for adventurers. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet—the color of the gate indicates the difficulty beyond it. The number of adventurers allowed inside is displayed on the gate, and once inside, monsters and a boss monster appear according to the difficulty level. Even if you don't defeat the boss, you can leave if you find the exit. It's almost as if someone deliberately designed it for adventurers."
For adventurers, the Mystic Gate was the perfect stage, with nothing more to ask for.
"But we can't let our guard down."
Of course, that didn't mean the Mystic Gate was easy.
On the contrary, after its emergence, adventurers' mortality rates skyrocketed.
The reason was simple.
"No one knows what lies beyond the Mystic Gate."
The number of monsters one could encounter inside was beyond imagination.
"Once you exit through the gate, the Mystic Gate vanishes immediately."
It was impossible to bring back information to strategize for the next time.
"The problem is that each Mystic Gate has a fixed number of adventurers who can enter."
Crucially, the Mystic Gate didn't allow adventurers to freely organize their own parties.
They had to form a party within the entry limit.
"The bigger issue is that filling that limited number entirely with adventurers isn't easy."
Even when the gate allowed multiple entries, it was rare for all the slots to be filled with actual adventurers.
"Is it because adventurers are rare? No, it's because more adventurers mean less profit for each."
Adventurers always prioritized maximizing their own profits.
"That's why bait slaves are so cheap."
Bait slaves—wretched, miserable individuals who threw their lives away for a pittance—were born out of this system.
And they were far more useful than one might think.
When hunting monsters, bait slaves were incredibly effective. Just like their name suggested, they could be used to lure monsters exactly where the adventurers wanted.
However, their true value wasn't in hunting.
"Throw the bait!"
Their real purpose was during a retreat.
"Run for it!"
That day, Elpham remembered it vividly.
The party that had brought him along as a bait slave was woefully incompetent. When they found themselves in danger, they threw the bait slaves behind and fled.
Naturally, Elpham, a mere bait slave, was left stranded—right in front of a swarm of Orange Mushrooms.
"Aaaah!"
Along with five other bait slaves.
Fighting wasn't an option.
The five of them scattered in different directions, and the Orange Mushroom swarm split up to chase them.
What was once a horde of hundreds broke into groups of dozens, each pursuing their prey.
'This is exactly the same.'
The sight before him was identical to his memory, confirming his suspicion.
'There's no doubt. I've returned to the past.'
This wasn't a dream or a hallucination.
'I don't know why, but…'
Of course, it made no sense.
As a mage, Elpham knew better than anyone how impossible it was to turn back time.
So he didn't waste time questioning it.
It was beyond his understanding.
Thud, thud, thud!
More importantly, Elpham was currently being chased by over twenty Orange Mushrooms.
Being chased by mushrooms—it sounded ridiculous.
But those from Victoria Island knew just how terrifying these creatures were.
Mushrooms came in all sizes, with some even larger than a grown man.
Thud, thud, thud!
And when they ran on their two legs, they were as fast as an adult human.
Their hunting method was simple.
They charged forward, knocking their prey down with their bodies, then ferociously tore into them with their teeth.
The attacks weren't particularly powerful, but the real problem was their nature as mushrooms.
They could reproduce rapidly through spores, turning dozens into hundreds or even thousands in no time.
Moreover, their bodies were literally mushrooms—there was no concept of bleeding or vital organs.
Their only weakness?
Destroy the core.
If not, you had to completely obliterate their entire body.
Neither was easy.
In short, they were every adventurer's nightmare.
'Orange Mushrooms are the weakest among the mushrooms, but they can't be underestimated.'
Elpham knew this better than anyone.
At this point in time, he was supposed to be running for his life from them.
That was the Elpham before he returned to the past.
'But these things aren't even a threat to me anymore.'
The current Elpham, the one who had lived through the future, had slain mushrooms by the hundreds of millions.
That experience was still valid.
That was why—
Elpham, who had been running, grabbed a spear that had fallen on the ground.
Swoosh!
The moment he gripped it, he stopped moving.
Elpham was no longer running.
He was hunting.
4.
Orange Mushrooms.
The weakest among the mushrooms, and the strategy to defeat them was simple.
Destroy the core.
But executing that strategy was far from easy.
"Mushrooms? Killing them is simple. Just pierce the core—it's usually between their eyes. The only problem is that they come in all sizes."
As mentioned before, their sizes varied drastically, making them incredibly troublesome to fight.
"The big ones aren't so bad. At least you can see them. The small ones? You won't even notice them."
Some were as small as puppies, called Sophores. The only way to deal with them was to stomp them to death, but their corpses became major obstacles in battle.
Because of this, Orange Mushrooms had earned a nickname:
"No matter how much you train, if you lack experience, you'll panic. Especially rookies."
The Beginner Killer.
However, to someone experienced, they weren't so scary.
Thud, thud, thud!
At the end of the day, they had no means of inflicting fatal wounds.
Their body slams were strong, but they lacked the sheer weight to be as effective as a human of the same size. And their bites? No worse than a human's.
Even their speed was no greater than an average adult man.
In other words, they weren't particularly dangerous.
And for someone like Elpham?
They were laughable.
Elpham proved it.
Stab!
Each time he thrust his spear, it struck precisely between an Orange Mushroom's eyes.
Crack!
The spear penetrated just deep enough to shatter the core.
Squelch!
After pulling the spear free, Elpham turned to another one—this one about fifty centimeters smaller.
With the same flawless technique—
Stab!
Not even a millimeter off, he pierced between its eyes.
Thud, thud, thud!
While retreating backward, stepping carefully, he continued the work.
Stab!
A battle so seamless it was almost mesmerizing.
And the most astonishing part?
Elpham wasn't a warrior, thief, or archer.
He was a mage.
Yet, his close-combat skills surpassed even seasoned fighters.
Not by choice.
After watching all his comrades die and fighting alone against hordes of monsters, he had no other option.
Stab!
For someone like Elpham, dealing with a mere twenty Orange Mushrooms wasn't even a challenge.
'Difficult? Only for F-rank adventurers.'
And in truth, it wasn't a feat worthy of praise.
The Adventurer's Guild classified not just individual Orange Mushrooms, but entire swarms as F-rank monsters.
F-rank adventurers were expected to handle at least twenty of them with ease.
'But nowadays, even that qualification is rare.'
Because in this era, even those who weren't fit to be adventurers could claim the title.
And it was all because of the Mystic Gate.