Ch.20Chapter 20 – Isolation

“What..?”

“The gate disappeared?”

“What’s going on!”

The hunters cried out in confused voices at the unexpected situation. Even though they were hunters, they were merely E or D-rank at best.

After urgently checking the system, they soon discovered why the gate had closed.

“It says 30 out of 30 people entered? That’s impossible!”

“When we departed, there were definitely only 29 people. Count again! There must be some mistake.”

The soldier recounted the headcount, but there were still only 29 people inside the gate.

“What is this? A system error? But there’s never been a case of a bug in the system…”

“Damn, anyway, the gate being deactivated means… the dungeon boss has started to become active.”

The crowd quickly became noisy, reflecting the hunters’ anxious state of mind.

“This is troublesome. We haven’t even figured out the geography of this place, or the number and identity of our enemies yet.”

“It’s not just the boss either. There are probably still those annoying imps guarding the boss…”

Shin Jaehyuk, who had been pondering why the headcount was recognized as 30, suddenly turned his head as a possibility occurred to him.

‘Could it be?’

At the end of his gaze was Kim Jimin, the short-haired woman who had mentioned having sex with her boyfriend yesterday.

She too seemed to have grasped the situation and reached the same conclusion as Shin Jaehyuk, as her face had turned deathly pale.

‘Does it recognize a person from the moment an egg is fertilized?’

Recalling a theory he had heard from a black magician who was his colleague in his past life—that souls dwell in fertilized eggs from the beginning—Shin Jaehyuk frowned deeply.

Several other hunters who had unwillingly overheard Kim Jimin and Lee Jaeyeon’s conversation reached the same conclusion. They silently glared at her before approaching the bald commander, Ha Jeongjae, and whispering their tattling. After hearing the report, Ha Jeongjae grimaced and called her over.

Shouting could be heard from a distance, and when it ended, Commander Ha Jeongjae returned with a haggard face. He explained the situation to the hunters.

“What? This fucking bitch!”

“It was because of you-?”

Immediately afterward, as expected, loud voices were exchanged among the hunters, and it took nearly 30 minutes for this commotion to settle down.

***

“We’re fucked… We’re all going to die here…”

A hunter trudging along with a machine gun muttered. His voice was completely drained of energy. His footsteps, as weak as his voice, made rustling sounds as they stepped on fallen leaves.

The other hunters seemed to tacitly share the same thought, as people moved forward in silence.

They were hunters, but they weren’t part of the extermination team that directly dealt with enemies or the attack team that took down bosses—they were merely part of the exploration team that surveyed the inside of gates. Naturally, they consisted of awakened ones with relatively weaker combat abilities compared to the extermination or attack teams.

But now they found themselves in a position where they had to perform the duties of both the extermination and attack teams with just their current personnel.

“Shut up, idiot. It’s just an E-rank gate. You think 29 of us can’t take down one boss? No, 30 people, right? Thanks to someone.”

As someone kept grumbling beside him, an irritated hunter sneered and glared at Kim Jimin in the rear.

Her shoulders flinched and hunched at that gaze. Walking alongside Kim Jimin was her friend Lee Jaeyeon, but she looked quite unwell—her face was pale and her movements lacked strength. Looking closely, she seemed to be sweating cold sweat.

“Are you okay?”

“Ye-es, I’m mentally a bit exhausted, but I’m fi-ine…”

‘Well, her friend’s trolling has put the entire exploration team, including herself, at risk of annihilation…’

Shin Jaehyuk shook his head as he continued walking.

The exploration team was currently trapped inside the gate. To escape from the gate, they needed to defeat the boss monster that served as the gate’s core to clear the gate.

Of course, there would certainly be minions protecting the boss, so the exploration team was cautiously entering the temple visible beyond the jungle while remaining vigilant. Even as they advanced, the hunters whispered their impressions of the majestic ruins visible from a distance.

“Surely the boss must be waiting in the deepest part of that temple, right?”

“I guess so… It definitely has that boss room vibe.”

There was no interference until the group reached the temple entrance. The exploration team passed through moss-covered giant stone pillars and entered the interior of the ancient temple.

“We haven’t seen a single monster on our way here. Something’s strange about this gate.”

