Ch.199Cataclysm

I barely made it to the dimensional gate, planting Eternity into the ground to support my body. Each step was incredibly difficult, like crossing a valley overflowing with floodwater after heavy rain.

The kind of valley where one misstep would sweep you away, never to resurface, or send you crashing to your death.

“Mira! Mira! Over here! Hurry!”

In the distance, Rosaria, who had been waiting with an anxious expression, jumped up and down as soon as she saw me. The fragments of time that had been clinging to the barrier before I approached the medium were no longer visible.

It wasn’t that they had disappeared—they couldn’t even approach this side. Though they continued to pour out of the rift, they were torn apart by the flow of time before even half of them could descend.

And it wasn’t just them. The protective barrier surrounding the dimensional gate and the seven people nearby was also fluctuating precariously, as if it might shatter at any moment. My vision, enhanced to its limit by physical strengthening, scanned the dimensional gate.

‘This isn’t good.’

The dimensional gate was shaking along with the fluctuations of the barrier. If that breaks, everything is over. With the gods who were supposed to fix the coordinates gone, we’d all be trapped in here.

Being trapped would be the least of our worries. We could very well be buried in time and die. If even I was struggling with all my might to withstand the flow, how much worse would it be for the others?

“Mira! You’re almost there! Just a little more!”

Hearing the encouragement, I gritted my teeth and pushed my body forward. Even with physical enhancement at maximum output, I felt like I could be swept away at any moment.

—Crack…

“…Huh?”

Suddenly, an ominous sound echoed.

With a sinking feeling, I looked at the dimensional gate. The already precariously moving gate was being pushed sideways bit by bit. And it was accelerating.

My judgment was swift. I immediately created a holy spear in my right hand and threw it toward the dimensional gate. It wasn’t a conscious decision but an instinctive action.

If I had hesitated even slightly, it would have been too late. The moment the holy spear penetrated the barrier and wrapped around the dimensional gate to support it, the lower part shattered and floated into the void.

Beams of light extended from the holy spear, wrapping around the dimensional gate like a spider web and spreading like tree roots to support the barrier. It was an incredibly close call, but there was no time to marvel at it.

“Just get in first! Quickly!”

“Leave you behind? Are you crazy?! Instead of spouting nonsense, hurry up and get over here!”

Naturally, there was tremendous resistance. But I had my reasons.

“There’s no time! That won’t hold for long! If you wait for me, you’re just reducing the time I have to get in!”

They all seemed to think that entering without waiting for me would be abandoning me, but that’s not the case at all.

In fact, waiting for me and wasting time is a hundred times more dangerous. If anyone remains, I’d have to get them in before entering myself. It would just waste precious time.

“Ugh, nnnngh…! I swear, if you don’t make it, I’ll never forgive you!”

Latina, who had been stomping her feet anxiously, squeezed her eyes shut and threw herself into the dimensional gate. Seeing this, I urged the others again.

The rest of them gritted their teeth and began to throw themselves in one by one. With anxious eyes, or eyes that seemed to say “we’ll settle this later,” they disappeared one after another into the connected space.

Priscilla was the last. She looked at me with a face full of things she wanted to say, then leaped inside with tears streaming down her face.

Now only I remained. I reached the barrier, practically crawling, supporting my body with Eternity. I could barely keep my eyes open now. The sound of the storm continuously whirled around my ears.

But I was almost there, so it should be fine. I barely opened the barrier and entered inside. Finally, I planted Eternity into the mass of light and reached for the dimensional gate.

—Crack…

As soon as my right hand disappeared into the dimensional gate, an ominous sound echoed. Despite the holy spear firmly holding the dimensional gate, the remaining parts were gradually tearing apart.

There really was no time. I pulled out Eternity and launched my body forward.

—CRACK!

‘Oh sh—’

Just as my right elbow disappeared into the dimensional gate, the blue mana completely split apart. The time coordinates naturally mixed up, and the dimensional gate melted away without a trace.

My body, suspended in the void, flew away, mixed with time.

“So something was detected here? In this useless dead gate that’s just been taking up space?”

“Yes. Without a doubt.”

At his secretary’s words, Cha Duhan snickered with vulgar laughter. If his father had seen it, he would have slapped him for not maintaining dignity, but with only his secretary watching, it didn’t matter.

“I don’t know what wind blew our way, but…”

This place had appeared three years ago but was called a dead gate and left abandoned because it had no monsters, no core, and no dungeon boss.

With no core and no boss, they naturally couldn’t destroy it, so they had concluded to just keep nominal surveillance on it, and everyone had lost interest…

Until a few hours ago, when a sudden surge in magical energy was detected. And not just any surge—one that far exceeded the power of bosses that appear in ordinary S-class gates.

