Gate Conquest (1)

“Everyone remembers what we discussed in the meeting, right?”

The day of the gate conquest.

We took a full day off after the flame affinity meeting, and now it was the next day.

If there were no issues, it was better to enter the gate after just one day of rest rather than dragging our feet.

“Alright, we’re going in.”

*

The landscape of Gate 271 could be summed up in one phrase: overlapping rocky mountains.

Of course, there were fairly large forests scattered here and there, but compared to the endless expanse of rocky mountains beyond rocky mountains, they were a drop in the bucket.

Those vast, sprawling ranges… even the Grand Canyon probably couldn’t compare.

Still, being a landscape of rock—despite the forests—it couldn’t help but look desolate.

But its sheer size was likely why it had been at the top of the recommendation list, despite the danger. The hope was that something had to be out here.

Having transformed the moment we passed through the gate, Yu-hwa, who had flown far ahead to scout, was now returning.

Beside me, Lee Seong-jun waved at her with a bright smile.

Soon, she landed.

“There’s nothing but caves until you reach the forest. The caves are all different sizes, but we can’t possibly check every single one.”

“In that case… we should head to the nearest forest for now.”

An empty landscape meant it was easy to be exposed. The danger that had turned other Awakeners into corpses definitely existed within this gate, so we had no time to dawdle in this barren wasteland.

“That’s why I scouted the nearest forest on my way back. There’s nothing special about it, but I’ll take the lead, so follow me. Oh, and everyone remembers the hand signals, right?”

Hearing her, I glanced at the team members, and they all nodded.

Not knowing what might emerge from the caves, we moved toward the forest, taking a route that avoided them as much as possible.

Even so, it was hardly a comfortable journey, as we had to remain on high alert whenever we passed near a cave entrance.

When we finally arrived at the forest—

“…There are caves here, too.”

“So where do we set up camp?”

Geun-tae’s question was met with silence from the group. He continued.

“The way I see it… we’d be better off entering a cave than setting up camp out here.”

“A cave? Isn’t it better to camp in the forest where I can patrol from the air?”

“It’s not like you can fly all day, noona, and even if you could, you can’t see what’s inside the caves. Wouldn’t it be better for all of us to go in together and find a safe zone?”

“Do you think there is a safe zone? They said all the caves down here are connected. What if we set up camp in what we think is a safe spot, only to find out it’s a monster highway? We’d be surrounded.”

“To be precise—”

I interjected.

“The report said it seems like they’re all connected. They haven’t explored every cave.”

“Even if they haven’t, for it to be described that way… it’s obvious what it must be like, isn’t it? Full of forks in the road or something—”

“All the more reason to go inside. If we stay in the forest, all we can see are the cave entrances. Even if we were to camp in the forest, we’d still have to enter a cave at least once. Right?”

Geun-tae looked at me as he spoke.

Behind him, I saw Yu-hwa pouting. Was she anxious about not being able to fly?

I turned my gaze to the other team members.

Min Yu-in shrugged and said, “I’m a healer… I’ll follow whatever you decide.”

Kim Ji-min, who had been fiddling with the hilt of her sword, spoke up.

“The problem is that we don’t know what the danger is. Whether it’s in the forest or in the caves.”

She then looked off into the distance, toward where the forest ended and the rocky mountains began again.

“…Honestly, it has to be the caves. There’s nothing in the forest, right? Besides a few nameless bugs.”

She looked at her partner, Choi Seong-hyeon. He opened his mouth.

“I also think it’s the caves…. Honestly, with Seong-jun-ssi here, we don’t have to worry about getting lost, and as for the campsite, Seong-jun-ssi, the team leader, and I can figure something out. We can do that, right?”

Everyone looked at Lee Seong-jun. Under their collective gaze, he said, “I can do it. I mean, this is what I came here for….”

Lee Seong-jun’s trait was ‘Mana Weaver.’

He could create fine threads of mana. They were never used for offense, but they were incredibly useful for support.

Like Theseus using a thread to escape the labyrinth after killing the Minotaur, he could lay down a thread to navigate complex paths.

He could also, much like a spider, spread threads connected to himself all around, allowing him to instantly detect if someone touched one.

It was a trait perfectly suited for conquering a raw, uncharted gate like this.

The attack-specialized Awakeners next to him would handle any fighting.

Lee Seong-jun looked back at Cheon Yu-hwa, and their eyes met. She shrugged.

“Well… it’s not like I’m desperately against it.”

Thankfully, everyone was in agreement.

Knowing that minor disagreements could snowball into a major disaster, I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

…Looking at the others’ expressions, it seemed they were thinking the same thing.

“Then let’s go in. The vanguard and rearguard will be in the basic formation we discussed.”

*

“Looks like you could even fly in here, noona.”

We had found a wide, open space while exploring the cave. Seeing no immediate signs of danger, we decided to make it our campsite.

Geun-tae approached me as I watched Lee Seong-jun set up a barrier with his mana threads, aided by my Fire Spirit, while Yu-hwa helped him.

“…Sorry for not giving you a heads-up.”

“It’s nothing to be so sorry about. Really.”

“That’s a relief. I was worried you might have been shocked. This kind of thing is pretty common in our line of work—”

“Come on, I know that much.”

“Oh~? Looks like you’ve had some fun inside a gate or two?”

“The way you talk… I just can’t be the devoted type like you.”

