episode_0155

“This is insane.”

I grabbed Ryu Jinseong by the collar and shook him back and forth.

“Why would you say something like that?! What is that? It clearly looks like an S-rank gate, similar to those aftershocks, doesn’t it?”

“…Hm.”

For once, Ryu Jinseong couldn’t fault my rudeness and kept his eyes fixed on the window.

The size of the gate, generated high in the sky, was immensely huge. Almost large enough to stably swallow an entire mountain range?

In fact, landslides occurred just from the magical ripple effects that spread as the gate formed, didn’t they?

Aside from this Border Defense Unit’s headquarters, it’s a sparsely populated area, so there won’t be much damage, but…

“This is troublesome.”

Ryu Jinseong muttered in a low voice, and I too rubbed my temples.

An S-rank gate appearing, no way!

Following Seol Hayeon around as a child, I had seen A-rank gates a few times, but an S-rank gate was truly my first.

After all, most of my practical experience was limited to villains, rather than monsters.

“This is really… Haa, so what are you going to do now, Mr. Ryu Jinseong?”

I asked, running my hand through my hair, and Ryu Jinseong stared at the gate with narrowed eyes, letting out a groan.

“…First, the most important thing will be what type it is. S-rank gates, unlike other dungeon-type gates, often appear in random forms.”

He calmly continued, saying that S-rank gates are generally divided into three types.

First, like other gates, there’s the dungeon-type, where a dungeon unfolds beyond it.

In the case of a dungeon-type, it’s actually better. There would be time until a break occurs, so we could just request support from S-rank Awakened individuals.

But if it’s one of the other two types, a wave type or a spatial severance type…

Screech!

That’s when it happened. With a deafening cry from outside, a monstrous bird appeared from within the black vortex.

Just seeing it from afar, it was almost the size of a house. It was obvious even without a magic power reading. It was A-rank.

And half a beat later, other monstrous birds, dozens of ordinary B-rank monsters, and nearly hundreds of minor monsters that crashed directly into the mountain range due to their lack of flight ability began pouring out…

The office was engulfed in silence. The spine-chilling cries of the monsters shook the entire mountain.

“It’s a wave type.”

Soon, Ryu Jinseong broke the crushing silence and drew forth his mana. Dark mana blossomed like petals, then formed into a spear shaft.

Slam! Ryu Jinseong immediately threw open the window and hurled the spear directly at the monsters.

Whoosh! The black spear flew accompanied by a sound of tearing air. The spear, containing formidable power, first swept away a large number of flying monsters before dispersing.

And then, the sonic boom echoed belatedly.

Thundering crashes!

We soon snapped out of it and began preparing one by one. Even if an S-rank gate had opened, we couldn’t just not do our jobs.

Ms. Lee Seo, who had carefully drawn a dagger, spoke solemnly to Ryu Jinseong.

“I’ll get the unit members ready. …Though I suppose I don’t need to tell them; they’ve probably all seen that insanely huge gate already.”

“Minimize casualties as much as possible, but instruct them to strictly control the perimeter so that monsters don’t descend into civilian areas.”

“Yes, Captain-nim.”

Ms. Lee Seo turned and left the office, and I, too, spoke briefly, generating cold energy.

“Mr. Ryu Jinseong, please stay in the building and protect your daughter. You’ll need time until she can absorb the orb, won’t you?”

At my words, Ryu Se-eun hastily sat cross-legged and put the orb into her mouth, and Ryu Jinseong nodded, speaking to us.

“…Be careful. There’s no need to overexert yourselves. It’s our duty, the Border Defense Unit’s, to protect this area with our lives, not yours.”

“We’ll do it safely, of course.”

I chuckled and replied immediately. Although I said that, I would do my best to block the monsters as much as possible.

Turning to follow Cheon Soyul, who had already left the office, I said to Ryu Jinseong.

“Those monsters will definitely be able to get inside the building. Especially watch out for those bird-brained bastards.”

“Mm.”

Ryu Jinseong nodded as if understanding, and I hesitated for a moment before adding one more remark.

“…Stay safe, Father-in-law.”

At those words, Ryu Jinseong’s eyes widened slightly, and Ryu Se-eun, who had been circulating mana, had a brief coughing fit.