If he could subjugate such a creature alone, his promotion to S-class would be guaranteed. Currently, he was stuck at A-class due to those damn women’s control, but if he could just catch whatever came out of here, they would have no grounds to refuse him anymore.

‘Just you wait. Once I get promoted, I’ll definitely…’

Cha Duhan licked his lips as he continued deeper into the gate.

To enter here alone, he had to threaten the first discoverer and bribe the guild on surveillance duty to conceal the information, but if the information was true, it was well worth it.

“That must be it.”

“It seems so.”

As soon as they entered the deepest part of the gate, an enormous magical energy response was detected. It was so massive and overwhelming that even a non-hunter civilian would have been able to sense it.

The source of this powerful magic was something that looked human. Something that sat motionless.

“It looks quite strong, doesn’t it?”

Cha Duhan didn’t respond to his secretary’s comment, but inwardly he agreed. He had only heard about a sudden magical energy response, but seeing it in person was far more terrifying than he had imagined.

“Are you really going to fight it? Shouldn’t we retreat and call for backup— Never mind. Yes, sir.”

The secretary, overwhelmed by the magical energy, suggested a tactical retreat but quickly backed down under a fierce glare. Having come this far, retreat was not an option.

Flames erupted from Cha Duhan’s body. Not the flames of some mediocre fire ability user, but the flames of the phoenix, a divine beast.

These flames could burn any substance. This ability, which had made Cha Duhan one of the top-tier hunters among A-class and had greatly elevated his company’s reputation, blazed throughout his body.

“Die!”

Flames imbued with the power of the phoenix exploded from his outstretched hands. The fire advanced with such force that it seemed it could burn even the air itself, engulfing the human-shaped figure sitting in the distance.

—WHOOSH!

But the human figure remained intact. It showed no signs of pain, nor did it even seem singed.

Instead, it slowly rose from its seat and turned toward them. All sorts of possibilities rapidly flashed through Cha Duhan’s mind.

‘Is it a fire-immune boss? Or does it have ultra-regeneration abilities? Or is it a tank type?’

To take the phoenix’s flames head-on without flinching meant one of three things: either it had fire-based abilities like himself and was immune to flames, or it had tank-type abilities giving it ridiculous defense, or it had ultra-regeneration.

“Phoenix! Burn everything to ashes!”

Realizing that ordinary flames wouldn’t work, Cha Duhan immediately unleashed his full power. The shape of a bird made of flames formed behind his back.

As the phoenix spread its wings wide, the entire boss room seemed to melt in flames. Even his secretary, who had fire resistance, had to stagger back quite a distance from the tremendous heat.

A bird made of pure flame plunged toward the human figure. Cha Duhan was certain of victory.

—Slash!

At least until his head was severed and rolled on the floor.

Cha Duhan’s mind couldn’t comprehend what had just happened. The human-like boss had drawn a sword from its waist, dodged to the side while bringing the sword down vertically, and then…?

“…”

The flames flickering on his body extinguished. He was dead. The legendary divine beast, the phoenix, made of pure flame, said to resurrect infinitely even if killed, and capable of burning anything according to legend.

And it had died with just one sword strike. Without even resurrecting. Only then could Cha Duhan see the boss’s appearance clearly.

Its entire body was wrapped in magical energy that crackled, making it impossible to see its face clearly, but it was definitely in the shape of a human male. Strangely, the right arm below the elbow was completely missing.

“Uh… ah…”

Feeling that something had gone terribly wrong, Cha Duhan collapsed to the ground. His legs had given out. The gate boss that had killed the phoenix with a single slash began to walk slowly toward him. His secretary had already fainted.

“Who are you? And where is this place?”

‘…Human speech?’

It wasn’t just its appearance. Even its voice resembled a human’s, and shockingly, it was speaking human language. It had long been concluded that gate monsters couldn’t speak human languages.

“Wh-who— AAAAARGH! AAAAH!”

As soon as he tried to ask, both his legs were severed. Cha Duhan fell forward ungracefully and screamed. Blood spurted like a fountain from the cut surfaces.

“I asked the question first.”

“I-I’m Cha Duhan, an A-class hunter from the Cha Group AAAAGH! This is inside an S-class gate in Seoul…!”

“…S-class gate? Hunter?”

The human-shaped boss muttered as if something was strange.

“I’ll ask again. Is this Earth?”

“Y-yes! Yes! It is! Where else would it be if not Earth!”

“…”

The tip of the sword lowered slightly. A voice filled with disbelief flowed from its mouth.

“What in the world…?”