“Maybe there are just fewer monsters because it’s an E-rank gate?”

“No. Even F-rank gates can spawn dozens of imps, the lowest-grade monsters.”

Hunters with gate experience muttered questioningly. Shin Jaehyuk agreed with their doubts.

Demons are beings that harbor endless hatred and murderous intent toward humans. If the demons had noticed their presence in the gate, they would certainly have attacked immediately.

Yet the forest remained completely silent from the moment they entered the gate until they reached the temple where the boss room was presumed to be. This suffocating silence without even the sound of insects was clearly abnormal.

As if all the creatures in the forest had been devoured by a single apex predator.

‘Let’s be careful…’

With clear wariness, Shin Jaehyuk cautiously entered the temple interior.

***

The group soon arrived at a wide plaza.

It was a strange space filled with collapsed stone piles and massive stone pillars. The pillars, which had nothing placed on top of them and whose purpose was unknown, were enormous, seeming to support the sky like baobab trees.

The pillars were extremely thick as well as tall—it would take about four adults with their arms fully extended to encircle just one pillar. Some pillars had broken waists, making them shorter than the others.

The pillars weren’t the only things capturing the hunters’ attention. At the opposite end of the plaza was what appeared to be an altar, with a half-broken stele behind it, and in the center of the plaza was a brick path leading to that stele.

On both sides of the brick path, between the massive stone pillars, dozens of old statues covered in moss and vines were lined up like small terracotta warriors.

The statues held different weapons—swords, spears, bows—but they all shared one common trait: angry expressions, as if trying to intimidate intruders.

“Squad leader, there seems to be something at that altar.”

“It appears so… Let’s advance to that location first.”

Just before giving the order, one hunter interrupted.

“Wait, Captain. Those statues look suspicious.”

“The statues?”

“You know, in comics and stuff, statues like those suddenly start moving and attack…”

“Come on, this isn’t Hunter 101… Those are clearly centuries-old statues that belong in a museum. How could they possibly move?”

Commander Ha Jeongjae cut him off.

“No, he has a point… In our situation, trapped in a gate with no hope for support, one mistake could lead to total annihilation. Considering the worst possibility, let’s destroy the statues one by one as we move forward.”

Shin Jaehyuk thought he was quite a wise commander. Ancient ruins like these were known for setting various traps that explorers and grave robbers might not notice, so one should always search carefully…

The hunters who received the instructions began destroying the statues one by one. While the hunters in the rear rested to conserve mana, the physically stronger hunters smashed the statues with hammers and maces.

“See? Nothing’s happening. We were worried for nothing…”

Meanwhile, Shin Jaehyuk secretly approached the altar on the opposite side. He wanted to examine the stele. Bending down, he removed the vines covering the stele and dusted it off.

‘..! As I thought!’

The ancient stele had characters engraved on it. It was the common language of Eden. Despite the passage of time, he could still recognize the script of his homeland. The gate was undoubtedly connected to various parts of Eden.

Shin Jaehyuk’s heart pounded. With an excited expression, he began to scan the inscription. Much of it had been eroded by wind and water, but parts of it could still be interpreted.

“Hell… demon, guardian… Imperial Year 760… Imperial Year 760?”

Imperial Year 760? He was certain that he had lived during the 500s of the Imperial calendar! How much time had passed since his reincarnation?

Or should he be grateful that humanity had survived until the year 760?

Shin Jaehyuk composed his racing thoughts and continued deciphering the stele bit by bit.

“Seal… half..? If destroyed… and again guardian. Activation.”

Shin Jaehyuk’s eyes turned toward the hunters who were destroying the statues.

Could it be.

***

“Squad leader! About half the work seems to be completed now.”

“Any unusual findings?”

“None, sir.”

The bald squad leader looked at the work site, chewing his lips. About half of the statues had been destroyed, but the remaining stone soldiers and the stone weapons in their hands were still intimidating. He imagined how powerful and terrible those stone clubs would be if the statues came to life and swung them.

Even without the statue issue, he was very uneasy about the current situation.

Not a single engagement yet.

That wasn’t a good sign in a gate.

“The calm before the storm…”

“Excuse me, sir?”