“Devoted, my ass, you punk. So who was it? It hasn’t been that long since the last conquest.”

“Hey, seriously.”

“Can’t say? Fine, I get it. Anyway, good. I’m glad you seem okay. A lot of guys lose their minds over stuff like this. …and that includes the women, too.”

Just then, my Fire Spirit seemed to notice something.

The information was relayed directly to me—

“Hey… my spirit says… there’s a fire far away.”

“Where?”

“According to my spirit… far beyond that lion-head-shaped cave over there.”

“…I don’t see anything. And I thought my eyesight was pretty good.”

“I can’t see it either. I’m just relaying what my spirit felt.”

“Elementalists really are broken, huh.”

I gathered the team and relayed what the spirit had sensed. We decided to halt our work on the campsite and enter the lion-head-shaped cave together.

“Should we split into a vanguard and a rearguard?”

“I don’t know…. We’ll have to minimize our light to approach them. My spirit says it can adjust its glow to be just bright enough to light our feet. Wouldn’t it be better to go together?”

“I can see fine with just this much.”

“What?”

“When I transform into a Harpy, walking is a bit difficult… but my eyesight gets much better. As long as there’s a little light like this, I’m fine.”

Throughout the massive cave, there were spots where light filtered down faintly through holes that must have led somewhere.

“If you say so, noona…. Then the vanguard should have people who can react immediately to an attack, and the rearguard can have the rest.”

“And the vanguard should include me, the Elementalist, while the rearguard should have Yu-hwa.”

And so, the vanguard and rearguard were formed.

The vanguard consisted of me and Yang Geun-tae.

The rearguard had Cheon Yu-hwa, Min Yu-in, Lee Seong-jun, and, to prepare for a surprise attack, Kim Ji-min and Choi Seong-hyeon.

At a glance, the numbers seemed severely imbalanced, but this was the most efficient arrangement.

“If anything happens… Geun-tae and I will buy you time, so you run first. We’re confident we can get out alive.”

It might have sounded cruel, but the team showed no signs of being unsettled.

Not only was such a thing inevitable in a conquest like this, but they also trusted our skills.

One way or another, we were both A-rank. It’s a bit awkward to say it myself, but—we were more or less at the pinnacle of the Awakener world. The S-ranks were in a league of their own, with unclear standards, so they didn’t count.

I can survive on my own, no matter what, Geun-tae had said. The same was true for me.

[Magic Power: 1247+1010]
[Essense: 71500/248277]
[Innate Vital Energy: 1000+527/1000]

The passive skills from my ‘Demonic Horns’ and ‘Um-mun’ alone increased my Magic Power by 81%. My magic stat had already surpassed 2000.

And then there was the roughly 38,000 Essense I’d sweetly sucked from Jin-seong.

After activating the ‘Um-mun of Absorption,’ which increased Essense intake, and having him use Incubus skills on top of that, the amount of Essense he produced was on a completely different level from what you’d expect from his rank.

On another note, I was worried I hadn’t been able to absorb any Innate Vital Energy lately.

The problem was, the men I’d been meeting in this body lately were too valuable to just suck dry of their Innate Vital Energy and kill.

While the usefulness of Innate Vital Energy was one thing, I also felt sorry for my spirits, who were always sleeping soundly so as not to be a burden on me.

I’ll have to set aside a day sometime to—

….

In any case, I was flush with Essense right now.

[Skill (A): Essense Conversion (Lv.9+9)]

Currently, 1 Essense converted to 90 Mana. On top of that—

[Ma-mun of Conversion (Lv.1)
-Essense Conversion efficiency increased by 5%
-Innate Vital Energy Conversion efficiency increased by 5%
(Enhancement Condition: Essense Conversion 6997/1000)
(Enhancement Condition: Innate Vital Energy Conversion 0/100)]

With the effect of the ‘Ma-mun,’ the Lee Han-gyeol version of the ‘Um-mun,’ the conversion ratio increased to 94.5, or about 95.

With this much Essense and Mana, I could definitely survive, no matter what.

The moment we heard from Lee Seong-jun that his preparations were complete, we set off. Guided by the spirit, we moved quickly and quietly, and soon, the light became visible to us as well.

We drew closer.

After walking for some time, we could see the source of the light.

It was a torch.

And holding the torch was a person. And—

There were people moving in a line, bound by ropes. Like a procession of prisoners you’d see in a movie, they were tied to the person in front of and behind them.

Three people were not tied up and held torches. The one at the front was chattering away loudly, but I couldn’t make out the words—

“It’s Chinese.”

“Chinese? What are they saying?”

“I don’t know. The accent is Chinese. But this complicates things….”

Indeed. It certainly did.

Gates that connected different countries like this weren’t just a problem for Awakeners; they involved diplomatic issues as well.

“Still, we can hope for one thing… that they’re a criminal organization, right?”

“But they might not be. It’s China… you never know.”

“I suppose so. But what does it matter? We have a justification. It’s not like we entered from a Chinese gate. We can just say we thought they were a criminal organization—that’s all there is to it.”

“And there’s one more thing, isn’t there?”

A few photos the Expeditionary Force guild had shown us surfaced from the back of my memory.

“Several Awakeners have died in here.”

“…Right. So what’s the plan? Do we strike now? Or go back and report to the guild?”

Ultimately, I was the team leader.

My decision would determine the fate of my team members, and—

“Let’s strike for now. If we turn back, those people are as good as dead.”