It was nothing major. Trivial. I fled the office as if escaping.

Cheon Soyul was waiting, leaning against the wall and inspecting her lightning energy.

“Let’s go.”

I said with a confident smile, and Cheon Soyul quietly followed behind me, then whispered into my ear.

“You must be happy to have so many fathers-in-law, dear.”

“…”

A shiver ran down my spine instantly.

What if this were a game?

A status window like this would probably have popped up: You have felt murderous intent.

*****

Snarl, growl!

“Shut up, you mutt.”

Thwack! I stomped on the ground, twisted my leg, and smashed the head of a wild dog-shaped monster. It yelped and tumbled backward.

Cerebrospinal fluid was oozing out; it was clearly dying. One down.

As I was fully utilizing my abilities, making me pseudo-Special A-rank, virtually S-rank, taking down individual monsters wasn’t difficult, but…

The problem was that there weren’t just one or two monsters coming down the mountain ridge.

Furthermore, it wasn’t just slow ones like Orcs or Ogres. There were many that, like the wild dog just now, ignored us and went berserk trying to get down the mountain.

Ultimately, this monster wave couldn’t be handled by simply dispatching them one by one.

I glanced at Cheon Soyul beside me and shouted lowly.

“Now!”

Then Cheon Soyul, who had been frying an ostrich-shaped monster with lightning, abruptly stopped.

And as if sensing something intuitively, she extended both hands, manipulating different energies.

Lightning energy in her right hand.

Cold energy in her left.

Crackle! Snap!

It was the same for me. Deploying two attributes simultaneously, Cheon Soyul and I used the same fusion magic.

Ice Lightning.

RUMBLE!!!

Frozen lightning rained down from the sky. The world, which had been momentarily stained stark white, returned to its original colors, and the blue lightning energy spreading in all directions paralyzed the monsters.

Low-level ones were even instantly killed by the mere aftermath.

That wasn’t the end. The lingering effect of the fallen ice lightning still remained, and the cold energy, imbued with sparks, completely covered one of Cheorwon’s mountains in a blizzard.

Howl—

By this point, monsters would no longer be able to descend further down, at least in the vicinity of this mountain range.

Even if a few slipped through, the defense unit members would handle that much.

Perhaps it was because a sense of stability had returned? Soon, as she successively burst the paralyzed monsters, Cheon Soyul approached me.

“Reminds me of the old days, doesn’t it?”

And those two words. I tilted my head for a moment, wondering what she was referring to, but then I understood and let out a small laugh.

She was talking about our first year, when we were trapped together in a cave due to a gate break at Gyeryongsan.

Even then, we endured the pouring monsters just the two of us, but…

“Even so, you can’t compare it to back then, can you? This is an S-rank gate now. It’s not like feeble monsters are pouring out like before.”

I said with a bitter laugh, and Cheon Soyul shrugged in response.

“So what? If you put it that way, we’re much stronger than we were in our first year, aren’t we?”

Well, that’s true.

“Especially you, going around sleeping with all sorts of women while using growth cheats all by yourself. Isn’t that right? My philandering husband-nim.”

“…”

She really didn’t need to say that. I coughed awkwardly and eyed Cheon Soyul, but she merely scattered her lightning energy nonchalantly.

Golden lightning bolts extending in all directions accurately burst the heads and hearts of the monsters.

I, too, hid my awkwardness and diligently threw spears of cold energy as much as possible. Enduring by precisely impaling icicles into their throats.

While I could have thrown spears that burst the entire space, just like Ryu Jinseong did earlier—

‘Still, it’s probably best to conserve mana as much as possible.’

Who knows when an anomaly might occur. That gate was too massive to assume it would only spill out a few A-rank monsters.

“Even so, an S-rank monster wouldn’t pop out this early, would it?”

A funny thought suddenly crossed my mind, and I let out a chuckle. Of course, even if it’s a wave type, a boss-level monster wouldn’t appear this early.

*****

I shouldn’t have thought that.

CRASH!!!

Heaven and Earth flipped, and a colossal body, legs, and feet large enough to fill the enormous vortex trampled down on the mountain range.

‘Oh, for fuck’s sake.’

It was the appearance of an S-rank monster, a Giant.