episode_0020

“I’ll be back soon.”

Holding a light tone as if she were just going for a stroll, Ha Ye-rin greeted and walked straight through the gate.

Park Cheol remained silent, gazing at the gate for quite some time.

Hoping that she would rescue the people and safely escape.

However, from the perspective of the Guardians who didn’t know who Ha Ye-rin was, Park Cheol’s command seemed strange.

“…Is it really okay to let her go alone like that?”

“Following her would probably just get in the way.”

“Who on earth is she…?”

Even Park Cheol couldn’t give a definite answer to that question.

In truth, he also didn’t know exactly who Ha Ye-rin was.

Yet, somehow, he felt a vague hope from her. Considering her participation in the operation to subdue the judgment-level Mausu Anubis, she must have been outstanding, so he thought she could pull it off.

It was when Park Cheol was silently staring at the gate.

From a distance, there came the sound of thudding rotor blades—accompanied by the noisy sound, a helicopter approached the gate and landed nearby.

All the hunters’ attention shifted in that direction, but the people inside the helicopter seemed to pay no mind, conversing among themselves as they disembarked.

“Is this the place?”

“Yes. We confirmed crawling up to Gate 4, exactly 45 meters ahead.”

“Hmm… Looks like they’ve caught me, huh, sis?”

A strikingly beautiful woman, accompanied by several soldiers behind her, exclaimed with admiration as she swiftly flicked her golden hair back.

She raised her hair high with gloved hands, then swiftly removed the military jacket she was wearing.

Revealed beneath was a well-toned physique beyond the clothes, with scars scattered around, almost imperceptible against the perfect lines.

But more striking than that was something else.

Click-click-.

Her left arm was completely replaced with a mechanical one.

After tossing away her gloves and moving the prosthetic arm around, the woman smiled brightly and nodded.

“Well, well. It’s nice. I can see my sister’s face after a long time.”

“Are you planning to go in there?”

“Sure. I’ll go in slowly.”

“Are you sure it’s okay…? I heard that the captain prefers to fight alone.”

“Yeah, it’s fine. We were buddies with her.”

With those words, the woman swiftly disappeared into the gate.

* * *

The thick scent of blood. The stench of demon excrement. The smell of decaying bodies. The foul odor of magic.

All mingled together, tormenting the sensitive sense of smell.

Yet, she didn’t show it outwardly. She had grown accustomed to such repulsive odors.

Oddly enough, she felt calm as soon as she caught the stench. In dire situations, maintaining composure was an automatic response necessary for survival.

Even within the foul stench, she subtly detected the scent of people and continued to pursue it. Even while running, she didn’t cease analyzing the surrounding environment.

She had known from the start that this gate was not ordinary like naturally occurring gates.

Unlike gates formed naturally, this one exuded an artificial atmosphere, as if someone had tampered with it.

The floor, the walls, even the ceiling were built with bricks. At intersections, there were signs roughly indicating what lay in each direction.

The likelihood of demons possessing intelligence similar to or greater than humans was not nonexistent…

The pungent stench wafting heavily was reminiscent of creatures all too familiar to her.

Grip. Her hand involuntarily tightened on the handle of her blade.

“I need to pick up the pace.”

She thought there wouldn’t be a need for that, but just in case those creatures still lingered in this world. Those who had been kidnapped were likely already dead or on the brink of death.

Continuing to run at a speed rivaling that of a motorcycle, she hadn’t seen a single demon so far.

“Are they all gathered inside?”

When a tiger roars, does it really come? As I pondered this, for the first time, I caught sight of a horse up ahead.

Its appearance was that of an ordinary werewolf, but its eyes were peculiar.

The pupils were dyed in a deep purple, as if under some unusual spell.

“Growl?!”

By the time the werewolf sensed my presence, I had already reached its side.

In an instant, it was torn to shreds by my claws.

But instead of continuing on, I stopped and examined the creature’s body.

Investigation is a soldier’s virtue.

As I rolled the torn body around with my knife, I noticed a magic circle engraved on its back.

I brought my fingertip close and let a bit of magic flow, getting a sense of what kind of spell it was.

Mental manipulation. Decreased intelligence. Enhanced physical strength, and so on…

It seemed as if they intended to lower intelligence and manipulate the minds of magical creatures to control them as they pleased.

However, the spell wasn’t as dangerous as I had thought.

Firstly, to execute this spell, the magical creature must be completely incapacitated, and even if the target of the spell is a being of higher standing than the mage, they would soon break free.

To control stably, the magical creature should be a few steps lower in status than the mage.

So, at best, it would be limited to handling royal-level magical creatures….

Assuming the gear is raised to 7 or higher, one could manage royal-level creatures alone. It might be challenging to handle judgment-level creatures like Anubis, but it’s possible.

At least one thing became clear from this.

What’s inside are those “bastards.” Even tearing them all to shreds wouldn’t be enough for those damn sons of bitches.

“Lucky as cockroaches, somehow prolonging their wretched lives, and shamelessly showing their faces without a clue.”

Crack. My teeth grind. I felt an urge to slaughter them all right then and there.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. The shackles of my heart loosen once more, and the gear rises to the fifth stage.

There may be some minor side effects, but it’s not a problem. As long as I can kill them all.

I start running again, much faster than before.

In the process, I did encounter more obstacles.

“Chim, intrusion…! Kakh!”

“Kreureu… Kaeng!”

One by one, they were all crushed without even being able to scream.

Having run all the way, I arrived at what seemed like a place where some kind of ritual was taking place. On one side, people with their arms and legs bound were kneeling, while on the other side, decapitated bodies lay scattered like trash.

In the center, the dead’s heads were neatly gathered as if they were precious items, and the next person, dragged forward and forced to kneel, was raising an axe high, as if about to chop off a head at any moment.

It was a familiar face.

Wearing the uniform of Myeonghak High School, a girl who pretended otherwise but was talkative and full of charm.

“Park Daseul.”

I wasted no time.

I lowered my posture and infused magic into my lower body. The ground, unable to withstand the force, cracked with a sharp sound.

Thud!

I shot forward like lightning.

At that moment, the executioner’s axe was already descending toward Park Daseul’s neck.

But I was faster than such a petty axe.

My nails tore through the massive axe like paper, ripping it apart, and even tore off one of the executioner’s large arms.

“Ugh…?”

The executioner, bewildered as he alternated between his missing arm and my sudden appearance, screamed in horror as blood began to spurt from his severed limb.

“Aaargh! My arm—!”

Squelch.

He didn’t even finish his sentence. My blade, which had emerged in an instant, swiftly slit his throat.

After several months, my beloved sword revealed itself to the world. This blade, which never emerged unless in dire situations, was called Yodo妖刀, Mukya嘿夜.

Forged over dozens of days by the celestial blacksmith using the corpses of demons, this sword was silent and profound.

It subdued the gaze of all beings, rendering the surroundings silent the moment it emerged, just as its name suggested.

Even those who had been leading the execution, disguised in flipped robes, the citizens whose limbs were bound and couldn’t move, and even Park Daseul, saved from imminent death, were all silenced by its presence.

Lost for words, he simply stared at me blankly.

In that silent space, the resounding sound echoed.

Thump, thump, thump.

It was nothing but the intense reverberation of Mukya’s sword name, flowing out as if representing my emotions, filled with anger.