“Never mind. Just make sure to destroy all the statues as quickly as possible—”

Woooong-

A strange mechanical sound was heard. It was a heavy, deep vibration like an old sports car starting up. The humming noise gradually grew louder, resonating throughout the open space. Centuries-old dust and stone particles trembled in the air with the resonance. People’s eyes moved, searching for the source of the sound.

The sound was coming from the statues.

“Uh, uhh?”

“Wh-what? Light from the statues?”

A blue light suddenly began to leak through the naturally cracked crevices of the weathered statues. It was a faint but very clear blue light. A hunter who recognized the light exclaimed in shock.

“Mana light!”

“Watch out for those stone weapons! The statues are waking up!”

“Everyone get away from the statues and form ranks!”

Following the soldier’s command, the hunters hurriedly gathered in the center and took up positions. The commander directed the exploration team again with a trembling voice.

“Don’t panic, everyone! Our numbers are about even!”

The tanks stood at the front line with shields, wary of the statues, while the hunters and soldiers in the rear loaded their guns and aimed at the group of statues. Everyone watched the statues’ movements with tense eyes. The sound of one tank swallowing nervously seemed particularly loud.

“Open fire!”

“Die-e!”

“Shoo-oot!”

Tu-du-du-du-!

Ta-ta-tang-!!

Ta-da-da-da-da-dat-!!!

Firing began with the command. As triggers were pulled, medium machine guns spewed clear firing sounds and began to rotate. The recoil pounded the bodies of the hunters holding the guns. It was a recoil that ordinary people couldn’t withstand, but awakened ones could manage it.

“Good! It’s working!”

Several statues that received concentrated gunfire shattered, sending fragments flying. Despite their comrades being destroyed, there was still no reaction from the statues. The hunters cheered as they saw enemies falling easily.

“What? That’s it?”

“As expected of an E-rank gate. This will end more easily than we thought…”

While the reassured hunters continued destroying the statues, the blue light emanating from the statues gradually changed to a more vivid color. The angry expressions on the statues became increasingly clear. And when the light grew bright enough to cover the entire hall,

The statues began their attack.

Flash-!

The statues’ eyes, bloodshot with blue mana, flashed, and lasers shot out. The blue lasers that burst from both eyes hit one of the tanks in the front line.

“Huh?”

That stupid “huh?” became his last words.

“Wha-“

The laser, which instantly melted his armor, pierced through his body and reached a hunter in the rear.

“Aaaah! Uwaaaaah!”

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

“Fuck, what is this!”

“Scatter! Scatte-aaaah!”

That person was fortunately on the lucky side. He only lost one hand. As dozens of statues activated simultaneously and sprayed death rays, about 1/3 of the hunters instantly melted and died.

“Retreat! Retreat! Get out of this room! Fall back to the temple entrance!”

“Everyone retreat!”

The squad leader, who had luckily survived, urgently ordered the exploration team to retreat. The survivors, in a state of panic, had already forgotten their training from the association and were scattering like a disorganized mob.

“Damn it, why are sci-fi weapons coming out of ancient statues!”

“Why are there such monsters in an E-rank gate in the first place..!”

The surviving hunters frantically ran back the way they came, toward the temple entrance. A hunter who kept glancing back while running warned loudly.

“Watch out! The light is chasing us!”

Creak.

With the sound of grinding stone, the statues’ heads turned with a creak, changing the path of the beams.

“Get out quickly! Quickly! Quickly! Plea-ase-“

“Hu, huaa-“

Several more hunters who couldn’t avoid the light converging from both sides turned to ash. Even if they covered their faces with their hands or raised shields to block the light, the death rays ignored all obstacles and relentlessly executed the intruders.

“Outside, outside the temple!”

The hunters who barely avoided the beams rushed out of the temple.

Thus, those who finally escaped the massacre site were less than half of the original entry personnel.

Woooong-

Although the intruders fled in a hurry, the statues did not pursue them. The statues, emitting low and strange operational sounds, stood firmly in place without moving. Like guardians protecting something, or that area.

Instead, the statues faithfully performed their duty as guardians.

That is, they moved their heads left and right, searching for the next victim inside the ruins.

Looking for the surviving rat in the plaza.

***

“We’re fucked…”

Shin Jaehyuk, hiding behind a pillar out of the statues’ sight, muttered.